Written by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, July 18, 2012
Syria's second most powerful man almost never appears in public, but those who have had dealings with him paint a picture of a man of supreme self confidence, who treats his brother's country like family property. Opponents of the Assad family revile Maher al-Assad as the most ruthless of a "family council" trying to survive the revolt against the iron-fisted dynastic rule founded by their late patriarch, Hafez al-Assad.
During the crackdown against the anti-Assad revolt, Maher has solidified his violent reputation as the leader of core military units drawn mainly from the family's Alawite sect that have used tanks and artillery to lay waste to swathes of Sunni Muslim areas.
At 44, he is two years younger than Bashar. He commands the Fourth Armoured Division and is de facto head of the Republican Guard - praetorian units set up to defend the family's seat of power in Damascus.
The family council, aided by top secret police and intelligence operatives, comprises Bashar, Maher, their now slain brother-in-law Assef Shawkat, and Mohammad Makhlouf, their uncle from the side of their mother Anisa.
