Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region

{{Short description|Neo-Ba'athist political party}} {{About|the branch that controlled Syria|the pan-Arab Ba'ath Party, which is Syrian-led but has branches in multiple countries|Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction)}} {{Use British English|date=February 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox political party | name = Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region | native_name = {{Script/Arabic|حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي – قطر سوريا}} | native_name_lang = ar | logo = Logo of the Syrian Ba'ath.png | colorcode = {{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}} | governing_body = [[Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Central Command]] (2018–2024)<ref>[[Federal Research Division]] (2004). ''Syria: A Country Study''. [[Kessinger Publishing]]. p. 215. {{ISBN|978-1-4191-5022-7}}.</ref> | leader1_title = | leader1_name = | leader2_title = Assistant General Secretary | leader2_name =  | general_secretary =  | founded = {{start date and age|df=yes|1947|04|07}} | dissolved = {{end date and age|df=yes|2025|01|29}} | successor = | newspaper = ''[[Al-Ba'ath]]''<ref>{{cite book|author1=David Commins|author2=David W. Lesch |title=Historical Dictionary of Syria|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wpBWAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA252 |year=2013 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7966-9 |page=252}}</ref> and ''[[Al-Thawra (newspaper) |Al-Thawra]]''<ref name=apn>{{cite web |title=Syria |url=http://www.arabpressnetwork.org/newspaysv2.php?id=138 |work=Arab Press Network|access-date=21 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825124135/http://www.arabpressnetwork.org/newspaysv2.php?id=138 |archive-date=25 August 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="ai">{{cite book |author1 =Tucker, Spencer |author2 =Roberts, Priscillia Mary | pages = [https://books.google.com/books?id=YAd8efHdVzIC&pg=PA183 183–184] | title = The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and Military History | publisher = [[ABC-CLIO]] | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-1-85109-841-5}}</ref> (until 2024) | student_wing = National Union of Students Ba'ath Vanguards<ref>{{cite web |title=Syria's Conflicting Powers Develop Separate Education Curriculums |url=http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/syriasource/syria-s-conflicting-powers-develop-separate-education-curriculums |website=Atlantic Council |date=23 December 2015 |access-date=31 December 2017|archive-date=7 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107030404/http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/syriasource/syria-s-conflicting-powers-develop-separate-education-curriculums |url-status=live}}</ref> | youth_wing = [[Revolutionary Youth Union]]<ref>[http://ryu-sy.org/ أحدث أخبار وفعاليات منظمة اتحاد شبيبة الثورة] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118194757/http://ryu-sy.org/ |date=18 November 2022 }} (The latest news and events of the Revolutionary Youth Union).</ref> | wing1_title = [[Paramilitary|Armed wing]] | wing1 = [[Ba'ath Brigades]] (2012–2018)<ref name="SunniAleppo">{{cite news |title=Pro-regime Sunni fighters in Aleppo defy sectarian narrative |url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/syria-aleppo-sunni-quds-baath-brigades.html |author=Edward Dark |publisher=[[Al Monitor]] |date=14 March 2014 |access-date=20 March 2014 |archive-date=23 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223221431/https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/syria-aleppo-sunni-quds-baath-brigades.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=groupdissolved>{{cite web |url=https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2018/09/source-the-tiger-cancels-the-contracts-of-6500-of-its-troops-throughout-syria/ |title=Source: The "Tiger" Cancels the Contracts of 6500 of Its Troops throughout Syria |date=20 September 2018 |website=Enab Baladi |access-date=31 August 2019 |archive-date=9 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109021756/https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2018/09/source-the-tiger-cancels-the-contracts-of-6500-of-its-troops-throughout-syria/ |url-status=live}}</ref> | membership = {{steady}} 1.200.000 (2010 {{estimation}})<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-18582755 |title=Profile: Syria's ruling Baath Party |date=9 July 2012 |work=[[BBC]] |access-date=13 August 2019 |quote=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. |archive-date=13 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190813084243/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-18582755 |url-status=live}}</ref> | ideology = [[Neo-Ba'athism]] * [[Assadism]]<ref>Korany, Baghat; Dessouki, Ali (2010). ''The Foreign Policies of Arab States: The Challenge of Globalization''. [[American University in Cairo Press]]. pp. 423–424. {{ISBN|978-977-416-360-9}}. "Zisser similarly highlights the "clearly personal character" of the Syrian regime and how it revolves "completely around the personality and image of the man who created it"; Nicholas coins the term 'Assadism' to express how the "Assad [[cult of personality | leadership cult]]" dominates Syrian politics; and Cleveland stresses how this personalization, aimed at "raising the image of the president to the level of one whose wisdom was beyond the comprehension of the average citizen", is the most distinctive character of the Syrian regime."</ref><ref>[[Viorst, Milton]] (1995). ''Sandcastles: The Arabs in Search of the Modern World''. [[Syracuse University Press]]. p. 146. {{ISBN|978-0224033237}}.</ref> * [[Arab nationalism]]<ref>{{Cite book |last =Phillips |first =Christopher |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=cqIjEAAAQBAJ |title= The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East |publisher =Yale University Press |year =2020 |isbn =978-0-300-21717-9 |location =London, UK |page =11 |quote =In 1963, Syria's most prominent Arab nationalists, the socialist Ba'ath Party, seized power.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last =Atassi |first =Karim |title = Syria, the Strength of an Idea: The Constitutional Architectures of Its Political Regimes |publisher =Cambridge University Press |year =2018 |isbn = 978-1-107-18360-5 |location =New York, NY |doi = 10.1017/9781316872017 |pages =262 |quote =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.}}</ref> * [[Neoliberalism]] (from 1991)<ref> *{{cite journal |last1=Ajlan |first1=Ahmad |title=Neoliberal economic policies as a root cause of forced migration from Arab Spring countries: the case of Syria |journal=Disasters |volume=50 |issue=1 |page=2 |quote=The government launched an economic liberalisation programme in 1991 to pull the country out of a financial crisis. It expanded and intensified its economic reform policies from 2000, includingopening the market to foreign investment and granting licences to foreign banks to operate in Syria.The implications set the scene for the uprising in 2011}} *{{cite journal |last1=Terc |first1=Amanda |title=Syria‘s New Neoliberal Elite: English Usage, Linguistic Practices and Group Boundaries |journal=University of Michigan |page=3 |quote=The consensus seemed to be that change had originated from a series of government-led economic reforms and then spread into an eager population who quickly availed themselves of the new opportunities. Political scientists and economists, working both inside and outside the country, were quick to note that these changes followed a neoliberal turn}} *{{cite book |last1=Matar |first1=Linda |editor1-last=Ghazal |editor1-first=Amal |editor2-last=Hanssen |editor2-first=Jens |editor1-link=he Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History |title=Syria’s Economic History: Bumpy Road from Economic Nationalism to Neoliberalism |page=408–426}} *{{cite journal |last1=Hinnebusch |first1=Raymond |title=Syria: the politics of economic liberalisation |journal=Third World Quarterly |date=1997 |volume=18 |issue=2 |page=252 |quote=As the political elite went into business on the side in the 1970s, and embourgeoisement altered its objective class situation, its commitments to socialism eroded. The economic crisis of the 1980s demonstrated the limits of statism. As state patronage dried up, regime constituents with capital had an interest in diversifying their assets by going into private business. The collapse of communism in the 1990s discredited remaining ideologically-rooted hostility to liberalisation.}} </ref> * [[Left-wing nationalism]]<ref>{{Cite book |last =Solomon |first =Christopher |title =In Search of Greater Syria: The History and Politics of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party |publisher =I.B. Tauris |year =2022 |isbn =978-1-8386-0640-4 |location =New York, NY 10018, USA |page =43 |quote=It adopted a heightened anti-imperialist character and aligned itself with the left-wing nationalist Baath Party.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last =Awad |first =Ziad |date =27 January 2023 |title =The 2022 Syrian Local Elections: A Leadership Rooted in Regime Networks |location =Via dei Roccettini 9, I-50014 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI) Italy |publisher =European University Institute |issue =1 |pages=11 |doi=10.2870/52247 |isbn =978-92-9466-358-0 |quote =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.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1 =Guirguis |first1 =Laure |title =Arab Lefts: Histories and Legacies, 1950s-1970s |last2 =Rey |first2 =Matthieu |publisher =Edinburgh University Press |year =2020 |isbn =978-1-4744-5423-0 |location =Edinburgh EH8 8PJ, UK |pages =57–75 |chapter =Free Elections versus Authoritarian Practices: What Baathists Fought For}}</ref> * [[Militarism]]<ref>{{Cite book |last1 =Heydemann |first1 =Stevem |title =War, Institutions, and Social Change in the Middle East |last2 =Perthes |first2 =Volker |publisher =University of California Press |year =2000 |isbn =0-520-22421-3 |location =Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, USA |pages =151–156 |chapter =5: State Building, National Security and War Preparation in Syria |quote =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.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last =Suerbaum |first =Magdalena |title =Masculinities and Displacement in the Middle East: Syrian Refugees in Egypt |publisher =I.B Tauris |year =2021 |isbn =978-1-8386-0404-2 |location =New York |pages =23–52 |chapter =1: Being a man vis-a-vis Militarization, War and the Uprising |quote =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.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last =Umit Ungor |first =Ugur |title =Paramilitarism: Mass Violence in the Shadow of the State |publisher =Oxford University Press |year =2020 |isbn =978-0-19-882524-1 |edition =1 |location =Oxford, United Kingdom |pages =1–21 |chapter =1: Introduction |quote =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.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last =Fleischman |first =Luis |chapter-url =https://books.google.com/books?id=pMc8EAAAQBAJ&dq=Syria+Ba%27ath+party+militarism&pg=PT130 |title =The Middle East Riddle: A Study of the Middle East Peace Process and Israeli-Arab Relations in Current Times |publisher =New Academia Publishing |year =2021 |isbn =978-1-7333980-8-4 |chapter =3: Arab World and the Peace Process |lccn =2020922086 |quote =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.}}</ref> * [[Secularism]]<ref>{{cite web |title =Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview |url =http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110723214138/http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf |archive-date =23 July 2011 |accessdate =8 March 2013 |pages =364–365 |quote= "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)."}}</ref> * {{nowrap|[[Syrian nationalism]]}}<ref>{{Cite book |title =The Israel Economist |publisher =Kollek & Son, Limited |year =1970 |volume =26-27 |location =University of Minnesota |page =61 |quote ="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."}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url =https://theconversation.com/syrian-nationalism-is-all-about-masculinity-87406 |title=Syrian nationalism is all about masculinity |date=13 December 2017 |journal=The Conversation |access-date=19 July 2023 |quote=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. |archive-date=19 July 2023 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20230719180148/https://theconversation.com/syrian-nationalism-is-all-about-masculinity-87406 |url-status=live}}</ref> * [[Greater Syria in pan-Syrian nationalism|Syrian irredentism]]<ref>{{Cite book |last =Nisan |first =Mordechai |title =Politics and War in Lebanon: Unraveling the Enigma |publisher =Routledge |year =2017 |isbn =978-1-4128-5667-6 |location = New York, NY |pages =93–116 |chapter =5: Syria: The Occupation of Lebanon}}</ref> * [[Anti-imperialism]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia= Britannica | date= 2020 | url= https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bath-Party | title= Baʿath Party | quote= The Baʿath Party espoused nonalignment and opposition to imperialism and colonialism... | access-date= 8 June 2023 | archive-date= 7 January 2019 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190107070213/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bath-Party | url-status= live}}</ref> * [[Anti-Zionism]]<ref>{{cite journal | title =SYRIA'S CHALLENGES AFTER THE ELECTION YEAR IS BASHAR AL-ASAD PART OF THE PROBLEM OR PART OF THE SOLUTION IN THE MIDDLE EAST? | url =http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0122-44092007000100009 | journal =Papel Politico | date =June 2007 | volume =12 | issue =1 | pages =209–236 | last1 =Wieland | first1 =Carsten | access-date =24 September 2023 | archive-date =25 April 2023 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20230425041312/http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0122-44092007000100009 | url-status =live }}</ref> '''Historical:''' * {{nowrap|[[Revolutionary socialism]]}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Walt, Stephen |title=The Origins of Alliances |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |year=1987 |pages=87–88 |chapter=3:From the Baghdad Pact to the Six Day War | isbn= 978-0-8014-9418-5 |quote="yet another coup d'etat in Syria in February 1966 ousted the old guard of the Ba'th Party{{nbsp}}... 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.."