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Syria, a country study
Federal Research Division
Library of Congress
Edited by
Thomas Collelo
Research Completed April 1987
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*Table of Contents
* Foreword
* Acknowledgments
* Preface
* Country Profile
Country
Geography
Society
Economy
Transportation and Communications
Government and Politics
National Security
* Introduction
* Chapter 1. Historical Setting
**Ancient Syria
**Muslim Empires
Umayyad Caliphate
Succeeding Caliphates and Kingdoms
Ottoman Empire
**World War I and Arab Nationalism
**The French Mandate
**World War II and Independence
**After Independence
Shishakli Dictatorship
Radical Political Influence
United Arab Republic
Coups and Countercoups, 1961-70
Neo-Baath Dominance, 1963-66
The Baath Redirections of 1966 and 1970
**The Assad Era
* Chapter 2. The Society and Its Environment
**Geography and Population
Land, Water, and Climate
Population
Density, Distribution, and Settlement
Vital Statistics
**The Peoples
Arabs
Kurds
Armenians
Others
**Structure of Society
Towns
Villages
Tribes
**The Individual, the Family and the Sexes
**Religious Life
Islam
Sunnis
Shia
Ismailis
Alawis
Druzes
Christianity
**Other Minorities
Jews
Yazidis
**Eduation
**Health
* Chapter 3. The Economy
**Growth and Strucutre of the Economy
**Labor Force
**Role of Government
Budget
Revenues
Expenditures
Development Planning
**Agriculture
Water Resources
Land Use
Land Reform
Role of Government in Agriculture
Cropping and Production
Animal Products
Agricultural Potential
**Industry
Energy and Natural Resources
Electric Power
Industrial Development Policy
**Foreign Trade
Imports
Exports
**Balance of Payments
**Banking and Monetary Policy
**Transportation, Telecommunications, and Construction
**Period of Economic Retrenchment, 1986-90
* Chapter 4. Government and Politics
**Constitutional Framework
**Government
The President and the Cabinet
The People's Council
The Judiciary
Local Administration
**Political Dynamics
Background
The Baath Party Apparatus
The Syrian Communist Party
The Power Elite
Post-1982 Political Developments
**Political Orientations
Attitudes Toward Politics, Political Parties, and Government
Concepts of Nationalism, Unity, and the Arab Nation
Attitudes Toward Foreign Ideologies and Systems
**Foreign Policy
Regional Foreign Relations
Israel
Lebanon
Jordan
The Palestinians
Iran and Iraq
Syrian-United States Relations
Syrian-Soviet Relations
* Chapter 5. National Security
**National Security Doctrine and Concerns
**Syria and the Middle East Conflict
Historical Background
Development of the Syrian Military
Syrian-Israeli Hostility
Syria and the Lebanese Crisis, 1975-87
Syrian-Iraqi Hostility
Syrian-Palestinian Tensions
Syrian-Jordanian Tensions
Syrian-Turkish Tensions
**Anti-Regime Opposition Movements
Ideologically Based Opposition Movements
Ethnic and Religious Opposition Movements
**The Regular Armed Forces
Size, Equipment, Command Structure and Organization
Army
Navy
Air Force
Manpower, Recruitment, and Conscription
Military Training
Conditions of Service, Morale, and Military Justice
Uniforms and Rank Insignia
Foreign Influences in the Development of the Armed Forces
Special and Irregular Armed Forces
Defense Companies (Saraya ad Difa)
Republican Guard
As Saiqa
**Sponsorship of Terrorism
**The Armed Forces and Society
**Civil Police and Internal Security Apparatus
**Crime and Punishment
* Bibliography
* Glossary
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*Foreword
This volume is one in a continuing series of books prepared by the Federal
Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area
Handbook Program sponsored by the Department of the Army. The last two pages of
this book list the other published studies.
Most books in the series deal with a particular foreign country, describing and
analyzing its political, economic, social, and national security systems and
institutions, and examining the interrelationships of those systems and the ways
they are shaped by cultural factors. The authors seek to provide a basic
understanding of the observed society, striving for a dynamic rather than a
static portrayal. Particular attention is devoted to the people who make up the
society, their origins, dominant beliefs and values, their common interests and
the issues on which they are divided, the nature and extent of their involvement
with national institutions, and their attitudes toward each other and toward
their social system and political order.
The books represent the analysis of the authors and should not be construed as
an expression of an official United States government position, policy, or
decision. The authors have sought to adhere to accepted standards of scholarly
objectivity. Corrections, additions, and suggestions for changes from readers
will be welcomed for use in future editions.
Louis R. Mortimer
Chief
Federal Research Division
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C. 20540-5220
Data as of April 1987
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*Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of the following individuals
who wrote the 1978 edition of Syria: A Country Study: Larraine Newhouse Carter,
"Historical Setting;" Richard F. Nyrop,"The Society and Its Environment;" Darrel
R. Eglin, "The Economy;" R.S. Shinn, "Government and Politics;" and James D.
Rudolph, National Security." Their work provided the organization and structure
of the present volume, as well as substantial portions of the text.
The authors are grateful to individuals in various government agencies and
private institutions who gave of their time, research materials, and expertise
to the production of this book. The authors also wish to thank members of the
Federal Research Division staff who contributed directly to the preparation of
the manuscript. These people include Helen C. Metz, the substantive reviewer of
all the textual material; Richard F. Nyrop, who reviewed all drafts and served
as liasion with sponsoring agencies; and Martha E. Hopkins, who edited the
manuscript and managed production. Also involved in preparing the text were
editorial assistants Barbara Edgerton, Monica Shimmin, and Izella Watson, Andrea
Merrill, who performed the final prepublication editorial review, and Editorial
Experts, which compiled the index. Diann Johnson, of the Library of Congress
Composing Unit, prepared the camera-ready copy under the supervision of Peggy
Pixley.
Invaluable graphics support was provided by David P. Cabitto, assisted by Sandra
K. Cotugno and Kimberly A. Lord. Susan M. Lender reviewed the map drafts, and
Harriet R. Blood prepared the final maps. Special thanks are owed to Paulette A.
Marshall, who designed the cover artwork and the illustrations on the title page
of each chapter.
The authors would like to thank several individuals who provided research and
operational support. Sisto M. Flores supplied information on ranks and insignia;
Patricia A. Rigsbee assisted in obtaining economic data; Jonathan Tetzlaff was
instrumental in the planning and selecting the word-processing system; and
Stephen Cranton installed the equipment and trained the authors to use it.
Finally, the authors acknowledge the generosity of the many individuals and
public and private agencies who allowed their photographs to be used in this
study. We are indebted especially to those persons who contributed original work
not previously published.
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*Preface
Like its predecessor, this study is an attempt to treat in a concise and
objective manner the dominant social, political, economic, and military aspects
of contemporary Syrian society. Sources of information included scholarly
journals and monographs, official reports of governments and international
organizations, foreign and domestic newspapers, and numerous periodicals.
Relatively up-to-date economic data were available from official Syrian sources,
but, in general, this information conflicted with that in other sources. Chapter
bibliographies appear at the end of the book; brief comments on some of the more
valuable sources suggested as possible further reading appear at the end of each
chapter. Measurements are given in the metric system; a conversion table is
provided to assist those readers who are unfamiliar with metric measurements
(see table 1, Appendix). A glossary is also included.
The transliteration of Arabic words and phrases follows a modified version of
the system adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names and the
Permanent Committee on Geographic Names for British Official Use, known as the
BGN/PCGN system. The modification is a significant one, however, in that
diacritical markings and hyphens have been omitted. Moreover, some geographical
locations, such as the cities of Aleppo, Damascus, Homs, and Latakia, are so
well known by those conventional names that their formal names--Halab, Dimashq,
Hims, and Al Ladhiqiyah, respectively, are not used, although the latter names
are used for the provinces (see fig. 1).
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*Country Profile
Formal Name: Syrian Arab Republic.
Short Form: Syria.
Term for Citizens: Syrians.
Capital: Damascus.
Data as of April 1987
Geography
Size: About 185,180 square kilometers.
Topography: Country consists of coastal zone divided by narrow double mountain
range from large eastern region that includes various mountain ranges, large
desert regions, and Euphrates River basin.
Society
Population: Approximately 10.6 million in 1986, including about 250,000
Palestinian refugees. Growth rate estimated at about 3.7 percent per year, one
of the world's highest.
Education: Nearly full enrollment in compulsory tuition-free public schools at
primary level. School system consists of six years of primary, three years of
lower secondary, and three years of upper secondary education. Four major
universities and various teacher-training and vocational institutes, all
government owned and operated. Adult literacy rate estimated at over 60 percent.
Health: Gastrointestinal ailments, trachoma, and infectious diseases prevalent;
considerable progress has been made in control of malaria. Severe shortage of
medical and paramedical personnel.
Languages: Official language, Arabic, mother tongue of about 90 percent of
population, understood by most others. Kurdish (Kirmanji), Armenian, Turkic, and
Syriac spoken by minorities; French and English spoken by educated elites in
major urban areas.
Religion: Estimated 85 percent of population adheres to some form of Islam.
About 13 to 15 percent of Muslims are Alawis (see Glossary); less than 1
percent, Shias (see Glossary); and remainder, Sunnis (see Glossary). About 10
percent of population observes some form of Christianity, and about 3 percent
are Druzes (see Glossary). Small numbers of Jews, Yazidis, and others.
Data as of April 1987
Economy
Gross Domestic Product (GDP): LS75.1 billion (for value of the Syrian pound--see
Glossary) in 1984 (LS7,600 per capita). Real growth rate of GDP 6.3 percent a
year from 1953 to 1976, but averaged 9.7 percent a year throughout 1970s. Real
growth peaked at 10.2 percent in 1981 but declined sharply to 3.2 percent in
1982 and -2.1 percent in 1984 as falling world oil prices, drought, and physical
and financial constraints slowed economic growth.
Agriculture: Historically most important source of employment. Agriculture's
share of labor force declined from 53 percent in 1965 to 30 percent in 1984 as
service and commercial sectors dominated economy. Agriculture's contribution to
GDP fell from 30 percent in 1963 to 17.7 percent in 1985. Irrigated area less
than 10 percent of that cultivated. Sharp swings in production because of
differences in rainfall. Main products: cotton, wheat, and barley. Farming
primarily by private sector.
Industry: Growth rate of industrial sector 8.3 percent between 1953 and
mid-1970s. Manufacturing (including extractive industries) contributed 22.4
percent of GDP in 1976 but fell to 13.4 in 1984. Crude oil production small by
world standards but important to industrial growth and development. Discovery of
high-quality oil at Dayr az Zawr in mid-1980s gives hope for economic recovery
in 1990s. New emphasis on phosphate production in mid-1980s. Industry based on
chemicals, cement, food processing, and textiles. Most large-scale industry
owned by state.
Imports: LS16.2 billion in 1984. Public sector accounted for 79 percent of
imports in 1984. Major imports: oil, machinery, metal products, materials for
processing, and foods.
Exports: LS7.4 billion in 1984. Major exports: crude oil, cotton, and
phosphates.
Major Trade Areas: Eastern Europe, Soviet Union, Western Europe, Arab states,
and Iran.
Balance of Payments: Heavily dependent on foreign economic credits and grant aid
from Arab states and Iran.
Exchange Rates: Official (used generally for government imports) LS3.92 to US$1
in early 1987. Parallel (used for commercial deals, but gradually being replaced
by tourist rate) LS5.40 to US$1. Tourist (previously available only to visitors,
in 1987 applied to many commercial and diplomatic transactions) LS9.75 to US$1.
"Neighboring country" (exchange rate of Syrian pound in Jordanian and Lebanese
markets and inside Syria; also applied to private sector imports under barter
trade agreements) LS21.50 to US$1 (August 1986).
Transportation and Communications
Roads: In 1985 over 25,000 kilometers of roads, 18,000 of which were paved. Main
areas linked, but network required continuous and intensive development.
Railroads: 2,013 kilometers in 1984. Standard gauge (1,686 kilometers) crossed
northern part of country from coast to Iraq border in northeast (via Aleppo).
Narrow gauge in southwest served Damascus with tracks into Lebanon and Jordan.
Ports: Tartus most important--8.8 million tons of cargo in 1984. Also served as
country's crude oil export terminal. Latakia handled 1.7 million tons of cargo
in 1984. Baniyas was oil port and site of large refinery.
Pipelines: Two international crude-oil pipelines, one from Iraq and one from
Saudi Arabia, both terminating in Lebanon. Domestic crude-oil pipeline from oil
fields in northeast to port of Tartus via Homs (refinery). Three lines for
petroleum products from Homs refinery to Damascus, Aleppo, and Latakia.
Communications: Good domestic and international telecommunications service.
Government and Politics
Government: Governmental system based on Permanent Constitution of March 13,
1973. Theoretically, power divided into executive, legislative, and judicial
spheres, but all institutions overshadowed by preeminence of president
(reelected February 10, 1985, in national referendum for seven-year term), who
was head of state, chief executive, and secretary of ruling Baath (Arab
Socialist Resurrection) Party. People's Council, 195- member parliament,
popularly elected in 1986 for term of four years. Judiciary based on amalgam of
Ottoman, French, and Islamic laws and practices. Some legal rights abrogated
under state of martial law, in effect since 1963.
Politics: Baath Party--popular name for ruling party-- provided ideological
rationale for Syrian socialism and panArabism . Directed by twenty-one-member
Regional Command (top national decision-making body of party) led by regional
secretary. Party allied in coalition with minor parties (including communist)
through framework of National Progressive Front. Dominant aspect of political
system pivotal role of military as real source and guarantor of power.
Disproportionately significant role played by country's largest minority,
Alawis, who held many key positions in armed forces, Baath Party, and
government.
Administrative Divisions: Divided into thirteen provinces, each consisting of
capital, districts, and subdistricts.
Foreign Affairs: Arab-Israeli conflict remained paramount foreign policy
concern, Syrian objective being to secure withdrawal of Israeli forces from the
occupied territories, to restore sovereignty over Israeli-annexed Golan Heights,
and to ensure full political self-determination for Palestinians. In attempting
to resolve Arab-Israeli issue, Syria seeks unilateral strategic and military
parity with Israel to negotiate from position of strength. Syria attempts to
exert regional dominance over its Arab neighbors, focusing on Lebanon, which it
has partially occupied since 1976.
National Security
Armed Forces: In 1985 army, 396,000 regulars (300,000 reserves); Navy, 4,000
regulars (2,500 reserves); and air force, 100,000 regulars (37,500 reserves).
Compulsory thirty-month conscription for males.
Combat Units and Major Equipment: In 1985, army consisted of five armored
divisions (with one independent armored brigade), three mechanized divisions,
one infantry-special forces division, and ten airborne-special forces
independent brigades; weapons included over 4,100 Soviet-built tanks and 95
surface-to- air missile (SAM) batteries. Navy weapons included forty-one
vessels, including two or three Soviet submarines and twenty-two missile attack
craft. Air force weapons included 650 combat aircraft in 9 fighter and 15
interceptor squadrons.
Military Budget: In 1985 equivalent of US$4.2 billion. Approximately 21.1
percent of GNP; 42 percent of government expenditures. In 1986 about US$3.7
billion for national security, including armed forces and internal security
agencies.
Police and Internal Security Agencies: Single national police force for routine
duties. Numerous internal security forces under umbrella of National Security
Directorate. Sizes unknown.
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*Introduction
From Independence in 1946 through the late 1960s, Syria stood out as a
particularly unstable country in a geographic region noted for political
instability. Illegal seizures of power seemed to be the rule as Syrians were
governed under a series of constitutions and the nation's political direction
made several abrupt ideological lurches. Therefore, when Minister of Defense
Hafiz al Assad assumed authority in yet another coup in November l970, many
believed his regime was merely one more in a long string of extralegal changes
of government. Indeed, because of the coup's similarity to previous ones, at the
time there was little evidence to suggest otherwise. Nonetheless, from 1970
until mid-1987, Assad has provided Syria with a period of uncommon stability,
all the more remarkable when viewed against the backdrop of the nation's
postindependence history of political turbulence.
Although uncertainty and internal tension are threads that run through Syrian
history, not all conflict has been negative. From the earliest days of
civilization to more recent times, struggle among various indigenous groups as
well as with invading foreigners has resulted in cultural enrichment.
Phoenicians, Canaanites, Assyrians, and Persians are but a few of the peoples
who have figured prominently in this legacy. As significant were the
contributions of Alexander the Great and his successors and the Roman and
Byzantine rulers (see Ancient Syria , ch. 1).
But as great as these considerable foreign influences were, few would disagree
that the most important additions to Syria's rich culture were made following
the death of the Prophet Muhammad, when Arab conquerors brought Islam to Greater
Syria (see Glossary). By A.D. 661, Muawiyah, the governor of Syria, had
proclaimed himself caliph, or temporal leader, and established Damascus as the
seat of the Umayyad Empire. Thus began a dynasty whose realm stretched as far
west as southern France and as far east as Afghanistan, an expanse of territory
that surpassed even that which Rome had held a few centuries earlier. Thirteen
hundred years after his death, the memory of Muawiyah and his accomplishments
still stirs pride and respect in Syria. Likewise, the image of the great Muslim
general Saladin (Salah ad Din al Ayubbi), who defeated the Christian Crusaders
in 1187, is deeply imprinted on the Syrian psyche.
These native heroes notwithstanding, it was foreign domination that determined
the political boundaries of present- day Syria. First the Ottoman Turks, then
after World War I the French, and, more recently, the Israelis shaped the
contours of the nation, breaking off chunks of what was Greater Syria and
repositioning borders to leave the configuration of the contemporary state. In
spite of these territorial changes, support for a return to the glory that was
Greater Syria and a development of a powerful nation-state has remained strong.
Syrians share a vision of a pan-Arab entity--the unification of all Arab
brethren throughout the region (see Political Orientations , ch. 4).
Despite the rhetoric and idealism, in Syria, as in many developing nations,
strife between and among communities has hindered development of a genuine
national spirit. Also, the importance of regional, sectarian, and religious
identities as the primary sources of loyalty have frustrated nation-building.
Although about 85 percent of Syrians were Muslims, in 1987 most scholars agreed
that the domination of Assad's small Alawi (see Glossary) sect over the larger
Sunni (see Glossary) community was at the root of much of the internal friction,
even though ethnic issues also accounted for a certain amount of tension. Other
significant minorities that contributed to social tensions were Druzes (see
Glossary), Kurds, Armenians, and Circassians (see The Peoples , ch. 2).
Although internal discord is a fact of life in every country in the Middle East,
it is difficult to imagine that dissent in any of them could have been met more
brutally than it was in Syria in the 1980s. One dissident group was the Muslim
Brotherhood, a Sunni fundamentalist, antigovernment movement whose popularity
grew markedly in the late 1970s. Unlike Islamic fundamentalist movements in
certain other Middle Eastern countries, the Muslim Brotherhood opposed the Assad
regime not so much for its secularism as for its sectarian favoritism. To
protest Alawi domination, the Muslim Brotherhood and other like- minded groups
undertook a series of violent attacks against the Baath (Arab Socialist
Resurrection) Party government. After Assad's attempts at negotiation failed,
Muslim Brotherhood attacks increased in frequency, and the government responded
in kind. Using his armed forces, in late 1981 Assad finally isolated Muslim
Brotherhood adherents in their strongholds of Aleppo and Hamah (see fig. 1). In
February 1982, with no regard for civilian safety, the full force of the Syrian
army was brought to bear on the rebels in Hamah. Entire sections of the city,
including the architecturally magnificent ancient quarter, were reduced to
rubble by tank and artillery fire, as upward of 25,000 citizens were killed.
This lesson in abject obedience was not lost on the populace, for as of mid-
1987, the Muslim Brotherhood and its antigovernment allies were almost moribund
(see The Assad Era , ch. 1; Ethnic and Religious Opposition Movements , ch. 5).
Other violent stresses on internal stability occurred later in 1982. In June,
Israel invaded Lebanon with the stated aim of driving away Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) guerrillas from Israel's northern border. After a few days of
fighting and constant Israeli advances, it became obvious that Israel's goal was
not merely the creation of a security zone, but rather the complete destruction
of the PLO or at least its forced expulsion from Lebanon. In achieving this
objective, armed confrontation with Syrian forces was inevitable. Although some
of the Syrian units gave a good accounting against the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF), in general the IDF overwhelmed the Syrians. This domination was nowhere
more evident than in air battles over the Biqa Valley in which the Israeli Air
Force destroyed nineteen air defense sites and downed more than eighty Syrian
aircraft, while losing only two aircraft (see Syrian-Israeli Hostility , ch. 5).
Despite these setbacks, as the only Arab leader to stand up to the Israeli
assault, Assad gained the respect of other Middle Eastern states. The defeats
were not enough to induce Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, and
eventually it worked out a modus vivendi with the IDF.
But for Syria there was no relief from internal pressures. Having weathered a
"miniwar" in Lebanon, in 1983 another crisis arose when in November Assad
suffered a severe heart attack that hospitalized him for several months. In
February 1984, in a premature effort to succeed his brother, Rifaat al Assad
moved his Defense Companies (now called Unit 569) into positions around the
capital. Fighting broke out but soon subsided; however, in May it erupted once
more in Latakia. As Hafiz al Assad recovered and reasserted his authority, he
neutralized political opportunists (including his brother) while making changes
in the Baath Party and army hierarchies. To restore faith in his regime, Assad
began promoting a personality cult, the net effect of which was to identify
government with Hafiz al Assad rather than to encourage government through
political and social institutions (see Post-1982 Political Developments , ch.
4). Thus, in 1987 many concerns remained about succession and about whether or
not Syria could peacefully survive the loss of Assad as the adhesive that held
together the diverse elements of society.
An added concern was the perilous state of the economy (see Period of Economic
Retrenchment, 1986-90 , ch. 3). Years of drought in the early 1980s had
effectively stymied agricultural growth. By the time production began to rebound
in the mid-1980s, commodity prices for Syria's agricultural goods were dropping.
Furthermore, the fledgling oil industry was retarded by the worldwide slump in
petroleum prices and by Syria's own decision to cease pipeline transportation of
Iraqi oil, thus surrendering lucrative transit fees. Moreover, Syria's stance in
the Iran-Iraq War and its intransigence on other regional matters so angered
wealthier Arab nations that they reduced financial support to the Assad regime.
And perhaps most salient, the need to provision tens of thousands of troops
stationed in Lebanon and to maintain strong defenses against Israel caused a
crushing defense burden. Although figures on defense outlays varied widely, in
the late 1980s they apparently accounted for anywhere from one-third to just
over one-half of all government spending. Regardless of which figure is
accepted, clearly military spending was inhibiting development by diverting
funds from desperately needed social programs.
The armed forces has played a central role in Syria's recent social and
political history. As in many Third World countries, the army has provided
minorities with a channel for upward mobility. Alawis in particular used this
route of social advancement, and by the early 1960s they held influential
positions in the military government. When in 1966 General Salah al Jadid
overthrew General Amin al Hafiz, a Sunni, for the first time in the modern era
an Alawi ruled Syria. Jadid, in turn, was overthrown in 1970 by Assad, another
Alawi. Since then Assad has seen to it that only trusted relatives or friends,
most of them Alawis, occupied or controlled politically sensitive or powerful
positions. Similarly, because the armed forces are both the mainstay of his
regime and the most likely threat to it, Assad has been deferential to the needs
of the military forces and has raised the standard of living for those in
uniform (see Conditions of Service, Morale, and Military Justice , ch. 5).
In addition to domestic discord, Syria has been subjected to many external
strains. Not the least of these has been Syria's long-standing engagement in
Lebanon. Although some analysts saw this involvement as part of a desire to
recreate Greater Syria, others viewed it as a pragmatic manifestation of Assad's
ambitions toward regional hegemony. Regardless of motive, Syria's presence in
Lebanon presented dangers and opportunities. The principal problem was that the
worsening Lebanese situation jeopardized the safety of Syrian troops and drained
Syria's fragile economy. Nevertheless, at various times since 1976, Syrian
intervention has had the positive effect of quelling some of the violence that
has swept Lebanon and raised faint hopes of peace. Such positive intervention
occurred most recently in February 1987, when Assad sent his forces into West
Beirut to restore order to the Muslim half of the city (see Syria and the
Lebanese Crisis, 1975-87 , ch. 5).
Some scholars call Syria a nation of contradictions with good reason. Certainly
these are inconsistencies in Syria's regional and international politics (see
Foreign Policy , ch. 4). In spite of the pan-Arab ideology that is at the heart
of the ruling Baath Party principles, Syria was one of only two Arab states
(Libya being the other) supporting non-Arab Iran against Iraq in the Iran-Iraq
War. In addition, Syria's steadfast refusal to negotiate with Israel ever since
the June 1967 War and its support for radical Palestinian factions have set it
apart from most of the Arab world.
In foreign relations, Syria proved it could be a supportive friend or obstinate
foe--in fact, sometimes both within a short period of time. For example, every
few years Syria seemed to begin a rapprochement with Jordan and Iraq, its
neighbors to the south and east, but these thaws in otherwise cool relations
have been short. Likewise, relations with various Lebanese and Palestinian
factions have blown hot and cold.
Certainly the Soviet Union has found Assad a less than pliable client.
Throughout the Soviet-Syrian relationship, Assad has taken much more in military
assistance than the Soviets have received in terms of influence in Syria or the
rest of the region. For the most part, Soviet efforts to dominate Syrian
political and even military activities have had limited success (see
Syria-Soviet Relations , ch. 4).
In 1987 Assad was thought by many to be an enigma, thus his nickname, "the
sphinx." Having survived the tribulations of seventeen years of rule, he
deserved his reputation as a wily and able politician. Diplomatic and practical
when circumstances called for these qualities, Assad could also be manipulative
and merciless, especially with regime opponents. Syrian dissidents in exile or
regional political enemies have not been immune from Assad's intelligence and
security networks. Insofar as Assad has assented to terrorist training in
Syrian-controlled Lebanon and even on Syrian soil, he most likely has at his
disposal a pool of individuals willing to carry out certain violent missions.
Clearly, media attention given to Syria's complicity in terrorist incidents in
Western Europe in the mid-1980s has underscored such activity (see Sponsorship
of Terrorism , ch. 5).
In summary, in mid-1987 Syria was enjoying a period of unprecedented internal
stability. In many ways, Assad had very nearly realized his ambitions for
leadership in regional affairs. Syria was a key to the Palestinian problem and
to any resolution of the Arab-Israeli dispute; it was also at the vortex of the
Lebanese situation. Furthermore, it was making its presence felt in the
Iran-Iraq War. Its economy, although by no means burgeoning, was at least
resilient in the face of difficult circumstances. And even though its
international image was tarnished because of its association with terrorism,
that, too, was improving as a result of Syria's crackdown on Shia (see Glossary)
extremists in Lebanon. Most troublesome, perhaps, was the unresolved question of
who would succeed the somewhat frail president. It was uncertain if any
successor could overcome the conflicts that were sure to surface after Assad or
could maintain the nation's pace of development.
August 31, 1987
Thomas Collelo
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*Chapter 1. Historical Setting
Present-day Syria constitutes only a small portion of the ancient geographical
Syria. Until the twentieth century, when Western powers began to carve out the
rough contours of the contemporary states of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel,
the whole of the settled region at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea was
called Syria, the name given by the ancient Greeks to the land bridge that links
three continents. For this reason, historians and political scientists usually
use the term Greater Syria (see Glossary) to denote the area in the prestate
period.
Historically, Greater Syria rarely ruled itself, primarily because of its
vulnerable position between the Mediterranean Sea and the desert. As a marchland
between frequently powerful empires on the north, east, and south, Syria was
often a battlefield for the political destinies of dynasties and empires. Unlike
other parts of the Middle East, Greater Syria was prized as a fertile
cereal-growing oasis. It was even more critical as a source of the lumber needed
for building imperial fleets in the preindustrial period.
Even though it was exploited politically, Greater Syria benefited immeasurably
from the cultural diversity of the peoples who came to claim parts or all of it
and who remained to contribute and participate in the remarkable spiritual and
intellectual flowering that characterized Greater Syria's cultures in the
ancient and medieval periods. Incorporating some of the oldest continuously
inhabited cities in the world, Greater Syria was in a unique position to foster
intellectual activities. By 1400 B.C., Damascus (Dimashq), Aleppo (Halab), Hamah
(Hamath), Byblos (Gubla), Joffa (Joppa), Homs, Gaza, Tyre (Sur), and Sidon
already had been established; some of these cities had flourished for many
centuries. Because Greater Syria was usually ruled by foreigners, the
inhabitants traditionally identified themselves with their cities, and in
contemporary Syria each city continues to have a unique sociopolitical
character.
A recurrent theme of Greater Syria's history has been the encounters between
Eastern and Western powers on its soil. Even in the ancient period, it was the
focus of a continual dialectic, both intellectual and bellicose, between the
Middle East and the West. During the medieval period this dialectic was
intensified as it became colored by diametrically opposed religious points of
view regarding rights to the land. The Christian Byzantines contended with
Arabs, and later the Christian Crusaders competed with Muslim Arabs, for land
they all held sacred.
The advent of Arab Muslim rule in A.D. 636 provided the two major themes of
Syrian history: the Islamic religion and the world community of Arabs. According
to traditionalist Muslims, the greatest period of Islamic history was the time
of the brief rule of Muhammad--the prototype for the perfect temporal ruler--
and the time of the first four caliphs (known as rashidun, rightly guided), when
man presumably behaved as God commanded and established a society on earth
unequaled before or after. During this period religion and state were one and
Muslims ruled Muslims according to Muslim law. The succeeding Umayyad (661-750)
and Abbasid (750-1258) caliphates were extensions of the first period and proved
the military and intellectual might of Muslims. The history of Greater Syria in
the early medieval period is essentially the history of political Islam at one
of its most glorious moments--the period of the Umayyad caliphate when the
Islamic empire, with its capital at Damascus, stretched from the Oxus River to
southern France.
A different view of Syrian history denies that the greatness of the Arab past
was a purely Islamic manifestation. The history of the Arabs began before the
coming of Muhammad, and what Arabs achieved during the Umayyad and Abbasid
empires was evidence not only of the rich inheritance from Greek and Roman days
but also of the vitality of Arab culture.
Since independence in 1946, Syria's history has been dominated by four
overriding factors. First is the deeply felt desire among Syrian
Arabs--Christian and Muslim alike--to achieve some kind of unity with the other
Arabs of the Middle East in fulfillment of their aspirations for regional
leadership. Second is a desire for economic and social prosperity. Third is a
universal dislike of Israel, which Syrians feel was forcibly imposed by the West
and which they view as a threat to Arab unity (see Foreign Policy , ch. 4). The
fourth issue is the dominant political role of the military.
**Ancient Syra
The first recorded mention of Greater Syria is in Egyptian annals detailing
expeditions to the Syrian coastland to log the cedar, pine, and cypress of the
Ammanus and Lebanon mountain ranges in the fourth millennium. Sumer, a kingdom
of non-Semitic peoples that formed the southern boundary of ancient Babylonia,
also sent expeditions in the third millennium, chiefly in pursuit of cedar from
the Ammanus and gold and silver from Cilicia. The Sumerians most probably traded
with the Syrian port city of Byblos, which was also negotiating with Egypt for
exportation of timber and the resin necessary for mummification.
An enormous commercial network linking Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Aegean,
and the Syrian coast was developed. The network was perhaps under the aegis of
the kingdom of Ebla ("city of the white stones"), the chief site of which was
discovered in 1975 at Tall Mardikh, 64 kilometers south of Aleppo (see fig. 2).
Numerous tablets give evidence of a sophisticated and powerful indigenous Syrian
empire, which dominated northern Syria and portions of lower Mesopotamia,
Anatolia, and Iran. Its chief rival was Akkad in southern Mesopotamia, which
flourished circa 2300 B.C. In addition to identifying another great cultural and
political power for the period--and an independent Syrian kingdom at that--the
discovery of Ebla has had other important ramifications. The oldest Semitic
language was thought to have been Amorite, but the newly found language of Ebla,
a variant of Paleo-Canaanite, is considerably older. Ebla twice conquered the
city of Mari, the capital of Amurru, the kingdom of the Semitic- speaking
Amorites. After protracted tension between Akkad and Ebla, the great king of
Akkad, Naram Sin, destroyed Ebla by fire in either 2300 or 2250. Naram Sin also
destroyed Arman, which may have been an ancient name for Aleppo.
Amorite power was effectively eclipsed in 1600 when Egypt mounted a full attack
on Greater Syria and brought the entire region under its suzerainty. During the
fifteenth and fourteenth centuries, the area was in tremendous political
upheaval because of the growing Assyrian power pressing from the east and
invasions from the north of Hittites who eventually settled in north and central
Syria.
Another Semitic-speaking people, the Canaanites, may have been part of the same
migration that brought the Amorites into Syria from northern Arabia in
approximately 2400. The Amorites came under the influence of Mesopotamia,
whereas the Canaanites, who had intermarried with indigenous Syrians of the
coast, were probably under the initial influence of Egypt.
The descendants of the intermarriages between Canaanites and coastal Syrians
were the Phoenicians, the greatest seafaring merchants of the ancient world. The
Phoenicians improved and developed iron tools and significantly advanced the art
of shipbuilding. Their mastery of the seas allowed them to establish a network
of independent city-states; however, these entities were never united
politically, partially because of the continual harassment from Hittites to the
north and Egyptians to the south. The name given to their land--Canaan in
Hurrian, Phoenicia in Greek--refers to the fabulously valued purple dye
extracted from mollusks found at that time only on the Syrian coast. From this
period purple became the color of the robes of kings because only they and other
small groups of the ancient Middle Eastern elite could afford to purchase the
rare dye. The wealth derived in part from the dye trade sparked the economic
flame that made it possible for Greater Syrian city-states to enjoy a wide
measure of prosperity.
Many of Greater Syria's major contributions to civilization were developed
during the ancient period. Syria's greatest legacy, the alphabet, was developed
by Phoenicians during the second millennium. The Phoenicians introduced their
30-letter alphabet to the Aramaeans, among other Semitic-speaking people, and to
the Greeks, who added vowel letters not used in Semitic grammatical
construction.
The Phoenicians, somewhat pressed for space for their growing population,
founded major colonies on the North African littoral, the most notable of which
was Carthage. In the process of founding new city-states, they discovered the
Atlantic Ocean.
The Aramaeans had settled in Greater Syria at approximately the end of the
thirteenth century B.C., the same time at which the Jews, or Israelites,
migrated to the area. The Aramaeans settled in the Mesopotamian-Syrian corridor
to the north and established the kingdom of Aram, biblical Syria. As overland
merchants, they opened trade to Southwest Asia, and their capital Damascus
became a city of immense wealth and influence. At Aleppo they built a huge
fortress, still standing. The Aramaeans simplified the Phoenician alphabet and
carried their language, Aramaic, to their chief areas of commerce. Aramaic
displaced Hebrew in Greater Syria as the vernacular (Jesus spoke Aramaic), and
it became the language of commerce throughout the Middle East and the official
language of the Persian Empire. Aramaic continued to be spoken in the Syrian
countryside for almost 1,000 years, and in the 1980s remained in daily use in a
handful of villages on the Syrian-Lebanese border. A dialect of Aramaic
continues to be the language of worship in the Syrian Orthodox Church.
The plethora of city-states in Greater Syria could not withstand the repeated
attacks from the north by the powerful Assyrian Empire, which under the
leadership of Nebuchadnezzar finally overwhelmed them in the eighth century.
Assyrian aggressors were replaced by the conquering Babylonians in the seventh
century, and the then mighty Persian Empire in the sixth century. Under Persian
aegis, Syria had a measure of self-rule, as it was to have under a succession of
foreign rulers from that time until independence in the twentieth century. When
Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire in 333, local political
powers--which probably would have continued to contest for control of Greater
Syria--were effectively shattered, and the area came into the strong cultural
orbit of Western ideas and institutions.
At Alexander's death, the empire was divided among five of his generals. General
Seleucus became heir to the lands formerly under Persian control, which included
Greater Syria. The Seleucids ruled for three centuries and founded a kingdom
with the capital at Damascus, which later became referred to as the Kingdom of
Syria. Seleucus named many cities after his mother, Laodicea; the greatest
became Latakia, Syria's major port.
Enormous numbers of Greek immigrants flocked to the Kingdom of Syria. Syrian
trade was vastly expanded as a result of the newcomers' efforts, reaching into
India, the Far East, and Europe. The Greeks built new cities in Syria and
colonized existing ones. Syrian and Greek cultures synthesized to create Near
Eastern Hellenism, noted for remarkable developments in jurisprudence,
philosophy, and science.
Replacing the Greeks and the Seleucids, Roman emperors inherited already
thriving cities--Damascus, Tadmur (once called Palmyra), and Busra ash Sham in
the fertile Hawran Plateau south of Damascus. Under the emperor Hadrian, Syria
was prosperous and its cities, major trading centers; Hawran was a well-watered
breadbasket. After making a survey of the country, the Romans established a tax
system based on the potential harvest of farmlands; it remained the key to the
land tax structure until 1945. They bequeathed Syria some of the grandest
buildings in the world, as well as aqueducts, wells, and roads that were still
in use in modern times.
Neither the Seleucids nor the Romans ruled the area without conflict. The
Seleucids had to deal with powerful Arab peoples, the Nabataeans, who had
established an empire at Petra (in present-day Jordan) and at Busra ash Sham.
The Romans had to face the Palmyrenes, who had built Palmyra, a city even more
magnificent than Damascus and the principal stop on the caravan route from Homs
to the Euphrates.
By the time the Romans arrived, Greater Syrians had developed irrigation
techniques, the alphabet, and astronomy. In A.D. 324 the Emperor Constantine
moved his capital from Rome to Byzantium, renaming it Constantinople (modern
Istanbul). From there the Byzantines ruled Greater Syria, dividing it into two
provinces: Syria Prima, with Antioch as the capital and Aleppo the major city;
and Syria Secunda, ruled frequently from Hamah. Syria Secunda was divided into
two districts: Phoenicia Prima, with Tyre as the capital; and Phoenicia Secunda,
ruled from Damascus. (Most of Phoenicia Prima is now Lebanon.) The ruling
families of Syria during this period were the Ghassanids, Christian Arabs loyal
to Byzantium, from whom many Syrians now trace descent.
Byzantine rule in Syria was marked by constant warfare with the Persian
Sassanian Empire to the east. In these struggles, Syria often became a
battleground. In 611 the Persians succeeded in invading Syria and Palestine,
capturing Jerusalem in 614. Shortly thereafter, the Byzantines counterattacked
and retook their former possessions. During the campaign the Byzantines tried to
force Greek orthodoxy on the Syrian inhabitants, but were unsuccessful. Beset by
financial problems, largely as a result of their costly campaigns against the
Persians, the Byzantines stopped subsidizing the Christian Arab tribes guarding
the Syrian steppe. Some scholars believe this was a fatal mistake, for these
tribes were then susceptible to a new force emanating from the south--Islam.
The Byzantine heritage remains in Syria's Christian sects and great monastic
ruins. In the fourth century A.D., Roman Emperor Theodosius destroyed the temple
to Jupiter in Damascus and built a cathedral in honor of John the Baptist. The
huge monastery at Dayr Siman near Aleppo, erected by Simeon Stylites in the
fifth century, is perhaps the greatest Christian monument built before the tenth
century.
**Muslim Empires
During the first decades of the seventh century, Muhammad, a merchant from
Mecca, converted many of his fellow Arabs to a new religion, Islam, which was
conceived as the continuation and fulfillment of the Judeo-Christian tradition
(see Islam , ch. 2). By 629 the religious fervor and pressures of an expanding
population impelled Muslim Arab tribes to invade lands to the north of the
Arabian Peninsula. They called these lands bilad al sham, the country or land of
Sham--the name Arabs often used to designate Damascus. The word sham derives
from the Arabic word for dignity, indicating the high regard most Arabs have had
for Damascus. Arabs, including Syrians, have referred to Syria by this name ever
since, and call Syrians Shammis.
In 635 Damascus surrendered to the great Muslim general, Khalid ibn al Walid.
Undermined by Persian incursions, religious schisms, and rebellions in the
provinces caused by harsh rule, Byzantium could offer little resistance to
Islam.
In succeeding centuries, Muslims extended and consolidated their rule in many
areas, and by 1200 they controlled lands from the Atlantic to the Bay of Bengal,
from central Russia to the Gulf of Aden. Wherever they went, they built mosques,
tombs, forts, and beautiful cities. The ruins of such structures are found
widely in Greater Syria, a heartland of Islamic and Arab culture.
Muhammad made Medina his first capital, and it was here that he died. Leadership
of the faithful fell to Abu Bakr (632-634), Muhammad's father-in-law and the
first of the four orthodox caliphs, or temporal leaders of the Muslims. Umar
followed him (634-644) and organized the government of captured provinces. The
third caliph was Uthman (644-656) under whose administration the compilation of
the Quran was accomplished. Among the aspirants to the caliphate was Ali,
Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, whose supporters felt he should be the
Prophet's successor (see fig. 3). Upon the murder of Uthman, Ali became caliph
(656-661). After a civil war with other aspirants to the caliphate, Ali moved
his capital to Mesopotamia and was later assassinated at Al Kufah. Ali's early
followers established the first of Islam's dissident sects, the Shia (from Shiat
Ali, party of Ali). Those who had accepted the before and after Ali successions
remained the orthodox of Islam; they are called Sunnis--from the word sunnia
meaning orthodox.
***Umayyad Caliphate
After Ali's murder in 661, Muawiyah--the governor of Syria during the early Arab
conquests, a kinsman of Uthman, and a member of the Quraysh lineage of the
Prophet--proclaimed himself caliph and established his capital in Damascus. From
there he conquered Muslim enemies to the east, south, and west and fought the
Byzantines to the north. Muawiyah is considered the architect of the Islamic
empire and a political genius. Under his governorship Syria became the most
prosperous province of the caliphate. Muawiyah created a professional army and,
although rigorous in training them, won the undying loyalty of his troops for
his generous and regularly paid salaries. Heir to Syrian shipyards built by the
Byzantines, he established the caliphate's first navy. He also conceived and
established an efficient government, including a comptroller of finance and a
postal system.
Muawiyah cultivated the goodwill of Christian Syrians by recruiting them for the
army at double pay, by appointing Christians to many high offices, and by
appointing his son by his Christian wife as his successor. His sensitivity to
human behavior accounted in great part for his political success. The modern
Syrian image of Muawiyah is that of a man with enormous amounts of hilm, a
combination of magnanimity, tolerance, and self-discipline, and of duha,
political expertise-- qualities Syrians continue to expect of their leaders. By
732 the dynasty he founded had conquered Spain and Tours in France and stretched
east to Samarkand and Kabul, far exceeding the greatest boundaries of the Roman
Empire (see fig. 4). Thus, Damascus achieved a glory unrivaled among cities of
the eighth century.
The Umayyad Muslims established a military government in Syria and used the
country primarily as a base of operations. They lived aloof from the people and
at first made little effort to convert Christians to Islam. The Umayyads
administered the lands in the manner of the Byzantines, giving complete
authority to provincial governors.
In the administration of law, the Umayyads followed the traditions set by the
Hellenistic monarchies and the Roman Empire. The conqueror's law--in this case
Muslim law (sharia)-- applied only to those of the same faith or nationality as
the conquerors. For non-Muslims, civil law was the law of their particular
millet (separate religious community, also called milla); religious leaders
administered the law of the millet. This system prevailed throughout Islam and
has survived in Syria's legal codes (see Islam , ch. 2; Constitutional Framework
, ch. 4).
During the 89 years of Umayyad rule, most Syrians became Muslims, and the Arabic
language replaced Aramaic. The Umayyads minted coins, built hospitals, and
constructed underground canals to bring water to the towns. The country
prospered both economically and intellectually. Foreign trade expanded, and
educated Jews and Christians, many of them Greek, found employment in the
caliphal courts, where they studied and practiced medicine, alchemy, and
philosophy.
***Succeeding Caliphates and Kingdoms
Under later dissolute caliphs, the Umayyad dynasty began to decline at a time
when both Sunni and Shia Muslims in Iran began to press against Umayyad borders.
By 750 the Abbasids, whose forces originated in Khorasan (in northeast Iran),
had conquered the Umayyads and established the caliphate in Baghdad. As a
result, Syria became a province of an empire.
Abbasid rule over Syria, however, was precarious and often challenged by
independent Muslim princes. The greatest of these was Abu Ali Hasan, who founded
a kingdom known as the Hamdani. A Shia, he established his capital at Aleppo,
and the Abbasids recognized him as Sayf ad Dawlah (sword of the state). The
Hamdanid dynasty ruled throughout the tenth century and became famous for its
achievements in science and letters. In Europe it was known for its persistent
attacks against Byzantium. The Hamdanid kingdom fell in 1094 to Muslim Seljuk
Turks invading from the northeast.
During the same period, the Shia Fatimids established themselves in Egypt and
drove north against Syria. The Fatimids were less tolerant of subject peoples
than their predecessors. Intolerance reached its height under caliph Abu Ali
Mansur al Hakim (966-1021), who destroyed churches and caused Christians to flee
to the mountains. When he announced his divinity, his mother murdered him. In
the secluded valleys of Mount Hermon in Syria, his followers found tribesmen to
adopt his religion, the ancestors of Syria's present-day Druzes (see Druzes ,
ch. 2).
Muslim rule of Christian holy places, overpopulation, and constant warfare in
Europe prompted the Crusades, the first major Western colonial venture in the
Middle East. Between 1097 and 1144 Crusaders established the principalities of
Edessa (in northeast modern Syria), Antioch, Tripoli, and the Latin Kingdom of
Jerusalem. The politically fragmented area was an easy conquest for the
Europeans. The first Muslim threat to European entrenchment came not from within
Greater Syria but from Zangi, the amir (see Glossary) of Mosul (in modern Iraq).
Zangi took Edessa in 1144 and his son, Nur ad Din (light of the faith), secured
Damascus, extending the realm from Aleppo to Mosul. When the last Shia Fatimid
caliph died, Nur ad Din secured Egypt as well. Eliminating Sunni-Shia
sectarianism, the political rivalry that had so aided the European venture, he
invoked jihad, holy war, as a unifying force for Arabs in Greater Syria and
Egypt.
The jihad was to liberate Jerusalem, the third holiest city to Muslims, who call
it Bayt Quds (the house of holiness) in memory of Muhammad's stopping there on
his night journey to heaven. It fell to Nur ad Din's lieutenant, Saladin (Salah
ad Din al Ayubbi--rectitude of the faith), to recapture Jerusalem. Saladin, a
Kurd, unified Syria and Egypt, a necessary preliminary, and after many setbacks,
captured Mosul, Aleppo, and the string of cities from Edessa to Nasihin. In 1187
Saladin took Al Karak, a Crusader fort on the route between Homs and Tripoli
held by the infamous Reginald of Chatillon, who had broken treaties, molested
Saladin's sister, and attacked Mecca with the aim of obtaining the Prophet's
body and exhibiting it at Al Karak for a fee. Saladin besieged Jerusalem on
September 20, 1187, and 9 days later Jerusalem surrendered. Saladin's behavior
and complete control of his troops earned him the respect of all Jerusalemites
and the epithet, "flower of Islamic chivalry."
Saladin inflicted Islam's mightiest blows against the Crusaders, raised Muslim
pride and self-respect, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty, which governed Egypt
until 1260. During his lifetime, he created harmony among Muslims in the Middle
East and gained a position of affection and honor among them that remains strong
to the present, particularly in Syria.
