What exactly is Bashar al-Assad’s number when it comes to the long list of Syrian presidents? The answer, quite surprisingly, is debatable, given that some came to the seat of power without actually assuming presidential powers, while others stayed in power for transitional periods and are often excluded from the presidential list.
Many consider Muhammad Ali Bey al-Abid, who was elected in 1932, as Syria’s first president, but he was actually the first president of the republic, not of the Syrian state and the first to assume office in light of both a constitution and parliament. Two forgotten presidents had actually preceded him in the 1920s: one elected by parliament and one appointed by colonial France.
As the presidential seat in Damascus is currently vacant after Bashar al-Assad’s toppling this December, it might be a good time to agree on how many presidents Syria has had during the 20th century in order to determine what number the next president will be.
Subhi Barakat (1922-1925)
A native of Antioch in present-day Turkey, Subhi Barakat was Syria’s first democratically elected president on 11 December 1922. Chosen by parliament, he presided over a federal state between Damascus, Aleppo, and the Alawite Mountains until that system was aborted and changed to the State of Syria starting 1 December 1925.
Barakat became president of the new Syrian state until his resignation on 21 December 1925, in light of the French bombing of Damascus earlier that October, which he didn’t approve. He was the first and last Antochian president to rule Syria and the first to resign from office, setting a precedent that would be followed by many others.
Ahmad Nami (1926-1928)
Better known as the Damad (meaning son-in-law of the Ottoman sultan), Ahmad Nami was previously married to Sultan Abdulhamid II's daughter. A Sorbonne-educated aristocrat, he was named both head of state and prime minister by the French High Commissioner Henry De Jouvenel on 26 May 1926. He ruled over Syria during a national uprising against the mandate known as the Great Syrian Revolt.
Resigning from office on 8 February 1928, after most of his ministers walked out on him in revolt against the mandate, he was Syria’s first and last Circassian president and the second to willingly step down after Subhi Barakat. Unlike Barakat, however, he ruled with no parliament, and there was no constitution during both of their terms.
Muhammad Ali Bey al-Abid (1932-1936)
After the Damad’s resignation, France cancelled the position of head of state and settled for an executive prime minister named Sheikh Taj al-Din al-Hasani. Scion of a leading religious family from Damascus, he ruled over Syria from 1928 until 1931 and eventually became president in 1941.
In 1932, the State of Syria was transformed into the “Syrian Republic”, and Syria’s first constitution was ratified while nationwide parliamentary elections were held, followed by presidential ones. Muhammad Ali Bey al-Abid ran as opposed to ex-president Subhi Barakat and the former governor of the state of Damascus Haqqi al-Azm. Defeating them both, he was sworn in as president on 11 June 1932, while Subhi Barakat became speaker of parliament, setting a precedent as the first former president to assume political office post-presidency.
Al-Abid was a Sorbonne-trained Damascene millionaire and former ambassador to the US under the Ottomans. At 65, he was also the eldest president to date and the first to be elected under both a constitution and parliament. The French suspended the chamber of deputies during his tenure, and he subsequently resigned from office on 21 December 1936.
Hashim al-Atassi (1936-1939)
After al-Abid’s resignation, veteran nationalist Hashim al-Atassi was elected president in late 1936, running unopposed. He was voted democratically and constitutionally but resigned from office on 8 July 1939, objecting to the French National Assembly’s refusal to ratify the 1936 with Syria, which promised expansion of the Syrian government’s authority and gradual independence from the Mandate. Less than two months later, World War II broke out, and martial law was imposed on Syria. The Syrian parliament was suspended by the French, and so was the constitution.
Taj al-Din al-Hasani (1941-1943)
On 16 September 1941, commander of the Free French General Charles de Gaulle named ex-premier Taj al-Din al-Hasani as president of the republic. Sheikh Taj asked that he be “invited” to the job rather than being parachuted into it, and he would rule with no constitution nor parliament until 1943. During his tenure, France granted Syria its independence from the mandate, conditioning, however, that French troops would remain on Syrian territory until World War II ended in Europe. With limited independence came the restoration of the Alawite and Druze Mountains to Syria, which had enjoyed limited autonomy since the beginning of the mandate in 1920. Sheikh Taj was the first republican president to be appointed to office rather than elected. And he would be the first to die while in office, on 17 January 1943.
