Syria

As early as about 1800 BC King Shamshi-Adad I of Assyria is thought to have established his capital, Shubat Enlil, at present-day Tell Leilan in the extreme northeast of Syria. The kingdom was later conquered by Hammurabi of Babylonia, and the region was long afterward influenced principally by Egypt and Babylon. Parts of the region were conquered successively by the Egyptians and the Hittites, and, in the 8th century BC, by Assyria. In the 6th century BC the region passed first to the Chaldeans and then to the Persians (538 BC). Alexander the Great made it a part of his empire in 333 and 332 BC, and at the close of the 4th century BC it was appropriated by Seleucus I, one of Alexander's generals, who founded Antioch as the capital. During the 3rd century BC the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids contended for the possession of lower Syria and Palestine. Both areas, and much of western Asia, passed to the Seleucids, whose realm became known as the kingdom of Syria. In 64 BC Syria was made a Roman province. After the far-flung Roman dominions were divided into two parts in AD 395, the Western Roman Empire with its capital at Rome and the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire with its capital at Constantinople, Syria remained a Byzantine province for approximately 240 years. It was conquered in 636 by the Arabs and was quickly absorbed into their rapidly expanding Islamic empire. In 661 Damascus became the seat of the powerful Umayyad caliphs. At that time it was one of the most important and splendid cities of the Muslim world. Later it was supplanted by Baghdad in present-day Iraq. In 1099 the Crusaders incorporated part of the region into the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem and part into the principality of Antioch. In a subsequent campaign (1174-1187), Saladin, sultan of Egypt, took Syria and overthrew the kingdom of Jerusalem. The many wars centering on Syria impoverished the land and its people; its ruin was completed by a Mongol invasion in 1260. Turkish Rule The Ottoman Turks incorporated the region into their empire in 1516, and it remained in their possession for the next four centuries. The commercial importance of the territory as the site of overland routes to eastern Asia was greatly reduced with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. Strong nationalist movements had taken hold in many parts of the Ottoman Empire during the early years of the 20th century. When World War I (1914-1918) broke out and Turkey took the side of the Central Powers, the Allies, in order to enlist support against Turkey, held out to the Arabs the hope of postwar independence. In January 1916, by the terms of letters between the British government and Husein ibn Ali, grand sharif of Mecca, the latter promised Arab participation in the war on the Allied side in return for a British guarantee of independence for all Arab lands south of a line roughly corresponding to the northern frontiers of present-day Syria and Iraq. In May of the same year, however, Great Britain and France secretly concluded a separate accord, known as the Sykes-Picot agreement, by which most of the Arab lands under Turkish rule were to be divided into British and French spheres of influence. The areas now comprising Syria and Lebanon were assigned to France; and those comprising Israel and Jordan were assigned to Great Britain. The French Mandate The Arabs, in alliance with the British and French, fought the Turks for the rest of the war and participated in the capture of Damascus in 1918. In 1919 British forces withdrew from the area assigned to France, leaving French troops in control. The following year France, with the understanding that Syria and Lebanon were to become independent within a reasonably short time, was granted a mandate over them by the League of Nations. Anti-Turkish sentiment in Syria soon developed into anti-French sentiment and more determined nationalism. The French quelled one armed rebellion in 1920 and a second and better organized uprising from 1925 to 1927. In 1938, soon after French and Syrian leaders had reached agreement on a treaty providing for substantial Syrian independence, the French government refused to ratify the treaty, partly because France regarded control of the area as vital to its military position. The following year France ceded to Turkey the former Turkish administrative district (sanjak) of Alexandretta (present-day Iskenderun), in which the ancient Syrian capital of Antioch is located. These events raised Syrian hostility toward France to a high pitch. Many prominent political figures in Syria declared their loyalty to France and the Allies, nevertheless, when World War II broke out in 1939. After the surrender of France to Germany in 1940, Syria came under the control of the Vichy government. British and Free French forces, however, invaded and subdued Syria in 1941. Later in the same year, the Free French government formally recognized the independence of Syria but continued to occupy the country. With the elections in 1943, a new government was formed under the presidency of the Syrian nationalist Shukri al-Kuwatli, one of the leaders of the 1925 to 1927 uprising against the French. After the end of World War II in 1945, France persisted in trying to exercise influence over Syria. Resultant anti-French uprisings subsided only after the British military intervention on the side of the French and the withdrawal of all French troops and administrative personnel. In 1946 the British troops left Syria. Syria became a charter member of the United Nations (UN) in 1945. The Republic The postwar period was marked by serious political instability. In 1944 a "Greater Syria" movement had been initiated to found a Syrian Arab state that would include Lebanon, Syria, and present-day