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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Hikmat Shihabi<br>({{lang-ar|حكمت الشهابي}})
|birth_date= {{birth date|1931|7|1|df=y}}
|death_date={{Death date and age|2013|3|5|1931|1|8|df=y}}
|office = Member of the [[Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Regional Command]] of the [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Syrian Regional Branch]]
|term_start = 7 January 1980
|term_end = 1 July 1998
|office2 = Chief of Staff of the [[Syrian Army]]
|term_start2 = 1974
|term_end2 = 1998
|predecessor2 = [[Yusuf Shakkur]]
|successor2 = [[Ali Aslan]]
|image=
|party = [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Syrian Regional Branch]] of the [[Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction)|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party]]
|birth_place = [[Al-Bab]], [[Aleppo Governorate]], [[Syria]]
|death_place =
|allegiance ={{flag|Syria}}
|branch = [[Syrian Arab Army]]
|serviceyears = 1952–1998
|rank = [[File:Syria-Feriq Awal.jpg|30px]] [[Colonel General]]
|unit = 10th Armoured Division
|commands = Syrian Arab Army<br>[[10th Armoured Division]]
|battles =[[Six-Day War]]<br>[[Yom Kippur War]]
|awards = Hero of the Republic
|relations =
|laterwork =
}}
'''Hikmat Shihabi''' ({{lang-ar|حكمت الشهابي}}; 8 January 1931 – 5 March 2013) was a Syrian career military officer, who served as the chief of staff of the [[Syrian Army]] between 1974 and 1998.<ref name="Faure"/>

==Early life and education==
Shihabi was born into a [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] family in 1931 in [[Al-Bab]], [[Aleppo Governorate|Aleppo province]].<ref name=chi5mar/><ref name=hur7apr>{{cite news|title=Assad retires chief of staff, sacks intelligence chief|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/assad-retires-chief-of-staff-sacks-intelligence-chief.aspx?pageID=438&n=assad-retires-chief-of-staff-sacks-intelligence-chief-1998-07-04|access-date=8 March 2013|newspaper=Hurriyet Daily News|date=4 July 1998|agency=AP|location=Cairo}}</ref><ref name=Moubayed2006>{{cite book|author=Sami M. Moubayed|title=Steel and Silk|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sC-xU8QHSooC&pg=PA83|access-date=3 April 2013|year=2006|publisher=Cune Press|isbn=978-1-885942-40-1|page=83}}</ref> He attended [[Homs Military Academy|Homs military academy]] and then had advanced military training in [[the United States]].<ref name=Moubayed2006/>

==Career==
Shihabi began his career in aviation, training in the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[United States]].<ref name=chi5mar/> From 1968 to 1971 he served as deputy head of the military security department.<ref name=Ziser2001/> In 1970, he earned a Soviet degree in intelligence services. In April 1971, he was named head of intelligence services of the ([[Military Intelligence (Syria)|military intelligence]]), assisted by Colonel [[Ali Duba]]. He was promoted to a general the following year, and supervised the department of military security. After the 1973 [[Yom Kippur War]], he led the Syrian delegation to the United States in April 1974, negotiating the conditions of the Syrian–Israeli disengagement. On 12 August 1974, he was appointed chief of staff of the Syrian Army, replacing [[Youssef Chakkour]], who was promoted to deputy defense minister. In December 1983, while President [[Hafez Assad]] was ill, Shihabi was part, along with General [[Mustafa Tlass]] and Ali Duba, of the committee in charge of running the country.<ref name="Faure"/> From 1994 to 1995 he was part of a delegation that traveled to the United States to discuss peace negotiations with Israel.<ref name="Faure">{{cite book|last=Faure|first=Claude|title=Dictionary of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Culture, History, and Politics|publisher=Macmillan Reference USA|isbn=978-0-02-865977-0|page=432|year=2002}}</ref> His term as chief of staff lasted until 1998.<ref name=Ziser2001>{{cite book|author=Eyal Ziser|title=Asad's Legacy: Syria in Transition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_KR89t0433sC&pg=PA34|access-date=3 April 2013|year=2001|publisher=C. Hurst, Publishers, Limited|isbn=978-1-85065-450-6|page=34}}</ref>

