On 18 July 2012 , Shawkat attended a meeting of the military crisis unit at the headquarters of Syria 's national security council in the Rawda Square of Damascus . There he was killed in a bomb attack along with Dawoud Rajiha , the Defense Minister , and Hassan Turkmani , the former Defense Minister and a military adviser to Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa . As ' ad AbuKhalil argues that Shawkat was the key man in the group assassinated
bomb attack
18 July 2012 Damascus bombing
Assef Shawkat