1963 Syrian Coup D'état
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The 1963 Syrian coup d'état, labelled in Ba'athist historiography as the "March 8 Revolution" (), was the seizure of power in
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
by the military committee of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The planning and the unfolding conspiracy of the Syrian
Ba'athist Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutionary socialist framework. The ideology ...
operatives were prompted by the Ba'ath party's seizure of power in Iraq in February 1963. The coup was planned by the military committee, rather than the Ba'ath Party's civilian leadership, but
Michel Aflaq Michel Aflaq (‎, ; 9 January 1910 – 23 June 1989) was a Syrian philosopher, sociology, sociologist and Arab nationalism, Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its political movement; he ...
, the leader of the party, consented to the conspiracy. The leading members of the military committee throughout the planning process and in the immediate aftermath of taking power were Muhammad Umran, Salah Jadid and
Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad (6 October 193010 June 2000) was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until Death and state funeral of Hafez al-Assad, his death in 2000. He was previously the Prime Minister of Syria ...
, who belonged to the minority
Alawite Alawites () are an Arabs, Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate A ...
community. The committee enlisted the support of two Nasserists, Rashid al-Qutayni and Muhammad al-Sufi, and the independent Ziad al-Hariri. The coup was originally planned for 7 March, but was postponed one day after the government discovered where the conspirators were planning to assemble. After the coup, the Ba'athist Military committee initiated a series of purges that altered the structure of the
Syrian armed forces The Syrian Armed Forces () are the military forces of Syria. Up until the fall of Bashar al-Assad's Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, Ba'ath Party Ba'athist Syria, regime in December 2024, the Syrian Arab Armed Forces were the sta ...
by replacing 90% of its officer corps with Alawites. The March 8 coup ended the era of democratic experimentation in the post-colonial Syrian Republic, and transformed Syria towards a
one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...
exerting
totalitarian Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public sph ...
domination over daily life. The coup resulted in the ascendancy of the Ba'athist system, which exerted extensive control over social, economic, political, educational and religious spheres through brutal repression and state terror. The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party maintained its grip on power for over 61 years, through its control of the
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
, security apparatus,
political system In political science, a political system means the form of Political organisation, political organization that can be observed, recognised or otherwise declared by a society or state (polity), state. It defines the process for making official gov ...
and the '' Mukhabarat'', with the country being taken over by its
Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...
Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...
in 2000 until his overthrow during the Syrian Civil War in 2024.