When Saladin died of malaria in 1192, his rule extended from the Tigris River to
North Africa and south to the Sudan. Saladin's death brought this unity to an
end. His Ayyubid successors quarreled among themselves, and Syria broke into
small dynasties centered in Aleppo, Hamah, Homs, and Damascus. By the fourteenth
century, after repelling repeated invasions by Mongols from the north, the
Mamluk sultans of Egypt, successors to the Ayyubids, ruled from the Nile to the
Euphrates. Their great citadels and monuments still stand. In 1516 the Ottoman
sultan in Turkey defeated the Mamluks at Aleppo and made Syria a province of a
new Muslim empire.
***Ottoman Empire
The Ottomans were nomadic Muslim Turks from central Asia who had been converted
to Islam by Umayyad conquerors in the eighth century. Led by Uthman (whence the
Western term Ottoman), they founded a principality in 1300 amid the ruins of the
Mongolwrecked Seljuk Empire in northwest Turkey. Fifty years later Uthman's
successors invaded Europe. They conquered Constantinople in 1453 and in the
sixteenth century conquered all of the Middle East. From 1300 to 1916, when the
empire fell, 36 sultans, all descendants of Uthman, ruled most of the Muslim
world. Europeans referred to the Ottoman throne as the Sublime Porte, a name
derived from a gate of the sultan's palace in Istanbul.
From 1516 the Ottomans ruled Syria through pashas, who governed with unlimited
authority over the land under their control, although they were responsible
ultimately to the Sublime Porte. Pashas were both administrative and military
leaders. So long as they collected their taxes, maintained order, and ruled an
area not of immediate military importance, the Sublime Porte left them alone. In
turn the pashas ruled smaller administrative districts through either a
subordinate Turk or a loyal Arab. Occasionally, as in the area that became
Lebanon, the Arab subordinate maintained his position more through his own power
than through loyalty. Throughout Ottoman rule, there was little contact with the
authorities except among wealthier Syrians who entered government service or
studied in Turkish universities.
The system was not particularly onerous to Syrians because the Turks respected
Arabic as the language of the Quran and accepted the mantle of defenders of the
faith. Damascus was made the major entrepot for Mecca, and as such it acquired a
holy character to Muslims because of the baraka (spiritual force or blessing) of
the countless pilgrims who passed through on the hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca
(see Islam , ch. 2).
Ottoman administration often followed patterns set by previous rulers. Each
religious minority--Shia Muslim, Greek Orthodox, Maronite, Armenian, and
Jewish--constituted a millet. The religious heads of each community administered
all personal status law and performed certain civil functions as well.
The Syrian economy did not flourish under the Ottomans. At times attempts were
made to rebuild the country, but on the whole Syria remained poor. The
population decreased by nearly 30 percent, and hundreds of villages virtually
disappeared into the desert. At the end of the eighteenth century only
one-eighth of the villages formerly on the register of the Aleppo pashalik
(domain of a pasha) were still inhabited. Only the area now known as Lebanon
achieved economic progress, largely resulting from the relatively independent
rule of the Druze amirs.
Although impoverished by Ottoman rule, Syria continued to attract European
traders, who for centuries had transported spices, fruits, and textiles from the
Middle East to the West. By the fifteenth century Aleppo was the Middle East's
chief marketplace and had eclipsed Damascus in wealth, creating a rivalry
between the two cities that continues.
With the traders from the West came missionaries, teachers, scientists, and
tourists whose governments began to clamor for certain rights. France demanded
the right to protect Christians, and in 1535 Sultan Sulayman I granted France
several "capitulations"--extraterritorial rights that developed later into
political semiautonomy, not only for the French, but also for the Christians
protected by them. The British acquired similar rights in 1580 and established
the Levant Company in Aleppo. By the end of the eighteenth century, the Russians
had claimed protective rights over the Greek Orthodox community.
The Ottoman Empire began to show signs of decline in the eighteenth century. By
the nineteenth century European powers had begun to take advantage of Ottoman
weakness through both military and political penetration, including Napoleon's
invasion of Egypt, subsequent British intervention, and French occupation of
Lebanon. Economic development of Syria through the use of European capital--for
example, railroads built largely with French money--brought further incursions.
Western penetration became decidedly political after the Druze uprising in the
Syrian province of Lebanon in 1860. The revolt began in the north as a Maronite
Christian peasant uprising against Christian landlords. As the revolt moved
southward to the territories where the landlords were Druzes, the conflagration
acquired an intersectarian character, and the Druzes massacred some 10,000
Maronites. France sent in troops and removed them a year later only after the
European powers had forced the Sublime Porte to grant new laws for Lebanon. By
the Statute of 1861, for the first time Mount Lebanon was officially detached
from Syria, and its administration came increasingly under the control of
France.
Because of European pressure as well as the discontent of the Syrian people, the
Ottoman sultans enacted some reforms during the nineteenth century. The Egyptian
occupation of Syria from 1831 to 1839 under the nominal authority of the sultan
brought a centralized government, judicial reform, and regular taxation. But
Ibrahim Pasha, son of the Egyptian ruler, became unpopular with the landowners
because he limited their influence, and with the peasants because he imposed
conscription and taxation. He was eventually driven from Syria by the sultan's
forces. Subsequent reforms of Turkish Sultan Mahmud II and his son were more
theoretical than real and were counteracted by reactionary forces inside the
state as well as by the inertia of Ottoman officials. Reforms proved somewhat
successful with the Kurds and Turkomans in the north and with the Alawis around
Latakia, but unsuccessful with the Druzes--who lived in the Jabal Druze (now
known as Jabal al Arab), a rugged mountainous area in southwest Syria--who
retained their administrative and judicial autonomy and exemption from military
service.
Although further reform attempts generally failed, some of the more successful
endure. Among them are the colonization of Syria's frontiers, the suppression of
tribal raiding, the opening of new lands to cultivation, and the beginnings of
the settlement of the beduin tribes. Attempts to register the land failed,
however, because of the peasants' fear of taxation and conscription.
Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876-1909), sometimes known as Abdul Hamid the Damned,
acquired a reputation as the most oppressive Ottoman sultan. Opponents died
quickly; taxes became heavy. Abdul Hamid tried to earn the loyalty of his Muslim
subjects by preaching pan-Islamic ideas and in 1908 completing the Hijaz Railway
between Istanbul and Medina. However, the sultan's cruelty--coupled with that of
his deputy in Acre, known in Syria as The Butcher--and increasing Western
cultural influences set the stage for the first act of Arab nationalism; World
War I opened the next.
**World War I and Arab Nationalism
The period from the outbreak of World War I in 1914 to the granting of France's
mandate over Syria by the League of Nations in 1922 was marked by a complicated
sequence of events and power politics during which Syrians achieved a brief
moment of independence. Syrian intellectuals, many of them graduates of European
and European- or American-run universities, were urging the study of Arab
history, literature, and language. Also, groups of Syrians publicly demanded
decentralization of Ottoman administration and administrative reform. As Ottoman
governors such as Jamal Pasha suppressed them, Syrians went underground and
demanded complete Arab independence. One of the first secret groups to form was
Al Jamiyyah al Arabiyah al Fatat (the Young Arab Society, known as Al Fatat, not
to be confused with the contemporary Al Fatah, or Fatah, of the Palestine
Liberation Organization--PLO), of which Prince Faysal, son of Sharif Husayn of
Mecca, was a member. Another group was Al Ahd (the Covenant), a secret
association of Arab army officers.
Following the outbreak of World War I, Jamal Pasha determined to tighten his
control over Syria. Attacking dissidents ruthlessly, he arrested Al Fatat
members. Twenty-one Arabs were hanged in the city squares of Damascus and Beirut
on the morning of May 6, 1915. The event is commemorated as Martyrs' Day, a
national holiday in Syria and Lebanon.
Events leading to Syria's momentary independence began in the Arabian Peninsula.
The British--anxious for Arab support against the Ottomans in the war and
desiring to strengthen their position vis-a-vis the French in the determination
of the Middle East's future--asked Sharif Husayn, leader of the Hashimite family
and an Ottoman appointee over the Hijaz, to lead the Arabs in revolt. In return
the British gave certain assurances, which Husayn interpreted as an endorsement
of his eventual kingship of the Arab world. From the Arab nationalists in
Damascus came pleas for the Hashimites to assume leadership. Husayn accepted,
and on June 5, 1916, the Hijazi tribesmen, led by Husayn's sons and later
advised by such British officers as T.E. Lawrence, rose against the Turks. In
October 1918, Faysal entered Damascus as a popular hero.
Faysal, as military governor, assumed immediate control of all Syria except for
the areas along the Mediterranean coast where French troops were garrisoned. In
July 1919, he convened the General Syrian Congress, which declared Syria
sovereign and free. In March 1920, the congress proclaimed Faysal king of Syria.
Faysal and his Syrian supporters began reconstructing Syria. They declared
Arabic the official language and proceeded to have school texts translated from
Turkish. They reopened schools and started new ones, including the Faculty of
Law at the Syrian University and the Arab Academy in Damascus. Also, Faysal
appointed a committee to begin drawing up a constitution.
In the areas still held by the French, Syrians continued to revolt. In the Jabal
an Nusayriyah around Latakia in the northwest, there was an uprising against
French troops in May 1919. Along the Turkish border, the nationalist leader
Ibrahim Hannanu incited another rebellion in July 1919. The French defeated
these attempts but not before Hannanu and Faysal had acquired permanent places
in Syrian history as heroes.
Three forces worked against Arab nationalism and Faysal's budding Arab monarchy.
One was Britain's earlier interest in keeping eastern Mesopotamia under control,
both to counter Russian influence in the north and to protect oil interests in
the area. The second was Zionism and the Jewish interest in Palestine. Although
Britain had promised to recognize "an independent Arab State or a Confederation
of Arab States" in the Sykes-Picot Agreement of May 16, 1916, (not published
until later-see below), in the Balfour Declaration of 1917 it had also promised
Zionists a "national home" in Palestine. The two promises were in direct
conflict. The third force was France's determination to remain a power in the
Middle East. Earlier in the war, the French, British, Italians, and Russians had
met secretly to decide the fate of Arab lands. After the Russian Revolution, the
Bolsheviks published secret diplomatic documents, among them the Sykes-Picot
Agreement. In this agreement, signed only six months after the British had
vaguely promised Husayn an Arab kingdom, Britain and France agreed to give the
French paramount influence in what became Syria and Lebanon; the British were to
have predominance in what became Transjordan and Iraq.
At the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919, Woodrow Wilson asked that the Arab
claims to independence be given consideration, and Faysal was invited to present
the Arab cause. His pleas were unavailing, as was a report recommending Syrian
independence under Faysal or a United States mandate over the country.
Disappointed by his failure at Versailles, Faysal returned to Damascus and
declared again that Syria was nevertheless free and independent.
France and Britain refused to recognize Syria's independence, and the Supreme
Allied Council, meeting in San Remo, Italy, in April 1920, partitioned the Arab
world into mandates as prearranged by the earlier Sykes-Picot Agreement. Syria
became a French mandate, and French soldiers began marching from Beirut to
Damascus. Arab resistance was crushed, and on July 25, 1920, the French took
Damascus. Faysal fled to Europe and did not return to the Middle East until the
British made him king of Iraq in 1921. Faysal's brother Abdullah was recognized
by the British as the amir of the region that became known as Transjordan. The
boundaries of these states were thus drawn unilaterally by the European allies
after World War I. Syria had experienced its brief moment of independence
(1919-20), the loss of which Syrians blamed on France and Britain. These events
left a lasting bitterness against the West and a deep-seated determination to
reunite Arabs into one state. This was the primary basis for modern Arab
nationalism and the central ideological concept of future pan-Arab parties, such
as the Baath (Arab Socialist Resurrection) Party and the Arab National Movement.
Aspects of the ideology also were evolved in the 1950s and 1960s by Gamal Abdul
Nasser of Egypt.
**The French Mandate
French-British rivalry in the Middle East continued after the two countries had
divided the area into spheres of influence at San Remo. In their mandate, the
French sought to increase their strength by supporting and separating religious
minorities and thereby weakening the Arab nationalist movement. France
originally planned to establish three sectarian states: an Alawi state in the
north, a Sunni Muslim state at the center, and a Druze state in the south. The
three were eventually to be incorporated into a federal Syria. France did create
a Christian state in the area of Mount Lebanon. The Sunni Muslim state never
materialized. Instead, in 1926 the French, working with Maronite leaders,
expanded the original boundaries of the Christian state to create Lebanon. To
the east the valley of the Biqa, predominantly populated by Muslims, was added;
to the west the Christian state was expanded to the coast and incorporated the
cities of Tripoli, Beirut, Sidon, and Tyre.
The rest of Syria was divided into five semiautonomous areas- -the Jabal Druze,
Aleppo, Latakia, Damascus, and Alexandretta (modern Iskenderun)--which
accentuated religious differences and cultivated regional, as opposed to
national pan-Arab, sentiment (see Religious Life , ch. 2). The Druzes were given
administration of the Jabal Druze, the area of their greatest concentration. The
northern coastal region and the Jabal an Nusayriyah (where there was a
concentration of Alawis, Syria's largest religious minority) were united in the
state of Latakia (present-day Al Ladhiqiyah Province). North of Latakia, the
district of Alexandretta (the present-day Turkish province of Hatay), home of
some Turks, had a separate government. In the area to the south, in Palestine,
European Jews were promised a Jewish homeland. Opposition by nationalistic Arabs
to the many divisions proved fruitless, and Arab nationalists became isolated in
Damascus.
French rule was oppressive. The franc became the base of the economy, and
currency management was in the hands of French bankers concerned with French,
rather than Syrian, shareholders and interests. The French language became
compulsory in schools, and pupils were required to sing the "Marseillaise."
Colonial administrators attempted to apply techniques of administration learned
in North Africa to the more sophisticated Arabs of Syria. Nearly every feature
of Syrian life came under French control.
The Syrians were an embittered, disillusioned people whose leaders kept them in
ferment. Shaykh Salih ibn Ali led the Alawis in intermittent revolt, Shaykh
Ismail Harir rebelled in the Hawran, and in the Jabal Druze, Sultan Pasha al
Atrash, kinsman of the paramount chief of the Druzes, led continual resistance,
most notably in 1925, as did Mulhim Qasim in the mountains around Baalbek. The
revolts, however, were not necessarily expressions of desire for unified Syrian
independence. They were uprisings by individual groups--Alawis, Druzes, and
beduins--against foreign interference, comparable to those earlier fomented
against the Ottomans.
In Damascus Arab nationalism was led by educated, wealthy Muslims who had
earlier supported Faysal. Their grievances against the French were many, but
chief among them were French suppression of newspapers, political activity, and
civil rights and the division of Greater Syria into several political units.
They also objected to French reluctance to frame a constitution for Syria that
would provide for the eventual sovereignty that the League of Nations mandate
had ordered. When the Iraqis gained an elected assembly from the British in
March 1924, Syrian Arabs became even more distressed. On February 9, 1925, as a
placating move, the French permitted the nationalists to form the People's
Party. Led by Faris al Khuri, they demanded French recognition of eventual
Syrian independence, unity of the country, more stress on education, and the
granting of civil liberties.
The most immediate issue was Syrian unity, since France had divided the country
into six parts. In 1925 the Aleppo and Damascus provinces were joined, and in
1926 Lebanon became an independent republic under French control. The League of
Nations in its session in Rome in February to March 1926 stated: "The Commission
thinks it beyond doubt that these oscillations in matters so calculated to
encourage the controversies inspired by the rivalries of races, clans and
religions, which are so keen in this country, to arouse all kinds of ambitions
and to jeopardize serious moral and material interests, have maintained a
condition of instability and unrest in the mandated territory."
Devastating proof of the miscalculations of the French burst into the open with
the 1925 Druze revolt. The Druzes had many complaints, but chief among them was
the foreign intervention in Druze affairs. The Ottomans had never successfully
subdued these mountain people; although split among themselves, they were united
in their opposition to foreign rule. Led by Sultan Pasha al Atrash, Druzes
attacked and captured Salkhad on July 20, 1925, and on August 2 they took the
Druze capital, As Suwayda.
News of the Druze rebellion spread throughout Syria and ignited revolts in
Aleppo and Damascus among Syrian nationalists, who pleaded with Atrash to attack
the Syrian capital. In October the Druzes invaded the Damascus region;
nationalist leaders led their own demonstrations; and the French began
systematic bombardment of the city, resulting in the death of 5,000 Syrians. The
rebellion collapsed by the end of the year, and reluctant order replaced open
revolt.
The return of order gave the French military government an opportunity to assist
Syrians in self-government, an obligation demanded of France by the League of
Nations. In 1928 the French allowed the formation of the National Bloc (Al
Kutlah al Wataniyah), composed of various nationalist groups centered in
Damascus. The nationalist alliance was headed by Ibrahim Hannanu and Hashim al
Atassi and included leading members of large landowning families. One of the
most extreme groups in the National Bloc was the Istiqlal (Independence) Party,
a descendant of the old Al Fatat secret society of which Shukri al Quwatly was a
leading member. Elections of that year for a constituent assembly put the
National Bloc in power, and Hannanu set out to write a constitution. It provided
for the reunification of Syria and ignored the authority of the French. In 1930
the French imposed the constitution minus articles that would have given Syria
unified self-government.
Syrian nationalists continued to assert that they at least should have a treaty
with France setting forth French aims, since Britain and Iraq had signed such a
treaty in 1922. Unrest after the death of the nationalist leader Hannanu at the
end of 1935, followed by a general strike in 1936, brought new negotiations for
such a treaty. Under Leon Blum's liberal-socialist government in France, the two
countries worked out the Syrian-French Treaty of Alliance in 1936. The French
parliament never ratified the treaty, yet a feeling of optimism prevailed in
Syria as the first nationalist government came to power with Hashim al Atassi as
president.
During 1937 Syria's drive for independence seemed to be advancing under National
Bloc leadership. France allowed the return of Jabal Druze and Latakia to the
Syrian state and turned over many local government functions to the Syrian
government. French administration during the previous years had given some
advantages to the Syrians. It had built modern cities in Damascus and Aleppo and
roads and schools throughout much of the country; and it had partially trained
some Syrians as minor bureaucrats. French cultural influence spread in the
schools, in the press, and even in the style of dress; social and economic
conditions slowly improved.
Under the French, Syria became a refuge for persecuted groups from neighboring
countries. Most of the Kurdish population arrived between 1924 and 1938, fleeing
Kemalist rule in Turkey. The major immigration of Armenians occurred between
1925 and 1945 as a result of similar persecution. Assyrians, under attack in
Iraq in 1933, settled in eastern Syria (see Kurds; Armenians; Others , ch. 2).
Although the country appeared to be on the verge of peace, true calm evaded
Syria. Claims by Turkey to Alexandretta, Arab revolts in Palestine, an economic
crisis caused by depreciation of the French franc, and lack of unity among
Syrians served to undermine the stability of the Syrian government. The National
Bloc was split by rivalries. Abdul Rahman Shahabandar, a leading nationalist,
formed a rival organization in 1939 to compete for Syrian political leadership,
but he was assassinated a year later. Separatist movements in the Jabal Druze
found French support and antagonized the nationalists.
During the course of the Syrian-French treaty discussions in 1936, Turkey had
asked for reconsideration of the situation in Hatay--at that time the Syrian
province of Alexandretta--which had a large Turkish minority and already had
been given a special administrative system under the Franco-Turkish Agreement of
Ankara (sometimes called the Franklin-Bouillon Agreement) in 1921. The case was
submitted to the League of Nations, which in 1937 decided that Alexandretta
should be a separate, self- governing political state. Direct negotiations
between Turkey and France ended on July 13, 1939, with France agreeing to
absorption of Alexandretta by Turkey. Disturbances broke out in Syria against
France and the Syrian government, which Syrian nationalist leaders felt had not
adequately defended their interests. Syrian President Atassi resigned,
parliamentary institutions were abolished, and France governed an unruly Syria
through the Council of Directors. Latakia and the Jabal Druze were again set up
as separate units. The French government officially declared it would not submit
the Syrian-French treaty to the French Chamber of Deputies for ratification.
**World War II and Independence
The capitulation of France in June 1940 brought Vichyappointed General Henri
Dentz as high commissioner and a new cabinet headed by Khalid al Azm, a wealthy
landlord from an old Damascus family who was to play a leading role in Syrian
politics 22 years later. Despite continued German military successes elsewhere,
British and Free French forces supported by troops of the Transjordan Arab
Legion defeated the Vichy forces in both Syria and Lebanon. Control then passed
to Free French authorities.
The entry of Allied troops brought a promise from the Free French leader,
General Charles de Gaulle, of eventual independence, although de Gaulle declared
that so far as he was concerned, the mandate would remain in existence until a
new French government legally brought it to an end. When Syrians elected a new
parliament in 1943 with the National Bloc in control, the parliament elected
Quwatly as president of Syria.
During 1944 the Syrian government took over the functions of 14 administrative
departments which had been under direct French control since 1920. These
included those dealing with customs, social affairs, excise taxes, control of
concessionary companies, and supervision of tribes. France retained control of
social, cultural, and educational services as well as the Troupes Speciales du
Levant (Levantine Special Forces), which were used for security purposes.
Despite French opposition, the Soviet Union in July and the United States in
September 1944 granted Syria and Lebanon unconditional recognition as sovereign
states; British recognition followed a year later. These Allied nations
pressured France to evacuate Syria.
The new Syrian government demanded either the immediate and unconditional
transfer of the Troupes Speciales de Levant to Syrian control or their
disbandment, and threatened to form a national army unless such action was
taken. But France made withdrawal of the troops dependent on Syria's signature
of a treaty assigning France a privileged position in the country.
In January 1945, the Syrian government announced the formation of a national
army and in February declared war on the Axis powers. In March the nation became
a charter member of the United Nations (UN), an indication of its sovereign
status, and, in April, affirmed its allegiance to the idea of Arab unity by
signing the pact of the League of Arab States (Arab League).
The way in which the French left Syria, however, increased the already bitter
feelings the Syrians had toward France. France was adamant in its demand that
its cultural, economic, and strategic interests be protected by treaty before
agreeing to withdraw the Troupes Speciales du Levant. In May 1945,
demonstrations occurred in Damascus and Aleppo and, for the third time in 20
years, the French bombed and machine-gunned the ancient capital. Serious
fighting broke out in Homs and Hamah as well. Only after Britain's Prime
Minister Winston Churchill threatened to send troops to Damascus did General de
Gaulle order a cease-fire. A UN resolution in February 1946 called on France to
evacuate. The French acceded and, by April 15, 1946, all French troops were off
Syrian soil. On April 17 Syria celebrated Evacuation Day; the date is a national
holiday.
**After Independence
The legacy of ancient Syria, the Arab empire, Ottoman rule, and the French
Mandate left the people of Syria with loyalties to both their own nation and
their neighbors. During the period of the French Mandate, Syria's
leaders--though often competing with each other for power--were generally united
in their single goal of freedom from French rule. Conflicts between diverse
groups were postponed, as Syrian unity was essential for the independence fight.
With the departure of the French, however, unity among the leaders disappeared.
Aleppines contested with Damascenes for dominance in commercial and political
life; the Druzes pledged allegiance to Druzes, the Kurds to Kurds, and tribal
peoples to tribal institutions. Alawis, the poorest yet largest of the
minorities, tried to rebel from Sunni Muslim control. Rural leaders contended
with urban leaders; the progressive, increasingly secularized, younger
generation vied with the older, religious-minded leaders. Politicians differed
over the kind of government Syria should have--monarchy or republic,
parliamentary or presidential democracy.
Although most leaders agreed that the Syria they inherited was merely a part of
a larger Arab nation, they disagreed on the form such a nation should take.
Trade-minded Aleppines preferred Iraq and the Hashimites, as did some of the
older leaders who had joined Faysal in 1918. Young, educated Damascenes rejected
the Hashimites, who they felt were backed by the British. The cultural heritage
of France and the American ideals of democracy induced many Syrians to look
westward for friendship. Others looked north to the Soviet Union, which from the
Syrian point of view had no record of intrigue in the Arab world.
Syria began its independent life under the presidency of Quwatly, backed by a
splintered parliament without real leadership. The nation's first crisis was the
independence of Israel, fruit of the Balfour Declaration and the Sykes-Picot
Agreement. In May 1948, Syrian troops invaded Israel in conjunction with other
Arab armies.
Toward the end of 1948, Syrian politicians became profoundly disappointed with
their government's failure not only to defeat Israel but also to regain the
former province of Alexandretta, to free blocked assets in France, and to
maintain an independent currency. Prime Minister Azm tried to cut army
expenditures, find backing for the Syrian pound, and construct a new pipeline
from Iraq to the Syrian coast. He failed in all of these efforts.
On March 30, 1949, Brigadier General Husni az Zaim, army chief of staff, staged
the first of Syria's numerous coups. He was cheered by the political opposition
and the urban masses who were tired of high prices and an inept bureaucracy.
Zaim, first backed by the British and then by the French, was recognized by Arab
and Western governments and was elected president of Syria after abolishing
political parties and proposing himself as the only candidate. He ratified an
agreement with the Trans-Arabian Pipeline Company (Tapline) and declared himself
ready to support a Middle Eastern-North Atlantic Treaty Organization if the
United States would give economic support to the area.
Although Zaim was deposed less than five months later in a countercoup, his
brief whirlwind rule was crowded with constructive action as well as oppressive
measures. His achievements included the start of construction on the Euphrates
River project to bring water to Aleppo; initiation of the Latakia harbor
project; building of new roads and hospitals; framing of new civil laws,
commercial laws, and penal codes; granting of suffrage to women; and the
abolition of private waqfs (charitable religious endowments). But Zaim's
personal ambition depleted the treasury and lost him political support.
Syria's second coup was led by Brigadier General Sami al Hinnawi, who arrested
Zaim and Prime Minister Muhsin al Barazi on August 14, 1949. After a trial
before the Council of War, both were executed. Under the provisional government
of Hashim al Atassi, a new electoral law was adopted, and women voted for the
first time in the election of November 15-16, 1949. Although Hinnawi's coup
returned Syrian government to civilian politicians, the army remained watchful
in the background.
***Shishakli Dictatorship
On December 19, 1949, army leadership changed hands when Colonel Adib Shishakli
arrested Hinnawi and accused him of conspiring with a foreign
power--Iraq--against Syrian interests. While the army waited, civilian
politicians tried to stabilize the government, and on September 4, 1950, the
Constituent Assembly approved a new constitution and reconstituted itself as the
Chamber of Deputies. But the leaderless civilians were unable to maintain
authority. Inflation produced dissatisfaction in the cities, and hoarding,
unemployment, and rioting followed. An economic dispute with the Lebanese, who
were opposed to Syria's protective tariffs policy, led to the breaking of the
seven-year- old economic agreement between the countries. Increasing opposition
to army influence--Shishakli demanded that the minister of national defense be
his specially selected follower, Major General Fawzi Silu--forced Shishakli's
hand. On November 28, 1951, he carried out the country's third coup by arresting
the cabinet ministers and appointing Silu prime minister. Shishakli exercised
blatant dictatorial control, tightening his hold over the civil service and the
courts and legislating by decree. On April 6, 1952, he abolished all political
parties and tried to fill the vacuum by creating his own party--the Arab
Liberation Movement (ALM).
In a July 1953 referendum, Syrians approved a new constitution making Syria a
presidential republic with Shishakli as president. The subsequent Chamber of
Deputies was packed with ALM deputies, the other parties having boycotted the
election.
Signs that Shishakli's regime would collapse appeared at the end of 1953 with
student strikes and the circulation of unusually virulent pamphlets urging
sedition. The major political parties, meeting at Homs in September, agreed to
resist and overthrow Shishakli. Trouble developed among the Druzes, and
Shishakli declared martial law. The army, infiltrated by Shishakli's opponents,
staged Syria's fourth coup on February 25, 1954, and restored the 1949
government.
***Radical Political Influence
The ouster of Shishakli brought out once more the conflicts among the diverse
political elements of the country. Cabinet succeeded cabinet as shifting
coalitions of conservatives on the one hand and left-wing socialists on the
other vied for supremacy. By 1955 the balance began to swing in favor of
leftwing elements, notably the Baath Party and the Syrian Communist Party, the
only parties in Syria with effective organizations and definite platforms and
the only ones not based on sectarian interests. Their platforms coincided on
some issues, and they sometimes cooperated in achieving their goals: economic
and political reform aimed at dislodging the ineffective entrenched leadership
that was at once quasi-feudal, mercantile, and Western connected; Arab unity;
and close cooperation with the Soviets to counter alleged Western designs on the
Arab homeland.
Anti-Western sentiment had been ever-present in independent Syria, resulting
from deep disappointment over perceived British betrayal at Versailles and
resentment of French policies under the mandate. It had reached a high pitch
after the creation of Israel, considered another example of Western connivance
against the Arabs, but was subdued by the pro-Western Shishakli. In 1955 it was
vocal again under the stimulation of local politicians and Soviet propaganda.
The British-French-Israeli invasion of Sinai in late 1956 gave it additional
impetus.
The gradual ascendance to power of left-wing radicals brought close relations
with the Soviet Union and other communist countries. Several barter agreements
were signed between 1954 and 1956; cultural agreements were concluded, missions
were exchanged, and an arms deal was signed in 1956. At the same time, Syria
became increasingly isolated from its Arab neighbors.
During 1957 the conservatives were virtually eliminated as a political factor.
In May they suffered a crushing defeat in byelections after four traditionally
conservative representatives were convicted of conspiracy. Later that year
conservatives failed in an effort to form an effective coalition in parliament
to counter the radicals, and conservative and moderate army officers failed to
dislodge known Communists from strategic posts in the army. By the end of 1957,
Baathists, with their Communist and other left-wing allies, were in control of
the government.
The success of the radicals in gaining control resulted largely from close
cooperation between the Baathists and Communists. The Communists had been
growing rapidly in number and strength as popularity of the East and dislike of
the West grew, and, by the end of 1957, they threatened Baathist domination of
the radical alliance. Moderates in Syria and abroad feared an imminent Communist
takeover. The Baathists became alarmed when a new radical party was formed to
counter their influence and to cooperate with the Communists. The last months of
1957 saw a fierce behind-the-scenes struggle for supremacy within the radical
camp.
***United Arab Republic
Seeing no way to preserve its position through domestic maneuvering, the
government turned to Egypt's President Gamal Abdul Nasser for help. Discussions
about a union between Syria and Egypt had been held in 1956 but had been
interrupted by the Suez crisis. The subject was brought up again in December
1957, when the Baath Party announced that it was drafting a bill for union with
Egypt. Although the Baath Party knew that Nasser's declared hostility to
political parties would mean the end of its legal existence, it calculated that
the group most affected would be the Communists, whose counterparts in Egypt
were being ruthlessly persecuted. The Baathists expected Nasser to dissolve all
parties but envisaged a special role for themselves in the new state because of
their continued support of Nasser and their identification with his views. For
his part, Nasser was reluctant to burden himself with a troubled Syria and
agreed to the union only after a Syrian delegation convinced him of the
seriousness of the communist threat. The union of Syria and Egypt in the United
Arab Republic (UAR) was announced on February 1, 1958, and later ratified by a
plebiscite in each country.
The form in which the UAR emerged was not what the Baathists had envisioned. One
of Nasser's conditions for union was that the two countries be completely
integrated, not just federated as the Syrians proposed, and Syria soon found
itself dominated by the stronger, more efficient Egypt. The Provisional
Constitution of 1958 called for a unitary cabinet and a 600-member assembly,
composed of 400 Egyptians and 200 Syrians, half of the members being drawn from
the then-existing national assemblies. Syria and Egypt were designated regions
of the UAR, each headed by an appointed executive council. Nasser was
unanimously chosen president of the republic, and two of the four vice
presidents were Syrians, one of them Akram Hawrani, leader of the Baath Party.
The first cabinet included 14 Syrians out of 34 members, all of them leading
politicians and military figures whom Nasser wanted removed from their bases of
power. As expected, all political parties were dissolved; but the Baathists did
not find themselves in the favored position they expected. The UAR was
completely run by Nasser.
Although a number of nationalization and land reform measures had been
implemented in Syria, Nasser felt that socialist reform and integration with
Egypt were moving too slowly and, in October 1959, appointed Egyptian Vice
President Abdul Hakim Amir to supervise policy in Syria. The Syrians, however,
were increasingly dissatisfied with Egypt's domination. Egyptians took over a
large number of the important administrative posts in Syria, and Syrian army
officers were transferred to Egypt while Egyptians took posts in Syria. Growing
political unrest in Syria was exacerbated by an economic crisis brought about by
prolonged drought. Nasser made little apparent effort to placate Syrian
dissatisfaction and continued with his planned integration of the UAR. On
September 28, 1961, a military coup was staged in Damascus, and Syria seceded
from the UAR.
***Coups and Countercoups, 1961-70
The military coup again brought out all the competing factions and interest
groups. In December 1961, all political groups, except the Communists and
pro-Nasser factions, participated in a general election for a constituent
assembly. Although party labels were not used, only a few known Baathists were
elected to an assembly dominated by moderates and conservatives.
The new assembly elected Nazim al Qudsi president of the republic, and he in
turn named a conservative, Maruf Dawalibi, prime minister. In January 1962, the
assembly repealed major sections of a July 1961 decree that had nationalized
various industrial and commercial firms, and, in February, it amended in favor
of the landlords the land-reform measures that had been implemented during the
period of union.
The new government succeeded in pleasing few and alienating many, and, on March
28, 1962, there was another military coup. President Qudsi resigned, as did the
prime minister and the cabinet, and the executive and legislative functions of
the government were taken over by an organization called the General Command of
the Army and Armed Forces. Demonstrations against this new coup broke out in
several of the major cities and, on April 5, the seven military officers who had
organized and implemented the coup were sent into exile by other military
leaders. On April 10 Qudsi resumed the presidency.
The events between April and September were confusing. According to some
factions, the assembly had been dissolved; other groups contended that the
assembly had voluntarily resigned; and still others asserted that the assembly
continued to exist although it was not allowed to meet. A new prime minister
formed a government that restored several of the socialist measures of the UAR
period but banned all political parties.
By early September 1962 clashes between pro-Nasser and antiNasser elements had
become more violent and more frequent, as had the student demonstrations and
terrorist bombings. On September 13, President Qudsi appointed Khalid al Azm as
the new prime minister and allowed the National Assembly, supposedly defunct, to
convene at his residence. In its single session, the Assembly confirmed Azm's
appointment and approved three seemingly contradictory measures: first, the
reinstated Constituent Assembly was to be called the Constitutional Assembly;
second, the government could legislate in the absence of the Assembly; and
third, the government was granted the authority to dissolve the Assembly with
the understanding that new elections would be held within one year. On September
20 the Assembly was again dissolved.
Although Azm included representatives of all political factions except the
extreme pro-Nasser group in this cabinet, he was unable to govern effectively
and, by early 1963, four of the seven military officers who had been exiled
after their successful coup in March 1962 made another coup attempt. This time
they were unsuccessful, and they again went into exile. Their abortive coup was
poorly planned and elicited no discernible support from the military, but in
February the government attempted to purge the army of an estimated 120 officers
who were believed to pose a threat. On March 8 there was yet another coup by the
military, and on March 9 Salah al Din al Bitar, who with Michel Aflaq had
founded the Baath Party in the 1940s, became prime minister for the first of
several times.
Bitar included five pro-Nasserites in his cabinet, but in early May these five
ministers were forced to resign, and 47 officers and 1,000 noncommissioned
officers who were believed to be pro-Nasser were forced out of the army. On May
11 Bitar resigned, but a week later he returned to form a new government. During
May and June 1963, the situation continued to be confused, and on July 17 and 18
an estimated 2,000 Nasserites attempted a coup. The fighting was intense for a
few hours in Damascus, but the coup was crushed. Major General Amin al Hafiz--a
Sunni Baathist army officer who had risen with the neo-Baathists-- emerged as
the strong man, serving as commander in chief of the armed forces, president of
the National Council of the Revolutionary Command (subsequently known as the
National Council of the Revolution--NCR), deputy prime minister, minister of
defense, minister of the interior, and deputy military governor. On August 4,
Bitar formed another government, his third in six months.
The attempted coup marked a turning point in the country's domestic affairs. It
was the first time that a coup or coup attempt had resulted in widespread
violence and loss of life. On July 19, eight army officers and 12 civilians were
convicted in summary trials before revolutionary security courts and were
executed by firing squads the same day. This pattern of violence was to be
repeated by the Baathists in seizing and retaining power.
On November 11, 1963, Bitar again resigned, and Hafiz became prime minister,
retaining as well the other posts he previously held. By April 1964 urban unrest
had again become serious. In Hamah, for example, the military measures taken to
suppress the uprisings resulted in what Hafiz described as "frightful carnage."
On May 14, Hafiz resigned as prime minister but retained his other posts, and
Bitar formed another government.
Between May 1964 and February 1966, there were frequent changes of government
reflecting the contest for power between the centrist and leftist wings of the
Baath Party. The occasional urban and town riots, student disorders, and
pro-Nasser demonstrations were sternly repressed. During this period Hafiz
continued to dominate the public scene, but two other Baathist generals, both
Alawis, began to exercise decisive power. On February 23, 1966, these two
generals, Salah al Jadid and Hafiz al Assad, joined Nureddin Atassi in a coup
that placed the more extremist wing of the Baath Party in power.
***Neo-Baath Dominance, 1963-66
During the period of union with Egypt, the first stimulus for revival of the
Syrian Baath Party came from a group of Syrian officers stationed in Egypt who
styled themselves the Military Committee. This committee at one time or another
included a Sunni, Amin al Hafiz; a Druze, Hamad Ubayd; and two Alawis, Muhammad
Umran and Jadid. After the secession from the UAR in 1961, the Syrian Baath
Party was formally reestablished at a party congress in May 1962. At this time,
Hawrani was dismissed from the party on doctrinal grounds for opposing Arab
unity. After the coup, these Baathist associates progressively moved to displace
the coup leaders from the senior positions in the army and the newly formed,
self-appointed, and largely anonymous National Council of the Revolutionary
Command. It was with this latter body that effective power rested and not with
Bitar's cabinet, as was clearly demonstrated in the provisional constitution
decreed on March 24, 1963, and in its replacement promulgated on April 25, 1964.
The coming to power of the Baath Party in 1963 is sometimes referred to as "the
revolution," although the March 8 coup was not executed by the Baathists and did
not actually initiate the great social revolution postulated in Baathist
ideology. In any case the party was supreme, but factionalism continued within
the Baathist regime.
Five major centers of power existed in Syria. The National Council of the
Revolutionary Command, preeminent in 1963, was changed by the Constitution of
1964 into the NCR, was enlarged in membership, and became an appointed
legislative body. Highest authority was vested in a five-man presidency council
elected from its membership. Other power centers included the Ministry of
Defense and the top army command echelon, the government structure of prime
minister and cabinet, the Regional Command, and the National Command. The
dominant clique at any time had representation in all of them; many officials
held multiple offices with positions in two or more power centers; and top level
coordination of the centers was accomplished, in effect, by an interlocking
directorate.
Broad factional differences developed between pan-Arab nationalist adherents to
the old-guard Baath leadership of Aflaq and Bitar on the one hand and those who
became known as regionalists, emphasizing Syria first, on the other. A principal
area of contention was their attitudes toward Arab unity, specifically toward
some kind of reunion with Egypt or union with Iraq or both.
Aflaq's nationalists varied from strong to moderate in their support of union,
although they wanted it on their own terms and at a rapid rate, with a high
priority. In contrast, the regionalists, while giving lip service to unity,
varied from weak moderates favoring a go-slow approach with low priority to
opponents of union. In the regionalist camp were the rising Alawi Baath officers
Jadid, Assad, and Umran.
The neo-Baathists as a whole believed that the nationalization and land-reform
measures started under Nasser but reversed during the conservative interregnum
of September 1961 to March 1963 should be restored. The question centered on the
rate of movement to socialization. Aflaq's adherents favored a moderate, slow
approach, whereas the regionalists tended to favor extensive measures quickly
carried out. The regionalists became known as radicals, the radical wing, or
"the extremists." They also inclined to the establishment of closer, more
exclusive ties with the Soviet Union than the old guard, which viewed an
exclusive Soviet position of influence as nothing but a new form of imperialism.
Discussions with President Nasser in Cairo resulted on April 17, 1963, in a
statement of intent to form a union of Syria, Egypt, and Iraq. This venture,
however, collapsed by July 22. In Syria a major pro-Nasserite military coup
attempt in early July was put down with severity by Hafiz, the minister of
interior and military governor. This coup attempt served thereafter to justify
Baathist monopolization of power; it confirmed the change in style from the
pre-1963 pattern of relatively bloodless coups and marked the advent to the top
power position of Hafiz, who was to become a virtual dictator for the lext two
and one-half years.
On July 27, 1963, Hafiz acquired the additional titles of president of the
National Council of the Revolutionary Command, president of the republic,
commander in chief, and minister of defense. He was also a member of both the
regional and national commands of the Baath Party. In November he became prime
minister, although from time to time he called on civilians, such as Bitar and
Yusuf Zuayyin, to hold this post.
From the outset Hafiz aligned himself with Aflaq's old-guard civilian wing of
the party, which was dominant in the National Command. This was to their mutual
benefit, and the civilian leadership allowed the military Baathists a free hand
in purging and structuring the forces into an "ideological army" (see Historical
Background , ch. 5). Coordination between military and civilian party functions
was restricted to the top level. This free-hand policy proved to be a mistake
for the civilian leadership. Ties of party discipline with the military wing
were dissolved and an intensifying military-civilian split developed. In a
reversal of positions, the military Baathists became sponsors of the civilian
old guard, which then found itself in the role of junior partner.
During party congresses from 1962 to 1964, strong bids for power were made by a
new Marxist faction of the party, which, although finally overcome in party
maneuvering, exerted influence and precipitated events having lasting effects.
At the congress of October 1963, propositions evincing a new ideological tone
were adopted. Identity with "oppressed peoples everywhere" was declared, in
contrast to the old Baathist limitation to the Arab nation, and terms such as
class struggle, scientific socialism, and popular struggle were injected. These
generic Marxist phrases were not, in fact, employed in the sense commonly
understood in Marxian dialectic but were considerably altered by an Arab
nationalist context. Their use, nevertheless, indicated a leftwing drift in the
Baath Party. In particular, the notion of popular struggle was used to support
the Maoist doctrine of the "people's war of liberation," which became a tenet of
neoBaathist ideology in its endorsement of the Palestinian guerrilla movements
against Israel.
The regionalist side of the political spectrum welcomed the aspects of the
leftward drift in ideology that both mitigated the intense Arab unity theme of
the old guard and called for a more intense commitment to nationalization and
socialism. The military Baathists welcomed the leftist doctrinal rationale for
subordinating individual liberties to the society as a whole. The military,
however, took strong exception to the left-wing's demand for exclusion of the
military from politics and to personal assaults on the "rightist character" of
many Baathist officers.
Hafiz and the inner core of the Military Committee, along with Aflaq and Bitar's
old guard, successfully engineered the expulsion of the Marxist wing from the
party's Regional Command at a conference early in February 1964 and from the
National Command later the same month. A new 15-member Regional Command was then
formed and included seven officers of the Military Committee.
Hafiz sought to balance his position by developing support among different
factions, even including the politically excommunicated Hawrani, and he made
considerable use of both Alawi and Druze officers. In November 1963, he
installed the Alawi Baathist Jadid in the key post of army chief of staff. Jadid
emerged as a staunch regionalist.
Hafiz's right-hand man in the Baath military-political structure was Umran,
another Alawi but of a different tribe from that of Jadid and the latter's
quietly rising associate, Hafiz al Assad. By the end of 1964 Umran had reversed
his stance on several issues, including the matter of Hawrani and union, and was
then at odds with Hafiz. He was removed from party position but allowed to take
the post of ambassador to Spain.
At the party convention of April 1965, the military and civilian branches of the
regional party were constitutionally merged, and the top post of secretary
general of the Regional Command passed to Jadid. The contention between the
older AflaqBitar Baathists and the regionalists had long been organizationally
reflected in contention between the National Command and the Syrian Regional
Command over the location of principal party power. Assumption of control of the
Regional Command by Jadid brought to that post an Alawi who was a senior
military officer, the strong man of the shadowy Military Committee, and the
staunchest proponent of regionalist Baathism.
***The Baath Redirections of 1966 and 1970
By the summer of 1965, Hafiz began seeking to limit the influence of the Alawis
and Druzes. His own political orientation had begun to shift toward compromise,
moderation, union, and the slowing down of socialism. In September 1965, he
removed Jadid from the post of army chief of staff, but the latter entrenched
himself in his party position as secretary general of the Regional Command. On
December 21, 1965, the National Command dissolved the Regional Command and
removed Jadid's three supporters from the five-man presidency council.
At the same time, Hafiz dismissed the cabinet of Prime Minister Zuayyin, who had
become a regionalist. He then called on the perennial Bitar to form a new
cabinet (his fifth) and recalled General Umran as minister of defense. On
Hafiz's authority, extensive transfers of Jadid's supporters in the army were
planned. On February 18, 1966, Aflaq condemned the Jadid faction for
"degenerating into regional separatism" and (although he himself had assisted
the process) for the military usurpation of party and government power from the
civilian leadership. Thus, the stage was set for a confrontation between the two
parts of the Baath Party.
On February 23, 1966, Jadid, the Regional Command, and their army units seized
the government in the bloodiest of the many coups d'etat since 1949. The general
public, however, displayed no inclination to fight for one Baathist military
faction against the other.
Hafiz, wounded in the fighting, was arrested and imprisoned; the old National
Command was denounced and expelled; and Aflaq and Bitar were read out of the
party. Later released, both took refuge in Lebanon. One of the first acts of the
Regional Command after seizing the radio station was the announcement of the
appointment of Major General Hafiz al Assad as minister of defense.
On March 1, 1966, a new government was formed. Jadid remained outside the formal
structure of government, directing affairs through his position as party leader.
So as not to appear as an outright military dictatorship, the regime designated
prominent regionalist Baath civilians to office: Nureddin Atassi as president of
the republic; Yusuf Zuayyin, again as prime minister; and Ibrahim Makhus as
foreign minister. All were physicians and representatives of the urban
intellectuals. The first two were Sunnis; Makhus, an Alawi. In the Regional
Command, the top five positions were held by Jadid, Atassi, Zuayyin, Makhus, and
Assad, in that order.
On September 8, 1966, a military countercoup attempt was led by a Druze, Salim
Hatum, a leading partner of Jadid in the February 23 coup. Although Hatum's men
actually arrested President Atassi, the army chief of staff Major General Ahmad
Suwaydani, and Jadid himself, the attempt failed when Assad threatened to send
the air force against Hatum's forces. The Workers' Battalions, a proletarian
national guard organized by Khalid al Jundi and influenced by the Chinese Red
Guard concept, also declared for Jadid. Agreement was reached between the
factions for an exchange of prisoners, and on the following morning Hatum and
his associates fled to Jordan. He returned to Syria in early June 1967 to fight,
he said, against Israel; he was arrested and shot.
The traumatic defeat of the Syrians and Egyptians in the June 1967 War with
Israel discredited the radical socialist regimes of Nasser's Egypt and Baathist
Syria. The Jadid faction, which included Atassi, Zuayyin, and Makhus, was
particularly hurt. The defeat strengthened the hands of the moderates and the
rightists and was the catalyst for Assad's ascent in Syria.
In the fall of 1968, open controversy developed between Assad, reportedly
representing a moderate faction centered in the military, and extremists of
Jadid's civilian regime. Although Jadid's power in the party remained strong, in
March 1969 an ostensible compromise was reached between Assad and Jadid. The new
government formed in May made minor concessions to broadening the political base
but represented no real change in domestic or foreign policy. The rank order in
the party's hierarchy remained unchanged. Assad continued as minister of
defense. A number of Syrian Communists were arrested, and their leader Bakdash
again left the country.
