Husni al-Za'im
Husni al-Za'im | |
|---|---|
| حسني الزعيم | |
| President of Syria | |
| In office 26 June 1949 – 14 August 1949 | |
| Prime Minister | Muhsin al-Barazi |
| Preceded by | Shukri al-Quwatli |
| Succeeded by | Sami Hilmy al-Hinnawi (acting) Hashim al-Atassi |
| Prime Minister of Syria | |
| In office 30 March 1949 – 26 June 1949 | |
| Preceded by | Khalid al-Azm |
| Succeeded by | Muhsin al-Barazi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 May 1897 Aleppo, Aleppo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 14 August 1949 (aged 52) Damascus, Syria |
| Political party | Independent politician SSNP (affiliated) |
| Profession | Statesman, soldier |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | |
| Branch/service | Ottoman Army French Army Syrian Army |
| Years of service | 1917–1949 |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Battles/wars | |
Husni al-Za'im (Arabic: حسني الزعيم Ḥusnī az-Za’īm; 11 May 1897 – 14 August 1949) was a Syrian military officer of Kurdish origins who served as head of state of Syria in 1949. He had been an officer in the Ottoman Army. After France instituted its colonial mandate over Syria after the First World War, he became an officer in the French Army. After Syria's independence in 1946 he was made Chief of Staff, and was ordered to lead the Syrian Army into war with the Israeli Army in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The defeat of the Arab league forces in that war shook Syria and undermined confidence in the country's chaotic parliamentary democracy, allowing him to seize power in 1949. However, his reign as head of state was brief, he was tried and executed in August 1949 by his former coup co-conspirators. Al-Za'im infamously executed Lebanese intellectual Antoun Saadeh in July 1949.