His last premier, Jamil al-Ulshi, took over as acting president until 25 March 1943, when the French appointed veteran Damascene notable Ata al-Ayyubi as both head of state and prime minister, tasked with supervising upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in the summer of 1943.
Shukri al-Quwatli (1943-1949)
The year 1943 witnessed the rotation of four figures at the seat of power in Damascus: Taj al-Din al-Hasani (1-17 January), Jamil al-Ulshi (January-March), Ata al-Ayyubi (March-August), and finally, Shukri al-Quwatli, who was elected on 17 August 1943. A frontline nationalist, his era witnessed Syria’s participation in the establishment of the Arab League in Egypt and attendance at the founding conference of the United Nations in San Francisco on 30 April 1945.
Al-Quwatli was also the first president to leave Syria on presidential trips abroad, travelling to Lebanon to meet with President Bechara El Khoury, then to Saudi Arabia for an audience with King Abdul-Aziz al-Saud, and frequently to Egypt, where he would meet with King Farouk and attend the first Arab summit in Inshas in May 1946.
The French bombed Damascus during his tenure on 29 May 1945, and less than a year later, al-Quwatli would preside over their final evacuation, declaring Syria free and independent on 17 April 1946. He was also the founder of the Syrian Army and led it into battle in Palestine in 1948. He was also the first president under whom the constitution was amended to allow for a second term in 1948.
Husni al-Za'im (1949)
Under al-Quwatli, the Syrian Army began trespassing into politics, and on 29 March 1949, its commander Husni al-Za’im staged a military coup, landing the president in jail. Martial law was imposed by al-Za’im, who also aborted the Syrian constitution, suspended parliament, and banned political parties. After forcing al-Quwatli to resign, he staged a crooked referendum—the first ever in Syrian history—becoming president on 26 June 1949. Before that, presidents were chosen through parliamentary vote rather than directly by the people. Al-Zaim won with 98% of the vote.
Al-Zai’m is accredited with introducing military rule and being Syria’s first dictator. He went into talks with Israel, publically for the sake of an armistice agreement and secretly with the hope of reaching a comprehensive peace deal with Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, which never materialised. He was also the first to assault Syria’s nascent democracy and the first to be executed by firing squad on the charges of high treason when General Sami al-Hinnawi staged a coup against him on 14 August 1949.
Restoration of parliamentary rule
Following al-Za’im's execution, former president Hashim al-Atassi was called out of retirement and returned to power exactly ten years after resigning from the presidency in 1939. He became premier between August and December 1949, then head of state until 8 September 1951, when he was again elected president. At 75, al-Atassi presided over nationwide elections for a constitutional assembly to draft a new charter for Syria, replacing the first constitution of 1928, which Husni al-Za’im had aborted.
The ageing president would face serious trouble from an ambitious officer who staged two coups during his term: one against Army Commander Sami al-Hinnawi in December 1949 and a second against Prime Minister Ma’arouf al-Dawalibi on 28 November 1951. Al-Atassi objected and on 3 December 1951, stepped down and returned to his native Homs to hand over the reins of the Syrian opposition to Adib Shishakli, the coup mastermind. Hashim al-Atassi’s second resignation from the presidency since 1939 was addressed to the deputies' chamber rather than to Shishakli.
The controversy of Said Ishaq
According to the Syrian constitution and in light of al-Atassi’s resignation, the presidency ought to have gone to the speaker of parliament, Nazim al-Qudsi, a Geneva-trained attorney and statesman. But he was put in jail by the Shishakli coup, which made his first deputy, Said Ishaq, acting parliament speaker and, by default, president of the republic.
Many wrongly claim that Ishaq became president of Syria, but he actually didn't. He never signed a single presidential decree, nor did he enter the presidential palace because, according to Article 3 of the Syrian Constitution, the president ought to be a Muslim, whereas Said Ishaq was a Christian and thereby illegible for presidential office.
The Shishakli years
At first, Adib Shishakli chose not to rule Syria directly, appointing his trusted friend and comrade Fawzi Selu as head of state and prime minister from 1951 until mid-summer 1953. Shishakli heralded excellent relations with the US, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt after the Free Officer coup of 1952. His era witnessed unprecedented economic prosperity, and he would be the first president to establish a political party tailor-made to his fitting called the Arab Liberation Movement. Shishakli penned a new constitution and supervised the election of a new parliament, and on 11 July 1953, he became president, replacing Fawzi Selu.
