Abdul Haseeb Kekheya

Abdul Haseeb Kekheya ( ) (April 17, 1934 –) is the First Engineer in the Arab Army of Syria for three decades.

Early life

Abdul Haseeb Kekheya was born in the city of Latakia in the Latakia province of western Syria (then a French Mandate) into a well known kikhia family. He was the first member of his family to attend high school. He attended Jules Jammal High School in Lattakia from which he graduated. Abdul Haseeb was the best in his class in math and physics. Because his family had no money to send him to university, Abdul Haseeb , taught math and physics in a small village (Ain Al Tineh) after he graduated from the high school, at the same time he applied for a scholarship with the Syrian Military Academy (where he was sent to the USA and received a Master degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas University, Austin, Texas in 1959. After he came back he showed considerable talent and the military assigned him to Egypt to teach mechanical course in the Military Technical Institute in Cairo in 1960 then they sent him for additional training in the Soviet Union. He rose through the ranks and became an important figure in the military.