Background


Events leading up to the coup

Modern Syria was first established in 1920 as the
Arab Kingdom of Syria The Syrian Arab Kingdom (, ') was a self-proclaimed, unrecognized monarchy existing briefly in the territory of Bilad al-Sham, historical Syria. It was announced on 5 October 1918 as a fully independent Arab constitutional government with the perm ...
under King Faisal I after the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
in 1917. This state was planned to be a new Arab kingdom, and not just Syrian, and the state espoused
Arab nationalism Arab nationalism () is a political ideology asserting that Arabs constitute a single nation. As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotes Arab culture and civilization, celebrates Arab history, the Arabic language and Arabic literatur ...
and
pan-Islamic Pan-Islamism () is a political movement which advocates the unity of Muslims under one Islamic country or state – often a caliphate – or an international organization with Islamic principles. Historically, after Ottomanism, which aimed at ...
policies. However the British, who had helped establish the state after
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, made a secret agreement ( Sykes-Picot Agreement) with France and established the
Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (; , also referred to as the Levant States; 1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate founded in the aftermath of the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, concerning the territories ...
. The area thereby functioned as one of France's colonies, and the newly established state was viewed unfavorably by most Syrians, with many of them regarding it as a vassal of European
imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...
. At this stage, some movements tried to establish a Syrian identity, most notably the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, or became advocates of
communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...
and
Islamism Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...
. The majority of Syrians continued to see themselves as Arabs rather than Syrians. The mandate was
feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...
in character, and it rested on a semi- liberal oligarchic social base. This system remained unchanged until the establishment of the
United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 to 1971. It was initially a short-lived political union between Republic of Egypt (1953–1958), Egypt (including Occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United Ara ...
(UAR). This system created a class society reflecting urban-rural living patterns. An estimated three thousand families owned half of the land in Syria. The middle class owned the majority of small to medium properties. Some two-thirds of peasants were landless. Agricultural revenues were highly skewed – the top two percent of the population received 50 percent of the income, while the middle class ( merchants or middle landowning groups), which was 18 percent of the population, earned 25 percent of agricultural revenues. The bottom 80 percent received the remainder. The landowner–peasant alliance was based on class differences, and social antagonism between each other – this would lead to the landowners' downfall. The mandate was dissolved in 1946 because of a British ultimatum to France, and Syria became an independent country on 17 April 1946. The same elite that had governed Syria during the mandate continued in power, and they ruled in the same manner. The failure in the
1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...
led to the downfall of the traditional elite and the rise of the military in politics. Husni al-Za'im became the first military dictator of Syria in 1949, but in 1950, military officer Adib Shishakli gained power behind the scenes, and by 1953 had established another military dictatorship. The military's introduction to the Syrian political scene destroyed the oligarchy, enabling the middle class to participate in Syrian politics. However, while their powers were weakened, the traditional elite retained the majority of the wealth produced. It was in this environment that the ideology of Ba'athism came into being. The Arab Ba'ath Movement was established by
Michel Aflaq Michel Aflaq (‎, ; 9 January 1910 – 23 June 1989) was a Syrian philosopher, sociology, sociologist and Arab nationalism, Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its political movement; he ...
and
Salah al-Din al-Bitar Salah al-Din al-Bitar (; 1 January 1912 – 21 July 1980) was a Syrian politician who co-founded the Ba'ath Party, Baʿath Party with Michel Aflaq in the early 1940s. As students in Paris in the early 1930s, the two formulated a doctrine t ...
in the 1940s; others who played a notable role in the early stages of the Ba'athist movement were
Zaki al-Arsuzi Zaki al-Arsuzi (; June 18992 July 1968) was a Syrian philosopher, philologist, sociologist, historian, and Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its political movement. He published several b ...
, Wahib al-Ghanim and Jallal al-Sayyid. Akram al-Hawrani founded the Arab Socialist Party (ASP) in 1953 – the Ba'ath Party was established through a merger of the ASP and the Arab Ba'ath Party. Of the 150 delegates to the founding congress of the Arab Ba'ath Party in 1947, the majority were either middle-class professionals or intellectuals. By the 1950s the party had managed to acquire an urban middle-class base. However, the Ba'ath Party was not a purely middle-class party, and from the very beginning, it sent party cadres to rural areas to recruit new members and form new party organisations. In 1956, the Ba'ath Party organized the first labour protest in Syrian history. While the Ba'ath Party was strong, its decision to recruit members from across society led to
tribalism Tribalism is the state of being organized by, or advocating for, tribes or tribal lifestyles. Human evolution primarily occurred in small hunter-gatherer groups, as opposed to in larger and more recently settled agricultural societies or civilizat ...
and
clientelism Clientelism or client politics is the exchange of goods and services for political support, often involving an implicit or explicit ''quid-pro-quo''. It is closely related to patronage politics and vote buying. Clientelism involves an asymmetri ...
within the party. Party leaders then opted to overlook democratic norms and procedures. The Ba'ath Party faced a significant dilemma: take power through competitive elections or forceful takeover. Even the liberal and democratic-inclined founding leaders were partial to forceful takeover, citing the corrupt electoral process. Before taking control, the Ba'ath Party gambled that it would be allowed to share power with
Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...
in the United Arab Republic (UAR). The UAR would prove to be Egypt-dominated, and the Ba'ath Party was forced to dissolve itself, but in 1961 the UAR collapsed because of a military coup in Syria. The establishment and the dissolution of the UAR was a catastrophe for the Ba'ath Party as it divided among those who supported the UAR, those who opposed it and those who opposed or supported the traditional leaders of the party. In 1962, Aflaq convened a Ba'ath Party congress and re-established the party. Several branches had not followed orders and had not dissolved during the UAR years. Instead, they had become deeply hostile to pan-Arabist thought and had become radical socialists instead. The military committee, which would launch the 8 March Revolution, shared most of their views.