Shishakli's era was also very short, and a military coup tossed him from office on 25 February 1954. In his resignation letter aired on Damascus Radio, he cited his unwillingness for bloodshed, leaving Syria for exile in Lebanon, then Saudi Arabia, and finally settling in Brazil, where he was tracked down by one of his opponents and shot dead in September 1964, exactly ten years after leaving office. This made him the second Syrian president to be killed after Husni al-Za’im.
The controversy of Maamun al-Kuzbari
Former president Hashim al-Atassi was called back to Damascus to resume his constitutional term. His term had not ended, argued Syria’s political elite, but had been aborted by the Shishakli coup of 1951. But he would only arrive in the capital on 1 March 1954, and during the three-day interim period, the presidency went to parliament speaker Maamun al-Kuzbari, a professor of law at Damascus University. Al-Kuzbari did venture into the Presidential Palace and was president by name only, explaining why many tend to drop him from the list of Syrian presidents.
The third return of al-Atassi and al-Quwatli
Hashim al-Atassi decided to erase the Shishakli years from Syrian history, cancelling many of his decrees and restoring both the previous chamber of deputies and the constitution. He presided over parliamentary and presidential elections, which were contested by former president Shukri al-Quwatli and former prime minister Khalid al-Azm. Al-Quwatli won and was inaugurated on 5 September 1955. He was the first president to serve three terms in office: one in 1943, another in 1948, and a third in 1955.
This was the first and last time in Syrian history that a peaceful transfer of power took place, with no coup, no revolt, and no assassination. In the democratic ceremony, Hashim al-Atassi welcomed Shukri al-Quwatli to the presidency before retiring to his native Homs, where he died in 1960.
Al-Quwatli ruled Syria at the height of the Cold War, raising the ire of the United States for being the first Syrian president to visit Moscow in 1956, signing the first arms agreement with the USSR in 1957, and establishing diplomatic relations with Communist China. The Eisenhower Administration began plotting his removal by a military coup, which was aborted by Syrian intelligence, leading to a suspension of bilateral relations and the withdrawal of the Syrian ambassador from Washington.
Al-Quwatli also severed Syria’s relations with both Great Britain and France in light of the Suez War of 1956, two years before co-creating the Syrian-Egyptian union with his Egyptian counterpart, Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Union and its secession (1958-1961)
Abdel Nasser was the first non-Syrian occupant of the Syrian Presidential Palace although two Lebanese had served in the Damascus seat of power before him: Ahmad Nami and Bahij al-Khatib, a former premier during World War II.
Renowned for his charisma, Abdel Nasser had a wide support base within Syria, but he lost the trust of bankers, industrialists, and merchants due to the Agricultural Reform Law of 1958, which seized entire tracks of land from their rightful owners, followed by the nationalisation laws of 1961, which did the same to factories and banks.
Abdel Nasser presided over a police state with the help of the Deuxieme Bureau (military intelligence), and although promising that the union republic would last for 100 years, it was toppled by a military coup on 28 September 1961. One coup architect suggested inviting Shukri al-Quwatli to return to the office and repeat what Hashim al-Atassi had done after the toppling of Shishakli in 1954. Al-Quwatli refused, and in the elections held in December 1961, ex-prime minister Nazim al-Qudsi was voted president of Syria.
Al-Qudsi was the first president from Aleppo, and his era, although brief, was suspended twice by the officer class. The first was when, in March 1962, Colonel Abdul Karim Nehlawi staged a coup, landing al-Qudsi in jail. Army Commander Abdul Karim Zahr al-Din would soon overturn Nehlawi’s orders, and al-Qudsi would return to the Presidential Palace, only to be toppled once again by the Baath Party on 8 March 1963. Despite being the last of Syria’s democratic presidents, the Baathists charged him with “usurping office: and had him jailed until 30 November 1963.
The controversy of Lu’ay al-Atassi
Martial law was imposed, newspapers outlawed, and political parties dissolved. A Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) was created for Syria based on the Egyptian model of 1952, and General Lu’ay al-Atassi was named as its chairman. Additionally, the Baathists suspended parliamentary life, cancelled the constitution, and punished Syria’s old elite with jail, exile, or, at best, forced retirement from political life.
Technically, Lu’ay al-Atassi was never a president, although he enjoyed limited presidential powers. Real power, however, was vested in the hands of the military committee of the Baath Party, of which al-Atassi was not a member because he was not a Baathist but rather a Nasserist. He tried to restore union with Egypt, but Gamal Abdel Nasser refused to deal with the Baathists once again, accusing them of backstabbing him in 1961.
