Hussein al-Sharaa
| Hussein al-Sharaa link (Economist, researcher, writer) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Hussein Ali al-Sharaa 1946 Daraa, Syria |
| Alma mater | University of Baghdad |
| Children | 7, including, Maher, Hazem, Ahmed, Jamal, three daughters |
Father of Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa | |
Hussein Ali al-Sharaa is a Syrian economist, researcher, and writer. He is the father of the current[When] President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa.[1]
Background
Born into a family in Daraa, Syrian Republic, he graduated from the University of Baghdad with a degree in Economics and later earned a Ph.D. In 1961, he joined protests against the Baathists following their coup against the United Arab Republic and the Arab Socialist Ba'ath party coups in 1963. His family was displaced during the 1967 Israeli occupation. He was forced to leave Syria due to the worsening political and security situation and fled to Jordan, where he was imprisoned again. He was eventually given the choice to travel to either Saudi Arabia or Iraq, and he chose Iraq, which was then under President Abdul Salam Arif.
In exile
Al-Sharaa escaped from prison in 1971 to pursue his higher studies in Iraq. He later went to Jordan to cooperate with the Palestinian fedayeen. After returning to Syria in the 1970s, he served in the ministry of petroleum under Hafez al-Assad before eventually moving to Saudi Arabia with his family. He remained in the Syrian oil sector until 1979, when he was hired by the Saudi Ministry of Petroleum as an economic researcher. He returned to Syria in 1989 with his family and was briefly imprisoned again before serving as an advisor to the ministry of petroleum, a position he eventually left. After Hafez al-Assad died in 2000 and his son Bashar al-Assad succeeded him, there was a brief period known as the Damascus Spring, in which al-Sharaa was a prominent participant and one of the signatories of a document calling for elections. In 2005, he was among the signatories of the Damascus Declaration, which called for an end to Assad family's rule and a transition to a democratic system. After the Syrian insurgency began in March 2011, al-Sharaa resettled to Egypt.
In February 2025, al-Sharaa criticised the Syrian Opposition caretaker government’s plan to privatise public sector institutions. He condemned the initiative as a political strategy to "reshape Syria’s economic landscape," emphasising that these institutions were "national assets built over decades." He warned against selling them to address inefficiencies, arguing that "the issue is not with the public sector itself, but with the mismanagement that has plagued it." He later defended the caretaker government, saying that they had "a clear vision and a roadmap for Syria’s future, independent of external influence."
Return to Syria
In March 2025, al-Sharaa was reportedly at the presidential palace in Damascus during the Eid al-Fitr prayers, where he extended his hand to his son, Ahmed al-Sharaa. In May 2025, al-Sharaa criticised Israel following the attack in Damascus, saying that “The Zionist enemy state threatens and attacks under the pretext of protecting Syrian Druze” and warning that “we will not remain silent. It will come to you from a place you don’t know.”[2] In June 2025, al-Sharaa commented on the Iran–Israel war, saying that “this reckless Benjamin Netanyahu thinks Iran is just Hezbollah and Hamas. He doesn’t understand that Iran is a strong state with tremendous capabilities,” and added that “we’re seeing the scale of destruction in the occupied Palestinian cities.”
Personal life
Hussein al-Sharaa is the father of Ahmed, Maher, and Hazem al-Sharaa, and is reported to be related to former Syrian Foreign Minister and Vice-President Farouk al-Sharaa.
References
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