Ba'athist Syria
Syrian Arab Republic | |||||||||
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| 1963–2024 | |||||||||
Flag
(1980–2024) Coat of arms
(1980–2024) | |||||||||
| Motto: وَحْدَةٌ، حُرِّيَّةٌ، اِشْتِرَاكِيَّةٌ Waḥda, Ḥurriyya, Ishtirākiyya "Unity, Freedom, Socialism" | |||||||||
| Anthem: حُمَاةَ الدَّيَّارِ Ḥumāt ad-Diyār "Guardians of the Homeland" | |||||||||
Location of Ba'athist Syria
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| Capital and largest city | Damascus 33°30′N 36°18′E / 33.500°N 36.300°E | ||||||||
| Official languages | Arabic | ||||||||
| Ethnic groups | 80–90% Arabs 9–10% Kurds 1–10% others | ||||||||
| Religion |
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| Demonym(s) | Syrian | ||||||||
| Government | Unitary neo-Ba'athist one-party presidential republic
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| President | |||||||||
• 1963 (first) | Lu'ay al-Atassi | ||||||||
• 1963–1966 | Amin al-Hafiz | ||||||||
• 1966–1970 | Nureddin al-Atassi | ||||||||
• 1970–1971 | Ahmad al-Khatib (acting) | ||||||||
• 1971–2000 | Hafez al-Assad | ||||||||
• 2000 | Abdul Halim Khaddam (acting) | ||||||||
• 2000–2024 (last) | Bashar al-Assad | ||||||||
| Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1963 (first) | Khalid al-Azm | ||||||||
• 2024 (last) | Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali | ||||||||
| Vice President | |||||||||
• 1963–1964 (first) | Muhammad Umran | ||||||||
• 2006–2024 (last) | Najah al-Attar | ||||||||
• 2024 (last) | Faisal Mekdad | ||||||||
| Legislature | People's Assembly | ||||||||
| Historical era | |||||||||
| 8 March 1963 | |||||||||
| 21–23 February 1966 | |||||||||
| 5–10 June 1967 | |||||||||
| 13–16 November 1970 | |||||||||
| 6–25 October 1973 | |||||||||
• Occupation of Lebanon began | 1 June 1976 | ||||||||
| 1976–1982 | |||||||||
| 2000–2001 | |||||||||
| 30 April 2005 | |||||||||
• Civil war began | 15 March 2011 | ||||||||
| 26 February 2012 | |||||||||
| 8 December 2024 | |||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• Total | 185,180 km2 (71,500 sq mi) (87th) | ||||||||
• Water (%) | 1.1 | ||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 2024 estimate | 25,000,753 | ||||||||
• Density | 118.3/km2 (306.4/sq mi) | ||||||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2015 estimate | ||||||||
• Total | $50.28 billion | ||||||||
• Per capita | $2,900 | ||||||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2020 estimate | ||||||||
• Total | $11.08 billion | ||||||||
• Per capita | $533 | ||||||||
| Gini (2022) | 26.6 low inequality | ||||||||
| HDI (2022) | 0.557 medium | ||||||||
| Currency | Syrian pound (SYP) | ||||||||
| Time zone | UTC+3 (Arabia Standard Time) | ||||||||
| Calling code | +963 | ||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | SY | ||||||||
| Internet TLD | .sy سوريا. | ||||||||
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Ba'athist Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR), was the Syrian state between 1963 and 2024 under the one-party rule of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. From 1971 until its collapse in 2024, it was ruled by the Assad family, and was therefore commonly referred to as the Assad regime.
The regime emerged in 1963 as a result of a coup d'état led by Alawite Ba'athist military officers. Another coup in 1966 led to Salah Jadid becoming the country's de facto leader while Nureddin al-Atassi assumed the presidency. In 1970, Jadid and al-Atassi were overthrown by Hafez al-Assad in the Corrective Movement. The next year, Assad became president after winning sham elections.
After assuming power, Assad reorganised the state along sectarian lines (Sunnis and other groups became figureheads of political institutions whilst Alawites took control of the military, intelligence, bureaucracy and security apparatuses). Ba'athist Syria also occupied much of neighboring Lebanon amidst the Lebanese civil war while an Islamist uprising against Assad's rule resulted in the regime committing the 1981 and 1982 Hama massacres. The regime was considered one of the most repressive regimes in modern times, ultimately reaching totalitarian levels, and was consistently ranked as one of the 'worst of the worst' within Freedom House indexes.
Hafez al-Assad died in 2000 and was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad, who maintained a similar grip. The assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 2005 triggered the Cedar Revolution, which ultimately led the regime to withdraw from Lebanon. Major protests against Ba'athist rule in 2011 during the Arab Spring led to the Syrian civil war between opposition forces, government, and in following years Islamists such as ISIS which weakened the Assad regime's territorial control. However, the Ba'athist government maintained presence and a hold over large areas, also being able to regain further ground in later years with the support of Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. In December 2024, a series of surprise offensives by various rebel factions culminated in the regime's collapse.
After the fall of Ba'athist Iraq, Syria was the only country governed by neo-Ba'athists. It had a comprehensive cult of personality around the Assad family, and attracted widespread condemnation for its severe domestic repression and war crimes. Prior to the fall of Assad, Syria was ranked fourth-worst in the 2024 Fragile States Index, and it was one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Freedom of the press was extremely limited, and the country was ranked second-worst in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index. It was the most corrupt country in the MENA region and was ranked the second-worst globally on the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index. Syria had also become the epicentre of an Assad-sponsored Captagon industry, exporting billions of dollars worth of the illicit drug annually, making it one of the largest narco-states in the world.