A SHORT RÉSUMÉ OF SYRIAN POLITICS

The 8^th of March Revolution, also referred to the 1963 March Revolution, was a coup which followed a successful Ba’athist coup d’état in Iraq on 8th February 1963. The Iraqi Ba’ath took power after violently overthrowing nationalist Iraqi military officer Abd al-Karim Qasim and quashing communist-led resistance. Qasim was given a short trial and he was quickly shot. Later, footage of his execution was broadcast to prove he was dead. This coup has been reported to have been carried out with the backing of the British government and the American CIA.

Salah al-Din al Bitar

In March 1963, the Syrian party’s military committee succeeded in persuading Nasserist and independent officers to make common cause with it, and successfully carried out a military coup on the 8^th March. A National Revolutionary Command Council took control and assigned itself legislative power; it appointed Salah al-Din al Bitar as head of a "national front" government. The Ba'ath participated in this government along with the Arab Nationalist Movement, the United Arab Front and the Socialist Unity Movement.

As historian Hanna Batatu notes, this took place without the fundamental disagreement over immediate or "considered" reunification having been resolved. The Ba'ath moved to consolidate its power within the new regime, purging Nasserist officers in April. Subsequent disturbances led to the fall of the al-Bitar government, and in the aftermath of Jasim Alwan’s failed Nasserist coup in July, the Ba'ath monopolized power.

About 800 people were reported killed during the takeover and another 20 were executed shortly afterwards.

In 1966, another military coup was carried out by neo-Ba'athist party members. As a result of the overthrow, the party's historical founders fled the country and spent the rest of their lives in exile. The overthrow also created a permanent schism between the Syrian and Iraqi branches of the party.

The 1970 Syrian Corrective Revolution, referred to as the Syrian Corrective Movement, was a military-pragmatist faction's takeover within the Ba’ath Party regime of Syria on 13 November 1970, bringing Hafez al-Assad to power. Hafez ibn 'Ali ibn Sulayman al-Assad or more commonly Hafez al-Assad was the President of Syria for three decades. His rule brought changes, including the 1973 constitution which stated that it guaranteed women's "equal status in society".(One sees precious little of that)  Assad attempted to industrialize the country, and it was opened up to foreign markets. He invested in infrastructure, education, medicine, literacy and urban construction. As a result of the discovery of oil, the economy expanded. On the other hand, he also drew criticism for repression of his own people, in particular for ordering the 1982 Hama massacre, which has been described as "the single deadliest act by any Arab government against its own people in the modern Middle East"; as well as others such as the April 1981 Hama massacre (not to be confused with the 1982 event), the Tadmor Prison massacre (June 1980), the Siege of Aleppo (July 1980), Tel al-Zaatar massacre (August 1976) and the 13 October massacre when hundreds of Lebanese soldiers were executed after they surrendered to Syrian forces. Additionally, Human Rights groups have detailed thousands of extrajudicial executions he committed against opponents of his regime.

It should be noted that on 21^st July 1980 Salah ad-Din al-Bitar (see above) was shot dead in Paris. The identity of his actual killer was never discovered, but it was reported that Hafez al Assad  had ordered the assassination.

Hafez

Bashar

He was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad, current president, in 2000. When the elder Assad died in 2000, Bashar was appointed leader of the Ba'ath Party and the Army, and was elected president unopposed in what the regime claimed to be a massive popular support (97.2% of the votes), after the Majlis Al Sha’ab (Parliament) swiftly voted to lower the minimum age for candidates from 40 to 34 (Assad's age when he was elected). On 27 May 2007, Bashar was approved as president for another seven-year term, with the official result of 97.6% of the votes in a referendum without another candidate.

Let us not forget however that, back in 1963, the Ba’athists were supported by the British Government and the CIA. That support no doubt continued for some time. So who is responsible for all this, and is it any wonder, given the track record of Syrian politics that the present Syrian Government behaves as it does.

The 8^th of March also marks a couple of openings:

On the 8^th March 1957 Egypt re-opened the Suez Canal after the Suez Crisis.

On the 8^th March 1974 Charles de Gaulle Airport opened in Paris, France.