Farouk al-Sharaa

His Excellency Farouk al-Sharaa
فاروق الشرع
Sharaa in 2004
Vice President of Syria
In office 21 February 2006 – 19 July 2014[1] Serving with Najah al-Attar
President	Bashar al-Assad
Preceded by	Zuhair Masharqa Abdul Halim Khaddam
Succeeded by	Najah al-Attar
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 1 March 1984 – 21 February 2006
President	Hafez al-Assad Bashar al-Assad
Preceded by	Abdul-Halim Khaddam
Succeeded by	Walid Muallem
Member of the Central Command of the Ba'ath Party
In office 21 June 2000 – 8 July 2013
Personal details
Born	(1938-12-10) 10 December 1938 (age 86) Daraa, Syrian Republic
Political party	Ba'ath Party
Other political affiliations	National Progressive Front
Alma mater	University of London University of Damascus

Farouk al-Sharaa^[a] (born 10 December 1938) is a Syrian politician and diplomat. He was one of the most prominent officials in the Syrian government and served as foreign minister of Syria from 1984 until 2006 when he became a vice president of Syria.^[2] His term as vice president ended on 19 July 2014.^[1]

Early life and education

Sharaa was born in Daraa^[3] on 10 December 1938 to a Sunni Muslim^[4][5] family that originates from the Daraa Governorate.^[6] He studied English language at the University of Damascus in the 1960s, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature in 1963. In 1971 and 1972 he took courses in international law at the University of London.^[7]

Early career (1963–1989)

Mahmoud Al-Zoubi in the middle between Nizar Daoudi and Farouk al-Sharaa, in Tehran condoling the death of Imam Khomeini, 1989.

In 1963, Sharaa became a member of the Ba'ath Party’s central committee.^[8] He served as regional manager of the state-run Syrian Arab Airlines in London from 1968 to 1972 and as commercial director in Damascus from 1972 to 1976.^[8] Between 1977 and 1980, he served as Syria's ambassador to Italy.^[8] In 1980, he was named deputy foreign minister. In 1984, Sharaa was appointed as acting minister of information. In March 1984, Hafez al-Assad, then president of Syria, named him Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Old guard of the Assad government (1990–2000)

Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa meeting with the US President Bill Clinton in White House in 1993.

Sharaa has remained an old guard of the Assad administration. He has been very active in negotiating with many countries to gain better relations for Syria. Much of this negotiation has involved Syria's relationships with Lebanon and Israel. Sharaa maintains that Israel should give back all of the Golan Heights, the territory it took from Syria in the 1967 War. Between 1991 and 1993 he led negotiations in the Barcelona Process and with the US Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.^[9]

He was involved in two attempts to negotiate a reconciliation with Israel in December 1999, when he held a meeting with Ehud Barak and Bill Clinton in White House, with the goal of resuming Israeli–Syrian peace negotiations that were stalled since early 1996.^[10] The peace talks summit continued until January 2000 in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, but never materialized.^[11][12]

Under Bashar al-Assad (2000-2011)

Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa meeting with President of Russia Vladimir Putin in Kremlin in 2001.

After Hafez al-Assad's death in June 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad reshuffled his cabinet several times to remove several long-time members. Sharaa, however, remained in office, and became one of the longest-serving foreign ministers in the world. It was believed that Sharaa might be forced to resign when, in October 2005, he was accused of misleading international investigators in letters about the investigation of possible Syrian involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Along with President Bashar al-Assad, Sharaa was interviewed in April 2006 during the course of a UN investigation into the death in February 2005 of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

He finally did leave his post as foreign minister on 11 February 2006, when he became vice president of Syria in charge of foreign affairs.^[7] This position had been vacant for a year since the departure of Abdul Halim Khaddam. Some saw his appointment as vice president as a demotion, since he was expected to have less of a public role in Syrian politics and to lose contact with many diplomats and world leaders. The vice president in Syria is generally a ceremonial role. However, others believed that Sharaa would now have a greater role in decision-making, since he would be in Syria more often. In the event, Sharaa engaged in high-profile foreign travel as vice president, indicating that his role is envisaged as an active one on the international scene. He will also become the acting president of Syria if President Assad resigns or dies while Sharaa is still vice president.^[13]

