Shehabi was born in the northern province of Aleppo, which has fallen largely into the hands of opposition forces since the regime of Bashar Al-Assad was openly challenged by anti-government activists two years ago this month.
Trained in the former Soviet Union, Shehabi rose through the ranks becoming the armed forces chief of staff in 1974, a post he held until resigning in 1998 when then-President Hafez Al-Assad was preparing the transition of power to his son.
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The retired general was one of the top commanders during the infamous Hama massacre in 1982. Estimates place the death toll from that atrocity as high as 40,000. “He never spoke out about the Hama massacre,” Hassan Twiet, President of SAC's LA chapter, says, “or the recent atrocities in his own city of Aleppo.”
“Our condolences to his family,” Twiet offers. “We wish he lived a little bit longer
to see that Syria is on the road to freedom and democracy.”
Shehabi's son, Hazem Chehabi, was at the center of a local controversy last year as he resigned his post as Syrian honorary consul general in Newport Beach following the Houla massacre. “They were in full support of the regime,” Twiet says. “It was a shameful resignation, it was not an honorable one.”
Chehabi is still listed as a trustee to the UC Irvine Foundation despite student activist efforts to gain his dismissal.
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Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!
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