The conflict between the Jadid civilian wing and the Assad military wing of the
party continued through 1970, and the government, although reported to be widely
unpopular, remained in firm control of the country. From time to time different
measures bore the influence of the two factions. Party purges had decimated the
air force, which suffered from a critical pilot shortage, and Assad succeeded in
restoring to duty a number of air force pilots who had been retired for
political reasons. The Regional Command headed by Jadid, rather than the
Ministry of Defense, retained complete control of its institutionalized
Palestine guerrilla force, As Saiqa (Thunderbolt) (see Special and Irregular
Armed Forces , ch. 5).
In its radical revolutionary role, the regime proclaimed support for the
guerrilla movements but, while polemically assailing Jordan and Lebanon for
their efforts to control Palestinian guerrillas in their territories, did not
hesitate to control the guerrillas in Syria. As Saiqa was not allowed to launch
operations from Syrian soil against Israel because of the danger of reprisal,
but was frequently used within Syria for party security purposes.
In inter-Arab affairs, the Jadid and Assad factions largely negated one another.
Syria remained at odds with most Arab states, especially Jordan, Lebanon, and
Iraq.
In September 1970, the Jordanian army launched attacks on PLO camps and on
Palestinian refugee camps that were under the control of PLO units; most were in
the vicinity of Amman. Jordan's King Hussein ordered the assaults in response to
efforts by the PLO to implement its avowed policy of deposing Hussein and other
Arab monarchs. The hostilities in Jordan--which became known by the PLO and its
supporters as Black September--had a profound impact on the Arab world and
particularly on the government in Syria.
During the civil war that lasted 10 days, Syria sent some 200 tanks (nominally
of the Palestine Liberation Army--PLA) to aid the PLO forces. Iraq, Syria's
Baathist rival, had a force of about 12,000 men stationed near Az Zarqa
northeast of Amman; these troops did not participate in the fighting and
withdrew to Iraq a few days later. The United States dispatched the Sixth Fleet
to the eastern Mediterranean, and the Israeli air force openly assumed a posture
of military preparedness. Most important, the Syrian air force refused to
provide air cover to the Syrian tank brigade, which came under severe attacks
first by the Jordanian air force and then by the Jordanian army. On September 23
and 24, the Syrian expeditionary force withdrew from the battle zone and
returned to Syria.
Syria's military fiasco in Jordan reflected political disagreement within the
ruling Baath leadership. The Jadid faction argued for full support of and
participation with the PLO in Jordan; Assad and his associates opposed such
action. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which was fear of a
devastating Israeli reprisal, Assad refused to commit his air force to support
the tank units. Jadid and his supporters were militarily and politically
humiliated.
The Baath Party's tenth congress, held in Damascus, lasted two weeks and ended
November 12, 1970. This conference, labeled an extraordinary session of the
National Command, underscored Jadid's continuing control of the party apparatus.
It adopted resolutions reaffirming the government's position in internal and
foreign affairs and censuring Assad and his chief of staff Major General Mustafa
Tlas on the grounds of improper military influence in the government.
On November 13, 1970, army units arrested Jadid, Atassi, and Zuayyin along with
several others and seized the centers of communication without effective
opposition. Although a few minor demonstrations occurred, the overthrow was
virtually bloodless. Jadid was detained under guard; Atassi, in house arrest.
The others were soon released.
On November 16, the Regional Command of the Baath Party issued a statement
saying that the change that had occurred was a transfer of power within the
party showing that the party's progressive rank and file were stronger than the
misdirected forces of dictators. A new party congress was to be convened to
reorganize the party; a national front government was to be organized under
revised Baathist leadership; and a people's council, or legislature, was to be
formed within three months. Continued support for the Palestinian cause was
affirmed.
On November 19, 1970, the Regional Command announced the designation of Ahmad al
Khatib, a respected but hitherto little- known politician, as acting chief of
state and of Lieutenant General Assad as prime minister and minister of defense.
Assad then formed a 26-man cabinet, consisting of about one-half Assad Baathists
and the balance scattered among Socialists, Nasserists, Independents, and
Communists. This cabinet met for the first time on November 23, 1970. In a press
interview Assad claimed that the change in government had been neither a coup
nor the result of political conflict along lines of military-civilian division,
but a natural development in the party's revolutionary movement, often referred
to as the "Correction Movement."
**The Assad Era
A section of Hamah, before and after the devastating government assault
Soon after taking power, Assad moved quickly to create an organizational
infrastructure for the government. In February 1971, the 173-member People's
Council was organized, with the Baath Party taking 87 seats; the remaining seats
were divided among the "popular organizations" and other minor parties. In March
1971 the Baath Party held its regional congress and elected the 21-member
Regional Command headed by Assad. That same month, by a national referendum,
Assad was elected president for a 7- year term and in April Major Abdul Rahman
Khulayfawi was designated prime minister with Mahmud al Ayyubi as vice
president. The transfer of power from Jadid to Assad was widely regarded as a
conservative and moderating movement away from Communist radicalism.
In foreign affairs Syria's relations with the Soviet Union, strained toward the
end of 1970, improved dramatically in 1971 and 1972. Syria's relations with
other Arab states, particularly Egypt and Libya, became more cordial, as
demonstrated by the April 1971 formation of the short-lived Federation of Arab
Republics, made up of Syria, Egypt, and Libya.
In March 1972, the Progressive National Front was formed. It consisted of the
Baath Party and four non-Baathist groups: the Syrian Arab Socialist Union, a
Nasserite group under Jamal Atassi; the Socialist Union Movement under Jamal
Sufi; the Arab Socialist Party, composed of the followers of the Baathist Akram
Hawrani; and the Syrian Communist Party, under Khalid Bakdash.
In March 1973, the Permanent Constitution went into effect, further
strengthening Assad's already formidable presidential authority. However, the
Assad regime was not without underlying tension. This tension stemmed from
sectarian differences between the majority Sunni Muslims and the minority
Alawis; but it had much wider implications, not the least of which were
political. The immediate focus of the opposition to the regime was the demand by
Sunni Muslims that Islam be declared the state religion in the constitution. The
draft constitution that was adopted by the People's Council at the end of
January 1973 had no provision to that effect. Viewing the constitution as the
product of an Alawi-dominated, secular, Baathist ruling elite, Sunni militants
staged a series of riots in February 1973 in conservative and predominantly
Sunni cities such as Hamah and Homs. A number of demonstrators were killed and
wounded in clashes between the troops and demonstrators. As a result of these
demonstrations, the Assad regime had the draft charter amended to include a
provision that the president of Syria must be a Muslim. Implicit in this
amendment was a declaration that Alawis are Muslims--a formula not accepted by
many Sunni Muslims. The draft was approved in a popular referendum held in
mid-March for formal promulgation. Assad's compromise, coupled with the
government's effective security measures, calmed the situation, but sporadic
demonstrations continued through April 1973. Other major developments in 1973
included the holding in March of parliamentary elections for the People's
Council, the first since 1962, and the Syrian-Egyptian war against Israel in
October. Syrian forces acquitted themselves better against the Israeli forces in
the October 1973 War than in the 1967 one; in fact, the war was widely regarded
in Syria as a "victory" and helped to boost Syrian morale substantially.
Moreover, in 1974, as a result of the disengagement agreement, Syria recovered
parts of the Golan Heights it initially had lost to Israel.
In foreign affairs, the Assad regime charted a pragmatic and increasingly
independent course. It maintained close ties with the Soviet Union and East
European states, ensuring a sustained flow of Soviet military aid, especially
after the October 1973 War. At the same time, Assad moved to improve Syrian
relations with Jordan and with the United States and other Western nations.
In May 1973, diplomatic relations with Britain, severed in 1967, were fully
restored. Relations with the United States, also severed in 1967, were
normalized in June 1974. Two months later diplomatic ties with the Federal
Republic of Germany (West Germany) were resumed after having been severed in
1965, when the West German government exchanged ambassadors with Israel.
Meanwhile, relations with Jordan grew progressively more cordial, so that in
August 1975 Syria and Jordan announced the establishment of a joint supreme
command to direct political and military action against Israel.
Perhaps the severest test of the Assad regime came in the latter half of the
1970s as a result of Syrian intervention in the Lebanese civil war. During 1976,
Assad was firmly resolved to stabilize the volatile Lebanese situation by
providing troops, first unilaterally and later as part of the Lebanese-based
peacekeeping Arab Deterrent Force (ADF). The Syrian intervention, in effect on
the side of the Lebanese Christian right against the Palestinians and Muslim
left, tended to aggravate relations with other Arab countries, Egypt and Iraq in
particular. In addition, the intervention in Lebanon was economically costly for
Syria and not popular domestically, and a cease-fire was arranged in October
1976. Even so, in early 1987 Syrian troops still controlled large portions of
eastern Lebanon.
Domestically, Assad's supremacy remained unassailable. He brooked no opposition
and his control of the Baath Party and the military and security organizations
was complete. All political activities continued to be closely monitored by the
party and a multiplicity of intelligence and security forces (see Civil Police
and Internal Security Apparatus , ch. 5). The regime did not rely primarily on
coercion, however; the Baath Party sought, with mixed results, to evolve into a
truly mass-based organization. The peasants, workers, and revolutionary
intellectuals continued to receive much rhetorical attention, and the party's
high command continued to explore the relative merits of socialism for the
Syrian economy. The regime's responsiveness to public opinion after 1976
apparently was prompted by three factors: first, renewed concern about the
persistence of sectarian tensions; second, an economic slowdown stemming from
the burden of military intervention in Lebanon as well as the considerable
decline and uncertainty of foreign aid from other Arab oil states; and finally,
signs of corruption in the higher echelons of the government and state-run
economic enterprises. In August 1976, official concern was manifested when Prime
Minister Mahmud al Ayyubi was replaced by Abdul Rahman Khulayfawi, a Sunni who
formerly headed the cabinet (1971-72) and who was also highly popular among army
officers for his honesty and thoroughness.
A major test of the regime's popularity came in August 1977 when Syrians went to
the polls to elect the People's Council for a 4-year term (1977-81). Election
results gave cause for concern; the voter turnout was dismally low even by
Syrian standards. It was estimated to range from 4 to 6 percent of the 4 million
eligible voters, even though the polls were kept open an extra day because of
the low turnout.
The election indicated the public's unhappiness with the government, an
unhappiness that prompted Assad to institute what came to be known as his
"anti-corruption campaign". To this end, the Committee for the Investigation of
Illegal Profits was formed. Opposition to the regime did not abate however, and,
on November 1, 1977, Ali ibn Abid al Ali, an Alawi professor of agriculture at
the University of Aleppo and a close a friend of Assad, was assassinated.
In February 1978, Assad was reelected for a second 7-year term (1978-85).
However, his reelection coincided with the beginning of a period of domestic
unrest. Even Assad's inner circle showed signs of dissolution; one of the first
was the dismissal of Naji Jamil, who was air force commander, chief of the
National Security Bureau, and deputy defense minister. His replacement was
Brigadier Muhammad Khuli, chief of air force intelligence and an Alawi. On March
30, 1978, the cabinet of Khulayfawi was dismissed and Muhammad Ali al Halabi was
asked to form a new cabinet. No significant changes were made in cabinet
membership.
The most important opposition groups during this period were Sunni Muslim
organizations, whose membership was drawn from urban Sunni youth. The largest
and most militant of these groups was the Muslim Brotherhood. Other
organizations included the Aleppo- based Islamic Liberation Movement,
established in 1963; the Islamic Liberation Party, originally established in
Jordan in the 1950s; Muhammad's Youth; Jundullah (Soldiers of God); and Marwan
Hadid's group, established in Hamah in 1965, often referred to as At Tali'a al
Muqatilia (Fighting Vanguard). All, it is rumored, received financial assistance
from private sources in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf countries, and the revolutionary
committees in Iran. It is also speculated that they received weapons smuggled
from Iraq and Lebanon and training and assistance from Al Fatah of the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO).
In addition to the militant Muslim opposition, there was opposition from
intellectuals and professional associations, whose purpose was not to overthrow
the regime but to reform it. The first time such groups challenged the
government was on March 31, 1980, in Aleppo and Hamah. Additional opposition
came from expatriate Syrian politicians, mostly Sunni Baath politicians of the
pre-1966 era who opposed the military and sectarian nature of the government and
its drift away from Arab nationalist policies. The leader of this group was
Bitar, the cofounder of the Baath Party.
In the spring of 1980, these nonmilitant professional groups formed a loose
alliance called the National Democratic Gathering and demanded freedom of the
press, freedom of political action, promulgation of civil law with the ending of
the state of emergency, and free parliamentary elections. The alliance had no
contact with the Muslim Brotherhood and was considered a peaceful alternative to
it.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s there were a number of religiously motivated
violent attacks, many instigated by the Muslim Brotherhood and directed at
Assad's regime, members of the ruling Baath Party, and members of the Alawi
religious sect. At the outset, rather than blaming the Muslim Brotherhood, the
government blamed Iraq and disaffected Palestinians for these acts, and it
retaliated by holding public hangings in September 1976 and June 1977.
In the spring of 1979, the Muslim Brotherhood claimed credit for a series of
attacks on persons, usually Alawis, and government and military installations.
The most serious attacks occurred in June 1979 when Muslim Brotherhood gunmen
killed 50 Alawi cadets at the military academy in Aleppo. This clearly showed
the Muslim Brotherhood's capability and determination. After this incident, the
government resolved to crush the opposition and did so ruthlessly. Nevertheless,
support for the Muslim Brotherhood grew over the next two years, and operations
against Syrian government officials and installations increased in number and
severity and included, for the first time, attacks on Soviet military and
civilian advisers in Syria.
Terrorist acts by the militant Sunni Muslims during this period centered around
urban centers such as Damascus, Hamah, Homs, and the coastal cities of Latakia
and Tartus. In March 1980, the attacks were directed at widespread targets, most
effectively in Aleppo. The violence reached its height on March 5. Although
Aleppo was the primary target, violence spread to Hamah, Homs, and Dayr az Zawr,
where Baath Party and military installations were attacked. In June 1980 an
attempt was made on Assad's life.
Government security forces tried to uproot the Muslim Brotherhood from Hamah and
Aleppo in late March and early April 1981. A large-scale search operation
resulted in the deaths of 200 to 300 people and the destruction of sections of
both cities. Tight security measures were implemented; membership in the Muslim
Brotherhood was made a capital offense, the use of motorcycles was banned in
some cities (they were used by the Muslim Brotherhood in hit-and-run attacks),
and under the guise of holding a general census, the Ministry of Interior
ordered all citizens 14 years of age and older to obtain new identity cards. In
addition, a series of political, economic, and social measures were aimed at
improving the regime's image and gaining more popular support.
In February 1982, the Muslim Brotherhood ambushed government forces who were
searching for dissidents in Hamah. Several thousand Syrian troops, supported by
armor and artillery, moved into the city and crushed the insurgents during two
weeks of bloodshed. When the fighting was over, perhaps as many as 10,000 to
25,000 people lay dead, including an estimated 1,000 soldiers. In addition,
large sections of Hamah's old city were destroyed. This battle led to the
establishment of the National Alliance for the Liberation of Syria, including
the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Front, the pro-Iraqi wing of the Baath
party, and other independent political figures. The destruction of Hamah and the
ruthlessness of Assad's measures apparently has had a chastening effect on
Syria's estimated 30,000 Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers.
In the 1980s, Syria continued to rely heavily on the Soviet Union, which
resupplied the Syrian armed forces with sophisticated weapons, and with which it
concluded a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation on October 8, 1980. This
relationship did not evolve, however, to either country's complete satisfaction.
As of 1987, Syria has not granted the Soviets permanent port facilities, and,
although the Soviets had pledged to defend Syria if it were attacked by Israel,
it refused to support a Syrian blitz on the Golan (see Foreign Policy , ch. 4).
Since the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980, Syria has aligned itself with
Iran, to the chagrin of the moderate Arab countries. Despite this alienation,
Syria has been receiving generous amounts of financial aid from Saudi Arabia,
which hopes that the funding will moderate Syria's radical policies. In
addition, since 1982, Syria has been receiving a substantial amount of oil from
Iran as repayment for its support and as compensation for the closure of the
Iraqi oil pipeline, which runs through Syria (see Foreign Trade , ch. 3).
Syrian-Israeli relations were tense during the early 1980s. In December 1981,
Israel formally annexed the Golan Heights; in June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon
and destroyed Syrian surface-to-air missiles deployed in the Biqa Valley as well
about 79 Syrian MiG-21 and MiG-23 aircraft (see Syria and the Middle East
Conflict , ch. 5).
In late 1986, Syria faced a multitude of domestic and foreign challenges, some
more threatening than others. The economy, for example, was in steady decline as
a result of, among other factors, a chronic balance of payments deficit, foreign
exchange shortages, a 3-year-long drought, low commodities prices, and reduced
subsidies from other Arab states (see Growth and Struture of the Economy , ch.
3). With President Assad in uncertain health, aspirants appeared to be
maneuvering to succeed him (see Political Dynamics , ch. 4). In foreign
relations, Syria remained fairly isolated from other Arab states, while
considerable numbers of Syrian troops were stationed in Lebanon, entangled in
that country's conflict (see Syria snd the Lebabese Crisis, 1975-87, ch. 5).
Furthermore, with Egypt at peace with Israel, and Iran and Iraq preoccupied with
their war, Syria assumed a major role in the Arab-Israeli dispute; in fact, some
Western observers openly speculated about renewed Syrian-Israeli hostilities
over the Golan Heights. Meanwhile, on the basis of investigations of incidents
which occurred in Europe, the United States and some Western European
governments were accusing the Syrian regime of actively supporting international
terrorism (see Sponsorship of Terrorism , ch. 5). Thus, in the late 1980s,
serious uncertainty remained concerning Syria's future.
---------------
Chapter 1 bibliographic notes:
Scholarly works on modern Syria are relatively few considering the importance of
the country. Much of the best material available is in periodical literature.
The single most authoritative study is Tabitha Petran's Syria, which offers
comprehensive analyses of the effect on Syria of its temporary union with Egypt,
the development of the Baath revolution, and the response of Syria to its
traumatic 1967 defeat by the Israelis. John F. Devlin has written a work
critical to a complete understanding of the Baath, The Ba'th Party: A History
from its Origins to 1966. In the same genre is Patrick Seale's The Struggle for
Syria. A.L. Tibawi's A Modern History of Syria, including Lebanon and Palestine
has excellent coverage of the period from the Ottomans up to, but not including,
the 1967 War. John Bagot Glubb's Syria Lebanon Jordan is a sensitive study
reflecting the author's knowledge of the area, gained from decades of experience
as commander of Jordan's Arab Legion. Philip K. Hitti's Syria, A Short History
remains the best single source for the ancient and medieval periods. Robin
Fedden's Syria and Lebanon is a reflective account of his travels there
interwoven with major cultural themes of Syria's ancient and medieval periods.
Well- written accounts of events that have taken place in Syria in the 1970s and
1980s can be found in John Devlin's book Modern Syria in an Ancient Land and in
the Middle East Contemporary Survey, edited by Colin Legum. (For further
information and complete citations see Bibliography.)
*************************8
*Chapter 2. The Society and Its Environment
Syrian society is a mosaic of social groups of various sizes that lacks both a
consistent stratification system linking all together and a set of shared values
and loyalties binding the population into one nation. Distinctions of language,
region, religion, ethnicity, and way of life cut across the society, producing a
large number of separate communities, each marked by strong internal loyalty and
solidarity. Although nearly twothirds of the people are Arabic-speaking Sunni
Muslims, they do not constitute a unitary social force because of the strongly
felt differences among beduin, villager, and urban dweller. A perceptive
observer has spoken of the "empty center" of Syrian society, a society lacking
an influential group embodying a national consensus.
The ethnic and religious minorities, none of which amounts to more than 15
percent of the population, nevertheless form geographically compact and
psychologically significant blocs that function as distinct social spheres and
dominate specific regions of the country. Because the religious groups in each
locality function as largely independent social universes, a "minority
mentality," characterized by suspicion toward those of different groups, is
widespread among both minority group members and those of the majority group
living in minority-dominated areas where they are therefore outnumbered.
Psychologically and politically, religious distinctions are by far the most
significant ones. In all groups, loyalty to one's fellow members, rather than to
a larger Syrian nation, is a paramount value.
The religious communities are more than groups of coworshipers; they are largely
self-contained social systems that regulate much of the daily life of their
members and receive their primary loyalty. The independence of the religious
communities is a distinctly divisive force in society. Although Islam provides
the central symbolic and cultural orientation for about 85 percent of Syrians,
minority communities, most with a long history in the region, maintain cultural
and religious patterns outside the Muslim consensus.
The religions, sects, and denominations differ widely in formal doctrine and
belief. Nevertheless, there exists in Syria a stratum of folk belief and
practice common to rural and uneducated persons of many religions. Members of
various groups hold certain common beliefs in saints and spirits and observe
related practices, such as exorcism and visitation of shrines, regardless of the
disapproval of the orthodox religious authorities.
In addition to linguistic and religious dissimilarities, three forms of
traditional social and ecological organization further divide the society. Most
Syrians, including many members of religious and ethnic minorities, inhabit
rural villages and earn their living as subsistence farmers. A dwindling number
live the admired nomadic life of the beduin, or tribesman. The remainder,
including a substantial number of recent migrants from the countryside, live in
cities and towns, many of which date from ancient times. Each of these three
represents a distinct, usually hereditary, way of life, followed by particular
social groups and separated from the others by such social barriers as marriage
restrictions, education, and occupation.
The ascent to power of minority groups and their implementation of Baathist
policies of secularism and socialism, has left most non-Muslims financially
better off than the average Syrian, putting them in an anomalous position. On
the one hand, many have reasserted their solidarity with Syria's opposition to
Israel, the West, alleged imperialism, and capitalism. On the other hand, some
observers have noted an exodus of numerous urban businessmen, professionals, and
managers, particularly Christians and non-Arabs. In response, during the mid-
and late-1970s, the government encouraged the return of these émigrés and
attempted to develop a climate more favorable to them.
Successive Syrian regimes have attempted to consolidate a Syrian national
identity by eliminating the centrifugal effects of sectarianism. Despite these
efforts, Syria's postindependence history is replete with conflict between
minority groups and the central government.
In part this conflict can be attributed to the French mandatory administration,
from which Syria inherited a confessional system of parliamentary representation
similar to that of Lebanon, in which specific seats were allocated to
Christians, Kurds, Druzes, Alawis, Circassians, Turkomans, and Jews. These
ethnic and religious groups were guaranteed 35 of parliament's 142 seats.
Minority groups also protested what they believed to be infringement on their
political rights, and in 1950 successfully blocked efforts by the Sunni Muslim
president to declare Islam the official state religion. A 1953 bill finally
abolished the communal system of parliamentary representation;subsequent
legislation eliminated separate jurisdictional rights in matters of personal and
legal status which the French had granted certain minority groups.
The struggle to balance minority rights and Sunni Islamic majority
representation remains a paramount theme in Syrian domestic affairs. In 1987,
the Syrian government was dominated by President Hafiz al Assad's Alawi
minority. The secular socialism of the ruling Baath (Arab Socialist
Resurrection) Party deemphasized Islam as a component of Syrian and Arab
nationalism. However, Baath ideology prescribed that non-Muslims respect Islam
as their "national culture."
In 1986 educational and cultural institutions remained under close governmental
supervision. Such institutions were designed to further government objectives by
raising the general level of education and literacy, strengthening awareness of
Arab cultural achievements, building public support for official policies
resting on the principles of the ruling Baath Party and seeking to foster a
sense of Syrian national unity. Public bodies serving these objectives
multiplied during the late 1960s and by the mid1980s included the ministries of
education, higher education, information, and national guidance and culture.
Their activities were complemented by several directorates, authorities, and
planning boards. In the consolidated budget for fiscal year ( FY-- see Glossary)
1985, nearly LS (Syrian pound) 3.43 billion (for value of the Syrian pound, see
Glossary), or 14.5 percent of the government's expenditure, were earmarked for
education of minorities. Despite the educational system's failure to achieve the
government's goals, education remained an important channel of upward mobility
for minorities.
**Geography and Population
Throughout its history, Syria's political and economic importance has been
largely attributable to its position at the crossroads of three continents and
several cultures. Because of its strategic geographic location, Syria continues
to be a focus of transit trade among many countries of the Middle East and to be
a vital factor in Arab politics and in Arab-Israeli hostilities.
The area includes about 185,180 square kilometers of deserts, plains, and
mountains. It is divided into a coastal zone--with a narrow, double mountain
belt enclosing a depression in the west-- and a much larger eastern plateau. The
climate is predominantly dry; about three-fifths of the country has less than 25
centimeters of rain a year. Fertile land is the nation's most important natural
resource, and efforts have been made, and in the 1980s were continuing, to
increase the amount of arable land through irrigation projects (see Agriculture
, ch. 3).
In mid-1986, the population was estimated at 10.6 million, including beduin and
Palestinian refugees, and was increasing at an annual rate of approximately 3.3
percent a year. The Syrian government encourages population increase, even
though it tends to offset improvements in the national standard of living. In
the mid-1980s, double-digit inflation cut real income and eroded some of the
gains in standard of living achieved in the late 1970s. Despite austerity
budgets, the government boosted annual price subsidies for essential commodities
to a total of LS 1.4 billion and continued to maintain a safety net of health,
welfare, and public housing services.
Social welfare and development projects have been concentrated in rural areas.
Although in 1970 only 10 percent of rural dwellers had access to electricity, by
the mid-1980s electricity had been brought to virtually every village. However,
progress lagged in providing sewage disposal, potable water, and health
facilities to rural areas. City-dwellers benefited from the proximity of
medical, transportation, and educational facilities, but suffered from a severe
housing shortage. In addition, municipal services such as sanitation were
inadequate for the rapidly increasing urban population.
Increasing government responsibility in the field of social welfare has been
consistent with the program of the Baath Party to create a socialist society.
Official initiative in economic and social improvements has been reflected in
substantial allocations set aside for these purposes in development plans.
However, government-financed projects designed to bring about these improvements
tend to be delayed because of frequent cabinet changes and shifting emphases
within development budgets.
The principle of linking long-term economic development to social welfare has
been voiced in official statements, calling for a better geographic distribution
of industrial production and social services, accompanying development plans.
Persistent welfare problems, however, arising from rural poverty and urban
crowding, and compounded by rapid population growth and the influx of refugees,
often necessitate the diversion of funds earmarked for long-term planning to ad
hoc relief measures.
***Land, Water, and Climate
Along the Mediterranean, a narrow coastal plain stretches south from the Turkish
border to Lebanon. The flatness of this littoral, covered with sand dunes, is
broken only by lateral promontories running down from the mountains to the sea
(see fig. 5). Syria claims a territorial limit of 35 nautical miles off its
Mediterranean coastline.
The Jabal an Nusayriyah mountains, a range paralleling the coastal plain,
average just over 1,212 meters; the highest peak, Nabi Yunis, is about 1,575
meters. The western slopes catch moisture-laden western sea winds and are thus
more fertile and more heavily populated than the eastern slopes, which receive
only hot, dry winds blowing across the desert. Before reaching the Lebanese
border and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, the Jabal an Nusayriyah range terminates,
leaving a corridor--the Homs Gap-- through which run the highway and railroad
from Homs to the Lebanese port of Tripoli. For centuries the Homs Gap has been a
favorite trade and invasion route from the coast to the country's interior and
to other parts of Asia. Eastward, the line of the Jabal an Nusayriyah is
separated from the Jabal az Zawiyah range and the plateau region by the Al Ghab
depression, a fertile, irrigated trench crossed by the meandering Orontes River.
Inland and farther south, the Anti-Lebanon Mountains rise to peaks of over 2,700
meters on the Syrian-Lebanese frontier and spread in spurs eastward toward the
plateau region. The eastern slopes have little rainfall and vegetation and merge
eventually with the desert.
In the southwest, the lofty Mount Hermon (Jabal ash Shaykh), also on the border
between Syria and Lebanon, descends to the Hawran Plateau-- frequently referred
to as the Hawran--that receives rain-bearing winds from the Mediterranean. All
but the lowest slopes of Mount Hermon are uninhabited, however. Volcanic cones,
some of which reach over 900 meters, intersperse the open, rolling, once-fertile
Hawran Plateau south of Damascus and east of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains.
Southwest of the Hawran lies the high volcanic region of the Jabal Druze range
(renamed Jabal al Arab), home of the country's Druze population (see Druzes ,
this ch.)
The entire eastern plateau region is intersected by a low chain of mountains,
the Jabal ar Ruwaq, the Jabal Abu Rujmayn, and the Jabal Bishri, extending
northeastward from the Jabal Al Arab to the Euphrates River. South of these
mountains lies a barren desert region known as the Hamad. North of the Jabal ar
Ruwaq and east of the city of Homs is another barren area known as the Homs
Desert, which has a hard-packed dirt surface.
Northeast of the Euphrates River, which originates in the mountains of Turkey
and flows diagonally across Syria into Iraq, is the fertile Jazirah region that
is watered by the tributaries of the Euphrates. The area underwent irrigation
improvements during the 1960s and 1970s, and it provides substantial cereal and
cotton crops. Oil and natural gas discoveries in the extreme northeastern
portion of the Jazirah have significantly enhanced the region's economic
potential.
The country's waterways are of vital importance to its agricultural development.
The longest and most important river is the Euphrates, which represents more
than 80 percent of Syria's water resources. Its main left-bank tributaries, the
Balikh and the Khabur, are both major rivers and also rise in Turkey. The
right-bank tributaries of the Euphrates, however, are small seasonal streams
called wadis. In 1973, Syria completed construction of the Tabaqah Dam on the
Euphrates River upstream from the town of Ar Raqqah. The dam created a reservoir
named Lake Assad (Buhayrat al Assad), a body of water about 80 kilometers long
and averaging eight kilometers in width.
Throughout the arid plateau region east of Damascus, oases, streams, and a few
interior rivers that empty into swamps and small lakes provide water for local
irrigation. Most important of these is the Barada, a river that rises in the
Anti-Lebanon Mountains and disappears into the desert. The Barada creates the Al
Ghutah Oasis, site of Damascus. This verdant area, some 370 kilometers square,
has enabled Damascus to prosper since ancient times. In the mid-1980s, the size
of Al Ghutah was gradually being eroded as suburban housing and light industry
from Damascus encroached on the oasis.
Areas in the Jazirah have been brought under cultivation with the waters of the
Khabur River (Nahr al Khabur). The Sinn, a minor river in Al Ladhiqiyah
Province, is used to irrigate the area west of the Jabal an Nusayriyah, about 32
kilometers southwest of the port of Latakia. In the south the springs that feed
the upper Yarmuk River are diverted for irrigation of the Hawran. Underground
water reservoirs that are mainly natural springs are tapped for both irrigation
and drinking. The richest in underground water resources is the Al Ghab region,
which contains about 19 major springs and underground rivers that have a
combined yield of thousands of liters per minute.
The most striking feature of the climate is the contrast of sea and desert.
Between the humid Mediterranean coast and the arid desert regions lies a
semiarid steppe zone extending across three-fourths of the country and bordered
on the west by the Anti-Lebanon Mountains and the Jabal an Nusayriyah, on the
north by the Turkish mountain region, and on the southeast by the Jabal al Arab,
Jabal ar Ruwaq, Jabal Abu Rujmayn, and the Jabal Bishri ranges.
Rainfall in this area is fairly abundant, annual precipitation ranging between
75 and 100 centimeters. Most of the rain, carried by winds from the
Mediterranean, falls between November and May. The annual mean temperatures
range from 7.2° C in January to 26.6° C in August. Because the high ridges of
the Jabal an Nusayriyah catch most of the rains from the Mediterranean, the Al
Ghab depression, located east of these mountains, is in a relatively arid zone
with warm, dry winds and scanty rainfall. Frost is unknown in any season,
although the peaks of the Jabal an Nusayriyah are sometimes snow covered.
Farther south, rain-bearing clouds from the Mediterranean pass through the gap
between the Jabal an Nusayriyah and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, reaching the
area of Homs and, sometimes, the steppe region east of that city. Still farther
to the south, however, the Anti-Lebanon Mountains bar the rains from the
Mediterranean, and the area, including the capital city of Damascus, becomes
part of the semiarid climatic zone of the steppe, with precipitation averaging
less than 20 centimeters a year and with temperatures from 4.4° C in January to
37.7° C in July and August. The vicinity of the capital is, nevertheless,
verdant and cultivable because of irrigation from the Barada River by aqueducts
built during Roman times.
In the southeast, the humidity decreases, and annual precipitation falls below
10 centimeters. The scanty amounts of rain, moreover, are highly variable from
year to year, causing periodic droughts. In the barren stony desert south of the
Jabal ar Ruwaq, Jabal Abu Rujmayn, and Jabal Bishri ranges, temperatures in July
often exceed 43.3° C. Sandstorms, common during February and May, damage
vegetation and prevent grazing. North of the desert ranges and east of the Al
Ghab depression lie the vast steppes of the plateau, where cloudless skies and
high daytime temperatures prevail during the summer, but frosts, at times
severe, are common from November to March. Precipitation averages 25 centimeters
a year but falls below 20 centimeters in a large belt along the southern desert
area. In this belt, only the Euphrates and Khabur rivers provide sufficient
water for settlement and cultivation.
***Population
The 1981 census, the last official count for which full details were available
in early 1987, showed a population of 8,996,000, not including approximately
340,000 beduin and some 263,000 Palestinian refugees. The growth rate was
calculated at about 3.35 percent a year.
According to Syrian government reports available in 1987, the population in
mid-1986 was 10,612,000 and was growing at an annual rate of 3.36 percent.
Various international agencies and United States government sources, however,
estimated the annual rate of population increase at between 3.7 and 3.8 percent,
one of the highest in the world, and calculated the population at between
10,310,000 and 10,500,000.
Both the 1970 and the 1981 censuses suggest that men outnumber women by over 4
percent, but this statistic must be viewed from the perspective of some
sociological and biological factors characteristic of the area. Chief among
these are the underreporting of women, particularly unmarried women, and the
high mortality rate among women of childbearing age.
The 1970 census indicated that there were 104.6 men to every 100 women. The
corresponding ratio in 1986 was estimated at 104.2 men to 100 women. A regional
analysis of the sex ratio according to official 1986 population estimates shows
that in the southern provinces of Al Qunaytirah, As Suwayda, and Dar'a,
provinces close to the Israeli border, the ratio of men to women is equal. These
ratios illustrate the probable decline of males in refugee groups that have men
involved in military operations or otherwise separated from their families. The
ratio of males is higher in urban than in rural areas. In the cities of
Damascus, Latakia, and Aleppo, there are, respectively, 197, 105, and 108 men
per 100 women. However, women outnumber men in the rural areas of Aleppo
Province, and in rural Al Hasakah, As Suwaydah, and Dar'a. This imbalance occurs
at least in part because males go to the cities in search of employment, leaving
the women and children in the villages.
Syria's rapid population growth is reflected in the youthfulness of its
population. Age-related data from Syria's 1986 population estimate indicated
that about 49 percent of the population was under 15 years old, and 36 percent
was under 10 years old. An analysis of the same data showed that the proportion
of people of working age (15 to 59 years) was just over 44 percent of the total.
Therefore, the working population supported a large number of inactive youths,
to which were added elderly dependents or retirees over the age of 60, whose
numbers were slowly rising because of improved health conditions.
***Density, Distribution, and Settlement
Syria is one of the most densely populated countries in the Middle East and in
1986 had an overall average population density of approximately 57 persons per
square kilometer. There were considerable regional variations, however. Along
Syria's Mediterranean coastline, the population density sometimes exceeded 68
per square kilometer, but along the parallel inland axis between the Jordanian
and Turkish borders, and in the vicinity of the Euphrates and Khabur River
valleys, population density averaged only about 20 per square kilometer; desert
areas were virtually uninhabited.
Urbanization is progressing at a rapid rate, but the explosive urban growth of
the 1960s had tapered off by the 1980s. Rural to urban migration, the lower
mortality rates of urban groups, and the influx of refugees contributed to
precipitous growth in the major cities. However, the administrative
incorporation of rural areas adjacent to some urban centers has inflated some
growth figures. Between 1960 and 1970, Syria's urban population increased by
between 50 and 57 percent. Between 1970 and 1980, cities grew by approximately
40 percent. In 1981, an estimated 47 percent of the population lived in urban
areas. Although nearly one in four Syrian citizens lived in either Damascus or
Aleppo, a significant part of the urban population was distributed relatively
evenly among a half dozen other major cities.
Damascus is growing at an annual rate of 5 percent. The last official census, in
1981, calculated its population at 1.1 million, and its 1986 population was
estimated at 1.4 million, 13.2 percent of Syria's population. Aleppo, Syria's
second largest city, had a population in 1986 of approximately 1.2 million.
Between 1970 and 1981, the population of Damascus increased by 26 percent.
However, during the same period, cities in eastern Syria and the coastal region
grew at two to three times the rate of Damascus. For example, Ar Raqqah grew by
81 percent, Al Hasakah by 77 percent, and Tartus by 53 percent. Syria appears to
have avoided the growth pattern of other developing nations in which the
majority of the population is concentrated in one or two cities.
***Vital Statistics
The most recent vital statistics, based on numbers of births and deaths per
1,000 population, varied according to source. According to Syrian government
data, the crude birthrate in 1984 was 45.9 per 1,000. A 1986 estimate by an
independent source calculated the crude birthrate at 47 per 1,000. Syrian
sources estimated the 1984 crude deathrate at 8.25 per 1,000, while a 1986
estimate by an independent source calculated the rate at 9 per 1,000, and
another source estimated it at 13 per 1,000 in 1981. Life expectancy at birth
was estimated in 1986 to be 64 years, a marked increase over the 1970 life
expectancy of 54 years. The change in this figure was primarily a result of a
much lower infant mortality rate, which was reduced from 105 per thousand to 59
per thousand in the same time period.
Vital statistics for Syria are incomplete and are regarded as unreliable by
United Nations demographers. Because births and deaths in the countryside are
rarely registered, estimates are based on deficient coverage. The recording of
births in the cities is based on the date of registration rather than on the
date of birth, which causes wide fluctuations from year to year.
**The Peoples
The society is composed of a number of cohesive groups recognizing a common
heritage and exhibiting great solidarity. Both linguistic and religious
characteristics define these peoples; religious communities within the larger
language groups function as separate quasi-ethnic entities and in many cases
have developed distinctive cultural patterns. Ethnic and religious groups tend
to be concentrated in certain geographic regions and certain social positions.
For example, about 40 percent of the Sunnis are urban dwellers; of those, 80
percent live in the five largest cities. Alawis (sometimes given as Alawite--see
Glossary) are generally poor and live in rural areas. About 90 percent of the
inhabitants of the Jabal al Arab are Druzes (see Glossary); the Jews and
Armenians are largely urban traders.
The cultural differences distinguishing religious communities are far greater
than would be expected to arise from strictly theological or religious sources.
The differences arose during the lengthy social separation during which each of
the various communities pursued an independent communal life. For example, in
addition to the obvious difference of religious belief and ritual, differences
in clothing, household architecture, etiquette, agricultural practice, and
outlook characterize the cultures of Muslims, Christians, and Druzes (see
Religious Life , this ch.).
Accurate statistical breakdowns by language and ethnic group were unavailable in
1986, and estimates by authorities varied. Arabs, or native speakers of Arabic,
were thought to constitute nearly 90 percent of the population, but Kurdish,
Armenian, Turkic, and Syriac were also spoken. Arabs are divided into a number
of religious communities. Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslims, who constitute the
largest single group, account for slightly more than half the population.
Arabs live in all parts of the country--in city and village, desert and
mountain. Non-Arab groups generally live in partial isolation from each other,
either in their own village or cluster of villages or in specific quarters of
towns and cities, mostly in the area north of Aleppo or in the Jazirah region of
the northeast. The Jazirah is particularly heterogeneous; among its settled
population, the proportion of non-Arabs is much greater than in any other
region. The concentration of non-Arab groups in Halab Province and in the
Jazirah gives these areas a distinct character and has caused concern in the
central government about the maintenance of order there.
Many city dwellers speak a Western language in addition to Arabic; French is by
far the most common, and many educated Syrians are as fluent in it as in Arabic.
Although English is increasingly used, many Syrians do not know it as well as
they do French, which has been the major channel for the exchange of learning
between Syria and the West.
The consciousness of a Syrian nationality is not well developed. Both among
Arabs and minority groups, primary individual loyalty is to the local ethnic or
religious community. In effect, cooperation tends to be restricted to
traditional family, ethnic, and religious groups. To protect himself or to meet
an immediate need, an individual cooperates with those he personally knows and
trusts; impersonal cooperation for long range programs with nonfamily or
nonmembers of his religious community is another matter. As one Syrian has
noted, a Syrian may want the government to do things for him, but he will rarely
cooperate in getting those things done.
A man has few obligations to his ethnic group at large. Ethnic loyalties take
shape only when one's group is under attack by another. For example, Kurds close
ranks against Arabs if Arab landowners are raising land rents. Such action could
be interpreted by Kurds as Arab persecution.
This extreme heterogeneity and lack of general coherence has led the government
to attempt Arabization of the population. For example, it no longer refers to
the Druze region as Jabal Druze (Mountain of the Druze), but has renamed it
Jabal al Arab (Mountain of the Arabs).
Syrians are addressed in political speeches as "descendants of the Umayyads,"
"Arab citizens," "brother Arabs," and "descendants of Walid and of Saladin."
"The blessed Syrian homeland" is "the land of Arabism." This deemphasis on
ethnic differences has more and more equated the terms "Syrian" and "Arab."
The Syrian government deals with religious communities, not Arabs, Kurds, or
Armenians. Census reports, for example, enumerate various Muslim groups, Druzes,
Armenian Orthodox (Gregorian), Armenian Catholics, and Jews. There is no
official listing of Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, or Jews as such as ethnic groups.
Candidates for political office are named in government lists as members of
religious communities only; the government lead is followed even in the press,
which describes individuals as Arabs or as members of religious communities and
does not identify them with ethnic minorities.
***Arabs
The Arabs identify with speakers of their language throughout the Middle East.
The majority of Syrian Arabs are Muslims; chiefly Sunni, they also include the
Alawis, Ismailis (see Glossary), and Shia (see Glossary). All the Druzes are
Arabic-speaking, as are the Jews and half the Christian population; most
Christian Arabs are Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, or Greek Catholic (see
Religious Life , this ch.). Being both Arab and Muslim leads many Syrians to
feel that the two characteristics are natural companions and that one cannot be
an Arab without being Muslim and vice versa.
Syrian Arabs are highly conscious of the Islamic-Arab tradition. This is also
true of Arab Christians, who follow Muslim customs in many of their daily
activities and look with pride to the greatness of the Arab past.
Most Syrian Arabs think of the nomadic tribesman as the ideal Arab type. This
attitude is common among both villagers and city dwellers, though the latter may
also speak of the tribesman as quaint and backward. Arabs generally think of
non-Arabs as inferior, but, because these groups are comparatively small and
constitute no possible threat to the social position of the Arab majority, the
feeling is not very strong.
Arabic, one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, is the mother
tongue of about 200 million people, from Morocco to the Arabian Sea. One of the
Semitic languages, it is related to Aramaic, Phoenician, Syriac, Hebrew, various
Ethiopic languages, and the Akkadian of ancient Babylonia and Assyria.
Throughout the Arab world, the language exists in three forms: the Classical
Arabic of the Quran; the literary language developed from the classical and
referred to as Modern Standard Arabic, which has virtually the same structure
wherever used; and the spoken language, which in Syria is Syrian Arabic.
Educated Arabs, therefore are bilingual, with knowledge of both Modern Standard
Arabic and their own dialect of spoken Arabic. Even uneducated Arabic speakers,
who in Syria comprise over 40 percent of the population, usually comprehend the
meaning of something said in Modern Standard Arabic, although they are unable to
speak it; however, they may have difficulty fully understanding radio and
television programs, which are usually broadcast in Modern Standard Arabic.
Because Classical Arabic is the language of the Quran and is regarded literally
as the language of God, Arabs almost unanimously believe that the Arabic
language is their greatest historical legacy.
Syrian Arabic is similar to Lebanese Arabic, but differs significantly from
colloquial Arabic in neighboring Iraq and Jordan. A Syrian would find colloquial
Moroccan Arabic virtually incomprehensible. Like most people speaking dialects,
Syrians proudly regard their dialect as the most refined. However, few Syrians
believe that their dialect is actually correct Arabic. Although they converse in
Syrian Arabic, there is general agreement that Modern Standard Arabic, the
written language, is superior to the spoken form. Arabs generally believe that
the speech of the beduin resembles Classical Arabic most closely and that the
local dialects used by settled villagers and townsmen are unfortunate
corruptions. To overcome these linguistic barriers, educated Arabs speak Modern
Standard Arabic to one another. Uneducated and illiterate Arabs, if Muslim, can
converse with other Arabs in Classical Arabic learned from oral recitation of
the Quran.
Within Syria, regional differences in colloquial vocabulary, grammar, and accent
are wide enough that a native speaker can readily identify another speaker's
home province, tribe, city, and even his neighborhood from his dialect. For
example, Alawis from Al Ladhiqiyah Province are called "Al Qaf" because of their
distinct pronunciation of this letter, the "Q".
***Kurds
Estimates of the number of Kurds in Syria vary widely, but they are believed to
compose about 9 percent of the population. Although some Kurdish tribal groups
have lived in the country for generations, many arrived from Turkey between 1924
and 1938, when Mustapha Kemal attempted to force his reform programs on the
Kurds there.
The Kurds are a fiercely independent tribal people who speak their own language,
Kirmanji. Living mainly in the broad, mountainous region of northwestern Iran,
eastern Turkey, and northern Iraq, they are a cohesive people with intricate
intertribal ties and a deep pride in their own history and traditions. Most
Kurds are farmers; some are city dwellers; and others are nomads who drive their
flocks far into the mountains in the summer and graze them on the lowlands in
the winter.
Roughly 35 to 40 percent of the Kurds live in the foothills of the Taurus
Mountains north of Aleppo. An equal number live in the Jazirah; about 10 percent
in the vicinity of Jarabulus northeast of Aleppo; and from 10 to 15 percent in
the Hayy al Akrad (Quarter of the Kurds) on the outskirts of Damascus.
Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims; a very small number are Christians and Alawis. In
addition, the Syrian Yazidis (see Glossary), who speak Kirmanji, are sometimes
considered Kurds. Numbering about 12,000, the Yazidis inhabit the Jabal Siman,
west of Aleppo; the Jabal al Akrad, north of Aleppo; and a few villages south of
Amuda and Jabal Abd al Aziz in the Jazirah. Most of the Yazidis work the land
for Muslim landowners.
Syria's Kurds are almost entirely settled, but they retain much of their tribal
organization. Although some groups in the Jazirah are seminomadic, most are
village dwellers who cultivate wheat, barley, cotton, and rice. Urban Kurds
engage in a number of occupations, but not generally in commerce. Many are
manual laborers; some are employed as supervisors and foremen, a kind of work
that has come to be considered their specialty. There are some Kurds in the
civil service and the army, and a few have attained high rank. Most of the small
wealthy group of Kurds derive their income from urban real estate.
Kurds who have left the more isolated villages and entered Arab society have
generally adopted the dress and customs of the community in which they live. In
the Jazirah, for example, many have adopted beduin dress, live in tents, and are
generally indistinguishable from the beduin, except in speech. Most Kurds speak
both Kirmanji and Arabic, although others, particularly those in Damascus, may
speak only Arabic. Kurds who have entered the country in the present generation
usually retain much of the language, dress, and customs of their native
highlands.
