Ghassan Alian

Ghassan Elian, or Rasan Alian (רסאן עליאן; born 21 March 1972), is the commanding officer of the Golani Brigade, a colonel by rank. He is the first non-Jewish commander of the brigade and the second Druze officer to command an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade; the first was Imad Fares, commander of the Givati Brigade. Alian is the highest ranking Druze in the IDF and has served since 1990.

Career
He was previously the commander of the Duchifat Battalion, a reserve unit commander with the Alexandroni Brigade, and commander of the Menashe District Brigade near Jenin in the West Bank. 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". Prior to his appointment to the post of commander, Alian served as the brigade's deputy commander along with other appointments. In October 2013 Benny Gantz, the IDF's chief of staff, made the appointment.

Alian was wounded in a battle on 19 July 2014 during overnight clashes in the northern Gaza Strip as part of Operation Protective Edge. He was lightly injured in his eye, but his vision was not affected. 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". He later returned to his soldiers after being treated.

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