Economic and social context

The 8 March Revolution has often been viewed as a mere military coup, but it had many of the ingredients of national revolts from below. The revolution was led by an anti- oligarchical alliance of a radicalised lower middle class, strategic members of the officer corps, marginalised minorities and a significant number of peasants who were mobilised for agrarian conflict. In an international context, the revolution took place because the state boundaries established by France were artificial and the hostility within the newly established Syria to the creation of Israel. The traditional elite that took power in Syria when the country gained independence had come to power during the
Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon (; , also referred to as the Levant States; 1923−1946) was a League of Nations mandate founded in the aftermath of the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, concerning the territories ...
. The external imposition of arbitrary state boundaries on Syria with no corresponding popular acceptance led to discontent. The national struggle was shaped by ideologies such as
Arab nationalism Arab nationalism () is a political ideology asserting that Arabs constitute a single nation. As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotes Arab culture and civilization, celebrates Arab history, the Arabic language and Arabic literatur ...
,
pan-Islamism Pan-Islamism () is a political movement which advocates the unity of Muslims under one Islamic country or state – often a caliphate – or an international organization with Islamic principles. Historically, after Ottomanism, which aimed at ...
and Greater Syrianism. The plebeian character of the struggle and the radical ideologies spawned radical solutions to the agrarian problem. The growth of the new middle class in Syria fueled discontent since the traditional elite dominated the agrarian sector – the largest sector of the economy – and created most of the wealth. The new middle class consisted of
capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
s and entrepreneurs who opposed the traditional elite – the monopolisation of power by the traditional elite led to the radicalisation of the new middle-class. The military, which in many countries is
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
and elitist, became radicalised in Syria because the military wanted greater power, believing that the traditional elite was unable to defend the country. A significant group of military personnel were recruited from the new middle class or the hinterlands. In Syria, religious minorities were often underprivileged, and a specific ethnicity usually belonged to a specific
social class A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the Bourgeoisie, capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for exam ...
. The
Alawite Alawites () are an Arabs, Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate A ...
s, the
Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...
s and the Isma'ilis for instance, were religious groups with low social class who began to embrace a radical form of Arab nationalism, e.g. Ba'athism. Without the peasantry there could not have been a Ba'athist revolution in Syria. The new middle class alone could only produce instability, but together with the peasantry, the revolution became possible. The inequality between urban and rural dwellers, together with capitalist penetration of the agrarian sector and the traditional elites' monopolisation of most large revenue sources, led to the establishment of peasant movements who fought for change or opposed the system. The Syrian branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party was able to recruit youth from radical peasant movements and thus was able to mobilise large sectors of the population.


