PNN – The reign of Assad (father and son) constitutes more than half of the entire history of new Syria, and like any other ruler, it has many strengths and weaknesses.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, from February 1971, when “Hafiz Assad” took over the presidency of Syria, until December 2024, when “Bashar Assad” was removed, Assad father and son ruled Syria for nearly 54 years. The noteworthy point is that both their arrival and their departure were due to the military campaign.
In this report, we will briefly review the most important aspects and effects of the governance of these people.
The end of the period of coups!
After the First World War and the collapse of the Ottoman Caliphate, the country of Syria was established in 1920 under the tutelage of France. From that time until 1946 and the final withdrawal of France and the independence of Syria, this country repeatedly went to the brink of collapse, changing the administrative structure, dividing into parts (Lebanon and Iskenderun), etc.
Since the establishment of “Independent Syria” in 1946, this country witnessed turmoil, foreign wars, internal coups, and even “foreign alliances” and in 1948, with the establishment of the illegitimate Zionist regime in occupied Palestine, the first foreign military conflicts took place. In 1967, Syria experienced its second major foreign war, and during all these years, it had a dispute with Turkey over the return of “Iskenderun”, which also led to scattered military conflicts.
In 1949, the first coup took place, the train of coups started after that, and until 1963, a total of seven military coups caused the government to be dismantled! To these, the list of failed and discovered coups should be added, the number of which is in double digits, that is, on average, a successful coup occurred once every 30 months, and at least 3 coups failed or were neutralized once every 5 years!
In February 1958, after the agreement between “Shukri al-Qutli” and “Gamal Abdel Nasser”, the presidents of Syria and Egypt at the time, the single country “United Arab Republic” was established, and in this way, the country of Syria basically disappeared for a while! The capital of the new country was Cairo and its president was Gamal Abdel Nasser. In 1960, the parliament of the two countries was also dissolved and the united parliament started working in Cairo, finally in 1961 another coup occurred in Damascus and the petition of the idea of ​​the United Arab Republic was complicated!
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The above cases were stated in order to say that Syria basically lacked political stability before the rule of the Assad family, of course, during the same period, democracy was established and the media and parties with different ideologies and discourses competed with each other; But this same democracy also caused chaos and led to numerous military coups against the political system!
But Syria has a completely different situation after the rule of the Assad family, even after the death of Hafez Assad, there was no news of a coup d’état, and “political stability” was maintained in Damascus even in the most difficult passes and bottlenecks.
The true independence of Syria
The second point is the real independence of Syria during the rule of Assad father and son. In 1956, after the cooperation agreement with the Soviet Union, Syria became a member of the Eastern Bloc; But during the period of Hafez Assad, he was able to gradually restore his independence, which was manifested during their confrontation with Baghdad after Saddam’s coup, the support of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the midst of the imposed war, the independent will of Damascus in the face of the Zionist regime in Lebanon, etc.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was no disruption in the governance structure and even the foreign policy of Syria; Because Syria had moved towards independence during the two decades of Hafez Assad’s rule. At the beginning of 1991 and the last months of the Soviet Union, Syria was one of the important sides of the First Persian Gulf War and the liberation of Kuwait. In the same year 1991, he participated as an observer in the joint military security agreement of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council and…
Liberation of Quneitra
The third important point that should be considered in this context is the experience of the Tashrin war in 1973, which led to the liberation of Quneitra. In the entire history of modern Syria, the Battle of Tishrin is the only successful experience of the Syrian government, in which Damascus was able to free a part of its territory from the occupation of a foreign enemy.
It is interesting and instructive that just hours after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the Zionist invaders entered this area again.
Ups and downs of presence in Lebanon
The ups and downs of presence in Lebanon is another feature of the rule of Assad father and son. The country of Lebanon was a part of the territory of Syria, which was given autonomy to Lebanon during the period of the creation of autonomous regions or so-called “states” by France. Shortly afterwards, with the support of France, the Christians of Lebanon demanded independence and separation from Syria, and the new country of Lebanon was established.
Since then, the social bond between Lebanon and Syria continued, and even in some cases Syrian presidents were assassinated in Lebanon and…! But in terms of security and military, Syria and Lebanon were separated from each other. During the period of Assad father and son, this relationship was redefined in a different way so as not to violate the independence of Lebanon; but on the other hand, the security and military ties between the two countries should be maintained.
The type of encounter with the regime, the flow of compromise and resistance
Another important feature of this period should be considered the type of confrontation between Syria and the Assad regime with the Zionist regime, the process of compromise and resistance. Against the Zionist regime, it must be said that Damascus under the leadership of Hafez Assad was the first Arab country that was able to taste the defeat of the Zionists, which finally showed itself in the ceasefire agreement of 1973 and the retreat of the Zionists from Quneitra.
Syria was considered the most important barrier against the process of reconciliation. After King Hussein of Jordan’s agreement with the Zionist regime in Wadi Araba, the relations between Amman and Damascus were overshadowed, Syria never came under these pressures in this regard and hosted different spectrums of Palestinian resistance groups. In the last years of the previous century and the beginning of the new century, in two periods, the United States tried hard to bring Syria to normalization and compromise with the Zionist regime, even with the promise of returning the Golan; but neither Asad the father nor Asad the son succumbed to these pressures.
Summary
In the end, it should be said that the 54-year rule of the Assad family over Syria ended today. But without a doubt, these 54 years constitute an important part of Syria’s history. The era of Assad’s rule (father and son) constitutes more than half of the entire history of new Syria, and like any other ruler, it has many strengths and weaknesses. Will the Syrian people remember this era as “nostalgia”?
Experience has shown that the Syrian people value their history and culture very much, and the “sense of national pride” among them is very strong and rooted. Will this feeling be strengthened in the new era?