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→Independence to 1970: June 20, 1967 at UN
The union was not a success, however. Following a military coup on September 28, 1961, Syria seceded, reestablishing itself as the Syrian Arab Republic. Instability characterized the next 18 months, with various coups culminating on March 8, 1963, in the installation by leftist Syrian Army officers of the National Council of the Revolutionary Command (NCRC), a group of military and civilian officials who assumed control of all executive and legislative authority. The takeover was engineered by members of the Arab Socialist Resurrection Party (Ba'ath Party), which had been active in Syria and other Arab countries since the late 1940s. The new cabinet was dominated by Ba'ath members.
The union was not a success, however. Following a military coup on September 28, 1961, Syria seceded, reestablishing itself as the Syrian Arab Republic. Instability characterized the next 18 months, with various coups culminating on March 8, 1963, in the installation by leftist Syrian Army officers of the National Council of the Revolutionary Command (NCRC), a group of military and civilian officials who assumed control of all executive and legislative authority. The takeover was engineered by members of the Arab Socialist Resurrection Party (Ba'ath Party), which had been active in Syria and other Arab countries since the late 1940s. The new cabinet was dominated by Ba'ath members.
The Ba'ath takeover in Syria followed a Ba'ath coup in Iraq the previous month. The new Syrian Government explored the possibility of federation with Egypt and Ba'ath—controlled Iraq. An agreement was concluded in Cairo on April 17, 1963, for a referendum on unity to be held in September 1963. However, serious disagreements among the parties soon developed, and the tripartite federation failed to materialize. Thereafter, the Ba'ath regimes in Syria and Iraq began to work for bilateral unity. These plans foundered in November 1963, when the Ba'ath regime in Iraq was overthrown. In May 1964, President Amin Hafiz of the NCRC promulgated a provisional constitution providing for a National Council of the Revolution (NCR), an appointed legislature composed of representatives of mass organizations—labor, peasant, and professional unions—a presidential council, in which executive power was vested, and a cabinet. On February 23, 1966, a group of army officers carried out a successful, intra-party coup, imprisoned President Hafiz, dissolved the cabinet and the NCR, abrogated the provisional constitution, and designated a regionalist, civilian Ba'ath government. The coup leaders described it as a "rectification" of Ba'ath Party principles. The defeat of the Syrians and Egyptians in the June 1967 war with Israel weakened the radical socialist regime established by the 1966 coup. Conflict developed between a moderate military wing and a more extremist civilian wing of the Ba'ath Party. The 1970 retreat of Syrian forces sent to aid the PLO during the "Black September" hostilities with Jordan reflected this political disagreement within the ruling Ba'ath leadership. On November 13, 1970, Minister of Defense Hafiz al-Asad affected a bloodless military coup, ousting the civilian party leadership and assuming the role of prime minister.
The Ba'ath takeover in Syria followed a Ba'ath coup in Iraq the previous month. The new Syrian Government explored the possibility of federation with Egypt and Ba'ath—controlled Iraq. An agreement was concluded in Cairo on April 17, 1963, for a referendum on unity to be held in September 1963. However, serious disagreements among the parties soon developed, and the tripartite federation failed to materialize. Thereafter, the Ba'ath regimes in Syria and Iraq began to work for bilateral unity. These plans foundered in November 1963, when the Ba'ath regime in Iraq was overthrown. In May 1964, President Amin Hafiz of the NCRC promulgated a provisional constitution providing for a National Council of the Revolution (NCR), an appointed legislature composed of representatives of mass organizations—labor, peasant, and professional unions—a presidential council, in which executive power was vested, and a cabinet. On February 23, 1966, a group of army officers carried out a successful, intra-party coup, imprisoned President Hafiz, dissolved the cabinet and the NCR, abrogated the provisional constitution, and designated a regionalist, civilian Ba'ath government. The coup leaders described it as a "rectification" of Ba'ath Party principles. The defeat of the Syrians and Egyptians in the [[Six-Day War| June 1967 war]] with Israel weakened the radical socialist regime established by the 1966 coup. Conflict developed between a moderate military wing and a more extremist civilian wing of the Ba'ath Party.