Planning

In 1962, the military committee of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party spent most of its time planning to take power through a conventional military coup. The military committee decided it had to capture al-Kiswah and Qatana, two military camps, seize control of the 70th Armoured Brigade at al-Kiswah, the Military Academy in the city of Homs and the Damascus radio station. While the conspirators of the military committee were all young, the sitting regime had been slowly disintegrating and the traditional elite had lost effective political power. For the coup to be successful, the military committee needed to gain the support of some of the Syrian officer corps. The collapse of the UAR, coupled with mutinies, purges and transfers left the officer corps in complete disarray and open to anti-government agitation. At the time, the officer corps was split into five different factions; the Damascus faction which supported the
Syrian Government The government of Syria takes place in a presidential system and is currently in a transitionary period under and led by a transitional government. The seat of the government is located in Damascus, Syria. On 8 December 2024, after the succ ...
, supporters of Akram al-Hawrani, a Nasserist faction, a Ba'athist faction and a group of independents. The Damascus faction was the enemy of the military committee because of their support for Nazim al-Qudsi's Government and the Hawranist were considered as rivals because of their stance against pan-Arabism. The Nasserists became allies of the Ba'ath, even while they supported
Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...
and the reestablishment of the UAR. The military committee's alliance with the Nasserists led to the establishment of secret contact with Colonel
Rashid al-Qutayni Rashid or Rachid ( ) and Rasheed ( ), which means "rightly guided", may refer to: *Rashid (name), also Rachid and Rasheed, people with the given name or surname *Rached, a given name and surname *Rashad, a surname *Rishad, a given name Places * ...
, the head of the military intelligence, and Colonel Muhammad al-Sufi, the commander of the Homs Brigade. The military committee ordered a group of junior officers to recruit the leading independent Colonel Ziad al-Hariri, the commander of the front facing Israel, to their cause. The group was successful, and they promised al-Hariri that "If we succeed, you can become chief of staff. If we fail, you can disown us." Al-Hariri supported the committee because Khalid al-Azm, the
Prime Minister of Syria The prime minister of Syria (), officially the president of the Council of Ministers of the Syrian Arab Republic, was the head of government of Syria from 1920 to 2025. After the fall of the Assad regime, the prime minister of Syria was the head ...
, was planning to demote him. While it planned the coup, the military committee and its members were frowned upon by civilian Ba'athists. The reason for the army–party alliance in the first place was to safeguard the party from repression. The military committee did not look favourably on the civilian leadership led by
Michel Aflaq Michel Aflaq (‎, ; 9 January 1910 – 23 June 1989) was a Syrian philosopher, sociology, sociologist and Arab nationalism, Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its political movement; he ...
, objecting to his dissolution of the Ba'ath Party during the UAR years. While Aflaq needed the military committee to seize power, the committee needed Aflaq to hold on power – without Aflaq they would have no support base. At the 5th National Ba'ath Party Congress, held on 8 May 1962, it was decided to reestablish the party and keep Aflaq as Secretary General of the National Command. Muhammad Umran, a leading member of the military committee, was a delegate at the 5th National Congress, and told Aflaq of the military committee's intentions – Aflaq consented to the coup, but no agreement was made between him and the committee on how to share power after the coup.


The coup

