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Syrian Arab Republic
ٱلْجُمْهُورِيَّةُ ٱلْعَرَبِيَّة ٱلْسُوْرِيَّة (Arabic)
al-Jumhūriyya al-ʿArabiyya as-Sūriyya
1963–2024
Flag of Syria
Flag
(1980–2024)
Emblem
(1980–2024)
Motto: وَحْدَةٌ، حُرِّيَّةٌ، اِشْتِرَاكِيَّةٌ
Waḥda, Ḥurriyya, Ishtirākiyya
"Unity, Freedom, Socialism"
Anthem: حُمَاةَ الدِّيَارِ
Ḥumāt ad-Diyār
"Guardians of the Homeland"

Syria proper shown in dark green; Syria's territorial claims over the Turkish 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 one-party 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
5–10 June 1967
13 November 1970
6–25 October 1973
1976–1982
2000–2001
• Civil war
2011–present
8 December 2024
Area
• Total
185,180[7] km2 (71,500 sq mi) (87th)
• Water (%)
1.1
Population
• 2024 estimate
Increase 25,000,753[8] (57th)
• Density
118.3/km2 (306.4/sq mi) (70th)
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)Positive decrease 26.6[10]
low inequality
HDI (2022)Steady 0.557[11]
medium (157th)
CurrencySyrian pound (SYP)
Time zoneUTC+3 (Arabia Standard Time)
Calling code+963
ISO 3166 codeSY
Internet TLD.sy
سوريا.
Preceded by
Succeeded by
1963
Second Syrian Republic
1967
Golan Heights
1974
UNDOF
2024
Syrian Transitional Government
North and East Syria
Syrian Interim Government
Syrian Salvation Government
Southern Operations Room
Syrian Free Army
Al-Tanf
Today part ofSyria

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 defunct Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The al-Assad family ruled Syria from 1971 until the Syrian opposition offensives in 2024.

The state emerged in the wake of the 1963 Syrian coup d'état and was led by Alawite military officers. President Salah Jadid was overthrown by Hafez Al-Assad in the 1970 Corrective Revolution. 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. In December 2024, a series of offensives by rebel groups across Syria culminated in the regime's collapse.[12]

History

1963 coup

The instability which followed the 1961 coup 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.[13][14] 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.[15]

Hafez al-Assad, president of Syria (1970–2000)

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.[16] 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.[14] 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 Hafiz 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]

Hafez al-Assad (1970–2000)

The power struggle culminated in the November 1970 Syrian Corrective movement, a bloodless military coup that installed Hafiz al-Assad as the strongman of the government.[18] General Hafiz al-Assad transformed a 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 Ba'athist ideology,[23] which espoused that Assad dynasty was destined to rule perennially.[24] 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.[25] 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,[26] when more than 40,000 people were killed by Syrian military troops and Ba'athist paramilitaries.[27][28] It has been described as the "single deadliest act" of violence perpetrated by any state upon its own population in modern Arab history[27][28]

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 Hafiz al-Assad's meeting with then President Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000.[29]

2000s

Hafez al-Assad died on 10 June 2000. His son, Bashar al-Assad, was elected president in an election in which he ran unopposed.[13] 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.[30] Instead, reforms have been limited to some market reforms.[23][31][32] On 5 October 2003, Israel bombed a site near Damascus, claiming it was a terrorist training facility for members of Islamic Jihad.[33] 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.[34] In 2005, Syria ended its military presence in Lebanon.[35] 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 end its 29-year old of military occupation in Lebanon.[36] 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.[37]

Civil war

Military situation in December 2015. Islamic State-controlled territory is in grey.

The Syrian civil war 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,[38][39] though the unrest continued. According to some witnesses, soldiers, who refused to open fire on civilians, were summarily executed by the Syrian Army.[40] The Syrian government denied reports of defections, and blamed armed gangs for causing trouble.[41] 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.[42]

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,[42] 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[43][44][45][46] and up to 1,400 opposition protesters.[47] 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."[48] To escape the violence, tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have fled the country to neighboring Jordan, Iraq and [49] Lebanon, as well to Turkey.[50] The total official UN numbers of Syrian refugees reached 42,000 at the time,[51] 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,[52][53] Another 400 children have been reportedly arrested and tortured in Syrian prisons.[54][55] Both claims have been contested by the Syrian government.[56] Additionally, over 600 detainees and political prisoners have died under torture.[57] Human Rights Watch accused the government and Shabiha of using civilians as human shields when they advanced on opposition held-areas.[58] Anti-government rebels have been accused of human rights abuses as well, including torture, kidnapping, unlawful detention and execution of civilians, Shabiha and soldiers.[42] HRW also expressed concern at the kidnapping of Iranian nationals.[59] 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.[60]

Being ranked 8th last on the 2024 Global Peace Index and 4th worst in the 2024 Fragile States Index,[61] 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.[62][63] Syria is the most corrupt country in the Middle East[64][65] and was ranked the 2nd lowest globally on the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index.[66] The country has also become the epicentre of a state-sponsored multi-billion dollar illicit drug cartel, the largest in the world.[67][68][69][70] The civil war has resulted in more than 600,000 deaths,[71] 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).[80] 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.[42] 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.[85][86][87] The Arab League suspended Syria's membership over the government's response to the crisis,[88] but sent an observer mission in December 2011, as part of its proposal for peaceful resolution of the crisis.[87] 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.[42] Some analysts however have posited the partitioning the region into a Sunnite east, Kurdish north and Shiite/Alawite west.[89]

Frozen conflict (2020–2024)

From 2020, the conflict settled into a frozen state.[90] 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.[90]

Fall of the Assad regime (2024)

Military situation after the start of the opposition offensives in late 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).

In December 2024, the United States, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom urged for de-escalation in Syria as violence flared up once again. Rebel factions, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), 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.[91][92][93]

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 the 5th of December.[94] The fighting led to widespread displacement, with nearly 50,000 people fleeing the area and over 600 casualties reported, including 104 civilians.[95] On December 7, 2024, Assad fled the capital of Damascus.[96] The next day on the December 8, the Syrian opposition forces captured the cities of Homs and Damascus. After Damascus fell, the Syrian Arab Republic collapsed and became a rump state, leaving only the Latakia, Jableh and Tartus Governorates, and de facto areas of Deir ez-Zor Governorate under remnants of the Ba'athist regime.

Politics and government

The Syrian Arab Republic, historically, was a presidential state[97] that nominally permitted the candidacy of individuals who did not form part of the Ba'ath-controlled National Progressive Front founded in 1972.[98][99] Despite this, throughout most of the Ba'athist regime's history, the Syrian Arab Republic remained as a one-party state, forbidding any independent or opposition political activity.[100][101]

Judiciary

There was no independent judiciary in the Syrian Arab Republic, since all judges and prosecutors were required to be Ba'athist appointees.[102] 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.[103] 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.[104]

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;[105] the Code of Personal Status was applied to Muslims by sharia courts.[106]

Elections

Elections were conducted through a sham process; characterised by wide-scale rigging, repetitive voting and absence of voter registration and verification systems.[107][108][109] 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.[110] 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."[111] 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".[112][113][114][115] 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.[116][117]

Flags and coat of arms

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية, romanized: al-Jumhūriyya al-ʿArabiyya as-Sūriyya.
  2. ^ Sources:[72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79]
  3. ^ [81][82][83][84]

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