Islamist uprising in Syria | |||||||
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Part of the Arab Cold War | |||||||
![]() A destroyed section of Hama's old town, after the 1982 Hama massacre | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Fighting Vanguard [2] [3] Muslim Brotherhood (after mid-1979) [4] [5] Supported by: ![]() ![]() ![]() | Supported by:![]() | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
Total death toll unknown estimates vary from 10,000 - 40,000 killed [11] |
The Islamist uprising in Syria comprised a series of protests, assassinations, bombings, and armed revolts led by Sunni Islamists, mainly members of the Fighting Vanguard and, after 1979, the Muslim Brotherhood, from 1976 until 1982. The uprising aimed to establish an Islamic Republic in Syria by overthrowing the Ba'athist government, in what has been described by Ba'ath Party as a "long campaign of terror". [12]
After 1980, the popular resistance to Ba'athist rule expanded, with a coalition of Islamist opposition groups coordinating nation-wide strikes, protests and revolts throughout Syria. [13] During the violent events, resistance militias attacked Syrian Arab Army bases and carried out political assassinations of Ba'ath party cadres, army officials, Soviet military advisors, and bureaucrats linked to Assad family. [14] [15] [10] Civilians were also killed in retaliatory strikes conducted by security forces. [16] The uprising reached its climax in the 1982 Hama massacre, during which the Syrian government killed over 40,000 civilians. [17] [18]
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In context, the insurgency traces its origins to multiple factors. Historical ideological friction is a result of the Ba'ath Party's ultra-secularist foundation versus the Muslim Brotherhood's religious foundation. Muslim Brotherhood believed that Islamic religion had the central role in directing the laws of the state. [19] On the other hand, secular Ba'athist ideology emphasized Arab nationalism and advocated the replacement of religion with socialism. [20]
This friction became heated following the 1963 Ba'ath Party coup which saw the Party claiming sole power in the country and subsequently outlawing all other organised opposition. In response, the Muslim Brotherhood encouraged general protests across the country. These protests were most acute in the city of Hama, long considered "a stronghold of landed conservatism". [21] During the 1964 Hama uprising, Ba'ath Party responded violently, crushing the revolt with brutal force. [22]
Muslim Brotherhood was forced to continue its activities clandestinely. In the party, the ideological dispute began widening towards a sectarian one; as dominance of Alawite elites in the Ba'athist military, bureaucracy and politics became visible after the Old Guard was overthrown by the neo-Ba'athist military wing of Alawite General Salah Jadid in the 1966 coup. [19] The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood fractured over disputes of the best course of action. Much of the party leadership was afraid to directly oppose the Syrian government, fearing that a violent confrontation could cause more harm than good. In contrast, several of the most radical members of the party split off to form the "Fighting Vanguard", led by Marwan Hadid. The Fighting Vanguard was willing to challenge the government by conducting assassinations and sabotage actions. [2] [3]
On 13 November 1970, Hafez Al Assad launched a coup which saw him gain sole power. To cement his power, on 31 January 1973, Assad implemented a new constitution which led to a national crisis. Unlike previous constitutions, this one did not require that the president of Syria must be a Muslim, leading to fierce demonstrations in Hama, Homs and Aleppo organized by the Muslim Brotherhood and the ulama . They labelled Assad as the "enemy of Allah" and called for a jihad against his rule. [23] Under pressure, Assad returned the requirement and convinced Lebanese cleric Musa al-Sadr to issue a fatwa proclaiming the Alawite minority to be part of Shia Islam. [24] The 1973 constitution greatly increased the support for Hadid's Fighting Vanguard, and many Muslim Brotherhood members defected to his faction or at least began to support it. He subsequently reorganized his group to increase the number of attacks, hoping to provoke the Syrian government into a crackdown that would force the Muslim Brotherhood into open rebellion. [25] [26]
Robert D. Kaplan has compared Assad's coming to power to
"an untouchable becoming maharajah in India or a Jew becoming tsar in Russia—an unprecedented development shocking to the Sunni majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries." [27]