Jordan and Israel. Many Syrian opponents of the movement feared the absorption of Syria into a larger Arab state and the consequent loss of Syrian national identity. The movement nevertheless gave impetus to Syrian adherence to the Arab League, which was formed primarily to prevent the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Syrian forces participated in the 1948 war between Arab forces and the newly established state of Israel. An armistice was concluded in July of the same year. On March 30, 1949, a military junta led by General Husni al-Zaim, a member of the Kurdish minority, seized power. Essentially a dictatorship and highly unpopular, the new regime was overthrown in August by another military junta, and Zaim was executed. General elections were held in November for a constituent assembly. A third coup d'état, led by Colonel Adib al-Shishakli, a former chief of police and head of security, occurred in December. The constituent assembly promulgated a new constitution in September 1950 and, assuming responsibility as the chamber of deputies, elected the provisional chief of state Hashim al-Atasi, an elderly and respected politician, to the presidency. Syrian and Israeli frontier forces clashed on numerous occasions in the spring of 1951. The hostilities, which stemmed from Syrian opposition to an Israeli drainage project in the demilitarized zone between the two countries, ceased on May 15, after intercession by the United Nations Security Council. Successive governmental crises during 1951 culminated, on November 29, in another coup d'état engineered by Shishakli. President Atasi resigned shortly thereafter; and Shishakli and his associates formed a government. Shishakli promulgated a new constitution in 1953. He severely restricted civil liberties and ruled the country as a military dictator until March 1954, when he was ousted by another military group. Shishakli's successors reinstated Atasi as president, reconvened the 1949 chamber of deputies, and restored the constitution of 1950. After 1954 Syria appeared increasingly anti-Western and pro-Soviet. The government protested vigorously in 1955 against the creation of the Baghdad Pact, a defensive alliance formed in that year by Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Great Britain. In July 1956 the Syrian chamber of deputies formally established a committee to negotiate the terms of a possible federation with Egypt. The attacks on Egypt in October and November 1956 by Israel, Great Britain, and France intensified the growing Syrian resentment toward the West. Syria denounced the Eisenhower Doctrine, promulgated in January 1957 to combat potential Communist aggression in the Middle East. In September, Syria accused Turkey of massing troops on the Syrian-Turkish border with the intent of executing a U.S.-backed attack on Syria. The USSR supported the Syrian charge, and the matter was brought before the UN General Assembly in October. The Syrian complaint was withdrawn, however, by consent of all the parties concerned, before any UN action was taken. Throughout 1957 Syria accepted increasing aid from the USSR. In October, the USSR agreed to provide aid to Syria, over a period of 12 years, for the construction of many large-scale development projects. Union with Egypt On February 21, 1958, a plebiscite held in Syria and Egypt gave nearly unanimous approval to the federation of the two countries as the United Arab Republic (UAR), with Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt as president. The following month Nasser dissolved all Syrian political parties, including the Communist Party, and dismissed pro-Soviet army officers. Under a system of land reform introduced in September, individual holdings were limited to 80 hectares (200 acres) of irrigated and 300 hectares (750 acres) of unirrigated land. Separate ministries for Syria and Egypt were abolished on October 7 in favor of central ministries in Cairo. The first distributions of confiscated land occurred in Syria on February 23, 1959. Elections for local councils, held on July 8, resulted in a setback for socialists in Syria. On March 18, 1960, Nasser appointed several Syrians to his cabinet in a move to strengthen his hold on the country. The National Union, the single legal party of the UAR, held its first congress in Cairo during July. A further step toward unification, taken on August 16, 1961, was the establishment of a single UAR cabinet. Meanwhile, a vigorous policy of nationalization, including steamship lines and banking and insurance firms, intensified conservative opposition to the UAR. Army units seized Damascus on September 28 and the following day proclaimed the renewed independence of Syria. Nasser decided not to resist the new regime. Militant Governments A provisional constitution was approved in a referendum early in December 1961, and a new national government was established. On March 8, 1963, this government was overthrown in a bloodless military coup, and a national council of a revolutionary command assumed control. Major General Amin el-Hafez, a former military attaché in Argentina, became chairman of the national council. In May 1964 the national council was replaced by a presidency council of three civilian and two military members vested with full executive powers. Tensions within the ruling Baath Party, especially the long-standing hostility between its older civilian members and the extreme leftists among the young military officers, mounted steadily in 1964 and throughout 1965. In February 1966 the radicals seized power, placed several longtime Baathist leaders under arrest, and installed Nur ad-Din al-Atasi, a former deputy prime minister, as head of state. In July and September 1966 two abortive attempts to overthrow the regime were followed by extensive purges in the army and the