}}</ref><ref name="El-attrache-Roberts-Bar-Siman-Tov"> * {{Cite book |last =El-attrache |first =Mohammed |url =https://hdl.handle.net/11244/3545 |title =The Political Philosophy of Michel Aflaq and the Ba'th Party in Syria |publisher =University of Oklahoma |year =1973 |location =Norman, Oklahoma, USA |pages =160–177 | hdl=11244/3545 }} * {{Cite book |last =Roberts |first =David |title =The Ba'ath and the creation of modern Syria |publisher =Routledge |year =2015 |isbn =978-0-415-83882-5 |edition =Routledge Library Editions: Syria |location =Abingdon, Oxon |pages =62–76 |chapter =7: Ba'athist Doctrine}} * {{Cite book |last =Bar-Siman-Tov |first =Yaacov |title =Linkage Politics in the Middle East Syria Between Domestic and External Conflict, 1961–1970 |publisher =Westview Press |year =1983 |isbn =0-86531-945-6 |location =Boulder, CO |page =151 |chapter=7: The Neo-Ba'ath Regime}} * {{Cite book |editor-last1 = Wilber |editor-last2= Jameson |editor-first1 =Charles K. |editor-first2= Kenneth P. |title=Socialist Models of Development |last1 =Gottheil |first1 =Fred |publisher =Pergamon Press |year =1982 |isbn =0-08-027921-X |location =Oxford, England |pages =825–836 |chapter =Iraqi and Syrian Socialism: An Economic Appraisal}} * {{Cite book |last =Heydemann |first =Steven |title =Authoritarianism in Syria: Institutions and Social Conflict |publisher =Cornell University Press |year =1999 |isbn =0-8014-2932-3 |location= New York |page =85 |chapter =4: Building the Institutions of Populist Authoritarian Rule}}</ref> (1966–1970) * [[Pan-Arabism]] (until 1970)<ref>{{Cite book |last =Pipes |first =Daniel |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=NYLXJnsmgKQC&pg=PA5 |title =Syria Beyond the Peace Process |date =1996 |publisher =Daniel Pipes |isbn =978-0-944029-64-0 |pages =5 |language =en |quote= "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."}}</ref> * [[Arab socialism]]<ref>{{Cite book |last =Atassi |first =Karim |title = Syria, the Strength of an Idea: The Constitutional Architectures of Its Political Regimes |publisher =Cambridge University Press |year =2018 |isbn = 978-1-107-18360-5 |location =New York, NY |doi = 10.1017/9781316872017 |pages =262, 344 |quote=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.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last =C. Tucker |first =Spencer |title = U.S. Conflicts in the 21st Century | volume =1 |publisher =ABC-CLIO |year =2015 |isbn = 978-1-4408-3878-1 |location =California, USA |chapter =Baath party |pages =135–136}}</ref> (until 1991)<ref> *{{cite journal |last1=Ajlan |first1=Ahmad |title=Neoliberal economic policies as a root cause of forced migration from Arab Spring countries: the case of Syria |journal=Disasters |volume=50 |issue=1 |page=2 |quote=The government launched an economic liberalisation programme in 1991 to pull the country out of a financial crisis. It expanded and intensified its economic reform policies from 2000, includingopening the market to foreign investment and granting licences to foreign banks to operate in Syria.The implications set the scene for the uprising in 2011}} *{{cite journal |last1=Terc |first1=Amanda |title=Syria‘s New Neoliberal Elite: English Usage, Linguistic Practices and Group Boundaries |journal=University of Michigan |page=3 |quote=The consensus seemed to be that change had originated from a series of government-led economic reforms and then spread into an eager population who quickly availed themselves of the new opportunities. Political scientists and economists, working both inside and outside the country, were quick to note that these changes followed a neoliberal turn}} *{{cite book |last1=Matar |first1=Linda |editor1-last=Ghazal |editor1-first=Amal |editor2-last=Hanssen |editor2-first=Jens |editor1-link=he Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History |title=Syria’s Economic History: Bumpy Road from Economic Nationalism to Neoliberalism |page=408–426}} *{{cite journal |last1=Hinnebusch |first1=Raymond |title=Syria: the politics of economic liberalisation |journal=Third World Quarterly |date=1997 |volume=18 |issue=2 |page=252 |quote=As the political elite went into business on the side in the 1970s, and embourgeoisement altered its objective class situation, its commitments to socialism eroded. The economic crisis of the 1980s demonstrated the limits of statism. As state patronage dried up, regime constituents with capital had an interest in diversifying their assets by going into private business. The collapse of communism in the 1990s discredited remaining ideologically-rooted hostility to liberalisation.}} </ref> * [[Authoritarian socialism]]{{refn|Sources:<ref>{{Cite book |last =Meininghaus |first =Esther |title =Creating Consent in Ba'thist Syria: Women and Welfare in a Totalitarian State |publisher =I. B. Tauris |year =2016 |isbn =978-1-78453-115-7 |pages =1–33 |chapter =Introduction}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1 =M. Choueiri |first1 =Youssef |title =A Companion to the History of the Middle East |last2 =M. Moghadem |first2 =Valentine |publisher =Wiley Blackwell |year =2008 |isbn =978-1-4051-8379-6 |location =West Sussex, UK |pages =427 |chapter =22: Modernizing Women in the Middle East}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1 =K. Wilber, P. Jameson |first1 =Charles, Kenneth |title =Socialist Models of Development |last2 =Gottheil |first2 =Fred |publisher =Pergamon Press |year =1982 |isbn =0-08-027921-X |location =Oxford, England |pages =825–836 |chapter =Iraqi and Syrian Socialism: An Economic Appraisal}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last =Heydemann |first =Steven |title =Authoritarianism in Syria: Institutions and Social Conflict |publisher =Cornell University Press |year =1999 |isbn =0-8014-2932-3 |location =New York|pages =84–104 |chapter =4: Building the Institutions of Populist Authoritarian Rule}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1 =Kahne, Z. Giele |first1 =Hilda, Janet |title =Women's Work and Women's Lives: The Continuing Struggle Worldwide |last2 =M. Moghadem |first2 =Valentine |publisher =Routledge |year =2019 |isbn =978-0-8133-0636-0 |location =New York |pages=89–90 |chapter =5: Women, Employment, and Social Change in the Middle East and North Africa}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last =Moaddel |first =Mansoor |title =Islamic Modernism, Nationalism, and Fundamentalism: Episode and Discourse |publisher =University of Chicago Press |year =2005 |isbn =0-226-53332-8 |location =Chicago, USA |pages =6–7 |chapter=Introduction: Sociological Theories of Ideology and Cultural Change}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |editor-last1 = Hunter |editor-first1 = Shireen T. |editor-link1 = Shireen Hunter |editor2 = Huma Malick |title =Modernization, Democracy, and Islam |publisher =Praeger Publishers |location = Westport, Connecticut |year=2005 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fnzDEAAAQBAJ |isbn =0-275-98511-3 |page =106 |quote = The region's political systems have been described as 'authoritarian-socialist' (Algeria, Iraq, Syria) [...]. }} </ref><ref> {{Cite book |last =Lane, Redissi |first =Jan-Erik, Hamadi |title =Religion and Politics: Islam and Muslim Civilization |publisher =Ashgate |year =2009 |isbn =978-0-7546-7418-4 |edition =2nd |location =Surrey, England |pages =188 |chapter =13: Islam and Politics: Where the Principal Difficulty of Post-modernity Lies}}</ref>}} (until 1991)<ref> *{{cite journal |last1=Ajlan |first1=Ahmad |title=Neoliberal economic policies as a root cause of forced migration from Arab Spring countries: the case of Syria |journal=Disasters |volume=50 |issue=1 |page=2 |quote=The government launched an economic liberalisation programme in 1991 to pull the country out of a financial crisis. It expanded and intensified its economic reform policies from 2000, includingopening the market to foreign investment and granting licences to foreign banks to operate in Syria.The implications set the scene for the uprising in 2011}} *{{cite journal |last1=Terc |first1=Amanda |title=Syria‘s New Neoliberal Elite: English Usage, Linguistic Practices and Group Boundaries |journal=University of Michigan |page=3 |quote=The consensus seemed to be that change had originated from a series of government-led economic reforms and then spread into an eager population who quickly availed themselves of the new opportunities. Political scientists and economists, working both inside and outside the country, were quick to note that these changes followed a neoliberal turn}} *{{cite book |last1=Matar |first1=Linda |editor1-last=Ghazal |editor1-first=Amal |editor2-last=Hanssen |editor2-first=Jens |editor1-link=he Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History |title=Syria’s Economic History: Bumpy Road from Economic Nationalism to Neoliberalism |page=408–426}} *{{cite journal |last1=Hinnebusch |first1=Raymond |title=Syria: the politics of economic liberalisation |journal=Third World Quarterly |date=1997 |volume=18 |issue=2 |page=252 |quote=As the political elite went into business on the side in the 1970s, and embourgeoisement altered its objective class situation, its commitments to socialism eroded. The economic crisis of the 1980s demonstrated the limits of statism. As state patronage dried up, regime constituents with capital had an interest in diversifying their assets by going into private business. The collapse of communism in the 1990s discredited remaining ideologically-rooted hostility to liberalisation.}} </ref> | position = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]<ref> * {{Cite book |last =Cavoški |first =Jovan |title =Non-Aligned Movement Summits: A History |publisher =Bloomsbury | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JFlqEAAAQBAJ | year=2022 |isbn=978-1-3500-3209-5 |location=UK |page=101 |quote ="Syria, headed by the radical leftist Baath Party overtly challenged Nasser's leadership credentials by highlighting his diminished revolutionary spirit."}} * {{Cite book |last =I. Dawisha |first =Adeed |title =Syria and the Lebanese Crisis |publisher =Macmillan Press Ltd |year =1980 |isbn =978-1-349-05373-5 |location =London, UK |page =45 |chapter =3: External and Internal Setting |quote ="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."}} * {{Cite book |title =The Israel Economist |publisher =Kollek & Son, Limited |year =1970 |volume =26–27 |location =University of Minnesota |page =61 |quote ="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."}} * {{Cite book |last =Abadi |first =Jacob |title =Israel's Quest for Recognition and Acceptance in Asia: Garrison State Diplomacy |publisher =Frank Class Publishers |year =2004 |isbn =0-7146-5576-7 |location =London, UK |page =22 |quote ="radical left-wing Ba'ath party in Syria."}} * {{Cite book |last =S. Abu Jaber |first =Kamel |title =The Arab Ba'th Socialist Party: History, Ideology and Organization |publisher =Syracuse University Press |year =1966 |location =Syracuse, New York, USA |pages =xii–xiii, 33–47, 75–97 |lccn =66-25181 |quote= "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."}} * {{Cite book |last =Hopwood |first =Derek |title =Syria 1945–1986: Politics and Society |publisher =Routledge |year =2013 |isbn =9781317818427 |pages =45–46, 73–75, 90 |doi =10.4324/9781315818955 |quote ="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{{nbsp}}... 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."}} * {{Cite book |last =Phillips |first =Christopher |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=cqIjEAAAQBAJ |title =The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East |publisher =Yale University Press |year =2020 |isbn =978-0-300-21717-9 |location =London, UK |page =11|quote ="In 1963{{nbsp}}... 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"}} * {{Cite book |last =Mikhaĭlovich Vasil'ev |first =Alekseĭ|title =Russian Policy in the Middle East: From Messianism to Pragmatism |publisher =Ithaca Press |year =1993 |isbn =978-0863721687 |location=University of Michigan, USA |pages =63, 76 |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=qtJoAAAAMAAJ |quote ="Syrian Baathist version of Arab nationalism and socialism offered plenty of points of contact with Soviet policy{{nbsp}}... when the left-wing Baathist faction led by Nureddin Atasi came to power, accelerated Syria's rapprochement with the Soviet Union{{nbsp}}... 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."}} * {{Cite book |last =Climent |first =James |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=dv8TBwAAQBAJ |title =World Terrorism: An Encyclopedia of Political Violence from Ancient Times to the Post-9/11 Era |publisher =Routledge |year =2015 |isbn =978-0-7656-8284-0 |edition =2nd |location =New York |page =383 |quote ="influence of different views, came from the more radical left-wing nationalist groups. These groups included{{nbsp}}... Syria's Ba'ath party which seized power in Damascus in 1963"}}</ref> | affiliation1_title = [[Popular front]] | affiliation1 = [[National Progressive Front (Syria)|National Progressive Front]] (1972–2024)<ref name=eb>{{cite web |author=Elizabeth O'Bagy |title=Syria's Political Struggle: Spring 2012 |url=http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Backgrounder_SyriasPoliticalStruggle_Spring2012.pdf |work=ISW |access-date=26 October 2014 |format=Backgrounder |date=7 June 2012 |archive-date=16 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616225936/http://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Backgrounder_SyriasPoliticalStruggle_Spring2012.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> | affiliation2_title = Regional affiliation | affiliation2 = [[Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction)|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party]] (1966–2024) [[Progressive Socialist Organizations of the Mediterranean|PSOM]] (historical) | international = [[For the Freedom of Nations!]] (2024) | colors = {{color box|#000000|border=darkgray}} [[Black]] {{color box|#FFFFFF|border=darkgray}} [[White]] {{color box|{{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}|border=darkgray}} [[Green]] {{color box|#CE1126|border=darkgray}} [[Red]] ([[Pan-Arab colors]]) | slogan = ''[[Unity, Freedom, Socialism]]'' ''Long Live The Arabs''<ref>Perthes, Volker (1997). The Political Economy of Syria Under Asad. I.B. Tauris. p. 156. {{ISBN |1-86064-192-X}}.</ref> | seats1_title = Seats in the [[People's Assembly of Syria|People's Assembly]] | seats1 =  | seats2_title = Seats in the [[Council of Ministers (Syria)|Council of Ministers]] | seats2 =  | flag = Flag of the Ba'ath Party.svg | flag_title = [[Pan-Arab colors|Party flag]] | website = {{URL |https://web.archive.org/web/20250106081113/http://www.baathparty.sy/Default.php|baathparty.sy}} (Now Defunct) | country = Syria }}

