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Ba'athist Syria

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Syrian Arab Republic
اَلْجُمْهُورِيَّةُ ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْسُوْرِيَّة (Arabic)
al-Jumhūriyya al-ʿArabiyya as-Sūriyyah
1963–2024
Flag of Syria
Flag
(1980–2024)
Coat of arms
(1980–2024)
Motto: وَحْدَةٌ، حُرِّيَّةٌ، اِشْتِرَاكِيَّةٌ
Waḥda, Ḥurriyya, Ishtirākiyya
"Unity, Freedom, Socialism"
Anthem: حُمَاةَ الدَّيَّارِ
Ḥumāt ad-Diyār
"Guardians of the Homeland"

Syria proper shown in dark green; Syria's territorial claims over the most of Turkey's Hatay Province and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights shown in light green
Capital
and largest city
Damascus
33°30′N 36°18′E / 33.500°N 36.300°E / 33.500; 36.300
Official languagesArabic[1]
Ethnic groups
(2024)[2][3][4]
90% Arabs
9% Kurds
1% others
Religion
(2024)[2]
Demonym(s)Syrian
GovernmentUnitary neo-Ba'athist presidential republic[5]
President 
• 1963
Lu'ay al-Atassi
• 1963–1966
Amin al-Hafiz
• 1966–1970
Nureddin al-Atassi
• 1970–1971
Ahmad al-Khatib (acting)
• 1971–2000
Hafez al-Assad
• 2000
Abdul Halim Khaddam (acting)
• 2000–2024
Bashar al-Assad
Prime Minister 
• 1963 (first)
Khalid al-Azm
• 2024 (last)
Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali
Vice President 
• 1963–1964 (first)
Muhammad Umran
• 2006–2024 (last)
Najah al-Attar
• 2024 (last)
Faisal Mekdad
LegislaturePeople's Assembly
Historical era
8 March 1963
21–23 February 1966
5-10 June 1967
13 November 1970
6–25 October 1973
1 June 1976
1976–1982
2000–2001
30 April 2005
• Civil war began
15 March 2011
8 December 2024
Area
• Total
185,180[7] km2 (71,500 sq mi) (87th)
• Water (%)
1.1
Population
• 2024 estimate
25,000,753[8]
• Density
118.3/km2 (306.4/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)2015 estimate
• Total
$50.28 billion[9]
• Per capita
$2,900[9]
GDP (nominal)2020 estimate
• Total
$11.08 billion[9]
• Per capita
$533
Gini (2022)26.6[10]
low inequality
HDI (2022)0.557[11]
medium
CurrencySyrian pound (SYP)
Time zoneUTC+3 (Arabia Standard Time)
Calling code+963
ISO 3166 codeSY
Internet TLD.sy
سوريا.
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Syrian Arab Republic
Syrian Arab Republic

Ba'athist Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR),[a] was the Syrian state between 1963 and 2024 under the rule of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. From 1971 until 2024, it was ruled by the Assad family, and was therefore commonly referred to as the Assad regime.

The state emerged in the wake of the 1963 Syrian coup d'état and was led by Alawite military officers. President Nureddin al-Atassi and de facto leader Salah Jadid were overthrown by Hafez al-Assad in the 1970 Corrective Revolution who became president after sham elections in 1971. Resistance against Assad’s rule led to the 1982 Hama massacre. Hafez al-Assad died in 2000 and was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad. Protests against Ba'athist rule in 2011 during the Arab Spring led to the Syrian civil war, which weakened the Assad regime's territorial control. However, for several years the Ba'athist government managed to stay in power and to regain ground thanks to the support of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. In December 2024, a series of surprise offensives by various rebel factions culminated in the regime's collapse.

History

[edit]

1963 coup

[edit]
Main article: 1963 Syrian coup d'état
Neo-Ba'athist military officers celebrating the downfall of the Second Syrian Republic after seizing power from its last democratically-elected president Nazim al-Qudsi in 1963.