For most Kurds, whether long established in Syria or recently arrived, tribal
loyalty is stronger than national loyalty to either the Syrian state or to a
Kurdish nation. They are traditionally distrustful of any government,
particularly that in Damascus. However, relatively peaceful residence in Syria
and gradual assimilation have mitigated their distrust of Syrian authorities.
***Armenians
The Armenians are descendants of a people who have existed continuously in
Transcaucasia since about the sixth century B.C. Although a small number of
Armenians have been settled in the country for several generations, the bulk of
those in Syria arrived in successive waves as refugees from Turkey between 1925
and 1945.
Like Armenians throughout the Middle East, Armenians in Syria are city or town
dwellers. About 150,000 Armenians lived in Syria in the mid-1980s. Roughly 75
percent live in Aleppo, where they are a large and commercially important
element, and fewer than 20 percent live in the Hayy al Arman (Quarter of the
Armenians), a new section of Damascus. The remainder are scattered in cities and
towns throughout the country, especially in the larger towns along the northern
border of the Jazirah. Most Armenians belong to the Armenian Orthodox Church,
but about 20,000 belong to the Armenian Catholic Church.
The Armenian language, which has its own alphabet, belongs to the Indo-European
family at the same level as such other subfamilies as the Slavic and Italic
languages. There is a classical form with an old, highly developed Christian
literature, but modern Armenian differs essentially from the older form.
The Armenians work chiefly in trade, the professions, small industry, or crafts;
a few are found in government service. In Aleppo, where some families have been
traders for generations, their economic position is strong. Many of the
technical and skilled workers of Damascus and Aleppo are Armenian; in the
smaller towns they are generally small traders or craftsmen.
Armenians are the largest unassimilated group in Syria. They retain many of
their own customs, maintain their own schools, and read newspapers in their own
language. Some leaders adamantly oppose assimilation and stress the maintenance
of Armenian identity. As Arab nationalism and socialism have become more
important in Syrian political life, Armenians have found themselves under some
pressure and have felt increasingly alienated. As a result, they were reported
in the 1960s and early 1970s to have emigrated in large numbers.
***Others
Small groups of Turkomans, Circassians, Assyrians, and Jews retain ethnic
identities in Syria. Although the last two are primarily religious groups, they
may also be considered ethnic communities because of the cultural consciousness
developed over a period of many years.
The Turkomans are a Turkic-speaking people who moved into Syria from Central
Asia. Originally nomadic, they are now seminomadic herdsmen in the Jazirah and
along the lower reaches of the Euphrates River and settled agriculturalists in
the Aleppo area. Although most Turkomans have assumed Arab dress and speak some
Arabic, others still speak Turkic and retain some ethnic customs. Because they
are Sunni Muslims, the Turkomans are likely to become further assimilated and
may eventually disappear as a distinct group.
Approximately 100,000 Circassians, descendants of Muslim nomads who emigrated to
Syria from Caucasus after its nineteenthcentury conquest by the Russians, live
in Syria. About half of them are concentrated in the southwestern Hawran
Province. Al Qunaytirah, the provincial capital destroyed in the October 1973
War, was regarded as the Circassian capital; after 1973 many Circassians moved
to Damascus.
Circassian village dwellers, who are organized tribally, primarily cultivate
grain crops. In addition to farming, they maintain herds of cattle, horses,
sheep, and goats; some are blacksmiths and masons, passing on their skills from
father to son.
Having resisted assimilation more successfully than the Turkomans, the
Circassians retain many customs quite different from those of their Arab
neighbors. Until recently they spoke their own language exclusively, but most
now speak Arabic as well. At times some Circassians, especially those in Al
Qunaytirah, have demanded autonomy, but this is not an issue for most of them.
Syrian Arabs still somewhat distrust Circassians because they served as troops
for the French during the mandate period (see The French Mandate , ch. 1). In
spite of these difficulties, the Circassians gradually are being assimilated
into the Arab population, a process facilitated by their being Sunni Muslims.
The present-day Assyrians, of whom there are about 20,000 in Syria, are
Nestorian Christians and speak Syriac, a form of Aramaic, the ancient language
spoken throughout the region before the widespread adoption of Arabic. Fleeing
persecution in Iraq in 1933, those in Syria settled in the Jazirah near Tall
Tamir on the upper Khabur River. The French established this Assyrian settlement
with the assistance of the League of Nations, and in 1942 it became an integral
part of Syria.
The Assyrian settlement on the Khabur consists of about 20 villages, primarily
agricultural. Although they own irrigated lands, the villagers barely make a
living from their farming, possibly because they are former shepherds, not
cultivators, and the lands granted to them are poor. Because of their difficult
situation, some Assyrians have emigrated.
Jews have been settled in Syria for centuries; at present most are concentrated
in Aleppo and Damascus, and some are scattered in towns in the northern Jazirah.
Of the estimated 29,000 Jews in Syria in 1943, fewer than 3,000 remained in
1986, according to Israeli sources. Most had emigrated to Israel. Because Syria
currently restricts emigration of Jews, Israel has had little success in
negotiating with Syria through intermediaries for the relocation of the entire
Jewish community to Israel.
The Jewish community of Aleppo was once fairly prosperous and an important
element in the city's commercial life. However, most of the few Jews remaining
in Aleppo live in the Bab al Faraj section, a dilapidated area in the center of
the city. The Damascus Jewish community, always less prosperous than that of
Aleppo, lives in the Hayy al Yahud (Quarter of the Jews). Most Damascus Jews are
peddlers, shopkeepers, moneychangers, or artisans; a few are important
professional men, particularly physicians. Although most Syrian Jews publicly
dissociate themselves from Zionism and Israel, most other Syrians distrust them,
considering them real or potential traitors.
**Structure of Society
In the mid-1980s, Syrian society was in a state of flux. The social, political,
and economic developments of the preceding two decades precipitated profound
changes and realignments in the social structure, but the implications and
probable outcomes of these changes were not entirely clear. This uncertainty
arises from the division of Syrian society by vertical cleavages along religious
and ethnic lines, as well as by horizontal cleavages along socioeconomic and
class lines. Minority groups tend to segregate themselves in their own
neighborhoods and villages. Although within a minority group there is a high
degree of integration and homogeneity, the group as a whole is often ascribed a
certain social status. Traditionally, Syrian society has been divided between
landlords and tenants, between urban dwellers and rural peasants, and between a
Sunni elite and minority groups.
Until the revolutions of the mid-1960s, a syndicate of several hundred Sunni
Muslim extended families living in Damascus and Aleppo had dominated life in
Syria. Some of these families were of the Sharifan nobility, which claims
genealogical descent from the Prophet Muhammad. Most had accumulated great
wealth and wielded virtual feudal power as landlords possessing vast
agricultural and real-estate holdings. Others made fortunes in industry and
trade in the late ninteenth century. Another component of the ruling class was
the ulama (sing, alim). This group consisted of religious scholars, Islamic
judges (qadis), interpreters of law (muftis), and other persons concerned with
the exposition of Sunni Islam. Prosperous Sunni bazaar merchants allied with the
great families occupied the next level in the social heirarchy.
The Syrian elite was at the forefront of anticolonial struggle against the
Ottoman Empire in World War I and later against the French Mandatory regime. At
independence in 1946, Syria's first government was dominated by the old ruling
class. However, the elite had never been a monolithic entity, and the new
parliament was splintered by factionalism, feuding, and generational
differences. These divisions provoked a military coup d'état in 1949 that
ushered in a new era in Syrian society.
The armed services and the Baath Party were the mechanisms for the rise of a new
ruling elite. Although military service traditionally had been disdained by the
old Sunni elite, a military career was often the only avenue of upward mobility
open to rural minority group members who could not afford an education. Such men
enlisted in disproportinate numbers and came to dominate the officer corps and
the enlisted ranks of Syria's armed forces. Likewise, disenfranchised elements
of society joined the Baath Party. These dual trends culminated in the 1963
Baath Socialist Revolution and the 1970 takeover by the military of the Baath
Party.
The land reform legislation of 1963 and the nationalization of larger financial,
commercial, and industrial establishments virtually eliminated the economic and
political power base of the old elite. At the same time, the new elite,
comprised of the upper echelon of military and civilian leaders, consolidated
its position by cultivating the support of peasants and the proletariat, who
benefited from the new economic order. The regime's socialism eroded the
position of the bazaar merchants while its secularism removed power from the
ulama.
After coming to power in 1970, President Hafiz al Assad reversed or relaxed the
more strident socialist economic measures instituted in 1963. His expansion of
the role of the private sector led to the emergence of a relatively small, but
highly visible new class of entrepreneurs and businessmen who made fortunes in
real estate, importing, and construction. This class, nicknamed in Syria "the
velvet generation," includes higher- ranking government bureaucrats and their
relatives who have capitalized on their official positions to monopolize
lucrative government contracts. It also has assimilated many members of the old
Sunni elite, who have been coopted by the Assad regime and have accommodated
themselves to the new elite. To some extent, the old and new ruling classes have
merged through business partnerships and marriages that combine the money and
prestige of the old elite member and the power and prestige of the new elite
member. Despite a well publicized anti-corruption campaign, patronage and
favoritism have remained important forces in Syrian society.
Under Assad, rural peasants have reaped significant gains in their standard of
living, primarily through government transfer payments and grants of land
redistributed from the original upper-class owners. However, land reform has not
been entirely successful in transforming the social structure of the
countryside. In many cases, farmers who had previously depended upon their urban
landlords to give credit for financing their crops until harvest and to deal
with the government have drifted back into similar relationships with urban
interests. The landlord's role as an influential advocate and local leader has
not been filled by elected Baath Party representatives. In other cases, rich
proprietors have begun to regain control over agricultural land and reconstitute
large estates.
Since the 1963 Baath Revolution, the approximate middle of Syrian society has
remained remarkably stable, both as a percentage of the workforce and in terms
of the standard of living and social mobility of its members. Because Syria has
not yet developed a large industrial sector, it lacks a true proletariat of
wage-earning factory workers. The number of persons employed by private and
public sector industry in 1980 was 207,000, or 12 percent of the working
population, according to statistics compiled by the Syrian General Federation of
Trade Unions. This approximates the size of Syria's "working class."
Syria compensates for its lack of a large proletarian class of industrial
factory workers by a large and flourishing group of artisans and handicrafters
who produce basic commodities such as soap, textiles, glassware, and shoes in
small cottage industries. This group is a main component of Syria's traditional
middle class, which also encompasses small proprietors, tradesmen, and
white-collar employees, and has remained at about 30 percent of the population.
Since the 1963 revolution, a new and upwardly mobile class of teachers,
scientists, lawyers, technocrats, civil servants, doctors, and other
professionals has slowly emerged. This new upper-middle class consists of men
and women who rose from the old lower or middle classes by virtue of technical
or secular higher education.
Even before the revolution of 1963, secular education had become a criterion of
status among many ordinary Syrians, especially as higher education ensured a
virtually automatic entry into admired and well-paying occupations. The
importance of education in this context will probably grow.
Values taught in the schools and emphasized in the media reflect those of the
group controlling the government and have gained some currency. Nevertheless,
the traditional conservatism of the peasants as well as the economic problems of
daily survival that have not been alleviated by changes in government policy
militate against any sudden change in the values or way of life of the masses.
As in other Middle Eastern countries, Syrian society has for millennia been
divided into three discrete systems of organization based on ecological factors;
these are the town, the village, and the tribe. Although closely interrelated,
each fosters a distinct and independent variation of Arab culture. The cities of
the Middle East are among the most ancient in the world; urban life has been
integral to the society of the region throughout recorded history. Therefore,
the townsman and his role are well known to all segments of the population. The
tribesman, or beduin, although suffering irreversible changes since the mid-
twentieth century, has also been a widely known and admired figure throughout
history. The peasant farmer, or fellah (pl., fellahin), although less admired
than the townsman or the tribesman, also occupies a position of recognized
value.
The members of each of the three structural segments of society look on the
others as socially distinct. This social distance is symbolized by easily
recognized differences in clothing, food, home furnishings, accent, and custom;
intermarriage between village, town, and tribal families is usually considered
irregular.
Traditionally, the cities have been an expression--at the highest level of
sophistication and refinement--of the same Arab culture that animated the
villages. As Western influence grew, however, during the late nineteenth and the
twentieth centuries, the social distance between the city and village increased.
Western customs, ideas, techniques, and languages were adopted first in the
cities, especially by Christians, while the villages remained ignorant of them.
The introduction and adoption of elements of a radically alien culture opened a
gap between the city and the village that has not narrowed with time. Only in
recent years have modern transportation and mass communication begun to bring
the countryside once again into the same cultural orbit as the cities.
Although the town, village, and tribe are socially distinct, they depend on each
other for services and products and so are related by overall functional ties.
The town supplies manufactured, specialty, and luxury products; administrative
and governmental services; education and higher learning; sophisticated culture;
law and justice; and financing. The village supplies agricultural products; and
the tribe provides protection and navigation for caravans, travelers, and
traders in the desert. As more and more villagers become educated and move to
the cities, and as the beduin surrender their sole mastery of the desert to
motor vehicles and the police power of the modern state and begin to adopt a
sedentary life, the traditional distinctions will continue to blur.
***Towns
Compared to many other developing nations, Syria is heavily urban, as
approximately 50 percent of the population lives in cities. In addition, it is
estimated that 70 percent of the townsmen live in the two largest urban centers.
Social structure in Syrian cities seems to be in a state of transition. The
traditional city--built around a small, wealthy landowning and industrial elite,
craft and artisan guilds, and small merchants--has been decisively undermined by
political, economic, and technological changes. However, a cohesive structure
based on modern secular education, technology, and class alignments has not yet
developed. Many of the values associated with the traditional system endure and
strongly influence the population, although admiration for modern values and
techniques is increasing.
Cities are commonly composed of several architecturally distinct sections, which
represent different periods of history and, to some extent, different ways of
life. The very ancient core of a city, often of the pre-Greek or pre-Roman
period, houses many of the groups longest settled there. Sections were added
during Greek, Roman, and medieval times; these traditional sections also house
both majority and minority groups oriented to traditional life. The suq (the
traditional market), with its small specialized artisan shops, is a prominent
feature of the old city. In addition, cities have a relatively new section,
often built on modern European lines by French architectural firms, that houses
families and enterprises most closely identified with modern technology and
values.
In keeping with the significance of the religious community in Syrian life,
cities were traditionally organized into ethnic and religious residential
quarters. Members of all faiths still tend to reside with their coreligionists,
and a quarter functions as a small community within the larger urban
environment.
A residential quarter traditionally had its own mosque or other religious
structure, shops, and coffeehouses where the men met, as well as a mukhtar
(mayor) who represented it to the outside society and was ordinarily a man of
some importance in city politics. Families of all economic positions lived in
the quarter appropriate to their religious or ethnic group. In relations within
the quarter, family connections, personal reputation, and honor carried more
weight than financial standing, although it was of course a factor. Individuals
of varying financial positions dealt with one another on a personal basis, with
wealthier and more prominent residents assuming leadership.
As new sections and suburbs with more spacious and modern residences were
constructed, many of the wealthier families of the various quarters moved there,
causing a breakdown in the structure of the old quarters. In the new areas,
residential segregation follows economic class rather than religion or
ethnicity. As a consequence, the old quarters were robbed of much of their
traditional leadership, and the estrangement developing between the
tradition-minded masses and the modern-oriented new middle class was
exacerbated. An additional factor in the breakdown of the old quarters was the
large influx of rural migrants to cities and the resulting tremendous demand for
housing.
In the late 1980s, information on the urban upper and middle classes was
inconclusive. The old elite appeared to have declined markedly in prestige,
power, and influence. In addition, the emigration of professional, commercial,
and technical persons undoubtedly had an effect on urban life. It is unlikely,
however, that small trading or artisan establishments were greatly affected by
the social changes of the 1960s, although future opportunities in these fields
seemed to have contracted.
It appears that a middle class, based on education, profession, income, and
style of life, is in the process of forming, but its formation is far from
complete. The many disparate elements composing it, including government
officials, technicians, clerks, professionals, merchants, and traders, come from
a variety of social backgrounds and do not share a class consciousness or set of
values. The traditional commercial classes had aspired to the life of the old
elite; however, the new middle class of education and expertise seeks an
entirely different way of life. This group values scientific rather than
traditional knowledge, instrumental control of nature rather than passive
reliance on the deity, modernity rather than tradition, individual initiative
rather than family solidarity, and upward mobility rather than stability.
The urban lower class is also a mixed group, ranging from a comparatively small
segment of skilled industrial workers to messengers, domestic workers, and
others similarly employed. Industrial workers (skilled, semiskilled, and
unskilled) have been located primarily in Damascus and Aleppo, although they are
increasing in other towns, among them Latakia. Because of the comparative
recency of industrialization in Syria, most industrial workers come from rural
areas and any expansion of industry under the revolutionary regime is likely,
for a time, to bring other rural people into the cities. The development of
Syria's oil resources in the extreme northeast should help, however, to diffuse
the industrial working class over a wider area.
***Villages
The effects of the changes of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s on the structure of
village society are not entirely clear. The urban absentee landlord has been a
figure of considerable importance in the life of some villages, and the
redistribution of land among the peasants has undoubtedly altered social
relations.
It is not possible to generalize about Syrian villages because ecological,
ethnic, and other conditions vary. On the one hand, on the coast, where rainfall
is regular, small farmers can operate successfully. In the interior, on the
other hand, water supply is much less reliable; there, the small owner can
easily be ruined by drought, and only large enterprises stand a reasonable
chance of succeeding. For this reason, the peasant of the interior depends on
financing from the cities in place of advances for crops and equipment
previously supplied by urban absentee landlords.
The Syrian village traditionally was not a self-sufficient economic or social
unit, but was dependent on the nearest town or city for various services. This
dependency increased in the 1970s and 1980s. With the development of a modern
system of public transportation, peasants could visit the city with increasing
frequency for reasons such as marketing, medical care, and entertainment. In
addition, an increasing number of village youth attended urban secondary schools
and in that manner gained a foothold in urban society, with many remaining in
the town after graduation. Increased migration to the city has to some extent
lessened the isolation of the villagers from urban life, as many now have
relatives or friends living in towns. Nevertheless, the village should remain a
significant component of society.
The relatively homogeneous occupational structure of the village includes fewer
status positions than exist in towns with less distinction between the
positions. With one or two exceptions, every capable adult works in agriculture.
There is a very general division of labor on the basis of sex--men doing the
jobs connected with planting, harvesting, and processing of crops and women
caring for young children, keeping house, preparing meals, and doing the more
menial tasks connected with crops and the care of animals. Only two or three
nonagricultural specialists are likely to be found in a village--a small
storekeeper, a coffeehouse proprietor, and a barber--and they provide goods and
services needed daily by the villagers. Such specialists, with the exception of
the barber, are likely to be retired or part-time cultivators. Their occupations
give them a degree of social distinction.
Villages are organized around families and their extensions. Often, a village
consists of several lineages, or groups of descendants of the same ancestor; the
lineages frequently form residential neighborhoods and political blocs within
the village. An individual's primary social identity is as a member of a given
lineage. The leaders of the various lineages, usually respected middle-aged and
older men informally chosen and recognized, maintain stability and make
necessary decisions on an informal basis. These leaders keep themselves informed
of opinion within their own lineages and formulate policy in discussions with
other leaders in the village coffeehouse or the guesthouse of a leading citizen.
Those families not related to a lineage usually align themselves with the one in
whose ward they live.
Whatever a man's economic situation, he reaches its full social status when he
can abstain from direct agricultural labor. For the ordinary peasant, this
abstention occurs when he is old enough to have sons to take over his work,
allowing him to devote himself to religious matters, family, and village
affairs.
Traditionally, the nominal headman of the village was the mukhtar, who was not
necessarily the man of highest prestige in the village. He was often chosen
merely for his ability to read and write Arabic to the degree necessary to
perform the functions of the office. If the mukhtar had a high standing in the
community, it was because of his family background and personal qualities rather
than his office. The mukhtar served primarily as a channel of communication from
higher administrative officials.
In many, if not most, villages, ultimate power and status rested in the owners
of village land, who frequently lived in town, although they might maintain a
house in or near the village. In some cases, villages were mixed, in that a
segment of a pastoral tribe had settled there. The head of such a segment (or of
the tribe as a whole) had a good deal of status and authority in the village.
This stemmed in part from a certain prestige accorded tribal Arabs but also
occurred because such tribal heads had acquired large quantities of land.
***Tribes
The precise size of Syria's beduin population is not known, although in the
mid-1980s it was estimated at less than 7 percent. The number of actual nomads
among the tribesmen is steadily decreasing because of government settlement
policy and the extension of law to the desert. Nevertheless, the nomad remains a
highly romantic and admired figure in folklore, and his pride, independence,
sensitive honor, and disdain for agricultural or other manual labor are
influential values among villagers, especially near the margins of the desert.
However, the Baath Party views the nomadic way of life as primitive and hopes to
settle all beduin. Ordinarily tribesmen settle in their own villages rather than
merging with peasant communities.
In Syria, only eight wholly nomadic tribes remain, sometimes overlapping
international boundaries. They are the Ruwala (by far the largest) and the
Hassana of the Syrian Desert; the Butainat and the Abadah, near Tadmur in
central Hims Province; the Fadan Walad and the Fadan Kharsah of the Euphrates
Desert; and the Shammar az Zur and the Shammar al Kharsah in Dayr az Zawr
Province.
Tribal society consists of semiautonomous bands of kinsmen moving their flocks
within their respective territories. Each band is defined by its members'
descent from a common male ancestor, and bands are grouped together according to
their supposed descent from a more distant male. Each tribal group, from the
smallest band to the largest confederation, ordinarily bears the name of the
common ancestor who supposedly founded the particular kin group.
The tribal community itself is defined in terms of kinship, with patterns of
behavior, both within and between groups, governed by kinship relations. The
kinship system also served to stabilize relations among different bands and
groups of bands. The individual tribesman is placed in the center of
ever-widening circles of kinship relations that, in theory at least, eventually
link him with all other tribesmen within a particular region of the
country--that is, with all tribesmen with whom he is likely to come into
contact.
Within the basic tribal unit, the nomadic band, the individual's status is
ascribed at birth in terms of the kinship relations existing between him and all
other members of his band. He is considered subordinate to his elder kinsmen and
equal to his age-mates. However, a tribesman may gain prestige because of his
special skills at riding horses, hunting, herding animals, or handling
men--particularly in the settlement of disputes. His standing within the band
will also be enhanced by his relative wealth in terms of the kind and number of
animals and the special gear and equipment he owns. Beduin in Syria are not
considered poor or underprivileged people; in fact, many beduin tribes are
regarded as very wealthy by Syrian standards because of their ownership of large
flocks of sheep--a valuable commodity.
High-prestige animals are horses, camels, sheep, and goats, in that order. A
tribesman who owns a horse has more prestige than one who does not; one who has
two horses is more esteemed than another who has only one. Otherwise, the
relative social differences between tribesmen, other than for members of the
mukhtar's and shaykh's lineages, are slight.
The mukhtar has a special, superior relationship to other tribesmen in that
band; he is elected from among the adult male members of a specific lineage
segment within the band. Generally the most prominent member of the lineage
segment, he is selected by his close kinsmen and approved by the tribesmen at
large and by the leaders of the superordinate tribal group. Although the office
of mukhtar does not necessarily pass from father to son, it tends to remain
within the same lineage segment. This lineage segment is likely to have a good
deal of the band's wealth in terms of animals and gear and probably most of the
money to be found within the band.
The mukhtar exerts most of his influence as the leader in the majlis (tribal
council), which is composed of all adult males of the band, and the views of its
most senior and respected members carry the most weight in council. The mukhtar
holds open majlis daily in his guest tent, where the tribesmen discuss all
matters of importance to the band. In addition, individual tribesmen appear
before the majlis to air their own problems and to press grievances against
fellow tribesmen. The mukhtar and his majlis try to solve all these problems and
disputes within the tribal unit.
When settlement within the band is not reached or when the dispute involves
members of two or more bands, the problem becomes a matter for consideration by
the leaders of superordinate tribal groups who stand in a senior position both
to the mukhtar of the single band and to the parties to the dispute. Final
appeal is to the paramount shaykh of the entire tribe. The Kurdish tribal groups
have essentially the same structure as the Arab tribes but apply different
titles to their leaders, and their political and economic tribal unit appears to
be smaller than that common among Arabs.
**The Individual, the Family, and the Sexes
Syrian life centers on the extended family. The individual's loyalty to his
family is nearly absolute and usually overrides all other obligations. Except in
the more sophisticated urban circles, the individual's social standing depends
on his family background. Although status is changing within the emerging middle
class, ascribed rather than achieved status still regulates the average Syrian's
life. His honor and dignity are tied to the good repute of his kin group and,
especially, to that of its women.
Gender is one of the most important determinants of social status in Arab
society. Although the traditional seclusion of women is not strictly observed in
most parts of the country, social contact between the sexes is limited. Among
Muslims, men and women in effect constitute distinct social subgroups,
intersecting only in the home. A strict division of labor by sex is observed in
most social environments, with the exception of certain circumscribed
professional activities performed by educated urban women. The roles of the
sexes in family life differ markedly, as do the social expectations. The
differences are expressed and fostered in child rearing, in ideology, and in
daily life.
Because of the cohesiveness of religious and ethnic groups, they universally
encourage endogamy, or the marriage of members within the group. Lineages, or
groups of families tracing descent to a common ancestor, also strive for
endogamy, although this is in fact less common, despite its theoretical
desirability. Viewed as a practical bond between families, marriage often has
political and economic overtones even among the poor.
Descent is traced through men, or patrilineally, in all groups. In addition, the
individual household is based on blood ties between men. Syrians ideally and
sentimentally prefer the three-generation household consisting of a senior
couple; their married sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren; and their
unmarried sons, daughters, and other miscellaneous patrilineal relatives. The
latter might include a widowed mother or widowed or divorced sister of the
household head or a widow of his brother along with her children. At the death
of the household head, adult sons establish their own homes, each to repeat the
pattern.
This ideal is realized in no more than a quarter of the households. Little
reliable information is available about the size of households, but authorities
believe that they average between five and seven persons and that city
households are slightly smaller than rural; among Christians the difference
between urban and rural household size is more marked than among Muslims. The
relatively large size of the typical household probably results from a large
number of children and the rarity of single adults living alone; children live
at home until marriage, and the widowed tend to live with their children or
other relatives.
Syrians highly value family solidarity and, consequently, obedience of children
to the wishes of their parents. Being a good family member includes automatic
loyalty to kinsmen as well. Syrians employed in modern bureaucratic positions,
such as government officials, therefore find impersonal impartiality difficult
because its conflicts with the deeply held value of family solidarity.
Syrians have no similar ingrained feelings of loyalty toward a job, an employer,
a coworker, or even a friend. There is widespread conviction that the only
reliable people are one's kinsmen. An officeholder tends to select his kinsmen
as fellow workers or subordinates because he feels a sense of responsibility for
them and trusts them. Commercial establishments are largely family operations
staffed by the offspring and relatives of the owner. Cooperation among business
firms may be determined by the presence or absence of kinship ties between the
heads of firms. When two young men become very close friends, they often enhance
their relationship by accepting one another as "brothers," thus placing each in
a position of special responsibility toward the other. There is no real basis
for a close relationship except ties of kinship.
Ideally one should marry within one's lineage. The son or daughter of one's
father brother, i.e., one's first cousin, is considered the most appropriate
mate. Particularly among the beduin, such marriages occur frequently. In some
communities, the male cousin has a presumptive right to marry his female
patrilineal first cousin and may be paid by another suitor to release her from
this obligation. In towns, marriage between cousins is common among both the
wealthiest and the poorest groups. In large metropolitan centers, however, the
custom is breaking down, especially among the middle class. Marriage between
first cousins is common among Sunnis, including Kurds and Turkomans, although it
is forbidden among Circassians. Christians forbid marriage between first
cousins. Nevertheless, those groups that forbid marriage of cousins still value
family endogamy and encourage the marriage of more distant relatives.
Traditionally, in both Muslim and Christian marriages, the groom or his family
must pay a bride price or mahr to the bride or her family. The bride price can
be extremely high; it is not unusual for a middle class family to demand of the
groom the equivalent of several years salary as the price of marriage to their
daughter. However, this payment is often specified in prenuptial contracts to be
payable only in the event of a divorce or separation. Therefore, the bride price
serves as an alimony fund. The wealthy marry within their families not only to
preserve the presumed purity of their bloodlines but to keep the bride price
within the family, whereas the poor do so to avoid bride-price payments.
Therefore, marriage is customarily arranged. Among the members of the small
urban, Westernized community, a man and woman participate in the decisionmaking
and usually can veto the family's choice; but, with rare exceptions, marriage is
a familial as well as a personal matter. In rural areas, marriage remains a
family matter, too important to be left to the whims and desires of the youthful
participants. The preferred marriage is an endogamous one. Althouth, until
recently, marriages were arranged for practical, i.e., non-romantic, reasons
there is a sizable folklore concerning passionate love affairs and elopements,
but such actions rarely occur.
Endogamous marriage and high bride prices serve as deterrents to divorce,
counterbalancing the relative ease of divorce authorized in Islamic law and
tradition. According to sharia, a man may summarily divorce his wife simply by
pronouncing the talaka, or repudiation, three times, although it is far more
difficult for a wife to divorce her husband. Currently in Syria, a sharia court
adjudicates divorce. Incompatibility is cited most often as justification.
Seven percent of marriages end in divorce, according to Syrian statistics from
1984. The rate varied from a high of 16 percent in urban Damascus to a low of 2
percent in rural Al Hasakah.
If a woman marries within her own lineage, she has the security of living among
her people, and the demands upon her loyalty are simple and direct. If she
marries into a different lineage, she is among comparative strangers and may
also be torn between loyalty to her husband's family and lineage and loyalty to
her paternal kinsmen, particularly if trouble should develop between the two. As
a wife, she is expected to support her husband and his family, but as a
daughter--still dependent on the moral support of her father and brothers--she
may feel compelled to advocate their interest. Her father's household always
remains open to her and, in case of a dispute with her husband, she may return
to her father's house.
Except in the small, urban, Westernized segment of society, the spheres of men
and women tend to be strictly separated, and little friendship or companionship
exists between the sexes. People seek friendship, amusement, and entertainment
with their own sex, and contact between the two sexes takes place primarily
within the home.
Women are viewed as weaker than men in mind, body, and spirit and therefore in
need of male protection, particularly protection from nonrelated men. The honor
of men depends largely on that of their women, and especially on that of their
sisters; consequently, the conduct of women is expected to be circumspect,
modest, and decorous, with their virtue above reproach. Veiling is rarely
practiced in villages or tribes, but in towns and cities keeping one's women
secluded and veiled was traditionally considered a sign of elevated status. In
the mid-1980s, the practice of wearing the veil was quite rare among young women
in cities; however, the wearing of the hijab (a scarf covering the hair) was
much more common. Wearing the hijab was sometimes more a symbol of Islamic
affiliation than a token of modesty, and the garment underwent a revival in the
1980s as a subtle protest against the secular Baath regime. For this reason, the
government discouraged the wearing of such Islamic apparel.
The traditional code invests men as members of family groups with a highly
valuable but easily damaged honor (ird). The slightest implication of unavenged
impropriety on the part of the women in his family or of male infractions of the
code of honesty and hospitality could irreparably destroy the honor of a family.
In particular, female virginity before marriage and sexual fidelity afterward
are essential to the maintenance of honor. In the case of a discovered
transgression, the men of a family were traditionally bound to kill the
offending woman, although in modern times she is more likely to be banished to a
town or city where she is not known.
There is no evidence that urbanization per se has lessened the importance of the
concept of honor to the Syrian. The fact that town life is still concentrated in
the face-to-face context of the quarter ensures the survival of the traditional
notion of honor as personal repute in the community. Some authorities have
suggested, however, that although urbanization in itself does not threaten the
concept, increased modern secular education will probably do so.
In common with most traditional societies, traditional Arab society tended--and
to an unknown extent continues--to put a different and higher value on sons than
on daughters. The birth of a boy is an occasion for great celebration, whereas
that of a girl is not necessarily so observed. Failure to produce sons may be
used as grounds for divorcing a wife or taking a second. Barren women,
therefore, are often desperately eager to bear sons and frequently patronize
quack healers and medicine men and women.
**Religious Life
Islam, in addition to being a system of religious beliefs and practices, is an
all-encompassing way of life. Muslims believe that Allah revealed to the Prophet
Muhammad the rules governing proper life of man and society; therefore, it is
incumbent upon the individual to live in the manner prescribed by the revealed
law and upon the community to build the perfect human society on earth according
to holy injunctions. Ideally, life for a Muslim should take place within a
religious community. As a consequence, in Muslim countries religion has an
importance in daily life far greater than it has in the West.
The Prophet enjoined his followers to convert the infidel to the true faith.
However, he specifically exempted, the "people of the book," Christians and
Jews, whose religions he recognized as forming the historical basis of Islam;
these peoples were to be permitted to continue their religious observances
unimpeded so long as they recognized the temporal rule of Muslim authorities,
paid their taxes, and did not proselytize or otherwise interfere with the
practice of Islam.
The Ottoman Empire organized the society of present-day Syria around the millet,
or autonomous religious community (see Ottoman Empire , ch. 1). The non-Muslim
people of the book living under Muslim occupation were called dhimmis. They paid
taxes to the government and, in return, were permitted to govern themselves
according to their own religious law in matters that did not concern Muslims.
The religious communities were therefore able to preserve a large measure of
identity and autonomy. Under the Mandate, the French continued this system,
tending to favor the Christians.
In matters of personal status, such as birth, marriage, and inheritance, the
Christian, Jewish, and Druze minorities follow their own legal systems. All
other groups, in such matters, come under the jurisdiction of the Muslim code.
Although the faiths theoretically enjoy equal legal status, to some extent Islam
is favored. Despite guarantees of religious freedom, some observers maintain
that the conditions of the nonMuslim minorities have been steadily
deteriorating, especially since the June 1967 War. An instance of this
deterioration was the nationalization of over 300 Christian schools, together
with approximately 75 private Muslim schools, in the autumn of 1967. Since the
early 1960s, heavy emigration of Christians has been noted;in fact, some
authorities state that at least 50 percent of the 600,000 people who left during
the decade ending in 1968 were Christians. Many Christians remaining in the
country, fearing that they were viewed with suspicion, have attempted to
demonstrate their loyalty to and solidarity with the state.
Membership in a religious community is ordinarily determined by birth. Because
statistics on the size of the various religious communities were unavailable in
1987, only rough estimates may be made. Muslims were estimated as constituting
85 percent of the population, although their proportion was possibly greater and
was certainly growing. The Muslim birthrate reportedly was higher than that of
the minorities, and proportionately fewer Muslims were emigrating abroad. Of the
Muslims, 80 to 85 percent were members of the Sunni sect, some 13 to 15 percent
were Alawis, and approximately 1 percent were Ismailis; other Shia groups
constituted less than 1 percent of the population.
A striking feature of religious life in Syria is the geographic distribution of
the religious minorities. Most Christians live in Damascus and Aleppo, although
significant numbers live in Al Hasakah Province in northeastern Syria. Nearly 90
percent of the Alawis, also known as Nusayris, live in Al Ladhiqiyah Province in
the rural areas of the Jabal an Nusayriyah; they constitute over 80 percent of
the rural population of the province. The Jabal al Arab, a rugged and
mountainous region in the southwest of the country, is more than 90 percent
Druze inhabited; some 120 villages are exclusively so. The Imamis, a Shia sect,
are concentrated between Homs and Aleppo; they constitute nearly 15 percent of
Hamah Province. The Ismailis are concentrated in the Salamiyah region of Hamah
Province; approximately 10,000 more inhabit the mountains of Al Ladhiqiyah
Province. Most of the remaining Shia live in the region of Aleppo. The Jewish
community is also centered in the Aleppo area, as are the Yazidis, many of whom
inhabit the Jabal Siman and about half of whom live in the vicinity of Amuda in
the Jazirah.
In addition to the beliefs taught by the organized religions, many people
believe strongly in powers of good and evil and in the efficacy of local saints.
The former beliefs are especially marked among the beduin, who use amulets,
charms, and incantations as protective devices against the evil power of jinns
(spirits) and the evil eye. Belief in saints is widespread among nonbeduin
populations. Most villages contain a saint's shrine, often the grave of a local
person considered to have led a particularly exemplary life. Believers,
especially women, visit these shrines to pray for help, good fortune, and
protection. Although the identification of the individual with his religious
community is strong, belief in saints is not limited to one religious group.
Persons routinely revere saints who were members of other religious communities
and, in many cases, members of various faiths pray at the same shrine.
Unorthodox religious beliefs of this kind are probably more common among women
than men. Because they are excluded by the social separation of the sexes from
much of the formal religious life of the community, women attempt to meet their
own spiritual needs through informal and unorthodox religious beliefs and
practices, which are passed on from generation to generation.
Religion permeates life in all but the most sophisticated social groups. The
Syrian tends to view religion instrumentally, depending on the deity and
subsidiary powers to aid in times of trouble, solve problems, and assure
success. The expressions bismallah (in the name of Allah) and inshallah (if
Allah is willing) are commonly heard, expressing the individual's literal
dependence on divine powers for his well-being.
***Islam
In A.D. 610, Muhammad (later known as the Prophet), a merchant belonging to the
Hashimite branch of the ruling Quraysh tribe in the Arabian town of Mecca, began
to preach the first of a series of revelations granted him by God through the
angel Gabriel. A fervent monotheist, Muhammad denounced the polytheistic
paganism of his fellow Meccans. However, because the town's economy was based in
part on a thriving pilgrimage business to the shrine called the Kaaba and
numerous other pagan religious sites located there, his vigorous and continuing
censure eventually earned him the bitter enmity of the town's leaders. In 622 he
and a group of followers accepted an invitation to settle in the town of
Yathrib, later known as Medina (the city) because it was the center of
Muhammad's activities. The move, or hijra, known in the West as the Hegira,
marks the beginning of the Islamic era and of Islam as an historical force. The
Muslim calendar, based on the lunar year, thus begins in 622. In Medina,
Muhammad continued to preach, eventually defeated his detractors in battle, and
consolidated both the temporal and the spiritual leadership of all Arabia in his
hands before his death in 632.
The shahada (testimony, creed) succinctly states the central belief of Islam:
"There is no god but God (Allah), and Muhammad is his Prophet." Muslims repeat
this simple profession of faith on many ritual occasions, and a recital in full
and unquestioning sincerity designates one a Muslim. The God depicted by
Muhammad was not previously unknown to his countrymen, for Allah is Arabic for
"God" rather than a particular name. Rather than introducing a new deity,
Muhammad denied the existence of the many minor gods and spirits worshiped
before his ministry and declared the omnipotence of the unique creator, God.
According to Islam, God is invisible and omnipresent; to represent him in any
visual symbol is a sin. Events in the world flow ineluctably from his will; to
resist it is both futile and sinful.
Islam means submission (to God), and he who submits is a Muslim. According to
its doctrine, Muhammad is the "seal of the prophets;" his revelation is said to
complete for all time the series of biblical revelations received by Jews and
Christians. God is believed to have remained one and the same throughout time,
but men had strayed from his true teachings until set right by Muhammad.
Prophets and sages of the biblical tradition, such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus
(known in Arabic as Ibrahim, Musa, and Isa respectively) are recognized as
inspired vehicles of God's will. Islam, however, reveres as sacred only the
message, rejecting Christianity's deification of the messenger Jesus. It accepts
the concepts of guardian angels, the Day of Judgment, or last day, general
resurrection, heaven and hell, and eternal life of the soul.
The duties of the Muslim form the five pillars of the faith. These are the
recitation of the shahada; daily prayer (salat); almsgiving (zakat); fasting
(sawm); and hajj, or pilgrimage. After purification through ritual ablutions,
the believer is to pray in a prescribed manner each day at dawn, midday,
midafternoon, sunset, and nightfall. Prescribed genuflections and prostrations
accompany the prayers, which the worshiper recites facing toward Mecca. Whenever
possible, men pray in congregation at the mosque with the imam (see Glossary)
and on Fridays make a special effort to do so. The Friday noon prayers provide
the occasion for weekly sermons by religious leaders. Women may also attend
public worship at the mosque, where they are segregated from the men, although
more frequently women pray at home. A special functionary, the muezzin, intones
a call to prayer to the entire community at the appropriate hour; those out of
earshot determine the proper time by the sun. Public prayer is a conspicuous and
widely practiced aspect of Islam in Syria, particularly in rural areas.
In the early days of Islam, a Muslims obligation to give alms was fulfilled
through the tax on personal property proportionate to one's wealth imposed by
the authorities; this tax was distributed to the mosques and to the needy. Today
almsgiving, however, has become a more private matter. Many pious individuals
have contributed properties to support religious and charitable activities or
institutions, which traditionally been administered as inalienable waqfs
(foundations, or religious endowments).
The ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar is Ramadan, a period of obligatory
fasting in commemoration of Muhammad's receipt of God's revelation, the Quran.
Throughout the month all but the sick, the weak, pregnant or lactating women,
soldiers on duty, travelers on necessary journeys, and young children are
enjoined from eating, drinking, smoking, and sexual intercourse during the
daylight hours. Those adults excused are obligated to undertake an equivalent
fast at their earliest opportunity. A festive meal breaks the daily fast and
inaugurates a night of feasting and celebration. Owing to the lunar calendar,
Ramadan falls at various seasons in different years; when it falls in summer, it
imposes severe hardships on manual laborers.
Finally, at least once in their lifetime all Muslims should, if possible, make
the hajj to Mecca to participate in special rites during the twelfth month of
the lunar calendar. The Prophet instituted this requirement, modifying
pre-Islamic custom to emphasize sites associated with Allah and Abraham, founder
of monotheism and father of the Arabs through his son Ishmael (Ismail).
Once in Mecca, pilgrims, dressed in the white seamless ihram, abstain from
sexual relations, shaving, haircutting, and nail paring for the duration of the
hajj. Highlights of the pilgrimage include kissing the sacred black stone;
circumambulating the Kaaba, the sacred structure reputedly built by Abraham that
houses the stone; running seven times between the mountains Safa and Marwa in
imitation of Hagar, Ishmael's mother, during her travail in the desert; and
standing in prayer on Mount Arafat. The returning pilgrim is entitled to the
honorific "hajj" before his name. Id al Adha, a major festival celebrated world
wide, marks the end of the hajj month.
Jihad, the permanent struggle for the triumph of the word of God on earth,
represents an additional general duty for all Muslims, and is construed by some
as a sixth pillar of the faith. Although in the past this concept has been used
to justify holy wars, modern Muslims see it in the broader context of civic and
personal action. In addition to specific duties, Islam imposes an ethical code
encouraging generosity, fairness, honesty, respect for the elderly and those in
authority, and forbidding adultery, gambling, usury, and the consumption of
carrion, blood, pork, and alcohol.
A Muslim stands in a personal relationship to God; there are neither
intermediaries nor clergy in orthodox Islam. Those who lead prayers, preach
sermons, and interpret the law do so by virtue of their superior knowledge and
scholarship rather than because of any special powers or prerogatives conferred
by ordination.
During his lifetime, Muhammad held both spiritual and temporal leadership of the
Muslim community and established the concept of Islam as a total and
all-encompassing way of life. Islam traditionally has recognized no distinction
between religion and state. Religious and secular life merged, as did religious
and secular law. In keeping with this concept of society, all Muslims have been
traditionally subject to sharia, or religious law. A comprehensive legal system,
sharia developed gradually during the first four centuries of Islam, primarily
through the accretion of precedent and interpretation by various judges and
scholars. During the tenth century, legal opinion began to harden into
authoritative doctrine, and the figurative bab al ijtihad (gate of
interpretation) gradually closed. Thenceforth, rather than encouraging
flexibility, Islamic law emphasized maintenance of the status quo.
In 632, after Muhammad's death, the leaders of the Muslim community consensually
chose Abu Bakr, the Prophet's father-in- law and one of his earliest followers,
to succeed him. At that time, some persons favored Ali, the Prophet's cousin and
husband of his favorite daughter Fatima, but Ali and his supporters (the
so-called Shiat Ali, or party of Ali) eventually recognized the community's
choice. The next two caliphs (from the Arabic word khalifa; literally
successor)--Umar, who succeeded in 634, and Uthman, who took power in
644--enjoyed the recognition of the entire community. When Ali finally succeeded
to the caliphate in 656, Muawiyah, governor of Syria, rebelled in the name of
his murdered kinsman Uthman. After the ensuing civil war, Ali moved his capital
to Mesopotamia, where in a short time he was murdered (see Muslim Empires , ch.
1).
Ali's was the last of the so-called four orthodox caliphates, the period during
which the entire community of Islam recognized a single caliph. In Damascus,
Muawiyah then proclaimed himself caliph. The Shiat Ali, however, refused to
recognize Muawiyah or his line, the Umayyad caliphs. In the first great schism,
the Shiat Ali withdrew and established a dissident sect known as the Shia (or
Shiites), supporting the claims of Ali's line to a presumptive right to the
caliphate based on descent from the Prophet. The major faction of Islam, the
Sunni, adhered to the position of election of the caliph; over the centuries the
Sunnis have represented themselves as and have come to be identified as the more
orthodox of the two branches.
Originally political, the differences between the Sunni and Shia interpretations
rapidly took on theological and metaphysical overtones. Ali's two sons, Hasan
and Husayn, killed after the schism, became martyred heroes to the Shia and thus
repositories of the claim of Ali's line to mystical preeminence among Muslims.
The Sunnis retained the doctrine of leadership by consensus, although Arabs and
members of the Quraysh, Muhammad's tribe, predominated in the early years.
(Reputed descent from the Prophet still carries great social and religious
prestige throughout the Muslim world.) Meanwhile, the Shia doctrine of rule by
divine right became more and more firmly established, and disagreements over
which of several pretenders had the truer claim to the mystical power of Ali
precipitated further schisms. Some Shia groups developed doctrines of divine
leadership far removed from the strict monotheism of early Islam, including
beliefs in hidden but divinely chosen leaders and in spiritual powers that
equaled or surpassed those of the Prophet himself.
Fueled both by fervor for the new faith and by economic and social factors, the
early Islamic polity was intensely expansionist. Conquering armies and migrating
tribes swept out of Arabia, spreading Islam with the sword as much as by
persuasion, and by the end of Islam's first century, Islamic armies had reached
far into North Africa and eastward and northward into Asia. Syria was among the
first countries to come under the sway of Islam; by 635 Muslim armies had
conquered Damascus.
In Islam, the Quran is the principal source of religious law, supplemented by
the Sunna, which sets forth the perfect example of the Prophet as represented by
his deeds, his teachings and decisions, and his unspoken approval as reported by
witnesses. In addition to "Allah's Quran and the Prophet's Sunna," the hadith
records the deeds, teachings, legal interpretations, and consensual decisions by
the Prophet's companions in the period immediately after his death.
****Shia
Shia Islam is often viewed as a deviant or heretical form of orthodox Islam.
However, Shia Islam is the result of schism and, as scholars correctly observe,
the elements for a Shia interpretation of Islam are present in the Quran as well
as in the hadith. The catalyst for Shia's development was the political turmoil
over a temporal successor to Muhammad and the ensuing murders of Ali and his
sons. Shia maintain, however, that SunniShia polemics are not as much about who
should have succeeded the Prophet as about the function of the office of the
successor and the qualifications of the man to hold it.
Shia Islam's distinctive institution is the Imamate, which holds that the
successor of the Prophet is more than a political leader. He must have walayat,
the ability to interpret the inner mysteries of the Quran and sharia; only those
who are free from error and sin (masum) and have been chosen by God (nass)
through the Prophet possess walayat.