According to historian Patrick Seale, the "economic boom following the October War had run out of steam, and new inequalities were created". [28] Raphael Lefevre adds that the emergence of secular ideology had led to the "overturning of traditional structures of political and socioeconomic power". [29] Additionally, a decrease in Gulf countries' economic support, the cost of Syria's military campaign in Lebanon, and the take-in of several refugees from the conflict all further exacerbated Syria's economic livelihood. [30]
Economic impact of state socialism adopted by the Ba'athist government as well as rising assertiveness of Alawites in the new socio-political system resulted in the alienation of the traditional elites, landowners, industrialists and the bourgeoisie. Their support shifted in favour of the Islamic opposition which positioned itself as ideological defenders of private property and free trade. [19]
1976 marked the Syrian army's intervention in the Lebanese Civil War, initially against the Palestinian guerrillas (PLO). This was received with surprise across the Arab world and contributed to pre-existing reasons for discontent with the Syrian government. Historian Patrick Seale described this attack as "slaughtering Arabism's sacred cow". [31]
In the same year, Syria experienced sporadic terror attacks, mostly explosions and assassinations. [32] The killings were largely aimed at prominent military officers, bureaucrats and government officials, including doctors and teachers. Most of the victims were Alawites, which led some to suggest "that the assassins had targeted the community" but "no one could be sure who was behind" the killings. [33]
The Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein had supported the insurgents with a steady flow of arms and supplies. [34] General Rifa'at al-Assad, younger brother of Hafez al-Assad, became a powerful figure in the Ba'ath party and Syrian politics, as a result of his activities in the Lebanese Civil War. Rifa'at's corruption as well as the sectarian excesses of his increasingly autonomous Alawite loyalist private militias provoked widespread resentment across the Syrian population. As a result, internal situation in Syria became further destabilized and protests spread further across the cities. [35]
16 June 1979 marked the day of the Aleppo artillery school massacre. Member of school staff, Captain Ibrahim Yusuf, called cadets to an urgent meeting at the dining hall. Once assembled, gunmen fired indiscriminately at the cadets with automatic weapons and grenades. [32] The massacre was masterminded by 'Adnan 'Uqla, a Fighting Vanguard commander. [36] [37] 'Uqla committed the mass murder without the permission of the Fighting Vanguard's formal leader, Hisham Jumbaz, or its field commando in Aleppo. [38] [39] [4]
This massacre signalled a turn in the insurgency as it was now more than just a series of sporadic attacks, but a campaign of "large-scale urban warfare". [40] By August, the Brotherhood had declared a jihad against the Syrian government, effectively claiming responsibility for the insurgency. [41]
In the days leading up to 8 March 1980 (the 17th anniversary of the 1963 Ba'athist coup), nearly all Syrian cities were paralysed by strikes and protests, which sometimes developed into pitched battles with security forces. [42] The events escalated into a widescale crackdown in Aleppo, where the government responded with overwhelming military force, sending in tens of thousands of troops, supported by tanks and helicopters. In and around Aleppo, hundreds of demonstrators were killed, and eight thousand were arrested. By April, the uprising in the area had been crushed. [43]
Between 1979 and 1981, Brotherhood insurgents continued to target Ba'ath party officials, party offices, police stations, military vehicles, barracks, factories, and even Russian officials. [40] Insurgents would form 'hit teams' to kill Ba'ath party members in their sleep, such as 'Abd al 'Aziz al 'Adi, who was murdered in front of his wife and children and had his body thrown into the street. [44] On occasion, individuals who had denounced the killings were also targeted, including Sheikh al-Shami, Imam of the Suleymania mosque of Aleppo. [45]
Other instances of terrorism include attacks in August, September and November 1981, where the Brotherhood carried out three car-bomb attacks against government and military targets in Damascus, killing hundreds of people, according to the official press. [46] Among the victims were Soviet officials, experts, and their families serving with the United Nations as part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force. [47]
Losing control over the streets, the government decided on a policy of all-out-war on the insurgents after a Ba'ath party congress concluded in January 1980. [48] The Party's first step was to arm Party loyalists and sympathizers, effectively creating a 'citizen militia'. [48] By March and April, the cities of Jisr al-Shughur and Aleppo were brought into line with thousands of troops in garrison and tanks on the streets. Hundreds were rounded up in search-and-destroy operations.
