Fahd Jassem al-Freij

Fahd Jassem al-Freij (Arabic: فهد جاسم الفريج;^[1] born 17 January 1950) is a retired Syrian military officer and the former Minister of Defense of Syria, took office on 18 July 2012 and left office on 1 January 2018.^[2]

Fahd Jassem al-Freij
فهد جاسم الفريج‎
Member of the Central Command of the Ba'ath Party
In office 22 April 2017 – 4 May 2024
16th Minister of Defense
In office 18 July 2012 – 1 January 2018
Prime Minister	Riyad Farid Hijab Wael Nader al-Halqi Imad Khamis
Preceded by	Dawoud Rajiha
Succeeded by	Ali Abdullah Ayyoub
Chief of the General Staff of the Army and the Armed Forces
In office 8 August 2011 – 18 July 2012
President	Bashar al-Assad
Defense Minister	Dawoud Rajiha
Preceded by	Dawoud Rajiha
Succeeded by	Ali Abdullah Ayyoub
Personal details
Born	(1950-01-17) 17 January 1950 (age 75) Rahjan, Hama, Syria
Political party	Ba'ath Party
Military service
Allegiance	Ba'athist Syria
Branch/service	Syrian Army
Years of service	1968–2018
Rank	Colonel General
Unit	Armoured Corps
Commands	Special Forces Operations Staff
Battles/wars	Yom Kippur War Islamist uprising in Syria Syrian Civil War

Early life and education

Freij was born in Rahjan in a Sunni Arab tribe on 17 January 1950. He joined the Syrian Arab Army in 1968, and graduated as an armoured corps lieutenant from the Homs Military Academy in 1971.

Freij attended different courses and a higher military education:

• Bachelor in Military Sciences, Armoured Officer, Homs Military Academy, in 1971,
• Staff Course,
• Airborne paratroops course,
• General Command and Staff Course,
• Higher Staff Course (War Course).

Career

On 8 August 2011, Freij was appointed Chief of Staff of the Syrian Arab Army during the Syrian civil war. In December 2011, defected Syrian Army officers reported that prior to his appointment of Chief of Staff, al-Freij commanded the Syrian Army Special Forces in the regions of Daraa, Idlib and Hama during the Syrian uprising.

However, on 18 July 2012, after Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha was assassinated in the 2012 Damascus bombing, Freij was appointed by Bashar al-Assad to succeed Rajiha.^[1] He was also named as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army and the Armed Forces.^[3]

On 1 January 2018, Lieutenant General Ali Abdullah Ayyoub was the successor of al-Freij as Minister of Defense.^[2]

War crime charges

In October 2023, French prosecutors at the Judicial Court of Paris charged Fahd Jassem Al-Freij and his successor Ali Ayyoub for their culpability in a barrel bomb in southwestern Syrian city of Daraa that killed French-Syrian national Salah Abou Nabout at his home in 2017.^[4]