The '''Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region''' ({{langx|ar|حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي – قطر سوريا}} ''Ḥizb al-Ba'th al-'Arabī al-Ishtirākī – Quṭr Sūriyā''), officially the '''Syrian Regional Branch''' ({{langx |ar|الفرع القطري السوري}}), was a [[Ba'athism|Ba'athist]] organisation founded on 7 April 1947 by [[Michel Aflaq]], [[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]] and followers of [[Zaki al-Arsuzi]]. The party [[Ba'athist Syria|ruled Syria]] from the [[1963 Syrian coup d'état|1963 coup d'état]], which brought the Ba'athists to power, until 8 December 2024, when [[Bashar al-Assad]] fled Damascus in the face of a [[2024 Syrian opposition offensives|rebel offensive]] which concluded the [[Syrian Civil War|Syrian civil war]].<ref>{{cite web | title =Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has left Damascus to an unknown destination, say two senior army officers | website =Reuters | date =2024-12-08 | url =https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syrian-president-bashar-al-assad-has-left-damascus-an-unknown-destination-say-2024-12-08/ | ref= {{sfnref|Reuters|2024}} | access-date =2024-12-08}}</ref> It was formally disbanded in January 2025.

The party was founded on 7 April 1947 as the [[Ba'ath Party|Arab Ba'ath Party]] through the merger of the [[Arab Ba'ath Movement]] led by [[Michel Aflaq|Michel ʿAflaq]] and [[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]] and the [[Arab Ba'ath]], led by [[Zaki al-Arsuzi]]. The party espoused [[Ba'athism]], an ideology mixing [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalist]], [[Pan-Arabism|pan-Arab]], [[Arab socialism|Arab socialist]], and [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] interests. Ba'athism calls for the unification of the [[Arab world]] into a [[Arab Union|single state]]. It quickly established branches in other Arab countries, although it would only hold power in Syria and in [[Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)|Iraq]]. Following their ascent to power in 1963, neo-Ba'athist officers proceeded to stamp out the traditional [[civilian]] elites in order to construct a [[military dictatorship]] operating on [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]]{{efn|Sources: * {{Cite book |last =Wieland |first =Carsten |title =Syria and the Neutrality Trap: The Dilemmas of Delivering Humanitarian Aid Through Violent Regimes |publisher =I. B. Tauris |year =2018 |isbn =978-0-7556-4138-3 |location =London |page =68 |chapter=6: De-neutralizing Aid: All Roads Lead to Damascus}} * {{Cite book |last =Keegan |first =John |title =World Armies |publisher =Facts on File Inc. |year =1979 |isbn =0-87196-407-4 |location =New York, USA |pages =683–684 |chapter =Syria}} * {{Cite book |last =Meininghaus |first =Esther |title =Creating Consent in Ba'thist Syria: Women and Welfare in a Totalitarian State |publisher =I. B. Tauris |year =2016 |isbn =978-1-78453-115-7 |pages =1–33 |chapter=Introduction}} }} lines; wherein all state agencies, party organisations, public institutions, civil entities, media and health infrastructure were tightly dominated by the [[Syrian Armed Forces|military establishment]] and the ''[[Military Intelligence Directorate (Syria)|Mukhabarat]]'' (intelligence services).

The [[1966 Syrian coup d'état|1966 coup d'état]] carried out by the [[Far-left politics|radical left-wing]] faction of [[Salah Jadid]] and [[Hafez al-Assad]] ousted the Old Guard of Ba'ath leadership consisting of Aflaq and Bitar; and dissolved the [[National Command of the Ba'ath Party|National Command]] of the [[Ba'ath Party|united Ba'ath Party]]. The leftist faction of the Syrian Ba'ath advanced a strictly [[Socialist economics|socialist economic]] programme, pursued a closer alliance with the [[Syrian Communist Party|Syrian communists]], [[Progressivism | "progressive"]] Arab states and the [[Soviet Bloc]], and prioritised the spread of [[Revolutionary socialism|socialist revolution]] in the neighbouring "[[reactionary]]" Arab states over [[pan-Arab]] unity. The official ideology preached by the Syrian Ba'ath is known as [[Neo-ba'athism|neo-Ba'athism]], a school of Ba'athist thought that denounces Aflaq and Bitar and eulogizes [[Alawites|Alawite]] [[philosopher]] Arsuzi as its leading theoretician.

In another coup in 1970, officially dubbed the "[[Corrective Revolution (Syria)|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 adopted [[Assadism]] as its official ideology, promoting a [[Cult of personality#Syria|personality cult]] centred around the [[Assad family|Assad dynasty]].

Following the [[fall of the Assad regime]] on 8 December 2024, on 11 December, the party suspended all activities "until further notice" and transferred its assets to the [[Syrian caretaker government]].<ref name="suspend" /> On 29 January 2025, the party was formally dissolved by the Syrian caretaker government during the [[Syrian Revolution Victory Conference]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title =تعيين الشرع رئيسا لسوريا في المرحلة الانتقالية |url =https://www.aljazeera.net/news/2025/1/29/%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AC%D9%84-%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%AC%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B9 |access-date =2025-01-29 |website =الجزيرة نت |language =ar}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date =30 January 2025 |title =Syria's Sharaa declared president for transition, consolidating his power |url =https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syrias-leader-sharaa-named-president-transitional-period-state-news-agency-says-2025-01-29/ |website =Reuters}} </ref>

==History== {{main|History of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}

===Founding and early years: 1947–1963=== [[File:Hawrani Aflaq 1957.jpg|thumb|left|[[Akram al-Hawrani]] (left) with [[Michel Aflaq]] as seen in 1957]]

The Ba'ath Party, and indirectly the Syrian Regional Branch, was established on 7 April 1947 by [[Michel Aflaq]] (a Christian), [[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]] (a [[Sunni|Sunni Muslim]]) and [[Zaki al-Arsuzi]] (an [[Alawite]]).{{sfn|Tejel|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=g4f54qsU618C&pg=PA149 149]}} 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."{{sfn|Kostiner|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YQb1Ilj2U7EC&pg=PA36 36]}} 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.{{sfn|Kostiner|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YQb1Ilj2U7EC&pg=PA36 36]}} The party merged with the [[Arab Socialist Movement|Arab Socialist Party]] (ASP), led by [[Akram al-Hawrani]], to establish the ''Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party'' in Lebanon following [[Adib Shishakli]]'s rise to power.{{sfn|George|2003|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA66 66–67]}} Most ASP members did not adhere to the merger and remained, according to George Alan, "passionately loyal to Hawrani's person."{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA67 67]}} The merger was weak, and a lot of the ASP's original infrastructure remained intact.{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA67 67]}} In 1955, the party decided to support [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] and what they perceived as his pan-Arabist policies.{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA67 67]}}

Syrian politics took a dramatic turn in 1954 when the military government of [[Adib al-Shishakli]] was overthrown and the democratic system restored.{{sfn|Peretz|1994|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=UqfHROAUevsC&pg=PA413 413]}} The Ba'ath, now a large and popular organisation, won 22 out of 142 parliamentary seats in the [[1954 Syrian parliamentary election|Syrian election]] that year, becoming the second-largest party in parliament.{{sfn|Peretz|1994|p= [https://books.google.com/books?id=UqfHROAUevsC&pg=PA413 413]}} The Ba'ath Party was supported by the [[intelligentsia]] because of their pro-Egyptian and anti-imperialist stance and their support for social reform.{{sfn|Finer|Stanley|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4lhgDBDWw3AC&pg=PA149 149]}}

The assassination of Ba'athist colonel [[Adnan al-Malki]] by a member of the [[Syrian Social Nationalist Party]] (SSNP) in April 1955 allowed the Ba'ath Party and its allies to launch a crackdown, thus eliminating one rival.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|pp= [https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA211 211–212]}} In 1957, the Ba'ath Party partnered with the [[Syrian Communist Party]] (SCP) to weaken the power of Syria's conservative parties.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|pp= [https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA211 211–212]}} 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.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|pp= [https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA211 211–212]}} The union between Egypt and Syria went ahead and the [[United 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.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|pp= [https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA211 211–212]}} 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.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|pp= [https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA211 211–212]}} A military coup in Damascus in 1961 brought the UAR to an end.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA52 52–53]}} Sixteen prominent politicians, including al-Hawrani and [[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]]{{spaced ndash}}who later retracted his signature, signed a statement supporting the coup.{{sfn|Podeh|1999|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=F9GsyTmJZYwC&pg=PA152 152–153]}} The Ba'athists won several seats during the [[1961 Syrian parliamentary election|1961 parliamentary election]].{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA52 52–53]}}

