http://www.fpri.org/peacefacts/071.200007.sicherman.assadwaitedtoolong.html
 

...Trained as a fighter pilot and sporting a new name, al-Assad (the
lion vs. Wahash, "beast"), the young cadet entered the conspiracy- and
coup-ridden politics of the new state. He survived the tumultuous United
Arab Republic experiment with Nasser's Egypt (1958-62) to become a key
figure in the 1966 coup that brought the Alawites to supreme power.
Assad then methodically eliminated his rivals....