Amin al-Hafiz

Infobox_President
name = Amin al-Hafiz
أمين الحافظ


imagesize =
order = President of Syria (Military rule)
term_start = July 27 1963
term_end = February 23 1966
predecessor = Luai al-Atassi
successor = Nureddin al-Atassi
office3 = Prime Minister of Syria
term_start3 = November 12, 1963
term_end3 = May 13, 1964
predecessor3 = Salah al-Din Bitar
successor3 = Salah al-Din Bitar
term_start4 = October 4, 1964
term_end4 = September 23, 1965
predecessor4 = Salah al-Din Bitar
successor4 = Yusuf Zuaiyin
birth_date = 1911
birth_place = Damascus, Syria
death_date =
death_place =
spouse =
party = Baath Party
religion =
Gen. Amin al-Hafiz (or Hafez; born 1911) ( _ar. أمين الحافظ) was a Syrian politician, military officer and a member of the Ba'th Party.

Career

Rise to power

Hafiz led a coup d'etat against the government of Syria in 1963, in the turbulent years after the break-up of the United Arab Republic (UAR), installing the National Council of the Revolutionary Command (NCRC) at the head of government. The NCRC was dominated by the Syrian branch of the radical, pan-Arab Ba'ath Party, and Hafiz became its President. As President, he instituted socialist reforms and oriented his country towards the Eastern Bloc.

Downfall

On February 23, 1966, he was overthrown by a radical Ba'athist faction headed by Chief of Staff Salah Jadid. The coup sprung out of factional rivalry between Jadid's "regionalist" ("qutri") camp of the Ba'ath Party, which promoted ambitions for a Greater Syria and the more traditionally pan-Arab Hafiz faction, called the "nationalist" ("qawmi") faction [ [http://www.ndu.edu/library/n3/SSP-86-3F-02.pdf] Dead link|date=August 2008] . Jadid's supporters were also seen as more radically left-wing. But the coup was also supported and led by officers from Syria's religious minorities, especially the Alawite Muslims and the Druze, whereas Hafiz belonged to the majority Sunni population. Alawis have ruled Syria ever since.

Exile and return

After the coup, Hafiz lived in exile until 2005, when he was quietly permitted to return to Syria [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/17/AR2005051701426_pf.html Syria Heralds Reforms, But Many Have Doubts ] ] .

References