Najah al-Attar

Najah al-Attar studied at University of Edinburgh and Damascus University. The recorded working language is Arabic. Positions recorded include list of vice presidents of Syria and Minister of Culture of Syria. Distinctions recorded are Order of Friendship of Peoples, Order of the Umayyads, National Order of Merit and Legion of Honour.

• Honorific Prefix — Her Excellency • Name — Najah al-Attar • Order — Vice President of Syria • President — Bashar al-Assad • Term Start — 23 March 2006 • Term End — 8 December 2024 • Alongside — Farouk al-Sharaa (2006–2014) Faisal Mekdad (2024) • Predecessor — Zuhair Masharqa Abdul Halim Khaddam • Order2 — Minister of Culture • President2 — Hafez al-Assad • Term Start2 — 1 December 1976 • Term End2 — 19 January 2000 • Predecessor2 — Office established • Successor2 — Maha Qanout • Born — 10 January 1933 • Birthplace — Damascus, French Syria • Party — Ba'ath Party • Other Party — National Progressive Front • Relations — Muhammad Rida al-Attar (father) Issam al-Attar (brother) • Occupation — * Politician • linguist • writer

Attar was born on 10 January 1933 and raised in Damascus as a member of a Sunni Muslim family. Her father was among the first Arab nationalist leaders who took part in the 1925-1927 Syrian revolt against the French Mandate of Syria. She studied at the University of Damascus, graduating in 1954, and obtained a PhD in Arabic literature from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom in 1958. She also received a number of certificates then in international relations and in literary and art criticism.

Attar is an accomplished translator and started teaching in high schools within Damascus after her return from Scotland, then worked in the Department of Translation of the Syrian Ministry of Culture. In 1976, she was appointed minister of culture, serving in that post until 2000. On 23 March 2006, she was appointed vice president.

Although Attar was vice president and served as a long-term minister in Syria, a state largely controlled by the secular Ba'ath Party, her brother, Issam al-Attar, was the leader of the Damascus faction of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and lived in exile in Aachen, West Germany since the 1970s, which saw a government persecution of various Islamist political movements.

The authorities additionally record the heading Najah Al-'Attar. Her recorded language was Arabic. Her recorded confession was Sunni Islam. She was the child of Muhammad Ridha al-Attar.