Ghassan Alian

Ghassan Alian is from Shefa-'Amr.[2] His wife, Shirin, works as a Hebrew teacher in a local school. They have three children.[3]

Alian was Chief Infantry and Paratroopers Officer and commanding officer of the Golani Brigade.[1] He is the first non-Jewish commander of the brigade[1][4] and the second Druze officer to command an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade; the first was Imad Fares, commander of the Givati Brigade.[5] Alian was previously the commander of the Duchifat Battalion, a reserve unit commander with the Alexandroni Brigade,[5] and commander of the Menashe District Brigade near Jenin in the West Bank.[2] 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".[2] Prior to his appointment to the post of commander, Alian served as the brigade's deputy commander along with other appointments.[2] In October 2013 Benny Gantz, the IDF's chief of staff, made the appointment.[5]

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.[6]

• List of Israeli Druze