The Man Who Enraged the Palestinians: Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas

The man whose intemperate denunciation of Yasir ‘Arafat as a “stripper” (among the milder imprecations: See Page One) has been a friend and ally of Hafiz al-Asad since the two met at the Homs Military Academy nearly half a century ago. Mustafa Tlas has also, often, been the instrument through which the Syrian regime vents at times outrageous opinions: Tlas has a reputation of being something of a loose cannon, a reputation which may have been assiduously cultivated, and which is used by the regime for its own purposes.

Mustafa Tlas was born in the village of Rastan, near Homs, on May 11, 1932. He is a Sunni, one of the few high-ranking Sunnis in an ‘Alawite-dominated military, but is said to have some ‘Alawite family connections through his mother. His primary and secondary schooling were in Homs, the major city of central Syria. When he was only 15 years old, according to his official biographies, he joined the Ba‘ath Party, not then in power. He became the Secretary of the Rastan Party Section while only 19, in 1951. His first job was teaching sports at a the al-Kraya School in Suweida Governorate. In 1952, however, he entered the Homs Military College.

His acquaintance with Hafiz al-Asad dates from their being in the Military College at the same time. Though Tlas’ career would be in Armor and Asad’s in the Air Force, the two active Ba‘athists remained close throughout their military careers. Tlas graduated from the Military College in 1954. (Asad, who had pilot training as well, graduated in 1955.)

Tlas specialized in armor, and in 1959, during the three years when Syria was united with Egypt in the United Arab Republic, he was dispatched to Egypt where he took a tank battalion commander’s course. Asad was also posted to Egypt in this period, and was organizing an Army conspiracy even then. When Syria seceded from the UAR in 1961, Asad was jailed by the Egyptians for some 44 days, and entrusted his old friend Tlas to escort his wife and baby daughter back to Syria.

Many Ba‘athist officers were purged from the Army after 1961; Tlas was moved to the Ministry of Supply as Inspector General. But he was actively involved in military movements in Homs and Aleppo, and was imprisoned prior to the Ba‘athist coup of March 8, 1963. After his political allies took power, Tlas was named a battalion commander in the Fifth Armored Brigade. He also served as Chief of the National Security Court for the central region, and headed the Party’s Military Section in his native region. In 1964 he became Deputy Commander of the Fifth Armored Brigade, then took a Command and Staff course, graduating in 1966. Already in 1965 he was elected to the Party’s Regional Command (that is, the Syria-wide command since in Ba‘athist terminology Syria is a “region” of the Arab nation). He rose to command the Fifth Armored Brigade and the entire central military region. He was active in the internal Ba‘athist intrigues of the late 1960s, and during the 1967 war with Israel commanded the Army General Command Reserve Forces, missing out on combat.

In the meantime, his old friend and co-conspirator Hafiz al-Asad had risen to command of the Air Force and the post of Defense Minister; in February 1968, Tlas was named First Deputy Minister of Defense and Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces (with the rank of Major General). He soon acquired other key party posts and when Asad seized power in 1970, Tlas was at his side. In 1972 he took a General Staff course at the Voroshilov Academy in the then Soviet Union. In March of 1972 he was made Minister of Defense and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (under the President, now Asad).

As Defense Minister for the past 27 years, Tlas has never been particularly silent. He has published numerous books, and interviews given to the Arab press have often sparked controversy. There is a school of thought which sees Tlas as the aforementioned loose cannon, a clownish figure tolerated because of his longstanding ties to the President, and a man with little real power vis-à-vis the powerful ‘Alawite generals. But there are also those who believe Tlas’ reputation for outrageous statements is deliberately used to convey certain messages which would be inappropriate coming from the President or the Foreign Minister.

Tlas married Lamia Al-Jabiri in 1958. They have four children: Nahid, Firas, Manaf, and Saria. Tlas’ hobbies are said to include horseback riding, tennis and swimming. He has aged noticeably in recent years.

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