Lu’ay would resign just a few months after the Baathist coup, refusing to sign execution warrants of his Nasserist comrades who had tried and failed to seize power from the Baath on 18 July 1963.
Baathist presidents
A presidential council was created and chaired by General Amin al-Hafiz, Syria’s second president from Aleppo after Nazim al-Qudsi. He ruled with an iron fist, and it was under his term that Syria’s second nationalisation wave took place, striking at more factories, banks, and even shopkeepers.
By all accounts, it was far more severe and vengeful than Abdel Nasser’s 1961 nationalisation. There was no parliament under his term, no fair elections, no free press, and no constitution. Internal party rivalries would soon bring him down, also by a military coup, on 23 February 1966. Amin al-Hafiz was apprehended and jailed by Baathist officer Salah Jadid, who, on 1 March 1966, appointed Nureddin al-Atassi, a medical doctor, as head of state.
Coming from the Alawite minority, Salah Jadid did not want to openly rule Syria, fearing the sectarian consequences. And that is why he chose to rule by proxy via Nureddin al-Atassi, a Sunni Muslim from an old and reputed political family who was also the third and last of the Atassis to rule Syria.
At 36, he was the youngest president in Syrian history and would remain so until Bashar al-Assad came to power at the age of 34 in 2000. Al-Attasi was also the first civilian president under the Baath, and his era witnessed Syria’s defeat in the June 1967 war with Israel and its occupation of the Golan Heights.
On 16 November 1970, al-Atassi’s defence minister, Hafez al-Assad, staged a coup, arresting both the president and Salah Jadid. Nureddin al-Atassi would only be released from solitary confinement weeks before he died in 1992, while Salah Jadid would die in prison in 1993.
During the first months of the 1970 coup, Hafez al-Assad did not openly assume power, just like Salah Jadid. He chose instead to become prime minister and ran Syrian politics via a colourless Damascene schoolteacher named Ahmad al-Khatib, whom he propped at the presidential seat on 18 November 1970.
Al-Khatib would remain in ceremonial power until al-Assad became president on 22 February 1971, who in turn, appointed him speaker of the People’s Assembly (parliament). He was the second after Subhi Barakat to head the legislative branch after occupying the presidential seat in Damascus.
The hereditary presidency
Hafez al-Assad penned a new constitution, inserting a clause that made the Baath Party “ruler of state and society.” He orchestrated the 1982 massacre of Hama and was the first Arab leader to start grooming his sons, inspiring Muammar Gaddafi, Husni Mubarak, and Saddam Hussein to start preparing their children as well. They all failed at bequeathing power to their sons, however, unlike al-Assad, who, after grooming his eldest Basil (who died in a car accident in 1994), turned to his second son Bashar.
When Hafez al-Assad died after 30 years in power on 10 June 2000, Bashar was sworn in and promoted through military rank in what was seen as a grave insult to all Syrian officers who were older, more experienced, and far more senior than him. The constitution was automatically amended for Bashar’s sake, scrapping a clause that put the presidential age at 40. Bashar, at the time, was only 34.
The controversy of Abdul Halim Khaddam
Constitutionally, Hafez al-Assad’s deputy Abdul Halim Khaddam ought to have succeeded him in the post, albeit in an acting capacity. But neither Bashar nor his brother Maher would hear of that, keeping Khaddam as vice president through the transition and violating the constitution. All decrees signed by Khaddam were in his capacity as vice-president, yet some erroneously claim that for 37 days, he was actually the acting president of Syria. That is historically incorrect.
Bashar’s rule and collapse
Bashar al-Assad was sworn in as president on 17 July 2000 and would rule Syria with a brutal fist for the next 24 years. He aborted a nascent democratic movement known as the Damascus Spring in 2001 and was involved in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic al-Hariri with Hezbollah.
When the Arab Spring reached Syria in 2011, he responded by shooting at peaceful protestors who were demanding not regime change but reform. And it was that brutal crackdown that took them to the extreme, demanding nothing less than complete regime change, which dragged the country into a 14-year civil war.
He called on the Russians to help him crush the revolution and invited sectarian Iranian militias to support him before he was ultimately forced out of office on 8 December 2024. His fall marked the end of 61 years of Baath Party rule and 54 years of the Assad family.
