Image Source:
Bassel al-Atasi Archive
The photo was taken shortly after the liberation of Samakh from the Haganah in Palestine. Ziad al-Atasi was at the time deputy to the First Commander of Armored Tanks during the Palestine War. He became commander of the Armored Tanks Division in Qatana, near Damascus, and was one of the officers who helped topple Adib al-Shishakli in 1954. In 1955, he became commander of Military Transportation in Syria. Between 1953-1960, he served as chairman of the Retired Officers Syndicate, and in 2000, became Dean of the Atasi family in Homs. He is the nephew of President Hashem al-Atasi and in-law of the Homs MP and minister, Faydi al-Atasi, one of the founders of Syrian Independence.