The five Shia principles of religion (usual ad din) are: belief in divide unity
(tawhid); prophecy (nubuwwah); resurrection (maad); divine justice (adl); and
the belief in the Imams (see Glossary) as successors of the Prophet (imamah).
The latter principle is not accepted by Sunnis.
Implied in the Shia principle of the imamah is that imams, are imbued with a
redemptive quality as a result of their sufferings and martyrdoms. And, although
imams are not divine, they are sinless and infallible in matters of faith and
morals, principle very similar to the notion of papal infallibility in the Roman
Catholic Church. That man needs an intermediary with God is an Iranian idea that
long predates Islam, as is the idea of a savior or messiah (Mahdi) who will come
to redeem man and cleanse the world. To expect that the Mahdi, who is the last
(twelfth) Imam, really will one is a religious virtue (intizar).
The Imamate began with Ali, because it is his descendants who are the Imams. To
justify their beliefs, Shias emphasize the close lifetime association of the
Prophet and Ali. When Ali was six years old, the Prophet invited Ali to live
with him, and he is considered by Shias to be the first to make the declaration
of faith to Islam. He also slept in the Prophet's bed on the night of the hijra,
when it was assumed that the house would be attacked by unbelievers and the
Prophet stabbed to death. Ali fought in all except one battle with the Prophet,
and the Prophet chose Ali as the husband of his only child. Also regarded as
especially significant is a hadith that records the Prophet as saying: "God
placed the children of all the prophets in their backbone but placed my children
in the backbone of Ali."
Most Shia religious practices are comparable to those of Sunni Islam. There are,
however, two distinctive and frequently misunderstood Shia practices: mutah,
temporary marriage, and taqiyah, or religious dissimulation. Mutah, that is,
marriage with a fixed termination contract subject to renewal, was practiced by
Muslims as early as the formation of the first Muslim community at Medina.
Banned by the second caliph, it has since been unacceptable to Sunnis, but Shias
insist that if it were against Islamic law it would not have been practiced in
early Islam. Mutah differs from permanent marriage because it does not require
divorce proceedings for termination because the contractual parties have agreed
on its span, which can be as short as an evening or as long as a lifetime. By
making the mutah, a couple places the sexual act within the context of sharia;
the act then is not considered adulterous and offspring are considered
legitimate heirs of the man.
Taqiyah is another practice condemned by the Sunni as cowardly and irreligious
but encouraged by Shia Islam and also practiced by Alawis and Ismailis. A person
resorts to taqiyah when he either hides his religion or disavows certain
religious practices to escape danger from opponents of his beliefs. Taqiyah can
also be practiced when not to do so would bring danger to the honor of the
female members of a household or when a man could be made destitute as a result
of his beliefs. Because of the persecution frequently experienced by Shia imams,
particularly during the period of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, taqiyah
has been continually reinforced.
Shia play only a minor role in Syrian politics. They are among the least
educated religious groups, and their members are more resistant to change. In
religious affairs, they look to Shia centers in Iraq, especially Karbala and An
Najaf, and to Iran. However, Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, and Syria's
alliance with Iran in its war with Iraq, have elevated the prestige of Syria's
Shia minority. As hundreds of Iranian tourists began to visit Damascus each
week, the Shia shrine of the tomb of Sitt az Zaynab, daughter of the Prophet
Muhammad, located in Al Ghutah outside Damascus, became a major pilgrimage
destination, replacing those areas no longer accessible in Iraq. However, the
government of Syria has viewed with caution the resurgence of Shia Islamic
fervor in Syria and has taken steps to dampen it.
****Sunnis
The largest religious group in Syria is the Sunni Muslims, of whom about 80
percent are native Syrian Arabs, with the remainder being Kurds, Turkomans,
Circassians, and Palestinians. Sunni Islam sets the religious tone for Syria and
provides the country's basic values.
Sunnis follow nearly all occupations, belong to all social groups and nearly
every political party, and live in all parts of the country. There are only two
provinces in which they are not a majority: As Suwayda, where Druzes
predominate, and Al Ladhiqiyah, where Alawis are a majority. In Al Hasakah,
Sunnis form a majority, but most of them are Kurds rather than Arabs.
In theory, a Sunni approaches his God directly because the religion provides him
no intercession of saints, no holy orders, no organized clerical hierarchy, and
no true liturgy. In practice, however, there are duly appointed religious
figures, some of whom exert considerable social and political power. Among them
are men of importance in their community who lead prayers and give sermons at
Friday services. Although in the larger mosques the imams are generally
well-educated men who are informed about political and social affairs, an imam
need not have any formal training. Among beduin, for example, any literate
member of the tribe may read prayers from the Quran. Committees of socially
prominent worshipers usually run the major mosques and administer mosque-owned
land and gifts.
The Muslim year has two canonical festivals--the Id al Adha, or "sacrificial"
festival on the tenth of Dhul al Hijjah, the twelfth Muslim month; and the Id al
Fitr, or "festival of breaking the fast," which celebrates the end of the fast
of Ramadan on the first of Shawwal, the tenth month. Both festivals last 3 or 4
days, during which people wear their best clothes, visit and congratulate each
other, and give gifts. People visit cemetaries, often remaining for some hours,
even throughout the night. The festival of the Id al Fitr is celebrated more
joyfully than the Id al Adha because it marks the end of the hardships of
Ramadan. Lesser celebrations take place on the Prophet's birthday, which falls
on the twelfth of Rabia al Awwal, the third month, and on the first of Muharram,
the beginning of the Muslim new year.
Islamic law provides direction in all aspects of life. There are four major
schools of Islamic law--the Hanafi, the Hanabali, the Shafii, and the
Maliki--each named after its founder and all held to be officially valid. Any
Muslim may belong to any one of them, although one school usually dominates a
given geographical area. The schools agree on the four recognized sources of
law-- the Quran, the Sunna, the consensus of the faithful (ijma), and analogy
(qiyas)--but differ in the degree of emphasis they give to each source.
Represented in Syria are the Shafii school and the more liberal Hanafi school,
which places greater emphasis on analogical deduction and bases decisions more
on precedents set in previous cases than on literal interpretation of the Quran
or Sunna.
Conservative, Sunni leaders look to the ancient days of Islam for secular
guidance. Only since the first quarter of the twentieth century have Syrian
Sunnis become acutely aware of the need for modern education. Therefore,
secularization is spreading among Sunnis, especially the younger ones in urban
areas and in the military services. After the first coup d'état in 1949, the
waqfs were taken out of private religious hands and put under government
control. Civil codes have greatly modified the authority of Islamic laws, and
the educational role of Muslim religious leaders is declining with the gradual
disappearance of kuttabs, the traditional mosque-affiliated schools.
Despite civil codes introduced in the past years, Syria maintains a dual system
of sharia and civil courts (see The Judiciary , ch. 4). Hanafi law applies in
sharia courts, and nonMuslim communities have their own religious courts using
their own religious law.
****Ismailis
The Ismailis are an offshoot of Shia Islam, the split having occurred over the
recognition of the Seventh Imam. Shia Twelvers, those who accept the first
Twelve Imams, believe that Jafar, the Sixth Imam, passed over his eldest son,
Ismail, in favor of Ismail's brother Musa al Kazim. Ismailis, however, believe
that Jafar appointed Ismail to be the Seventh Imam--hence Ismailis are often
called Seveners. Little is known of the early history of the sect, but it was
firmly established by the end of the ninth century. From 969 to 1171, an Ismaili
dynasty, the Fatimids, ruled as caliphs in Egypt.
Ismailis are divided into two major groups, the Mustafians and the Misaris. The
Ismailis of Syria, numbering about 200,000, are predominantly Misaris; this
group gained prominence during the Crusades when a mystical society of Misaris,
called Assassins, harassed both the Crusaders and Saladin (Salah ad Din al
Ayyubi). The Misari Ismaili community has continued in Syria to the present day
and recognizes the Aga Khan as its head. The Mirzahs are the leading family in
the community. [Shahgaldian, op. cit.].
Originally clustered in Al Ladhiqiyah Province, most of the Syrian Ismailis have
resettled south of Salamiyah on land granted to the Ismaili community by Abdul
Hamid II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1876 to 1909. A few thousand
Ismailis live in the mountains west of Hamah, and about 5,000 are in Al
Ladhiqiyah. The western mountain group is poor and suffers from land hunger and
overpopulation--resulting in a drift toward the wealthier eastern areas as well
as seasonal migration to the Salamiyah area, where many of them find employment
at harvest-time. The wealthier Ismailis of Salamiyah have fertile and
well-watered land and are regarded as clannish, proud, and tough.
Ismailis accept many Shia doctrines, such as the esoteric nature of truth and
the inspiration of the Imams. Although holding their Imams to be of divine
origin, as the Shia do, Ismailis have a dual Imamate. They believe the
succession of visible Imams has continued to the present. There are, however,
two imams, the visible and the hidden, the speaker and the silent. The identity
of the hidden imam is not known to the community but it is believed he will
return to lead the faithful. Ismailis generally follow the religious practice of
the Shia Twelvers in prayers, fasts, and Quranic prescriptions, but in their
conservatism they resemble Sunnis on some points. For example, they do not
observe the tenth of Muharram in the impassioned way of the Shia.
***Alawis
The Alawis, or Nusayris, who number about 1,350,000, constitute Syria's largest
religious minority. They live chiefly along the coast in Al Ladhiqiyah Province,
where they form over 60 percent of the rural population; the city of Latakia
itself is largely Sunni. The Alawis appear to be descendants of people who lived
in this region at the time of Alexander the Great. When Christianity flourished
in the Fertile Crescent, the Alawis, isolated in their little communities, clung
to their own preIslamic religion. After hundreds of years of Ismaili influence,
the Alawis moved closer to Islam. However, contacts with the Byzantines and the
Crusaders added Christian elements to the Alawis' new creeds and practices. For
example, Alawis celebrate Christmas, Easter, and Epiphany, and use sacramental
wine in some ceremonies.
For several centuries, the Alawis enjoyed autonomy within the Ottoman Empire,
but, in the mid-nineteenth century, the Ottomans imposed direct rule. Regarding
the Alawis as infidels, the Ottomans consistently persecuted them and imposed
heavy taxation. During the French Mandate, the Alawis briefly gained territorial
autonomy, but direct rule was reimposed in 1936.
For centuries, the Alawis constituted Syria's most repressed and exploited
minority. Most were indentured servants and tenant farmers or sharecroppers
working for Sunni landowners. However, after Alawi President Assad and his
retinue came to power in 1970, the well being of the Alawis improved
considerably.
Split by sectional rivalries, the Alawis have no single, powerful ruling family,
but since independence many individual Alawis have attained power and prestige
as military officers. Although they are settled cultivators, Alawis gather into
kin groups much like those of pastoral nomads. The four Alawi confederations,
each divided into tribes, are Kalbiyah, Khaiyatin, Haddadin, and Matawirah.
Alawis claim they are Muslims, but conservative Sunnis do not always recognize
them as such. Like Ismaili Shias, Alawis believe in a system of divine
incarnation. Unlike Ismailis, Alawis regard Ali as the incarnation of the deity
in the divine triad. As such, Ali is the "Meaning;" Muhammad, whom Ali created
of his own light, is the "Name;" and Salman the Persian is the "Gate." Alawi
catechesis is expressed in the formula: "I turn to the Gate; I bow before the
Name; I adore the Meaning." An Alawi prays in a manner patterned after the
shahada: "I testify that there is no God but Ali."
According to Alawi belief, all persons at first were stars in the world of light
but fell from the firmament through disobedience. Faithful Alawis believe they
must be transformed seven times before returning to take a place among the
stars, where Ali is the prince. If blameworthy, they are sometimes reborn as
Christians, among whom they remain until atonement is complete. Infidels are
reborn as animals.
Because many of the tenets of the faith are secret, Alawis have refused to
discuss their faith with outsiders. Only an elect few learn the religion after a
lengthy process of initiation; youths are initiated into the secrets of the
faith in stages. Their prayer book, the source of religious instruction, is the
Kitab al Majmu, believed to be derived from Ismaili writings. Alawis study the
Quran and recognize the five pillars of Islam, which they interpret in a wholly
allegorical sense to fit community tenets.
Alawis do not set aside a particular building for worship. In the past, Sunni
government officials forced them to build mosques, but these were invariably
abandoned. Only the men take part in worship.
***Druzes
In 1987 the Druze community, at 3 percent of the population the country's third
largest religious minority, continued to be the overwhelming majority in the
Jabal al Arab, a rugged and mountainous region in southwestern Syria.
The Druze religion is a tenth-century offshoot of Islam, but Muslims view Druzes
as heretical for accepting the divinity of Hakim, the third Fatimid caliph of
Egypt. The group takes its names from Muhammad Bin Ismail ad Darazi, an Iranian
mystic. Druzes regard Jethro, father-in-law of Moses, as their chief prophet and
make annual pilgrimages to his tomb in lower Galilee. They also revere Moses,
Jesus, and Muhammad, the three most important prophets of Islam.
The Druze have always kept their doctrine and ritual of secret to avoid
persecution. Only those who demonstrate extreme piety and devotion and the
correct demeanor are initiated into the mysteries. The initiated (uqqal; sing.,
aqil) are a very small minority and may include women. Most Druzes are juhhal,
ignorant ones. Apparently the religion is complex, involving neo-Platonic
thought, Sufi mysticism, and Iranian religious traditions.
Endogamy and monogamy are the rule among the Druzes. Until recently, most girls
were married between the ages of 12 and 15, and most men at the age of 16 or 17.
Women are veiled in public, but, in contrast to Muslim Arab custom, they can and
do participate in the councils of elders.
***Christianity
The Christian communities of Syria, which comprise about 8 percent of the
population, spring from two great traditions. Because both Roman Catholicism and
Protestantism were introduced by missionaries, a small number of Syrians are
members of Western denominations. The vast majority, however, belong to the
Eastern communions, which have existed in Syria since the earliest days of
Christianity. The main Eastern groups are the autonomous Orthodox churches; the
Uniate churches, which are in communion with Rome; and the independent Nestorian
church. Even though each group forms a separate community, Christians
nevertheless cooperate increasingly, largely because of their fear of the Muslim
majority.
The schisms that brought about the many sects resulted from political and
doctrinal disagreements. The doctrine most commonly at issue was the nature of
Christ. In 431, the Nestorians broke away because of their belief in the dual
character of Christ, i.e., that he had two separate but equal natures, the human
Jesus and the divine Christ. Therefore, Mary was not the mother of God but only
of the man Jesus. The Council of Chalcedon, representing the mainstream of
Christianity, in 451 confirmed the dual nature of Christ in one person; Mary was
therefore the mother of a single person, mystically and simultaneously both
human and divine.
The Monophysites, another schismatic group, taught that Christ's divinity
overpowered his humanity, resulting in a single divine nature. They were the
precursors of the present-day Syrian and Armenian Orthodox churches. The
Monothelites, precursors of the modern Maronites, tried to evolve a compromise
by postulating that Christ had two natures, human and divine, but a single will.
By the thirteenth century, Eastern or Greek Christianity had irrevocably
separated from Western or Latin Christianity. In the following centuries,
however, especially during the crusades, some offshoots of the Eastern churches
accepted the authority of the pope in Rome and entered into communion with Roman
Catholic Christianity. Today called the Uniate churches, they retain a
distinctive language and liturgy.
The largest Christian denomination in Syria is the Greek Orthodox church, also
known as the Melkite church. The appellation "Greek" refers to the language of
liturgy, not to the ethnic origin of the members. Arabic is also used. The
Syrian Orthodox, or Jacobite, church, whose liturgy is in Syriac, split off from
the main body of orthodoxy over the Monophysite heresy.
The Armenian Orthodox, or Jacobite, church is the second largest Syrian
Christian group. It uses an Armenian liturgy and its doctrine is Monophysite.
Of the Uniate churches, the oldest is the Maronite, with ties to Rome dating to
the twelfth century. This group originally held to the Monothelite heresy, but
in 1215 renounced it. The liturgy is in Syriac.
Among the Uniate churches, the largest is the Syrian Catholic church, a Uniate
offshoot of the Syrian Orthodox church, which uses the same liturgy as the
Maronites and has a similar background. The Greek Catholic church is a Uniate
offshoot of the Greek Orthodox and, like it, uses Greek and Arabic. In contrast
to the Uniate Chaldean Catholics who derive from the Nestorian church, the
Nestorians, descendants of the ancient Nestorian schismatics, are in communion
with no other church and have their own very ancient liturgy.
With the exception of the Armenians, most Christians are Arab, sharing the pride
of Muslims in the Islamic-Arabic tradition and in Syria's special role in that
tradition. Many Christians, particularly the Eastern Orthodox, have joined in
the Arab nationalist movement and some are changing their Westernized names to
Arabic ones. More Syrian Arab Christians participate in proportion to their
number in political and administrative affairs than do Muslims. Especially among
the young, relations between Christians and Muslims are improving.
There are several social differences between Christians and Muslims. For
example, Syrian Christians are more highly urbanized than Muslims;many live
either in or around Damascus, Aleppo, Hamah, or Latakia, and there are
relatively fewer of them in the lower income groups. Proportionately more
Christians than Muslims are educated beyond the primary level, and there are
relatively more of them in white-collar and professional occupations. The
education that Christians receive has differed in kind from that of Muslims in
the sense that many more Christian children have attended Western-oriented
foreign and private schools.
***Other Minorities
****Jews
Most Jews now living in the Arab world belong to communities dating back to Old
Testament times or originating as colonies of refugees fleeing the Spanish
Inquisition. In Syria, Jews of both origins, numbering altogether fewer than
3,000 in 1987, are found. A Syrian Jew is Arabic-speaking and is barely
distinguishable from the Arabs around him. In Syria, as elsewhere, the degree to
which Jews submit to the disciplines of their religion varies.
The government treats the Jews as a religious community and not as a racial
group. Official documents refer to them as musawiyin (followers of Moses) and
not yahudin (Jews). The government's translation into English of musawiyin is
"Judists."
Although the Jewish community continues to exercise a certain authority over the
personal status of its members, as a whole it is under considerable restriction,
more because of political factors than religious ones. The economic freedom of
Jews is limited, and they are under continual surveillance by the police. Their
situation, although not good before the June 1967 War, has reportedly
deteriorated considerably since then.
****Yazidis
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Yazidis, whose religion dates
back to the time of the Umayyad caliphate (A.D. 661-750), migrated from southern
Iraq and settled in their present mountainous stronghold--Jabal Sinjar in
northern Iraq. Although some are scattered in Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus,
Iraq is the center of their religious life, the home of their amir, and the site
(north of Al Mawsil) of the tomb of their most revered saint, Shaykh Adi.
In 1964, there were about 10,000 Yazidis in Syria, primarily in the Jazirah and
at Aleppo; population data were not available in 1987. Once seminomadic, most
Yazidis now are settled; they have no great chiefs and, although generally
Kurdish-speaking, gradually are being assimilated into the surrounding Arab
population.
Yazidis generally refuse to discuss their faith which, in any case, is known
fully to only a few among them. The Yazidi religion has elements of Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam, as well as of paganism. Yazidis consider the Bible and
the Quran as sacred. Sometimes inaccurately called "devil worshipers" by other
Syrians, Yazidis go to considerable lengths to placate a fallen angel symbolized
as a sacred peacock called Malik Taus.
**Education
Since 1967 all Syrian schools, colleges, and universities have been under close
government supervision. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher
Education are primarily responsible for all aspects of administration, including
curricula development.
Schooling is divided into 6 years of compulsory primary education, 3 years of
lower secondary education, and 3 years of upper secondary education. General
secondary education offers academic courses and prepares students for university
entrance; the last 2 years of this stage are divided into literary and
scientific streams. Vocational secondary training offers courses in industry,
agriculture, commerce, and primary school-teacher training. The usual entrance
age for secondary schooling is 15 but is 14 for teacher training institutions.
This system was established in 1967, when the country signed the Arab Cultural
Unity Agreement with Jordan and Egypt, introducing a uniform school ladder in
the three countries and determining curricula examination procedures and teacher
training requirements for each level.
In the mid-1980s, Syrian education policies reflected the official intention of
the Baath Party to use the schools to indoctrinate the masses with its ideology
and to make school training responsive to the nation's manpower needs (see
Political Dynamics , ch. 4 ). The Fourth Five-Year Development Plan (1976- 80)
established a target of full enrollment of boys of primary school age by 1980
and of girls by 1990. By the early 1980s, Syria had achieved full primary school
enrollment of males of the relevant age; the comparable figure for females was
about 85 percent. Enrollment in secondary school dropped to 67 percent for boys,
and 35 percent for girls, reflecting a high drop-out rate. Enrollments in remote
rural areas were frequently far below the national average. In some villages of
Dayr az Zawr Province, for example, only about 8 percent of the girls attended
primary school, whereas in Damascus about 49 percent of the girls completed the
6-year primary system.
The demand for education has increased sharply. Between 1970 and 1976,
enrollment in the primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary levels increased
by 43 percent, 52 percent and 65 percent, respectively. During the same period,
enrollments in the various institutes of higher learning increased by over 66
percent. In 1984, 1 million boys and 818,000 girls attended primary schools,
which numbered 8,489. Nearly 1,600 secondary schools enrolled over 700,000
pupils.
The Ministry of Higher Education in 1984 supervised four universities, one each
in Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia, and Homs. The University of Damascus, founded in
1923, had faculties of law, medicine, pharmacology, letters, dentistry, Islamic
jurisprudence, agriculture architecture, engineering, science, fine arts,
commerce, and education. The Higher Institute for Social Work, established in
1962 to conduct research into social and economic problems, also was affiliated
with the university. Syria's ruling Baath Party operated an institute of
political science at the university which conducted mandatory classes in
political orientation and current Syrian history. The University of Aleppo,
opened in 1958, had faculties of engineering and sciences, agriculture, and
literature. Tishrin University in Latakia had a similar curriculum. Al Baath
University in Homs, opened in 1979, was Syria's only university with departments
of petroleum engineering and veterinary medicine.
In the 1980s, the Syrian government was attempting to expand enrollment in its
university faculties of science. In 1984, Syrian universities graduated 948
medical doctors and 1,693 engineers. However, over 3,100 students graduated from
the faculties of arts and literature.
A second major thrust of Syrian educational planning was eliminating illiteracy.
In 1981, an estimated 2 million Syrians-- 42 percent of the population over 12
years of age--were illiterate. In accordance with the government's drive to
eliminate illiteracy by 1991, in 1984 approximately 57,000 Syrians attended
literacy classes sponsored by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of
Social Affairs and Labor.
Public demand for education has remained strong, reflecting the importance of
education as a channel of upward mobility. The government has continued to
expect the system to provide trained citizens to meet the economic and political
needs of the society. In the mid-1980s, however, the educational system was
still inadequately funded, and, even within its funding restrictions, was viewed
by impartial observers as failing to achieve its limited objectives and goals.
In the Syrian education system of the mid-1980s, the concept of examining a
"truth" in an effort to confirm or refute it was largely unknown, and, in any
event, was often viewed as an unacceptable challenge to authority. If the
teacher's instructions and assertions are questioned and refuted, other centers
of authority--the family and the government--might then be asked to submit their
truths to objective examination and testing. Because research possesses limited
intrinsic value, the inadequate research and laboratory facilities were
infrequently used.
In 1977 one observer stated that although the Syrian government has been seeking
to improve the situation, the task was formidable because of the "many
shortcomings and defects" in the educational system and because the society and
government have been unable to agree on a modernizing, energizing social role
for the system. This assessment was largely valid in the mid-1980s.
**Health
Because of the increasing use of vaccinations and various preventive measures,
health conditions in Syria generally improved in the 1980s. Malaria, and to a
lesser extent tuberculosis, declined, but gastrointestinal and parasitic
diseases were endemic, particularly among the rural population. Diphtheria and
tetanus also plagued rural communities, and there was a high rate of infectious
diseases, heart disease, and cancer in urban areas.
Syria's Ministry of Health had a budget of approximately LS 187 million in 1985.
As a socialist government, Syria provided virtually free medical care to its
citizens and imposed a ceiling on charges by private hospitals.
In 1984 there were 41 state-run hospitals and 139 private hospitals in Syria.
The state hospitals averaged 200 beds each, while the private hospitals averaged
only 20 beds each. As of 1980, Syria had established state hospitals in every
province except Al Qunaytirah; however, these public facilities were
concentrated on Damascus, which had 15 public hospitals with a total of 3,801
beds, and Aleppo, which had eight state hospitals with a total of 1,870 beds.
Private hospitals were likewise concentrated in Damascus and Aleppo. Syria also
had established 503 public health clinics throughout the country.
Syria's public health program was augmented by programs administered by the
Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Social
Affairs provided vaccinations, medicine, and maternity care at rural community
development centers throughout the nation. The Ministry of Education
administered a preventive medicine and dentistry program for schoolchildren. In
1981, this program operated with a staff of 62 physicians, 22 dentists, and 110
nurses in 160 schools, and Syria was implementing plans to double the size of
this program.
Syria had 5,543 physicians in 1985, one for every 1,792 people. There were 2,045
dentists, one for every 4,858 people. Syria had 7,923 nurses and 2,071 midwives.
In 1984, 948 medical doctors graduated from Syrian universities.
Syria's socialist government provided extensive welfare services to citizens.
Most welfare programs were administered by the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Labor, which in 1985 had a budget of LS 265 million. This ministry controlled
labor unions, set minimum wages, was in charge of occupational safety, paid
social security premiums, and operated orphanages, institutions for the
handicapped, and rural community development centers. Many citizens had access
to subsidized public housing.
------------
Chapter 2 bibliographic notes:
The scholarly literature on religion in the Middle East is vast, expanding, and
subject to constant revision and analysis. For a comprehensive and challenging
history of the founding of Islam and its subsequent development and meaning,
Marshall G.S. Hodgson's three-volume The Venture of Islam is highly recommended.
Islam and the Arab World, edited by Bernard Lewis, is a well regarded collection
of monographs by numerous specialists in the field, as are The Cambridge History
of Islam, edited by P.M. Holt, Ann K.S. Lambton, and Bernard Lewis, and Religion
in the Middle East: Three Religions in Concord and Conflict, edited by A.J.
Arberry.
In contrast, literature on Syrian social systems written by trained social
scientists remained scanty in 1987. Because of the vital importance of sectarian
differences and disputes within the society, such studies as Robert M. Haddad's
Syrian Christians in Muslim Society: An Interpretation, which contains valuable
insights into religious life in both communities, are among the more useful
sources for further reading. The articles by A.R. George, Donald M. Reid, and
Gordon Roberts present material on some of the minority communities, and
Frederick Jones Bliss' The Religions of Modern Syria and Palestine contains
observations on contemporary society. (For further information see
Bibliography).
******************************
*Chapter 3. The Economy
Since Syria became independent in 1946, the economy has undergone widespread
structural change. Although the presence of the Allied Forces during World War
II stimulated commerce by providing markets for agriculture, textiles, and other
locally manufactured goods, Syria lacked both the infrastructure and resources
to promote economic prosperity. Agriculture controlled the country's economy and
determined the pace of industrial expansion as large landowners channeled
profits from agricultural exports into agroindustrial and related urban
enterprises. Syria's predominantly rural population, working under land tenure
and sharecropping arrangements, derived few benefits from the agriculturally
induced economic growth of the 1950s. However, Syria's union with Egypt
(1958-61) and the rise of the Baath Party as the major political force in the
country in the 1960s, transformed Syria's economic orientation and development
strategy.
By the mid-1960s, government-sponsored land reform and nationalization of major
industries and foreign investments had confirmed the new socialist direction of
Syria's economic policy. As the state assumed greater control over economic
decisionmaking by adopting centralized planning and strictly regulating
commercial transactions, Syria experienced a substantial loss of skilled
workers, administrators, and their capital. Despite the political upheavals,
which undermined the confidence of landowners, merchants, and industrialists,
the state successfully implemented large-scale development projects to expand
industry, agriculture, and infrastructure.
During the 1970s, Syria achieved high rates of economic growth. The dramatic
rise of world oil prices from 1973 to 1974 led to increased production from
domestic refineries. Moreover, higher prices for agricultural and oil exports,
as well as the state's limited economic liberalization policy, encouraged
growth. Also, Syria's economic boom was furthered by increased remittances from
Syrians working in the oil-rich Arab states and higher levels of Arab and other
foreign aid. By the end of the decade, the Syrian economy had shifted from its
traditional agrarian base to an economy dominated by the service, industrial,
and commercial sectors. Massive expenditures for development of irrigation,
electricity, water, road building projects, and the expansion of health services
and education to rural areas contributed to prosperity. However, the economy
remained dependent on foreign aid and grants to finance the growing deficits
both in the budget and in trade. Syria, as a front-line state in the
Arab-Israeli conflict, was also vulnerable to the vagaries of Middle East
politics, relying on Arab aid transfers and Soviet assistance to support
mounting defense expenditures.
By the mid-1980s, the country's economic climate had shifted from prosperity to
austerity. Syria's economic boom collapsed as a result of the rapid fall of
world oil prices, lower export revenues, drought affecting agricultural
production, and falling worker remittances. Also, Arab aid levels decreased
because of economic retrenchment in the oil-producing states and Syrian support
for Iran in the Iran-Iraq War. To restore the economy, the government sharply
reduced spending, cut back imports, encouraged more private sector and foreign
investment, and launched an anticorruption campaign against smugglers and
blackmarket money changers. However, massive defense outlays continued to divert
resources from productive investments.
By the late 1980s, spot shortages of basic commodities occurred frequently and
industry operated far below capacity because of routine power outages. Foreign
exchange reserves plummeted, the trade deficit widened, and real gross domestic
product ( GDP) (see Glossary) growth fell as economic difficulties compounded.
Although the government instituted limited reforms to respond to the burgeoning
crisis, Syria's pressing economic problems required a radically restructured
economic policy to improve future economic performance.
**Growth and Structure of the Economy
At independence Syria had a relatively well developed economic base. Rapid economic growth began in the 1930s, accelerated in the 1940s, and lasted until the late 1950s. Growth was based primarily on the opening of new land to cultivation and financed largely by wealthy urban merchants, particularly from Aleppo. The new farms, which grew wheat, barley, and cotton as main crops, were large, using mechanization and irrigation as much as possible. Industry also expanded rapidly, stimulated by the needs of Allied Forces in the area during World War II and domestic shortages of goods. Most industries were small, consisting of powered flour mills, bakeries, laundries, and repair shops, but also including larger facilities, in particular textile mills.
In the mid-1950s, a group of economists from the World Bank (see Glossary) concluded that the period of rapid growth based on private sector investment was ending. The slowdown occurred partly because the supply of new land that could easily be cultivated was nearly exhausted. Further expansion of arable land would require large public sector investments in irrigation, drainage, and reclamation. Large public sector investments were also needed in electric power, ports, and the transportation system. Thus, economic conditions required an expanded role for government at about the same time that socialist-oriented political leaders became more influential.
Only the waning portion of this period of rapid growth is reflected in contemporary official statistics because statistical services developed late and reliability of data was uncertain. Although statistics improved slowly over the years, problems remained in the late 1980s. Many economic measurements were best viewed as indicative rather than precise. Moreover, sharp yearly fluctuations in agricultural output caused by variations in rainfall further compounded economic analysis. Although agriculture's share in the economy had declined over the years, even in the late 1980s the wide swings in annual harvests had pronounced effects on such sectors as trade, transportation, finance, and industry.
Specific data concerning the growth of the economy extend back to 1953. Such data, measured by GDP at market prices in terms of constant 1963 prices, indicates that growth averaged 6.3 percent a year between 1953 and 1976. The period of rapid growth led by the agricultural and industrial sectors ended in 1957 because of a prolonged, 4-year drought that severely curtailed agricultural output. In the 1960s, land reform, nationalization of key industries, and the socialist transformation of the economy affected the pace and scope of economic development. Growth of the economy, measured by GDP at market prices in terms of constant 1980 prices, averaged 9.7 percent a year during the 1970s. Real growth peaked at 10.2 percent in 1981 but steadily declined from 3.2 percent in 1982 to -2.1 percent in 1984.
The pattern of growth by sectors was uneven. Between 1953 and 1976, the value of agricultural output (in constant 1963 prices) increased by only 3.2 percent a year, slower growth than in other sectors of the economy. In the late 1970s, the value of agricultural output (in constant 1980 prices) increased by an average of 9.3 percent a year, despite large weather-induced fluctuations in output. From 1981 to 1984, output fell each year, although 1985 levels surged to approximate 1983 yields.
Although agricultural output remained relatively fixed, industry and construction rapidly increased in the mid-1970s, stimulated in large part by the oil boom in the Persian Gulf states. Construction grew 16.3 percent a year during the 1970s, while output of the mining and manufacturing sectors increased 7.1 percent a year. In the early 1980s, average yearly growth in these sectors was 5.6 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively. The growth of electric power and the extractive industries, particularly crude oil and phosphates, aided industrial expansion.
The expansion of government services in the 1970s and 1980s helped sustain economic growth. In the 1970s, government services grew at an average of 12.4 percent, contributing 14.1 percent to GDP in 1976 and rising to 19.6 percent in 1984. State commitment to expanding the educational system, health care, and social services, to extending public sector enterprises as part of the nationalization program, to constructing new commercial, industrial, and residential facilities, and increasing defense expenditures contributed to this high rate of government service growth.
As a result of the varying sectoral growth rates, the economy gradually shifted from an agrarian-based structure prior to 1970 to an economy based on services and the commercial sector in the 1980s (See figure 1, Growth and Structure of GDP, 1980-85). In 1953, agriculture contributed nearly 40 percent of GDP compared to 30 percent in 1963 and approximately 20 percent in 1984 (at constant 1980 prices), according the World Bank figures. Official Syrian government sources placed agriculture's share of GDP at 16.5 percent in 1984. From 1953 to 1976, industry, including extractive industries and electric power, increased from about 10 to 22 percent of GDP. In 1984, industry contributed 15.1 percent of GDP. Construction, trade, and transportation retained approximately the same relative importance as they had had in the mid- 1970s. By 1976, government services contributed over onehalf of GDP. In 1984, the GDP share from government services increased to 61 percent, according to official Syrian statistics, while the World Bank ranked that sector's 1984 constribution at 57 percent.
**Labor Force
Historically, agriculture was the most important source of employment in the economy. However, the share of the labor force engaged in agriculture declined significantly from 1965 to 1984. According to the World Bank, the percentage of the work force engaged in agriculture fell from 53 percent in 1965 to 48 percent in 1976 and to 30 percent in 1984 (See table Estimated Labor Force and Employment by Sector, 1970, 1975, 1983 in Appendix). Manufacturing, construction, trade, and services were the other major sources of employment, providing opportunities for advancement and economic security for unskilled workers migrating from underdeveloped rural areas to the larger cities. From 1965 to 1981, the industrial labor force expanded from 20 to 31 percent. The service sector continued to be the largest employer in the 1980s, employing about 35 percent of the labor force. The government, including public sector enterprises but excluding defense, employed 473,000 workers in 1983, about 21 percent of the employed labor force and 32 percent of nonfarm workers. These figures represented a substantial increase in the number of workers employed by the government--up from the 1975 figure of 280,000, which was about 16 percent of the work force. Although Syria did not guarantee all college graduate jobs, the government absorbed many new graduates into the state bureaucracy. Government organizations were thus overstaffed, reducing profitability and efficiency in public sector enterprises and causing bureaucratic delays. In addition, new graduates and unskilled workers frequently took jobs with the government to gain experience and training, but subsequently switched to higher paying jobs in the private sector. Moreover, surveys suggested that many government employees worked outside their area of expertise.
Government workers also took second jobs in business and services to supplement their incomes.
The economy suffered a lack of skilled workers and trained professionals in a wide variety of fields. In 1983, professionals, technical staff, administrators, and managers made up only 10 percent of the work force, although their number was double the percentage in 1970. Both the shortage of skilled labor and the low wage policy in the public sector constrained the mid1970s investment boom. Skilled workers and professionals headed to the oil-rich, labor-poor states of the Arabian Peninsula for higher wages. Although the government adopted various measures to curtail the "brain drain" from both the public and private sectors, Syrians continued to migrate. In the 1980s, following the collapse of world oil prices and the subsequent economic downturn of the oil-producing states, many Syrian workers began returning home and their industrial management skills and expertise therefore became available to the state.
In the 1970s, planners and government organizations gave greater attention to increasing the skills of the labor force. Vocational schools and specialized training facilities, including one for administrators and managers, became more active, and new industrial plants and other projects often included job training by foreign suppliers. The government made greater efforts to identify and plan for the economy's manpower needs. As a result, public sector employees received wage increases, but it was not clear that the raises were sufficient to make public sector employment more attractive than private enterprise. How fast the level of the work force would rise and how the low level of skilled manpower would affect economic development were still uncertain.
Officially, unemployment remained a relatively minor problem into the 1980s. In 1983 registered unemployed totaled 5 percent. However, actual unemployment may have been higher because much of the population depended on seasonal agricultural employment. Many urban workers were also underemployed, further complicating employment statistics. United States government observers estimate that in 1984 unemployment may actually have reached 20 percent. Although government programs to stimulate cottage industry and local processing in rural areas helped provide additional income for seasonal workers, the dramatic increase in the number of beggars appearing in large cities in the mid-1980s indicated a sharp decline in the urban standard of living.
As of 1983 about 15 percent of nonfarm labor was unionized (222,203 members in 179 unions). Union membership was largest among government, construction, textile, and land transportation workers. The government encouraged and supported labor organizations but closely supervised their activities, restricted their political influence and economic power, and minimized labor disputes. Labor achieved a voice in management of public enterprises through the participation of workers' representatives in committees at each plant, but the managers headed the committees. In an effort to increase production and productivity, in the late 1970s public businesses established production councils consisting of the business manager and representatives of the Baath (Arab Socialist Resurrection) Party, the union, and plant workers.
**Role of Government
During the rapid economic development preceding and following independence, government played a minor role. Expansion resulted primarily from private sector investment in agriculture and industry. Although the economy grew rapidly, benefits were not shared equally. Many people's incomes were very low, and most of the rural population lacked amenities; electricity, education, health care, and an adequate diet were available almost exclusively in cities and in a few towns. In the 1950s, disparities of income and social inequality contributed to the rise of political leaders favoring a much stronger economic role for the government, including some leaders who demanded state ownership of the means of production. Economic conditions, primarily the need for large investments in roads, ports, and irrigation, also required more active government participation (see Radical Political Influence , ch. 1).
Between 1958, after the union with Egypt, and 1965, a series of laws were enacted that resulted in progressive socialization of the economy. By 1961 the state had acquired control of the development of natural resources, and land reform measures had been introduced, although not effectively implemented. Also, a new economic plan that emphasized large public sector investments had been formulated and the banking system had been moved toward nationalization through what Syrians called "Arabization." In 1961, while Syria was still the junior partner with Egypt in the United Arab Republic, widespread nationalization was decreed, but Syria withdrew from the republic before completion of the nationalization measures (see United Arab Republic , ch. 1). Not until March 1963 did the socialist transformation make headway.
Between 1963 and 1965, a socialist economy was erected, although some laws enacted later extended and refined the public sector. In 1963 agrarian reform stripped large landowners of their estates and much of their political power, provided some land to landless farmers, and improved conditions for farm tenants and sharecroppers (see Agriculture, this ch.). In 1963 commercial banking and insurance were completely nationalized, and in 1965 most large businesses were nationalized wholly or partially. By 1966 the public sector included development of natural resources, electric power, and water; the bulk of industrial plants, banking, and insurance; part of transportation; and most international commerce and domestic wholesale trade. In addition, the government was responsible for the bulk of investments, the flow of credit, and pricing for many commodities and services, including a substantial part of wages.
By 1986 the situation remained essentially unchanged. As a result of these earlier measures, the government dominated the economy--accounting for three-fifths of GDP--and exerted considerable influence over the private sector. However, President Hafiz al Assad had liberalized the structure somewhat to encourage more private sector activity and investment. For example, the government relaxed exchange controls and permitted private traders to import more goods, although over 100 of the most important foreign commodities were still exclusively imported by state trading organizations. In addition, the government established six free trade zones where local traders and manufacturers could import, process, and reexport commodities freely. Also, private investment (domestic and foreign) in portions of manufacturing and tourist facilities was encouraged through such measures as tax exemptions and cheap credit. The post-1970 measures were more a rationalization of the economy to promote greater private sector development than a dismantling of government controls and ownership. As a result of these measures, the private sector dominated agriculture and retail trade and was important in light industry--particularly fabrics and clothing-- and construction, transportation, and tourist facilities.
Cotton, the country's most important export before 1974, provided an extreme example of government involvement in the economy. Areas put into cotton cultivation were controlled by government licensing of individual farmers. A government bank supplied the credit, most of which went to cotton farmers; much of the credit was in kind, with the bank purchasing, storing, and distributing the approved seeds, fertilizers, and other items. Government organizations purchased and graded the cotton, operated the gins and spinning mills, and marketed the products internally and abroad. The government established the price for cotton at all stages and subsidized prices for such inputs as credits, seeds, fertilizers, and fuel to run the irrigation pumps.
The effect on Syria's economy of the socialist measures of the 1960s was significant. First, there was a substantial exodus of trained personnel and capital from the private sector, a trend that continued in the 1970s, although the exodus was of a smaller magnitude and occurred for different reasons (see Industry, this ch.). The other major consequence was a rapid expansion of government responsibilities, even though the government had few trained people, limited funds, and inadequate organization and procedures. The political instability of the 1960s and the small number of trained people in the country further hampered development of effective organizations. Government services, including defense, became the main growth sector of the economy in the 1960s as people were added to the payroll, but effective expansion was slow.
In the mid-1980s, observers characterized the government and its activities as inefficient and excessively bureaucratic. Much of the criticism was caused by the continuing shortage of trained and competent officials. Part of the criticism reflected continuing deficiencies in organizations and practices. Government organizations were still trying to catch up with the huge additional responsibilities that had been imposed on inexperienced government personnel. By 1986, budgetary procedures and financial controls had steadily improved, but they were not as good as the situation required or as officials desired. Proposals for evaluations and implementation of projects were deficient, but progress had been made, and the government sought advice and help from outside experts for more improvements.
When the socialist transformation was taking place in the 1960s, the rationale was to promote economic development for the benefit of all. Although some direct redistribution of income occurred, redistribution was effected largely by way of pricing, subsidies, and tenancy legislation rather than by taxation, although in 1986 data were insufficient for a conclusive opinion. Although growth afforded job opportunities at higher incomes, it had the negative effect of attracting even more workers to already crowded urban areas. However, economic development did provide gradual improvement of living standards; considerable investments were made in roads, ports, schools, irrigation, and the Euphrates (Tabaqah) Dam that would facilitate future growth. Nonetheless, the economic wrenching of the 1980s restrained development; incomes of most Syrians remained low by world standards, and substantial income gaps between various groups persisted.
***Budget
With the progressive transfer of economic power from private enterprise to the state, public finance became a major economic determinant. Even though the government's fiscal responsibilities increased during the early 1960s, budgetary practices changed little until 1967, when legislation established a single, consolidated, and centralized annual budget that covered all spending units of the public sector. This budget was closely geared to development plans and complemented a reorganization of the banking system. Under the law each budgeted outlay was to be matched by the funds required to finance it.
The budget legislation was accompanied by a reorganization of the Ministry of Finance and of auditing and statistical services. An annual foreign exchange budget was instituted to preview probable foreign exchange receipts and expenditures, thus allowing the Ministry of Finance and the planning organization to anticipate the government's needs in foreign and local currencies.
The new law required that budget accounts be closed 30 days after the end of the fiscal year. Unused funds were to be returned to the treasury, although those already committed were to be place in special, segregated accounts in the treasury. This stopped the previous practice whereby transactions continued to be recorded on budget accounts for several years after the end of a fiscal year.
Since 1970, when the state introduced the consolidated budget, all expenditures and receipts of the ministries, the central public sector administrative agencies, the public sector economic enterprises, and the local, municipal, and religious administrative units have been combined into one budget. Expenditures and receipts of the ministries and central government administrative units were included in the general budget in full; other units were represented by inclusion of the net total surplus or deficit of their respective budgets. Economic units financed almost none of their own expansion. Instead they turned any surplus (profit) back to the government and received funds via budget expenditures for investments.
Although budgetary practices improved and the budget became a more useful tool for officials, published budget data in the late 1980s remained a difficult source from which to interpret developments in the economy. Expenditures and receipts continued to be published as proposals only. Actual expenditures and receipts were not available, although fragmentary data gave indications of shortfalls; moreover, the proposed budgets were balanced, and such important balancing items as proposed domestic borrowing and anticipated foreign aid were not clearly designated. Thus it was impossible to determine how effective the government was in implementing programs, whether deficits were incurred and, if so, their size, and how dependent the government was on external assistance. The uncertainties may have been intentional for security reasons.
The budget gave few clues about the extent of Syria's economic malaise in the mid-1980s. For example, it did not reflect the rapid depreciation of the Syrian pound, the steep rise in prices, the shortages of basic commodities, nor the acute foreign exchange crisis which compelled the government to reduce imports. However, budget data during the mid-1980s clearly depicted the mood of austerity underlying economic policy as well as the government's commitment to reducing expenditures. The 1986 budget revealed a major decrease in expenditure in real terms for the third consecutive year, as inflation--estimated at between 20 to 30 percent--negated the 2 percent increase in spending (see table 7, Summary of Proposed Budget Expenditures, 1983-1985, Appendix).
Defense spending towered above all other budgetary allocations in the 1980s (see The Armed Forces and Society , ch. 5). The cost of Syria's military presence in Lebanon since 1976, coupled with the government's desire to reach strategic parity with Israel, accounted for the level of spending (see Regional Foreign Relations , ch. 5). Defense spending averaged over 50 percent of current expenditures in the mid-1980s, accounting for about 30 percent of total spending.
Agricultural development also benefited from high allocations in the mid-1980s designed to counteract the governmental neglect of the 1970s. In 1985 allocations rose 22 percent above 1984 figures, amounting to 20 percent of total spending. In 1986 figures indicated a 5 percent investment increase for the agricultural sector.
Allocations for the mining industry (including petroleum) increased substantially in the 1986 investment budget. The 1986 allocations rose 46 percent above 1985 levels as government officials targeted increased petroleum and phosphate production and export in the Sixth Five-Year Plan.
However, budget deficits continued in the 1980s because of the rapid increase in defense expenditures and falling revenues from exports. The government financed the deficit through domestic borrowing and foreign aid. However, in the mid 1980s, budgeted foreign aid grants greatly exceeded actual disbursements by donors because of depressed economic conditions in the Arab oil-exporting states. Although Syria budgeted LS1.96 billion (for value of the Syrian pound--see Glossary) in foreign aid grants in 1986, the country expected to receive only about one-fifth of this figure and to incur a substantial budget deficit. However, the country's internal and external public debt remained moderate and did not impose an oppressive annual repayment burden.
***Revenues
The growth rate of proposed government revenues (in current prices) averaged 14.3 percent a year between 1964 and 1970, 26 percent a year in the 1970s, and 8.3 percent a year from 1980 to 1985. Growth in government revenues in the 1970s reflected higher levels of foreign aid because of Syria's key role in inter-Arab politics and increased internal borrowing for development. Government receipts included part of expected foreign financial assistance as well as anticipated domestic borrowing. Actual receipts for various revenue headings were not available, but many economists believed that actual receipts were substantially less than those shown in proposed budgets. Proposed government revenues increased from LS1.2 billion in 1964 to LS2.8 billion in 1970, LS10.4 billion in 1975, LS1.2 billion in 1978 and LS43 billion in 1985 (see table 6, Summary of Proposed Government Budget Receipts, 1983-85).