After the 1961 coup that terminated the political union between Egypt and Syria, the instability which followed eventually culminated in the 8 March 1963 Ba'athist coup. The takeover was engineered by members of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, led by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. The new Syrian cabinet was dominated by Ba'ath members.[12][13] Since the 1963 seizure of power by its Military Committee, the Ba'ath party ruled Syria as a totalitarian state. Ba'athists took control over country's politics, education, culture, religion and surveilled all aspects of civil society through its powerful Mukhabarat (secret police). Syrian Arab Armed forces and secret police were integrated with the Ba'ath party apparatus; after the purging of traditional civilian and military elites by the new regime.[14]

The 1963 Ba'athist coup marked a "radical break" in modern Syrian history, after which Ba'ath party monopolised power in the country to establish a one-party state and shaped a new socio-political order by enforcing its state ideology.[15] Soon after seizing power, the neo-Ba'athist military officers began initiating purges across Syria as part of the imposition of their ideological programme. Politicians of the Second Syrian Republic who had supported the separation of Syria from United Arab Republic (UAR) were purged and liquidated by the Ba'athists. This was in addition to purging of the Syrian military and its subordination to the Arab Socialist Ba'ath party. Politicians, military officers and civilians who supported Syria's secession from UAR were also stripped of their social and legal rights by the Ba'athist-controlled National Council for the Revolutionary Command (NCRC); thereby enabling the Ba'athist regime to dismantle the entire political class of the Second Syrian Republic and eliminate its institutions.[16]

1966 coup

[edit]
Main article: 1966 Syrian coup d'état

On 23 February 1966, the neo-Ba'athist Military Committee carried out an intra-party rebellion against the Ba'athist Old Guard (Aflaq and Bitar), imprisoned President Amin al-Hafiz and designated a regionalist, civilian Ba'ath government on 1 March.[13] Although Nureddin al-Atassi became the formal head of state, Salah Jadid was Syria's effective ruler from 1966 until November 1970,[17] when he was deposed by Hafez al-Assad, who at the time was Minister of Defense.[18]

The coup led to the schism within the original pan-Arab Ba'ath Party: one Iraqi-led ba'ath movement (ruled Iraq from 1968 to 2003) and one Syrian-led ba'ath movement was established. In the first half of 1967, a low-key state of war existed between Syria and Israel. Conflict over Israeli cultivation of land in the Demilitarized Zone led to 7 April pre-war aerial clashes between Israel and Syria.[19] When the Six-Day War broke out between Egypt and Israel, Syria joined the war and attacked Israel as well. In the final days of the war, Israel turned its attention to Syria, capturing two-thirds of the Golan Heights in under 48 hours.[20] The defeat caused a split between Jadid and Assad over what steps to take next.[21] Disagreement developed between Jadid, who controlled the party apparatus, and Assad, who controlled the military. The 1970 retreat of Syrian forces sent to aid the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) led by Yasser Arafat during the "Black September" (also known as the Jordan Civil War of 1970) hostilities with Jordan reflected this disagreement.[22]

On 20 September 1970, Syria under president Nureddin al-Atassi and strongman Salah Jadid invaded Jordan in support of Palestinian fedayeen forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization, as part of Black September. Syria committed 16,000 troops and more than 170 T-55 tanks to invade Jordan. By 22 September, however, the Syrian invasion attempt had been largely defeated. As Syrian forces attempted to advance toward Irbid, approximately 50 of 200 Syrian tanks became inoperable. Syrian forces withdrew from Jordan on 23 September after sustaining losses of 120 tanks and 1,500 casualties. Jordan only lost 16 tanks, an armored car, and had 112 casualties.[23][24]

Hafez al-Assad (1971–2000)

[edit]
Main articles: Corrective Movement (Syria) and Presidency of Hafez al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad, president of Ba'athist Syria (1971–2000)
Ruins of Hama city in the aftermath of the Hama massacre in 1982.

The power struggle culminated in the November 1970 Syrian Corrective movement, a bloodless military coup that removed Jadid and installed Hafez al-Assad as the strongman of the government.[18] General Hafez al-Assad transformed a neo-Ba'athist party state into a totalitarian dictatorship marked by his pervasive grip on the party, armed forces, secret police, media, education sector, religious and cultural spheres and all aspects of civil society. He assigned Alawite loyalists to key posts in the military forces, bureaucracy, intelligence and the ruling elite. A cult of personality revolving around Hafiz and his family became a core tenet of Assadist ideology,[25] which espoused that Assad dynasty was destined to rule perennially.[26]

When Hafez al-Assad came to power in 1971 with the Corrective Movement, the army began to modernize and change. In the first 10 years of Assad's rule, the army increased by 162%, and by 264% by 2000. At one point, 70% of the country's GDP went only to the army. On 6 October 1973, Syria and Egypt initiated the Yom Kippur War against Israel. The Israel Defense Forces reversed the initial Syrian gains and pushed deeper into Syrian territory.[27] The village of Quneitra was largely destroyed by the Israeli army. In the late 1970s, an Islamist uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood was aimed against the government. Islamists attacked civilians and off-duty military personnel, leading security forces to also kill civilians in retaliatory strikes. The uprising had reached its climax in the 1982 Hama massacre,[28] when more than 40,000 people were killed by Syrian military troops and Ba'athist paramilitaries.[29][30] It has been described as the "single deadliest act" of violence perpetrated by any state upon its own population in modern Arab history[29][30]

Syrian invasion of Lebanon began on 31 May 1976. Syrian occupation of Lebanon lasted until 2005.

