GEN. DAWOUD RAJHAHTook over as defense minister last August. Before taking up the post, Rajhah, who was in his mid-60s, served as army chief of staff. He was the most senior Christian official in the Syrian government and the highest-ranking official so far to be killed in the country's civil war.GEN. ASEF SHAWKATThe deputy defense minister, Shawkat became Bashar Assad's brother-in-law after marrying the president's older sister, Bushra, in the mid-1990s. He quickly moved up the ranks after the marriage, becoming a trusted aide to Assad and one of the most feared members of the regime's inner circle. In 2005, an inadvertently released passage of a UN investigative report cited a witness saying Assad's brother, Maher, and Shawkat, who was head of military intelligence at the time, were among those behind the assassination of then-prime Minister Rafiq Hariri of Lebanon.GEN. HASSAN ALI TURKMANIA former defense minister, Turkmani until his death was serving as an assistant to the country's vice president. In his mid-70s, Turkmani was close to the regime and took part in the crackdown against the uprising. Shortly after the revolt began in March last year, Assad sent Turkmani to Turkey for talks with officials there. — AP
