TheArab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region (Arabic:حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي – قطر سورياḤizb al-Ba'th al-'Arabī al-Ishtirākī – Quṭr Sūriyā), officially theSyrian Regional Branch (Arabic:الفرع القطري السوري), was aneo-Ba'athist organisation founded on 7 April 1947 byMichel Aflaq,Salah al-Din al-Bitar and followers ofZaki al-Arsuzi. The partyruled Syria from the1963 coup d'état, which brought the Ba'athists to power, until 8 December 2024, whenBashar al-Assad fled Damascus in the face of arebel offensive during theSyrian civil war.[44] It was formally disbanded in January 2025.
The party was founded on 7 April 1947 as theArab Ba'ath Party through the merger of theArab Ba'ath Movement led byMichel ʿAflaq andSalah al-Din al-Bitar and theArab Ba'ath, led byZaki al-Arsuzi. The party espousedBa'athism, an ideology mixingArab nationalist,pan-Arab,Arab socialist, andanti-imperialist interests. Ba'athism calls for the unification of theArab world into asingle state. It quickly established branches in other Arab countries, although it would only hold power in Syria and inIraq. Following their ascent to power in 1963, neo-Ba'athist officers proceeded to stamp out the traditionalcivilian elites in order to construct amilitary dictatorship operating ontotalitarian[a]lines; wherein all state agencies, party organisations, public institutions, civil entities, media and health infrastructure were tightly dominated by themilitary establishment and theMukhabarat (intelligence services).
The1966 coup d'état carried out by theradical left-wing faction ofSalah Jadid andHafez al-Assad ousted the Old Guard of Ba'ath leadership consisting of Aflaq and Bitar; and dissolved theNational Command of theunited Ba'ath Party. The leftist faction of the Syrian Ba'ath advanced a strictlysocialist economic programme, pursued a closer alliance with theSyrian communists, "progressive" Arab states and theSoviet Bloc, and prioritised the spread ofsocialist revolution in the neighbouring "reactionary" Arab states overpan-Arab unity. The official ideology preached by the Syrian Ba'ath is known asneo-Ba'athism, a school of Ba'athist thought that denounces Aflaq and Bitar and eulogizesAlawitephilosopher Arsuzi as its leading theoretician. In another coup in 1970, officially dubbed the "Corrective Revolution", Hafez al-Assad would overthrow the Jadid faction and tone down the revolutionary measures. The new regime emphasized building socialism in Syria first and was open to alliances with neighbouring countries. From this period, the party adoptedAssadism as its official ideology, promoting apersonality cult centred around theAssad dynasty.
Following thefall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024, on 11 December, the party suspended all activities "until further notice" and transferred its assets to theSyrian caretaker government.[45] On 29 January 2025, the party was formally dissolved by the Syrian caretaker government during theSyrian Revolution Victory Conference.[46][47]
The Ba'ath Party, and indirectly the Syrian Regional Branch, was established on 7 April 1947 byMichel Aflaq (a Christian),Salah al-Din al-Bitar (aSunni Muslim) andZaki al-Arsuzi (anAlawite).[48] According to the congress, the party was "nationalist, populist, socialist, and revolutionary" and believed in the "unity and freedom of the Arab nation within its homeland."[49] The party opposed the theory of class conflict, but supported the nationalisation of major industries, the unionisation of workers, land reform, and supported private inheritance and private property rights to some degree.[49] The party merged with theArab Socialist Party (ASP), led byAkram al-Hawrani, to establish theArab Socialist Ba'ath Party in Lebanon followingAdib Shishakli's rise to power.[50] Most ASP members did not adhere to the merger and remained, according to George Alan, "passionately loyal to Hawrani's person."[51] The merger was weak, and a lot of the ASP's original infrastructure remained intact.[51] In 1955, the party decided to supportGamal Abdel Nasser and what they perceived as his pan-Arabist policies.[51]
Syrian politics took a dramatic turn in 1954 when the military government ofAdib al-Shishakli was overthrown and the democratic system restored.[52] The Ba'ath, now a large and popular organisation, won 22 out of 142 parliamentary seats in theSyrian election that year, becoming the second-largest party in parliament.[52] The Ba'ath Party was supported by theintelligentsia because of their pro-Egyptian and anti-imperialist stance and their support for social reform.[53]
The assassination of Ba'athist colonelAdnan al-Malki by a member of theSyrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) in April 1955 allowed the Ba'ath Party and its allies to launch a crackdown, thus eliminating one rival.[54] In 1957, the Ba'ath Party partnered with theSyrian Communist Party (SCP) to weaken the power of Syria's conservative parties.[54] By the end of that year, the SCP weakened the Ba'ath Party to such an extent that in December the Ba'ath Party drafted a bill calling for a union with Egypt, a move that was very popular.[54] The union between Egypt and Syria went ahead and theUnited Arab Republic (UAR) was created, and the Ba'ath Party was banned in the UAR because of Nasser's hostility to parties other than his own.[54] The Ba'ath leadership dissolved the party in 1958, gambling that the legalisation against certain parties would hurt the SCP more than it would the Ba'ath.[54] A military coup in Damascus in 1961 brought the UAR to an end.[55] Sixteen prominent politicians, including al-Hawrani andSalah al-Din al-Bitar – who later retracted his signature, signed a statement supporting the coup.[56] The Ba'athists won several seats during the1961 parliamentary election.[55]
The military group preparing for the overthrow of the separatist regime in February 1963 was composed of independent Nasserite and other unionist, including Ba'athist officers.[57] The re-emergence of the Ba'ath as a majority political force aided in the coup; without a political majority the coup would have remained a military take over .[57] Ziyad al-Hariri controlled the sizable forces stationed at the Israeli Front, not far from Damascus, Muhammad as-Sufi commanded the key brigade stationes in Homs, and Ghassan Haddad, one of Hariri's independent partners, commanded the Desert Forces.[58] Early in March it was decided the coup would be brought into action on 9 March. But on 5 March several of the officers wanted to delay the coup in hope of staging a bloodless coup.[58] It was presumed that the Nasserites were preparing a coup of their own which effectively canceled the delay.[58] The coup began at night and by the morning of 8 March it was evident that a new political era had begun in Syria.[59]