Syrian revenues were a much higher ratio of GDP than in most countries of the world because budget receipts incorporated the funds, including foreign aid and internal borrowing, used for the bulk of the country's investments. In fact, Syrian revenue structure differed from that of most countries in a number of ways. Personal income taxes have traditionally been low, amounting to only LS550 million, or 1.3 percent of total revenues, in 1985. Reluctance to tax income stemmed from generally low incomes combined with high tax-collection costs. Furthermore, tax rates were low, with numerous exemptions for special interests, despite a 1982 law enacted to close loopholes for certain public sector ventures. Tax evasion also was common among all social classes. Business income taxes were relatively small as well, amounting to 10 percent (LS4.3 billion) of total revenues in 1985. Even so, this amount was a significant increase over the LS510 million (3 percent of total revenues) collected in 1977.
In addition, taxes on capital, real estate, and inheritance yielded small sums. In 1985, taxes on capital brought in LS50 million, real estate taxes produced LS400 million, and inheritance taxes LS40 million, equivalent to about 1 percent of the total. Direct taxes and duties totaled LS6.24 billion in 1985.
Because they were easy to collect, levies on production and consumption (including taxes on imports) were the primary form of taxation. Like many other developing countries, Syria relied on indirect taxes, which in 1985 amounted to LS4.16 billion, 10 percent of total revenues, equal to two-thirds the amount of direct taxes and duties. Customs duties and other fees on foreign trade, including duties on cotton exports, amounted to LS2 billion in 1985. Excise taxes on several commodities (e.g., cement, fuel, livestock, sugar, and salt) made up the remainder of indirect taxes.
Transfer of surpluses (after taxes and profits) from public sector enterprises served as the main source of domestic revenue. The share of these transfers (excluding foreign aid and internal credits) reached 32 percent in 1970, 50 percent in 1976, and 31 percent in 1985 (LS13.1 billion). In the 1960s, banking-financial and industrial public sector businesses together provided the bulk of the surpluses. In the 1970s, industrial concerns alone accounted for 75 percent of the surpluses transferred to the budget; this figure declined slightly to 70 percent in 1985. In the 1970s and 1980s, the government increasingly relied on the pricing of commodities and services rather than taxes to finance expenditures. In an effort to expand future budget revenues, officials intended to increase efficiency, productivity, and profits of public-sector business.
Foreign credits and grants and domestic borrowing also provided supplemental funding for key development projects. The 1984 budget projected LS1.9 billion in foreign loans and LS7.7 billion in "support funds" from Arab states (see Balance of Payments , this ch.). After 1982, grants in oil aid from Iran also significantly contributed to the growth of revenues. However, when external aid declined in the 1980s, domestic borrowing levels increased. Although the banking system provided most of the internal credits, reserves of public enterprises also provided some funds.
Until 1977,transit fees for crude oil pumped through international pipelines across Syrian territory were an important source of revenue. Pipeline payments, which averaged about 25 percent of total domestic revenues in the early 1970s, fell to zero in 1977. The pipeline reopened briefly in 1979, was shut down in the early stages of the Iran-Iraq War, and then reopened again in 1981 before Syria closed down the pipeline from Iraq in 1982 as a show of support for Iran in the Gulf war (see Industry , this ch.).
***Expenditures
Proposed expenditures matched proposed revenues because budgets submitted for approval were balanced. However, actual expenditures usually fell considerably short of those planned, although the fragmentary data available in 1987 generally precluded measurement of the amount of difference. In the 1980s, budgets began including planned deficits, and investment spending repeatedly trailed allocations. Only 70 percent of Syria's 1984 investment budget of LS17.85 million was actually spent. Expenditures fell under two headings--the ordinary budget covering current (recurring) expenditures and the development (capital) budget. Beginning in the early 1960s, capital investments had become a much more important part of the budget. Development expenditures amounted to 42 percent of total expenditures in 1964, increased to 50 percent in 1970, and peaked at 64 percent in 1976. However, by 1980, development expenditures had fallen back to 50 percent and in 1985 fell to 45 percent of total expenditures. In the 1980s, normal proposed revenues (taxes, duties, fees, and surpluses of public sector enterprises) usually financed proposed current expenditures, with a small remainder to help with capital investments. Foreign aid and domestic borrowing financed the rest of the development budget.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, defense spending dominated current expenditures. Some observers maintained that in the 1970s defense spending accounted for approximately three-fifths of current expenditures, although such amounts were not reflected in official statistics (see fig. 2, Government Expenditures by Sector, 1985). Offically, defense spending rose from LS675 million in 1970 to LS4.6 billion in 1978, increasing at an average rate of 27 percent a year during this period. In the 1985 budget, defense spending again accounted for the greatest portion of current expenditures. However, the LS13 billion 1985 defense budget reflected only a 9 percent rate of growth, slower than that in previous years. However, a related item, internal security expenditures, accounted for a further LS672 million in the 1985 budget. Most of the remainder of current expenditures covered operating expenses of ministries and agencies--largely personnel costs (see table 7, Summary of Proposed Budget Expenditures, 1981-85, Appendix).
Identifiable payments on the public debt amounted to LS135 million in 1976 and 1977, less than 1 percent of total expenditures. The 1984 budget allocated LS1.8 billion to the public debt, equal to 7.6 percent of current expenditures.
Identifiable price subsidies amounted to LS600 million in 1977 and LS1.4 billion in 1985, accounting for 9 percent and 6 percent of current expenditures. Subsidies rose rapidly in the mid-1970s as a result of higher rates of internal and international inflation. The government attempted to keep meat, bread, coffee, sugar, diesel fuel (for irrigation pumps), and other essential items within reach of the poor; the subsidized prices for sugar and diesel fuel, for example, were about onequarter of the regular market price in the 1980s.
In the 1970s, the government demonstrated its commitment to economic development through sizable increases in the development budget by increasing investment expenditures an average of 26 percent a year. Although they increased substantially from LS1.4 billion in 1970 to LS14 billion in 1980, growth of investment expenditures slowed to just 6 percent a year in the 1980s.
***Development Planning
Development planning began in 1947, when a British firm was hired to survey the Syrian economy and make suggestions for investments. Presumably, the report guided the government's limited development expenditures for several years. In 1955 an economic mission from the World Bank suggested a six-year, LS1.9 billion development program and formation of a planning agency. In the same year, a planning organization that immediately presented a seven-year, LS660-million development plan was established. Although this plan was adopted, it was discarded in 1956. In 1958 a ten-year plan was prepared, incorporating the results of the 1957 aid agreement with the Soviet Union. This plan was also discarded in order to mesh plans with Egypt.
After Syria's union with Egypt, Syria's First Five Year Plan (beginning in July 1960 and ending June 1965) within a broader ten-year program was adopted. As in the Egyptian plan, Syria's gross output of goods and services was to double in ten years, requiring a yearly increase of 7.2 percent. Total planned investment in the Five-Year Plan, including that by the private sector, was LS2.7 billion. Irrigation and agriculture were allocated 20 percent of the investments, transportation and communications 20 percent, and industry--particularly the oil and electric power industries--19 percent. Foreign aid was to supply nearly one-quarter of the financing (nearly 40 percent of public sector investments), supplemented by a small amount of internal borrowing. However, withdrawal from the union with Egypt, political instability, private investors' fear of nationalization, and inadequacies of the government structure combined to keep actual investment to less than 60 percent of the plan.
The Second Five-Year Plan (1966-70) maintained the same growth target (an annual average increase of 7.2 percent for GDP), but substantially increased planned public sector investments to achieve the socialist economy envisioned by Syria's leaders. Planned development expenditures were LS4.96 billion, of which the public sector was to contribute LS3.45 billion and the private sector LS1.5 billion.
Dependence on foreign aid increased, amounting to a planned LS1.94 billion or 56 percent of public sector investments (39 percent of total investments). Planned allocations included LS1.39 billion to irrigation and agriculture (primarily the Euphrates Dam and other irrigation projects), LS612 million to fuel and electric power, LS894 million to transportation and communications, LS399 million to manufacturing and mining, and LS1.28 billion to housing, construction, and public works. More than two-thirds of private investments were to be in housing, construction, and agriculture.
Implementation of the second plan fell short of goals, partly because of the June 1967 War and the resources devoted to national security. Economic growth was about two-thirds of that projected under the plan and investments were about 70 percent. Public sector development expenditures lagged considerably during the first three years, and only large investment in 1969 and 1970 partially salvaged the situation. Private sector investment (largely in housing and construction) appeared to be closer to what was planned than public sector investment. Export growth exceeded the plan but was less than import growth, causing a deterioration in the balance of payments.
The Third Five-Year Plan (1971-75) aimed at an 8.2 percent growth rate for GDP (in constant prices) and investments totaling LS8 billion, of which LS6.4 billion was planned for the public sector and LS1.6 billion for the cooperative and private sectors. Public sector allocations were 25 percent for completion of the Euphrates Dam, 10 percent for agricultural and other irrigation projects, 18 percent for industry and mining, 16 percent for fuel and electric power, 12 percent for transportation and communications, 9 percent for housing, water, and other public works, and 10 percent for miscellaneous, including debt service. Private sector investments were scheduled primarily for housing and construction (LS903 million); much smaller amounts were scheduled in other sectors. Domestic savings were expected to increase sharply to finance investments. Surpluses of public enterprises alone were expected to finance over three-quarters of public investments.
Implementation of the third plan started slowly; development expenditures were far less than planned by the outbreak of the October 1973 War. The war damaged key industrial facilities, particularly power stations and the oil refinery at Homs. The plan was modified for necessary repairs and for additional projects because substantial new aid became available. Over 50 percent of investments were concentrated in the last two years of the plan.
The results of the third plan were mixed. GDP (in constant prices) increased over the five years by 10.7 percent a year, considerably more than planned because of relatively good weather for crops, increasing production of and higher prices for crude oil, and the high level of construction, particularly after 1973. Some large projects were completed during the Second Five-Year Plan, such as the Euphrates Dam, a fertilizer plant, and the beginning of a steel industry that added to and diversified the industrial strength of the country. Public investments, however, reached only about 70 percent of the target in spite of heavy development expenditures in the final two years, and the pattern by sectors was irregular. Even with the large expenditures in the Euphrates basin, investment in agriculture and irrigation stagnated in real terms. Public savings and surpluses of public enterprises fell considerably short of goals. Without new and unplanned foreign aid, public investments would not have even approached targets as closely as they did. However, the high level of investment after 1973 contributed to shortages of goods and skilled workers plus serious inflation.
Aware of deficiencies,the government attempted to remedy problems in planning and implementation. In 1968 the planning structure was reorganized; as of 1986 it retained the same form. The Supreme Planning Council, consisting of the prime minister and the highest officials concerned with the economy, determined broad strategy and general objectives from which the State Planning Organization (SPO) drew up detailed guidelines. Planning units in ministries developed sectoral plans in collaboration with appropriate SPO officials. The process then was reversed-- the sectoral plans passing the SPO for final formulation, with subsequent approval by the Supreme Planning Council. SPO prepared the annual development budget for inclusion with the government's current budget expenditures and shared responsibilities with another organization under the prime minister's office in the follow up of the plan. The Central Statistical Bureau also supported the prime minister in providing data for planning and implementation. Statistical services had improved considerably by the mid-1980s, but collection and processing still needed improvement to meet the requirements of officials and planners.
The reforms made failed to raise the government's management of the economy to the level outlined in the Third Five-Year Plan. Deficiencies remained in project identification, preparation, implementation, and coordination. Management of public sector businesses was generally weak, reducing the profits available to the government for development expenditures and often leaving industrial capacity underutilized. In spite of efforts of the Ministry of Finance to reform the tax system and increase efficiency of domestic resource mobilization, deficiencies in labor, wage, and price policies hampered development. Corruption became so widespread that the government initiated a program against it. Some economists viewed the government's administrative problems as so complex that many years of serious reform would be required to achieve satisfactory efficiency.
Preparation of the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1976-80) required a reassessment by the country's economic leaders. In particular, the reduced availability of economic resources (caused in part by a slowing of foreign aid, loss of pipeline transit fees and concessionary crude oil supplies from Iraq, military expenditures for peacekeeping in Lebanon, and care for the large number of refugees from Lebanon) forced a program of austerity. The reassessment contributed to a cabinet change in August 1976, in which the new cabinet was charged with improving economic management and particularly with strengthening public sector performance.
The original draft of the fourth plan, completed by 1975, was overly optimistic. A drastically revised draft was finished in June 1976 but was further revised downward during the year. Because of the shortages of agricultural workers in the northeast and technicians and managers in industry, the new cabinet reportedly viewed the revised plan as still too optimistic about GDP growth, expansion of irrigation, and production increases from manufacturing and extractive industries. The revised plan was approved and became law in April 1977, although as a tentative plan subject to further revision.
The approved Fourth Five-Year Plan anticipated an increase in real terms of 12 percent a year in agricultural output, 15.4 percent a year in mining, manufacturing, and electric-power production, and 16 percent a year in construction. Total planned investments were LS54.2 billion, of which LS44.8 billion was to be generated by the public sector. Agriculture and irrigation received the largest allocation, LS12.9 billion, of which LS10.4 billion was by the public sector, including LS7.4 billion for irrigation in the Euphrates basin and LS1.1 billion for fifty- eight small dams and irrigation and drainage projects elsewhere. Mining and manufacturing were allocated LS11.3 billion, of which public sector investments were LS9.9 billion. Fuel and electric power, all in the public sector, received LS7.9 billion. Housing was allocated LS8.1 billion, almost evenly divided between public and private investments. The transportation and communication systems, primarily public sector, were allocated LS5.6 billion. Investments in public works, local government, trade, and other services (largely public sector) made up the remainder.
Despite the infusion of funds from Arab oil-producing states, Syrian officials had concluded that the targets set for the Fourth Five-Year Plan were unrealistic and that the plan contained too many large and overly ambitious projects. Consequently, the Fifth Five Year-Plan (1981-1985) sought more modest goals than its predecessors. The plan, announced only in mid-1981 and published in 1982, called for few new major projects, indicating the return of realism to Syrian development planning. Although planners concentrated on completing projects begun under the fourth plan, emphasis shifted from industry to agriculture, with self-sufficiency in food the ultimate goal. The large increase in food imports since the late 1970s and the general neglect of the agricultural sector in that decade produced a renewed commitment to agricultural development. The Fifth Five-Year Plan sought a reduction in both public and private consumption while continuing to increase investment. In addition, the plan targeted a decrease in the trade deficit and a reduction in the growth of public spending. Under the Fifth Five- Year Plan, total planned investment was LS101.5 billion with LS9.4 billion derived from foreign loans and aid. The private sector was slated to provide LS23.3 billion. Agriculture received LS17.2 billion, and mining and manufacturing's allocation was LS27 billion, including LS4.6 billion for the extractive industries and LS10.1 billion for electricity, gas, and water. The transportation and communications sector received LS12.8 billion, the financial sector LS18.4 billion, and the service sector LS20.6 billion. Although the Fifth Five-Year Plan's goals were more realistic than goals of previous plans, targets proved unattainable. In fact, the fifth plan achieved only 50 percent of its goals in key areas. Factors largely beyond the control of the government contributed to this failure. The oil crisis of the 1980s, which lowered the price and demand for petroleum, reduced the value of Syria's crude oil exports. The crisis also produced depressed economic conditions in the Arab oil-producing states, leading to a marked decrease of workers' remittances and foreign aid and grants from the Gulf states in the mid-1980s. In addition, the 1983-84 drought damaged not only the production of key crops but also adversely affected agriculturally dependent sectors of the economy. Mounting defense expenditures and government policies, including price controls and marketing restrictions on agricultural production, also accounted for the failure to achieve the projected goals of the plan. In general, less than 70 percent of the amount allocated for investment budgets in the early 1980s actually was spent. The Fifth Five- Year Plan projected a 44.7 percent growth in real GDP (in 1980 prices), equivalent to an average annual increase of 7.7 percent, but real GDP fell from 1982 to 1985.
Individual sectors clearly failed to meet or even approach the targets. The value of agricultural production was slated to grow an average of 7.8 percent a year under the plan. Despite the state's renewed emphasis on agricultural development, production decreased in the early 1980s as a result of drought conditions. Increased production levels in 1985 occurred more as a response to good weather than as an emerging trend toward increased agricultural output. Structural changes in the economy and the movement of the labor force away from the agricultural sector weakened attempts to increase production. The mining and manufacturing sector, targeted to rise 42.7 percent over the five-year period, grew only about 8.5 percent in the early 1980s. The sector experienced an overall decrease in the real value of production from 1980 to 1985, despite increases in electric power generation and manufacturing output. The plan also anticipated an 8.9 percent per year rise in investment and a 6.4 percent per year increase in current expenditures. Allocated development expenditure actually declined in real terms from the 1980 to 1985 budgets. Gross domestic investment, both public and private, grew about 2.9 percent year.
Current expenditure grew 9 percent per year in real terms during the period of the Fifth Five-Year Plan. The planned yearly increases for imports and exports were 3.4 and 6.5 percent, respectively, yet both actually fell. The trade deficit and food imports, however, continued to grow. In early 1987, the Sixth Five-Year Plan (1986-1990) had still not been published. However, Syrian government officials had revealed the general goals of the plan in statements to the international media. Like its immediate predecessor, the Sixth Five-Year Plan stressed completion of existing projects and increased productivity in ongoing ones, rather than the implementation of major new development projects in a period of economic retrenchment. Officials anticipated that total investment in the Sixth Five-Year Plan would barely exceed the LS101.5 billion allocated for the fifth plan. The government continued to emphasize agriculture, including land reclamation and water resource exploitation. Agriculture's share of investment was expected to increase from the 16.9 percent of the fifth plan to about 19 percent under the sixth plan. Industry's allocation was also slated to rise slightly from 12.2 percent in 1981-1985 to 13.7 percent in the 1986-1990 plan.
**Agriculture
Until the mid-1970s, agriculture had been Syria's primary economic activity. At independence in 1946, agriculture (including minor forestry and fishing) was the most important sector of the economy, and in the 1940s and early 1950s, agriculture was the fastest growing sector. Wealthy merchants from such urban centers as Aleppo invested in land development and irrigation. Rapid expansion of the cultivated area and increased output stimulated the rest of the economy. However, by the late 1950s, little land that could easily be brought under cultivation remained. During the 1960s, agricultural output stagnated because of political instability and land reform. Between 1953 and 1976, agriculture's contribution to GDP increased (in constant prices) by only 3.2 percent, approximately the rate of population growth. From 1976 to 1984 growth declined to 2 percent a year. Thus, agriculture's importance in the economy declined as other sectors grew more rapidly.
In 1981 (the year of the latest census), as in the 1970s, 53 percent of the population was still classified as rural, although movement to the cities continued to accelerate. However, in contrast to the 1970s, when 50 percent of the labor force was employed in agriculture, by 1983 agriculture employed only 30 percent of the labor force. Furthermore,by the mid-1980s, unprocessed farm products accounted for only 4 percent of exports, equivalent to 7 percent of nonpetroleum exports. Industry, commerce, and transportation still depended on farm produce and related agro-business, but agriculture's preeminent position had clearly eroded. By 1985 agriculture (including a little forestry and fishing) contributed only 16.5 percent to GDP, down from 22.1 percent in 1976.
By the mid-1980s, the Syrian government had taken measures to revitalize agriculture. The 1985 investment budget saw a sharp rise in allocations for agriculture, including land reclamation and irrigation. The government's renewed commitment to agricultural development in the 1980s, by expanding cultivation and extending irrigation, promised brighter prospects for Syrian agriculture in the 1990s.
***Water Resources
Water is a scarce resource in Syria as it is throughout the Middle East, but Syria is more fortunate than many other countries. Sufficient rainfall supports cultivation in an arc from the southwest, near the border with Israel and Lebanon, extending northward to the Turkish border and eastward along that border to Iraq. The other main area of cultivation, although dependent on irrigation, is along the Euphrates River and its major tributaries (see Land, Water, and Climate , ch. 2).
Rainfall is highest along the Mediterranean coast and on the mountains just inland; Syria's limited forestry activities are concentrated in the higher elevations of these mountains. Rainfall diminishes sharply as one moves eastward of the mountains paralleling the coast and southward from the Turkish border. The arc of cultivation from the southwest (and east of the coastal mountains) to the northeast is largely semiarid, having as annual rainfall between 300 and 600 millimeters. Areas south and east of the arc receive less than 300 millimeters of rain annually, classifying the land as arid. Grass and coarse vegetation suitable for limited grazing grow in part of this arid belt, and the rest is desert of little agricultural value.
Rainfall is concentrated between October and May. Without irrigation, cropping is finished by summer, when the climate is very hot and dry. Moreover, the amount of rainfall and its timing varies considerably from year to year, making rain-fed farming extremely risky. When rains are late or inadequate, farmers do not even plant a crop. Successive years of drought are not uncommon and cause havoc not only for farmers but for the rest of the economy. In the mid-1980s, about two-thirds of agricultural output (plant and animal production) depended on rainfall.
Extension and improvement of irrigation systems could substantially raise agricultural output. For example, in 1985, because of the expansion of irrigation systems, Syria's agricultural output rose 10 percent above the drought-plagued yield of 1984. Yields from irrigated fields have been several times higher than from rain-fed fields, and many irrigated areas could grow more than a single crop a year. Development of irrigation systems, however, is both costly and time consuming.
Syria's major irrigation potential lies in the Euphrates River valley and its two major tributaries, the Balikh and Khabur (Nahr al Khabur) rivers in the northeast portion of the country. The Euphrates is the third largest river in the Middle East (after the Nile in Egypt and the Tigris in Iraq) and its headwaters rise in Turkey, where relatively heavy rainfall and snow pack provide runoff much of the year. The river flows southeastward across the arid Syrian plateau into Iraq, where it joins the Tigris River shortly before emptying into the Persian Gulf (see figure , ch. 2). In addition to Syria, both Turkey and Iraq use dams on the Euphrates for hydroelectric power, water control, storage, and irrigation. In the mid-1980s, about one- half of the annual Euphrates River flow was used by the three nations.
Syrians have long used the Euphrates for irrigation, but, because the major systems were destroyed centuries ago, they make only limited use of the river's flow. In the mid-1980s, the Euphrates River accounted for over 85 percent of the country's surface water resources, but its water was used for only about two-fifths (200,000 hectares) of the land then under irrigated cultivation. In 1984, about 44 percent of irrigated land still used water from wells. Several project studies were conducted after World War II, and, in the 1960s, the Soviet Union agreed to provide financial and technical assistance for the Thawra Dam (also called Euphrates or Tabaqah dam), a large hydroelectrical power station, and portions of the major Euphrates irrigation project.
The dam, located at Tabaqah, a short distance upriver from the town of Ar Raqqah, is earth fill, 60 meters high and four and one-half kilometers long. Construction began in 1968, and work was essentially completed by 1978. The Thawra Dam was closed in 1973, when Lake Assad, the artificial lake behind the dam, began filling. About 80 kilometers long, Lake Assad averages about 8 kilometers in width and holds nearly 12 billion cubic meters of water. The power plant has eight 100-megawatt turbines for power generation and transmission lines to Aleppo. Until 1983, the power station operated at 65 percent of capacity, generating 2,500 megawatts a year or about 45 percent of Syria's electricity. In 1986, the power station operated at only 30 to 40 percent of capacity because of the low water level in Lake Assad. Provisions were made, however, for future construction to raise the height of the dam, increase the capacity of Lake Assad by about 10 percent, and increase the number of turbines. In 1984, as a result of the disappointing performance of the dam, the government studied the possibility of building a second dam upstream from Tabaqah between Ash Shajarah, situated on the northern edge of Lake Assad, and Jarabulus, located near the Turkish border. The ultimate goal of the Euphrates irrigation project is to provide 640,000 cultivable hectares by the year 2000, in effect doubling the area of Syria's irrigated land in the mid-1970s. In 1978, observers believed that 20,000 to 30,000 hectares of land had been irrigated and that new housing, roads, and farms had been completed for the 8,000 farmers displaced by the creation of Lake Assad. In the early 1980s, Syrian officials had anticipated the completion of irrigation on about 50,000 to 100,000 hectares in the Euphrates basin, with about 20,000 hectares planned for completion each year after that. The Fourth Five-Year Plan actually called for irrigating an additional 240,000 hectares by the end of the plan. In 1984, however, Syrian government statistics revealed that only 60,000 hectares were actually being irrigated. Ten years after its inception, the Euphrates irrigation project irrigated only about 10 percent of its long-term goal.
A variety of complex, interrelated problems frustrated realization of targeted irrigation goals. Technical problems with gypsum subsoil, which caused irrigation canals to collapse, proved more troublesome than at first anticipated. Large cost overruns on some of the irrigation projects made them much more expensive than planned and created difficulties in financing additional projects. Moreover, these large irrigation projects required several years before returns on the investments began. There was also doubt about whether farmers could be attracted back from urban areas or enticed from more crowded agricultural areas to the sparsely populated Euphrates Valley. Another complication is that the Euphrates flow is insufficient for the irrigation needs of the three countries--Turkey, Iran, and Syria- -that share the river. In 1962, talks on allotment of Euphrates water began and continued sporadically throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, but acrimonious relations between Syria and Iraq hampered final agreements. In fact, in 1978 when Syria began filling Lake Assad and water to Iraq was greatly reduced, the two countries almost went to war. In addition, Turkey's use of Euphrates' waters for its Keban Dam assures that water levels in Lake Assad will remain low. This problem will undoubtedly continue into the 1990s, when Turkey completes construction of the Ataturk Dam.
By 1987, numerous Euphrates irrigation projects and additional irrigation projects throughout the country were proceeding, but what had been accomplished was not clear. Projects initiated in the 1980s included irrigation of 21,000 hectares in the Ar Raqqah area pilot project, 27,000 hectares reclaimed in the Euphrates middle-stage project, and about half of a 21,000-hectare plot reclaimed with Soviet assistance in the Meskanah region. There were also major irrigation schemes involving 130,000 hectares in the Meskanah, Al Ghab, and Aleppo plains project. In addition, Syria completed a small regulatory dam with three seventy-milliwatt turbines approximately twenty- five kilometers downstream from Tabaqah. In the mid-1980s, work continued on the Baath Dam, located twenty-seven kilometers from the Euphrates dam, and the Tishrin Dam on the Kabir ash Shamali River near Latakia evolved from the planning to implementation stage. The government also planned to construct as many as three dams on the Khabur River in northeast Syria and more effectively use the waters of the Yarmuk River in southwest Syria. Foreign contractors carried out most of these major development projects. The Soviets and Romanians were particularly active in irrigation schemes as part of their economic aid programs. French, British, Italian, and Japanese firms, the World Bank, and Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti development assistance funds were deeply involved in financing and implementing these projects.
In the 1980s, there was good potential for expanding and refining irrigation in the western portion of Syria. The government obtained economical results using small impoundments that held winter runoffs to supplement rain-fed cultivation and to provide some summer irrigation. Small storage areas for water from wells and springs permitted additional irrigation. Farmers, however, had not yet turned to sprinkler systems or trickle irrigation, which would considerably reduce the amount of water needed for cultivation.
***Land Use
The bulk of the country is arid, with little vegetation. In 1984, nearly 20 percent was classified as desert (see table 8, Land Use, Appendix). Another 45 percent of the land was classified as steppe and pasture, although its grazing capacity was very limited--much like land in the American Southwest. Less than 3 percent of the land was forested, with only part of it commercially useful. Cultivatable land amounted to 33 percent of the total area. In 1984, 91.7 percent of the total cultivable area of 6.17 million hectares was cultivated.
Major expansion of the cultivated area occurred in the 1940s and 1950s. Much of the expansion was the result of investment by wealthy urban merchants, many of whom were from the country's religious minorities. Their innovations included large-scale use of farm machinery, pumps, and irrigation where possible, and differrent tenure arrangements for farm operators than were used in other parts of the country. But the efforts of the merchants of Aleppo and other commercial centers largely exhausted the potential for bringing new land under cultivation. The area of cultivation (6.9 million hectares) and land irrigated (760,000 hectares) peaked in 1963 and has been appreciably smaller since then. In 1984, aproximately 5.7 million hectares were under cultivation, with 618,000 irrigated.
Opinions differ as to the causes of the decline of cultivated and irrigated areas after 1963. Some observers say that marginal lands brought under cultivation proved uneconomical after a few years and were abandoned. Others claim that the merchantdevelopers used exploitive techniques that eventually reduced the productivity of the soil. Still other observers blame land-reform measures, which coincided with the decline of the cultivated and irrigated areas. Each view is probably somewhat valid.
In the future, expansion of the cultivated area will be slow and costly. Although the Euphrates irrigation projects will provide water to bring additional land under cultivation, growth will be partly offset by the loss of arable land to urban expansion, roads, and other facilities for a growing population. After the disappointing results of the Euphrates irrigation projects through the mid-1980s, the government began to develop rain-fed agriculture to offset potential setbacks in the Euphrates scheme. Drainage investments also will be required to maintain cultivation on some irrigated areas that currently suffer from waterlogging or excessive salinity.
***Land Reform
The dynamism of the agricultural sector caused by the opening of new farmland in the north and northeast through investments of wealthy merchants worsened the situation for the poor and often landless rural population. In 1950 the first Syrian constitution placed a limit on the size of farmholdings, but the necessary implementing legislation was not passed until 1958, after the union of Syria and Egypt.
The 1958 agrarian reform laws were similar to those in Egypt and not only limited the size of landholdings but also provided sharecroppers and farm laborers with greater economic and legal security and a more equitable share of crops. The Agricultural Relations Law laid down principles to be observed in administering tenancy leases, protected tenants against arbitrary eviction, and reduced, under a fixed schedule, the share of crops taken by landlords. It also authorized agricultural laborers to organize unions and established commissions to review and fix minimum wages for agricultural workers.
However, by the time Syria withdrew from the merger with Egypt in 1961, opposition from large landowners, administrative difficulties, and severe crop failures during the prolonged 1958- 61 drought had effectively curtailed movement toward land reform. The conservative regime in power from 1961 until March 1963 blocked implementation of the land-reform program in practice by enacting a number of amendments to the original law that substantially raised the ceilings on ownership and opened loopholes.
Shortly after the Baath Party seized power in March 1963, Decree Law 88 of 1963 was promulgated, cancelling the actions of the previous regime and reinstating the original agrarian reform laws with important modifications. One of the most significant modifications was lowering the limit on the size of holdings and providing flexibility in accordance with the productivity of the land. The new ceilings on landownership were set at between 15 and 55 hectares on irrigated land and 80 and 300 hectares on rain-fed land, depending on the area and rainfall. Land in excess of the ceilings was to be expropriated within five years. The compensation payable to the former owners was fixed at ten times the average three-year rental value of the expropriated land, plus interest on the principal at the rate of 1.5 percent for forty years.
The expropriated land was to be redistributed to tenants, landless farmers, and farm laborers in holdings of up to a maximum of eight hectares of irrigated land or thirty to fortyfive hectares of rain-fed land per family. Beneficiaries of the redistribution program were required to form state-supervised cooperatives. The 1963 law reduced the price of redistributed land to the beneficiaries to the equivalent of one-fourth of the compensation for expropriation. The land recipients paid this amount in equal installments to their cooperatives over a twentyyear period to finance such cooperative activities as development, dispensaries, schools, and cultural centers.
By 1975 (the latest available data in early 1987) 1.4 million hectares (68,000 hectares of irrigated land) had been expropriated, primarily in the early years of the program. Distribution moved much more slowly. By 1975, redistributed land had amounted to 466,000 hectares (61,000 hectares of irrigated land) and undistributed land to 351,000 hectares. In addition, there were 254,000 hectares of land that had been allocated to cooperatives, ministries, and other organizations, and 330,000 hectares that were categorized as excluded and sold land. Although it was far from clear what the disposition was in the latter two categories, the statistical data gave the impression that land reform had not transformed the former numerous farm sharecroppers and laborers into landowners. This impression was supported by government data indicating that slightly more than 50,000 family heads (over 300,000 people) had received land under the reform program. In addition, at various times the government offered state farmland for sale to the landless on the same terms as expropriated land, but reported sales were relatively small; farmers apparently chose to lease the land.
Most observers credited land reform measures with liquidating concentration of very large estates and weakening political power of landowners. Some government data of uncertain coverage and reliability indicated that before land reform more than half of agricultural holdings consisted of one hundred hectares or more, but after reform such large holdings amounted to less than 1 percent. The same data showed that smallholdings (seven hectares or less) had increased from about one-eighth before land reform to just over one-half of total holdings after reform, and that 42 percent of holdings were between eight and twenty-five hectares. Other government statistics indicated that holdings of twentyfive hectares or less, representing 30 percent of all land under cultivation before 1959, represented 93 percent in 1975. A May 1980 Order in Council mandated additional expropriations and further reduced the size of agricultural holdings. Data from the 1970 census revealed that the average farmholding was about ten hectares, and that one-fifth of the rural population remained landless. Despite the Baath Party's commitment to land reform, the private sector controlled 74 percent of Syria's arable land in 1984.
***Role of Government in Agriculture
Government involvement in agriculture was minimal prior to Syria's union with Egypt. Although state intervention in the agricultural sector increased following the union, the government avoided playing a direct role in cultivation. In 1984, private farmers tilled 74 percent of the cultivated land, cooperatives 25 percent, and public organizations (essentially state farms) 1 percent.
Government involvement arose indirectly from socialist transformation measures in various parts of the economy and directly from government efforts to fill the void in the countryside caused by land reform. As an example of the former, the Agricultural Cooperative Bank, a private bank established in the eighteenth century but inherited by the socialist regime, in the mid-1960s became the single source for direct production credits to farmers (see Banking and Monetary Policy , this ch.). The bank had limited funds and confined itself almost completely to short-term financing, the bulk of which went to cotton growers. Part of its lending was in kind--primarily seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers at subsidized prices. Although the bank appeared effective, there was insufficient credit through the 1960s and early 1970s for farmers who did not grow cotton and for long-term loans for such needs as machinery or capital improvements. In the mid-1970s, the flow of funds to the bank increased, thus allowing it to expand its lending to the agricultural sector. The bank became an important influence in shaping farmers' production decisions, particularly in cotton.
In the 1960s, government marketing organizations for the major agricultural commodities were established. The Cotton Marketing Organization, as noted, had a complete monopoly. Organizations for tobacco and sugar beets had purchasing monopolies, set the farm purchase prices, and supervised the processing and marketing of their respective commodities. An organization for grains set prices, purchased some of the farmers' surplus, and supervised the marketing of the remainder through private dealers. The government also set prices for several other agricultural commodities, most imports, and many consumer items.
Some economists attributed part of the stagnation in agriculture to the government's pricing of farm produce. Farm prices remained unchanged over long periods and by the 1970s and 1980s were quite low relative to world prices. Some smuggling out of farm products for sale in Turkey, Iraq, and Lebanon resulted as well as some black marketing in controlled commodities. Pricing also was not coordinated to achieve agricultural goals. Although the Ministry of Agriculture attempted to get farmers to increase wheat production, the government's desire to keep basic food costs low for urban consumers imposed low grain prices for farmers. The ministry also urged farmers to shift irrigated areas from cotton to wheat at the same time that the farm price of cotton was raised relative to that of wheat.
Aware of the problems, officials made efforts to improve pricing policy. By 1977 prices paid to farmers had risen substantially and favored grains and some industrial crops over cotton. In fact, the 1977 prices (when converted to dollars at the official exchange rate) paid to farmers for wheat, soybeans, and sugar beets were substantially higher (more than 100 percent for wheat) than the prices paid to American farmers for those products. In 1985 the government again raised procurement prices for a variety of crops. Prices for hard wheat rose by 9 percent, soft wheat by 14 percent, red lentils by 13 percent, white lentils by 18 percent, and barley by 22 percent from the preceding year.
When land reform was introduced, those receiving expropriated or government land were required to join farm cooperatives. Cooperatives were expected to furnish the organization, techniques, credit, and joint use of machinery to replace and expand the functions supplied by the landowners and managers of the large estates. Syrian farmers' individualism and aversion to cooperatives may explain their apparent preference for renting land from the government rather than buying the land and having to join a cooperative. Whether the cause was aversion by farmers or an inability by the government to organize and staff cooperatives, as some economists suggest, the cooperative movement grew slowly until the early 1970s, but accelerated thereafter. In 1976 there were 3,385 agricultural cooperatives with 256,000 members--more than double the number and membership in 1972. By 1984 there were 4,050 agricultural cooperatives with 440,347 members. Statistics do not distinguish between cooperatives for farmers receiving expropriated or government land and voluntary cooperatives of established landowners.
Officials expected cooperatives eventually to mitigate, if not eliminate, two serious agricultural problems. First, farmers tended to specialize in certain crops without practicing crop rotation. Second, substantial amounts of arable land were left fallow each year. In the 1970s, government extension workers and cooperatives strongly urged farmers to rotate cropping in a pattern that would maintain the fertility of the soil and avoid having cultivable fields left fallow. Cooperatives were also expected to facilitate the use of machinery after land reform reduced the average size of farms, partly by cooperative ownership of equipment and partly by pooling small plots into an economically sized bloc that would then be cultivated as a single unit in the cropping rotation. By 1986 it was not clear how much success cooperatives had achieved in crop rotation or mechanization, but statistics showed an accelerated use of farm equipment by the agricultural sector after the October 1973 War.
***Cropping and Production
Because only about 16 percent of the cropped area was irrigated, the output of agriculture (both plant and animal) was heavily dependent on rainfall. The great variation in the amounts and timing of rainfall can immediately cause very substantial shifts in areas planted, yields, and production, but the effect on livestock is less predictable. When drought is unusually severe or prolonged, loss of animals may depress livestock production for several years. In 1984 crop production accounted for 72 percent of the value of agricultural output; livestock and animal products, 28 percent. Livestock alone, not counting products such as milk, wool, and eggs, were 11 percent of the total.
In 1984 crop production amounted to LS13.6 billion. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) valued Syrian 1985 production at US $1.1 billion. Grains contributed 15 percent to the value of total crop production in 1984, in contrast to 41 percent in 1974. Industrial crops remained 20 percent of the total. Fruits rose from 15 to 25 percent of the total, and vegetables rose from 16 to 35 percent. In 1984, grain continued to be planted on 66 percent of the cultivated land, consistent with the mid-1970s percentage.
Fluctuations in rainfall resulted in major variations in crop production throughout the 1980s. In 1980, wheat was planted on 1.4 million hectares, yielding 2.2 million tons--the largest wheat harvest since the early 1960s. In 1984, wheat planted on 1.1 million hectares produced only 1.1 million tons (see table 9, Production of Agricultural Products, Appendix). In 1980 and 1984, barley was planted on 1.2 million hectares, but production fell from 1.6 million tons in 1980, the peak year, to 303,500 tons in 1984, revealing the impact of the drought on rain-dependent crops. In 1985 wheat and barley crops rebounded to 1.7 million tons and 740,000 tons, respectively. In 1984, Syria grew a record 60,000 tons of corn.
Earlier stagnation of agricultural output meant primarily stagnation of grain production. Instead of exporting wheat, in the 1980s Syria became a net importer. In 1985 Syria imported 1.4 million tons of wheat, worth more than LS800 million. In addition, cereal imports rose from LS368 million in 1982 to LS.1.6 billion in 1984, amounting to 56 percent of the LS2.85 billion bill for food imports that year.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the government encouraged greater grain production by providing improved high-yield seeds, raising prices paid to farmers, and urging shifts toward wheat growing on some irrigated land formerly planted in cotton. Its intent was to raise grain output at least to self-sufficiency to ease the pressure on the balance of payments. Beginning in the late 1970s, the government showed increased interest in improving rain-fed agriculture and acquired funding from the World Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the UN Development Program for a US$76.3 million project to expand food production and raise the standard of living in Dar'a and As Suwayda provinces. In addition, Syrian agriculture benefited from research projects undertaken by the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas' (ICARDA) branch office located near Aleppo. ICARDA helped develop the Sham-1 durum wheat and Sham-2 bread wheat used by Syrian farmers in the mid-1980s and demonstrated through its research the positive effect of phosphate fertilizers on barley crops in dry areas, encouraging the government to consider a change in agricultural strategy.
In the 1980s, vegetables and fruits exhibited the fastest growth rates of the various crops, although they started from a low base. Urbanization and rising incomes spurred cultivation of these products, which were also generally exempt from official price control. Fruits and vegetables were grown primarily in the northwest and coastal plain in irrigated fields and where rainfall and groundwater were greatest. However, Syria lagged considerably behind Lebanon in cultivation of fruits and vegetables in similar terrain, and seasonal fruits were consistently smuggled in from Lebanon in the 1980s.
Syria has produced cotton since ancient times, and its cultivation increased in importance in the 1950s and 1960s. Until superceded by petroleum in 1974, cotton was Syria's most important industrial and cash crop, and the country's most important foreign exchange earner, accounting for about one-third of Syria's export earnings. In 1976 the country was the tenth largest cotton producer in the world and the fourth largest exporter. Almost all the cotton was grown on irrigated land, largely in the area northeast of Aleppo. Syrian cotton was medium staple, similar to cotton produced in other developing countries but of lower quality than the extra-long staple variety produced in Egypt. The cotton was handpicked, although mechanical pickers were tried in the 1970s in an attempt to hold down rising labor costs.
Cotton production (cotton lint) rose from 13,000 tons in 1949 to 180,000 tons in 1965. However, land reform and nationalization of the cotton gins precipitated a sharp decline in output in the next few years. Beginning in 1968 and during the 1970s annual lint production hovered around 150,000 tons. However, in 1983 and 1984, Syria enjoyed a record cotton crop of 523,418 tons, and the third highest yield in the world, estimated at 3 tons per hectare. To a large measure, this increase was attributable to the government's raising cotton procurement prices by 44 percent in 1981-82, and by another 20 percent in 1982-83.
Although the area under cotton cultivation has declined since the early 1960s, yields have increased as a result of improved varieties of seed and increasing amounts of fertilizer. The area planted dropped from over 250,000 hectares in the early 1960s to 140,000 hectares in 1980. In response to the jump in procurement prices by 1984, it increased to 178,000 hectares. As domestic consumption of cotton increased in the 1960s and 1970s, the government built several textile mills to gain the value added from exports of fabrics and clothes compared with exports of raw cotton. In the 1980s, cotton exports averaged 120,000 tons, ranging from a low of 72,800 tons to a record of 151,000 tons in 1983. Syria's seed cotton harvest was 462,000 tons in 1985, about 3 percent higher than in 1984. Aproximately 110,000 tons of the 1985 harvest were destined for export markets. Major foreign customers in 1985 included the Soviet Union (18,000 tons), Algeria (14,672 tons), Italy (13,813 tons), and Spain (10,655 tons).
The government's goal of expanding and diversifying food production created intense competition for irrigated land and encouraged the practice of double cropping. Because cotton did not lend itself to double cropping, the cultivated cotton area was declining in real terms. However, the area under cultivation and significance of other industrial crops substantially increased during the 1980s. For example, the government initiated policies designed to stimulate sugar beet cultivation to supply the sugar factories built in the 1970s and 1980s. The area under cultivation for sugar beets rose from 22,000 hectares in 1980 to 35,700 hectares in 1984, with sugar beet harvests totalling over 1 million tons in 1984. Syria, however, still imported LS287 million worth of sugar in 1984. USDA estimated that Syria would achieve tobacco self-sufficiency in 1985, with harvests of 12.3 million tons (dry weight) compared with 12.2 million tons in 1984. Although yields per hectare fell slightly in 1985, USDA expected imports to match exports. In 1984 Syria imported 559 tons of tobacco and exported 225 tons. Other important commercial crops included olives and tomatoes.
***Animal Products
During the 1960s, the output of animal products stagnated along with crop production. The majority of Syria's livestock population consisted of sheep and goats of mainly indigenous breeds--multipurpose animals raised for meat, milk, and wool or hair. Although the private sector continued to dominate livestock farming, the government marshaled considerable resources, raising output in the mid-1970s. Between 1976 and 1984, the number of sheep almost doubled from 6.5 to 12.7 million. Goats numbered 950,000 in 1976 and increased to 1.1 million in 1985. Sheep raising accounted for about 65 percent of all meat produced and about one-third of the milk and milk products. In 1984 sheep produced 353,000 tons of milk, cows 330,000 tons, and goats 73,000 tons. About 35,000 beduin families, largely located in arid and semiarid regions, took about three-fifths of the sheep on annual migrations into the desert and steppe for grazing after the winter rainy season. When the sparse natural vegetation dried up, the flocks returned to cultivated areas, where they fed on crop stubble and grass and weeds growing on fallow land. Many of the animals became diseased, and the migrations were difficult, particularly when rainfall was light. The beduin primarily depended on sheep raising for their income, and they were part of the poorest segment of the population, with incomes generally less than half the national average.
About two-fifths of the sheep were raised by farm families to supplement cash income and food production. Because most of sheep-raising occurred in western Syria where rainfall was heaviest, these sheep obtained a large share of their feed from crop residue and even some regular fodder and concentrated feed mixes. Sheep fattening in feedyards has been long-established in western Syria. In the early 1970s, a serious shortage of milk, meat, and eggs had developed for a population that already averaged a low level of meat consumption and had a deficiency of protein in the diet. In response, the government intensified efforts to increase production of animal products and particularly to improve conditions for beduin sheep raisers. A number of small dams were constructed and wells sunk to provide water for nomadic flocks, the area planted in fodder was enlarged, veterinarian field clinics providing free animal vaccinations were established (although they were chronically short of staff and medicines), and shelters were built and stocked with feed in migratory areas. The establishment of cooperatives in the mid-1970s improved range management, extension services, the availability of reasonable credit, and supply and marketing activities for families engaged in sheepraising , whose incomes had been smaller than those of the beduin. In the mid-1970s, there were 14 sheep-breeding and 37 sheepfattening cooperatives. By the mid-1980s, the number of sheepbreeding cooperatives had grown to 318 and sheep-fattening cooperatives totaled 66. In 1974 the government established a state-run organization responsible for the supply, storage, distribution, and marketing of animal feed. Although the number of sheep increased substantially from 1976 to 1984, it was not clear whether the increase was a direct response to the government's program or a result of periods of good rainfall that occurred before the 1984 drought. In spite of increased sheep raising, in the mid-1980s, Syria remained a net importer of meat. Syria imported 4,550 tons of meat in 1984 valued at LS23 million, compared to 12,176 tons of meat in 1983 valued at LS90 million.
Shortages of milk, meat, and eggs encouraged large investments in poultry and dairy production. Poultry production expanded rapidly in the 1970s because of the establishment of several large-scale, commercial-style chicken farms. In the mid1980s , Syria became self-sufficient in poultry meat, and eggs. In 1984 annual poultry production reached 1.52 million chickens, 80,000 tons of poultry meat, and 1.6 billion eggs, an increase of approximately half a billion eggs above 1979 levels. Syria's private sector was responsible for 91 percent of this output.
In 1984, cattle totaled 736,000, including 501,000 dairy cows that produced 579,000 tons of milk. Cattle were located primarily in western Syria and in areas with substantial irrigation. In the mid-1970s, several large farms were constructed to accommodate imported high-yield dairy cows. Cattle were imported from Turkey and eastern Europe for fattening to provide meat to domestic markets in the mid-1980s. The government also established two artificial insemination centers, encouraged the formation of dairy cooperatives, and expanded extension services. Despite these measures, in the mid-1980s Syria remained a net importer of milk and milk products, importing LS255 million of milk and milk products in 1984.
