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Syria's new enforcer is Assad's son-in-law

President Hafez Assad has found himself a new strongman meant to ensure that the aging leader's son becomes successor.

He is Assaf Chawkat, the president's son-in-law and head of military intelligence and the first of a new generation of Syrians meant to ensure stability in Damascus. Intelligence sources as well as some Arab diplomats said Chawkat has been groomed to watch the back of Bashar Assad as he wages the struggle to succeed his 69-year-old father.

The sources said Chawkat, 36, so far serves two purposes. First, he ensures that the junior Assad will not have any rivals within the family. Some members of the family, particularly younger brother Maher, were said to have expressed skepticism regarding Bashar's chances to succeed his father.

"He is both a political and physical force and he is loyal to Bashar Assad," a senior intelligence source said.

The second purpose is to prove to Syria's Alawite elite and the Baath Party that Bashar can maintain stability under his leadership. The sources said Chawkat will be the first of several military strongmen with whom the junior Assad will form alliances. They said the 34-year-old optometrist will eventually surround himself with a coterie of hatchet man who will ensure loyalty in all military and security services.

Later this year, the president is expected to submit Bashar as a candidate for a leadership position.

Intelligence sources said the emergence of Chawkat has dampened criticism of Bashar within the Assad family. In November, Chawkat was sent to a French hospital for a bullet wound that sources said was sustained during a fight with Maher.

The sources, however, said the dispute did not diminish Chawkat's authority. If anything, they said, the elderly Assad cracked down on dissidents within the family who opposed Chawkat or Bashar.

"Chawkat is very unimpressive, to say the least," a U.S. intelligence source who closely follows Syria. "But right now, he is all Assad has."

A key role of Chawkat, the sources said, is to ensure that Bashar will be allowed to continue the grooming process. The sources said the elderly Assad is slowly but steadily preparing Bashar's skills in both diplomacy and military.

But the process has been slow. The sources said Bashar did poorly in his meetings in November in Paris with French President Jacques Chirac and the president does not want this repeated in any visit expected in Teheran.

"Bashar is coming to Teheran as a student not as an equal," the intelligence source. "So, for Assad, there's no hurry. The president has other ways to inform Iran about the peace process."