View source for Khalifa al-Malki

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{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix          = 
| name                      = Khalifa al-Malki
| honorific-suffix          = 
| native_name               = خليفة المالكي
| native_name_lang          = 
| image                     = General Haftar.jpg
| imagesize                 = 200px
| alt                       = 
| caption                   = 
| title1                    = [[President of Syria]]
| term_start1               = December 7, 2022 ('''disputed''')
| term_end1                 = 
| predecessor1              = [[Saadallah al-Kuzbari]] (''still claims to be president'')
| title2                    = Regional Secretary of the [[Syrian Ba'ath Party]] 
| term_start2               = May 1, 2004
| term_end2                 = 
| predecessor2              = [[Hafez al-Malki]]
| successor2                = 
| title3                    = Chairman of the [[Syrian Revolutionary Command Council]]
| term_start3               = January 25, 2005
| term_end3                 = December 28, 2022
| predecessor3              = ''Position established''
| successor3                = ''Position abolished''
| module                    =
| birth_name                =
| birth_date                = {{Birth date and age|1952|07|20}} 
| birth_place               = {{flagicon|Syria|1920}} {{W|Damascus}}, [[Kingdom of Syria]]
| death_date                = 
| death_place               = 
| religion                  = 
| profession                = 
| party                     = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Ba'ath Party.svg}} [[Democratic Arab Socialist Union]]
| education                 = [[West Point Military Academy]]
| allegiance                = {{flag|Syria}}
| branch                    = {{army|Syria}}
| serviceyears              = 1972–present
| rank                      = [[File:Syria Army - OF10.svg|20px]] Field marshal
| unit                      = 
}}
'''Khalifa al-Malki''' (Arabic: خليفة المالكي, born July 20, 1952) is a Syrian political and military leader who has been the [[President of Syria]] since the [[Fall of Damascus|capture of Damascus]] by the [[Syrian opposition]] forces on December 7, 2022. Before that he had been the leader of the [[Syrian Revolutionary Command Council]], the opposition coordination council that led the fight against the Syrian government and its Western allies during the [[Syrian Civil War|Syrian Civil War (2004–2022)]]. He is the brother of the former president [[Hafez al-Malki]], who was in office from 1981 until the [[Anglo-America]]n [[2004 invasion of Syria]]. Since December 2022, he has overseen the removal of much of the Syrian bureaucracy of the previous [[International Security Assistance Force|ISAF]]-supported government and creation of a personalist dictatorship, along with a parallel state-party structure around the [[Syrian Ba'ath Party]]. Currently, he is recognized by about one-third of the world's countries as the president of Syria, while the [[League of Nations]] itself has not taken a position yet.

He was born in {{W|Damascus}}, one of the sons of President [[Farouk al-Malki]], and pursued a military career. The younger al-Malki graduated from the [[West Point Military Academy]] in the [[United Commonwealth]]. While his brother Hafez became involved in politics and eventually became the Syrian head of state, he rose to command an armored division in the Syrian army and became the commander of the Republican Guard in 1997. On the eve of war in 2004 the Republican Guard was considered to be the best segment of the Syrian army that faced the invasion force, but it was defeated in battle outside of Damascus, though some remnants of the division managed to escape. At that point Khalifa al-Malki disappeared and went underground, and by 2005 he was one of the most wanted fugitives of the former Ba'athist government, later emerging as the leader of the Ba'athist opposition in the Syrian insurgency. He led the Syrian Council of Ba'athist Revolutionaries from 2004 until 2009, which later became the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council (SRCC) after it grew from initially being a marginal group. After the decline and collapse of the [[Army of Conquest]] in 2011, the leading Islamist rebel army that posed the largest challenge to the Western-backed Syrian government, al-Malki's Revolutionary Command Council rallied the remaining opposition under his Ba'ath Party. By early 2015, the SRCC-led [[Syrian Arab Army (2009–2022)|Syrian Arab Army]] (SAA) became the largest rebel force in the entire country. Al-Malki told reporters from the Hashemite news channel ''[[Al-Arabiya]]'' in early 2012 that his goal was to "remove every foreign occupier from Syrian soil" and reestablish Syrian sovereignty. 

