Hafez al-Assad, the father of Syria’s current president, employed a cult of personality during his 30-year term as President to create a larger-than-life figure. His personal hero was Saladin who defeated the Crusaders in the 12th century and unified the Islamic Middle East. Al Assad was a member of the minority Alawite sect and a member of the Ba’ath Party. He practiced a form of Arab socialism which was secular and promoted modernisation and women’s rights but he also ruled with an iron fist and instantly eliminated dissenters.

Everywhere you went in Syria you would see al-Assad as the heroic leader of the people. Statues, posters, banners, bumper stickers, you name it. Place names, like Lake Assad, were named after him.

Hafez al-Assad was simply inescapable.

A roundabout is an intersection established to enable a smooth flow of traffic at a junction. But it was a roundabout which set off an abrupt turn in the progression of power in Syria.

Hafez al-Assad had been grooming his eldest son Bassel to be his heir-apparent and by 1992 Syrians were warming up to the handsome and charismatic Bassel. Pictures of Bassel started appearing all around the country including this shop in Al Kamishly. But it wasn’t meant to be. In 1994, Bassel was speeding on his way to the Damascus airport and struck a roundabout which killed him instantly and forever changed the direction of Syrian politics.

I can’t read Arabic script but I’m pretty confident that this taxi driver in al-Hassakeh didn’t put a sticker which says ‘Hafez al-Assad loves ME’. Arabic is read from right to left so no doubt he is proclaiming HIS love for Hafez.