Shihabii was also one of [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Ba'ath Party]]'s four-member “old guard” members of the Regional Command.<ref name=bar2006>{{cite journal|last=Bar |first=Shmuel |title=Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview |journal=IPS |year=2006 |url=http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf |access-date=12 March 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723214138/http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

===Resignation===
On 8 July 1998, after 24 years as army chief of staff, Shihabi resigned his post prior to Hafez Assad's death and was succeeded by [[Ali Aslan]].<ref name=Publications2012>{{cite book|title=Political Chronology of the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eCSOT0_JAnwC&pg=PA2038|access-date=10 February 2013|date=12 October 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-35673-6|page=2038}}</ref><ref name=zis>{{cite journal|last=Zisser|first=Eyal|title=Will Bashshar al-Asad Rule?|journal=The Middle East Quarterly|date=September 2000|pages=3–12|url=http://www.meforum.org/69/will-bashshar-al-asad-rule|access-date=14 August 2013}}</ref> Shihabi cited health reasons and a heart condition when asked about his resignation by president Assad who wanted to extend his service.<ref>http://www.aljazeera.net/programs/the-interview/2017/2/28/عبد-الحليم-خدام-ج2</ref> In 2000, rumors surfaced in Syrian newspapers, which proved false, claiming that Shihabi would soon be indicted on corruption charges.<ref name=naj01aut>{{cite journal|last=Ghadbian|first=Najib|title=The New Asad: Dynamics of Continuity and Change in Syria|journal=Middle East Journal|date=Autumn 2001|volume=55|issue=4|pages=624–641|url=http://offiziere.ch/wp-content/uploads/The-New-Assad.pdf|access-date=9 March 2013}}</ref>

===Alliances===
Shihabi was one of the senior Syrian officials who were close to late [[Rafik Hariri]], former prime minister of [[Lebanon]],<ref>{{cite book|author=William Harris|title=Lebanon: A History, 600-2011|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jY4ImTGnamUC&pg=PA262|access-date=10 March 2013|date=19 July 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-518111-1|page=262}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Mugraby |first=Muhamad |title=The syndrome of one-time exceptions and the drive to establish the proposed Hariri court |journal=Mediterranean Politics |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=171–194 |doi=10.1080/13629390802127513 |date=July 2008 |s2cid=153915546 }} [http://www.cggl.org/publicdocs/20080707.pdf Pdf.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012044649/http://www.cggl.org/publicdocs/20080707.pdf |date=12 October 2013 }}</ref> and Lebanon's Druze leader [[Walid Jumblatt]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Glass |first=Charles |title=The lord of no man's land: A guided tour through Lebanon's ceaseless war |url=http://www.charlesglass.net/archives/2007/03/the_lord_of_no.html |access-date=9 April 2013 |work=Harper's Magazine |date=1 March 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208085020/http://www.charlesglass.net/archives/2007/03/the_lord_of_no.html |archive-date=8 February 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

==Death==
Shihabi died on 5 March 2013.<ref name=chi5mar>{{cite news|title=Syrian army mourns death of former chief of staff|url=http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2013-03/05/content_28140122.htm|access-date=5 March 2013|work=China|date=5 March 2013}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|33em}}

{{SyrianArmyChiefsOfStaff}}
{{Ba'ath Party}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shihabi, Hikmat}}
[[Category:1931 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:Homs Military Academy alumni]]
[[Category:People from Al-Bab District]]
[[Category:Syrian Sunni Muslims]]
[[Category:Chiefs of Staff of the Syrian Army]]
[[Category:Members of the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region]]
[[Category:People of the Islamic uprising in Syria]]

Hikmat al-Shihabi - Revision history

->Citation bot at 03:14, 28 August 2021