Arab Socialist Movement حركة الاشتراكيين العرب | |
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Leader | Omar Adnan al-Alawi |
Founder | Akram al-Hawrani |
Banned | 29 January 2025 [1] |
Split from | Arab Socialist Movement |
Headquarters | Damascus, Syria |
Ideology | Arab socialism Arab nationalism Pan-Arabism Neo-Ba'athism [2] Anti-Islamism [2] |
Political position | Left-wing |
National affiliation | National Progressive Front (until 2025) |
Website | |
Facebook page | |
The Arab Socialist Movement's Damascus branch was a Syrian political party that operated from Damascus.
The party originated as faction of the Arab Socialist Movement, a party which broke apart in the 1960s, and continues to claim the original party's name and legacy. The Damascus branch is headed by Abdul-Ghani Qannout, and joined the Ba'ath Party-led National Progressive Front (NPF) government in 1972 [3] [4] and continued to support the al-Assad family's rule in Syria until the fall of the Assad regime. [2]
After Abdul-Ghani Qannout died in 2001, Ahmad al-Ahmad became the new secretary general; under him, the party continued its pro-government course, even during the Syrian Civil War. [2] Amid the conflict's civil uprising phase, the Arab Socialist Movement's Damascus branch organised pro-government rallies. [5] When the uprising escalated into a full insurgency, members of the party organised pro-government militias. Assistant secretary general Omar Adnan al-Alawi headed the National Defence Forces' Deir ez-Zor branch during part of the siege of Deir ez-Zor (2014–2017), and was wounded in combat. [2] A member of the party's political office, Turki Albu Hamad, played a leading role in founding the "Forces of the Fighters of the Tribes" militia. [2]
Following the fall of the Assad regime the party, along with all other NPF members, was dissolved by the Syrian transitional government on 29 January 2025. [1]