Amin al-Hafiz ( ar, أمين الحافظ, Amīn al-Ḥāfiẓ12 November 1921 – 17 December 2009), also known as Amin Hafez was a Syrian politician, general, and member of the Ba'ath Party who served as the

President of Syria The president of Syria, officially the president of the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: رئيس سوريا) is the head of state of the Syria, Syrian Arab Republic. They are vested with sweeping powers that may be delegated, at their sole discreti ...

from 27 July 1963 to 23 February 1966.

Career

Early life

Al-Hafiz was born in the city of Aleppo.

Rise to power

The

1963 Syrian coup d'état The 1963 Syrian coup d'état, referred to by the Syrian government as the 8 March Revolution ( ar, ثورة الثامن من آذار), was the successful seizure of power in Syria by the military committee of the Syrian Regional Branch of ...

, led by the Military Committee, introduced al-Hafiz to public life. In the aftermath of the coup, the

National Council of the Revolutionary Command The National Council for the Revolutionary Command (NCRC) is the twenty-man council set up to rule Syria after the 1963 Syrian coup d'état The 1963 Syrian coup d'état, referred to by the Syrian government as the 8 March Revolution ( ar, ث� ...

(NCRC) became the country's supreme organ. The NCRC was dominated by the Syrian branch of the radical, pan-Arab Ba'ath Party. Al-Hafiz became

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

, instituted

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

reforms, and oriented his country towards the Eastern Bloc.

Downfall

On 23 February 1966, al-Hafiz was overthrown by a radical Ba'athist faction headed by Chief of Staff

Salah Jadid Salah Jadid (1926 – 19 August 1993, ar, صلاح جديد, Ṣalāḥ Jadīd) was a Syrian general, a leader of the left-wing of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in Syria, and the country's ''de facto'' leader from 1966 until 1970, when h ...

. A late warning telegram of the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

was sent from Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser to

Nasim al-Safarjalani Nasim Al Safarjalani (1935–1994) (in Arabic نسيم السفرجلاني) comes from a prominent Arab Syrian family (Al Safarjalani) from Damascus, Syria. Origins and youth Historian Salah ad-Din Al Safarjalani records that Nasim Al Safarja ...

(The General Secretary of Presidential Council), on the early morning of the coup d'état. The coup sprung out of factional rivalry between Jadid's "regionalist" (''qutri'') camp of the Ba'ath Party, which promoted ambitions for a Greater Syria, and the more traditionally pan-Arab al-Hafiz faction, called the "nationalist" (''qawmi'') faction. Jadid's supporters were also seen as more radically left-wing. The coup was also supported and led by officers from Syria's religious minorities, especially the

Alawites The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia Isl ...

and the Druze, whereas al-Hafiz belonged to the majority Sunni population.

Exile and return

After being wounded in the three-hour shootout that preceded the coup, in which two of his children were seriously injured, al-Hafiz was jailed in Damascus's Mezzeh prison before being sent to Lebanon in June 1967. A year later, he was relocated to

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

. In 1971, the courts of Damascus sentenced him to death ''in absentia''; however,

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

"treated him and his fellow exile, Ba'ath founder

Michel Aflaq Michel Aflaq ( ar, ميشيل عفلق, Mīšīl ʿAflaq‎, , 9 January 1910 – 23 June 1989) was a Syrian philosopher, sociologist and Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its politi ...

, like royalty", and the sentence was not carried out. After the fall of Saddam in the Iraq War of 2003, al-Hafiz was quietly allowed to return to Syria. He died in Aleppo on December 17, 2009; reports of his age differ, but he was believed to be in his late 80s.Syria-news
He received a state-sponsored funeral.

Popular culture

Amin al-Hafiz was portrayed by Waleed Zuaiter in the Netflix series '' The Spy''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hafiz, Amin Al- 1921 births 2009 deaths Ba'athist rulers Leaders ousted by a coup Members of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party Members of the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region People from Aleppo Presidents of Syria Prime Ministers of Syria Syrian Arab nationalists Syrian anti-communists Syrian ministers of interior Syrian Sunni Muslims Syrian expatriates in Iraq