Following on from Arya Kazemi’s previous insight into the warmongering street posters of Tehran,
Polo’s Bastards brings you Arya’s pictures from the region’s other rogue state – Syria.

The furtive joke regarding this image in Syria is that it shows the “father, son and the holy ghost.” It’s an image of the late President Hafez Assad (middle,) the younger son Bashar(right,) who is the current despot, and the eldest son Basil (left,) who was being groomed as his father’s replacement before being killed in a car crash in 1994.

A portrait of the late President in a traditional Damascus coffeehouse.

The elder Assad’s image among watches being sold and repaired on a Damascus roadside.

The current President’s image adorns the entrance to a shoe shop.

Photo Shop: Bashar’s image in a window of a photo shop.

Hafez Assad as body art!

I brake for Basil!

The Assads somehow even take credit for the ancient ruins in Palmyra!

A mural of the former and current leader at the entrance to the ministry of education.

The entrance to one of the branches of Aleppo University – A mural celebrating Syrian resistance against Israel as well as the former leader’s picture.

On the right side of this mural (located in downtown Aleppo,) one can see Basil Assad engaged in his favorite pastime of Equestrian riding.

Bashar’s image at the entrance to the ancient Roman amphitheatre in Bosra.

Photography by Arya Kazemi