Jamil al-Assad

Jamil al-Assad (; 1932 – 15 December 2004) was a younger brother of the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, and the uncle of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He served in the People's Assembly of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2004. He also allowed Iranian officials to enter Syria to realize conversions to Shiism.

In the 1980s, he set up a Latakia-based foundation (al-Murtada), which helped fellow Alawite Muslims to go on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The foundation is also said to have tried to convert Sunni Muslim bedouins to the Alawi faith, angering the secular ruling Baath Party in Syria. Whether true or not, the rumours caused friction with the majority Sunni population. Al-Murtada is also said to have had a militia wing, made up of Alawi Muslims, which was armed and equipped by Rifaat al-Assad's powerful internal security division, the Defense Companies. These gangs, called shabiha, involved in all kinds of mafia-style violence and corruption.

Jamil's son Fawaz headed commando forces stationed in Latakia that were not under the command of the regular armed forces, but they were constructed as counterweights to the power of the regular military. Jamil al-Assad was put under house arrest in 1981 after an unsuccessful challenge to his brother, Hafez al-Assad.

Jamil headed the national security committee in Parliament later in his life. He was reported to have been involved in arms smuggling to the Iraqi insurgents. In 2011, the EU placed sanctions on him for "being involved with the Shabbiha militia in the repression of protestors during the Syrian Civil War". The same sanctions were also placed on Fawaz Assad in 2011 by the European Union for "his involvement with the Shabbiha militia in the repression of protesters during the Syrian Civil War".