Defense Minister, His Deputy and Assistant Vice-President Martyred in Terrorist Explosion Targeting National Security HQ in Damascus

Defense Minister, His Deputy and Assistant Vice-President Martyred in Terrorist Explosion Targeting National Security HQ in Damascus

Jul 18, 2012

DAMASCUS (SANA) – Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the Armed Forces, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense Gen. Dawood Rajiha, Deputy Minister of Defense Gen. Asef Shawkat and Assisstant Vice-President Gen. Hassan Turkmani were martyred on Wednesday in a terrorist explosion targeting the National Security headquarters in Damascus.

The terrorist blast happened while a meeting of a number of ministers and senior military and security officials was taking place, causing injuries among the attenendees, some of them critical. SANA sources confirmed that Interior Minister Lt. Gen. Mohammad al-Shaar and and Lt. Gen. Hisham are in a stable health condition.

Martyr Rajiha was born in 1947 in Damascus, and he graduated from the Military Academy in 1968, specialized in artillery. He took several military training courses, including Leadership and Staff course and Higher Staff course. He was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1998, ad he was made General in 2005. He occupied various military posts including battalion and brigade commander and director of a number of directorates and departments at the Armed Forces, and he was appointed Deputy Chief of General Staff in 2004 and later Chief of General Staff in 2009.

He was awarded several military medals during the course of his career, and he was married and left behind four children. F.Allafi/H.Said