In another case, in retaliation to a failed terror attack on an Alawite village near Hama, the army executed about 400 of Hama's Sunni inhabitants, chosen randomly among the male population of over the age of 14. [49]
On 27 June 1980, Hafez Al Assad himself narrowly escaped death after a failed assassination attempt. The assailant fired a burst of rounds and threw two grenades, the first being kicked away by Assad and the second being covered by his personal bodyguard, Khalid al-Husayn, who died instantly. In retaliation, the very next day, Rifaat Al Assad's defence company flew into the infamous Palmyra prison in helicopters and killed hundreds of prisoners who had been Brotherhood-affiliates. By July 8, membership of the Muslim Brotherhood became a capital offence altogether, [50] with a month-long grace period for those who wished to turn themselves in and avoid a death sentence. Some couple thousand individuals turned themselves in, hoping to escape the death penalty; mostly urban, educated, young men. [51]
The insurgency is generally considered to have been crushed by the bloody Hama massacre of 1982, in which thousands of insurgents, soldiers and residents were killed, according to anti-Syrian Government claims "the vast majority innocent civilians". [52] [53] On 2 February 1982, the Brotherhood led a major insurrection in Hama, rapidly taking control of the city; the military responded by bombing Hama (whose population was about 250,000) throughout the rest of the month, killing between 2,000 and 25,000 people. The Hama events marked the defeat of the Brotherhood, and the militant Islamic movement in general, as a political force in Syria. [54]
US Intelligence conducted an intelligence analysis with regards to possible outcomes of the conflict. [55]
Having suppressed all opposition, Hafez al-Assad released some imprisoned members of the Brotherhood in the mid-1990s.
The Muslim Brotherhood would have no physical presence in Syria again.
Although its leadership is in exile, the Brotherhood continues to enjoy considerable sympathy among Syrians. Riyad al-Turk, a secular opposition leader, considers it "the most credible" Syrian opposition group[ citation needed ]. The Brotherhood has continued to advocate a democratic political system; it has abandoned its calls for violent resistance and for the application of shari'a law. The Brotherhood also maintains that it condemns sectarianism against Alawites and is only against the Baathist dictatorship. Al-Turk and others in the secular opposition are inclined to take this evolution seriously, as a sign of the Brotherhood's greater political maturity, and believe that the Brotherhood would now be willing to participate in a democratic system of government.[ citation needed ]
In a January 2006 interview, the Brotherhood's leader, Ali Sadreddine Bayanouni, "said the Muslim Brotherhood wants a peaceful change of government in Damascus and the establishment of a 'civil, democratic state', not an Islamic republic." [56] According to Bayanouni, the Syrian government admits having detained 30,000 people, giving a fair representation of the Brotherhood's strength. [52]
While the involvement of the Syrian government "was not proved" in these killings, it "was widely suspected."
Hafez al-Assad was a Syrian statesman, military officer and revolutionary who served as the 18th president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. He had previously served as prime minister of Syria from 1970 to 1971 as well as regional secretary of the regional command of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and secretary general of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party from 1970 to 2000. Hafez al-Assad was a key participant in the 1963 Syrian coup d'état, which brought the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party to power in the country.
The Alawites, also known as Nusayrites, are an Arab ethnoreligious group that live primarily in the Levant and follow Alawism, a religious sect that splintered from early Shi'ism as a ghulat branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate Ali ibn Abi Talib, revered as the first Imam in the Twelver school, as the physical manifestation of God. The group was founded by Ibn Nusayr during the 9th century. Ibn Nusayr was a disciple of the tenth Twelver Imam, Ali al-Hadi and of the eleventh Twelver Imam, Hasan al-Askari. For this reason, Alawites are also called Nusayris.