The secession from the UAR was a time of crisis for the party; several groups, including Hawrani, left the Ba'ath Party.[60] In 1962, Aflaq convened a congress which re-established the Syrian Regional Branch.[61] The division in the original Ba'ath Party between the National Command led byMichel Aflaq and the "regionalists" in the Syrian Regional Branch stemmed from the break-up of the UAR.[62] Aflaq had sought to control the regionalist elements – an incoherent grouping led by Fa'iz al-Jasim, Yusuf Zuayyin, Munir al-Abdallah and Ibrahim Makhus.[62] Aflaq retained the support of the majority of the non-Syrian National Command members (13 at the time).[63]
Following the success of theFebruary 1963 coup d'état in Iraq, led by the Ba'ath Party'sIraqi Regional Branch, the Military Committee hastily convened to plan a coup againstNazim al-Kudsi's presidency.[64] The coup – dubbed the8 March Revolution – was successful and a Ba'athist government was installed in Syria.[64] The plotters' first order was to establish theNational Council of the Revolutionary Command (NCRC), which consisted entirely of Ba'athists and Nasserists, and was controlled by military personnel rather than civilians.[65] However, in its first years in power, the Syrian Regional Branch experienced an internal power struggle between traditional Ba'athists, radical socialists and the members of the Military Committee.[66] TheNasserist andMuslim Brotherhood opposition joined forces to raise the spectre of communist takeover of Syria during the 1960s. They attacked the Ba'ath party as beinganti-Sunni and condemned thestate secularism of the regime as beinganti-religious andatheist. Nasser himself proscribed the Syrian Ba'ath for its militant secularism and the radicalMarxist proposals of its leaders.[67][68] The first period of Ba'ath rule was put to an end with the1966 Syrian coup d'état, which overthrew the traditional Ba'athists led by Aflaq and Bitar and broughtSalah Jadid, the head of the Military Committee, to power (though not formally).[69]
After the 1967Six-Day War, tensions between Jadid andHafez al-Assad increased, and al-Assad and his associates were strengthened by their hold on the military. In late 1968,[70] they began dismantling Jadid's support network, facing ineffectual resistance from the civilian branch of the party that remained under Jadid's control.[71] This duality of power persisted until theCorrective Revolution of November 1970, when al-Assad ousted and imprisoned Atassi and Jadid.[72] He then set upon a project of rapid institution-building, reopened parliament and adopted a permanent constitution for the country, which had been ruled by military fiat and a provisional constitutional documents since 1963.[72] Assad significantly modified his predecessor's radicalsocialist economic policies, encouraged several wealthy urban families to increase their activities in the private sector, and allowed limited foreign investment fromArab countries in the Persian Gulf region States.[73]
Hafez Al-Assad's reign was marked by the virtual abandonment ofPan-Arab ideology; replacing it with the doctrine of socialist transformation and giving overriding priority in constructingsocialist society within Syria.[75] Political participation was limited to theNational Progressive Front, the ruling coalition of Syrian Ba'ath andMarxist–Leninist parties; entrenching itself firmly within theSoviet Bloc. The Party also began building apersonality cult around Assad and brought the elite of thearmed forces under Assad's grip and the officer corps were installed withAlawite loyalists; further alienating theSunni majority from the party.[76]
By the late 1970s, the state apparatus of the Ba'ath regime under Assad had consolidated into ananti-Sunni orientation. Official propaganda incited Alawite farmers against rich Sunni landowners and regularly disseminated stereotypes of Sunni merchants and industrialists, casting them as enemies ofnationalisation andsocialist revolution. Bitterness towards theAssadist regime and theAlawite elite in the Ba'ath and armed forces became widespread amongst the Sunni majority, laying the beginnings of an Islamic resistance. Prominent leaders ofMuslim Brotherhood likeIssam al-Attar were imprisoned and exiled. A coalition of the traditional Syrian Sunniulema, Muslim Brotherhood revolutionaries andIslamist activists formed the Syrian Islamic Front in 1980 with objective of overthrowing Assad throughJihad and establishing anIslamic state. In the same year, Hafez officially supported Iran in itswar with Iraq and controversially began importing Iranian fighters and terror groups intoLebanon and Syria. This led to rising social tensions within the country which eventually became a full-fledgedrebellion in 1982; led by the Islamic Front. The regime responded byslaughtering the Sunni inhabitants in Hama and Aleppo and bombarding numerous mosques, killing around 20,000–40,000 civilians. The uprising was brutally crushed and Assad regarded the Muslim Brotherhood as demolished.[77]
Syria under Hafez al-Assad was a staunchSoviet ally and firmly aligned itself withSoviet Bloc during the height of theCold War.Soviet Union saw Syria as the lynchpin of its Middle-East strategy and signed theTreaty of Friendship and Co-operation in 1980; directly committing itself to Syria's defense and incorporating the Syrian armed forces into Soviet standards. For his part, Hafez committed himself to socialist economic and foreign policies; and was one of the few autocrats to openly support theSoviet invasion of Afghanistan. Theend of the Cold War andcollapse of the Soviet Union dealt a deep blow to Assad, who retained the nostalgia for the old order.[78][79] Assad continued to rule Syria until his death in 2000, by centralizing powers in thestate presidency.[80]