On 8 February 1963, the Iraqi Regional Branch, led by Ali Salih al-Sa'di, took power in Iraq by overthrowing Abd al-Karim Qasim. He was a far more formidable opponent than al-Qudsi, and the Iraqi Regional Branch managed to take power through an alliance not only with military officers, but also with segments of the middle class. Qasim's downfall changed the rules of Arab politics – the Nasserists had monopolised the Arab nationalist movement since the UAR, but the takeover made the Ba'ath Party a force to be reckoned with. In contrast to the Iraqi regional branch, the Syrian regional branch did not have mass support or a significant support base in the middle class. While Aflaq cautioned the plotters because of the party's lack of support, they failed to share his worries, and planned to launch the coup on 7 March. However, that day the military intelligence raided the apartment where the plotters were planning to assemble. Hafez al-Assad was given the task of reporting to other units that the coup had been postponed to 8 March. On the night of 7–8 March, tanks and units loyal to the conspiracy began moving on Damascus. Al-Hariri led a brigade from the Syrian front towards Israel, while Ba'athists were able to gain control of a second brigade stationed in Suwayda. Caught in a
pincer movement The pincer movement, or double envelopment, is a maneuver warfare, military maneuver in which forces simultaneously attack both flanking maneuver, flanks (sides) of an enemy Military organization, formation. This classic maneuver has been im ...
, the commander of the 70th Armoured Brigade, Lieutenant General Abd al-Karim surrendered to the plotters – Umran took over as acting commander of the 70th Armoured Brigade. The potentially hostile unit stationed in Qatana, south-west of Damascus, did not intervene – probably because Widad Bashir had taken control over communications in the Damascus area. With the forces in al-Kiswah defeated and Qatana neutralised, al-Hariri's forces marched upon Damascus and began to set up road-blocks in the city, while at the same time seizing critical facilities such as the central post office. Captain Salim Hatum, a party officer, seized the radio station. The
Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
headquarters were seized without a fight, and General Zahr al-Din, the commander-in-chief, was put under arrest. Both al-Qudsi and al-Hawrani were easily tracked down and arrested. Salah Jadid bicycled into the city that morning, and captured the Bureau of Officers' Affairs, which later became his personal fiefdom. Assad led a small group of conspirators to capture the al-Dumayr air base, north-east of Damascus – the only unit that resisted the coup. Some of its planes had been ordered to bomb rebel positions. The plan was that Assad would lead a company from al-Hariri's brigade to capture the air base before dawn to prevent air strikes. The surrender of the 70th Armoured Brigade took longer than expected, putting Assad's forces behind schedule. When Assad's forces reached the outskirts of the base, it was broad daylight. Assad sent an emissary to tell the commanders that he would start shelling the base if they did not surrender. They negotiated their surrender even though, according to Assad himself, their forces could have defeated his rebel company in combat. Later that morning, the coupmakers convened at the army headquarters to celebrate. The coup was carried out without violence, as the politicians were too demoralized to resist. The coup was met by indifference in the population at large. Saber Falhout, a
Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...
who was later known as "the poet of the revolution", wrote and announced the first communique of the plotters. The ninth communique reinstated the five members of the military committee in the armed forces. The senior members of the newly established regime were Umran, Jadid and at last, Assad. A
state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...
was declared, which would not be lifted until during a nationwide uprising in 2011.


