Shibli al-Aysami

Shiblī Yousef Hamad al-Aysamī (شبلي العيسمي), alternatively also Shibli-L-Aʾysami, al-Ayasami, al-Ayssami or al-ʿAisamī, (5 February 1925 – June 4, 2011) was a Syrian politician and Arab nationalist figure. He was born to a Druze family in al-Suwayda, Syria. He was kidnapped by unknown persons in Aley, Lebanon and is presumed to be dead.

Syria
He was born to a Syrian Druze family. In 1947, together with Michel Aflaq, he became a founding member of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and from 1963 to 1964 he held different ministerial posts in the Syrian government. In 1964 he was elected as General Secretary of the Syrian Regional Command of the Ba'ath Party and in 1965 he became Vice President of Syria under Amin al-Hafiz.

Iraq
Following the 1966 Syrian coup d'état which resulted in President al-Hafiz being overthrown and the creation of the Syrian-Iraqi rift, al-Aysami, then Vice President of Syria, fled to Iraq. In 1974 the Iraqi Branch of the Ba'ath Party installed a rival National Command of the Ba'ath Party with Michel Aflaq as General Secretary and al-Aysami as his deputy (until 1979).

In 1982 al-Hafiz and al-Aysami, together with Islamist, nationalist and leftist opposition groups founded the Iraqi-backed National Alliance for the Liberation of Syria, but in 1992 al-Aysami retired from political life. He remained in Iraq until the 2003 invasion of Iraq and fled to Egypt, then the United States and Yemen thereafter.

Kidnapping
On 4 June 2011, during a visit to Lebanon, al-Aysami was kidnapped by unknown militants and is presumed dead. His family accused the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad for the kidnapping, after many witnesses came forth with evidence, however the Lebanese government was too weak to take measures against the Syrian government. The Syrian government, however, blamed the Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.

Personal life
He was the great uncle of Tareck El Aissami, later Vice President of Venezuela.