Having consolidated his role as the leader of the [[Syrian opposition]], in August 2015 he launched [[Operation Euphrates Shield]], when SAA forces in rural areas of northern Syria launched an offensive south towards the Euphrates river. The attack caught the [[Syrian National Army]] off guard and brought some major towns in the north under SAA control, being the first significant rebel victory in the war since 2009. In January 2016, the SAA used its newly gained territory to begin encircling {{W|Aleppo}}, one of the largest cities in Syria, and driving government troops away from the city. The [[Aleppo offensive (2016–2017)|Aleppo offensive]] nearly cut off the last supply lines of the SNA into the city, but by the end of summer 2016 the SAA's advance was halted with the arrival of reinforcements and ISAF support. Al-Malki was forced to direct much of the opposition's forces to defending their newly gained territory in the northwest of Syria, in the countryside outside of Aleppo, as the SNA and its ISAF allies launched a [[Aleppo offensive (2017–2018)|their own offensive]]. By mid-2018 the situation was at a stalemate, with the SAA having been driven away from the city, though in September of that year he chose to abandon the rest of {{W|Aleppo Governorate}} entirely and withdrew the forces there into {{W|Idlib Governorate}}. After rebuilding the SAA there, al-Malki launched a series of attacks further to the east, in the [[northern Syria campaign]], which consolidated their control over the entire region and put {{W|Deir ez-Zor}} in danger of falling. This led K.S. Prime Minister [[Nemesis Heartwell]] to begin [[Operation Shield of Idlib]] in early 2019, a massive operation against the SAA territory in the north, aiming to destroy the pocket entirely. 

In response to the government's largest offensive yet, al-Malki abandoned much of the territory in the east, although left behind cells to continue coordinating with local leaders on the ground – something that would prove to be very useful later on. The SAA shortened its defensive line and managed to halt the SNA and ISAF advance in the northwest, with much of Idlib remaining under opposition control after months of intense fighting. [[Kurdistan]] took the opportunity to deploy its troops into {{W|Al-Hasakah Governorate|Al-Hasakah}}, {{W|Dohuk Governorate|Dohuk}}, and {{W|Nineveh Governorate}}s in mid-2019, further complicating the situation. By October 2019, the front lines were again at a stalemate, with the SNA unable to advance and sabotage damaging their supply lines in the regained territories. Operation Shield of Idlib was described as a {{W|pyrrhic victory}} (or a failure by Heartwell's opponents) in the [[Kingdom of Sierra|Sierra]], and after her defeat in the [[2020 Sierran federal election]] the new government of Prime Minister [[Susan Kwon]] began a series of negotiations. In the meantime, the Syrian revolutionaries began reaching out to local leaders throughout Syria, having seen their effectiveness during the recent operation. After more than a year of drawn out talks, a [[Sierra–Syrian opposition deal|deal]] was signed in late 2021, leading to the [[withdrawal of ISAF troops from Syria]] beginning in early 2022.

Al-Malki has been declared a terrorist by the [[Government of the Kingdom of Sierra|Government of Sierra]], the [[United Kingdom]], the [[Conference of American States]], and the [[European Community]], and his forces have been accused of committing war crimes against supporters of the previous Syrian government. The [[United Commonwealth]] and the [[Chattanooga Pact]] officially recognized the new Western-backed democratic government, but have been accused of providing covert support to al-Malki and his army through their allies in [[Egypt]], [[Libya]], and [[Palestine]]. After his returning to power following the [[2022 Damascus offensive]], he received recognition from many Landonist and non-aligned countries, although the CAS and EC have refused to recognize him as the legitimate Syrian head of state as of early 2023. Hundreds of former government officials have been arrested and the Syrian Arab Army has used force to disperse the [[2022–23 Syrian protests]] against the Ba'athist takeover.

==Early life and education==

==Military career==

==Remaining underground==

==Leading an insurgency==

==President of Syria==

==Personal life==

==Awards and decorations==

[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:Syrian Arab nationalists]]
[[Category:People of the Syrian Civil War]]
[[Category:Presidents of Syria]]
[[Category:Regional Secretaries of the Syrian Ba'ath Party]]
[[Category:Syrian Alawites]]
[[Category:Syrian generals]]
[[Category:People from Damascus]]
[[Category:Continental Military Academy alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Syrian politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century Syrian politicians]]
[[Category:Syrian diplomats]]