Atassi was the first Syrian president to address the United Nations General Assembly, and the only one until Ahmed al-Sharaa did so in September 2025
His sooech on June 20, 1967 included an attempt to rewrite history was addressed in a publication, months later.<ref>Arnoni, M. S. (1968). Rights and Wrongs in the Arab-Israeli Conflict: To the Anatomy of the Forces of Progress and Reaction in the Middle East. United Kingdom: Minority of One Press, pp.61-63 [https://books.google.com/books?id=stRtAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Placed%20on%20Hitler%22]
(Chapter II : From the history of Arab Nationalism)
<blockquote><small>
The relevance of the political quality of Arab nationalism to the present international dispute was underlined by the Syrian President, Dr. Nureddin el-Attassi, when, in the process of addressing the emergency session of the U.N. General Assembly on June 20, 1967, he fount it profitable to state: 'the Arabs fought both World Wars and contributed to the liberation of Europe from Nazism and the realization of Allied victory.'
Relevant as is this general subject, Dr. el-Attassi did not let historic fact inhibit his imagination.
Otherwise he might have recalled that his own kinsman and a predecessor in the Syrian presidency, Hashim el-Attassi, not only congratulated the pro-Nazi rebels in Baghdad in 1941, but also called on all Syrians to help the revolt prevail. (Which, incidentally, did not disqualify him from another, post-war, term as President of Syria.) He might also have reminded us that Syria as well as Egypt l, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon did not declare war on Nazi Germany until February 1945, when her defeat had practically been accomplished. They acted only days before March 1, 1945, which was the deadline for the status of belligerent ...against the Axis required for membership in the United Nations and participation in its founding conference in San Francisco. (Just the same , the gesture was to be paid for with the life of the Egyptian responsible for it , Prime Minister Ahmed Maher, who was assassinated by the Moslem Brother-hood.)
But the Arab record vis-a-vis the Nazis was not merely one of passivity. On the contrary, throughout the Arab world, hopes had been placed on Hitler, not only because he was an enemy of the British enemy, but also because the ideology and temperament of Nazism were in many ways attractive the Arabs. Already in the 1930's John Gunther found that "Hitler is tremendously popular with the Arabs.... the greatest contemporary Arab hero is—Adolf Hitler."
In a work outstanding for its dcholarship and based on documentation drawn from official German and Arab sources, Lukasz Hirszowicz writes:
'The Arab leaders did not conceal their antipathy to France, their distrust of England and their preference for Germany, even in conversations with the Consul- General of the United States. They did not regard the war in Europe as a misfortune; they pinned their hopes on its weakening the Western Powers... True, certain public figures in Syria, and particularly in Lebanon, held a different point of view, but they were rather isolated in Muslim circles.'
Robert St. John, the renowned correspondent, author and biographer, wrote a sympathetic biography of President Gamal Abdel Nasser after numerous conversations with him and his intimate friends. In it he throws light not only on Nasser's personal attitude toward the Nazis but also on the Egyptian attitude generally:
'The pro-Axis sympathies of most Egyptians at this time were not based alone on the conviction that the Germans and Italians were going to win the war. Nor alone on the Arab proverb: "He who is the enemy of my enemy is my friend." The ideology of the two totalitarian powers was ready-made for a country like Egypt. It reassured the wealthy pashas and beys who were amassing fortunes out of the war and wanted to keep their money. But at the same time the mumbo jumbo of the "socialism" they dispensed fascinated the masses of the poor, the ignorant, and those easily taken in by slogans. There was something in it for every Egyptian. Military men such as young Lieutenant Nasser were impressed by the might of the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe, by the military genius that had so quickly brought about the fall of Warsaw, Copenhagen, Oslo, Brussels, Paris. Athens, Belgrade.'
Nasser himself has confirmed his biographer's impression of his sentiments. In an interview he granted to and had published on the front-page of the notorious neo-Nazi German weekly Deutsche National Zeitung und Soldaten Zeitung, on May 1, 1964, the UAR President was quoted as saying:
'During the Second World War our sympathies were with the Germans. The mobs in the streets of Cairo were jubilantly shouting, "Rommel! Rommel! Rommel." '
In Nablus, Palestine, crowds were receiving British troops with shouts of "Heil Hitler!"
In the streets of Damascus, Homs, Aleppo, a song was heard:
Bala Missou,
bala Mister Bissama Allah,
oria alard Hitler.
(No more Monsieur, no more Mister In heaven Allah, on earth Hitler.)
Nasser and the Axis.
But the Arabs served Nazi Germany not only with ballads and Hitler salutes. In Arab country after Arab country power plays were taking place in attempts to align them with Germany and / or Italy..</small></blockquote></ref>
The 1970 retreat of Syrian forces sent to aid the PLO during the terrorist "[[Black September]]" hostilities with [[Jordan]] reflected this political disagreement within the ruling Ba'ath leadership. On November 13, 1970, Minister of Defense Hafiz al-Asad affected a bloodless military coup, ousting the civilian party leadership and assuming the role of prime minister.
====1970 to 2000====
====1970 to 2000====