Syria was invited into Lebanon by its president, Suleiman Frangieh, in 1976, to intervene on the side of the Lebanese government against Palestine Liberation Organization guerilla fighters and Lebanese Maronite forces amid the Lebanese Civil War. The Arab Deterrent Force originally consisted of a Syrian core, up to 25,000 troops, with participation by some other Arab League states totaling only around 5,000 troops.[31][32][33] In late 1978, after the Arab League had extended the mandate of the Arab Deterrent Force, the Sudanese, the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates announced intentions to withdraw troops from Lebanon, extending their stay into the early months of 1979 at the Lebanese government's request.[34] The Libyan troops were essentially abandoned and had to find their own way home, and the ADF thereby became a purely Syrian force, although it did include the Palestine Liberation Army.[35] A year after Israel invaded and occupied Southern Lebanon during the 1982 Lebanon War, the Lebanese government failed to extend the ADF's mandate, thereby effectively ending its existence, although not the Syrian or Israeli military presence in Lebanon.[36] Eventually the Syrian presence became known as the Syrian occupation of Lebanon.

Syrian forces lingered in Lebanon throughout the civil war in Lebanon, eventually bringing most of the nation under Syrian control as part of a power struggle with Israel, which had occupied areas of southern Lebanon in 1978. In 1985, Israel began to withdraw from Lebanon, as a result of domestic opposition in Israel and international pressure.[37] In the aftermath of this withdrawal, the War of the Camps broke out, with Syria fighting their former Palestinian allies. The Syrian occupation of Lebanon continued until 2005.[38]

In a major shift in relations with both other Arab states and the Western world, Syria participated in the United States-led Gulf War against Saddam Hussein. The country participated in the multilateral Madrid Conference of 1991, and during the 1990s engaged in negotiations with Israel along with Palestine and Jordan. These negotiations failed, and there have been no further direct Syrian-Israeli talks since President Hafez al-Assad's meeting with then President Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000.[39]

Bashar al-Assad (2000–2024)

[edit]
Main article: Presidency of Bashar al-Assad
Bashar al-Assad president of Ba'athist Syria (2000–2024)
Cedar Revolution demonstrators in Lebanon, marching against Assad regime's military occupation in Lebanon after the killing of Rafic Hariri

Hafez al-Assad died on 10 June 2000. His son, Bashar al-Assad, was elected president in an election in which he ran unopposed.[12] His election saw the birth of the Damascus Spring and hopes of reform, but by autumn 2001, the authorities had suppressed the movement, imprisoning some of its leading intellectuals.[40] Instead, reforms have been limited to some market reforms.[25][41][42] On 5 October 2003, Israel bombed a site near Damascus, claiming it was a terrorist training facility for members of Islamic Jihad.[43] In March 2004, Syrian Kurds and Arabs clashed in the northeastern city of al-Qamishli. Signs of rioting were seen in the cities of Qamishli and Hasakeh.[44] In 2005, Syria ended its military presence in Lebanon.[45] Assassination of Rafic Hariri in 2005 led to international condemnation and triggered a popular Intifada in Lebanon, known as "the Cedar Revolution" which forced the Assad regime to withdraw its 20,000 Syrian soldiers in Lebanon and end its 29-year-long military occupation of Lebanon.[46][38] On 6 September 2007, foreign jet fighters, suspected as Israeli, reportedly carried out Operation Orchard against a suspected nuclear reactor under construction by North Korean technicians.[47]

Revolution and civil war (2011–2024)

[edit]
Main articles: Syrian revolution and Syrian civil war
Hundreds of thousands of Syrian protesters gather in Hama on 22 July 2011 during the outbreak of Syrian Revolution, chanting the rallying slogan of the Arab Spring: "Ash-shaʻb yurīd isqāṭ an-niẓām" (Arabic: الشعب يريد إسقاط النظام, lit. 'The people want to bring down the regime!')
Military situation in December 2015. Islamic State-controlled territory is in grey.

