Since gaining independence from France in 1946, Syria has gone through periods of political turmoil.
The documentary takes the story of the past and brings it directly into the present, providing deeper historical context to today’s events as the war in Syria continues and many previously oppressed forces are unleashed.
As the colonial influence of the great powers began to wane, the region experienced a wave of Arab nationalism and Syria was turned upside down by a series of military coups. But in 1970, Hafez al-Assad, the ambitious defense minister, took power. He came from humble beginnings in western Syria and ruled the country for 30 years.
It is an authoritarian one-party state where any dissent is ruthlessly suppressed. After Hafiz died in 2000, his father was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad, and a dynasty was born.