Egyptian and U.S. involvement

Historian Brandon Wolfe-Hunnicutt writes that Egyptian President "
Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...
appeared to have supported" the coup, however Wolfe-Hunnicutt comments that "In truth, the Syrian Ba'th probably got more help from the CIA than from Egypt." In an interview with political scientist Malik Mufti, senior Syrian
Ba'athist Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutionary socialist framework. The ideology ...
Jamal al-Atassi stated that "in the case of the
Ba'athist Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, is an Arab nationalist ideology which advocates the establishment of a unified Arab state through the rule of a Ba'athist vanguard party operating under a revolutionary socialist framework. The ideology ...
takeover in Syria—there was a push from the West and in particular from the United States for the Ba'ath to seize power and monopolize it and push away all the other elements and forces."


Immediate aftermath

The first act of the new rulers of Syria was to establish the twenty-man
National Council for the Revolutionary Command The National Council for the Revolutionary Command (NCRC) was the twenty-man military junta and council set up to rule Ba'athist Syria between March 1963 and February 1966. Established by the 1963 Syrian coup d'état, 1963 coup d'état, which was ...
(NCRC), composed of twelve Ba'athists and eight Nasserists and independents. It was a military junta created to rule Baathist Syria. On 9 March, the NCRC ordered
Salah al-Din al-Bitar Salah al-Din al-Bitar (; 1 January 1912 – 21 July 1980) was a Syrian politician who co-founded the Ba'ath Party, Baʿath Party with Michel Aflaq in the early 1940s. As students in Paris in the early 1930s, the two formulated a doctrine t ...
, one of the Ba'ath Party founders, to form a government, and to implement the policies of the NCRC. Later, six civilians were given membership in NCRC, three Ba'athists (Aflaq, al-Bitar and Mansur al-Atrash) and three Nasserists. However, this did not change the balance of power, and the officers still controlled the country. From the beginning, the military committee members formed state policies behind the backs of other NCRC members – when the civilian leadership found out, al-Atrash said: "Why do not these gentlemen speak? May I suggest they appoint a liaison officer to communicate their views to us?" From that day, Umran gave the civilians a faint idea of what the committee members were planning. Another policy was to staff positions in the armed forces with
Alawite Alawites () are an Arabs, Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate A ...
relatives and friends close to the members of Military Committee. At the beginning, there were no signs of the quarrels that would destroy the military committee. At the time, the members were bound together by their goal of building a prosperous nation. On 9 March the NCRC released
Lu'ay al-Atassi Lu'ayy (, ; also anglicized as Luay, Louay, Loai, Loay or Luai) is an Arabic male given name. It originates as the diminutive of 'wild ox'. Its meaning is thus ‘Protector’ It was most famously borne by Lu'ayy ibn Ghalib, an ancestor of Muhamm ...
from jail, promoted him to the rank of lieutenant general, appointed him commander-in-chief and NCRC chairman, the ''de facto'' head of state. Hariri was appointed chief of staff. While Atassi and Hariri held powerful posts, they did not possess enough personal or political power to threaten the NCRC. The Nasserist officers were also given notable offices with Muhammad al-Sufi becoming
Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...
and
Rashid al-Qutayni Rashid or Rachid ( ) and Rasheed ( ), which means "rightly guided", may refer to: *Rashid (name), also Rachid and Rasheed, people with the given name or surname *Rached, a given name and surname *Rashad, a surname *Rishad, a given name Places * ...
becoming deputy chief of staff. However, the Military Committee, which had expanded its membership with five new members, ensured that the Ba'athists controlled the real levers of powers. The committee decided state policies before the sessions of the NCRC, and by doing so became the real seat of power. Umran was first given the command of the 5th Brigade in Homs, but was promoted in June to become commander of the 70th Armoured Brigade. As head of the Bureau of Officers' Affairs, Jadid appointed friends to senior positions, purged his enemies and appointed several Ba'athists to senior positions. Ahmad Suwaydani, one of the new members of the Military Committee, was appointed Head of Military Intelligence and Mazyad Hunaydi became Head of the Military Police. The Military Academy at Homs was put under Ba'athist control—several hundred Ba'athists, including Assad's brother
Rifaat al-Assad Rifaat Ali al-Assad (; born 22 August 1937) is a Syrian former military officer and politician. He is the younger brother of the late President of Syria, Hafez al-Assad, and Jamil al-Assad, and the uncle of the former President Bashar al-Assad. ...
, were given a crash course in military teaching before being given command. Assad became the ''de facto'' head of the Syrian Air Force, a dizzying promotion for a man in his thirties. Considering that the members of the Military Committee were all too young to be perceived as the real leaders of Syria by the populace, the Military Committee appointed Colonel
Amin al-Hafiz Amin may refer to: People * Amin (name), a masculine given name and also a surname * Al-Amin, sixth Abbasid caliph, who ruled from 809 to 813 * Amin (Qing dynasty), Imperial Prince of the Qing Dynasty * Idi Amin (c. 1925–2003), military ruler ...
to the post of
Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
.