The Syrian revolution began in 2011 as a part of the wider Arab Spring, a wave of upheaval throughout the Arab World. Public demonstrations across Syria began on 26 January 2011 and developed into a nationwide uprising. Protesters demanded the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad, the overthrow of his government, and an end to nearly five decades of Ba’ath Party rule. Since spring 2011, the Syrian government deployed the Syrian Army to quell the uprising, and several cities were besieged,[48][49] though the unrest continued. According to some witnesses, soldiers, who refused to open fire on civilians, were summarily executed by the Syrian Army.[50] The Syrian government denied reports of defections, and blamed armed gangs for causing trouble.[51] Since early autumn 2011, civilians and army defectors began forming fighting units, which began an insurgency campaign against the Syrian Army. The insurgents unified under the banner of the Free Syrian Army and fought in an increasingly organized fashion; however, the civilian component of the armed opposition lacked an organized leadership.[52]

Pro-Assad demonstration in the capital Damascus after US-led missile strikes in April 2018

The uprising has sectarian undertones, though neither faction in the conflict has described sectarianism as playing a major role. The opposition is dominated by Sunni Muslims, whereas the leading government figures are Alawites,[52] affiliated with Shia Islam. As a result, the opposition is winning support from the Sunni Muslim states, whereas the government is publicly supported by the Shia dominated Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah. According to various sources, including the United Nations, up to 13,470–19,220 people have been killed, of which about half were civilians, but also including 6,035–6,570 armed combatants from both sides[53][54][55][56] and up to 1,400 opposition protesters.[57] Many more have been injured, and tens of thousands of protesters have been imprisoned. According to the Syrian government, 9,815–10,146 people, including 3,430 members of the security forces, 2,805–3,140 insurgents and up to 3,600 civilians, have been killed in fighting with what they characterize as "armed terrorist groups."[58] To escape the violence, tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have fled the country to neighboring Jordan, Iraq and [59] Lebanon, as well to Turkey.[60] The total official UN numbers of Syrian refugees reached 42,000 at the time,[61] while unofficial number stood at as many as 130,000.

Aerial view of Damascus in 2020

UNICEF reported that over 500 children have been killed in the 11 months until February 2012,[62][63] Another 400 children have been reportedly arrested and tortured in Syrian prisons.[64][65] Both claims have been contested by the Syrian government.[66] Additionally, over 600 detainees and political prisoners have died under torture.[67] Human Rights Watch accused the government and Shabiha of using civilians as human shields when they advanced on opposition held-areas.[68] Anti-government rebels have been accused of human rights abuses as well, including torture, kidnapping, unlawful detention and execution of civilians, Shabiha and soldiers.[52] HRW also expressed concern at the kidnapping of Iranian nationals.[69] The UN Commission of Inquiry has also documented abuses of this nature in its February 2012 report, which also includes documentation that indicates rebel forces have been responsible for displacement of civilians.[70]

Being ranked 8th last on the 2024 Global Peace Index and 4th worst in the 2024 Fragile States Index,[71] Syria is one of the most dangerous places for journalists. Freedom of press is extremely limited, and the country is ranked 2nd worst in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index.[72][73] Syria is the most corrupt country in the Middle East[74][75] and was ranked the 2nd lowest globally on the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index.[76] The country has also become the epicentre of a state-sponsored multi-billion dollar illicit drug cartel, the largest in the world.[77][78][79][80] The civil war has resulted in more than 600,000 deaths,[81] with pro-Assad forces causing more than 90% of the total civilian casualties.[b] The war led to a massive refugee crisis, with an estimated 7.6 million internally displaced people (July 2015 UNHCR figure) and over 5 million refugees (July 2017 registered by UNHCR).[90] The war has also worsened economic conditions, with more than 90% of the population living in poverty and 80% facing food insecurity.[c]

The Arab League, the United States, the European Union states, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, and other countries have condemned the use of violence against the protesters.[52] China and Russia have avoided condemning the government or applying sanctions, saying that such methods could escalate into foreign intervention. However, military intervention has been ruled out by most countries.[95][96][97] The Arab League suspended Syria's membership over the government's response to the crisis,[98] but sent an observer mission in December 2011, as part of its proposal for peaceful resolution of the crisis.[97] The latest attempts to resolve the crisis had been made through the appointment of Kofi Annan, as a special envoy to resolve the Syrian crisis in the Middle East.[52] Some analysts however have posited the partitioning the region into a Sunnite east, Kurdish north and Shiite/Alawite west.[99]

Frozen conflict (2020–2024)

[edit]

From 2020, the conflict settled into a frozen state.[100] Although roughly 30% of the country was controlled by opposition forces, heavy fighting had largely ceased and there was a growing regional trend toward normalizing relations with the regime of Bashar al-Assad.[100]

Fall of the Assad regime (2024)

[edit]
See also: 2024 Syrian opposition offensives and Fall of the Assad regime
Military situation after the fall of the regime in December 2024.
Territories held by the SDF (yellow), IS (grey), the Syrian Army (red), the SNA and Turkey (light green), SOR (pink), Tahrir al-Sham (white), the SFA and the United States (teal).