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Hafez's sonBashar al-Assad succeeded him in office as President of Syria and Regional Secretary of the Syrian Regional Branch on 17 July[81] and 24 June respectively.[82]State propaganda portrayed the new president as the symbol of "modernity, youth, and openness".[83] At the beginning, Bashar al-Assad's rule was met with high expectations, with many foreign commentators believing he would introduce reforms reminiscent of theChinese economic reforms or theperestroika ofMikhail Gorbachev.[84][85][86] A brief period of political and cultural opening known asDamascus Spring was stamped out during 2001–2002, when numerous intellectuals, activists and dissidents, were arrested or exiled, under the guise of "national unity". Image of Assad as a moderniser also vanished; when economic measures resulted in the concentration of wealth under loyalist oligarchs, heightenedsystematic corruption and increased poverty levels amongst theurbanmiddle classes andvillagers.[83][87]
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Bashar al-Assad's rule was believed to be stable until theArab Spring took place; the revolutions occurring in other parts of the Arab world acted as an inspiration for theSyrian opposition, leading to the2011 Syrian revolution which escalated into acivil war.[88] The Syrian Regional Branch has demonstrated absolute loyalty toBashar al-Assad in its entirety throughout the civil war, from organising counter-demonstrations to forming paramilitary units focused on violently crushing peaceful demonstrators of the Syrian Revolution.[89] It is generally believed that the plays a minor role in the conflict, having been reduced to amass organization, and real decision-making taking place either in the military, theAssad family or Bashar al-Assad's inner circle.[88] Despite this, the party remained loyal to the government almost in its entirety throughout the civil war, probably out of concerns that the overthrow of the Assad family's rule would result in its own demise as well. Several militias were formed by Ba'ath Party volunteers to fight against insurgents,[90] with the most notable being theBa'ath Brigades.[91] The civil war also resulted in areferendum on a new constitution on 26 February 2012.[92] The constitution was approved by the populace, and the article stating that Ba'ath Party was "the leading party of society and state" was removed[93] and the constitution was ratified on 27 February.[94]
Another aspect of Assad's tenure was the restoration of close alliance withRussia, the successor state of former Soviet Union. As protests erupted in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring and later proiliferated into aCivil War; Russia became the sole member to safeguard Assad in theUN Security Council. In September 2015;Vladimir Putin ordered a direct Russian military operation in Syria on behalf of Assad; providing the regime with training, volunteers, supplies and weaponry; and has since engaged in extensiveaerial bombardment campaigns throughout the country targetinganti-Assad rebels.[95]
Between 2018 and 2024, the government enacted an extensive Ba'athification campaign in its territories, amalgamating the state-party nexus and further entrenching itsone-party rule. During the2018 local elections and2020 parliamentary elections, more hardline Ba'athist loyalists were appointed to commanding roles while other satellite parties in theNational Progressive Front had been curtailed. Ba'athist candidates were fielded uncontested in many regions. The party itself was structurally overhauled, re-invigoratingneo-Ba'athist ideology in organizational levels, and cadres accused of lacking ideological dedication were purged. The party portrayed itself as thevanguard of theSyrian nation and had tightened its monopoly onyouth organisations,student activism,trade unions, agricultural organisations and other civil society groups.[89][96][97]
On 8 December 2024, the Syrian Arab Republic under Assad collapsed amidmajor offensives by theSyrian opposition led byHayat Tahrir al-Sham. Thefall of Damascus marked the end of the regime of the al-Assad family. Assad fled Damascus by plane.[98]
Following thefall of the Assad regime, theBa'ath's Central Command published a statement on the party's newspaperAl-Ba'ath, announcing the party's intention to cooperate with theSyrian transitional government, which is currently being led by members ofHayat Tahrir al-Sham, in order to "defend the unity of the country, land, people, institutions and capabilities". It also called for reforms to provide forpolitical pluralism andseparation of powers.[99] Two days later, an internal statement on December 11 was circulated among members and published onAl-Ba'ath which announced the suspension of all party activities "until further notice" and the handover of all vehicles and weapons belonging to the party to theMinistry of Interior as well as all party funds to theMinistry of Finance, with the property's proceeds going towards theCentral Bank of Syria so as to be spent by the transitional government "according to the law"; the Al-Sham Private University was also announced to be placed under the supervision of theMinistry of Higher Education while all other party assets were to be transferred to theMinistry of Justice,[100][45] including the former headquarters of the party, where it was turned into a settlement center for former members of the army and security forces who served under Assad.[101][102]
On 20 January 2025, the building that housed the headquarters of a local branch of the party inSuwayda was transferred to a local branch ofDamascus University by the Syrian transitional government.[103][104]
On 29 January 2025, the party was formally dissolved by the newly declared president of the Syrian transitional government,Ahmed al-Sharaa, along with the2012 constitution, thePeople's Assembly, theSyrian Arab Armed Forces, and thesecurity services affiliated with the deposed regime.[46]
The General Congress was supposed to be held every fourth year to elect members of the Central Command. Since 1980, its functions have been eclipsed by the Central Committee, which was empowered to elect the Central Command. By 1985's 8th Regional Congress, the Command Secretary was empowered to elect the Central Committee.[105] The 8th Regional Congress would be the last congress held under Hafez al-Assad's rule.[106] The next Regional Congress was held in June 2000 and elected Bashar al-Assad as Command Secretary and elected him as a candidate for the next presidential election.[107]