***Agricultural Potential
In the mid-1980s, the government redirected its energies toward revitalizing the agricultural sector. Despite substantial increases in the 1985 investment budget allocations for agriculture, there was no quick solution to the problem of sustaining agricultural growth. Although since the 1950s farmers had steadily expanded use of fertilizers and new seeds and had adopted new techniques, which improved productivity in cotton, fruit, and vegetable cultivation, agricultural development had stagnated. Socialist transformation of the economy and the expanded role of the state in all aspects of economic life combined with the political instability of the 1960s to disrupt agriculture. Although the state drew up plans to use Syria's water resources more efficiently by expanding irrigation systems in the 1970s and 1980s, the government failed to devise an agricultural policy with appropriate incentives and pricing mechanisms to stimulate output. Although low rainfall in the early 1980s and the prolonged drought of 1984 had an impact on agricultural output, economists linked agriculture's poor performance in the 1970s and early 1980s to government policy. The government's renewed interest in agricultural development in the mid-1980s signaled a guarded optimism for the future; economists questioned, however, whether Syria could raise future animal and crop production above its astoundingly high 3.8 percent annual population growth.
**Industry
Manufacturing, other than that represented by traditional handicrafts, textiles, and animal-powered flour mills, is a postWorld War II addition to the Syrian economy. Requirements of Allied Forces stationed in Syria during the war and shortages of imported goods for local consumption stimulated industrial development, and wealthy merchants and landowners channeled resources into industrial expansion. Factories established in the 1950s and 1960s processed local agricultural goods and manufactured a wide range of light consumer products. Although the nationalization measures of the 1960s disrupted privately financed industrial expansion, in the 1970s the state embarked on a major industrial development program stressing heavy industry. Between 1953 and the mid-1970s, the growth rate of the industrial sector was 8.3 percent (in constant prices)--a major factor in the rise in incomes and in the improvment in standards of living. Manufacturing (including extractive industries and power generation) contributed 22.4 percent of GDP in 1976 but only about 13.4 percent in 1984 as the state committed scarce resources to completing existing projects rather than to initiating new ones. The public sector dominated the chemical, cement and other construction materials, engineering, sugar, food, and various textile-manufacturing industries. The private sector, stymied by government restrictions, concentrated on certain textiles, electrical and paper products, leather goods, and machinery.
***Energy and Natural Resources
Although Syria's crude oil reserves were small and production minor by Arab and international standards, in the 1970s and 1980s petroleum extraction played a vital role in Syria's economy, generating much-needed foreign exchange. However, the size of Syria's proven crude oil reserves remained secret. In 1977 United States government figures placed Syria's proven oil reserves at 2.2 billion barrels.
International sources estimated that Syria's crude oil reserves had fallen to 1.5 billion barrels by the end of 1983, indicating a life span of no more than twenty-years at 1984 production levels. Some publications listed substantially higher reserves (perhaps reflecting total rather than recoverable reserves) that appeared large in relation to Syrian production data in the 1980s.
Although Syria awarded its first oil concession to foreign firms in the 1930s, it did not emerge as an oil producer until the late 1960s. In 1956 an American company discovered oil at Qarah Shuk (Karachuk) in the northeast near the Iraqi border. In 1959 a West German firm discovered the Suwaydiyah field, located about fifteen kilometers south of the first oil discovery. The Syrian government nationalized the oil industry in 1964, and in the late 1960s the Syrian General Petroleum Company (SGPC),the national oil company, brought the two fields on stream with Soviet assistance. Although Suwaydiyah initially averaged 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) and Qarah Shuk produced 30,000 bpd, the oil from both fields carried American Petroleum Institute (API) quality ratings of 25.5 and 19, respectively. Both had high sulfur contents, confirming the poor quality of Syrian oil. Syria became an oil exporter in 1968 with the completion of a 663- kilometer pipeline to transport oil to a terminal at Tartus on the Mediterranean coast. Both the Qarah Shuk and Suwaydiyah fields continued to produce oil into the 1980s.
Oil exploration intensified in the 1970s. SGPC discovered the Rumaylan field, about ten kilometers southwest of Qarah Shuk, which had produced over thirty-nine million barrels of oil by mid-1984. Smaller fields also produced minor amounts of heavy crude in the 1970s. The Jubaysah field, located about 150 kilometers southwest of Qarah Shuk, came on stream in 1975. It had a 40.2 API crude oil rating but a 0.6 percent sulfur content, suggesting that Syria might look forward to discovering major quantities of light crude. In 1974 the government eased the way for the return of foreign contractors, granting a Romanian company a production-sharing concession. Western companies returned in 1977 when Pecten, a Shell subsidiary, won a 20,000- square-kilometer exploration concession in northcentral Syria. The Syrian American Oil Company and Samoco, a subsidiary of the American-based Coastal States Gas Corporation, won the 15,570- square-kilometer concession to exploit the resources of Dayr az Zawr Province in 1977. Deminex, a West German company, joined the group in 1979. In 1983, after Samoco dropped out, Deminex joined Pecten in an expanded concession of 21,800 square kilometers. Pecten held 31.25 percent, Royal Dutch Shell 31.25 percent, and Deminex the remaining 37.5 percent. Chevron, Pennzoil, and Marathon Oil also won exploration concessions in the 1980s. Marathon's two wells at Sharifah, nears Homs, produced promising results for gas exploitation from 1983 to 1985. Syria's state- owned oil company also continued exploration and drilling to bring the small, newly discovered Qayrik, Wahab, Sa'id, and As Safih fields on stream by the mid-1980s. The 1984 discovery of large quantities of light, sweet crude oil at the Pecten consortium's Thayim field near Dayr az Zawr gave a much-needed boost to the Syrian oil industry and economy. The Dayr az Zawr oil, ranked at API 36 with a low sulfur content, offered the prospect that Syria could cut by up to $200 million its own imports of light crude oil required for use in domestic refineries in the 1990s. Early production estimates confirmed an initial output of 50,000 bpd when the Thayim field came on stream in late 1986. In 1985 the Syrian General Petroleum Company and Pecten formed the Furat Oil Company to operate the concession with the state. In 1986 Czechoslovakia's Technoexport completed a ninety-two-kilometer spur line linking the Thayim field to the currently unused Iraqi-Syrian pipeline. Syrian government officials estimated that production levels at Dayr az Zawr would rise to 100,000 bpd in 1988.
Syria's oil production remained virtually static in the mid- 1980s. The IMF put production at 162,000 bpd for 1985 (see table 10, Crude Oil Production, Appendix). Excluding the new Dayr az Zawr discovery, however, Syria claimed production of approximately 170,000 bpd in 1985, blending one-third of its heavy sulfurous domestic crude with two-thirds imported light oil. Domestic consumption of oil products averaged around 190,000 bpd in the mid-1980s, with up to 120,000 bpd of this total coming from Iran in 1985. Oil contributed about 10 percent to Syria's GDP through the 1980s. Following the rapid rise of world oil prices in 1973, oil became Syria's chief source of foreign exchange. The value of Syria's oil exports rose from LS291 million in 1973 to LS1.6 billion in 1974 and almost doubled to LS2.6 billion in 1976, accounting for 63 percent of total exports. In 1979 the total export value of oil reached 68.9 percent before declining to 51.4 percent in 1982 and rising slightly to about 55 percent in 1984 and 1985. However, Syria's oil and petroleum products trade surplus of the late 1970s (and 1980) turned into a deficit in the 1980s. The 1980 surplus of LS2.42 billion fell to a deficit of LS767 million in 1984, making Syria's ability to boost domestic production and reduce oil imports an economic imperative of the 1990s.
Since 1982, when Syria closed its oil pipeline from Iraq and stopped purchasing Iraqi oil as a show of support for Iran in the Iran-Iraq War (see Regional Foreign Relations , ch. 4), Iran has supplied large quantities of oil to Syria on concessionary terms and as outright gifts. In 1984 Iran provided Syria with 6.4 million tons of oil, discounted by US$2.50 per barrel, and 1.6 million tons free, for a total of 8 million tons. In 1985 Iran supplied Syria with six-million tons of oil, including a one-million ton gift. However, Iran interrupted supplies in October 1985 because of Syria's estimated US$1.5-billion payment arrears and price disagreements. Syria turned briefly to Arab suppliers on the spot market, further depleting foreign exchange reserves, before Iran negotiated a new agreement with Syria in July 1986, guaranteeing the supply of 2.5 million tons of oil between October 1986 and March 1987.
Until oil prices jumped in the early 1970s, Syria earned more from the international pipelines that crossed its territory than from domestic oil production. In the early 1950s, the Tapline (Trans-Arabian Pipeline)--running from the oil fields in Saudi Arabia across Jordan and the southwest corner of Syria to a sea terminal on the Lebanese coast--was completed. Capacity was 25 million tons of crude oil a year. Syria earned small amounts of foreign exchange from transit fees (reportedly US$2.8 million in the mid-1970s) for the oil crossing the country via Tapline. Various interruptions of pipeline operations, escalating transit fees, and the reopening of the Suez Canal in June 1975 reduced use of Tapline in the 1970s. Pumping via Tapline was suspended in 1977, while Syria negotiated a new arrangement with Lebanon. In 1987 observers were pessimistic about the future uses of Tapline.
The larger and more important pipeline carried crude oil from the former Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) fields across Syria via Homs, after which the pipeline branched, with one spur leading to Tripoli in Lebanon and the other spur leading to the Syrian terminal at Baniyas. The IPC pipeline (actually three separate lines) had a capacity of about 55 million tons a year in the 1970s. The pipeline began operation in the early 1950s, providing transit fees as well as the crude that was refined at the Homs refinery into products for Syrian consumption. In the 1960s, Syria frequently used its control at the pipeline for political leverage over Iraq, which depended on the pipeline across Syria until the late 1970s, when its pipeline through Turkey began operation.
Transit rates increased substantially after 1966. In the early 1970s, earnings from the pipelines were more important than direct taxes and one of the most important sources of budget revenue. These earnings peaked in 1974 at LS608 million and were estimated at LS575 million in the 1975 budget. In April 1976, however, Iraq cancelled the transit agreement because of price disputes and cut off oil supplies to Syria. Saudi Arabia supplied oil for the Homs refinery until February 1979, when Iraq and Syria negotiated a new agreement, setting transit fees at $0.35 per barrel compared to $0.45 when the pumping stopped. In 1979 Iraq pumped ten million tons of oil through the pipeline, approximately two-thirds less than the average amount pumped between 1971 and 1976. The outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in September 1980 again interrupted pumping, but it put Syria in a stronger position vis-a-vis the pipeline, given Iraq's need for revenues to finance the war. Although pumping resumed in February 1981, Syria argued that the pipeline cost more to operate (US$31 million in 1981) than it brought in transit fees (US$25.7 million in 1981). In April 1982, after negotiating an agreement to purchase oil from Iran, Syria closed the pipeline to Iraqi petroleum exports.
By the mid-1980s, Syria had two domestic pipeline systems and two refineries. A crude oil line, with a capacity of fifteen million tons a year in 1977, led from the fields in the northeast to a sea terminal at Tartus, with a spur to the refinery at Homs. Three pipelines for refined products from Homs (each with a capacity of 350,000 tons a year) led to the major consumption centers of Damascus, Aleppo, and Latakia. In 1984 the Syrian Company for Oil and Transport (state-owned) carried 9.5 million tons of crude through its pipeline, up from 8.9 million tons in 1983. In 1979 the new Baniyas refinery was also connected to the domestic crude oil and products pipeline system.
The refinery at Homs was completed in 1959 and began processing Iraqi crude oil for local consumption. In 1977 the refinery's capacity stood at about 2.7 million tons, but after the sixth planned expansion in 1985, its capacity doubled to 5.4 million tons per year. The US$143-million project contracted to Czechoslovakia's Technoexport included the construction of a 480,000-ton-per-year hydrogenation unit, a 380,000-ton-per-year catalytic reformer, and two steam-and power-generating units. Four hundred Syrian workers received training in Czechoslovakia in 1985 in connection with the sixth expansion of the refinery. The seventh expansion of the refinery, scheduled to be completed in the late 1980s, involved the construction of a 100,000-ton- per-year base lube oil complex located at the Homs refinery. The Homs refinery used a blend of crude oil in the 1970s, mixing light Iraqi oil with heavy Syrian crude. Israeli bombing raids on Syria during the October 1973 War severely damaged the operating capacity of the Homs refinery, and the desulfurization unit was not fully repaired until 1976. After 1982 Syria used imported Iranian oil with domestic products at the Homs refinery. In 1985 it processed 5.064 million tons, up from 5.197 million tons in 1984.
The Baniyas refinery was completed in 1979 at a cost of LS1.1 billion. The refinery's maximum capacity was six million tons. In its first year of production, the refinery produced only 1.7 million tons, but this figure more than doubled in 1982 to 4.4 million tons. In 1984 and 1985, the refinery operated at 95 percent of capacity, refining approximately 5.7 million tons of crude oil for an annual production value of LS4 billion. Principal products included high octane and regular gasoline, butane gas, jet fuel, asphalt, and sulfur. The plant employed 2,250 workers in 1984, including 73 Romanian technicians--a sharp decline from the 450 Romanian technical advisers who assisted operations at the Baniyas refinery in 1982.
Syria's natural gas was discovered in conjunction with oil- exploration operations in the northeast part of the country. In 1984 proven gas reserves were estimated at 98.8 billion cubic meters with associated gas reserves of 33.3 billion cubic meters. Although into the 1980s most natural gas was flared, Syria began exporting small quantities of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) in late 1981. Marathon Oil made two promising gas discoveries in 1982 and 1985, finding a gas potential of 450 million cubic meters a day in 1982 at Sharif-2 and 400 million cubic meters a day at Ash Shair I. The economic viability of Marathon's gas discoveries combined with uncertain market forces to cloud future exploitation of these resources. In 1982 Syria awarded major contracts to Technoexport of Czechoslovakia to build a gas treatment plant at Jubaysah and a gas transmission line to Homs for use in the Homs ammonia-urea plant. France also began construction on a gas treatment plant at Rumaylan.
Phosphate was the country's other major mineral resource. The government claimed reserves of one billion tons. The first government-operated mine near Tadmur (Palmyra) began producing in 1971, and two others began operating in 1974. Syrian phospate was low grade (about 30 percent concentration) and high in moisture. Installation of a drying plant in one government-run mine in 1978 helped improve the quality and quantity of output. Production grew from 800,000 tons in 1978 to 1.5 million tons in 1984, but fell slightly to 1.3 million tons in 1985. Syria exported about two-thirds of its phosphate in the 1980s, largely to East European countries as part of barter arrangements concluded between the governments. Although Syrian government officials anticipated that output would triple by 1988 to five million tons and by 2000 equal the output of Morocco, the world's largest producer, production levels have remained well below projected targets. In 1981 Syria's giant triple super phosphate (TSP) plant, built by Romanian contractors at Homs, began production with a capacity of 450,000 tons of TSP, and 800,000 tons of phosphate and phosphoric acid. Syria's production of phosphatic fertilizer more than doubled from 1981 to 1984, rising from 68,333 tons to 191,176 tons.
The other products of the extraction industries were minor. Natural asphalt was extracted at a coastal site and in the central part of the country. In 1976 production amounted to 125,000 tons--a tremendous jump from the 31,000 or less produced in 1975; however, by 1984 production had declined to 52,000 tons. Pure rock salt deposits, totaling over 100 million tons, existed northwest of Dayr az Zawr. Expansion of the mine facilities in the early 1970s raised the potential capacity to over 250,000 tons a year, but production hovered around 50,000 tons through the mid-1970s. Production peaked at 102,000 tons in 1982, but fell back to 38,000 tons in 1984. In addition, construction materials (sand, gravel, stone, and gypsum) were mined in various parts of the country. In 1986 Syria signed an agreement with Turkey establishing joint ventures for mineral exploration, and Soviet and Polish scientific missions discovered sizable iron ore deposits near Az Zabadani and Tadmur. In late 1986, the government also announced the discovery of significant quantities of diamonds.
***Electric Power
At independence, only a small part of the population in the larger urban centers had access to electricity, and per capita consumption ranked among the lowest in the world. Small separate, local companies owned by private domestic or foreign interests supplied electricity. During the 1950s, capacity increased, and production expanded by an average of 12.4 percent a year. Rapid expansion continued, and during the 1960s, the state began a national grid. In 1976 electric power generation amounted to 1,732 million kilowatt hours (KWH), an average annual increase of over 14 percent since 1966.
According to the Ministry of Electricity, electricity production rose from 3,720 million KWH in 1980 to 7,310 million KWH in 1984 and 7,589 million KWH in 1985. Annual production growth, however, fell from an average of 19 percent in 1980 to only 10 percent in 1984 and 1985. By 1986 electricity consumption outstripped production, forcing power cutbacks of four hours a day throughout the country. Industry consumed 52 percent of total electricy in 1984, but some factories reported operational capacity of only 60 percent because of power shortages. In May 1986, the People's Assembly debated the electricity crisis, urging renewed efforts to ration electricity consumption and to devise new projects to increase power generation and distribution. Although the electric-power industry was one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy in the 1960s and 1970s (Syria even exported electricity to Lebanon and Jordan in the late 1970s), the state's success in providing electricity to ever greater numbers of the population in a remarkably short time paradoxically precipitated the crisis.
Although the state nationalized electric power generation in 1951, the industry remained fragmented under local administration until a single national company emerged in 1965. In 1974 when the state created the Ministry of Electricity to supervise the development of the electric-power supply, the national electrical company became an agency of the ministry. By 1976 nearly all of the country's generating units were under the national electrical company and linked in a grid. At the end of 1984, the national system had an installed capacity of 2,834 megawatts compared with 1,779 megawatts in 1976. However, the 1980s witnessed a shocking and somewhat unanticipated decline in hydroelectric power production, the dominant source in the state's plan to increase electricity output. In 1979 hydroelectric power generated 73 percent of the country's electricity, up from 55.6 percent in 1975. Hydroelectric power accounted for 59 percent of installed nominal capacity in 1979. But by 1984 hydroelectric capacity produced only 820 megawatts (29 percent of total megawatts) and 1,928 million KWH of electricity or 26 percent of the total. Thermal capacity generated 2,014 megawatts, 71 percent of the total produced in 1984, and produced 5,382 million KWH of electricity, or 74 percent of the total.
The precipitous decline of hydroelectric-power generation resulted from technical and operational problems inherent in the Euphrates dam. In the mid-1980s, the dam's eight 100-megawatt turbines operated below capacity, often producing only one-third of projected output. The low level of water in Lake Assad, caused by poor rainfall and Turkey's use of the Euphrates waters for its Keban and Attaturk dams, also contributed to the difficulties. Although the Euphrates dam was the most important component in the state's plan to expand the national power system in the late 1960s and 1970s, it failed to produce the expected 80 percent of the country's electric power between 1977 and the early 1980s.
In the early 1980s, Syria implemented few new projects to meet the growing demand for energy, but it planned extensions of existing power stations to expand production and new projects for the end of the decade. The Baniyas station, completed in 1981 for US$140 million, anticipated a 2-turbine, 165-megawatt extension in the late 1980s. The Suwaydiyah power station also expected to benefit from a 150-megawatt extension and 4 new turbines. At the Muhradah power station, located west of Hamah and completed in 1979, a major extension totalling US$195 million and financed largely by Gulf development agencies was planned. The US$97 million Soviet-assisted Tishrin power plant (formerly known as Widan ar Rabih station) and another power station near Homs were under construction in the mid-1980s.
In addition, the government considered constructing a nuclear power plant with Soviet assistance. In mid-1983 Syria signed a protocol with the Soviet Union to conduct feasibility studies and select an appropriate location for the country's first reactor. Although Syrian and Soviet officials had originally intended that a 1,200-megawatt nuclear plant come on line in 1990, the project had advanced little beyond the design stage by the mid-1980s. Although nuclear energy promised a solution to Syria's pressing electricity shortage, the political and military obstacles to Syria's developing nuclear energy were formidable, especially in the wake of Israel's bombing of Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981. As nuclear power became a more costly alternative energy source in the context of volatile Middle East politics, in the late 1980s the government explored the prospects for solar energy.
By 1978 a national grid linked nearly all of the country's generating units and most of the larger towns; distribution extended to rural areas only in the west around such major cities as Damascus and Aleppo. In 1970, based on a housing census, about 85 percent of the urban population had access to electricity but only about 10 percent of the rural population did. According to government statistics, 40 percent of the population remained without electricity in 1980. However, by the middle of the decade, almost all of the urban population had received electricity. Rural electrification projects, a top priority of the Ministry of Electricity in the 1970s, had also achieved widespread success. The government planned extending electricity to all villages with over 100 inhabitants by 1990. The number of villages receiving electricity grew from 424 prior to 1975 to 1,581 in 1979 and had reached 5,894 in 1984. In Ar Raqqah Province alone the number of electrified villages increased from 47 in the period from 1953 to 1979 to 405 in 1984, indicating the dramatic extension of electricity to rural areas. The number of subscribers in rural areas tripled between 1970 and 1984, increasing from 442,307 to 1,564,625.
Expanding electric power distribution and usage in the 1970s, sectoral mismanagement, lack of spare parts for power plants, technical impediments, and declining water levels in Lake Assad produced a mid-1980s electricity crisis. Syrian official statistics and Ministry of Electricity data projected that consumption, growing at an annual rate of 20 to 22 percent in the mid-1980s, would outstrip production until the mid-1990s. Syria could meet the surging demand for electricity in the mid-1980s only by producing 300 to 400 additional megawatts a year. However, with only one 25-megawatt unit at the Baath Dam scheduled to come on line in late 1986, ambiguous plans for 1987, a 320-megawatt increase projected for 1988, and a 400-megawatt increase expected when the Tishrin station began production in 1989, Ministry of Electricity plans fell far short of satisfying demand. The ministry's plans for the 1989-95 period projected a production increase to 2,970 megawatts to meet an anticipated demand ranging from 1,800 to 2,400 megawatts. The theoretical excess production, however, would barely meet the accumulated shortages of the mid-1980s. Electricity shortages, blackouts, power cuts, and rationing remained a prominent feature of Syrian life in the late 1980s, frustrating industrial development and impeding economic growth.
***Industrial Development Policy
Through most of the 1950s, private investment primarily fueled industrial development while the government protected public order and fostered a climate suitable for economic growth. After Syria withdrew from a customs union with Lebanon in 1950, domestic manufacturing received considerable protection from competition by imports. The government also provided investment incentives through tax exemptions and cheap credit. Although data for the 1950s were sparse and of questionable reliability, they indicated that the growth rate of industrial production was about 12 percent a year between 1950 and 1958, substantially higher growth than for the economy as a whole.
Between 1958 and 1965, Syria experienced an almost complete reversal of development policy. The government assumed a greater role in economic planning, and by 1965 had nationalized most of the larger manufacturing concerns. Prior to nationalization in 1965, land reform, talk of socialism, and the 1961 nationalization decrees during the union with Egypt frightened private investors. In addition, the government was unable to implement the investments included in the First Five-Year Plan. Consequently, the rate of increase of value added by industry amounted to an annual average of 4 percent in constant prices between 1958 and 1965, although other factors, particularly a severe, prolonged drought (1958-61), contributed to the slower growth of industrial output.
Through the complete or partial nationalization of 108 large- and medium-sized enterprises, the state created the nucleus of the public industrial sector in January 1965. Thirty-seven firms were completely nationalized, and the other 71 firms were nationalized to an extent varying between 75 and 90 percent; however, these semipublic firms were fully nationalized in 1970, retroactive to 1965.
After nationalization, most public sector industry was located under the Ministry of Industry and organized under four broad holding companies called unions--specifically food, textiles, chemicals, and engineering unions. Separate ministries controlled the national electric power and petroleum companies. In the mid-1970s, the national petroleum company was divided into several separate companies responsible for such particular functions as exploration and production, transport and terminals, refining, and domestic sales and distribution.
After the 1965 nationalizations, the government dominated the economy and controlled most elements affecting industrial development, including planning, investments, foreign trade, pricing, and training. The planners avoided the temptation, succumbed to by many developing countries, of constructing large, expensive prestigious industrial projects that provided only small or distant returns. Most projects were geared to the size and needs of the Syrian economy. Development emphasized natural resources (essentially oil and phosphates for export), additional capacity for processing local materials (textiles, sugar refining, and cement), and import substitution (fertilizers, iron and steel, and consumer durables). In the late 1970s and the 1980s, however, observers questioned government priorities that resulted in creation of large industries relying on import substitution. An example of domestic questioning of the government's economic management occurred at the Eighth Baath Regional Congress in 1985. The issue of a planned sugar refinery- -a prominent symbol of public sector domination of an industrial sphere--generated significant debate. Critics challenged the wisdom of the project because the cost per kilogram of processed sugar would be several times the price of imported sugar. Completed in the late 1970s with a capacity of 1.6 million tons of sugar beet a year, the plant produced an average of only 500,000 tons of sugar per year from 1980 to 1983.
Since the late 1960s, economists generally have characterized Syrian public sector industry as inefficient, with underused capacity and high production costs. A number of factors contributed to inefficiency. For example, during the political instability of the 1960s, rapid turnover of key personnel and selection of high officials and managers on the basis of loyalty rather than qualifications contributed to inefficiency. Wide swings in agricultural output because of variation in rainfall was another factor. In addition, government pricing created distortions and even undermined the basis for judging efficiency; subsidies to plants were sometimes required because retail prices were kept low for consumers. Planning was also poor. For example, a US$100 million paper mill using straw for raw material went into production at Dayr az Zawr in 1979 but operated far below capacity, as officials realized that Syria barely produced enough straw to operate the mill. Furthermore, the cement works at Tartus were forced to cut production in half, falling from 5,000 to 2,500 tons a day in 1984, as a result of construction delays in the completion of a special unit to package the cement for export. However, the Eighth Baath Regional Congress in 1985 endorsed a series of measures to correct public sector mismanagement, upgrade administrative capabilities, and revitalize the industrial sector as a stimulator of economic growth.
The shortage of skilled workers and capable managers also plagued public sector manufacturing. Because of the nationalization drive and political instability of the 1960s, Syria experienced tremendous capital flight and a substantial exodus of administrators, engineers, plysicians, and other technically skilled professionals. The shortage of skilled labor intensified in the 1970s, as Syrian professionals found higher paying jobs and increased opportunities in the Persian Gulf states. In addition, many Syrians entered government service to gain experience and soon after went to work for private industries offering much higher salaries. Moreover, vocational training institutes could not keep pace with the needs of the economy. However, the shortage of skilled workers began to improve in the mid-1980s as Syrian workers came home to escape depressed economic conditions in the Gulf states and invested accumulated capital in new enterprises.
When Assad took control of the government in 1970, he introduced important modifications of economic policy. Although commitment to state socialism, central planning, and a large public sector remained firm, Assad liberalized controls and encouraged greater private sector industry. Encouragement to the private sector that extended to both domestic and foreign investors included decreased difficulty in obtaining construction permits and licenses for machinery imports plus various tax concessions. Although private investments in industry increased in the 1970s, domestic investors remained hesitant and foreign companies even more so, despite conclusion of bilateral investment guarantee agreements with the United States and some West European countries. Observers expected private investors gradually to increase their industrial activity if the government continued its liberalization policies.
The government attempted to introduce growth in the industrial sector by assuring the private sector a greater economic role. Between 1965 and 1970, the growth rate of the index of manufacturing (excluding extractive industries and public utilities) remained at 4 percent a year, revealing the largely static condition of manufacturing. The general index for all industrial production increased by 7.8 percent a year over the same period, reflecting the importance of the expansion of oil production after 1967.
Although the results of the government initiative to stimulate private sector investment after 1970 could not be distinguished in available data from a rise in public sector industrial growth, the index for the combined output of public and private manufacturing (excluding extractive industries and public power) showed remarkable improvement between 1970 and 1976, averaging 9 percent a year. The increase in 1976 alone was 17 percent. Increased production by manufacturing derived from public sector investments and reflected increasing government development expenditures since the mid-1960s. The increase also resulted from Syria's miniversion of the oil boom in 1974 and 1975, when industrial investments rose sharply as a result of increased aid from oil-rich Arab countries. Between 1980 and 1984, however, the general index for all industrial production increased only 6.8 percent a year, while the index for the combined output of public and private manufacturing grew at 13 percent per year.
In 1985 the government embarked on another liberalization campaign to encourage increased private sector investment in the productive sectors, as detailed in the Fifth and Sixth Five-Year development plans (see Development Planning , this ch.) Although the public sector continued to dominate the economy, the private sector's role grew in the 1980s, accounting for over 30 percent of GDP by 1984. The government hoped that its liberalization campaign would further boost the private sector's contribution to GDP in the 1990s. This hope was reflected in the final communique of the Eighth Baath Party Congress in January 1985, which recommended a more market-oriented approach to solving Syria's pressing economic problems. Accordingly, the government eased restrictions on the private sector and encouraged exports by establishing more competitive exchange rates for imports (see Banking and Monetary Policy, this ch.). The April 1985 reappointment of Muhammad al Imadi, architect of Syria's economic opening in the 1970s, as minister of the economy and foreign trade, confirmed the government's desire to proceed with its liberalization program. Imadi, who had served as chairman of the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development in the early 1980s, urged widespread economic reforms to improve Syria's economic performance through private sector initiatives and joint ventures between the state and private sector.
In September 1985 President Assad approved decree No. 356, which permitted importers, for the first time, to pay for raw materials, spare parts, and other industrial inputs with foreign currency earned through employment or investment outside the country. The severe foreign-exchange shortage of the 1980s, exacerbated by declining worker remittances from the Gulf states and shrinking oil revenues, frustrated industry's efforts to acquire much-needed raw materials and forced factories to shut down or significantly reduce production. The state's tight currency controls and restrictions on imports caused businesses to channel imports illegally into Syria via Lebanon and produced a drastic decrease in officially recorded imports in the 1980s. However, even the thriving "parallel economy" (or black market) did not meet industry's demands. The government continued the crackdown on smugglers, begun in 1984, and introduced reforms to decrease the time and capital expenditure required to obtain official import permits and letters of credit. Another major component of the government's mid-1980s liberalization drive involved an attempt to attract Arab and other foreign investment in Syria's tourism industry by offering a seven-year tax deferment and exemption from most foreign exchange and import restrictions.
**Foreign Trade
Since the early 1950s, the value of imports has been close to double the value of exports. The two exhibited similar growth patterns, both growing slowly until the 1970s. Between 1951 and 1970, imports increased an average of 6.2 percent and exports 5.6 percent a year, and the trade balance slowly worsened. In the 1970s, the value of imports and exports increased much more rapidly. For example, the average rate of growth of imports increased 28 percent a year and exports increased 23 percent a year. In the 1980s, the trade imbalance widened further. Syria instituted austerity budgets to reduce imports drastically and to conserve foreign exchange. As a result, by the mid-1980s the trade deficit had declined from LS11.6 billion in 1981 to LS10.3 billion in 1983 and LS8.9 billion in 1984, still large but offering the hope of continued future reductions.
***Imports
Syria experienced considerable growth in imports in the 1970s, fueled by the increased flow of foreign aid, the investment and construction boom that followed the October 1973 War, and the oil-price rise stemming from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) policies of the mid-1970s. Machinery and equipment emerged as the most rapidly growing import segment (see table 11, Imports and Exports, Appendix). Increased construction necessitated more imported semiprocessed goods, such as cement, iron and steel rods, and other raw materials. Private consumption also increased, requiring ever greater imports of sugar, cereals, dairy products, foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, and other products.
Public sector trading firms imported most of these commodities. In 1976 public sector enterprises accounted for 72 percent of total imports. In 1984 public sector enterprises retained the lion's share of imports, accounting for about 79 percent of the total, excluding military materiel. In the 1980s, the government implemented a policy to curb public and private sector imports. The policy was part of the general austerity pervading economic planning and a way of maintaining rapidly depleting foreign-currency reserves. Because of the large volume of consumer goods and industrial inputs that entered Syria via the black market in the 1980s, official import statistics must be treated as rough indicators of actual import figures. Informed estimates placed the value of black market trade at about US$1 billion in 1985. Officially recorded imports fell from LS19.8 billion in 1981 to LS17.8 billion in 1983 and to LS16.2 billion in 1984. In February 1983, the government called for a partial suspension of industrial imports to ease balance of payments problems. Officially recorded private sector imports fell from LS2.1 billion in 1983 to LS1.3 billion in 1984, reflecting industry's increased resort to the black market, the impact of government austerity programs, and long waiting periods for import permits and letters of credit. In 1986 the government reformed letter- of-credit regulations to ease bureaucratic delays for private sector imports (see Banking and Monetary Policy , this ch.).
In the 1970s, Syria diversified its sources of imports. Western Europe became Syria's most important supplier, accounting for 49 percent of total imports in 1975 and 56 percent in 1976. By the 1980s, the direction of Syria's imports had changed drastically. Between 1980 and 1984, the European Economic Community's (EEC) share of exports to Syria fell sharply, ranging between only 25 to 32 percent of the total. Since 1982, Syria has experienced a tremendous increase in imports from Iran and Libya, largely in the form of oil shipments. The percentage of Syria's imports from Iran in 1983 was 26.1, but the figure fell to 22.7 percent in 1984 as a result of decreased shipments of Iranian oil. Imports from Libya climbed from LS37.6 million in 1983 to LS1.24 billion in 1984, or 75 percent of Syria's total imports from Arab states that year. The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), France, Italy, Japan, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), and the Soviet Union were Syria's most important suppliers in 1984. Oil, machinery, transportation equipment, iron and steel, cereals, sugar, and produce were the main imports.
***Exports
Syria's growing exports of crude oil and the sharp rise of world oil prices in 1973-1974 produced a steep increase in the value of exports in the 1970s. The value of petroleum exports rose from LS129 million in 1970 to LS2.7 billion in 1976, with crude oil exports alone increasing from LS291 million to LS1.6 billion from 1973 to 1974. In the 1980s, however, Syria experienced a steep decline in the value of exports because of falling world oil prices and reduced oil exports. Syrian statistics claim that the value of oil exports shrank from LS6.5 billion in 1980 to LS4.6 billion in 1984; other sources state that the drop was from LS5.2 billion to LS3.6 billion (see table 10, Crude Oil Production, Appendix). Crude oil and oil products exported fell to 7.8 million tons in 1980, peaked at 8.1 million tons in 1982, and nosedived to 6.8 million tons in 1984. In 1980 exports totaled LS8.3 billion and fell to LS7.35 billion in 1984. The overall index in the volume of exports fell from 100 to 95 in 1983.
The value of cotton exports totaled LS310 million in 1970, LS664 million in 1980, and over LS1 billion in 1984, the record harvest year. The value of cotton exports in 1984 equaled 14.8 percent of Syria's total exports and 29.3 percent of nonpetroleum exports. In 1984, petroleum and cotton exports together accounted for 64 percent of the country's total exports. In 1985 the figures for cotton exports fell by nearly 30 percent, and the price of cotton on the world market dropped from US$1,800 a ton in 1984 to about US$1,400 a ton in 1985. Major buyers in the 1980s included the Soviet Union, Algeria, Italy, and Spain.
In addition to cotton and petroleum, Syria exported phosphates and small quantities of diverse goods. Phosphates generated LS106.3 million of export revenues in 1983. The 1981 to 1985 Five-Year Plan envisioned an increase in phosphate production to 5 million tons by 1985, generating LS580 million in export earnings. Targets fell far short of the goal but preliminary 1986 figures reflected a record increase in production (see Energy and Natural Resources , this ch.). Export of textiles, chemicals, glassware, and a variety of agricultural products also earned small amounts of foreign exchange.
In the 1960s, Syria's major trading partners were East European states, but in the 1970s the direction of trade shifted to Western Europe, as the government pursued limited economic liberalization policies. In 1976 Western Europe (primarily the EEC) provided the main markets for Syrian exports, accounting for 57 percent. East European and Arab countries accounted for 25 and 11 percent of total exports, respectively.
In the 1980s, Syria experienced another shift in the direction of trade. Exports to Western Europe had risen to 61.6 percent by 1980 but fell to 35.7 percent in 1984. In 1980 the East European share of Syrian exports totaled only 16.1 percent but rose to 43.8 percent in 1984, clearly indicating the return to those markets. However, in contrast to the 1960s, when East European states served as the main export market for Syrian goods on a cash basis, in the 1980s much of Syria's East European trade occurred as countertrade or barter deals as a result of Syria's severe shortage of foreign exchange. In 1985 Syria concluded barter deals with Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, exporting phospates in exchange for engineering and construction equipment and industrial raw materials.
To boost trade, Syria also signed important treaties of friendship and cooperation with East European states in the 1980s. Syria renewed its 1980 treaty of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union in 1985 and signed a similar agreement with Bulgaria in May 1985. In 1984 the most important export markets were Romania (LS2 billion), Italy (LS1.4 billion), Soviet Union (LS838 million), France (LS877 million), Spain (LS240 million), Algeria (LS164 million) and Iran (LS164 million).
**Balance of Payments
In most of the years before 1970, remittances from Syrian workers in Lebanon and other places, tourism receipts, some grants, and pipeline transit fees usually covered a large part of the trade imbalance. Borrowing from foreign sources, primarily for large development projects, balanced the country's international payments. In exceptional years, part of the country's modest international financial reserves were drawn down to meet emergencies and subsequently built up again.
In the 1970s, the same pattern continued, but after 1976 Syria faced considerable balance of payments problems, including large trade deficits. The trade deficit was US$130 million in 1970, US$1 billion in 1976, US$1.8 billion in 1980, and US$1.9 billion in 1984 (see table 12, Balance of Payments, Appendix). By early 1977, foreign-exchange reserves, down to about US$220 million, were sufficient to pay for about one month's worth of imports. Only grant aid, largely from Arab oil-producing states, totaling US$1.1 billion in 1977, averted an economic crisis. Although grant aid cushioned the economy, foreign-exchange reserves continued to dwindle. At the end of 1983, foreign- exchange reserves totaled $US43 million, down from $US185 million in 1982. Estimates in 1984 placed Syria's foreign-exchange reserves at about US$100 million.
Decreased oil exports, increased oil imports, recession in the Gulf states, declining worker remittances, and lower world prices for phosphate and cotton in the 1980s contributed to the state's shrinking foreign-exchange reserves. Decreased agricultural production and Western aid transfers also adversely affected Syria's reserves. Total international reserves were valued at US$257 million in 1983, enough to cover about half a month's imports.
In addition, balance of payments problems intensified because of increased defense spending and development expenditures. The June 1967 War, the October 1973 War, Syria's participation in the Arab Deterrent Force and subsequent involvement in Lebanon following the 1982 Israeli invasion, and President Assad's commitment to achievement of strategic parity with Israel by expanding force levels and acquiring more sophisticated weapons systems, rapidly accelerated national security costs. In the budgets of the mid-1980s, defense spending represented more than 50 percent of current spending and 30 percent of total expenditure. Development expenditures also rose quickly after 1973, increasing from LS5.9 billion in 1975 and LS14.3 billion in 1981 to LS19.4 billion in 1985.
Syria had extremely limited opportunities to earn foreign exchange other than by exporting goods. Pipeline transit fees for crude oil, a primary service activity in the 1970s, largely ceased after 1976. Although the government built new hotels and holiday villages with foreign companies, tourism did not generate sufficient foreign exchange in the mid-1980s to affect the foreign liquidity crisis. For example, tourism earned only LS451 million in 1984. Consequently, Syria turned to outside sources to offset the trade deficit, relying on foreign grant aid, worker remittances, and foreign lending from banks and development funds to ease balance of payments pressures.
Syria received little foreign grant aid until after the June 1967 War when Kuwait, Libya, and Saudi Arabia agreed to provide financial assistance to the confrontation states--Syria, Egypt, and Jordan. Except for 1967, the published amounts given Syria remained small until 1971, when they reached US$21 million. Grant aid for balance of payments amounted to US$364 million in 1973 and US$654 million in 1975. To purchase military equipment, Syria reportedly received large additional transfers not included in the statistics. Arab grant aid decreased in 1976 because of uncertainty over Syria's intentions in Lebanon, but it jumped sharply to US$1.1 billion in 1977.
At the 1978 Baghdad summit conference, the Arab oil-producing states pledged US$1.8 billion a year in financial support to Syria. However, most observers agreed that actual cash transfers amounted to far less than official allocation levels. Syria's political relations with Middle East neighbors and the mid-1980s economic downturn in the Gulf tended to determine the flow of Arab aid. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) figures valued OPEC aid to Syria at US$1.4 billion in 1981, dropping to US$799.7 million in 1983. The highest estimates for 1983 placed Arab aid to Syria at US$1.2 billion, but most observers considered US$1 billion a more accurate figure. Only Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the wealthiest Arab oil-producing states, provided regular aid installments as stipulated under the Baghdad summit agreement. In 1983 Saudi Arabia contributed roughly US$800 million and Kuwait provided US$200 million in aid. By 1985 Syria had suffered a marked decrease in financial support from the Arab states, reportedly receiving only US$700 million in Baghdad summit money that year. To protest Syrian support of Iran in the Iran-Iraq War and Syrian policies in Lebanon, the Kuwaiti parliament voted to suspend its annual contribution, but the Amir moved quickly to restore aid levels. In 1986 Saudi Arabia reportedly gave Syria US$700 million, including a US$176 million cash grant in July, as part of its Baghdad summit commitments. Official grant aid cited in Syria's balance of payments peaked in 1981 at US$1.8 billion and declined to US$1.2 billion by 1984.
Apart from "official" Baghdad summit aid, Syria received additional support from Arab states.
Unconfirmed reports revealed that Libya paid about US$1 billion to the Soviet Union in 1979-80 to cover Syria's mounting military debt. In the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, reports also suggested a major transfer of funds, perhaps up to US$2 billion, from Saudi Arabia to Syria for immediate arms resupply. Since 1982 Iran has channeled aid to Syria, (including oil) valued at its peak in the 1983-84 period at US$1 billion.
The government also relied partially on workers' remittances to alleviate balance of payments pressures. Officially recorded remittances peaked at US$901 million in 1979. However, by 1983 the propensity of workers to invest remittances outside Syria because of worsening economic conditions decreased their impact on the balance of payments. As the economic downturn in the Gulf became more pronounced in 1984 and 1985, remittances further dropped--from US$327 in 1984 to US$300 in 1985. Economists expected the downward trend to continue as long as world oil prices remained at their low 1986 levels.
In the 1970s, Syria increasingly turned to private and government financial institutions to finance part of its economic development. Before 1973, drawing rights on available credits were only slightly higher than repayments of earlier loans. Since 1972 government drawings on long-term loans have increased, reaching US$340 million in 1976. This rapid rise of available credits (excluding military) was even more striking, amounting to US$340 million in 1970, US$650 million in 1973, and US$2.8 billion at the beginning of 1977. Into the 1980s, other governments continued to provide the bulk of the credits, supplemented by loans from World Bank organizations and international development funds. Syria's stature as a borrower in international commercial credit circles remained weak in the 1980s.
The increase of the external public debt (over one year and excluding military loans) also occurred rapidly but was slower than available credits because of Syria's deficiencies in implementing projects. The external public debt amounted to US$232 million in 1970, US$411 million in 1973, US$1.2 billion in 1977, and US$2.5 billion at the end of 1984. Debt service costs barely exceeded US$100 million in 1975, but tripled by 1984, representing 13 percent of the exports of goods and services. Syrian officials appeared relatively prudent in the use of foreign loans, cutting back plans rather than going deeply in debt. The debt service ratio stood at 11.2 percent in 1983, a relatively low rate as a result of Syria's reliance on grant aid and workers' remittances to finance the trade deficit.
National and international economic development funds, the World Bank, the European Investment Bank, and agencies affiliated with the UN conducted and financed aid programs. World Bank loan commitments increased substantially in the 1970s, exceeding US$250 million in 1978. World Bank missions to Syria occurred more frequently through the mid-1980s and project loans continued to rise. The World Bank joined other international lenders, including the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, the Saudi Fund for Development,and other Arab development funds, to finance projects in electric power, rural electrification, highway construction, telecommunications, irrigation, education, livestock, water resources, and other areas.
Since the late 1950s, East European states have provided substantial economic development loans to Syria. In the 1960s, Soviet technical and financial assistance was instrumental in constructing the Euphrates Dam, including the hydroelectric power station. The Soviet Union provided a $US185 million loan at concessional rates to finance the dam, Syria's largest development project of the decade. After completion, the Soviets and several East European countries helped construct parts of the dam's irrigation and drainage facilities.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Romania continued to be particularly active in developing Syria's infrastructure. For example, Czechoslovakia played a major role in developing Syria's crude oil and refinery facilities. In 1986 Technoexport completed work on a 92-kilometer spur linking Syria's new oil field at Dayr az Zawr with the old Iraqi-Syrian pipeline. Furthermore, Syrian refinery workers underwent training in Romania. The Soviet Union continued to lend assistance for power plant projects, including the US$97-million Tishrin plant, a joint venture undertaken by the Soviet Union's Technopromexport and Syria's Milihouse.
Throughout the 1980s, economic and technical cooperation agreements with the Soviet Union and East European states generated new aid commitments, but in 1987 the exact amounts remained unknown. Total Syrian indebtedness to East European states (including military assistance) was estimated at about US$12 to US$13 billion in the mid-1980s. In 1984 there were over 5,000 Soviet and East European technicians working in Syria, in addition to over 2,000 military advisers.
Beginning in the 1970s, Syria also received considerable amounts of aid from Western Europe and the United States. Common Market members agreed to provide nearly US$70 million to finance Syrian development projects. Individual states, including West Germany and France, also provided bilateral aid, but in 1979-80, as relations deteriorated, West Germany stopped all funding for Syrian development projects. In 1985 West Germany decided to restore project funding but withdrew all development assistance to protest Syria's alleged role in the 1986 bombing of the German-Arab Friendship Society. In 1986 the West European countries and Britain endorsed a series of economic sanctions to demonstrate their disapproval of Syria's alleged role in terrorist operations (see Sponsorship of Terrorism, ch.5.).
Between 1945 and the end of 1976, the United States channeled US$103 million in economic aid to Syria. In the years shortly after independence, the United States provided nearly half of this aid, primarily in the form of grants. After Syria and the United States resumed diplomatic relations in 1974, United States project aid to Syria increased dramatically. In 1981, however, the United States Congress froze about 60 percent of a US$227.8- million allocation of development aid, bringing United States Agency for International Development (AID) financed water, electricity, highway, and other infrastructure projects to a halt. All United States government economic assistance to Syria was canceled in 1983, and in 1986, the United States adopted sanctions similar to those of its European allies against Syria.
**Banking and Monetary Policy
When first issued in 1920, the Syrian pound was linked to the French franc. At independence French-and British-owned banks dominated banking activity. The largest bank, the French-owned Bank of Syria and Lebanon, became the bank of currency issue and assumed other central-bank functions, in addition to its commercial operations. In 1947 Syria joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and established a par value of LS2.19 equivalent to US$1. In 1949 Syria broke the link to the franc.
The primary legislation establishing a central bank and control of the banking system was passed in 1953, but the Central Bank was not formed until 1956. Its functions included issuing notes, controlling the money supply, acting as fiscal agent for the government, and controlling credit and commercial banks. It was also to act as the country's development bank until specialized banks were established for various sectors. The Central Bank had considerable discretionary powers over the banking system but was itself responsible to and under the control of the Council on Money and Credit, a policy group of high-ranking officials.
The banking system has exhibited resilience in the wake of widespread political change since independence. Before independence, Syria was the junior partner in terms of banking facilities in a customs union with Lebanon. Dissolution of that relationship in 1950 stimulated the establishment of foreign banks, especially Arab, and expansion of some already operating there. After the 1956 Suez War, French and British banking interests were sequestered as enemy assets. In 1958 and after the union with Egypt, the state began to Arabize the commercial banking system and in 1961 implemented a policy of limited nationalization.
