The Fall of the Assad Regime, Part Two
—Jason

Listen here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/hwts266--63311949

The foundation of the Syrian Republic in October 1945 was a triumph for people of the new country. After decades of fighting for self-determination against both the Ottoman Empire and the French, it seemed that a new page had turned for the Syrian people. However, this period of celebration was short lived: events in both their own territory and in Palestine/Israel would shake this confidence to its core.

The establishment of the modern state of Israel during the Israeli War of Independence (30 November 1947 – 20 July 1949) and subsequent expulsion of large portions of the Palestinian population (known as the Nakba or Catastrophe, on 15 May 1948) put the new Syrian state immediately into international confrontation. The Syrian national government found itself allied with a coalition of fellow Arab states pledged to militarily undo the UN Partition of Palestine.

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, also known as the Partition Resolution, was adopted on 29 November 1947, and effectively split Palestine into two states: a Jewish homeland and a Palestinian Arab state. Great Britain had been the Mandate power administering Palestine since the end of World War I and had pledged to create a Jewish homeland, but it struggled to implement this effectively. At the end of World War II (1939-1945), the British turned the Palestine question over to the new United Nations.  

The United Nations formed the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), an inquiry committee made up of members from 11 countries. Ultimately, UNSCOP delivered two proposals: that of the majority, which recommended two separate states joined economically, and that of the minority, which supported the formation of a single binational state made up of autonomous Jewish and Palestinian areas. The Jewish community approved of the first of these proposals, while the Arabs opposed them both.

The 1947–1948 civil war in Mandate Palestine was the first phase of the 1947–1949 Palestine War. Immediately after the declaration of UN Resolution 181 on 29 November 1947, both Jewish and Palestinian militias attacked at each. At the end of the civil war phase, from April to mid-May 1948, the Zionists (those who sought the creation of an independent Israel) embarked on an offensive. This was known as Plan Dalet, which intended to conquer not only the cities and territories allocated to the future Jewish state, but much of what was meant for the Palestinians, as well. During this period, the Israelis expelled over 700,000 Palestinians before the Arab League could intervene.

Zionist leaders announced the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948, marking the scheduled end of the British Mandate. The following morning, Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, and expeditionary forces from Iraq entered Palestine. The invading forces took control of the Arab areas and attacked Israeli forces and several Jewish settlements. Despite the supposed numerical superiority of the Arab, states, their lack of close coordination and joint offensives ensured that after 10 months of fighting the modern State of Israel had successfully gained control over not only the area that the UN had proposed for a Jewish state, but also almost 60% of the area proposed for an Arab state.

The Syrian national government was greatly weakened and lost prestige due to the failure of the Arab-Israeli War of 1948. The Syrian army was pushed out of the Israeli areas, had fortified their strongholds on the Golan Heights, but had not destroyed the Jewish Homeland. In March 1949, Syria's national government was overthrown by a military coup d'état led by Husni al-Zaim, Chief of Staff for the Syrian Military.

Later that year al-Zaim was overthrown by his colleague Sami al-Hinnawi and Adib al-Shishakli. Al-Hinnawi was another military officer and quickly alienated his fellow conspirator by playing with the idea of a national merger between Syria and Iraq. On 19 December 1949, al-Shishakli carried out another coup d'état (the third that year), seized power for himself and established a dictatorship. Al-Hinnawi was assassinated while in exile in Beirut, Lebanon, by the cousin of the Prime Minister who had been overthrown and killed in Hinnawi's coup.

Shishakli then dissolved all political parties and established military rule. He banned newspapers and outlawed any that were not pro-Shishakli in their news coverage. Among those to suffer persecution under his rule were the National Party of Damascus, the People's Party of Aleppo, the Communist Party, the Arab Socialist Resurrection Party (better known as the Ba’ath Party), and the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood: after all, no serious dictator could have other political parties in opposition to him.

Syria under Shishakli found itself at odds with not only Israel, but also its other Arab neighbors. Hashemite-ruled Jordan and Iraq were viewed as unreliable, but they did appeal more to Shishakli than did Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Egypt. Nasser had similarly come to power by seizing power in the Free Officers Coup against King Farouk in 1952. Nasser was a brilliant politician and gifted speaker on the radio who was a rival for the hearts and minds of Arabs in North Africa and the Middle East with the concept pan-Arabism (a singular Arab superstate, in this case with Egypt as its leader).

Shishakli had attempted to repair Syria’s relationship with Great Britain and the United States for economic aid, yet this helped accelerate his downfall. The 1954 Syrian coup d'état took place in February of that year to overthrow the government of Shishakli. Leading the anti-Shishakli movement were former President Atassi, who had fought for the return of civilian representative government, and the veteran Druze leader Sultan al-Atrash (famous for fighting against French colonial rule).