Delegates to the General Congress were elected beforehand by the Central Command leadership. While all delegates came from the party's local organisation, they was forced to elect members presented by the leadership. However, some criticism was allowed. At the 8th Regional Congress, several delegates openly criticised the growing political corruption and the economic stagnation in Syria. They could also discuss important problems to the Central Command, which in turn could deal with them.[108]
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The Central Command, according to the Syrian Constitution, had the power to nominate a candidate for president.[109] While the constitution did not state that the Secretary of the Central Command is the President of Syria, the charter of theNational Progressive Front (NPF), of which the Ba'ath Party was a member, stated that the President and the Central Command Secretary is the NPF President, but this was not stated in any legal document.[109] The 1st Extraordinary Regional Congress held in 1964 decided that the Secretary of the Central Command would also be head of state.[110] The Central Command was officially responsible to the General Congress.[111]
The Central Committee (Arabic:Al-Lajna Al-Markaziyya), established in January 1980, was subordinate to the Central Command. It was established as a conduit for communication between the Ba'ath Party leadership and local party organs. At the 8th Regional Congress held in 1985, membership size increased from 75 to 95. Other changes was that its powers were enhanced; in theory,[112] the Central Command became responsible to the Central Committee, the hitch was that the Central Command Secretary elected the members of the Central Committee.[105] Another change was that the Central Committee was given the responsibilities of the Regional Congress when the congress was not in session.[112] As with the Central Command, the Central Committee was in theory supposed to be elected every fourth year by the Regional Congress, but from 1985 until Hafez al-Assad's death in 2000, no Regional Congress was held.[108]
The Military Bureau, which succeeded the Military Committee,[113] oversaw theSyrian Armed Forces. Shortly after the8 March Coup, the Military Committee createdNational Council for the Revolutionary Command (NCRC) and became the supreme authority in military affairs.[114] The party had a parallel structure within the Syrian armed forces. The military and civilian sectors only met at the regional level, as the military sector is represented in the Central Command and sends delegates to general congresses. The military sector was divided into branches, which operated at the battalion level. The head of a military party branch was called atawjihi, or guide.[112]
In 1963, the Military Committee established the Military Organisation, which consisted of 12 branches resembling their civilian counterparts. The Military Organisation was led by a Central Committee, which represented the Military Committee. These new institutions were established to stop the civilian faction meddling in the affairs of the Military Committee. The Military Organisation met with the other branches through the Military Committee, which was represented at the Regional and National Congresses and Commands. The Military Organisation was a very secretive body. Members were sworn not to divulge any information about the organisation to officers who were not members in order to strengthen the Military Committee's hold on the military. In June 1964, it was decided that no new members would be admitted to the organisation. The Military Committee was built on a democratic framework, and a Military Organization Congress was held to elect the members of the Military Committee. Only one congress was ever held.[115]
The lack of a democratic framework led to internal divisions within the Military Organisation among the rank-and-file.[116] Tension within the organisation increased, and became apparent whenMuhammad Umran was dismissed from the Military Committee. Some rank-and-file members presented a petition to the Regional Congress which called for the democratisation of the Military Organisation. The National Command, represented byMunif al-Razzaz, did not realise the importance of this petition beforeSalah Jadid suppressed it. The Military Committee decided to reform, and the Regional Congress passed a resolution which made the Military Organisation responsible to the Military Bureau of the Central Command, which was only responsible for military affairs.[117]
Ali Diab is the current head of the Ba'ath Party's Central Party School.[118]
The party had 19 branches in Syria: one in each of the thirteen provinces, one in Damascus, one in Aleppo and one at each of the country's four universities. In most cases the governor of a province, police chief, mayor and other local dignitaries comprised the Branch Command. The Branch Command Secretary and other executive positions were filled by full-time party employees.[112]
Michel Aflaq andSalah al-Din al-Bitar, the two principal fathers of Ba'athist thought, saw the Ba'ath Party as avanguard party, comparable to the Soviet Union'sCommunist Party, while Assad saw it as a mass organisation. In 1970 he stated, "After this day the Ba'ath will not be the party of the elect, as some has envisaged ... Syria does not belong to the Ba'athists alone."[119]
Since 1970, membership of the Ba'ath Party in Syria expanded dramatically. In 1971, the party had 65,938 members; ten years later it stood at 374,332 and by mid-1992 it was 1,008,243. By mid-1992, over 14 percent of Syrians aged over 14 were members of the party. In 2003, the party membership stood at 1.8 million people, which is 18 percent of the population.[119] The increase in membership was not smooth. In 1985 a party organisational report stated that thousand of members had been expelled before the 7th Regional Congress held in 1980 because of indiscipline. The report also mentioned the increased tendency of opportunism among party members.[119] Between 1980 and 1984, 133,850 supporter-members and 3,242 full members were expelled from the party.[120]