In 1966 the state achieved complete ownership of commercial banking by merging all existing commercial banks into a single consolidated Commercial Bank of Syria. In addition, the government created specialized banks to promote economic development. It extended the charter of the Agricultural Cooperative Bank from the preindependence period and established the Industrial Bank in 1959, the Real Estate Bank in April 1966, and the Popular Credit Bank in July 1966.
In 1986 the banking system consisted of those five banks in addition to the Central Bank. Legislation in 1966 largely limited each bank's lending to the sector in its title. All five banks could extend short- to long-term credit and accept deposits. The Commercial Bank was by far the largest and most active.
The total assets of the specialized banks reached LS44.9 billion at the end of 1984, and total deposits amounted to LS28 billion. The Commercial Bank of Syria, the largest of the five specialized banks, had assets of LS33.7 billion in over 40 branches in 1984. Deposits totaled LS19.3 billion in 1985. The specialized banks extended credits of LS26.1 billion in 1984. Banking authorities allocated credit primarily to commerce (51 percent), industry (27 percent), and construction (15 percent). The public sector received 75 percent of the credit.
The Council on Money and Credit established monetary policy and supervised banking, subject to review by a ministerial committee responsible for the whole economy. The general philosophy was that the banking system should be an agent of government economic policy. Direct controls were used more often than indirect ones; credit, for example, was regulated by setting limits for each sector and each bank.
Although the money supply increased rapidly, it consisted primarily of money in circulation. In the 1960s, demand deposits generally were less than one-third of the money supply and by the late 1960s about one-fifth. Banking activity increased in the 1970s, and currency in circulation slowly decreased from 77 percent of the money supply in 1970 to 61 percent in 1980 and 56 percent in 1984.
Bank accounts were predominantly demand deposits; use of time and savings accounts grew slowly. For example, in 1984 time and saving deposits were only 40 percent the size of demand deposits.
In fact, banking played a rather limited role in the economy. There were several possible reasons for the limited use of banks, including distrust of or unfamiliarity with banks, low incomes and limited savings, low interest on saving accounts, lack of more convenient branches, and, especially, the increased resort to the black market for currency transactions and imported goods in the mid-1970s.
Bank lending was mainly for short-term commercial transactions. Bank financing of trade was 53 percent of total lending in 1964, 67 percent in 1970, 79 percent in 1976, 46 percent in 1980, and 50 percent in 1984. The value of loans to the commercial sector nearly tripled from 1975 to 1984. Loans to other sectors of the economy, especially to industry and construction, diverted bank lending from commerce in the late 1970s. The value of loans to the industrial sector increased more than twenty-fold from 1975 to 1984, to become 27 percent of total lending. The value of construction loans grew seventeen-fold and agricultural loans tripled.
The sources of bank funds, largely borrowing from the Central Bank and demand deposits, contributed to the short-term nature of most lending. In general, the banks were undercapitalized. In the 1970s and 1980s, more medium-term loans and a few long-term loans (in agriculture and housing) were made. Long-term loans constituted 15 percent of agricultural loans and 71 percent of housing loans. Short-term commercial credits, however, increased faster. The Industrial Bank appeared to invest equity capital in both public and private plants instead of making long-term loans. Public sector enterprises received most bank lending, but the percentage fell from 84 percent in 1976 to 75 percent in 1984.
Monetary expansion in the 1960s largely resulted from financing government budget deficits. The growth of the economy, extension of the use of money, and government price controls minimized the impact of deficit financing on prices. Monetary expansion accelerated in the 1970s, particularly after 1972. The large inflows of foreign funds, plus the sharp increase in Syria's own oil revenues, facilitated rapid growth of government expenditures while building up government deposits with the banking system. A high rate of credit expansion, primarily to public sector enterprises, followed, and private sector borrowing also increased substantially. After 1976, the expansion of the money supply continued in tandem with the need to finance chronic budget deficits. The money supply grew 21.3 percent during the 1970s and 22.8 percent a year during the early 1980s, a rate much higher than the growth of GDP.
Monetary expansion, along with shortages of goods and labor, caused a period of high inflation. Inflation was also fueled by steep rises in world prices of imported commodities. The wholesale price index increased an average of 18.2 percent a year between 1972 and 1976; from 1977 to 1984, wholesale prices more than doubled. This period was Syria's miniboom--a smaller version of the high level of investment and construction activity, rapidly rising prices, shortages of goods and labor, and overtaxed storage and transportation facilities that characterized the nearby Arab and Iranian oil economies.
In addition to setting a great number of prices directly, the government controlled many more. Limited markups (generally between 5 and 10 percent) were applied to a wide range of commodities produced or imported by the private sector. Essential commodities were supplied at low, subsidized prices. When the price discrepancy of an item became too great, encouraging smuggling, the government rationed the amount that could be bought at subsidized prices. Rationed commodities included rice, sugar, and cottonseed oil. A person wanting more than the ration could buy as much as he wanted at the much higher open-market price.
The government's rationing policy directly contributed to black market growth in the early 1970s. The black market flourished during Syria's miniboom of the mid-1970s and substantially increased as the Syrian presence in Lebanon facilitated the transfer of consumer goods, raw materials, and industrial spare parts across the border. Frustrated by bureaucratic delays in obtaining import permits and letters of credit, the private sector increasingly turned to the underground economy to acquire essential imports. The public sector, also suffering from strict government control over imports and from shortages of foreign exchange, resorted to similar means to import spare parts for state-run factories. Observers estimated black-market trade at about US$1 billion per year in the mid- 1980s, almost one-quarter the size of officially recorded imports.
The black market in foreign exchange also played a more active role in the economy, as Syrians working abroad sought higher exchange rates for their currency. In mid-1986 Syrian pounds traded for about 30 to the dollar in contrast to official exchange rates of LS3.9 to the dollar.
Government responses to increased resort to the black market for imported goods and currency exchange varied. In 1984 and 1985, as part of its efforts to alleviate the foreign exchange crisis, the state launched a campaign against black-market money changing and currency smuggling. Syria decreed heavy sentences for black marketeering, including up to twenty-five years' imprisonment for currency smuggling and one-to five-year sentences for Syrians who failed to repatriate funds earned overseas from business inside Syria. Widespread but brief arrests of money changers signaled the government's intention to limit the black market, rather than eradicate it; in the late 1980s, the official economy still remained heavily dependent on underground transactions for foreign exchange. In addition, the government issued new regulations severely limiting the amount of foreign exchange allowed out of the country and requiring tourists to change US$100 upon entry.
In 1986 the Commercial Bank issued a new regulation to facilitate private sector imports through official channels and reduce black market activity. The regulation permitted any importer with an official import license and source of foreign currency to pay the Commercial Bank 105 percent of the total amount required in the letter of credit and receive a letter of credit immediately. The regulation was designed to reduce the waiting period for letters of credit, which had reached up to two years for some private sector firms in the mid-1980s. However, private businessmen initially reacted cautiously to the reform measure, fearing retribution from state tax collectors or the police by admitting they held large amounts of foreign currency outside the system.
In the 1980s, the government also revised exchange rates in an attempt to attract workers' remittances to official channels, make government rates more competitive with the black market, and stop the depreciation of the pound. In 1981 Syria reverted to a multitier exchange rate, in which the government established a "parallel" rate for private sector imports that floated against major international currencies. In 1986 the parallel rate was LS5.4 to US$1. The "official" rate of LS3.9 to US$1 remained in use for public sector imports. In 1982 the government established a "tourist" rate for Syrians working abroad; this rate was LS9.75 to US$1 in 1986. By 1986 many commercial activities were calculated at the "tourist" rate to encourage a return to official banking channels. In addition, government regulations instituted in 1984 permitted Syrians working abroad and foreigners doing business in Syria to maintain hard currency accounts of up to 75 percent of the value of agricultural and industrial imports. After September 1985, the government permitted resident Syrians to open hard currency, interest- bearing accounts at the Commercial Bank of Syria specifically to finance imports.
**Transportation, Telecommunications, and Construction
Since antiquity, Syria has served as a major crossroads for international trade. Syrian merchants traditionally have prospered from the east-west and north-south movement of goods and people. In the early twentieth century, Syrian transportation links continued to be more provincial than national. The boundaries preceding independence further fragmented the country's transportation system. Splitting off Lebanon from Greater Syria (see Glossary) deprived the country of its main port, Beirut, and placed part of the rail network connecting Syria's main cities in Lebanon. The French cession of Syria's northwest corner to Turkey before World War II took away the country's other port, Iskenderun (Alexandretta), and important rail and road segments. At independence, the country lacked a port, adequate links between the main cities of Damascus, Homs, and Aleppo, and transportation arteries to the important northeast agricultural area and the fertile coastal plain. Moreover, the traditional east-west and north-south transit trade had diminished considerably.
After independence, the state began a major effort to develop a national transportation system of roads, railroads, and (later) pipelines. Three ports (Tartus, Latakia, and Baniyas) served domestic and transit trade. Two international airports (Damascus and Aleppo) and several secondary airports provided international and internal connections for freight and passengers. By the mid- 1970s, the main population and economic areas were connected by the various forms of transport.
In 1986 about one-half of the roads, one-half of the railroads, and two-fifths of port capacity had been added during the previous 16 years. However, the transportation system remained overtaxed as a result of the country's development boom and the increase of transit goods destined for the Gulf states. Under the Fourth Five-Year Plan, a high level of investment in transportation infrastructure was planned to remove constraints on economic development caused by inadequate transportation.
In the mid-1980s, over 95 percent of freight and passenger traffic moved by truck or bus on the highways. The main arteries were north-south between the Turkish and Jordanian borders (but primarily between the major west-central cities of Damascus, Hamah, Homs, and Aleppo) and north-south along the coastal plain; east-west traffic also was heavy between the main west-central cities and towns and the port cities of the coast. Important corridors, although less heavily used, extended from Damascus eastward to the border (the primary road to Baghdad), from Homs eastward to Tadmur for the export of phosphates via the port of Tartus, and from Aleppo eastward to the important northeast economic area and continuing to Baghdad.
Major road improvements began in the late 1960s. The paved highway network had approximately tripled by 1983, reaching 21,000 kilometers or about 90 percent of the highway system. The state spent LS598 million on road construction in 1984. From 1980 to 1984, major roads grew from 4,527 kilometers to 5,230 kilometers. About 99 percent of the paved roads were two lane, inadequate for the north-south traffic between the major cities, towns, and coastal ports. By the late 1970s, overuse of particular arteries caused congestion, maintenance problems, and shortened life span of trucks. In the mid-1980s, the government studied a number of plans to ease congestion in the capital; plans included construction of a southern ring road, a ring road along the city wall, and more bridges. The state also continued plans to upgrade four-lane highways in some heavily populated western portions of the country and complete a new 104-kilometer highway to the Jordanian border by 1988. The 1980s also witnessed an expansion of the rural road network, which grew from 16,290 kilometers in 1980 to 21,796 kilometers in 1984.
After independence, the country developed three major ports. By 1984 Tartus port, opened in 1965, was the most important, handling 8.8 million tons of cargo. Tartus handled general cargo imports, phosphate exports (857,000 tons in 1984) and large crude-oil exports. Tartus also handled 8,000 passengers. Latakia port handled general cargo (1.7 million tons in 1984), including 147,000 tons of cotton exports. The government planned to increase the capacity of Latakia to 3.5 million tons a year in the late 1980s. Both of these general cargo ports experienced congestion and unloading delays in the mid-1970s because of the rapid increase (up to 50 percent between 1974 and 1976) of seaborne cargo destined for Syria and transit trade to Persian Gulf countries. Closing of the port of Beirut 1976 as a result of the Lebanese Civil War temporarily diverted additional transit cargo to Syrian ports. In the late 1970s, Syrian port congestion diminished, and waiting time in the 1980s was minimal.
Syria's other port was located at Baniyas, the terminal for the crude oil pipeline from Iraq. In 1975 crude exports from Baniyas totaled about 27 million tons, but when export of Iraqi crude ceased in 1982, activity in Baniyas dropped off considerably. Completion of the 6-million-ton capacity oil refinery at Baniyas in 1978 maintained some activity at the oil port. In 1984 Baniyas exported 1,520 tons of petroleum.
At independence, the country inherited two separate railroads. The narrow gauge (1.05 meters) Hijaz Railway served Damascus and the southwest, with connections to Lebanon and Jordan. In 1984 it had 327 kilometers of track. The standard gauge (1.4 meters) Northern Railway had 757 kilometers of track from the port of Latakia to the northeast corner of the country and Iraq via Aleppo, Ar Raqqah, Dayr az Zawr, and Al Hasakah. The link between Latakia and the northeast was completed in the mid- 1970s, and it resulted in a substantial rise in freight, primarily shipments of cotton, wheat, and barley.
By the late 1970s, the railroads required considerable rehabilitation in order to make an important contribution to the economy. Transportation policy needed attention and equipment needed upgrading. The government had long-term plans to add equipment and trackage, link the two systems, and make the railroads much more important carriers of passengers and traffic. In 1978 work began on lines linking the phosphate mines near Tadmur to Tartus. In 1981 the Soviet Union provided Syria US$49.5 million in development aid, including funding for the 150- kilometer railroad from Dayr az Zawr to Abu Kamal and an 80- kilometer line between Tartus and Latakia, with a 10-kilometer spur to the Tartus cement factory. The 209-kilometer line from Damascus to Homs opened for freight in 1983. The opening of the Homs to Tadmur and Homs to Tartus routes, coupled with other expansions of the railroad network, connected Syria's main towns and industrial centers in the mid-1980s. By 1984, total standard extended gauge track stood at 1,686 kilometers.
Syria's civil aviation sector experienced considerable growth in the 1980s. Syrian Arab Airlines (SAA), the state-owned carrier established in 1961 as a successor to Syrian Airways, provided domestic service from Damascus to Aleppo, Latakia, Al Qamishli, and Dayr az Zawr. SAA's service included thirty-three overseas routes to major Middle Eastern, European, and South Asian capitals. In 1986 the airline added biweekly flights to Tehran and Riyadh. The airline had a total of twenty-three major transport aircraft.
The General Directorate of Civil Aviation reported a steady increase in the number of arrivals and departures at Damascus International Airport, Syria's major air terminal in the 1980s. The number of passengers rose from 1.3 million in 1983 to 1.5 million in 1984 and 1985, an increase of approximately 16 percent. About 95 percent of Syrian air traffic went via Damascus, with about 3.3 percent using the Aleppo airport. In 1985 the number of planes arriving at Damascus International Airport totaled 10,997: 607 arrived at Aleppo and 539 at Dayr az Zawr. In 1985, freight unloaded at Damascus International Airport totaled 2.8 tons vs. 2.2 tons loaded.
Not until the 1980's did the country's telecommunications facilities experience significant growth. The ratio of telephones to people remained extremely low throughout the 1960s and 1970s, numbering 13.5 telephones per 1,000 people in 1963 and 17.5 telephones per 1,000 people in 1970. In 1979, Syria embarked upon a major expansion of the country's telecommunications infrastructure. The Public Telecommunications Establishment, Syria's state-owned agency responsible for overseeing and developing the country's telecommunications, signed a major contract with a Japanese firm to install two 40,000-line electronic switching systems in Damascus and Aleppo, a project that placed Syria's local telephone exchanges among the largest in the world. By autumn 1983, Syria possessed an improved network of microwave links and digital systems. In 1983 the number of telephones per 1,000 people increased to 43 and by 1985 the country had 512,600 telephones, an increase to 53 telephones per 1,000 inhabitants. Dimashq province accounted for about 40 percent of the country's telephones, followed by Halab province with 15 percent, and then by Hims, Hamah, and Al Ladhaqiyah provinces.
In the late 1980s, Syria's international links depended on its participation in the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT), a coaxial cable to Crete and radio relay to neighboring countries. Furthermore, plans to link Syria with the Soviet-sponsored Intersputnik network and the regional Arab Satellite Organization (ARABSAT) system would significantly contribute to Syria's telecommunications capabilities, as would the new telecommunications network slated to link Damascus, Sheikh Meskin, and Dar'a in Syria with towns in Jordan and Saudi Arabia in the 1990s.
Radio-broadcast transmissions were made from six AM stations for domestic service and from a high-frequency station located at Sabburah for international service. Television is broadcast from 13 transmitters, including a 350-kilowatt transmitter which broadcasts into Israel, and 27 low-power relay stations.
In the mid-1970s, construction became a major growth sector of the economy and, because it is labor intensive, an important employer, particularly of unskilled labor. The construction industry helped absorb the large flow of agricultural workers who moved to urban areas seeking a better living. Construction expanded an average of 8.2 percent a year (in constant prices) between 1953 and 1976, but there were great variations in growth. From 1977 to 1984, construction expanded a total of 160 percent. The sector expanded in terms of value added (at constant prices) by nearly 20 percent a year between 1970 and 1976. Between 1978 and 1984 the sector expanded 7.5 percent a year in terms of value added at constant prices.
Housing construction had fallen considerably behind the needs of the population in the mid-1970s. From 1975 to 1978, the number of residential building licenses issued by the government grew from 12,388 to 22,626, but in 1984 the state issued only 14,666 new residential building licenses--a signal that the mid-1970s construction boom was winding down. The high rate of population increase, the rural to urban migration, and the desire of Syrians to invest in secure areas like housing put severe pressures on housing and services such as water, sewerage, electricity, and telephones in most cities and towns. Figures to measure the housing shortages were lacking in 1987, but soaring real estate prices in the major cities in the 1980s confirmed the shortage. Those with limited incomes and young couples experienced particular difficulties as a result of sharply rising land and construction costs that priced moderate wage earners out of the market. By 1986 government efforts to curb urban land speculation and to ease the supply of building material had had only limited success. The average price of ordinary apartments in Damascus topped LS1 million in the mid-1980s, with little hope for relief.
**Period of Economic Retrenchment, 1986-90
In 1987 Syria's economy had a well developed agricultural and industrial base, unlike some of its Arab neighbors that depended almost exclusively on oil. Although agriculture remained nearly as dependent on rainfall as at independence, the government's renewed commitment to agricultural development, the expansion and extension of irrigation systems throughout the country, and application of new cultivation technologies provided incentives to stimulate agricultural output. Industry, too, had expanded considerably in terms of value, both in the range of products and in their sophistication. During the Assad years, Syria's infrastructure grew rapidly, as the state channeled resources into the building of new electric, water, telecommunications, and other development projects. Nevertheless, in the late 1980s, the Syrian economy faced a number of serious difficulties. The collapse of world oil prices, weak markets for Syrian exports, large trade deficits, foreign exchange shortages, declining workers' remittances, unreliable sources and amounts of donor aid from the Gulf states and Iran, rapid depreciation of the Syrian pound, and massive defense expenditures forced Syria into a period of economic retrenchment. A mood of austerity pervaded the economy as the state struggled to adjust to lower rates of economic growth.
Although the government adopted measures designed to forestall an economic crisis by sharply reducing imports, cutting spending, stabilizing local currency and foreign exchange markets, encouraging the private sector by introducing more market-oriented mechanisms into the economy, and limiting black market activity, the Syrian economy faced a long and difficult road to recovery. Observers were agreed that in the 1990s, economic recovery would depend in part upon the state's ability to initiate and implement major economic reform programs, improve public sector management, and overcome bureaucratic inertia and corruption. Continued internal stability and external elements, such as the outbreak of an Arab-Israeli war or a severe world depression would also affect Syria's prospects for economic recovery. However, through the end of the 1980s only the discovery of sizable quantities of high grade oil at Dayr az Zawr--by generating much needed foreign exchange and reducing expenditures for oil imports in the balance of payments-- offered the possibility of economic relief.
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Chapter 3 bibliographic notes:
The Syrian government publishes a variety of statistics; the one most frequently available in the United States and adequate for most purposes is the annual Statistical Abstract, published by the Central Bureau of Statistics. The Quarterly Bulletin, published by the Central Bank of Syria, and Syrie et Monde Arabe, published by Office Arabe de Presse et de Documentation in Damascus, contains useful information. International Monetary Fund publications, such as the International Financial Statistics and the Balance of Payments Yearbook, usually include considerable statistics for Syria. The UN and affiliated agencies issue a variety of publications that include statistics for Syria. The World Bank's annual World Development Report also contains useful statistics. The United States government publishes a number of reports containing information about the Syrian economy. Most useful are the Department of Commerce's Foreign Economic Trends series on Syria and the Department of Agriculture's Middle East and North Africa Situation and Outlook Report. Several broad surveys, such as The Middle East and North Africa and the Middle East Annual Review, cover Syria's economic development. Middle East Economic Digest and the Economist Intelligence Unit's Quarterly Economic Review of Syria provide detailed descriptions of key economic events. Much of the information on aspects of Syria's economy is in small, fragmented bits published in a variety of forms. (For complete citations and further information see Bibliography.)
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*Chapter 4. Government and Politics
In early 1987, President Hafiz al Assad, in power since his November 1970 takeover in a bloodless military coup d'état, continued to lead Syria. His regime appeared to be resilient, if not altogether stable. Only a few years earlier, the regime had encountered several major threats. In 1982 the government of Syria endured nearly simultaneous major domestic and external challenges: the uprising of Muslim fundamentalist rebels and the Israeli attack on Syrian forces in Lebanon. Then, in late 1983 and early 1984, Assad became seriously ill, leading to splits within the regime as factions maneuvered to succeed him. These machinations proved to be premature, however, because Assad subsequently recovered and reasserted his power. Nonetheless, the domestic political infighting and external military clashes that occurred while Assad was incapacitated reminded Syrians of their nation's chronic instability of the 1950s and 1960s and foreshadowed the return of such instability after Assad. The crises also reinforced the perception that the strength of the Syrian government was not only vested in the president but derived from him personally. Consequently, although Assad had transformed Syria into a regional power in the Levant and had created domestic stability, his accomplishments could prove ephemeral because they were not buttressed by legitimate and viable institutions. Even more unsettling, in 1987 the question of a successor to President Assad was still unresolved.
Since 1970 Assad's pragmatism, ambition, and patience have helped transform Syria into a regional power. Syrian development has been motivated and hastened by the threat posed by Israel. In fact, in 1984 Assad announced Syria's determination to attain "strategic parity" with Israel and further stated that Syria would strive to match Israel's level of modernization across the wide spectrum of "political, demographic, social, educational, economic, and military aspects of life."
However, Syria's status as a regional power imposed costs and liabilities. For instance, in 1987 Syria was relatively isolated in the Arab world, primarily because of its maverick support for Iran in the Iran-Iraq War and its involvement in Lebanon. Also, its economy staggered under the weight of its military budget, and it depended heavily on the Soviet Union for military equipment.
Despite the outward appearance of radicalism and dogmatic rigidity, Syrian diplomacy was conducted on the basis of hardheaded and pragmatic calculation of perceived costs and benefits to the national interest. Its position on the ArabIsraeli conflict, once believed to be immutably rigid, changed not only in style but in substance. In the years after the October 1973 War, Syria modified its categorical refusal to negotiate directly with Israel. After 1973 it indicated its intention to negotiate, in return for Israel's withdrawal from all occupied territories and for a form of Palestinian selfdetermination .
The political effectiveness of Assad's leadership depended heavily on firm control of the pervasive military and internal security and intelligence apparatus--the only countercoup forces available to an incumbent regime. The officially sanctioned Baath (Arab Socialist Resurrection) Party, also played an increasingly important role in maintaining the regime.
Syria was a socialist state under the political influence of the Baath Party, which provided ideological legitimation and continuity to Assad's rule. However, Assad's implementation of Baath Party doctrines has been more pragmatic than ideological. To broaden the government's base, in 1972 Assad incorporated nonBaathist parties into the National Progressive Front. Although the front theoretically ruled Syria, the Baath Party remained the real power.
The authorities closely monitored political activities and dealt sternly with expressions of organized dissent or opposition--a source of grievance for the nation's intellectuals, students, some conservative Sunni religious leaders, and labor groups. Absence of open political channels other than through the Baathist-controlled framework made estimating the extent of popular support for Assad's regime difficult. Clearly, sectarian tensions persisted because the centers of power in 1987 remained in Alawi hands, whereas the majority of the population were Sunni Muslims who had traditionally held power until the Assad regime was installed in 1970. In 1987 Syrian popular opinion was split between those who supported and those who opposed President Assad's regime. However, those who opposed the regime did so vehemently, while those who supported Assad appeared ambivalent. The charismatic Assad continued to enjoy considerable personal popularity among the latter group, but its approval did not extend to his regime as a whole. Even many of Assad's supporters feared and loathed the draconian security measures that ensured the Assad regime's survival, and they were shocked at the regime's brutal repression of the Hamah insurrection in 1982. Yet this fear was mitigated by the feeling that any successor regime would be worse than Assad's, and his strong authoritarian and paternalistic management of political affairs was endorsed because it had provided Syria with its first uninterrupted period of stability since independence in 1946.
**Constitutional Framework
Between the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1916 and promulgation of a permanent constitution in 1973, Syria adopted several constitutions, all reflecting an amalgam of West European (chiefly French), Arab, and Islamic political cultures. The initial impetus to constitutionalism came from Syrian nationalist leaders of the post-World War I era who had been educated in the West during the late nineteenth century. These leaders proposed a Western-style parliament and a separate, independent judiciary as a counterbalance to the untrammeled power of Ottoman and later French Mandate administrators. The system of government envisioned by Syrian nationalists and legal scholars was to provide for popular participation in the political process and constitutional safeguards of personal and political rights.
Constitutionalism failed to take hold, however, because of unremitting postindependence instability. A change in government leadership through a coup or a countercoup was almost always followed by a constitutional change intended to buttress the new political order.
In 1987 the governmental structure was based on the Permanent Constitution of March 13, 1973. This charter is similar to the provisional constitution of May 1, 1969, as amended in February and June 1971. The Constitution provides for a republican form of government in what it calls "a democratic, popular, socialist, and sovereign state" and stipulates that the people are the ultimate source of national sovereignty.
The Constitution reaffirms the long-held ideological premise that Syria is only a part of the one and indivisible "Arab nation" that is struggling for complete Arab unity. Syria is constitutionally declared still to be a member of the Federation of Arab Republics (FAR), which was inaugurated in April 1971 by Egypt, Syria, and Libya. Although the FAR was short lived, its constitutional formula provides a framework for ongoing Syrian efforts at unity with other Arab nations.
Among the principles in the Constitution is the stipulation that the president be a Muslim, that the main source of legislation be Islamic fikh(doctrine and jurisprudence), and that the Baath Party be "the vanguard party in the society and the state." In addition, the state is directed to safeguard the fundamental rights of citizens to enjoy freedom and to participate in political, economic, social, and cultural life within the limits of the law. Free exercise of religious belief is guaranteed as long as such exercise does not affect public order. In keeping with the Arab character of the nation, the purpose of the educational system is described as creation of "an Arab national socialist generation with scientific training"--a generation committed to establishment of a united Arab socialist nation.
The Constitution's economic principles not only set forth a planned socialist economy that should take into account "economic complementarity in the Arab homeland" but also recognize three categories of property. The three kinds are property of the people, including all natural resources, public domains, nationalized enterprises, and establishments created by the state; collective property, such as assets owned by popular and professional organizations; and private property. The Constitution states that the social function of private property shall be subordinated, under law, to the national economy and public interests. However, expropriation may occur only with just compensation.
Governmental powers are divided by the Constitution into executive, legislative, and judicial categories (see fig. 13). The Constitution is notable for strengthening the already formidable role of the presidency; the framers of the Constitution were clearly more concerned with the supremacy and stability of presidential powers than with the issue of checks and balances among the three branches of government. Official concern for political and governmental stability is reflected in the relatively difficult procedures for amending the Constitution. A bill to amend the Constitution may be introduced by the president or one-third of the members of the People's Council (parliament), but its passage requires approval by a majority of three-fourths of the People's Council as well as by the president.
**Government
***The President and the Cabinet
The president is elected for a seven-year term by universal suffrage. A candidate to the office must be a Syrian Arab Muslim, at least forty years of age, proposed by the Baath Party, and nominated by the People's Council. The nominee is submitted to a national referendum. To be elected, the candidate must receive an absolute majority of votes cast. If not, a new candidate must be selected by the Baath Party for formal nomination by the People's Council.
The Constitution states that in the case of the president's temporary disablement, the vice president becomes acting president. However, in 1982 Assad named three vice presidents-- Foreign Minister Abd al Halim Khaddam, Rifaat al Assad, and Baath Party deputy director Zuhayr Mashariqa--but none of the three was specifically designated as successor. If the presidency falls vacant by resignation or death, a referendum must be held within ninety days to elect a new president. Under certain circumstances, the prime minister may exercise presidential functions for up to ninety days.
The president cannot be removed except for high treason. Impeachment proceedings may be initiated through a petition signed by one-third of the members of the People's Council voting openly or by a petition of two-thirds of the council members voting at a special closed session. The president can be tried only by the High Constitutional Court, of which he is a member.
The president is both the head of state and the chief executive officer of the government. He is vested with sweeping powers that may be delegated, at his sole discretion, to his vice presidents. The president is also commander in chief of the armed forces. He appoints and dismisses the prime minister and other members of the Council of Ministers (the cabinet) and military officers.
Apart from executive authority relating to a wide range of governmental functions including foreign affairs, the president has the right to dissolve the People's Council, in which case a new council must be elected within ninety days from the date of dissolution. He may also exercise legislative power when the council is in recess, provided that all legislative acts promulgated by him are submitted to the legislature for approval at its first subsequent session. The Constitution also empowers the president to preempt legislative power even while the People's Council is in session "in case of absolute need relating to national security." It states, however, that all presidential decrees must be presented to the legislature for its endorsement. The council may, by a two-thirds vote, amend or rescind presidential decrees, provided that the two-thirds majority constitutes no fewer than the absolute majority of the council membership. The council's power to amend or nullify a presidential decree is only nominal, inasmuch as the council's action, whether for amendment or abrogation, is not to have a "retroactive effect."
Under the Constitution, presidential authority extends also to the broadly phrased "right to submit to popular referendum important matters relating to the higher interests of the country." However, the question of what constitutes "higher interests" is left undefined. The results of such a referendum are "binding and executory with effect from the date of their promulgation" by the president. The presidential emergency power granted under Article 113 provides a mandate that is beyond any legal challenge: "In case of grave danger threatening national unity or the security and independence of the national territory or impeding the government's exercise of its constitutional prerogatives, the President of the Republic has the right to take appropriate emergency measures." This article has been in effect since the late 1960s (see Crime and Punishment , ch. 5).
The Council of Ministers, headed by the prime minister, is responsible to the president and serves collectively as the executive and administrative arm of the president and of the state. A cabinet member can also be a member of the People's Council and, if so, is not answerable to the legislature for his official conduct while acting as a cabinet member.
As of 1987, the Council of Ministers had last been reshuffled in April 1985. The council was headed by Prime Minister Abd ar Rauf al Kassim, who had served as prime minister since 1980, and three deputy prime ministers, who also held the portfolios of defense, services, and economic affairs. Ministers were in charge of the following portfolios: agriculture and agrarian reform, communications, construction, culture and national guidance, defense, economy and foreign trade, education, electricity, finance, foreign affairs, health, higher education, housing and utilities, industry, information, interior, irrigation, justice, local administration, oil and mineral wealth, religious trusts (waqfs), social affairs and labor, supply and internal trade, tourism, and transportation. In addition, the Council of Ministers included ministers of state for cabinet affairs, foreign affairs, planning affairs, People's Council affairs, and presidential affairs and three newly elected ministers of state without portfolio.
***The People's Council
The members of the People's Council are elected for four-year terms by universal suffrage of citizens eighteen years of age or older in direct and secret ballot. The members, the number of which is determined by law, are chosen on the basis of singlemember electoral districts. The Constitution requires that at least half of the council seats be set aside for "workers and peasants." The 195 members of the People's Council serving in 1987 were elected in 1986.
The People's Council sits in three regular sessions annually and may be called into special session by the speaker, by the president, or at the request of one-third of the council members. The lawmakers are granted parliamentary immunity, and even when they are charged with criminal offenses, prior consent of the speaker is required before any prosecution against a member may proceed.
The functions of the council include the nomination of a presidential candidate, enactment of laws, discussion of government policy, approval of the general budget and development plans, and ratification of treaties. In addition, as part of its monitoring of the executive branch, the People's Council is authorized to act on a motion of no-confidence in the Council of Ministers as a whole or in an individual minister. Such a motion must be initiated by at least one-fifth of the members and, to become effective, must be approved by the majority of the People's Council. If the motion is carried, the Council of Ministers or the individual minister concerned must resign. The president can dissolve the People's Council, although the Constitution does not specify grounds for dissolution. It does say that the council may not be dissolved more than once for the same cause.
***The Judiciary
In the 1980s, the Syrian judicial system remained a synthesis of Ottoman, French, and Islamic laws. The civil, commercial, and criminal codes in effect were, with some amendments, those promulgated in 1949 and were based primarily on French legal practices. In addition, special provisions sanctioned limited application of customary law among beduin and religious minorities. Islamic religious courts based on sharia (Muslim law) continued to function in some parts of the country, but their jurisdiction was limited to issues of personal status, such as marriage, divorce, paternity, custody of children, and inheritance. In 1955 a personal code pertaining to many aspects of personal status was developed. This law modified and modernized sharia by improving the status of women and clarifying the laws of inheritance.
The High Judicial Council is composed of senior civil judges and is charged with the appointment, transfer, and dismissal of judges. Article 131 of the Constitution states that the independence of the judiciary is to be guaranteed by the president in his role as chairman of the High Judicial Council. Article 133 stipulates that judges be autonomous and subject to no authority other than the law. Although the concept of an independent judiciary is enshrined in the Constitution, the president clearly exercises considerable power in the execution, as well as the formulation, of law.
In 1987 Syria had a three-tiered court system, in addition to the state security courts. The Court of Cassation, sitting in Damascus, was the supreme court and the highest court of appeals. It had the authority to resolve both jurisdictional and judicial issues. Below the Court of Cassation were courts of appeal, and at the lowest level were courts of first instance, designated variously as magistrate courts, summary courts, and peace courts. Also at the basic level were juvenile and other special courts and an administrative tribunal known as the Council of State. Under the 1973 Constitution, the High Constitutional Court was established to adjudicate electoral disputes, to rule on the constitutionality of a law or decree challenged by the president or People's Council, and to render opinions on the constitutionality of bills, decrees, and regulations when requested to do so by the president. The High Constitutional Court is forbidden, however, to question the validity of the popularly approved "laws submitted by the President of the Republic to popular referendums." The court consists of the president and four judges he appoints to serve a renewable term of four years.
***Local Administration
In 1987 Syria was divided into thirteen provinces: Halab, Dimashq, Dar'a, Dayr az Zawr, Hamah, Al Hasakah, Hims, Idlib, Al Ladhiqiyah, Al Qunaytirah (which includes the Golan Heights), Ar Raqqah, As Suwayda, and Tartus (see fig. 1). Damascus, as the national capital, was administered separately as a governorate until 1987, when it was designated as a province; the areas outside the city, which had constituted the separate Dimashq Province, were brought under the jurisdiction of the capital and were referred to as the "Province of Damascus rural area." In addition, Syrian maps included the Turkish province of Hatay, which the Syrians call Iskenderun. Each province is divided into districts, which in turn have subdistricts. Under Assad, government power remained highly centralized in Damascus, giving provincial governments little autonomy.
Each province is headed by a governor nominated by the minister of the interior and appointed by the central government. The governor is responsible for administration, health, social services, education, tourism, public works, transportation, domestic trade, agriculture, industry, civil defense, and maintenance of law and order in the province. The minister of local administration works closely with each governor to coordinate and supervise local development projects.
The governor is assisted by a provincial council, threequarters of whose members are popularly elected for a term of four years, the remainder being appointed by the minister of the interior and the governor. In addition, each council has an executive arm consisting of six to ten officers appointed by the central government from among the council's elected members. Each executive officer is charged with specific functions.
Districts and subdistricts are administered by officials appointed by the governor, subject to the approval of the minister of the interior. These officials work with elected district councils to attend to assorted local needs and serve as intermediaries between central government authority and traditional local leaders, such as village chiefs, clan leaders, and councils of elders.
Since Assad's 1970 Corrective Movement, the government has sought systematically to strengthen its control over local politics. The central government's firmer grasp on power has eroded the autonomy of both nomadic beduin and settled villagers who have until recently been allowed to practice self-government according to their own traditions and customs.
In urban areas, local municipal councils license businesses, control public services and utilities, and levy taxes. Some members of these councils are elected and some appointed. The councils are headed by mayors, who, in small towns, are responsible to the central government's district officer. If the town is the seat of the provincial government, the council is answerable directly to the governor of the province.
**Political Dynamics
In early 1987, Syria remained under the effective control of the Assad regime. The country's stability contrasted sharply with the instability of earlier years, which had been punctuated by coups and countercoups and a bewildering succession of cabinets (see Coups and Countercoups, 1961-70 , ch. 1).
***Background
After independence in 1946, Syrian leaders established a parliamentary democracy, which failed because politics remained centered on personalities and because factional, sectarian, and tribal rivalries persisted. Such a situation was not conducive to domestic unity, much less to national consensus or political momentum. The multiparty political system gave way to a series of military dictatorships, then to Syria's subordination to Egypt in the short-lived United Arab Republic (UAR) from February 1958 to September 1961 (see United Arab Republic , ch. 1). Since 1963, when the Baath Party came to full power in Syria, political competition has evolved and shifted within the party. Under the party, the role of the military has been especially significant.
At independence, power was concentrated in the hands of a wealthy oligarchy of landlords, industrialists, merchants, and lawyers. Most of this aristocracy urban Sunni (see Glossary) Muslims who derived their influence from inherited wealth and social position, as well as from their early involvement in the Arab nationalist movement (see World War I and Arab Nationalism, The French Mardate, ch. 1). Their political experience, however, was entirely based on opposition, first to Ottoman Turkey and then to France and Zionism. They had no precedent for a more positive platform of national reconciliation and integration, mass mobilization, and popular welfare.
The most prominent political organization in 1946 was the National Bloc, a loose alliance originally formed in 1928 by leading members of landowning families and other well-known individuals. This group was wealthy and well educated, chiefly at French and Turkish universities or at French- and American- operated colleges in Lebanon and Egypt. Their priority was eliminating the French while maintaining their personal power. They had little contact with the masses and did not seek to bridge the traditional gap separating the upper classes from the rest of society.
Of the various political parties forming Syria, two had risen to prominence by mid-1947: the National Party and the People's Party. The National Party, which dominated the government until 1949, represented the industrialists of Damascus, leading businessmen, and prominent landlords. It was dedicated to continuing the power of men who had long worked together not only for independence but against union with Jordan and Iraq.
Until 1949 the People's Party was the principal opposition. It represented the interests of the merchants and landlords of Aleppo against domination by Damascus. The party had a strong interest in agricultural issues--in contrast to the National Party's focus on industry--and close ties with Iraq, with which many of the members had strong commercial and trade relationships. The two parties therefore embodied the major traditional political divisions within Syria: the rivalry between Aleppo and Damascus and that between those who favored unity with the Levant (Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria) as opposed to those who favored unity with the Fertile Crescent (Iraq, Jordan and Syria).
Along with these parties, a new party was evolving. The Baath Party can be traced to 1940, when two Damascene secondary schoolteachers, Michel Aflaq and Salah ad Din al Bitar, were inspired by the Arab renaissance movement. In 1943 the term Baath (meaning resurrection) became associated with the movement, and in 1944 the movement was transformed into a party. In April 1947, the Baath Party held its first congress, which was attended by around 250 members. Most were Syrians, but Jordanian, Lebanese, and Iraqi students in Syrian schools were also present. Most of the original members were students, teachers, professionals, and public employees--the kernel of Syria's emerging new middle class. The congress elected Aflaq, the party's philosopher and ideologue, as "dean," the equivalent of secretary general. Bitar became the organizational and administrative leader.
In 1947 the Baath Party was a marginal political force. It was organizationally weak and unprepared to assert itself effectively. Gradually, it broadened its constituency beyond the narrow circle of students and intellectuals to include the urban lower middle class, which was attracted to the party's proposed program of social and economic reform. At the same time, the party's unflagging emphasis on Arab nationalism evoked considerable support from the military's officer corps.
The constitution adopted by the Baath founding congress of 1947 extolled the motto of "Unity, Freedom, and Socialism" as an integrated concept, in which no one element could be attained without the other two. Of the three, however, Arab unity was considered first among equals as the primary catalyst of Arab resurrection. Socialism was not an end in itself but a means to achieve the higher ends of freedom, unity, and socioeconomic justice.
Aflaq rejected a doctrinaire definition of socialism. He maintained that his socialism aimed at more than merely equalizing wealth and providing food, shelter, and clothing; instead, it aimed at the higher goal of freeing an individual's talents and abilities. This higher goal was to be attained not through evolution but revolution, which he described as a "violent wrenching away" and an awakening and self-purification. Baath dogma exalted the individual, who was to be free in action, thought, and opportunity in a democratic, parliamentary, constitutional state.
The doctrine of a single, indivisible Arab nation was central to Baathist ideology, and statehood was regarded as parochial, negative, and doomed to failure (see Political Orientations , this ch.). Baathist doctrine condemned colonialist imperialism, which was and is held to include Zionism, negativism, restrictive state nationalism, sectarianism, and racial and ethnic prejudice. The Arab superstate envisioned by the Baathists was to be founded on a secular, rather than Islamic, framework. However, Christians and other religious minorities were admonished to regard Islam as a "beloved cultural heritage." Furthermore, religious life and values were to endure in an atmosphere of religious toleration. In foreign policy, the party advocated nonalignment with the superpowers and espoused neutrality. Aflaq and Bitar were impressed by Marxist visions of a utopian society free of exploitation but were not won over to communism, which they regarded as subservient to Soviet interests and therefore detrimental to Arab national self-determination.
In 1949 popular dissatisfaction with the performance of the conservative ruling elite reached a peak, giving the Baath Party an opportunity to play a more prominent role in Syrian politics. Army officers were angered by what they perceived as civilian bungling of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. This anger paved the way for Brigadier General Husni az Zaim to stage Syria's first army coup d'état, an event that presaged the rise of the military as the controlling force in Syrian politics. The bloodless takeover, which was widely applauded by the press, opposition politicians, and much of the public, marked the permanent transfer of political power from the traditional landowning elite to a new coalition of young intellectuals, army officers, and the small but growing middle class. The Baath Party welcomed the coup and hoped the Zaim regime would stamp out the government's endemic corruption and usher in parliamentary politics.
However, the Zaim government did not bring stability. Rather, four more military coups were staged prior to Syria's unification with Egypt in 1958. Beneath the facade of dictatorial rule, proliferating Syrian political parties were locked in chaotic competition with the Baath Party for dominance of Syrian politics. Partisan rivalry was particularly intense for the allegiance of the armed forces, which party organizers realized would control the government. The conservative National Party and People's Party waned in influence, while the semifascist Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party (SSNP), founded in 1933 by a Lebanese Christian, Antun Saadeh, gained numerous adherents. The SSNP called for the creation of a "Greater Syria" encompassing Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, and Cyprus. The Syrian Communist Party (SCP), headed by Khalid Bakdash, was small, but its tight organization and disciplined following gave it far greater importance than its size alone would have merited. Another party, the Arab Socialist Party (ASP), was a serious contender for the allegiance of the middle class. The ASP was founded in 1950 by Akram Hawrani as an outgrowth of the Youth Party he had established in 1939. His doctrine followed closely that of Aflaq and Bitar. Hawrani's followers were drawn mostly from Hamah and Homs; they included teachers, students, urban workers, and numerous associates organized by his relatives. In addition, he cultivated many followers in the armed forces.
In early 1953, the ASP merged with the Baath Party, combining the well-developed ideological framework of the Baath Party with Hawrani's grass-roots organizational base. No substantial changes were required in the merger except the insertion of the word socialist (ishtiraki) in the new party's name. Hawrani also found no difficulty in accepting Aflaq's 1947 constitution, which continued in toto as the scripture of Baathism, and the founding year of the Baath Party is still considered 1947.
The new Baath Party quickly became a serious challenge to all existing parties. The intense rivalry between the Baath Party and the SSNP climaxed in the April 1955 assassination of Colonel Adnan Malki, the deputy chief of staff and a leading Baathist, by a sergeant in the SSNP. Following the assassination, the SSNP was accused of plotting to overthrow the government, and its leaders either fled the country or were convicted of conspiracy. Consequently, the SSNP disappeared as an effective political force in Syria.
In 1957 the Baathists entered into a partnership with their erstwhile adversaries, the Communists, in order to crush the residual power of conservative parties. This left-wing alliance succeeded in eliminating the right wing. However, in the last months of 1957, the Communists and other radicals came to dominate the left-wing alliance, while the Baath Party's power eroded.
Fearing the Communists' growing power, the Baath Party drafted a bill in December 1957 for union between Syria and Egypt. Because Arab unity is a sacred aspiration, the Baathists knew that neither the Communists nor any other politicians could openly oppose it. In February 1958, Syria joined Egypt to form the UAR. The Baath Party realized that President Gamal Abdul Nasser's declared hostility to political parties would mean the end of its legal existence but gambled that the communist movement, which was being ruthlessly persecuted in Egypt at the time, would be damaged disproportionately.
The Baathists were partially correct. Hawrani, titular head of the Baath Party, was appointed vice president of the new republic. However, all real power resided in Nasser's hands, and Syria was governed as a virtual colony of Egypt. On September 28, 1961, a military coup took Syria out of the UAR, and in December 1961, a general election for the constituent assembly was held; Communists and Nasserites were banned from running for office. Although a few Baathists were elected, the majority of the new assembly consisted of members of the conservative People's Party and National Party. People's Party leader Nazim al Qudsi was elected president.
From 1961 to 1963, Syria was in a state of near anarchy. Coups and countercoups, street fighting between Nasserites, Communists, and Baathists, and battles between rival army factions plunged the nation into chaos.
Early in 1963, a group of senior officers conspired to stage yet another coup. To build their alliance within the military, they joined forces with a group of Baathist majors and lieutenant colonels, who turned out to be more formidable than they or anyone else realized. The original group of officers had been transferred to Egypt during the union as a form of internal exile because of their suspected opposition to the UAR. Irritated at Egyptian dominance of the union, they organized the secret Military Committee, which was dedicated to seizing power. They deviated from the Baath Party's pan-Arabism in championing Syrian nationalism. Having grown up for the most part in relatively poor rural areas of Syria, these men strongly advocated land reform and other socialist measures. Most of the committee belonged to minority groups. For example, the original core of conspirators consisted of three Alawis (see Glossary) and two Ismailis (see Glossary). Later, the Military Committee was enlarged to include fifteen members. Only six of these members were Sunni Muslims; the remainder consisted of five Alawis, two Druzes (see Glossary), and two Ismailis.
The coup, subsequently called the Baath Revolution, occurred on March 8, 1963. Baath Party cofounder Bitar was installed as prime minister, and, within several months, the Baathists had maneuvered their non-Baathist associates out of power. The Baath, Party, especially its military component and its "Regional Command as opposed to its National Command, has dominated Syria since (see The Baath Party Apparatus , this ch.).
Although the Baath Revolution was bracketed chronologically by prior and subsequent coups, countercoups, and power struggles, it was far more than another convulsion in the body politic. Rather, it marked a crucial turning point in Syria's postindependence history. Because of the coup, the focus of Syrian politics shifted markedly to the left, where it has remained since. However, just as the Baath Party became ascendant, the military officers who had commandeered it as a vehicle for their own rise to power abandoned its original egalitarian ideology by establishing a military dictatorship. In 1966 the party's cofounders, Aflaq and Bitar, were expelled from the party and exiled from Syria. Bitar, in an interview conducted several weeks before he was assassinated in Paris in July 1980, reportedly at the hands of Syrian intelligence, said "The major deviation of the Baath is having r |
