The 1963 Syrian coup d'état, referred to by the Syrian government as the 8 March Revolution, was the seizure of power in Syria by the military committee of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The planning and the unfolding conspiracy of the Syrian Ba'athist operatives were prompted by the Ba'ath party's seizure of power in Iraq in February 1963.
Military Committee members Salim Hatum (left), Muhammad Umran (center) and Salah Jadid (right) celebrate the coup's success
Syrian society was feudal in nature, and was dominated by landlords and peasants
Aflaq, the leader of the party's civilian-wing, and Jadid, a senior figure in the planning of the coup d'état
Tripartite unity talks among Iraqi Prime Minister Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (left), Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser (center) and Syrian President Lu'ay al-Atassi (right), 16 April 1963. Relations between Nasser and the Syrian Ba'athists deteriorated weeks later after the purge of Nasserists from the officer corps and Alwan's failed coup. Atassi resigned following the events.
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, officially the Syrian Regional Branch, is a neo-Ba'athist organisation founded on 7 April 1947 by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar and followers of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party has ruled Syria continuously since the 1963 Syrian coup d'état which brought the Ba'athists to power. It was first the regional branch of the original Ba'ath Party (1947–1966) before it changed its allegiance to the Syrian-dominated Ba'ath movement (1966–present) following the 1966 split within the original Ba'ath Party. Since their ascent to power in 1963, neo-Ba'athist officers proceeded by stamping out the traditional civilian elites to construct a military dictatorship operating in totalitarian lines; wherein all state agencies, party organisations, public institutions, civil entities, media and health infrastructure are tightly dominated by the army establishment and the Mukhabarat.
Akram al-Hawrani (left) with Michel Aflaq as seen in 1957
Military Committee members Salim Hatum (left), Muhammad Umran (center) and Salah Jadid (right) celebrating after the 1963 coup d'état
Photograph of a meeting of Senior leadership of the Baath Party in 1969 / From left to right: Interior Minister Mohammad Rabah al-Tawil, Chief of Staff General Mustafa Tlass, Commander of the Golan Front Ahmad al-Meer, and the Syrian strongman Salah Jadid
Photo of Syrian military general Hafez al-Assad during the 1970 coup