Daoud Rajha, first Christian to take on the role of Minister of Defense

Slain Syrian Minister of Defense Daoud Rajha killed on Wednesday wasn't just a defense minister: He was also deputy commander-in-chief of the army and armed forces, deputy prime minister, and a general. He played a central role in containing the 17 months uprising taking over Syria, with his name recorded on the list of international sanctions.               

The 65-year-old Damascene is described as having a long and decorated military career, and served as the army's chief of staff before his appointment to the Defense Ministry in August 2011.              

He is the first Christian to reach such a high rank since the Baath party began its rule in Syria in 1963.              

Rajha’s saw the country’s uprising as a conspiracy targeting the “Syrian entity”, and was cited as backing up the regimes claims on the West, of being responsible for the bloodshed in his country.             

Rajha, a Greek Orthodox Christian, was born in Damascus in 1947. He was married and had four children.              

He was an artillery specialist in the military academy, from which he graduated in 1968.             

He was appointed as Minister of Defense on August 2011 under the government of Adel Safar, only to be reappointed in Riad Hajjab’s government on the 23rd of June 2012.          

He attained the rank of lieutenant general in 1998 and made full general in 2005, a year after being made deputy chief of staff of the Syrian Army. He was decorated with several honorary medals. 

He was killed alongside Vice President General Hasan Turkmani, and Assad's brother in law Assef Shawkat on 18 July 2012 in the explosion that targeted the Syrian National Security Building.