===Coup of 1963=== {{Main|1963 Syrian coup d'état}} [[File:Military Committee celebrates 1963 coup.jpg|thumb|Military Committee members [[Salim Hatum]] (left), [[Muhammad Umran]] (center) and [[Salah Jadid]] (right) celebrating after the 1963 coup d'état]] 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.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=45}} 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 .{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=45}} 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.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=47}} 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.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=47}} It was presumed that the Nasserites were preparing a coup of their own which effectively canceled the delay.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=47}} The coup began at night and by the morning of 8 March it was evident that a new political era had begun in Syria.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=48}}

===Ruling party: 1963–1970=== [[File:Senior officials in the Baath Party in a rare un-official photograph with Salah Jadid from 1969.jpg|thumb|Photograph of a meeting of Senior leadership of the Baath Party in 1969 / From left to right: Interior Minister Mohammad Rabah al-Tawil, Chief of Staff General [[Mustafa Tlass]], Commander of the Golan Front Ahmad al-Meer, and the Syrian strongman [[Salah Jadid]]]] The secession from the UAR was a time of crisis for the party; several groups, including Hawrani, left the Ba'ath Party.{{sfn|Moubayed|2006|p=249}} In 1962, Aflaq convened a congress which re-established the Syrian Regional Branch.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=55}} The division in the original Ba'ath Party between the National Command led by [[Michel Aflaq]] and the "[[Qutriyun|regionalists]]" in the Syrian Regional Branch stemmed from the break-up of the UAR.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|pp=36–39}} Aflaq had sought to control the regionalist elements{{spaced ndash}}an incoherent grouping led by Fa'iz al-Jasim, Yusuf Zuayyin, Munir al-Abdallah and Ibrahim Makhus.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|pp=36–39}} Aflaq retained the support of the majority of the non-Syrian National Command members (13 at the time).{{sfn|Reich|1990|p=34}}

Following the success of the [[Ramadan Revolution|February 1963 coup d'état]] in Iraq, led by the Ba'ath Party's [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region|Iraqi Regional Branch]], the Military Committee hastily convened to plan a coup against [[Nazim al-Kudsi]]'s presidency.{{sfn|Seale|1990|pp=76–78}} The coup{{spaced ndash}}dubbed the [[1963 Syrian coup d'état|8 March Revolution]]{{spaced ndash}}was successful and a Ba'athist government was installed in Syria.{{sfn|Seale|1990|pp=76–78}} The plotters' first order was to establish the [[National Council of the Revolutionary Command]] (NCRC), which consisted entirely of Ba'athists and Nasserists, and was controlled by military personnel rather than civilians.{{sfn|Seale|1990|p=78}} 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.{{sfn|George|2003|pp=68–69}} The [[Nasserism|Nasserist]] and [[Muslim Brotherhood]] opposition joined forces to raise the spectre of communist takeover of Syria during the 1960s. They attacked the Ba'ath party as being [[Anti-Sunnism|anti-Sunni]] and condemned the [[state secularism]] of the regime as being [[Antireligion|anti-religious]] and [[Atheism|atheist]]. Nasser himself proscribed the Syrian Ba'ath for its militant secularism and the radical [[Marxism|Marxist]] proposals of its leaders.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Galvani |first=John |date=February 1974 |title=Syria and the Baath Party |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3011567 |journal=MERIP Reports |issue=25 |pages=12, 13 |doi=10.2307/3011567 |jstor=3011567 |access-date=4 November 2022 |archive-date=4 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104023128/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3011567 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=David |title=The Ba'ath and the creation of modern Syria |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-415-83882-5 |edition=Routledge Library Editions: Syria |location=Abingdon, Oxon |pages=57, 61 |chapter=6: The Ba'ath in Power}}</ref> The first period of Ba'ath rule was put to an end with the [[1966 Syrian coup d'état]], which overthrew the traditional Ba'athists led by Aflaq and Bitar and brought [[Salah Jadid]], the head of the Military Committee, to power (though not formally).{{sfn|George|2003|p=69}} [[File:General Hafez al-Assad in 1970, during the Syrian Corrective Revolution.jpg|thumb|Photo of Syrian military general Hafez al-Assad during the 1970 coup]]

=== 1970 Coup === {{Main|Corrective movement (Syria)}} After the 1967 [[Six-Day War]], tensions between Jadid and [[Hafez al-Assad]] increased, and al-Assad and his associates were strengthened by their hold on the military. In late 1968,{{sfn|Seale|1990|p=142}} they began dismantling Jadid's support network, facing ineffectual resistance from the civilian branch of the party that remained under Jadid's control.{{sfn|Seale|1990|pp=149–150}} This duality of power persisted until the [[Corrective Movement (Syria)|Corrective Revolution]] of November 1970, when al-Assad ousted and imprisoned Atassi and Jadid.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=213}} 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.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=213}} Assad significantly modified his predecessor's radical [[Socialist economics|socialist economic]] policies, encouraged several wealthy urban families to increase their activities in the private sector, and allowed limited foreign investment from [[Gulf Cooperation Council|Arab countries in the Persian Gulf region]] States.<ref>{{cite web|date=15 June 1997|title=Syria Between Two Transitions|url=https://merip.org/1997/06/syria-between-two-transitions/|access-date=23 February 2021|website=MERIP|archive-date=4 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304010345/https://merip.org/1997/06/syria-between-two-transitions/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Reign of the Assads (1970–2024) === {{See also|Assad family|Islamist uprising in Syria|Syrian civil war}}

==== Hafez al-Assad (1970–2000) ==== {{See also|Presidency of Hafez al-Assad}} [[File:Hafez al-Assad and Ali Khamenei - September 6, 1984 - Damascus.jpg|thumb| Meeting of Hafez Al-Assad and then [[Iranian president]] [[Ali Khamenei]] in [[Damascus]], 6 September 1984. During the 1980s, as the grip of his Alawite loyalists in the Ba'ath party tightened, Assad pursued close alliance with the Shi'ite theocracy of Iran.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=David |title=The Ba'ath and the creation of modern Syria |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-415-83882-5 |edition=Routledge Library Editions: Syria |location=Abingdon, Oxon |pages=159–161 |chapter=Appendix C: Syria-Iran}}</ref>]] Hafez Al-Assad's reign was marked by the virtual abandonment of [[Pan-Arabism|Pan-Arab]] ideology; replacing it with the doctrine of socialist transformation and giving overriding priority in constructing [[Socialism|socialist society]] within Syria.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pipes |first=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NYLXJnsmgKQC&pg=PA5 |title=Syria Beyond the Peace Process |date=1996 |publisher=Daniel Pipes |isbn=978-0-944029-64-0 |pages=5 |language=en}}</ref> Political participation was limited to the [[National Progressive Front (Syria)|National Progressive Front]], the ruling coalition of Syrian Ba'ath and [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] parties; entrenching itself firmly within the [[Soviet Bloc]]. The Party also began building a [[Cult of personality|personality cult]] around Assad and brought the elite of the [[Syrian Armed Forces|armed forces]] under Assad's grip and the officer corps were installed with [[Alawites|Alawite]] loyalists; further alienating the [[Sunni Islam in Syria|Sunni]] majority from the party.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=David |title=The Ba'ath and the creation of modern Syria |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-415-83882-5 |edition=Routledge Library Editions: Syria |location=Abingdon, Oxon |pages=53, 106–108}}</ref> [[File:Soviet Military Presence In and Near Syria, December 1986.png|thumb|Soviet Military Presence in Syria and Lebanon, December 1986]] By the late 1970s, the state apparatus of the Ba'ath regime under Assad had consolidated into an [[Anti-Sunnism|anti-Sunni]] orientation. Official propaganda incited Alawite farmers against rich Sunni landowners and regularly disseminated stereotypes of Sunni merchants and industrialists, casting them as enemies of [[Nationalization|nationalisation]] and [[socialist revolution]]. Bitterness towards the [[Assadist]] regime and the [[Alawites|Alawite]] elite in the Ba'ath and armed forces became widespread amongst the Sunni majority, laying the beginnings of an Islamic resistance. Prominent leaders of [[Muslim Brotherhood]] like [[Issam al-Attar]] were imprisoned and exiled. A coalition of the traditional Syrian Sunni ''[[Ulama|ulema]]'', Muslim Brotherhood revolutionaries and [[Islamism|Islamist]] activists formed the Syrian Islamic Front in 1980 with objective of overthrowing Assad through [[Jihad]] and establishing an [[Islamic state]]. In the same year, Hafez officially supported Iran in its [[Iran–Iraq War|war with Iraq]] and controversially began importing Iranian fighters and terror groups into [[Lebanon]] and Syria. This led to rising social tensions within the country which eventually became a full-fledged [[Islamist uprising in Syria|rebellion]] in 1982; led by the Islamic Front. The regime responded by [[1982 Hama massacre|slaughtering 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=David |title=The Ba'ath and the creation of modern Syria |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-415-83882-5 |edition=Routledge Library Editions: Syria |location=Abingdon, Oxon |pages=114–117, 119–121 |chapter=12: Hafiz al-Asad - II}}</ref>

Syria under Hafez al-Assad was a staunch [[Soviet allies|Soviet ally]] and firmly aligned itself with [[Soviet Bloc]] during the height of the [[Cold War]]. [[Soviet Union]] saw Syria as the lynchpin of its Middle-East strategy and signed the [[Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation|Treaty 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 the [[Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan|Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]]. The [[end of the Cold War]] and [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|collapse of the Soviet Union]] dealt a deep blow to Assad, who retained the nostalgia for the old order.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pipes |first=Daniel |title=Syria Beyond the Peace Process |publisher=Washington Institute for Near East Policy |year=1995 |isbn=0-944029-64-7 |pages=6–8 |chapter=1: Assad's Post-Soviet Predicament}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rezaei |first=Farhad |title=Iran's Foreign Policy After the Nuclear Agreement |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2019 |isbn=978-3-319-76788-8 |page=62 |chapter=3: Iran and Russia: Completing the Pivot to the East? |series=Middle East Today |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-76789-5|s2cid=158854597 }}</ref> Assad continued to rule Syria until his death in 2000, by centralizing powers in the [[President of Syria|state presidency]].{{sfn|Bar|2006|p=362}}

