National Guard of the Ba'ath Party

Last updated
National Guard
الحرس القومي
LeadersHamad Ubayd
FoundationMarch, 1963
DissolvedJanuary, 1966
Ideology Ba'athism
Anti-Zionism
StatusDisbanded

The National Guard of the Ba'ath Party (also sometimes called Ba'ath Party Militia [1] ) was an huge armed militia in Syria, created by Military Committee after 1963 coup d'etat to defend the regime. [2] The Guard was directly subordinate to the National Council for the Revolutionary Command (ruling council set up by the Military Committee). [1] [3] At the time, Ba'athist Iraq also had its own National Guard, similar in its functions. [4] In addition to this National Guard, Syria also had a "Red National Guard," controlled by Abd al-Karim al-Jundi until his suicide in 1969. [5]

Contents

Formation and history

National Guard was formed in March 1963, short after the Ba'athist seizure of power. The reason for its formation, as reported, was the Ba'ath party's distrust of the traditional army, which suffered from ideological divisions and had already been responsible for numerous coups in the past. [6] By early October 1963, it was stated that the size of the Guard was approximately 25,000 militiamen. [6] [7] The Guard also possessed a number of tanks and artillery systems. [8]

July 1963 Syrian coup attempt

National Guard tank after July 1963 coup attempt Syrian tank after the unsuccessful coup attempt in July, 1963.jpg
National Guard tank after July 1963 coup attempt

The National Guard was not a significant military force, and its training, supervised by officers of the regular army, was mostly limited to what was necessary to suppress protests or rebellions. [1] However, the National Guard performed well in suppressing the Nasserist coup attempt in July 1963, serving as the main force defending the government. [9]

1964 Hama riot

In addition to fighting the forces of the conspirators, the guard also ensured compliance with the previously imposed curfew. [10] The Guard also participated in suppressing the 1964 Hama riots by the Muslim Brotherhood: [11] in early stages, militants hunted the Ba'ath Party and National Guard members, for example, they killed and mutilated Guard member Munzir al-Shimali. [12] [13] In a result of those assassinations, the National Guard was at the forefront of suppressing the rebellion: president Amin al-Hafiz viewed this as a provocation that he needed, and ordered the guard to launch a massive offensive on Hama, putting the riots down in just two days. [8]

Role

The National Guard served primarily as an instrument of political pressure and played an important role in the political control of the population. Most of its members were extremely radical pro-Ba'athists and people loyal to the ruling party, who actively participated in intimidating its opponents. [1] The formation of the guard also led to the radicalization of the official army. During its existence, the guard played the role of an "ideological army" - a concept that originated after the Sixth party congress in October 1963, and which continued to be implemented (directly in relation to the army) even after the disbandment of the Guard. [5] The National Guard also participated in the formation of the early Workers' Battalions. [14]

The National Guard was formed primarily from peasants and other armed civilians. [1] [15] The Guard received orders to eliminate any suspected enemies of the Ba'athist revolution in Syria, to suppress protests and strikes by merchants and craftsmen whose property was threatened by government nationalization policies (a major wave of which began in January 1965 with the adoption of the so-called Ramadan Socialist Decrees). [16] [14]

Disbandment

The Guard was disbanded in January 1966 by orders of the Prime Minister Salah al-Din al-Bitar and president Amin al-Hafiz because it had become the main military and political support base for the radical neo-Ba'athists and the Qutriyun faction in the Ba'ath Party (such as Salah Jadid) and posed a serious threat to the moderate government. However, this did not prevent the coup that took place in February 1966. [9] [17] Almost all of the former members of the guard supported Jadid. [5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Division, American University (Washington, D. C. ) Foreign Areas Studies (1970). Area Handbook for Syria. U.S. Government Printing Office.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Seale, Patrick (1989). Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East. University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-06667-0.
  3. ↑ "THE BAATHIST REGIMES IN SYRIA AND IRAQ" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. 1963.
  4. ↑ "Chapter IV. THE BA'TH-IDEOLOGY AND PRACTIC" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. 1966.
  5. 1 2 3 Perlmutter, Amos (2014-04-23). Political Roles and Military Rulers. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-135-16849-0.
  6. 1 2 New Times. Newspaper "Trud, ". 1963.
  7. ↑ "'Al Baath' Challenges Nasser; The political party that rules Syria and Iraq has become a serious contender for leadership of the Arab world. 'Al Baath' Challenges Nasser (Published 1963)". 1963-10-06. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  8. 1 2 Lister, Charles R. (2016-01-02). The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-061346-4.
  9. 1 2 Authors, Various (2021-03-01). Routledge Library Editions: Syria. Routledge. ISBN   978-1-135-03987-5.
  10. ↑ "Syrians Searching for 9 Nasserites Who Led Attempt at Coup; Baath Rejects Domination (Published 1963)". 1963-07-23. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  11. ↑ "سورية .. هذا الفارس المصلوب!.. رأي صحيفة المنار 1964 | التاريخ السوري المعاصر". التاريخ السوري المعاصر (in Arabic). 2021-11-10. Archived from the original on 2025-05-19. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  12. ↑ "The History of Political and Militant Islam in Syria - Jamestown". jamestown.org. Retrieved 2025-11-23.
  13. ↑ Abrams, A. B. (2021-07-01). World War in Syria: A Global Conflict Waged on Middle Eastern Battlefields. SCB Distributors. ISBN   978-1-949762-47-1.
  14. 1 2 Lawson, Fred H. (2013-02-07). Global Security Watch—Syria. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN   979-8-216-09060-1.
  15. ↑ The National Guardsman. National Guard Association of the United States. 1967.
  16. ↑ "The history of Syria's army: From inception to dissolution to reformation". en.majalla.com. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  17. ↑ Dawisha, Adeed I. (1980-06-18). Syria and the Lebanese Crisis. Springer. ISBN   978-1-349-05371-1.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.