Syria

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Baath Party Rule

A provisional constitution was approved in a referendum early in December 1961, and a new national government was established. On March 8, 1963, this government was overthrown in a bloodless military coup, and a national council of a revolutionary command assumed control. Major General Amin el-Hafez, a former military attaché in Argentina, became chairman of the national council.

In May 1964 the national council was replaced by a presidency council of three civilian and two military members vested with full executive powers. Tensions within the ruling Baath Party, especially the long-standing hostility between its older civilian members and the extreme leftists among the young military officers, mounted steadily in 1964 and throughout 1965. In February 1966 the radicals seized power, placed several longtime Baathist leaders under arrest, and installed Nur ad-Din al-Atasi, a former deputy prime minister, as head of state.

In July and September 1966 two abortive attempts to overthrow the regime were followed by extensive purges in the army and the government. On November 4, 1966, Syria and Egypt entered into a defense agreement directed against Israel. This move was in part a response to increasing tension on the Syrian-Israeli border. During 1966 and early 1967 the border was repeatedly violated by Syrian-based guerrilla attacks and Israeli reprisals. Border incidents were an important catalyst in the chain of events leading to the outbreak of the Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab nations in 1967. During the conflict Israeli forces overran the Syrian positions on the Golan Heights, advanced rapidly, and occupied Al Qunayţirah, only 65 km (40 mi) from Damascus. On June 10 the United Nations cease-fire proposal was accepted, and observers were placed between Israeli and Syrian forces. Charging the United Kingdom and the United States with active support of Israel, Syria broke relations with both countries on June 6.

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Syria Under Assad

In November 1970 General Hafez al-Assad seized power. Assad became president in March 1971; he formed a new cabinet in December 1972, giving the Baathists more than half the posts and dividing the rest among the other parties. Like Assad, many of the new members of the government belonged to the Alawite sect of Islam, which comprises about 11 percent of Syria’s population.

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During the Arab-Israeli War of 1973, Syrian troops attacked Israel on the Golan Heights, while Egypt struck along the Suez Canal. After early Syrian gains, Israel drove the Syrian forces off the Golan Heights and advanced to within 32 km (20 mi) of Damascus. Syria belatedly agreed to a UN-sponsored cease-fire accepted by the other warring nations, but it refused to discuss prisoner exchanges. After mediation by United States secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger, Syria and Israel signed a disengagement agreement in May 1974; the accord provided for a neutral zone, patrolled by UN forces, and for the repatriation of prisoners of war. In June, Syria and the United States resumed diplomatic relations, severed in 1967.

As it became clear in 1975 that Egypt would pursue a bilateral agreement with Israel, Syria forged closer ties with Jordan. The following year, Syria intervened in the Lebanese civil war and subsequently became mired in the continuing conflict. In 1980 Syria signed a 20-year treaty of friendship and cooperation with the USSR. Israel effectively annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 when it claimed legal and political authority in the region. Syrian and Israeli forces clashed the following year when Israel invaded Lebanon.

Domestically, Assad’s regime was shaken by growing civil disturbances. An extremist group called the Muslim Brotherhood was accused of several assassinations. In 1982 government troops suppressed a full-scale rebellion by the brotherhood in and around Ḩamāh, reducing much of the city to rubble. In 1986 the United Kingdom broke diplomatic relations with Syria and the United States imposed sanctions, both accusing Syria of sponsoring international terrorism.

Syria had been considered an occupying force within Lebanon since the mid-1970s, when it sent thousands of troops there. In February 1987 Syria ordered a force of 7,000 into the Muslim sector of Beirut (Bayrūt) in an attempt to restore order between warring factions. In October 1990 a Syrian-led assault crushed resistance in East Beirut, reuniting the Lebanese capital. Although most of the fighting in Lebanon ended in 1990, and Syrian and Lebanese forces signed a friendship treaty in May 1991 calling for mutual cooperation, Syrian forces remained in the country. In June 2001 Syria withdrew its troops from Beirut and the surrounding area, but kept about 15,000 troops stationed in Lebanon and continued to exercise significant control over Lebanese politics.

Syria also has had a long and troubled history with neighboring Iraq. Syria was one of the few Arab nations to support Iran during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). After Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Syria sent troops to Saudi Arabia and later joined the anti-Iraq coalition in the Persian Gulf War. Syria’s participation in the multinational coalition helped improve its relations with both the United States and the United Kingdom.

In October 1991 Syria and several other Arab nations entered into U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations with Israel. Syria’s chief concern was ownership of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, but little progress was made, in part because Israel was involved in more immediate negotiations with its longtime enemy the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In September 1993 Israel and the PLO signed a landmark peace accord. Assad expressed serious reservations about the agreement and regarded the secret negotiations that had produced it as having weakened the united Arab position.

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Recent Developments

In December 1999 Israeli and Syrian leaders met in Washington, D.C., and agreed to begin another round of talks about the Golan Heights in January 2000. The new talks quickly broke down, and even a summit meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, between President Assad and U.S. president Bill Clinton in March 2000 failed to revive them.

In June 2000 Assad died from complications of heart disease. The Syrian legislature amended the nation’s constitution to allow Assad’s son Bashar al-Assad to succeed him as president. In July Bashar al-Assad was confirmed in office by a national referendum. Assad joined in the worldwide condemnation of the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001 (see September 11 Attacks). Nevertheless, in May 2002 the United States singled out Syria as a threat to global security for its alleged support for terrorist groups.

In early 2005 Syria’s presence in Lebanon came under renewed criticism following the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. Syria was widely accused of being involved in the assassination. A United Nations Security Council resolution mandated Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon, and in late April 2005 Syria announced that it had completely withdrawn its forces.

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