Hafez al-Assad took power in 1970. His party, the ... back from London. Bashar was an ophthalmologist, age 28, doing a residency at the Western Eye Hospital. He was very different from Bassel ...

Instead, Assad, the second son of former Syrian ruler Hafez Assad, planned to be an ophthalmologist. He studied in Syria and then London before his career as an eye doctor was cut short by his ...