Profiles of Syrian Officials Targeted in Damascus Blast Three of President Bashar al-Assad's closest military advisers were killed in an attack on July 18 in Damascus, and two others were wounded, in the most audacious challenge to the government's grip on power since the Syria uprising began 17 months ago. Click here for the story and follow The Lede blog for the latest updates. Daoud Rajha, Defense Minister Gen. Daoud Rajiha, 65, a career military officer, had been in the post of defense minister for just under a year when he was killed in the explosion on Wednesday. He was among the most powerful and visible members of Syria's Christian minority, which Mr. Assad has courted to help maintain his power, but despite his title he was not thought to be a leading figure in the president's inner circle. Last August, General Rajiha was hastily announced as the successor to Gen. Ali Habib Mahmoud, who was said to be among a small group of senior officials who differed with Mr. Assad over the government's violent repression of the uprising in the country. In a press release announcing the succession, the Syrian state news agency, SANA, said that General Habib had been in "ill health for some time, and his health condition deteriorated recently." That prompted rumors that he had been killed, and the rumors persisted even after the former minister was shown on television speaking about his health problems. General Rajiha, an artillery specialist, graduated from the Syrian military academy in 1967. In March, the United States Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the general, saying he was "reportedly chosen for his loyalty to the Assad regime." Asef Shawkat, Deputy Defense Minister Of the senior Syrian leaders killed on Wednesday, none was closer to the centers of power than the deputy defense minister, Asef Shawkat, who was Mr. Assad's brother-in-law. A fixture of Syrian intelligence circles for more than a decade, Mr. Shawkat was said to play a central role during the uprising, both as an enforcer and as one of the government's main negotiators with armed opposition groups in cities like Zabadani and Homs. Born in Tartus on the coast, Mr. Shawkat volunteered for army service and rose through the military ranks. In many ways he was an unlikely insider: Mr. Assad's brother Basil was said to bitterly oppose his sister's engagement to Mr. Shawkat, who was divorced with five children. The couple eloped after Basil died in a car crash in 1994, and Mr. Shawkat managed to forge a close relationship with Bashar and win the blessing of his wife's and Bashar's father, Hafez al-Assad, the longtime president. Basil's death was not the end of his troubles with his in-laws, though: there were reports that Mr. Shawkat was shot by his wife's youngest brother, Maher al-Assad, in 1999. A State Department cable from that year, later made public by WikiLeaks, described Mr. Shawkat as "tough, extremely intelligent, well-read, quiet and a self starter." When he was the head of Syrian Military Intelligence in 2006, the United States froze his assets "for furthering the government of Syria's support for terrorism." American officials said they had linked Mr. Shawkat to the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the billionaire former Lebanese prime minister who was killed by a car bomb in 2005. As the intelligence chief, Mr. Shawkat mixed brutality with pragmatism, offering government rewards to opponents on the one hand while threatening violence with the other. He kept a low public profile and was rarely photographed. Opposition activists say he took a direct role in government negotiations with them over the past year. Leaders in the mountain city of Zabadani said in January that after six days of intense fighting there, Mr. Shawkat personally negotiated a truce with local council members. The truce lasted only a few weeks. Hassan Turkmani, Assistant Vice President Maj. Gen. Hassan Turkmani was a crucial adviser to Mr. Assad on military matters, and reportedly led the crisis group, the committee of security officials who were charged with managing the military response to the uprising in Syria. General Turkmani was one of a handful of Sunni Muslims who held senior posts in the Assad government's security services, which relied heavily on members of Mr. Assad's minority Alawite sect. About three-quarters of Syrians are Sunni Muslim and an additional 10 percent to 12 percent are Christian; smaller religious minorities make up the rest. Born in Aleppo in 1935, General Turkmani graduated from artillery school in 1956 and commanded a mechanized division during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. He later served as the army's chief of staff, and became defense minister in 2004, replacing Gen. Mustafa Tlas, a pillar of the government who had held the post since 1972. General Turkmani was appointed an assistant vice president, with cabinet rank, in 2009. Muhammad Ibrahim Sha'ar, Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Muhammad Ibrahim Sha'ar, who served as the head of Syria's military police and as the director of the notorious Sednaya prison, was appointed interior minister during the uprising. Some sources say he was born in 1950. In May, the European Union imposed sanctions on General Sha'ar, saying he was "involved in violence against demonstrators." Around that time, opposition activists circulated rumors that the general and several other top officials had been fatally poisoned. The reports proved false. In January, after a car bombing in Damascus, General Sha'ar acted as the public face of the government's angry response. "We will strike back with an iron fist at anyone who is tempted to play with the security of the country," Syrian state television quoted him as saying. Hisham Ikhtiar, Party security chief Gen. Hisham Ikhtiar, the head of the Baath Party's National Security Bureau, was reported to have been wounded in the explosion in Damascus. General Ikhtiar is said to be a close adviser to Mr. Assad and was also said to be close to Asef Shawkat, the president's brother-in-law, who was killed in the blast. General Ikhtiar served from 2001 to 2005 as the director of Syria's General Intelligence Directorate, the agency responsible for monitoring dissidents and other political intelligence. He is said to have played a role in the government's suppression of protests in Dara'a, the southern town where the uprising began. Some reports say he was born in 1941. In 2006, the United States Treasury Department, citing the intelligence branch's "destabilizing" influence in Lebanon, froze General Ikhtiar's assets, saying he maintained "active informant networks" and carried out "intelligence operations" in Lebanon.