Sharaa met with Pope Benedict XVI in September 2007 to discuss the plight of Iraqi Christian refugees in Syria, the Mideast peace processes, and the role and status of the Church in Syria. After 2011, Sharaa was the chairman of the "national dialogue" committee in Syria.^[14] In 2000 Sharaa was also appointed to the Ba'ath party’s leadership and his term ended in July 2013.^[8] On 19 July 2014, his term in the Vice President office ended.^[1] After that, he disappeared from sight for a long period, whether politically or on a personal level, with the emergence of rumors of his defection, only to return and appear in October 2018 with the Syrian poet residing in Tunisia Hadi Daniel.^{[citation needed]}

Syrian civil war (2011-2024)

After the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011, Sharaa was seen as a possible replacement for Assad during a transitional period. UN–Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria Kofi Annan's transition plan included Sharaa as a transitional president until elections were held.^[5]

Sharaa's absence from a July 2012 meeting between Bashar al-Assad and Annan led to reports he was under house arrest or had fled to Jordan.^[5][15] However, Sharaa represented Bashar al-Assad at the funerals of three senior officials assassinated on 18 July 2012 in Damascus.^[16]

After the fall of the Assad regime

Following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 and the establishment of the Syrian transitional government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa and the Tahrir al-Sham, Farouk al-Sharaa was invited by Ahmed al-Sharaa to attend a forthcoming national dialogue conference in Damascus.^[17] According to his cousin, al-Sharaa accepted the invitation.^[18]

Personal life

Sharaa is married and has two children.^[8] He is the first cousin of Hussein al-Sharaa, whose son Ahmed al-Sharaa is the emir of Tahrir Al-Sham and de-facto leader of Syria as of December 2024.^[19]

Notes

1. Arabic: فاروق الشرع

References

1. "Syria's Assad reappoints woman VP but mum on Sharaa". Al Arabiya. 20 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
2. Slackman, Michael (28 March 2011). "Syria Tries to Ease Deep Political Crisis". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
3. "Farouk Al Sharaa Speaks: an English Preface to the Memoirs by Farouk Al Sharaa Now Available". www.dohainstitute.org. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
4. "List of persons and entities referred to in articles 3 and 4". Official Journal of the European Union. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
5. "Syrian vice president's absence raises questions of his whereabouts". The Times of Israel. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
6. Sharp, Jeremy M. (9 November 2011). "Unrest in Syria and U.S. Sanctions Against the Asad Regime" (CRS Report for Congress). refworld. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
7. Kechichian, Joseph (25 August 2012). "Farouk Al Shara'a: Affable yet wily diplomat". Gulf News. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
8. "Farouk al-Sharaa, Syrian leader who wanted compromise". Beirut: Al Arabiya. AFP. 9 July 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
9. "Will the Syrian-Israeli Negotiations Resume?". Asharq Al-Awsat. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
10. "Washington Talks (December 1999)".
11. Reinckens, William B. (January 3, 2000). "Israel and Syria Open Peace Talks in Shepherdstown, West Virginia". Washington File. United States Department of State. Archived from the original on November 7, 2004. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
12. Kilian, Michael (3 January 2000). "MOMENTOUS TALKS IN A QUIET TOWN". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
13. "Rebels say Syrian vice president defects, regime denies claim". CNN. 18 August 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
14. "Popular Protest in North Africa and the Middle East (VII): The Syrian Regime's Slow-Motion Suicide" (PDF). Crisis Group. 13 July 2011. Archived from the original (Report (No: 109)) on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
15. "Rebel spokesman: Syrian vice president defects; regime doesn't confirm". CNN. 18 August 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
16. "Funeral held for Syria officials killed in bombing". Chicago Tribune. Reuters. 20 July 2012. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
17. Sh (2024-12-23). "Farouk al-Sharaa Returns to the Forefront of Syrian Politics After He Was Sidelined at the Start of the Revolution - The Syrian Observer". Retrieved 2024-12-26.
18. "عودة بعد غياب طويل.. من هو فاروق الشرع؟". سكاي نيوز عربية (in Arabic). Retrieved 2024-12-26.
19. "Al-Julani's childhood friend tells what he knows about him".

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN

Political offices
Preceded by Abdul Halim Khaddam	Minister of Foreign Affairs 1984–2006	Succeeded by Walid Muallem
Preceded by Abdul Halim Khaddam	First Vice President of Syria 2006–2014	Succeeded by Najah al-Attar