On 27 November 2024, violence flared up once again. Rebel factions, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), had taken control of Aleppo, prompting a retaliatory airstrike campaign by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, supported by Russia. The strikes, which targeted population centers and several hospitals in rebel-held city of Idlib, resulted in at least 25 deaths, according to the White Helmets rescue group. The NATO countries issued a joint statement calling for the protection of civilians and critical infrastructure to prevent further displacement and ensure humanitarian access. They stressed the urgent need for a Syrian-led political solution, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254, which advocates for dialogue between the Syrian government and opposition forces. The rebel offensive, which had begun on 27 November 2024, continued its advance into Hama Province following their capture of Aleppo.[101][102][103]

On 29 November, rebels affiliated to the Southern Front abandoned their reconciliation efforts with the Syrian government and launched an offensive in the South, in the hope of implementing a pincer movement against Damascus.[104][105]

On 4 December 2024, fierce clashes erupted in Hama province as the Syrian army engaged Islamist-led insurgents in a bid to halt their advance on the key city of Hama. Government forces claimed to have launched a counteroffensive with air support, pushing back rebel factions, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), around six miles from the city. However, despite reinforcements, the rebels captured the city on 5 December.[106] The fighting led to widespread displacement, with nearly 50,000 people fleeing the area and over 600 casualties reported, including 104 civilians.[107]

In the evening of 6 December 2024, Southern Front forces captured the regional capital of Suwayda, in southern Syria, following the pro-government forces' withdrawal from the city.[108][109] Concurrently, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces captured the provincial capital of Deir ez-Zor from pro-government forces, which also left the town of Palmyra in central Homs Governorate.[110][111] By midnight, opposition forces in the southern Daraa Governorate captured its capital Daraa, as well as 90% of the province, as pro-government forces withdrew towards the capital Damascus.[112] Meanwhile, the Syrian Free Army (SFA), a different rebel group backed by the United States took control of Palmyra in an offensive launched from the al-Tanf "deconfliction zone".[113]

On 7 December 2024, pro-government forces withdrew from the Quneitra Governorate, which borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.[114] That day, the Israeli army helped the UNDOF repel an attack.[115]

"Victory of the great Syrian revolution and the fall of the criminal al-Assad regime" on Syrian state TV after the fall of Damascus to the HTS. This was its sole broadcast for several hours.[116]

On 7 December 2024, the Southern Front entered the suburbs of Damascus, which was simultaneously attacked from the North by the Syrian Free Army. As the rebels advanced, Assad fled Damascus to Moscow, where he was granted political asylum by Russian president Vladimir Putin.[117][additional citation(s) needed] The next day, the Syrian opposition forces captured the cities of Homs and Damascus. After Damascus fell, the Syrian Arab Republic collapsed, and Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali established a transitional government with the rebels' permission.[118]

Politics and government

[edit]
Main article: Politics of Ba'athist Syria

Since the 1963 seizure of power by its neo-Ba'athist Military Committee until the fall of the Assad regime in 2024, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party governed Syria as a totalitarian police state.[d] After a period of intra-party strife, Hafez al-Assad gained control of the party following the 1970 coup d'état and his family dominated the country's politics.[2][119][120]

After Ba'athist Syria's adoption of a new constitution in 2012, its political system operated in the framework of a presidential state[121] that nominally permitted the candidacy of individuals who were not part of the Ba'athist-controlled National Progressive Front founded in 1972.[122][123] In practice, Ba'athist Syria remained a one-party state, which banned any independent or opposition political activity.[124][125]

Judiciary

[edit]

There was no independent judiciary in the Syrian Arab Republic, since all judges and prosecutors were required to be Ba'athist appointees.[126] Syria's judicial branches included the Supreme Constitutional Court, the High Judicial Council, the Court of Cassation, and the State Security Courts. The Supreme State Security Court (SSSC) was abolished by President Bashar al-Assad by legislative decree No. 53 on 21 April 2011.[127] Syria had three levels of courts: courts of first instance, courts of appeals, and the constitutional court, the highest tribunal. Religious courts handled questions of personal and family law.[128]

Article 3(2) of the 1973 constitution declared Islamic jurisprudence a main source of legislation. The judicial system had elements of Ottoman, French, and Islamic laws. The Personal Status Law 59 of 1953 (amended by Law 34 of 1975) was essentially a codified sharia;[129] the Code of Personal Status was applied to Muslims by sharia courts.[130]

Elections

[edit]