The Hama massacre occurred in February 1982 when the Syrian Arab Army and the Defense Companies, under orders of president Hafez al-Assad, besieged the town of Hama for 27 days in order to quell an uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood against the Ba'athist government. The campaign that had begun in 1976 by Sunni Muslim groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, was brutally crushed in an anti-Sunni massacre at Hama, carried out by the Syrian Arab Army and Alawite militias under commanding General Rifaat al-Assad.
The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria is a Syrian branch of the Sunni Islamist Muslim Brotherhood organization. Its objective is the transformation of Syria into an Islamic state governed by Sharia law through a gradual legal and political process.
Terrorism in Syria has a long history dating from the state-terrorism deployed by the Ba'athist government since its seizure of power through a violent coup in 1963. The Ba'athist government have since deployed various types of state terrorism; such as ethnic cleansing, forced deportations, massacres, summary executions, mass rapes and other forms of violence to maintain its totalitarian rule in Syria. The most extensive use of state terrorism in the 20th century was, the state deployed extensive violence against civilians, such as the case of 2004 Qamishli massacre. When Arab Spring spread to Syria in 2011, the Ba'athist security apparatus launched a brutal crackdown against peaceful protestors calling for freedom and dignity, which killed thousands of civilians and deteriorated the crisis into a full-scale civil war. Taking advantage of the situation, transnational Jihadist groups like Islamic State and al-Nusra began to emerge in Syria as the war escalated, some of which emulated the deadly terrorist tactics of the Assad regime.
The 1966 Syrian coup d'état refers to events between 21 and 23 February during which the government of the Syrian Arab Republic was overthrown and replaced. The ruling National Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party were removed from power by a union of the party's Military Committee and the Regional Command, under the leadership of Salah Jadid.
The 1963 Syrian coup d'état, referred to by the Syrian government as the 8 March Revolution, was the seizure of power in Syria by the military committee of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The planning and the unfolding conspiracy of the Syrian Ba'athist operatives were prompted by the Ba'ath party's seizure of power in Iraq in February 1963.
The Corrective Movement, also referred to as the Corrective Revolution or the 1970 coup, was a bloodless coup d'état led by General Hafez al-Assad on 13 November 1970 in Syria. Assad proclaimed to sustain and improve the "nationalist socialist line" of the state and the Ba'ath party. Ba'ath party adopted an ideological revision, absolving itself of Salah Jadid's doctrine of exporting revolutions. The new doctrine placed emphasis on defeating Israel, by developing the Syrian military with the support of the Soviet Union. Assad would rule Syria until his death in 2000, after which he was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad.
The 1964 Hama riot was the first significant clash between the newly installed Ba'ath Party leadership of Syria and the Muslim Brotherhood. It occurred in April 1964, after the 1963 Ba'athist coup d'état. The insurrection was suppressed with heavy military force, resulting in many mortal casualties and partial destruction of the old Hama city neighborhoods. Hama continued to be a center of Islamists and a focal point of the 1976-1982 Islamist uprising in Syria.
The siege of Aleppo refers to a military operation conducted by forces of the Syrian government led by Hafez al-Assad in 1980 during the armed conflict between the Sunni groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Syrian government. Government forces committed several massacres in the course of the operation.
The 1981 Hama massacre was an incident in which over 300 residents of Hama, Syria, were killed by government security forces.
The Aleppo Artillery School massacre was a sectarian massacre of Syrian Army cadets on 16 June 1979. It was carried out by a handful of members of the Muslim Brotherhood's Fighting Vanguard led by Adnan Uqlah and Ibrahim al-Youssef, without the permission of the leader of the Fighting Vanguard, Hisham Jumbaz. The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria later tried to cover up their involvement in the massacre by condemning it, but the Syrian government decided to conduct a large-scale crackdown against it to prevent any reoccurrence.
