You cannot reform your society or institution without opening your mind.

On 10 January 2012 Assad gave a speech in which he accused the uprising of being plotted by foreign countries and claimed that "victory [was] near". A peace treaty is like a permanent ceasefire. [citation needed] Assad was criticised for Syria's presence in Lebanon which ended in 2005 and the U.

Four years later he attended postgraduate studies at the Western Eye Hospital in London specializing in ophthalmology. Bashar Hafez al-Assad (Arabic: بشار حافظ الأسد‎ Baššār Ḥāfiẓ al-ʾAsad Levantine pronunciation: [baʃˈʃaːr ˈħaːfezˤ elˈʔasad]; born 11 September 1965) is the President of Syria and Regional Secretary of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party.