The increase in members has led official propaganda, and leading members of the party and state, to say that the people and the party are inseparable.Michel Kilo, aSyrian Christian dissident andhuman rights activist, said, "The Ba'ath does not recognize society. It consider itself [to be] society."[120] This idea led to Ba'athist slogans and tenets being included in the Syrian constitution. In 1979, the Ba'ath Party's position was further strengthened when dual party membership became a criminal offence.[121]
The original Ba'ath headed byMichel Aflaq had viewedIslam as a unique religion that shapedArab history and society, calling for the incorporation ofpan-Arabism with Islamic religious values. On other hand; the youngerNeo-Ba'athists who came from minority communities likeAlawites were highly influenced bycommunist ideals and incorporatedMarxist anti-religious, economic ideas and downplayed efforts for pan-Arab unity. The Neo-Ba'athist faction that took official control of Syria following the1966 coup were advocates of militant revolution, calling for immediate socialist transformation of society. TheSoviet Union began supporting the group for its leftist programme and denounced its rivalIraqi Ba'ath as "reactionary" and "right-wing". The early years of neo-Ba'ath power was marked by militarism along with increasing sectarianism in the army and party elites. State propaganda regularly attacked religion and belief in God and young students were given compulsory military training. Big businesses, banks and large agricultural lands were all nationalised. These policies brought the Syrian Ba'athists into conflict withArab nationalist ideologies likeNasserism, which was accused of betraying socialist ideals.Nasser, in turn, charged the Ba'ath withanti-religion andsectarianism.[122][123]
Neo-Ba'athism advocates the creation of a "vanguard" of leftist revolutionaries committed to build anegalitarian,socialist state in Syria and other Arab countries before making steps to achieve pan-Arab unity. The vanguard organisation is the Ba'th party; which advocatesclass-struggle against the traditional Syrian economic elite classes; the big agriculturalists, industrialists, bourgeoisie and feudal landlords. By the 1970s, 85% of agricultural lands were distributed to landless peasant populations and tenant farmers. Banks, oil companies, power production and 90% of large-scale industries were nationalised. The neo-Ba'athists led bySalah Jadid who came to power in 1966 concentrated on improving the Syrian economy and exporting the doctrines of class-conflict and militantsocialist revolution to the neighbouring countries.
This view was challenged by GeneralHafez al-Assad and his neo-Ba'ath faction; who were proponents of a military-centric approach and focused on a strategy of strengthening theSyrian military to defend thesocialist government against imperialist forces and their alleged internal collaborators. Assad favoured reconciliation of various leftist factions and pursued better relations with other Arab states. Although majority of the party members favoured Salah, Hafez was able to gain the upperhand following the events of the1970 coup dubbed the "Corrective Movement" in official Syrian Ba'ath history. Assad's victory also marked the supersedure of the military over the Ba'ath party structures; making the armed forces a central centre of political power.[124][125][126][127]
Since the end of theCold War andfall of the Soviet Bloc in the 1990s, the official ideological paradigm of the Ba'athist dogma in Syria has been described as foundering. Despite decades of one-party rule that has lasted longer than the period of independent Syria (1946–1963); Ba'athist ideology itself has not gained popular legitimacy. The role of the party has become supplanted with thecult of personality surrounding theAssad dynasty and a consolidation of communal-based allegiances. Assad's government was apersonalist system and his wisdom was portrayed as "beyond the comprehension of the average citizen". Assad deepened theAlawitization of the party and the military; reduced the role of the civilian wing of party and based his state governance structure on loyalty to the leader's family.[128][129] State biography of Hafiz al-Assad describes this philosophy as "Asadiyah (Assadism)" defining it as:
"theNew Ba'th led by Hafiz al‑Asad, representing a new distinctive current in Syria which has been developed by him; it is a school of thought which has benefited fromNasserism, but has surpassed it, just as it has surpassed thetraditional Ba'thist school, albeit that it does not contradict either of these schools of thought but has further developed them in line with contemporary needs."[130]
Assad personality cult was portrayed as integral to the prosperity and security of the nation; withHafez al-Assad being depicted as the father figure of the Syrian nation. Ceremonies and slogans of loyalty, praise and adulation of Assads were a daily part of schools, party centres, government offices, public spaces and the military. Official state propaganda attributed Assad with supernatural abilities combined by repetitive usage of symbolism that discouraged wider society from arenas for political activism. Upon the death of Hafez al-Assad in 2000, his successorBashar al-Assad was depicted as a reformist and youthful hope. Hafez's inner circle elite was replaced by a far more restricted faction of elites closer to Bashar, often referred to as the "New Guard". Major posts in the armed forces were awarded to Alawite loyalists, family relatives and many non-Alawite elites that served under Hafez were expelled. Another important shift was the end of the Ba'th party's practical significance; with it being reduced to a formal structure for affirming fealty to Bashar and support for his revamped crackdowns on the newly established independent civil society groups, political activists and reformist voices that arose during theDamascus Spring in the 2000s.[131][132][133][134]
Describing the nature of Assadist ideological propaganda in her workAmbiguities of Domination,Professor ofpolitical scienceLisa Wedeen writes:
"Asad's cult is a strategy of domination based on compliance rather than legitimacy. The regime produces compliance through enforced participation in rituals of obeisance that are transparently phony both to those who orchestrate them and to those who consume them. Asad's cult operates as a disciplinary device, generating a politics of public dissimulation in which citizens actas if they revere their leader ... It produces guidelines for acceptable; it defines and generalizes a specific type of national membership; it occasions the enforcement of obedience; it induces complicity by creating practices in which citizens are themselves "accomplices", upholding the norms constitutive of Asad's domination; it isolatesSyrians from one another; and it clutters public space with monotonous slogans and empty gestures, which tire the minds and bodies of producers and consumers alike ... Asad is powerful because his regime can compel people to say the ridiculous and to avow the absurd."[135][134]