On 26 June 1980, an assassination attempt on Hafez al-Assad, the Syrian president, was carried out by Muslim Brotherhood supporters who threw two grenades and fired machine gun bursts at him as he waited for an African diplomat in the Guest Palace in Damascus. Assad kicked one grenade out of range, whilst one of Assad's bodyguards threw himself on the other grenade.
The Syrian Civil War is an intensely sectarian war. However, the initial phases of the uprising in 2011 featured a broad, cross-sectarian opposition to the rule of Bashar al-Assad, reflecting a collective desire for political reform and social justice, transcending ethnic and religious divisions. Over time, the civil war has largely transformed into a conflict between ruling minority Alawite government and allied Shi'a governments such as Iran; pitted against the country's Sunni Muslim majority who are aligned with the Syrian opposition and its Turkish and Persian Gulf state backers. Sunni Muslims make up the majority of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and many hold high administrative positions, while Alawites and members of almost every minority have also been active on the rebel side.
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, officially the Syrian Regional Branch, is a neo-Ba'athist organisation founded on 7 April 1947 by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar and followers of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party has ruled Syria continuously since the 1963 Syrian coup d'état which brought the Ba'athists to power. It was first the regional branch of the original Ba'ath Party (1947–1966) before it changed its allegiance to the Syrian-dominated Ba'ath movement (1966–present) following the 1966 split within the original Ba'ath Party. Since their ascent to power in 1963, neo-Ba'athist officers proceeded by stamping out the traditional civilian elites to construct a military dictatorship operating in totalitarian lines; wherein all state agencies, party organisations, public institutions, civil entities, media and health infrastructure are tightly dominated by the army establishment and the Mukhabarat.
The Syrian revolution, also known as the Syrian Revolution of Dignity, was a series of mass protests and uprisings in Syria – with a subsequent violent reaction by the Syrian Arab Republic – lasting from March 2011 to June 2012, as part of the wider Arab Spring in the Arab world. The revolution, which demanded the end of the decades-long Assad family rule, began as minor demonstrations during January 2011 and transformed into large nation-wide protests in March. The uprising was marked by mass protests against the Ba'athist dictatorship of president Bashar al-Assad meeting police and military violence, massive arrests and a brutal crackdown, resulting in thousands of deaths and tens of thousands wounded.
Salim Hatum was a Syrian Army officer who played a significant role in Syrian politics in the 1960s. A member of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, he was instrumental in the 1966 Syrian coup d'état that toppled the government of Amin al-Hafiz, also a Ba'athist. That same year he launched an insurrection from his home region of Jabal al-Druze against his colleagues who formed the new government but sidelined him from any major position. He fled Syria amid a warrant for his arrest, but returned in 1967 and was subsequently jailed and executed.
Adnan Uqla was a Syrian Islamist insurgent who served as the leader of the Fighting Vanguard; a Sunni militant group connected to the Muslim Brotherhood that led the failed Islamist insurrection in Syria. He was noted as being particularly pious and of being the Vanguard's most charismatic and influential figure.
Adnan Saad al-Din (1929–2010) was the fourth supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria between 1976 and 1981.
The Fighting Vanguard of the Mujahideen, also known as the Fighting Vanguard of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, was an offshoot of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood that took part in violent actions against the ruling Baath regime during the Islamist uprising in Syria mainly between 1976 and 1982.
Another reason for West Germany to oppose Asad [sic] was his involvement in international terrorism, such as the RAF (Baader Meinhof Gang) clique and the "Movement 2nd of June – Tupamaros West Berlin"... West Germany, as an ally in the anti-Soviet camp, had a reason to support the Brotherhood in Syria and to provide them a safe exile in Germany as a place from where they could continue their attempts to overthrow Asad [sic], in order to weaken the Soviet bloc... Three ways how West Germany supported the Syrian Brotherhood.. It provided asylum and a save haven from where the exile-brotherhood could organise its struggle against Asad [sic], it protected them against attacks of Syrian intelligence, and West German newspapers reported about the Hama incident in a way that supported the aims of the Brotherhood.