Mohammed Ziad al-Hariri is a former prominent Syrian Army officer. A staunch Arab nationalist, he supported the union between Syria and Egypt in 1958, opposed Syria's secession from it in 1961 and served as the chief leader of the coup d'état that toppled the secessionist government in March 1963. Politically independent from the Nasserists and their Ba'athist rivals, Hariri served as the army's chief of staff following the coup and was briefly defense minister until being dismissed during a wide-scale purge of non-Ba'athists from the military. He retired from political activity soon afterward.
A gathering of delegates for the April triparitite unity talks between Egypt, Syria and Iraq. Hariri is third from left and Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser is second from right
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.