Elections were conducted through a sham process; characterised by wide-scale rigging, repetitive voting and absence of voter registration and verification systems.[131][132][133] Parliamentary elections were held on 13 April 2016 in the government-controlled areas of Syria, for all 250 seats of Syria's unicameral legislature, the Majlis al-Sha'ab, or the People's Council of Syria.[134] Even before results had been announced, several nations, including Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, declared their refusal to accept the results, largely citing it "not representing the will of the Syrian people."[135] However, representatives of the Russian Federation have voiced their support of this election's results. Various independent observers and international organizations denounced the Assad regime's electoral conduct as a scam; with the United Nations condemning it as illegitimate elections with "no mandate".[136][137][138][139] Electoral Integrity Project's 2022 Global report designated Syrian elections as a "facade" with the worst electoral integrity in the world alongside Comoros and Central African Republic.[140][141]

State ideology

[edit]
Main article: Neo-Ba'athism

Syria's state ideology under the Ba'ath Party was Neo-Ba'athism, a distinct and far-left[142] variant of Ba'athism that emerged as a result of the 1966 Syrian coup d'état, which turned the Syrian Ba'ath Party into a more militarist organization independent of the National Command of the original Ba'ath Party. Neo-Ba'athism has been described as a divergence from Ba'athism proper that had gone beyond its pan-Arabist ideological basis by espousing Marxism and purging the classical Ba'athist leadership of the old guard, including Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar.[143][144] As a result of these ideological differences, the Syrian Ba'ath Party came into conflict with Arab nationalists such as Nasserists and the Iraqi Ba'athists, particularly Saddamists, with whom they maintained a bitter rivalry.[145] Neo-Ba'athism has been criticized by the founder of Ba'athist ideology, Michel Aflaq, for diverging from the original principles of Ba'athism.[146] State propaganda portrayed Assadism as a neo-Ba'athist current that evolved Ba'athist ideology with the needs of the modern era.[147]

Foreign policy

[edit]
Main article: Foreign policy of the Bashar al-Assad administration

Relations with the Soviet Union

[edit]

Following the 1963 Syrian coup, the ruling Syrian Ba'ath Party established close relations with the Soviet Union, increasing Soviet power and influence in Syria.[148] The far-left neo-Ba'athist Syrian Ba'ath pursued a very close alliance with Soviet Union. Following the Sixth National Congress in 1963, the party publicly adopted the doctrine of ideological alliance with the Eastern Bloc:

"The Arab Socialist Ba'th Party had placed the question of the struggle against imperialism in its international and human framework and considered the socialist camp a positive, active force in the struggle against imperialism... a homeland crushed and exploited by imperialism render the fundamental starting points of the socialist camp more harmonious with the interests of our Arab homeland and more in sympathy with our Arab people."[149]

In 1971, Syrian president Hafez al-Assad signed an agreement with the Soviet Union, allowing it to open its naval military base in Tartus and gain a stable presence in the Middle East amid the Cold War.[150][151] Thousands of Syrian military officers and educated professionals studied in Russia during Hafez al-Assad's rule.[152]

Thousands of Soviet advisors and technicians assisted the Syrian Arab Army during the 1973 Yom Kippur War with Israel. 3,750 tonnes of aid was airlifted during the war to Syria. By the end of October 1973, the Soviet Union sent 63,000 tonnes of aid, mainly to Syria to replace its losses during the war. Soviet–Syrian relations became strained in 1976 due to Hafez al-Assad's intervention in the Lebanese civil war and the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, as the Soviet Union did not want a confrontation between the Assad regime and the Palestine Liberation Organization, who were both Soviet allies. The Soviets froze weapons supplies to Syria, whereas Syria denied the Soviets access to its naval bases.[153][154] It wasn't until April 1977 that the two states improved their relations. Syria refused to condemn the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and signed a twenty-year Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in October 1980.[155]

Relations with Russia

[edit]
Russian sappers in Aleppo during the Syrian civil war, December 2016

Russia strongly supported Bashar al-Assad's regime throughout the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011. From 2012, Russia with China repeatedly vetoed Western-sponsored draft resolutions in the UN Security Council that condemned Bashar's government for attacking civilians and demanded Bashar's resignation, which would have opened the possibility of United Nations sanctions against his government.[156][157][158] In September 2015, the Federation Council authorized Russian president Vladimir Putin to use armed forces in Syria.[159] Russian air and missile strikes began targeting the Islamic State, the Army of Conquest, al-Nusra Front, and the Free Syrian Army.[160][161]

Relations with Iran

[edit]

