Mr. Kanaan became a close aide to Hafez al-Assad during the 1970 's , and rose through the ranks of Syria 's intelligence apparatus .
Hafez al-Assad /people/person/nationality Syria
NNP NNP VBD DT JJ NN TO NNP NNP IN DT CD POS , CC VBD IN DT NNS IN NNP POS NN NN .
Hafez al-Assad
PERSON
Syria
LOCATION
/people/person/nationality