LikeMarxists, Syrian Ba'athist ideologues viewed religion as a tool used by traditional elites to oppress the weaker sections of the society and reinforce their conservative social order. Anti-religious propaganda has been a common ideological theme in the literature published by Syrian Ba'ath party.Militant secularism was emphasized in the "Declaration of Principles" manifesto published by the Ba'ath party in 1960; which declared that the party's "educational policy" was to build a "new generation of Arabs that believes in the unity of the nation and the eternity of its mission".[136] The manifesto also stated that this envisaged Ba'athist generation would be "committed toscientific thought freed from the shackles of superstition and backward customs" and replace religion withArab nationalism as their belief system.[137] Syrian Ba'athist documents regularly depicted religion as a social institution that advanced "the values offeudalism andimperialism".[136]
Neo-Ba'athism viewsreligion as the "foremost symbol of reaction" preventing the birth of a modernsocialist society, and advocate strict state supervision over religious activities for sustaining what its ideologues regard as a healthy,secularist society. DuringSalah Jadid's reign in power, the Ba'ath postured itself as a stronglyanti-religious political entity; adhering to theMarxist–Leninist approach of top-down regimentation of the society throughliquidation of what it regarded as "reactionary" classes such as the traditionalulema. TheGrand Mufti's official status was downgraded by the Ba'athist government and the conventional role of religious clergy in state functioning was curtailed. While state ministers, officials, educators, etc. regularly preached about the "perils of religion"; party periodicals and magazines during the 1960s regularly made predictions about the "impending demise" of religion through thesocialist revolution.[138] In an article titled "The Path to Creation of the New Arab Man" published by theSyrian Arab Army magazine "People's Army" in 1967,[139][140] party ideologue Ibrahim Khalas declared:
"TheNew Man believes that God, religions,feudalism,capitalism,imperialism and all the values that govern the ancient society are mummies that are just worth being put away in the museum of History .... We don't need a man who prays and kneels, who bows his head with baseness and begs God for pity and mercy. The New Man is asocialist, arevolutionary."[140]
During the rule of Salah Jadid, neo-Ba'athist ideologues openly denounced religion as a source of what they considered as the backwardness of the Arabs.[136] Following popular revulsion at Jadid's blatant anti-religious policies, Hafez al-Assad began to tone down thesecularisation programme during the 1970s, by co-opting some pro-government clerics likeRamadan al-Bouti to counter the Islamic opposition and granted them a degree of autonomy from the regime. Simultaneously, the regime began the "nationalization" of religious discourse through a loyal clerical network, and condemned anyone deviating from the state-promoted Ba'thist religious ideology as a threat to the society.[141] The state-sponsored religious discourse during the rule of Hafez al-Assad promoted aleft-wing nationalist worldview that sought to anathematize Islamists and re-inforce loyalty towards the Alawite president.[142]
The era ofd'tente between the religious establishment and the Ba'athists came to an end in 2008, whenBashar al-Assad appointed Muhammad al-Sayyid as Chief of theMinistry ofAwqaf, which marked an era of harsh regulations in the religious landscape. Numerous private religious educational institutes, religious charities, independentpreaching organisations, female religious centres, etc. were forcibly shut down as part of the revamped state -sponsored secularization drive. The state also tightened its grip over the official religious institutions and dissident Islamic voices were imprisoned, leading to open rift with theulema. Private religious institutes were allowed donations only after official permission from the Ministry ofAwqaf, which also controlled the expenditures. The state was also entrusted with a broad range of powers including the hiring and firing of its instructors as well as the standardisation of their religious curriculum with the Ba'thist religious policy advocated by the Assad government, effectivelynationalising the private religious institutes.[143]
In 2009, Ba'ath party activists launched ideological campaigns against theNiqab (Islamic face veils) and alleged "extremist trends" in the society, which was complemented by the regime's revamped clampdown on religious activists, independent religious scholars andprivate schools. Popular display of religious symbols of all sects was banned in 2010 and officials close to theulema were suspended, under the pretext of preserving the "secular character" of the country. The regime also implementednation-wide ban on theNiqab (face-covering) and imposed restrictions on female Islamic organisations like theAl-Qubaisiat, which ignited a region-wide controversy. By the onset ofArab Spring in late 2010, relationship between theulema and the Assad regime had sunk to its lowest level, with even staunch Assad-loyalists like the Grand MuftiRamadan al-Bouti expressing public discontent.[143]
With the outbreak of theSyrian civil war, regime's crackdown on religious dissidents increased, particularly those ofSunni background over allegations of sympathies withSyrian opposition groups. In November 2021, Assad abolished the office ofGrand Mufti of Syria.[144][145][146] DescribingAssadism as aquasi-religion fostered by the Ba'athist state for mobilising the fealty and adulation ofSyrian citizens, Professor ofMiddle Eastern Studies atBonn International Centre Dr. Esther Meininghaus wrote:
