5 Key Things to Know About Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

Aug. 18, 2011 — -- President Obama has called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside and allow Syria's future to be determined by its people. Obama said Assad's "calls for dialogue and reform have run hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing and slaughtering his own people."

But who is the tall, blue-eyed, English-speaking man who has ruled Syria since 2000. Here are five key things to now about the president of Syria.

1. Assad Was Never Supposed to Be President

Assad became his father's chosen successor only after his brother, Basel, was killed in a car accident in 1994. Immediately following Basel's death, Assad left London, where he was studying ophthalmology, and returned home.

Khaled Mahjoub, who said he has known the Assads since he attended kindergarten with Basel, told Time that Basel's death changed Assad.

"He felt responsibility," said Mahjoub. "He was always responsible in his actions, but after Basel passed away, he had responsibility."

Upon his return to Syria, he was put in charge of Lebanon policy, according to Joshua Landis, director of the Center of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

"The idea was that anybody who could learn to rule this unruly place of Lebanon ... could deal with Syria," said Landis.

In 2000, Assad became president at the age of 34 when his father died. In order to take office, the constitution had to be changed to allow an executive under 40 to hold power.

2. 'Brought Up With a Silver Spoon'

"Bashar was brought up with a silver spoon in his mouth," said Landis. "He wasn't brought up in the countryside in a small village in poverty. He was brought up in the best schools Damascus has to offer, in the lap of luxury in the city. He identified with the city elites."

Assad did not have to fight his way to power. Because of the easy path, Landis said, he "really didn't have a taste for the isolation and the toughness his father brought to bear on government." Although many thought he was ill-equipped and unprepared to rule the country, Landis believes he grew into the position.