Problem with IF statement [SOLVED]

Hi again............
I have a problem with this routine where "AlertStatus" is DEFINITELY = 0 before its called but it runs the actions anyway!
What am I missing?? Seems to do the opposite of what I want!

void AllClearMessage(){
      Serial.print("AlertStatus = ");
        Serial.println(AlertStatus);          //this shows the value is DEFINITELY 0 before the next line is run!
      if (AlertStatus = 1)
        {
        sendATcommand(AT_PUSHOVER,"OK",500);
        sendATcommand("AT+SMTPSUB=\"SUBJECT\"","OK",500);
        gsmSerial.println("AT+SMTPBODY=\"MESSAGE\"");
        sendATcommand(AT_SMTPSEND,"OK",500);
        Serial.println("All Clear Sent");
        selectAlertPos();
        LCD.print("AllClr");
        (AlertStatus) = 0;
        delay(1000);
        }
}

if ( AlertStatus == 1 )
{
}

DOH - thanks guys..............feel a bit stupid!

SOOO many things still catch me out with the change from BASIC to Arduino!