The plotters included members of the Syrian Communist Party, Druze officers, Ba'ath Party members, and possibly had Iraqi backing. When the insurgency reached its peak, Shishakli backed down, surprisingly refusing to drag Syria into civil war. He fled to Lebanon, but when the Druze leader Kamal Jumblat threatened to have him killed, he fled to Brazil (where he was assassinated on 27 September 1964).

The national government was restored, but again faced instability, this time from abroad. After the overthrow of President Shishakli, continued political maneuvering supported by competing factions in the military eventually brought Arab nationalist and socialist elements to power at the expense of the Syrian civilian population. Between 1946 and 1956, Syria had 20 different cabinets and drafted four separate constitutions!

In November 1956, Syria signed a pact with the Soviet Union, providing a foothold for communist influence within the government in exchange for planes, tanks, and other military equipment being sent to Syria. This led to a major influx of modern weapons that could directed against Israel, Jordan, or Iraq depending on the political tensions of the moment. Acceptance of Soviet aid further alienated the United States and the West from any economic programs to Syria and further reinforcement of alliances with Israel.

1956 was a watershed year for Abdel Nasser’s popularity not only in Egypt, but throughout the Middle East and developing world. The Suez Crisis in October of that year was a coordinated attack against Egypt by Great Britain, France, and Israel. Once Western funding for the Aswan High Dam was rescinded following Egypt’s negotiations with the Soviet Union, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. This stripped away British and French control of the vital waterway, and they retaliated by landing paratroopers along the canal zone while Israel invaded the Sinia Peninsula. Nasser did not cave to the pressures of the invasion, rather he given both American and Soviet support in forcing the British and French to withdraw (Israel stayed in the Sinia longer until they too withdrew).

In February 1958, a unique event transpired: the political unification of Egypt and Syria into the United Arab Republic (UAR). The concept of pan-Arab union was attempted for the first time between states. The main hope was that the modernization efforts of Nasser’s Egypt would spill over to the Syrian economy and both peoples would benefit. Another potential benefit was the geopolitical isolation of Israel and threat of coordinated two-front war against the Jewish state.

However, it quickly became apparent that Syria was the junior partner in the United Arab Republic. Syrian political and military figures were replaced by their Egyptian counterparts; they would be sent to areas within the Egyptian administration where they exercised no official authority. In addition, the economic benefits of the union only flowed into Egypt’s coffers and cheap manufactured goods were offloaded into the Syrian economy with no investments in industrial development in their region.

The union was ended by a military coup on 28 September 1961, Syria seceded, reestablishing itself as the Syrian Arab Republic. Instability haunted the new republic for the next 18 months, with various coups culminating on 8 March 1963, in the installation by leftist Syrian Army officers of the National Council of the Revolutionary Command (NCRC), a group of military and civilian officials who assumed control of all executive and legislative authority. The takeover was engineered by members of the Ba'ath Party. The new cabinet was dominated by Ba'ath members.

The new Syrian Government explored the possibility of federation with Egypt and with Ba'ath-controlled Iraq. An agreement was concluded in Cairo on 17 April 1963, for a referendum on unity to be held in September. However, serious disagreements among the parties soon developed, and the tripartite federation failed to materialize. Once this reality set in, Ba'ath governments in Syria and Iraq began to work for bilateral unity. These plans foundered in November 1963, when the Ba'athist government in Iraq was overthrown (this new Iraqi government existed until its own subsequent overthrow in 1968 by a resurgent Ba’athist Party).

Syria’s internal political ails were not solved by the 1963 Revolution. As happens so often with military coups, the conspirators eventually turned on each other. In May 1964, President Amin al-Hafiz of the NCRC promulgated a provisional constitution providing for a National Council of the Revolution (NCR), an appointed legislature composed of representatives of mass organizations—labor, peasant, and professional unions—a presidential council, in which executive power was vested, and a cabinet: again, alienating his fellow military officers.

The 1966 Syrian coup d'état occurred between 21 and 23 February during which the government of the Syrian Arab Republic was overthrown and replaced by a union of the Ba’ath Party's Military Committee and the Regional Command, under the leadership of Salah Jadi, Chief of Staff of the Syrian Arab Army. Salah Jadi had previously founded the neo-Ba’athist Party before the coup and had recruited supporters prior to the 1966 coup. He was the de facto leader of Syria between 1966 and 1970, when he was overthrown by his fellow conspirator Hafez al-Assad.