Dawoud Abdallah Rajiha (Arabic: داود راجحة; 1947 – 18 July 2012; forename sometimes transliterated Dawood or Daoud, surname sometimes transliterated Rajha) was a Syrian military officer who was the Minister of Defense from 2011 to July 2012 when he was assassinated along with other senior military officers in a bombing claimed by Syrian rebel forces during the country's Civil War.
Members of the unit, including former minister of defense Hasan Turkmani, were shown on Syrian television to be alive, and the rebels later stated that only Rajiha's deputy, General Assef Shawkat, and a second official who was not named.
[5][6][7] In June 2012, the matter of Rajiha's alleged death was permanently resolved when it was confirmed that he remained Assad's defense minister in the newly formed cabinet.
[8] Almost two months after the date of his alleged death, Rajiha was assassinated in a bombing of a meeting of the Central Crisis Management Cell held at the Syrian National Security Building at Rawda Square, Damascus.
[12] A military ceremony was also held for him and other two senior officials, Hassan Turkmani and Assef Shawkat, in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Mount Qasioun, overlooking Damascus.