Dawoud Rajha
| Dawoud Rajiha | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Minister of Defense | |
|
In office 8 August 2011 – 18 July 2012 |
|
| President | Bashar al-Assad |
| Prime Minister |
Adel Safar Riyad Hijab |
| Deputy | Assef Shawkat |
| Preceded by | Ali Habib Mahmud |
| Succeeded by | Fahd Jassem al-Freij |
| Chief of Army Staff | |
|
In office 3 June 2009 – 8 August 2011 |
|
| President | Bashar al-Assad |
| Minister | Ali Habib Mahmud |
| Preceded by | Ali Habib Mahmud |
| Succeeded by | Fahd Jassem al-Freij |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Dawoud Abdallah Rajiha 1947 Damascus, Syria |
| Died | 18 July 2012 (aged 64–65) Damascus, Syria |
| Political party | Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party |
| Religion | Eastern Orthodox Christianity |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 Syria
|
| Service/branch | Syrian Arab Army |
| Years of service | 1967–2012 |
| Rank |
 Colonel General
|
| Unit | 3rd Armoured Division, Artillery |
| Battles/wars |
Yom Kippur War Islamic uprising in Syria Syrian occupation of Lebanon 1982 Lebanon War Gulf War Syrian civil war |
Dawoud Abdallah Rajiha (Arabic: داود راجحة; 1947 – 18 July 2012), forename sometimes transliterated Dawood or Daoud, surname sometimes transliterated Rajha, was the Syrian minister of defense from 2011 to July 2012 when he was assassinated along with other senior military officers by armed opposition forces during the country's Civil War. From 2009 to 2011, Rajiha served as chief of staff of the Syrian Army.
Rajiha, a Greek Orthodox, was born in Damascus in 1947. A specialist in artillery, he graduated from Syria's military academy in 1967.
Dawoud Abdallah Rajiha attended different courses and a higher military education:
Rajiha attained the rank of major general in 1998 and was appointed as the Syrian Army's deputy chief of staff six years later, in 2004. In 2005, he received a promotion to the rank of general called Imad (a rank in the Syrian armed forces between major general and lieutenant general). When Ali Habib Mahmud was named to head the ministry of defense in 2009, Rajiha was given the position of army chief of staff. He held this position in 2011, when the Syrian civil war began. On 8 August 2011, he was chosen by President Bashar al-Assad to replace Mahmud as minister of defense.
On 20 May 2012, the Damascus council of the Free Syrian Army, among the rebel organizations opposed to the Assad government, alleged that it had assassinated Rajiha and the seven other members of the government's military crisis unit. It was since proven that the allegations were false and were rebels propaganda. Members of the unit, including former minister of defense Hasan Turkmani, were shown on Syrian television to be alive, and the rebels later stated that only Rajiha's deputy, General Assef Shawkat, and a second official who was not named. Shawkat, the brother-in-law of President Assad, was later shown to have survived, as well. In June 2012, the matter of Rajiha's alleged death was permanently resolved when it was confirmed that he remained Assad's defense minister in the newly formed cabinet.
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