==== Bashar al-Assad (2000–2024) ==== {{See also|Presidency of Bashar al-Assad}} [[File:Al-Assad 2022 (cropped).jpeg|thumb|left|[[Bashar al-Assad]], the Secretary-General of the Syrian Regional Branch and state president]] Hafez's son [[Bashar al-Assad]] succeeded him in office as President of Syria and Regional Secretary of the Syrian Regional Branch on 17 July{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|pp=199–200}} and 24 June respectively.{{sfn|Brechner|1978|p=257}} [[Mass media in Syria|State propaganda]] portrayed the new president as the symbol of "modernity, youth, and openness".<ref name="auto">{{Cite news |date=9 June 2021 |title=Assad's 20-year rule, from Damascus Spring to pariah |work=France 24 |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20200609-assad-s-20-year-rule-from-damascus-spring-to-pariah |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514182340/https://www.france24.com/en/20200609-assad-s-20-year-rule-from-damascus-spring-to-pariah |archive-date=14 May 2021 |ssrn=}}</ref> At the beginning, Bashar al-Assad's rule was met with high expectations, with many foreign commentators believing he would introduce reforms reminiscent of the [[Chinese economic reforms]] or the ''[[perestroika]]'' of [[Mikhail Gorbachev]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/baath-party-congress-in-damascus-how-much-change-in-syria | title = Baath Party Congress in Damascus: How Much Change in Syria? | author = Rabil, Robert | publisher = [[Washington Institute for Near East Policy]] | access-date = 9 July 2013 | date = 2 June 2005 | archive-date = 26 April 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140426232224/http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/baath-party-congress-in-damascus-how-much-change-in-syria | url-status = live }}</ref>{{sfn|Ghadbian|2001|p=636}}{{sfn|Bar|2006|p=388}} A brief period of political and cultural opening known as [[Damascus 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, heightened [[Corruption in Syria|systematic corruption]] and increased poverty levels amongst the [[Urban area|urban]] [[middle class]]es and [[Rural people|villagers]].<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=1 April 2012 |title=The Damascus Spring |url=https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/48516?lang=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009030544/https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/48516?lang=en |archive-date=9 October 2016 |website=Carnegie Middle East Center}}</ref> [[File:Vladimir Putin in Syria (2020-01-07) 06 (cropped).jpg|thumbnail|upright=1.2| [[Vladimir Putin]] (centre), sitting alongside [[Bashar al-Assad]] (right) and [[Russian defense minister]] [[Sergei Shoigu]] (left), hearing military reports during his visit to the command post of the [[Russian Armed Forces]] in Syria.]] Bashar al-Assad's rule was believed to be stable until the [[Arab Spring]] took place; the revolutions occurring in other parts of the Arab world acted as an inspiration for the [[Syrian opposition]], leading to the [[2011 Syrian Revolution|2011 Syrian revolution]] which escalated into a [[civil war]].<ref name="baathdone">{{cite web | url = http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrias-baath-national-sideshow | title = Syria's Baath: A National Sideshow | work = [[Al Akhbar (Lebanon)|Al Akhbar]] | date = 9 July 2013 | access-date = 19 June 2013 | author = al-Amin, Ibrahim | archive-date = 12 July 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130712002317/http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrias-baath-national-sideshow | url-status = dead }}</ref> The Syrian Regional Branch has demonstrated absolute loyalty to [[Bashar 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.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite web |last1=Abdul-Jalil|last2= Moghrabi |first1=Murad|first2= Yamen |date=3 July 2020 |title=Al-Assad attempts to boost "Ba'ath" vigor to tighten control |url=https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2020/07/al-assad-attempts-to-boost-baath-vigor-to-tighten-control/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706222249/https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2020/07/al-assad-attempts-to-boost-baath-vigor-to-tighten-control/ |archive-date=6 July 2020 |website=Enab Baladi}}</ref> It is generally believed that the plays a minor role in the conflict, having been reduced to a [[mass organization]], and real decision-making taking place either in the military, the [[al-Assad family|Assad family]] or Bashar al-Assad's inner circle.<ref name="baathdone"/> 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,{{sfnp|Cooper|2015|p=21}} with the most notable being the [[Ba'ath Brigades]].<ref>{{cite news|title=The Baath Battalions Move into Damascus|url=http://carnegieendowment.org/syriaincrisis/?fa=54167|access-date=15 January 2014|publisher=[[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]]|date=13 January 2014|author=Aron Lund|archive-date=16 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116113142/http://carnegieendowment.org/syriaincrisis/?fa=54167|url-status=live}}</ref> The civil war also resulted in a [[2012 Syrian constitutional referendum|referendum on a new constitution]] on 26 February 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17040392|publisher=[[BBC World News]]. [[BBC Online]]|title=Syria to hold referendum on new constitution|date=15 February 2012|access-date=26 February 2012|archive-date=15 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215171302/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17040392|url-status=live}}</ref> 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<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/27/syrian-rockets-bombard-homs | title = Syrian regime rockets bombard Homs | work = The Guardian | publisher = Guardian News and Media | access-date = 14 March 2012 | date = 27 February 2012 | author = Chulov, Martin | archive-date = 18 January 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140118084410/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/27/syrian-rockets-bombard-homs | url-status = live }}</ref> and the constitution was ratified on 27 February.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2012/02/28/403103.htm | title = Presidential Decree on Syria's New Constitution | date = 28 February 2012 | publisher = [[Syrian Arab News Agency]] | access-date = 14 March 2012 | archive-date = 29 February 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120229225906/http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2012/02/28/403103.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref>

Another aspect of Assad's tenure was the restoration of close alliance with [[Russia]], the successor state of former Soviet Union. As protests erupted in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring and later proiliferated into a [[Syrian civil war|Civil War]]; Russia became the sole member to safeguard Assad in the [[United Nations Security Council|UN 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 extensive [[aerial bombardment]] campaigns throughout the country targeting [[Syrian opposition|anti-Assad rebels]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rezaei |first=Farhad |title=Iran's Foreign Policy After the Nuclear Agreement |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2019 |isbn=978-3-319-76788-8 |pages=62–74 |chapter=3: Iran and Russia: Completing the Pivot to the East? |series=Middle East Today |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-76789-5|s2cid=158854597 }}</ref>

Between 2018 and 2024, the government enacted an extensive Ba'athification campaign in its territories, amalgamating the state-party nexus and further entrenching its [[One-party state|one-party rule]]. During the [[2018 Syrian local elections|2018 local elections]] and [[2020 Syrian parliamentary election|2020 parliamentary elections]], more hardline Ba'athist loyalists were appointed to commanding roles while other satellite parties in the [[National Progressive Front (Syria)|National Progressive Front]] had been curtailed. Ba'athist candidates were fielded uncontested in many regions. The party itself was structurally overhauled, re-invigorating [[Neo-Ba'athism|neo-Ba'athist]] ideology in organizational levels, and cadres accused of lacking ideological dedication were purged. The party portrayed itself as the [[Vanguardism|vanguard]] of the [[Syrian|Syrian nation]] and had tightened its monopoly on [[youth organisations]], [[student activism]], [[trade union]]s, agricultural organisations and other civil society groups.<ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Shaar|last2= Akil |first1=Karam|first2= Samy |date=28 January 2021 |title=Inside Syria's Clapping Chamber: Dynamics of the 2020 Parliamentary Elections |url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/inside-syrias-clapping-chamber-dynamics-2020-parliamentary-elections#footnote-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128162146/https://www.mei.edu/publications/inside-syrias-clapping-chamber-dynamics-2020-parliamentary-elections |archive-date=28 January 2021 |website=Middle East Institute}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lucas |first=Scott |date=25 February 2021 |title=How Assad Regime Tightened Syria's One-Party Rule |work=EA Worldview |url=https://eaworldview.com/2021/02/how-assad-regime-tightened-syrias-one-party-rule/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225110507/https://eaworldview.com/2021/02/how-assad-regime-tightened-syrias-one-party-rule/ |archive-date=25 February 2021}}</ref>

On 8 December 2024, the Syrian Arab Republic under Assad collapsed amid [[2024 Syrian opposition offensives|major offensives]] by the [[Syrian opposition]] led by [[Tahrir al-Sham|Hayat Tahrir al-Sham]]. The [[Fall of Damascus (2024)|fall of Damascus]] marked the end of the regime of the al-Assad family. Assad fled Damascus by plane.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=December 8, 2024 |title=Syrian rebels topple Assad who flees to Russia in Mideast shakeup |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/syria-rebels-celebrate-captured-homs-set-sights-damascus-2024-12-07/ |access-date=December 8, 2024 |website=Reuters}}</ref>

=== Post-Assad era === Following the [[fall of the Assad regime]], the [[Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Ba'ath's Central Command]] published a statement on the party's newspaper ''[[Al-Ba'ath]]'', announcing the party's intention to cooperate with the [[Syrian caretaker government|Syrian transitional government]], which is currently being led by members of [[Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham|Hayat Tahrir al-Sham]], in order to "defend the unity of the country, land, people, institutions and capabilities". It also called for reforms to provide for [[Pluralism (political theory)|political pluralism]] and [[separation of powers]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 December 2024|title=Statement by the Central Leadership of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in Syria|url=https://newspaper.albaathmedia.sy/2024/12/09/%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B2%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AB-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1/|access-date=|website=[[Al-Ba'ath]]|language=ar|author1=Admin|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241209212306/https://newspaper.albaathmedia.sy/2024/12/09/%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B2%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AB-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1/|archive-date=9 December 2024|url-status=usurped}}</ref> Two days later, an internal statement on December 11 was circulated among members and published on ''Al-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 the [[Ministry of Interior (Syria)|Ministry of Interior]] as well as all party funds to the [[Ministry of Finance (Syria)|Ministry of Finance]], with the property's proceeds going towards the [[Central 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 the [[Ministry of Higher Education (Syria)|Ministry of Higher Education]] while all other party assets were to be transferred to the [[Ministry of Justice (Syria)|Ministry of Justice]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hassoun|first=Ali|date=11 December 2024|title=Internal Statement|url=https://newspaper.albaathmedia.sy/2024/12/11/%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AE%D9%84%D9%8A/|access-date=|website=[[Al-Ba'ath]]|language=ar|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241212051841/https://newspaper.albaathmedia.sy/2024/12/11/%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AE%D9%84%D9%8A/|archive-date=12 December 2024|url-status=usurped}}</ref><ref name="suspend">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=11 December 2024 |title=Baath Party Of Syria's Assad Says Suspends Work Indefinitely |url=https://www.barrons.com/news/baath-party-of-syria-s-assad-says-suspends-work-indefinitely-dcb89cba |access-date= |website=[[Barron's]] |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=AFP |first=Daily Sabah with |date=2024-12-13 |title=Jumping ship: Syrians abandon once-mighty Assad's Baath party |url=https://www.dailysabah.com/world/mid-east/jumping-ship-syrians-abandon-once-mighty-assads-baath-party |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=Daily Sabah |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-12-30 |title=Now Syria's long-ruling Baath party is collapsing, too |url=https://apnews.com/article/syria-baath-party-hafez-bashar-assad-f541e2d3eb3c8471ddecffcb7d4e3d91 |access-date=2025-01-11 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref>

On 20 January 2025, the building that housed the headquarters of a local branch of the party in [[Suwayda]] was transferred to a local branch of [[Damascus University]] by the Syrian transitional government.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-01-20 |title=مبروك للسويداء و أبناءها الجامعيين،... - لواء جبل الكرامة {{!}} Facebook |trans-title=Congratulations to Sweida and its university students, ... - Jabal Al-Karamah Brigade {{!}} Facebook |url=https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=906606404957708&id=100068250710855 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250120172519/https://www.facebook.com/login/?next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fstory.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D906606404957708%26id%3D100068250710855 |archive-date=2025-01-20 |access-date=2025-01-20 |website=[[Facebook]] |language=ar |quote=مبروك للسويداء و أبناءها الجامعيين، تحويل مقر فرع حزب النظام الساقط السابق إلى فرع جامعة دمشق بقرار رسمي. |trans-quote=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)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nasr |first=Hassan |date=2025-01-20 |title=وزير التعليم العالي يعلن من السويداء تحويل مقر فرع حزب البعث لصالح جامعة دمشق |trans-title=The Minister of Higher Education announces from Sweida the transfer of the headquarters of the Baath Party branch to the University of Damascus (machine translation) |url=https://sana.sy/?p=2183901 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250203033848/https://sana.sy/?p=2183901 |archive-date=2025-02-03 |access-date=2025-02-03 |website=[[SANA]] |language=ar}}</ref>

On 29 January 2025, the party was formally dissolved by the newly declared president of the Syrian transitional government, [[Ahmed al-Sharaa]], along with the [[2012 Constitution of Ba'athist Syria|2012 constitution]], the [[People's Assembly of Syria|People's Assembly]], the [[Syrian Arab Armed Forces]], and the [[General Intelligence Directorate (Syria)|security services]] affiliated with the deposed regime.<ref name=":0" />

