Lt. Gen. Mustafa Tlass (Arabic: مصطفى طلاس; born 11 May 1932) is a Syrian politician and a long time minister of defense, now retired.
Tlass was born in the Syrian town of al-Rastan near the city of Homs to a prominent Sunni Muslim family. He joined the Ba'ath Party at the age of 15, and met Hafez al-Assad when studying at the military academy in Homs. The two officers became friends when they were both stationed in Cairo during the 1958-61 Unit...
More
Lt. Gen. Mustafa Tlass (Arabic: مصطفى طلاس; born 11 May 1932) is a Syrian politician and a long time minister of defense, now retired.
Tlass was born in the Syrian town of al-Rastan near the city of Homs to a prominent Sunni Muslim family. He joined the Ba'ath Party at the age of 15, and met Hafez al-Assad when studying at the military academy in Homs. The two officers became friends when they were both stationed in Cairo during the 1958-61 United Arab Republic merger between Syria and Egypt: while ardent Pan Arab nationalists, they both worked to break up the union, which they viewed as unfairly balanced in Egypt's favor. When al-Assad was briefly imprisoned by Nasser at the breakup of the union, Tlass fled and rescued his wife and sons to Syria.
During the 1960s al-Assad rose to prominence in the Syrian government through a 1963 coup d'état, backed by the Ba'ath party. He then promoted Tlass (who had not been actively involved in the coup) to high-ranking military and party...
Less