"by drawing on religion, theAssad regime successfully sought to promote a value system ultimately rooted in theBaʿthist vision for Syrian society .... To this, we can indeed add the cult surrounding PresidentsHafiz andBashar al-Asad, whose pictures are displayed not only in public buildings and schools but taxis and shops, or ceremonies such as mass parades and/or the playing of thenational anthem during official celebrations. Also, official rhetoric has become increasingly infused with transcendental and metaphysical elements, in particular with regard to the President'spersonality cult. For instance, the President is addressed as the 'Eternal Leader' who will guide his people to becoming the 'true'Arab nation. The recent slogan of'Bashar, Allah, Suriyya wa-bas' (Bashar, God, and Syria – that's it) possibly best epitomises how close the regime has come to creating a Syrian public religion in its own right. Whether the outward performance of 'regime rituals' was actually fully internalised or secretly mocked, it had to be practised and obeyed."[147]
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At the time of Bashar al-Assad's election in the party's June 2000 Regional Congress, which was fifteen years after the last such congress, Subhi Hadidi, a Syrian dissident, commented "The Ba'ath is in complete disarray. ... It's like a dead body. It's no longer a party in any normal sense of the word."[148]Hanna Batatu wrote, "Under Assad the character of the Ba'ath changed ... Whatever independence of opinion its members enjoyed in the past was now curtailed, a premium being placed on conformity and internal discipline. The party became in effect another instrument by which the regime sought to control the community at large or to rally it behind its policies. The party's cadres turned more and more into bureaucrats and careerists, and were no longer vibrantly alive ideologically as in the 1950s and 1960s, unconditional fidelity to Assad having ultimately overridden fidelity to old beliefs."[149]
According toVolker Perthes, the Ba'ath Party was transformed under Assad; Perthes wrote, "It was further inflated such as to neutralise those who had supported the overthrown leftist leadership, it was de-ideologised; and it was restructured so as to fit into the authoritarian format of Assad's system, lose its avant-garde character and became an instrument for generating mass support and political control. It was also to become the regime's main patronage network."[113]
The Ba'ath Party was turned into a patronage network closely intertwined with the bureaucracy, and soon became virtually indistinguishable from the state, while membership rules were liberalized. In 1987, the party had 50,000 members in Syria, with another 200,000 candidate members on probation.[150] The party lost its independence from the state and was turned into a tool of the Assad government, which remained based essentially in the security forces. Other parties that accepted the basic orientation of the government were permitted to operate again. TheNational Progressive Front was established in 1972 as a coalition of these legal parties, which were only permitted to act as junior partners to the Ba'ath, with very little room for independent organisation.[151]
Despite its social and political subservience toAssadism, the Ba'ath party apparatus and its working establishments were crucial components in daily governance. The party facilitatedAssad family's tight control over the state, served to organize supporters and mobilize mass-rallies for social legitimacy. Despite affirmation of multiple parties in the 2012 constitution; no real opposition was allowed to operate in practice. All candidates to thePeople's Assembly and local councils were from theNational Progressive Front (NPF), a Ba'athist-led alliance firmly committed to the government. After 2018, the Ba'ath party expanded its political dominance and fielded more candidates in regional and national electoral processes, at the expense of other parties in the NPF. Internally, the party was strictly monitored by the High Command and regional Ba'athist leaders suspected of insufficient loyalty were expelled as "grey members" (al-Ramadiyyin).[152][153]
As of 2022, the Ba'athists continued to dominate the regional councils, civil services, parliament, army andMukhabarat. Vast majority of legalized trade unions, students associations also belonged to the Ba'ath party. More than a third of government employees in rural regions were Baath members; whereas in urban areas about half the officers were Baathists. Baath party institutions were vital to establish bureaucratic functioning in the government-controlled regions. Other parties of theNational Progressive Front were minority in size.[154]
| Arabic script | Arabic transliteration | English translation |
|---|---|---|
يا شبـاب العرب هيـا وانطـلق يا موكبـي | yā šabāba l-ʕarbi hayyā wa-nṭaliq yā mawkibī | Arab youth, raise and march to fight your enemies, |
| Lyrics: Suleiman al-Issa[155] | ||
| Election | Party candidate | Votes | % | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Hafez al-Assad | 1,919,609 | 99.2% | Elected Y |
| 1978 | 3,975,729 | 99.9% | ElectedY | |
| 1985 | 6,200,428 | 100% | ElectedY | |
| 1991 | 6,726,843 | 99.99% | ElectedY | |
| 1999 | 8,960,011 | 100% | ElectedY | |
| 2000 | Bashar al-Assad | 8,689,871 | 99.7% | ElectedY |
| 2007 | 11,199,445 | 99.82% | ElectedY | |
| 2014 | 10,319,723 | 88.7% | ElectedY | |
| 2021 | 13,540,860 | 95.1% | ElectedY |
| Election | Party leader | Seats | +/– |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1949 | 1 / 114 |  1 | |
| 1953 | 0 / 82 |  1 | |
| 1954 | Akram al-Hawrani | 22 / 140 | 22 |
| 1961 | Nureddin al-Atassi | 20 / 140 | 2 |
| 1973 | Hafez al-Assad | 122 / 250 | 102 |
| 1977 | 125 / 250 | 3 | |
| 1981 | 127 / 250 | 2 | |
| 1986 | 130 / 250 | 3 | |
| 1990 | 134 / 250 | 4 | |
| 1994 | 135 / 250 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 135 / 250 |  0 | |
| 2003 | Bashar al-Assad | 167 / 250 | 32 |
| 2007 | 169 / 250 | 2 | |
| 2012 | 168 / 250 | 1 | |
| 2016 | 172 / 250 | 4 | |
| 2020 | 167 / 250 | 5 | |
| 2024 | 169 / 250 | 2 |
Many posts in the public sector, the military and government were generally reserved for Baathists, which helped boost party membership. By 1981, some 375,000 people had joined the party. By 2010, this number had reportedly risen to 1.2 million – nearly 10% of the population.
In 1963, Syria's most prominent Arab nationalists, the socialist Ba'ath Party, seized power.