==Organization==

===General Congress=== 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 of the Syrian Ba'ath Party|8th Regional Congress]], the Command Secretary was empowered to elect the Central Committee.{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA73 73]}} The 8th Regional Congress would be the last congress held under Hafez al-Assad's rule.{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA65 65]}} 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.{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA77 77]}}

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.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA216 216]}} {{col-begin}} {{col-2}} ;Regional Congresses before the Regional Branch's dissolution in 1958 * 1st Regional Congress (March 1954) * 2nd Regional Congress (March 1955) * 3rd Regional Congress (9–12 July 1957) ;Regional Congresses held after the Regional Branch's reestablishment * 1st Regional Congress: 5 September 1963 * 2nd Regional Congress: 18 March – 4 April 1965 * 3rd Regional Congress: September 1966 * 4th Regional Congress: 26 September 1968 * 5th Regional Congress: 8–14 May 1971 * 6th Regional Congress: 5–15 April 1975 * 7th Regional Congress: 22 December – 7 January 1980 * [[8th Regional Congress of the Syrian Ba'ath Party|8th Regional Congress]]: 5–20 January 1985 * 9th Regional Congress: 17–21 June 2000 * 10th Regional Congress: 6–9 June 2005 {{col-2}} ;Extraordinary Regional Congresses * 1st Extraordinary Regional Congress: 1 February 1964 * 2nd Extraordinary Regional Congress: 1 August 1965 * 3rd Congress of the Regional Emergency: 10–13 and 20–27 March 1966 * 4th Congress of the Regional Emergency: September 1967 * 5th Regional Emergency Congress: 21–31 March 1969 * 6th Regional Congress of the Emergency: June 1974 {{col-end}}

====Central Command==== {{main|Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}

[[File:Michel Aflaq and Salah Jadid in 1963.jpg|thumb|[[Michel Aflaq|Aflaq]] (left) and [[Salah Jadid|Jadid]] (right), 1963.]] The Central Command, according to the Syrian Constitution, had the power to nominate a candidate for president.{{sfn|Perthes|1997|p=140}} While the constitution did not state that the Secretary of the Central Command is the President of Syria, the charter of the [[National Progressive Front (Syria)|National 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.{{sfn|Perthes|1997|p=140}} The 1st Extraordinary Regional Congress held in 1964 decided that the Secretary of the Central Command would also be head of state.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=148}} The Central Command was officially responsible to the General Congress.{{sfn|George|2003|p=73}}

====Central Committee==== The Central Committee ({{langx|ar|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,{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA215 215]}} the Central Command became responsible to the Central Committee, the hitch was that the Central Command Secretary elected the members of the Central Committee.{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA73 73]}} Another change was that the Central Committee was given the responsibilities of the Regional Congress when the congress was not in session.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA215 215]}} 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.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA216 216]}}

===Central-level organs===

====Military Bureau==== {{main|Military Committee of the Ba'ath party}}

The Military Bureau, which succeeded the Military Committee,{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA70 70]}} oversaw the [[Syrian Arab Armed Forces|Syrian Armed Forces]]. Shortly after the [[1963 Syrian coup d'état|8 March Coup]], the Military Committee created [[National Council for the Revolutionary Command|National Council for the Revolutionary Command (NCRC)]] and became the supreme authority in military affairs.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KqR5eFb3xGsC&pg=PA149 149]}} 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 a ''tawjihi'', or guide.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA215 215]}} [[File:Syrian military officers after Ba'ath coup d'etat in 1963.jpg|thumb|269x269px|Syrian military officers, 1963.]] 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.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KqR5eFb3xGsC&pg=PA150 150]}}

The lack of a democratic framework led to internal divisions within the Military Organisation among the rank-and-file.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KqR5eFb3xGsC&pg=PA150 150–151]}} Tension within the organisation increased, and became apparent when [[Muhammad 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 by [[Munif al-Razzaz]], did not realise the importance of this petition before [[Salah 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.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KqR5eFb3xGsC&pg=PA151 151]}}

====Central Party School==== Ali Diab is the current head of the Ba'ath Party's Central Party School.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.baath-party.org/download/130_low-e.pdf | title = National leadership workshop Arab world in the Heart of Regional and International Conflict | page = 2 | publisher = Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region | work = The Ba'ath Message | access-date = 10 July 2013 | date = 10 June 2000 | archive-date = 27 February 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130227114612/http://www.baath-party.org/download/130_low-e.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref>

===Lower-level organizations=== 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.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA215 215]}}

===Members=== [[Michel Aflaq]] and [[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]], the two principal fathers of Ba'athist thought, saw the Ba'ath Party as a [[vanguard party]], comparable to the Soviet Union's [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist 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."{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA71 71]}}

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.{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA71 71]}} 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.{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA71 71]}} Between 1980 and 1984, 133,850 supporter-members and 3,242 full members were expelled from the party.{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA72 72]}}

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]], a [[Christianity in Syria|Syrian Christian]] dissident and [[human rights activist]], said, "The Ba'ath does not recognize society. It consider itself [to be] society."{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA72 72]}} 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.{{sfn|George|2003|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA72 72–73]}}

== Ideology == {{See also|Neo-Ba'athism|Assadism}} [[File:Syrian women in military uniform during a Ba'athist demonstration.jpg|thumb|205x205px|Syrian women in military uniform during a demonstration.]] The original Ba'ath headed by [[Michel Aflaq]] had viewed [[Islam]] as a unique religion that shaped [[History of the Arabs|Arab history]] and society, calling for the incorporation of [[pan-Arabism]] with Islamic religious values. On other hand; the younger [[Neo-Ba'athism|Neo-Ba'athists]] who came from minority communities like [[Alawites]] were highly influenced by [[communist]] ideals and incorporated [[Marxism|Marxist]] anti-religious, economic ideas and downplayed efforts for pan-Arab unity. The Neo-Ba'athist faction that took official control of Syria following the [[1966 Syrian coup d'état|1966 coup]] were advocates of militant revolution, calling for immediate socialist transformation of society. The [[Soviet Union]] began supporting the group for its leftist programme and denounced its rival [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region|Iraqi 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 with [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalist]] ideologies like [[Nasserism]], which was accused of betraying socialist ideals. [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Nasser]], in turn, charged the Ba'ath with [[Antireligion|anti-religion]] and [[sectarianism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=David |title=The Ba'ath and the creation of modern Syria |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-415-83882-5 |edition=Routledge Library Editions: Syria |location=Abingdon, Oxon |pages=49, 57, 61, 72, 82–83, 88–100, 133–134, 148–149, 153, 161 |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=S. Abu Jaber |first=Kamel |title=The Arab Ba'th Socialist Party: History, Ideology and Organization |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=1966 |edition=1st |location=Syracuse, New York, USA |pages=xii–xiii, 76–78, 93–95 |lccn=66-25181 |quote=}}</ref> [[File:Syrian women students in military uniform marching, 1970s.jpg|thumb|Syrian women students in military uniform, 1973.]] Neo-Ba'athism advocates the creation of a "vanguard" of leftist revolutionaries committed to build an [[Egalitarianism|egalitarian]], [[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 advocates [[Class conflict|class-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 by [[Salah Jadid]] who came to power in 1966 concentrated on improving the Syrian economy and exporting the doctrines of class-conflict and militant [[socialist revolution]] to the neighbouring countries. [[File:Syrian female students in military uniform during a military ceremony of Revolutionary Youth Union, Ba'athist Syria, circa 1980.jpg|left|thumb|Syrian female students during a military ceremony of [[Revolutionary Youth Union]], circa 1980.]] This view was challenged by General [[Hafez al-Assad]] and his neo-Ba'ath faction; who were proponents of a military-centric approach and focused on a strategy of strengthening the [[Syrian Armed Forces|Syrian military]] to defend the [[socialist 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 the [[Corrective Movement (Syria)|1970 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=David |title=The Ba'ath and the creation of modern Syria |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-415-83882-5 |edition=Routledge Library Editions: Syria |location=Abingdon, Oxon |pages=136–139 |chapter=13: Conclusions |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Walt, Stephen |title=The Origins of Alliances |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-8014-9418-5 |pages=87–88 |chapter=3:From the Baghdad Pact to the Six Day War |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=F. Devlin |first=John |title=The Baath Party: A History From its Origins to 1966 |publisher=Hoover Institution Press |year=1976 |isbn=978-0817965617 |location=Stanford University, California |pages=281–307 |chapter=16: Military Ascendancy in Syria}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Galvani |first=John |date=February 1974 |title=Syria and the Baath Party |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3011567 |journal=MERIP Reports |issue=25 |pages=3, 7–10 |doi=10.2307/3011567 |jstor=3011567 |quote= |access-date=4 November 2022 |archive-date=4 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104023128/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3011567 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Assadism === [[File:دوار السبع بحرات- دوار الرئيس حاليا - panoramio.jpg|thumb|Statue of [[Hafez al-Assad]] in [[Qamishli]]]] Since the end of the [[Cold War]] and [[Eastern Bloc#Dissolution|fall 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 the [[Al-Assad family#Cult of personality|cult of personality]] surrounding the [[Assad dynasty]] and a consolidation of communal-based allegiances. Assad's government was a [[Personalist dictator|personalist system]] and his wisdom was portrayed as "beyond the comprehension of the average citizen". Assad deepened the [[Alawites|Alawitization]] 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.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Korany, Baghat |title=The Foreign Policies of Arab States: The Challenge of Globalization |author2=Dessouki, Ali |publisher=[[American University in Cairo Press]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-977-416-360-9 |pages=423, 424 |ref=CITEREFKoranyDessouki2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Van Dam |first=Nikolaos |title=The Struggle for Power in Syria: Politics and Society Under Asad and the Ba'th Party |publisher=I. B Tauris |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-84885-760-5 |edition=4th |location=London |pages=143–144 |chapter=10: Conclusions}}</ref> State biography of Hafiz al-Assad describes this philosophy as "''Asadiyah'' (Assadism)" defining it as: <blockquote>"the [[Neo-ba'athism|New 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 from [[Nasserism]], but has surpassed it, just as it has surpassed the [[Ba'athism|traditional 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."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Van Dam |first=Nikolaos |title=The Struggle for Power in Syria: Politics and Society Under Asad and the Ba'th Party |publisher=I. B Tauris |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-84885-760-5 |edition=4th |location=London |page=144 |chapter=10: Conclusions}}</ref></blockquote> [[File:Soldiers carry the logo of Syria's ruling Ba'ath Party during a military parade.jpg|thumb|264x264px|Logo of the Ba'ath party during Syrian military parade, 1990.]] Assad personality cult was portrayed as integral to the prosperity and security of the nation; with [[Hafez 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 successor [[Bashar 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 the [[Damascus Spring]] in the 2000s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Phillips |first=Christopher |title=The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East | chapter=2: The Arab Spring comes to Syria|publisher=Yale University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-300-21717-9 |location=London, UK |pages=42–45}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Aslan Ozgul |first=Billur |title=Leading Protests in the Digital Age: Youth Activism in Egypt and Syria |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2019 |isbn=978-3-030-25449-0 |edition=1st |pages=9–10, 41–44, 227 |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-25450-6|s2cid=204449526 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=A. Reilly |first=James |title=Fragile Nation, Shattered Land: The Modern History of Syria |publisher=I. B Tauris |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-78453-961-0 |location=London, UK |pages=160–161 |chapter=7: Thirty Years of Hafez Al-Assad}}</ref><ref name="Cathcart Winstanley-Chesters Green 2017">{{Cite book |editor=Adam Cathcart |editor2=Robert Winstanley-Chesters |editor3=Christopher K. Green |title=Change and Continuity in North Korean Politics |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-138-68168-2 |location=New York |page=126}}</ref>

