Ghassan Alian
|
Ghassan Alian
|
|
|---|---|
| Native name |
רסאן עליאן
|
| Born | 21 March 1972 |
| Allegiance |  Israel |
| Service/ |
Israel Defense Forces |
| Years of service | 1990– |
| Rank | 40px Aluf Mishne |
| Unit | Golani Brigade |
| Battles/wars | |
Ghassan Elian, or Rasan Alian (Arabic: غسان عليان, Hebrew: רסאן עליאן; born 21 March 1972), is the commanding officer of the Golani Brigade, a colonel by rank.[1] He is the first non-Jewish commander of the brigade[1][2] and the second Druze officer to command an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade; the first was Imad Fares, commander of the Givati Brigade.[3] Alian is the highest ranking Druze in the IDF and has served since 1990.[1]
Contents
Career
He was previously the commander of the Duchifat Battalion, a reserve unit commander with the Alexandroni Brigade,[3] and commander of the Menashe District Brigade near Jenin in the West Bank.[4] He had taken officer training at the same time as Naftali Bennett, Minister of the Economy, who praised Alian's selection as Golani Brigade commander by calling him "a brother".[4] Prior to his appointment to the post of commander, Alian served as the brigade's deputy commander along with other appointments.[4] In October 2013 Benny Gantz, the IDF's chief of staff, made the appointment.[3]
Alian was wounded in a battle on 19 July 2014 during overnight clashes in the northern Gaza Strip as part of Operation Protective Edge.[1] He was lightly injured in his eye, but his vision was not affected.[1] He was evacuated to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and while being treated he reportedly stated, "I have a lot of soldiers over there and I need to get back to them".[1] He later returned to his soldiers after being treated.[5]
Personal
Alian is from Shefa-'Amr.[4] His wife, Shirin, works as a Hebrew teacher in a local school. They have three children.[6]
See also
References
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- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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