Purges and failed coup of 18 July

Pressure from consistent pro-Nasser demonstrations in northern Syria and Damascus and from pro-union Ba'athist leaders like Jamal al-Atassi, the Nasserists and the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM), coupled with the weakness of the Ba'athists at the popular level in Syria, led to unification efforts between the new government and the governments of Egypt and Iraq. The latter's anti-UAR government had also been overthrown by pro-UAR officers in 1963. On 17 April a new stage-based unity agreement was reached that would include the three states in a federal union with Nasser as president and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. However, between 28 April-2 May, the Ba'athist-dominated Military Committee virtually renounced the agreement when it purged over 50 Nasserist officers from their high-ranking positions in the armed forces, leading to a wide-scale propaganda campaign by Egypt via radio denouncing the Ba'ath (Nasserist-leaning newspapers had been previously shut down.) Mass pro-union rioting in
Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...
, Damascus,
Hama Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...
and other parts of the country followed. The purges prompted the protest resignations of Nasserist officials, including Defense Minister al-Sufi, Deputy Chief of Staff al-Qutayni, and four other Nasserist cabinet members. The purges resulted in the culmination of neo-Ba'athist transformation of
Syrian military The Syrian Armed Forces () are the military forces of Syria. Up until the fall of Bashar al-Assad's Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, Ba'ath Party Ba'athist Syria, regime in December 2024, the Syrian Arab Armed Forces were the sta ...
, which became mostly stripped of
Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
officers and packed with loyalist
Alawite Alawites () are an Arabs, Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate A ...
officers. This became a source of outcry across Syria and numerous intellectuals began highlighting the new regime's sectarian character through media outlets and publications. Later, on 19 June, Chief of Staff al-Hariri led a high-ranking delegation that included Prime Minister al-Bitar, Aflaq and Education Minister Sami Droubi to
Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
for a state visit. While al-Hariri was away, the Committee used the opportunity to undertake a purge of about 30 elite officers—mostly political independents—under al-Hariri's command. Al-Hariri was ordered to take a direct flight to the Syrian embassy in the United States, where he was reassigned as the embassy's military attache. Instead, he returned to Syria via a flight to
Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...
on 23 June to protest the committee's move against him. Unsuccessful, he left the country for France in a self-imposed exile on 8 July. The committee's virtual ousting of al-Hariri was to the chagrin of al-Bitar, who viewed al-Hariri as the last military counterweight able to check the committee's domination over his government. The Nasserists still maintained a relatively high level of strength in the military, despite the purges, and on 18 July, under the leadership of
Jassem Alwan Jassem Alwan (, ''Jāsim ʿAlwān;'' 4 July 1928 – 3 January 2018 ) was a Syrian military officer and prominent military figure in Syria in the early 1960s. He rose to prominence during the period of the United Arab Republic (UAR) when he serve ...
and the help of Egyptian intelligence, they attempted to launch a daytime coup against the new government. The Army Headquarters, personally defended by al-Hafiz, and the broadcast station were attacked, and the ensuing battle left hundreds of people dead, including several civilian bystanders. The coup attempt failed and 27 participating officers were arrested and executed. The executions were a rare punitive action used to deal with the participants of a failed coup in Syria, with the typical punishment being exile, imprisonment or reassignment to a foreign diplomatic post. President Lu'ay al-Atassi subsequently resigned, signalling his disapproval of the executions. After evading the authorities for a short period, Alwan and his chief co-conspirators Raef al-Maarri and Muhammad Nabhan were apprehended and brought to military trial, where they were found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. They were released exactly a year later and exiled, after lobbying by Nasser and Iraqi President Abdul Salam Arif. The failure of Alwan's revolt marked the end of significant Nasserist influence in Syria's military and civilian institutions, and with the pro-Nasser forces largely defeated, the Ba'athist Military Committee became the sole power center of the country. Relations with Egypt immediately soured, with Nasser, still popular with the Syrian masses, issuing broadcasts denouncing the Ba'athists as "murderers" and "
fascists Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social h ...
", and representing the forces of heresy and
atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...
, a derogatory reference to the party's embrace of strict
secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...
and the numerous leadership positions held by non-Sunni Muslims, particularly Alawites. Nasser also announced his withdrawal from the 17 April unity agreement. One of the crucial outcomes of the coup and subsequent purges was the dominance of Alawite commanders in the neo-Ba'athist officer corps, who assumed control of the
Syrian military The Syrian Armed Forces () are the military forces of Syria. Up until the fall of Bashar al-Assad's Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, Ba'ath Party Ba'athist Syria, regime in December 2024, the Syrian Arab Armed Forces were the sta ...
. The younger neo-Ba'athist officers would subsequently rebel against the Old Guard of the Ba'ath party, resulting in the 1966 coup.


See also

*
List of modern conflicts in the Middle East This is a list of modern conflicts ensuing in the geographic and political region known as the Middle East. The "Middle East" is traditionally defined as the Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia), Levant, and Egypt and neighboring areas of Arabia, An ...
** Syrian Crisis of 1957 **
1961 Syrian coup d'état The Syrian coup d'état of 1961 was an uprising by disgruntled Syrian Army officers on 28 September 1961, that resulted in the break-up of the United Arab Republic and the restoration of an independent Syrian Republic (1946–63), Syrian Republic ...
** 1966 Syrian coup d'état ** Corrective Movement (Syria) ** Syrian Civil War


Notes and references


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:1963 Syrian coup d'etat 1963 in Syria Arab nationalist rebellions Military coups in Syria Conflicts in 1963 Ba'athism 1960s coups d'état and coup attempts History of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region Arab nationalism in Syria Revolutions in Syria March 1963 in Asia Arab rebellions in Syria Cold War conflicts Socialist revolutions Ba'athist Syria