Describing the nature of Assadist ideological propaganda in her work ''Ambiguities of Domination'', [[Professor]] of [[political science]] [[Lisa Wedeen]] writes: <blockquote>"[[Al-Assad family#Cult of personality|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 act ''as if'' they revere their leader{{nbsp}}... 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 isolates [[Syrians]] 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{{nbsp}}... Asad is powerful because his regime can compel people to say the ridiculous and to avow the absurd."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wedeen |first=Lisa |title=Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbols in Contemporary Syria |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-226-33337-3 |location=Chicago |pages=6, 12 |chapter=1: Believing in Spectacles |doi=10.7208/chicago/978022345536.001.0001|doi-broken-date=11 July 2025 }}</ref><ref name="Cathcart Winstanley-Chesters Green 2017"/> </blockquote>

=== Religion === [[File:General Salah Jadid.jpg|thumb|General [[Salah Jadid]] headed the most anti-religious regime in Syria since 1966 and until 1970.]] Like [[Marxist]]s, 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. [[Secularism|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".<ref name="auto3" /> The manifesto also stated that this envisaged Ba'athist generation would be "committed to [[Science|scientific thought]] freed from the shackles of superstition and backward customs" and replace religion with [[Arab nationalism]] as their belief system.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rubin |first=Barry |title=The Truth About Syria |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4039-8273-5 |location= New York, NY |page=38 |chapter=2: The World's Most Unstable Country, 1946–1970}}</ref> Syrian Ba'athist documents regularly depicted religion as a social institution that advanced "the values of [[feudalism]] and [[imperialism]]".<ref name="auto3">{{cite web|title=Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview|url=http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723214138/http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf|archive-date=23 July 2011|accessdate=8 March 2013|pages=364–365}}</ref>

[[Neo-Ba'athism]] views [[religion]] as the "foremost symbol of reaction" preventing the birth of a modern [[Socialism|socialist]] society, and advocate strict state supervision over religious activities for sustaining what its ideologues regard as a healthy, [[Secularism|secularist]] society. During [[Salah Jadid]]'s reign in power, the Ba'ath postured itself as a strongly [[Antireligion|anti-religious]] political entity; adhering to the [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] approach of top-down regimentation of the society through [[liquidation]] of what it regarded as "[[reactionary]]" classes such as the traditional ''[[Ulama|ulema]]''. The [[Grand 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 the [[socialist revolution]].<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last1=Heydemann |editor-first1=Steven |editor-last2= Leenders |editor-first2= Reinoud |title=Middle East Authoritarianisms: Governance, Contestation and regime resilience in Syria and Iran |last1=Pierret |first1=Thomas |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8047-8301-9 |location=Stanford, California, USA |pages=86–89 |chapter=4: The State Management of religion in Syria}}</ref> In an article titled "''[[The Path to Creation of the New Arab Man]]''" published by the [[Syrian Arab Army]] magazine "People's Army" in 1967,<ref>{{cite web |title=Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview |url=http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723214138/http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2011 |accessdate=8 March 2013 |page=423}}</ref><ref name="auto4">{{Cite book |editor-last1=Heydemann |editor-first1=Steven |editor-last2= Leenders |editor-first2= Reinoud |title=Middle East Authoritarianisms: Governance, Contestation and regime resilience in Syria and Iran |last1=Pierret |first1=Thomas |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8047-8301-9 |location=Stanford, California, USA |page=89 |chapter=4: The State management of Religion in Syria}}</ref> party ideologue Ibrahim Khalas declared: <blockquote>"The [[New Man (utopian concept)|New 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{{nbsp}}.... 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 a [[Socialism|socialist]], a [[revolutionary]]."<ref name="auto4"/></blockquote> [[File:After Hama Massacre 18.jpg|thumb|[[Antireligion|Anti-religious]] [[neo-Ba'athism|Ba'athist]] writings on the walls of [[Hama|Hama city]] following the [[1982 Hama massacre|Hama Massacre]] in 1982. The propaganda slogan, which translates to "There is no god but the homeland, and there is no messenger but the Ba'ath party", denigrated the ''[[Shahada]]'' (Islamic testimony of faith)]] 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.<ref name="auto3"/> Following popular revulsion at Jadid's blatant anti-religious policies, Hafez al-Assad began to tone down the [[Secularization|secularisation]] programme during the 1970s, by co-opting some pro-government clerics like [[Muhammad Said Ramadan al-Bouti|Ramadan 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.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last1=Heydemann |editor-first1=Steven |editor-last2= Leenders |editor-first2= Reinoud |title=Middle East Authoritarianisms: Governance, Contestation and regime resilience in Syria and Iran |last1=Pierret |first1=Thomas |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8047-8301-9 |location=Stanford, California, USA |pages=89–94 |chapter=4: The State Management of Religion in Syria}}</ref> The state-sponsored religious discourse during the rule of Hafez al-Assad promoted a [[left-wing nationalist]] worldview that sought to anathematize Islamists and re-inforce loyalty towards the Alawite president.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview|url=http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723214138/http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf|archive-date=23 July 2011|accessdate=8 March 2013|page=366}}</ref>

The era of ''d'tente'' between the religious establishment and the Ba'athists came to an end in 2008, when [[Bashar al-Assad]] appointed Muhammad al-Sayyid as Chief of the [[Ministry of Awqaf (Syria)|Ministry of ''Awqaf'']], which marked an era of harsh regulations in the religious landscape. Numerous private religious educational institutes, religious charities, independent [[Dawah|preaching]] 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 the ''[[Ulama|ulema]]''. Private religious institutes were allowed donations only after official permission from the Ministry of ''Awqaf'', 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, effectively [[nationalising]] the private religious institutes.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite book |editor-last1=Heydemann |editor-first1=Steven |editor-last2= Leenders |editor-first2= Reinoud |title=Middle East Authoritarianisms: Governance, Contestation and regime resilience in Syria and Iran |last1=Pierret |first1=Thomas |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8047-8301-9 |location=Stanford, California, USA |pages=83–106 |chapter=4: The State management of religion in Syria}}</ref>

In 2009, Ba'ath party activists launched ideological campaigns against the ''[[Niqāb|Niqab]]'' (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 and [[private schools]]. Popular display of religious symbols of all sects was banned in 2010 and officials close to the ''ulema'' were suspended, under the pretext of preserving the "secular character" of the country. The regime also implemented [[Niqab ban|nation-wide ban]] on the ''Niqab'' (face-covering) and imposed restrictions on female Islamic organisations like the [[Al-Qubaysiat|Al-Qubaisiat]], which ignited a region-wide controversy. By the onset of [[Arab Spring]] in late 2010, relationship between the ''ulema'' and the Assad regime had sunk to its lowest level, with even staunch Assad-loyalists like the Grand Mufti [[Ramadan Al-Bouti|Ramadan al-Bouti]] expressing public discontent.<ref name="auto1"/>

With the outbreak of the [[Syrian civil war]], regime's crackdown on religious dissidents increased, particularly those of [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] background over allegations of sympathies with [[Syrian opposition]] groups. In November 2021, Assad abolished the office of [[Grand Mufti of Syria]].<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last1=Heydemann |editor-first1=Steven |editor-last2= Leenders |editor-first2= Reinoud |title=Middle East Authoritarianisms: Governance, Contestation and regime resilience in Syria and Iran |last1=Pierret |first1=Thomas |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8047-8301-9 |location=Stanford, California, USA |pages=104–106 |chapter=4: The State Management of Religion in Syria}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |editor-last1=Heydemann |editor-first1=Steven |editor-last2= Leenders |editor-first2= Reinoud |title=Middle East Authoritarianisms: Governance, Contestation and regime resilience in Syria and Iran |last1=Hidde Donker |first1=Teije |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-8047-8301-9 |location=Stanford, California, USA |pages=107–124 |chapter=5: Islamic Social Movements and the Syrian Authoritarian Regime}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=16 November 2021 |title=Syrian president abolishes position of Grand Mufti |work=Al Jazeera |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/16/syrian-president-abolishes-position-of-grand-mufti#:~:text=Al%2DAssad%20issues%20decree%20effectively,highest%20Islamic%20authority%20in%20Syria.&text=Syrian%20President%20Bashar%20al%2DAssad,giving%20reasons%20for%20the%20decision. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211116122423/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/16/syrian-president-abolishes-position-of-grand-mufti |archive-date=16 November 2021}}</ref> Describing [[Assadism]] as a [[quasi-religion]] fostered by the Ba'athist state for mobilising the fealty and adulation of [[Syrian citizenship|Syrian citizens]], Professor of [[Middle Eastern studies|Middle Eastern Studies]] at [[Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies|Bonn International Centre]] Dr. Esther Meininghaus wrote: <blockquote>"by drawing on religion, the [[Assad regime]] successfully sought to promote a value system ultimately rooted in the [[Ba'thist Syria|Baʿthist]] vision for Syrian society{{nbsp}}.... To this, we can indeed add the cult surrounding Presidents [[Hafez al-Assad|Hafiz]] and [[Bashar al-Assad|Bashar 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 the [[Humat ad-Diyar|national anthem]] during official celebrations. Also, official rhetoric has become increasingly infused with transcendental and metaphysical elements, in particular with regard to the President's [[Al-Assad family#Cult of personality|personality cult]]. For instance, the President is addressed as the ''''Eternal Leader'''{{'}} who will guide his people to becoming the 'true' [[Arab Nation|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."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meininghaus |first=Esther |title=Creating Consent in Ba'thist Syria: Women and Welfare in a Totalitarian State |publisher=I. B. Tauris |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-78453-115-7 |page=17 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref></blockquote>

==Status== {{Ba'athism sidebar}} 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."{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA64 64]}} [[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."{{sfn|George|2003|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA64 64–65]}}

According to [[Volker 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."{{sfn|George|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dFdbVVcKsSIC&pg=PA70 70]}} [[File:Ba'athist_mural_in_Idlib.png|thumb|240x240px|A defaced Ba'athist mural at the Mihrab roundabout in [[Idlib]], shortly after the [[Battle of Idlib (2015)|city's capture]] by rebel forces in March 2015]] 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.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&pg=PA214 214]}} 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. The [[National Progressive Front (Syria)|National 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.{{sfn|Kedar|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ty-dtRMRd18C&pg=PA228 228]}}

Despite its social and political subservience to [[Assadism]], the Ba'ath party apparatus and its working establishments were crucial components in daily governance. The party facilitated [[Al-Assad family|Assad 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 the [[People's Assembly of Syria|People's Assembly]] and local councils were from the [[National Progressive Front (Syria)|National 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'').<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Yonker|last2= Solomon |first1=Carl|first2= Christopher |title=The Banality of Authoritarian Control: Syria's Ba'ath Party Marches On |url=https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/83906 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202101520/https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/83906 |archive-date=2 December 2022 |website=[[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Al-Assad: The Presidency That Never Ends |url=https://crd.org/al-assad/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230226152530/https://crd.org/al-assad/ |archive-date=26 February 2023 |website=[[Civil Rights Defenders]]}}</ref>

As of 2022, the Ba'athists continued to dominate the regional councils, civil services, parliament, army and ''[[Military Intelligence Directorate (Syria)|Mukhabarat]]''. 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 the [[National Progressive Front (Syria)|National Progressive Front]] were minority in size.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Awad |first=Ziad |date=27 January 2023 |title=The 2022 Syrian Local Elections: A Leadership Rooted in Regime Networks |location= San Domenico di Fiesole, Italy |publisher=European University Institute |issue=1 |pages=5–20 |doi=10.2870/52247 |isbn=978-92-9466-358-0}}</ref>