government. On November 4, 1966, Syria and Egypt entered into a defense agreement directed against Israel. This move was in part a response to increasing tension on the Syrian-Israeli border. During 1966 and early 1967 the border was repeatedly violated by Syrian-based guerrilla attacks and Israeli reprisals. Border incidents were an important catalyst in the chain of events leading to the outbreak of the Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab nations in 1967. During the conflict Israeli forces overran the Syrian positions on the Golan Heights, advanced rapidly, and occupied Al Qunaytirah, only 65 km (40 mi) from Damascus. On June 10 the United Nations cease-fire proposal was accepted, and observers were placed between Israeli and Syrian forces. Charging Great Britain and the United States with active support of Israel, Syria broke relations with both countries on June 6. In November 1970 General Hafez al-Assad seized power. Assad became president in March 1971; he formed a new cabinet in December 1972, giving the Baathists more than half the posts and dividing the rest among the other parties. Like Assad, many of the new members of the government belonged to the Alawite sect of Islam, which comprises about 11 percent of Syria's population. During the Yom Kippur War in October 1973, Syrian troops attacked Israel on the Golan Heights, while Egypt struck along the Suez Canal. After early Syrian gains, Israel drove the Syrian forces off the Golan Heights and advanced to within 32 km (20 mi) of Damascus. Syria belatedly agreed to a UN-sponsored cease-fire accepted by the other warring nations, but it refused to discuss prisoner exchanges. After mediation by United States Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, Syria and Israel signed a disengagement agreement in May 1974; the accord provided for a neutral zone, patrolled by UN forces, and for the repatriation of prisoners of war. In June, Syria and the United States resumed diplomatic relations, severed in 1967. As it became clear in 1975 that Egypt would pursue a bilateral agreement with Israel, Syria forged closer ties with Jordan. The following year, Syria intervened in the Lebanese civil war and subsequently became mired in the continuing conflict. In 1980 Syria signed a 20-year treaty of friendship and cooperation with the USSR. Israel effectively annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 when it claimed legal and political authority in the region. Syrian and Israeli forces clashed the following year when Israel invaded Lebanon. Domestically, Assad's regime was shaken by growing civil disturbances. An extremist group called the Muslim Brotherhood was accused of several assassinations. In 1982 government troops suppressed a full-scale rebellion by the brotherhood in and around Hamah, reducing much of the city to rubble. In 1986 Great Britain broke diplomatic relations with Syria and the United States imposed sanctions, both accusing Syria of sponsoring international terrorism. Syria has been considered an occupying force within Lebanon since the mid-1970s, when it sent thousands of troops there. In February 1987 Syria ordered a force of 7000 into the Muslim sector of Beirut (Bayrut) in an attempt to restore order between warring factions. In October 1990 a Syrian-led assault crushed resistance in East Beirut, reuniting the Lebanese capital. Although most of the fighting in Lebanon ended in 1990, and Syrian and Lebanese forces signed a friendship treaty in May 1991 calling for mutual cooperation, Syrian forces remained in the country. As of mid-1996 Syria still had an estimated 35,000 or more troops stationed in Lebanon and continued to exercise significant control over Lebanese politics. Syria also has had a long and troubled history with neighboring Iraq. Syria was one of the few Arab nations to support Iran during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). After Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Syria sent troops to Saudi Arabia and later joined the anti-Iraq coalition in the Persian Gulf War. Syria's participation in the multinational coalition helped improve its relations with both the United States and Great Britain. In October 1991 Syria and several other Arab nations entered into U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations with Israel. Syria's chief concern was ownership of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, but little progress was made on this subject through mid-1996, in part because Israel was involved in more immediate negotiations with its longtime enemy the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In September 1993 Israel and the PLO signed a landmark peace accord. Assad expressed serious reservations about the agreement, and regarded the secret negotiations that had produced it as having weakened the united Arab position. In January 1994 Assad met with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Geneva, Switzerland, regarding peace negotiations with Israel. This was his first such meeting with a U.S. leader since 1977. As of 1995, the United States had not yet lifted restrictions on economic aid and exports to Syria, because it still considered Syria a nation that encouraged terrorism. The future stability of Syrian politics was thrown into question when President Assad's eldest son, Basel al-Assad was killed in a car crash on January 21, 1994. Basel had been widely regarded as the apparent heir to the presidency. Other domestic developments include the release of three prominent members of the Baath Party in February 1994, imprisoned since 1970 for political opposition. In the same month, Syrian authorities reportedly granted exit visas to all of the approximately 1000 Jews remaining in the country, in line with a pledge made to the United States in December 1993.