Syria’s long-ruling Baath get together faces collapse

A Syrian fighter, left, stands guard as members of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad’s military step on his portrait as an indication of disdain, lining up earlier than they register their names with Syrian rebels as a part of an “identification and reconciliation course of” in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024.
| Photograph Credit score: AP

A number of days after insurgents in Syria overthrew President Bashar Assad, his ruling Baath get together introduced it was freezing its actions, marking a shocking change in fortunes for the political group that had dominated for greater than six a long time.

Many members of the get together’s management have gone into hiding and a few have fled the nation. In a symbolic transfer, Syria’s new rulers have turned the previous get together headquarters in Damascus into a middle the place former members of the military and safety forces line as much as register their names and hand over their weapons.

Calls are on the rise to formally dissolve the Arab Socialist Baath Celebration that had dominated Syria since 1963.

Many Syrians — together with former get together members — say its rule broken relations with different Arab international locations and aided within the unfold of corruption that introduced the war-torn nation to its knees.

“The get together mustn’t solely be dissolved, it ought to go to hell,” mentioned Mohammed Hussein Ali, 64, who labored for a state oil firm and was a celebration member for many years till he stop at the beginning of Syria’s anti-government rebellion in 2011 that was civil struggle. He by no means left the nation and mentioned he’s glad the Baath rule is over.

An official with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the group that led the rebel offensive that overthrew Assad, mentioned no official determination has been made on what to do with the Baath get together.

The official, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of he was not approved to talk publicly concerning the matter, famous that HTS chief Ahmad al-Sharaa has mentioned that officers who dedicated crimes towards the Syrian individuals over the previous a long time might be dropped at justice and hinted that they embrace get together members.

The Baath get together, whose goal was to unify Arab states in a single nation, was based by two Syrian Arab nationalists, Michel Aflaq and Salaheddine Bitar, in 1947 and at one level dominated two Arab international locations, Iraq and Syria.

A rivalry developed between the Syrian department underneath Assad and his late father, Hafez, and the one in Iraq underneath Saddam Hussein, who was faraway from energy by a U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

In Syria, the Baath get together turned inextricably related to the Assad household, which took energy in 1970. For many years, the household used the get together and its pan-Arab ideology to manage the nation. Many senior army jobs had been held by family members’s minority Alawite sect, and get together membership was used as a canopy to present it a nationalist relatively than a sectarian nature.

A former soldier and decades-long Baath get together member who got here to get together headquarters to chop his army ties, Abdul-Rahman Ali, mentioned he had no concept it was based by Aflaq and Bitar. He had at all times thought that Hafez Assad was the founder.

“I’m glad. Now we have been liberated from worry,” mentioned Ali, 43. “Even the partitions had ears. We did not dare specific opinions with anybody.” He was referring to the dreaded safety and intelligence companies that detained and tortured individuals who expressed criticism of Assad or authorities officers.

Many Syrians had been required to hitch the Baath Vanguards, the get together’s youth department, whereas in elementary faculty, the place Arab nationalist and socialist ideology was emphasised.

It was tough for individuals who weren’t get together members to get authorities jobs or be a part of the military or the safety and intelligence companies.

In 2012, a yr after Syria’s rebellion started, a paragraph of the structure stating that the Baath get together was the chief of the nation and society was abolished, in a transfer aimed to appease the general public’s demand for political reforms. In follow, nonetheless, the get together remained in management, with members holding majority seats in parliament and authorities.

One other former soldier, who gave solely his first title, Ghadir, out of worry of reprisals as a member of the Alawite sect, mentioned he got here from a poor household and joined the get together so he may enter the army for a steady revenue.

“You might not take any job if you weren’t a Baathist,” he mentioned.

Whereas few are mourning the get together’s fall in Syria, some are involved that the Sunni majority that now controls the nation may perform a purge much like the one in Iraq after Saddam’s fall.

A de-Baathification committee was fashioned in Iraq and its essential job was purging Saddam loyalists from authorities and army establishments. The Sunni minority thought-about it a way of sectarian score-settling by Iraq’s Shiite majority. The Sunni resentment and disenfranchisement that adopted helped to drive the rise of extremist teams within the nation together with al-Qaida and the Islamic State in Iraq.

In Syria, a Baath get together assertion issued three days after Assad’s fall referred to as on all members at hand their weapons and public vehicles to the brand new authorities.

On Dec. 24, get together member and former military colonel Mohammed Merhi was amongst a whole lot who lined up on the former get together headquarters and handed over weapons.

Merhi mentioned the Baath get together ought to be given one other alternative as a result of its ideas are good however had been exploited over a long time. However he mentioned he would possibly wish to be a part of one other get together if Syria turns into a multiparty democracy sooner or later.

He handed over his Soviet Makarov pistol and obtained a doc saying he can now transfer freely within the nation after reconciling with the brand new authorities.

“I wish to develop into once more a standard Syrian citizen and work to construct a brand new Syria,” he mentioned. (AP) NSA NSA