== Anthem ==

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" ! style="background:#ce1126;color:#fff;"| Arabic script ! style="background:#fff;color:#007A3D;"| Arabic transliteration ! style="background:#000;color:#fff;"| English translation |- |<poem>{{lang|ar|يا شبـاب العرب هيـا وانطـلق يا موكبـي وارفـع الصوت قويـاً عاش بعــــث العـرب

نحــــــن فـلاح وعامــل وشـــبــاب لا يلـــين نحــــــن جنـدي مقــاتـل نحن صوت الكادحين من جذور الأرض جئنا مـن صميم الألـــــــم بالضحــــايـا ما بخلنـــا بالعطـــاء الأكــــــرم

خنــــدق الثوار واحـــد أو يقـال الظــلم زال صــامد يا بعــث صـامد أنت في ساح النضــال وحــــــد الأحـرار هيــا وحــــد الشعب العظـيم وامــض يا بعــث قويـاً للغـــد الحــــر الـكريــــم}}</poem>

|<poem>yā šabāba l-ʕarbi hayyā wa-nṭaliq yā mawkibī wa-rfaʕi ṣ-ṣawta qawiyyā(n) ʕāša Baʕaṯu l-ʕarabi

naḥnu fallāḥu wa-ʕāmil wa-šabābun lā yalīn naḥnu jundiyyun muqātil naḥnu ṣawtu l-kādaḥīn min juḏūri l-ʔarḍi jiʔnā min samīmi l-alami bi-ḍ-ḍaḥāyā mā baḵilnā bi-l-ʕaṭāʔi l-ʔakrami

ḵandaqu ṯ-ṯuwwāri wāḥid ʔaw yuqāla ẓ-ẓulmu zāl ṣāmidun yā Ba'aṯu ṣāmid ʔanta fī sāḥi n-niḍāl waḥidi l-ʔaḥrara hayyā waḥidi š-šaʕaba l-ʔaẓīm wāmḍi yā Ba'aṯu qawiyyā(n) li-l-ġadi l-ḥurri l-karīm</poem>

|<poem>Arab youth, raise and march to fight your enemies, Raise your voice: "Long live the Arab Ba'ath!"

We are farmers, workers and persistent youth, We are soldiers, we are the voice of labourers, We came from roots of this land and pain from hearts, We weren't [[miser]]s in giving sacrifice nobly.

All revolutionaries into the trenches, there's still injustice, The Ba'ath will never surrender and stop struggling. Go Ba'ath. Unite all revolutionaries, unite all great people, Go strong for tomorrow in freedom and dignity.</poem> |- | colspan="3" |Lyrics: Suleiman al-Issa<ref>{{Cite web |last=البعث |date=2023-08-14 |title=نشيد حزب البعث - حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي {{!}} فلسطين |url=https://www.baathparty.com/%D9%86%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%AD%D8%B2%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AB/ |access-date=2025-03-05 |language=ar}}</ref> |}

== Election results ==

=== Presidential elections === {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" !Election !Party candidate !Votes !% !Result |- ![[1971 Syrian presidential election|1971]] | rowspan="5" |[[Hafez al-Assad]] |1,919,609 |99.2% |'''Elected''' {{Y}} |- ![[1978 Syrian presidential election|1978]] |3,975,729 |99.9% |'''Elected''' {{Y}} |- ![[1985 Syrian presidential election|1985]] |6,200,428 |100% |'''Elected''' {{Y}} |- ![[1991 Syrian presidential election|1991]] |6,726,843 |99.99% |'''Elected''' {{Y}} |- ![[1999 Syrian presidential election|1999]] |8,960,011 |100% |'''Elected''' {{Y}} |- ![[2000 Syrian presidential election|2000]] | rowspan="4" |[[Bashar al-Assad]] |8,689,871 |99.7% |'''Elected''' {{Y}} |- ![[2007 Syrian presidential election|2007]] |11,199,445 |99.82% |'''Elected''' {{Y}} |- ![[2014 Syrian presidential election|2014]] |10,319,723 |88.7% |'''Elected''' {{Y}} |- ![[2021 Syrian presidential election|2021]] |13,540,860 |95.1% |'''Elected''' {{Y}} |}

=== Syrian People's Assembly elections === {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" !Election !Party leader !Seats !+/– |- ![[1949 Syrian constituent assembly election|1949]] | |{{Composition bar|1|114|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{increase}} 1 |- ![[1953 Syrian parliamentary election|1953]] | |{{Composition bar|0|82|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{decrease}} 1 |- ![[1954 Syrian parliamentary election|1954]] |[[Akram al-Hawrani]] |{{Composition bar|22|140|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{increase}} 22 |- ![[1961 Syrian parliamentary election|1961]] |[[Nureddin al-Atassi]] |{{Composition bar|20|140|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{decrease}} 2 |- ![[1973 Syrian parliamentary election|1973]] | rowspan="7" |[[Hafez al-Assad]] |{{Composition bar|122|250|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{increase}} 102 |- ![[1977 Syrian parliamentary election|1977]] |{{Composition bar|125|250|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{increase}} 3 |- ![[1981 Syrian parliamentary election|1981]] |{{Composition bar|127|250|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{increase}} 2 |- ![[1986 Syrian parliamentary election|1986]] |{{Composition bar|130|250|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{increase}} 3 |- ![[1990 Syrian parliamentary election|1990]] |{{Composition bar|134|250|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{increase}} 4 |- ![[1994 Syrian parliamentary election|1994]] |{{Composition bar|135|250|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{increase}} 1 |- ![[1998 Syrian parliamentary election|1998]] |{{Composition bar|135|250|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{steady}} 0 |- ![[2003 Syrian parliamentary election|2003]] | rowspan="6" |[[Bashar al-Assad]] |{{Composition bar|167|250|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{increase}} 32 |- ![[2007 Syrian parliamentary election|2007]] |{{Composition bar|169|250|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{increase}} 2 |- ![[2012 Syrian parliamentary election|2012]] |{{Composition bar|168|250|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{decrease}} 1 |- ![[2016 Syrian parliamentary election|2016]] |{{Composition bar|172|250|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{increase}} 4 |- ![[2020 Syrian parliamentary election|2020]] |{{Composition bar|167|250|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{decrease}} 5 |- ![[2024 Syrian parliamentary election|2024]] |{{Composition bar|169|250|hex={{party color|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}}} |{{increase}} 2 |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

===Notes=== {{notelist}}

===Bibliography=== {{Refbegin}} '''Journals and papers''' * {{cite journal |last1=Bar |first1=Shmuel |date=2006 |title=Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview |journal=Comparative Strategy |volume=25 |issue=5 |pages=353–445 |url=http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723214138/http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf |archive-date=23 July 2011 |doi=10.1080/01495930601105412 |s2cid=154739379 }} * {{cite journal|last1=Ghadbian|first1=Najib|year=2001|title=The New Asad: Dynamics of Continuity and Change in Syria|journal=[[The Middle East Journal]]|publisher=[[Middle East Institute]]|volume=55|issue=4|pages=624–641|url=http://offiziere.ch/wp-content/uploads/The-New-Assad.pdf|access-date=9 July 2013|archive-date=12 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181212184217/https://offiziere.ch/wp-content/uploads/The-New-Assad.pdf|url-status=dead}} * {{cite web|last1=Jouejati|first1=Murhaf|year=2006|title=The Strategic Culture of Irredentist Small Powers: The Case of Syria|website=Federation of American Scientists|url=https://fas.org/irp/agency/dod/dtra/syria.pdf|access-date=12 October 2015|archive-date=9 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009214518/https://fas.org/irp/agency/dod/dtra/syria.pdf|url-status=live}} '''Books''' * {{cite book|author=Brechner, Michael|ref=CITEREFBrechner1978|title=Studies in Crisis Behavior|publisher=[[Transaction Publishers]]|year=1978|isbn=0-87855-292-8}} * {{cite book |last = Cooper |first = Tom |author-link1= Tom Cooper (author)|title= Syrian Conflagration. The Civil War 2011–2013 |date= 2015 |publisher= Helion & Company Limited |location= [[Solihull]] |isbn= 978-1-910294-10-9 }} * {{cite book|author=Federal Research Division|author-link=Federal Research Division |title=Syria: A Country Study|publisher=[[Kessinger Publishing]]|year=2004|isbn=978-1-4191-5022-7}} * {{cite book|author1=Finer, Samuel|author2=Stanley, Jay|ref=CITEREFFinerStanley2009|title=The Man on Horseback: The Role of the Military in Politics|publisher=[[Transaction Publishers]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-7658-0922-3}} * {{cite book|author=George, Alan|ref=CITEREFGeorge2003|title=Syria: Neither Bread nor Freedom|publisher=[[Zed Books]]|year=2003|isbn=978-1-84277-213-3}} * {{cite book|author=Kedar, Mordechai|ref=CITEREFKedar2006|title=Asad in Search of Legitimacy: Message and Rhetoric in the Syrian Press Under|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|year=2006|isbn=1-84519-185-4}} * {{cite book|author=Kostiner, Joseph|ref=CITEREFKostiner2007|title=Conflict and Cooperation in the Gulf Region|publisher=VS Verlag|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84511-269-1}} * {{cite book|author=Moubayed, Sami M.|ref=CITEREFMoubayed2006|title=Steel & Silk: Men and Women who shaped Syria 1900–2000|publisher=Cune Press|year=2006|isbn=1-885942-40-0}} * {{cite book|author=Perthes, Volker|ref=CITEREFPerthes1997|title=The Political Economy of Syria Under Asad|publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]]|year=1997|isbn=1-86064-192-X}} * {{cite book|author=Seale, Patrick|author-link=Patrick Seale|ref=CITEREFSeale1990|title=Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|year=1990|isbn=0-520-06976-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/asadofsyriastrug00seal}} * {{cite book|author=Peretz, Don|ref=CITEREFPeretz1994|title=The Middle East Today|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|year=1994|isbn=0-275-94576-6}} * {{cite book|author=Podeh, Elie|ref=CITEREFPodeh1999|title=The Decline of Arab Unity: The Rise and Fall of the United Arabic Republic|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|year=1999|isbn=1-902210-20-4}} * {{cite book|author=Rabinovich, Itamar|ref=CITEREFRabinovich1972|title=Syria under the Baʻth, 1963–66: the Army Party symbiosis|publisher=[[Transaction Publishers]]|year=1972|isbn=0-7065-1266-9}} * {{cite book|author=Reich, Bernard|ref=CITEREFReich1990|title=Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa: a Biographical Dictionary|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|year=1990|isbn=0-313-26213-6}} * {{cite book|author=Roberts, David|ref=CITEREFRoberts2013|title=The Ba'th and the Creation of Modern Syria|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2013|isbn=978-1317818540}} * {{cite book|author=Sharp, Jeremy|ref=CITEREFSharp2011|title=Syria: Issues for the 112th Congress and Background on U.S. Sanctions|publisher=DIANE Publishing|year=2011|isbn=978-1-4379-4465-5}} * {{cite book|author=Tejel, Jordi|ref=CITEREFTejel2009|title=Syria's Kurds: History, Politics and Society|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0-203-89211-4}} * {{cite book|author=Zîser, Eyāl|ref=CITEREFZîser2007|title=Commanding Syria: Bashar al-Asad and the First Years in Power|publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]]|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84511-153-3}} {{Refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party - Syria Region}} [[Category:Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region| ]] [[Category:1947 establishments in Syria]] [[Category:2024 disestablishments in Syria]] [[Category:Political parties established in 1947]] [[Category:Political parties disestablished in 2024]] [[Category:Banned political parties in Syria]] [[Category:Banned socialist parties]] [[Category:Far-left politics in Asia]] [[Category:Organizations of the Arab Spring]]