Archaeologists have demonstrated that Syria was the center of one of the most ancient civilizations on earth. Around the newly excavated city of Ebla in northern Syria, a great Semitic empire spread from the Red Sea north to Turkey and east to Mesopotamia from 2500 to 2400 B.C. The city alone during that time had a population estimated at 260,000, and the many tablets found there promise to yield considerable information about this civilization.

Syria was occupied successively by Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Aramaeans, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Nabataeans, Byzantines, and, in part, Crusaders, finally coming under the control of the Ottoman Turks. Syria is also significant in the history of Christianity--Paul established the first organized Christian Church at Antioch, the city from which he left on many of his missionary journeys.

Damascus, settled about 2500 B.C., is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It came under Muslim rule in A.D. 636. Immediately thereafter, the city's power and prestige reached its peak, and it became the capital of the Omayyad Empire, which extended from Spain to India from A.D. 661 to 750, when the Abbasid caliphate was established at Baghdad, Iraq.

Damascus became a provincial capital to the Mameluke Empire around 1260. It was largely destroyed in 1400 by Tamerlane, the Mongol conqueror, who removed many of its craftsmen to Smarkand. Rebuilt, it continued to serve as a capital until 1516. In 1517, it fell under Ottoman rule; the Ottomans remained for the next 400 years, except for a brief occupation by Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt from 1832 to 1840.

French Occupation

In 1920, an independent Arab Kingdom of Syria was established under King Faysal of the Hashemite family, who later became King of Iraq. However, his rule ended after a few months following the clash between his Syrian Arab forces and regular French forces at the battle of Maysalun. French forces then occupied the country in accordance with a League of Nations mandate.

With the fall of France in 1940, Syria came under the control of the Vichy government until the British and Free French occupied the country in July 1941.

Continuing pressure from Syrian nationalist groups, however, forced the French to evacuate their troops in April 1946, leaving the country in the hands of a republican government that had been formed during the mandate.

Independence--1970

Although rapid economic development followed the declaration of independence on April 17, 1946, Syrian politics have been marked by upheaval. After the overthrow of President Adib Shishakli in 1954, successive army shakeups brought Arab nationalist and socialist elements to power.

Syria's political instability during the years after the 1954 coup, the parallelism of Syrian and Egyptian policies, and the appeal of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's leadership in the wake of the 1956 Suez crisis created support in Syria for union with Egypt. Following their merger into the United Arab Republic on February 1, 1958, all Syrian political parties ceased overt activities.

The union was not a success, however, and Syria seceded following a military coup d'etat on September 28, 1961, reestablishing itself as an independent state--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'th Party), a previously clandestine political movement that had been active in Syria and other Arab countries since the late 1940s. The new Cabinet was dominated by Ba'th members.

The Ba'th takeover in Syria followed a Ba'th coup in Iraq the previous month. The new government explored the possibility of federation with Iraq, now governed by the Iraqi branch of the Ba'th Party, and with Egypt. 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'th regimes in Syria and Iraq began to work for bilateral unity. These plans foundered in November 1963, when the Ba'th 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 dissident group of army officers, acting in the name of the Ba'th Party and favoring a more leftist policy, carried out a more successful coup d'etat, imprisoned President Hafiz, dissolved the Cabinet and the NCR, and abrogated the provisional constitution. The coup leaders described it as a "rectification" of Ba'th Party principles.

The traumatic defeat of the Syrians and Egyptians in the June 1967 war with Israel weakened the socialist government established by the 1966 coup. Shortly after the 1970 defeat of Syrian forces during the "Black September" hostilities with Jordan, Minister of Defense Hafiz al-Asad effected a bloodless coup, ousting the civilian party leadership and assuming the role of prime minister.

Political Conditions

The traditionally leftist Syrian Army has played a key role in the government. The lineup of factions within the army often has been the controlling element in the changes of government.

The Ba'th platform is proclaimed succinctly in the party's slogan: "Unity, freedom, and socialism." The party is both socialist--advocating state ownership of the means of industrial production and the redistribution of agricultural land--and revolutionary--dedicated to carrying a socialist revolution to every part of the Arab world. Its founder and philosophical leader is Michel 'Aflaq, a Syrian Christian who was removed from authority in the 1966 coup. The party also has attracted supporters of all faiths in other Arab countries, especially Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon.

President Asad's government has held power longer than any other Syrian Government since independence. His survival is due partly to the craving for political stability shared by many Syrians as well as to his government's success in giving many previously disadvantaged groups (such as religious minorities and peasant farmers) a greater stake in society. The expansion of the government bureaucracy has created a large class owing its position to Asad. His survival is due also to the army's continued loyalty and the effectiveness of Syria's large internal security apparatus, both of which are now heavily comprised of Asad-appointed members of his own Alawi sect.

Despite large turnouts at the polls, most of the Syrian electorate remain apathetic toward the current regime. In the last 10 years, evidence of dissatisfaction with and opposition to the Asad regime has been apparent.

Commercial and urban elements, whose power and status have been eroded by the Ba'this and their policies, constitute part of the opposition. Although a number of leftist groups oppose the regime, the arch-conservative Muslim Brotherhood provides a more significant challenge to the government. The fundamentalists reject the basic values of the secular Ba'th program. They also object to Alawi-dominated rule, which they consider heretical.

Opposition to the present regime has been expressed violently. In June 1979, more than 60 army cadets, most thought to be Alawites, were massacred. Anti-Ba'th demonstrations erupted in Aleppo in March and April 1980. The largest and most threatening show of opposition occurred in Hamah, in February 1982. In response to the government crackdown on clandestine arms depots, the Sunni fundamentalists ambushed Syrian security forces and staged a general insurrection. The revolt was crushed after forces loyal to Asad leveled parts of the city with artillery fire, causing thousands of casualties. Relative calm has prevailed since the spring of 1982.

Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, June 1986.