The Syrian Ba'th's only remaining option was to successfully exercise power within Syria – the Ba'th within a single state. To this end it tightened its grip on the country by intensifying its socialist policies. It became more radical so as to put Nasser in difficulty regionally and so as to appear as the champion of socialism, Arab nationalism, and the fight for the liberation of Palestine.
Within months, a cascade of nationalizations transformed the Syrian economy from a liberal to a socialist-style state economy. In May 1963, the new regime nationalized the private banks... The spirit of the text reflects the traditional themes dear to Ba'thist literature. In the talks among the delegations of the three countries to adopt the charter, the Founding Fathers of the Ba'th, Michel Aflaq anad Salah Bitar, sat among the representatives of the Syrian delegation. The two dominant themes of the charter were nationalism and Arab socialism.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The region's political systems have been described as 'authoritarian-socialist' (Algeria, Iraq, Syria) [...].
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)It adopted a heightened anti-imperialist character and aligned itself with the left-wing nationalist Baath Party.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)Maintaining this representation is rooted in the nature of the regime itself, which is based on a left-wing version of Arab nationalist ideology that is consistently used to justify its foreign policy and most of its domestic policies.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)Since 1970, parts of the regime structure itself have been reorganized along quasi-military, hierarchical lines. This applies in particular to the Ba'th Party... Moreover, the dividing lines between the party as a political organization and the security apparatus have become blurred, as much of the party's energy is spent on the political control and so-called security evaluations of Syrian citizens.
Militarization and war preparation in Syria were not a prelude to actual war making but instead 'an end in itself' that had political, social and domestic benefits. In the discourse of the Syrian government, the preparation for a potential war against Israel had always been given absolute primacy.
Paramilitarism has great importance for understanding the processes of violence that are played out during civil wars, such as in Syria, which often see the formation of paramilitary forces that conduct counter-insurgency operations, hold immense power beyond the state's official security organs, and inflict violence on civilians.
The army has penetrated deep into Syrian society. Education in Syria is militaristic. The military trains members of the Ba'ath party and runs mandatory military courses.
The secularism of the party is an important source of legitimacy. It is estimated that about 25 percent of the population of Syria are non-Sunni Muslims (Alawites, Druze, Isma'ilis), or non-Muslims (Christians).
The ideology propounded by the Ba'ath changed completely. The accent on Arab nationalism was discarded as was moderate socialism. Their place was taken by Syrian nationalism and extreme left-wing ideas verging on communism.
And just as these ideas are at the forefront of the Syrian conflict, they will be very familiar to any ordinary Syrian. Assad's invigorated nationalism is a highly amplified and intensified version of the same nationalist ideology that we have all experienced over the last four decades.
The Baʿath Party espoused nonalignment and opposition to imperialism and colonialism...
yet another coup d'etat in Syria in February 1966 ousted the old guard of the Ba'th Party ... and gave a radical faction (subsequently dubbed the neo-Ba'th) undisputed power. Abandoning the traditional goal of Arab unity, the new leaders proclaimed a radical socialist platform at home and a commitment to violent revolutionary activity abroad..
Assad effectively abandoned pan-Arab nationalism in the early 1970s, looking instead to dominate a much smaller area in the Levant; with this, he changed the region's ideological climate.
Syria, headed by the radical leftist Baath Party overtly challenged Nasser's leadership credentials by highlighting his diminished revolutionary spirit.
The change has been particularly marked under Asad. He has created a fairly popular Presidential regime: radical left, the most advanced socialist regime in the Arab world, it is progressively widening the frame to include more peasants and labourers.
The ideology propounded by the Ba'ath changed completely. The accent on Arab nationalism was discarded as was moderate socialism. Their place was taken by Syrian nationalism and extreme left-wing ideas verging on communism.
radical left-wing Ba'ath party in Syria.
The leadership now in control of Syria does not represent the gamut of the Ba'th party. It is composed mainly of extreme leftists vesting almost exclusive authority in the military wing of the party.
The period 1963 to 1970 when Asad finally succeeded was marked ideologically by uncertainty and even turbulence. It was a period of transition from the old nationalist politicians to the radical socialist Baathis ... struggle between 'moderates' and radicals was centred on the dispute whether to impose a radical left wing government and a social revolution on Syria or to follow a more moderate Arab unionist course which would possibly appease opponents of the Baath. The radicals largely held the upper hand and worked to strengthen the control of the party over the state.
In 1963 ... the socialist Ba'ath Party, seized power. The radical left wing of the party then launched an internal coup in 1966, initiating accelerated land reform
Syrian Baathist version of Arab nationalism and socialism offered plenty of points of contact with Soviet policy ... when the left-wing Baathist faction led by Nureddin Atasi came to power, accelerated Syria's rapprochement with the Soviet Union ... for the USSR Syria remained an uneasy ally whose actions were beyond control, often unpredictable and the cause of complications. The ultra-leftist slogans originating from Damascus (such as a 'people's war') were not received enthusiastically in Moscow. Mustafa Tlas, the new Syrian chief of staff, was a theoretician of guerrilla warfare and had even translated works by Che Guevara who was not particularly popular among the Soviet leaders.
influence of different views, came from the more radical left-wing nationalist groups. These groups included ... Syria's Ba'ath party which seized power in Damascus in 1963
مبروك للسويداء و أبناءها الجامعيين، تحويل مقر فرع حزب النظام الساقط السابق إلى فرع جامعة دمشق بقرار رسمي.[Congratulations to Sweida and its university students, for the transfer of the headquarters of the former branch of the fallen regime party to the branch of Damascus University by an official decision. (machine translation)]
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