Syria and Iran are historic and strategic allies, with Syria being regarded as Iran's "closest ally".[162] The relationship between the Iranian and Syrian governments has sometimes been described as an Axis of Resistance.[163] Historically, the two countries shared a common animosity towards the Iraqi Ba'ath Party and Saddam Hussein, with Syria providing military aid to Iran during the Iran–Iraq War. After Hafiz al-Assad's death in 2000, Bashar al-Assad continued the relationship by supporting Hezbollah and various Iranian proxies; with the alliance being described as "the central component of his security doctrine".[164][165]

Following the outbreak of Syrian revolution in 2011, Iran began politically and militarily aiding the Assad government. The Guardian reported in May 2011 that the Iranian Irgc had increased its "level of technical support and personnel support" to strengthen Syrian military's "ability to deal with protesters".[166] Since the beginning of the insurgency in Syria, Iran has provided training, technical support, and combat troops to the Assad government.[167][168] Estimates of the number of Iranian personnel in Syria range from hundreds to tens of thousands.[169][170][171] Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, backed by Iran's government, have taken direct combat roles since 2012.[169][172] From the summer of 2013, Iran and Hezbollah provided important battlefield support to Syria, allowing it to make advances against Syrian rebels.[172] As of 2023, Iran maintains 55 military bases in Syria and 515 other military points, the majority in Aleppo and Deir Ezzor governorates and the Damascus suburbs; these are 70% of the foreign military sites in the country.[173]

Relations with Iraq

[edit]
Syrian President Hafez al-Assad (centre) with Iraqi Vice President Saddam Hussein (left), Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Bouteflika (right), and Syrian Vice-President Abdul Halim Khaddam (far right, half-covered) at 1978 Arab League Summit in Baghdad.

Syria was a prominent adversary of Ba'athist Iraq during the Cold War. Syria supported Iran in the Iran–Iraq War and joined the American-led coalition against Iraq during the Gulf War. During the Islamist uprising in Syria, the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein had provided arms as well as logistical support to the Muslim Brotherhood, particularly during the 1982 Hama massacre. However by 1997, Syrian president Hafiz al-Assad began reestablishing relations with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. The ascendance of Bashar in 2000 boosted this process, and Syria ignored the sanctions against Iraq, helping Iraq to illegally import oil.[100]

Bashar al-Assad opposed the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. He sheltered Iraqi Ba'athists and allowed volunteers through Syria to fight the Americans. Syrian pressure for reviewing the de-Ba'athification policy and support for insurgents was despised by the new Iraqi government.[174] As a result, the American-installed government in Iraq suspended oil supplies to Syria. In 2004, The U.S. commander of the coalition forces in Iraq, George W. Casey Jr., accused Syria of hosting Iraqi insurgent leaders who were co-ordinating the anti-American insurgency from their bases in Syria.[175]

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, former Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of Ba'athist Iraq, had close relations with Ba'athist Syria. Despite the historical differences between the two Ba'ath factions, al-Douri had reportedly urged Saddam to open oil pipelines with Syria, building a financial relationship with the Assad family. After the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, al-Douri reportedly fled to Damascus, from where he organized anti-American militant groups and co-ordinated major combat operations during the Iraqi insurgency.[176][177] In 2009, General David Petraeus, who was at the time heading the U.S. Central Command, stated that al-Douri was residing in Syria.[178]

In 2006, Syria recognized the post-invasion Iraqi government and resumed ties. However relations still remained poor until 2011, when American troops withdrew from Iraq and the Syrian revolution erupted, during which hundreds of thousands of protestors took to the streets; demanding the overthrow of the Assad regime. Both governments alongside Iran formed a tripartite regional alliance as both Iran and Maliki government in Iraq were critical of the potential rise of Saudi influence in Syria, a Sunni-majority country. Unlike most of the Arab League countries, Iraq rejected calls for al-Assad to step down.[100]

Relations with the United States

[edit]

Relations between Ba'athist Syria and the United States were strained in 1967 following the Six-Day War which resulted in the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, but relations resumed in 1974 following the Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria. Syria was added to the U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism on 29 December 1979, and remains the only state from the original 1979 list to remain on the list.[179]

Relations between the United States and Syria deteriorated due to Syria's opposition to the Iraq War. The Syrian government also refused to prevent foreign fighters from using Syrian borders to enter Iraq and deport officials from the former Saddam Hussein government that support Iraqi insurgency. In May 2003, the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, visited Damascus to demand Syrian closure of the offices of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.[180][181]

Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, the United States repeatedly called on president Bashar al-Assad to resign and imposed sanctions on his government.[182]

Military

[edit]

