Two weeks before he died, the visionary former Syrian President, Hafez Al Assad, said the following to his one of his closest advisors:

"I am leaving, and my time is approaching, perhaps it has come. I have left no means or tool unused to achieve peace for my country. Syria will live years of prosperity, then you will enter lean years, years of loss and suffering. But you will endure with legendary resilience, recorded by history in letters of light, illuminating your path for another century. I promise you Syria’s unity and dignity for the next twenty years (2000-2024) without disintegration, without breaking. The West and the East will besiege you, but you will refuse defeat, and you will reject surrender, even if you live only for this, you will not be defeated."