Hussein Ali al-Sharaa (born 1946) is a Syrian economist and former Arab nationalist activist. He is the father of the current president of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Biography.
Hussein al-Sharaa was born in Fiq, Golan Heights, Syria. His father, Ali Mohammed al-Sharaa, was a landowner and his family owned most of the lands of Fiq. Hussein al-Sharaa's grandfather, Mohammed Khalid al-Sharaa, and uncles were among the fighters against French colonialism. The family were displaced in 1967 after the Israeli occupation during the Six-Day War.
Contrary to some news reports, he is not related to Farouk al-Sharaa.
Hussein al-Sharaa was an Arab nationalist student activist for the Nasserists in Syria. He was imprisoned by Syrian neo-Ba'athists during the anti-Nasserist purges initiated after the 1961 and 1963 coup d'états, which broke up the United Arab Republic and propelled the Arab Socialist Ba'ath party to power. Al-Sharaa later escaped prison to complete his higher studies in Iraq in 1971. During this period, he travelled to Jordan to co-operate with the Palestinian fedayeen of the Palestine Liberation Organization. After returning to Syria in the 1970s, then under Hafez al-Assad's rule, he was again imprisoned before being released and finding asylum in Saudi Arabia. He wrote several political books.
He is a graduate in economics from the University of Baghdad.
Books.
He has published numerous books in Arabic on regional economic development, particularly focusing on natural resources and their potential contribution to education, agriculture, and military advancement.