Syria is officially getting a new flag: the tri-colour of the Syrian Opposition, otherwise known as the Flag of Independence, that came along with the establishment of the republic. The new flag has yet to be decreed, but it is already being hoisted atop certain government buildings and the Syrian embassy in Moscow. Adopted under French Mandate back in 1932, it was taken down by the Baathists in 1963, only to be raised officially exactly 60 years later, with the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
Early into the Syrian uprising, pro-regime media came up with a baseless argument, saying that the opposition flag was actually the “flag of the mandate” or that of “colonialism.” Others referred to it as “the flag of the High Commissioner.” They erroneously claimed that its three stars referred to three sectarian states under the mandate: an Alawite state, a Druze state, and a Sunni state, although no such state ever existed.
They argued that since it had been adopted under the French mandate, it was, by default, the flag of the mandate. I would often reply: “But the original national anthem of Syria (which was never changed) was also adopted under the mandate. Does that make it the anthem of the mandate?” They would shrug their shoulders with no answer, given their total ignorance of Syrian history.
Here is the true story that every Syrian should know as they start hoisting their new banner.
The Flag of Independence
To coincide with the election of Muhammad Ali Bey al-Abid as president in 1932, a new flag was devised with three banners of green, white, and black, along with “three red planets with five rays” (not stars), as stated in Article IV of the Syrian constitution of 1928.
According to political interpretation, the three planets represented three revolts against colonial rule rather than three sectarian states: one in the north commanded by Ibrahim Hananu, one in the Druze Mountain commanded by Sultan al-Atrash, and a third disputed between the Alawite revolt of Saleh al-Ali and the Antioch revolt of Subhi Bey Barakat. The three stars were symbols of unity, not federalism. A parliamentary committee drafted the flag, and the colours referred to rulers in Syria's past: white for the Umayyads, black for the Abbasids, and green for the Rashidun caliphs of Islam.
It was raised by President Shukri al-Quwatli on Syria’s first Independence Day on 17 April 1946 and by Syrian troops during the Palestine War of 1948. Despite the back-to-back coups of 1949-1951, nobody thought of changing the flag until Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser came to power in February 1958, heralding the United Arab Republic (UAR).
He began by cancelling celebrations on Syria’s Independence Day and replacing them with the annual anniversary of his military coup against King Farouk. He also abandoned the Syrian National Anthem and, ultimately, the flag. The Flag of Independence was raised with a new banner carrying the same colours, with the stars green rather than red and two rather than three: one for Egypt and one for Syria.
When the Abdel Nasser regime collapsed in September 1961, Syrians immediately restored their old flag. It remained until the Baath Party Revolutionary Command Council replaced it on 1 May 1963.