Syria under Ba'athist rule was characterized by a military dictatorship and a police state, where the Syrian Arab Armed Forces brought the Ba'ath Party to power. The regime's survival was largely enabled by the Ba'ath Party's "Ba'athization" of the army, and its heavy reliance on the army-security apparatus. From 1963, the top army command in the Syrian Army became increasingly Ba'athist, while Ba'athist officers became progressive. After Hafez al-Assad rose to power, he purged Sunni middle- and upper-class officers, replacing them with rural minoritarian ones, and consolidated his power with the establishment of an Alawite-recruited "praetorian guard" that helped ensure regime control over the military.[183][184]

Following the Syrian loss during the Six-Day War with Israel, Hafez al-Assad initiated a huge expansion of the military to achieve military parity with Israel. The Syrian Arab Army, which was mainly a conscripted force, increased from 50,000 personnel in 1967 to 225,000 in 1973, and to over 350,000 by the 1990s. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Syria lost its main supplier of military equipment, contributing to the isolation of the Syrian Army. In 2005, 50% of Syria's national budget was contributed to military and intelligence spending, and Syria had a standing army of 215,000 soldiers, and over 400,000 upon mobilization, as well as 4,700 tanks, 4,500 personnel carriers, 850 surface-to-air missiles, 4,000 anti-aircraft guns, and 611 combat planes.[185]

Human rights

[edit]
Main article: Human rights in Ba'athist Syria

Human rights in Ba'athist Syria were effectively non-existent. The government's human rights record was considered one of the worst in the world. As a result, Ba'athist Syria was globally condemned by prominent international organizations, including the United Nations, Human rights Watch, Amnesty International,[186][187][188] and the European Union.[189] Civil liberties, political rights, freedom of speech and assembly were severely restricted under the Ba'athist government of Bashar al-Assad, which was regarded as "one of the world's most repressive regimes".[190][191] The 50th edition of Freedom in the World, the annual report published by Freedom House since 1973, designates Syria as "Worst of the Worst" among the "Not Free" countries. The report lists Syria as one of the two countries to get the lowest possible score (1/100).[192][193]

Flags and coat of arms

[edit]
  • Flag of Ba'athist Syria (1963–1972)
    Flag of Ba'athist Syria
    (1963–1972)
  • Flag of Ba'athist Syria in the Federation of Arab Republics and after (1972–1980)
    Flag of Ba'athist Syria in the Federation of Arab Republics and after
    (1972–1980)
  • Flag of Ba'athist Syria (1980–2024)
    Flag of Ba'athist Syria
    (1980–2024)
  • Coat of arms of Ba'athist Syria (1963–1972)
    Coat of arms of Ba'athist Syria
    (1963–1972)
  • Coat of arms of Ba'athist Syria in the Federation of Arab Republics (1972–1980)
    Coat of arms of Ba'athist Syria in the Federation of Arab Republics
    (1972–1980)
  • Coat of arms of Ba'athist Syria (1980–2024)
    Coat of arms of Ba'athist Syria
    (1980–2024)

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Arabic: اَلْجُمْهُورِيَّةُ ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْسُوْرِيَّة, romanized: al-Jumhūriyyah al-ʿArabiyyah as-Sūriyyah, or اَلْجُمْهُورِيَّةُ ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْسُورِيَا, al-Jumhūriyyah al-ʿArabiyyah as-Sūriyyā
  2. ^ Sources:[82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89]
  3. ^ [91][92][93][94]
  4. ^ Sources describing Syria as a totalitarian state:
    • Khamis, B. Gold, Vaughn, Sahar, Paul, Katherine (2013). "22. Propaganda in Egypt and Syria's "Cyberwars": Contexts, Actors, Tools, and Tactics". In Auerbach, Castronovo, Jonathan, Russ (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Propaganda Studies. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 422. ISBN 978-0-19-976441-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
    • Wieland, Carsten (2018). "6: De-neutralizing Aid: All Roads Lead to Damascus". Syria and the Neutrality Trap: The Dilemmas of Delivering Humanitarian Aid Through Violent Regimes. London: I. B. Tauris. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-7556-4138-3.
    • Meininghaus, Esther (2016). "Introduction". Creating Consent in Ba'thist Syria: Women and Welfare in a Totalitarian State. I. B. Tauris. pp. 1–33. ISBN 978-1-78453-115-7.
    • Sadiki, Larbi; Fares, Obaida (2014). "12: The Arab Spring Comes to Syria: Internal Mobilization for Democratic Change, Militarization and Internationalization". Routledge Handbook of the Arab Spring: Rethinking Democratization. Routledge. p. 147. ISBN 978-0-415-52391-2.

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