Amin al-Hafiz

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This article is about the Syrian politician. For similarly named Lebanese politician and Prime Minister, see Amin al-Hafez (Lebanon).

Amin Al-Hafiz
أمين الحافظ
Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch
In office
1 February 1964 – 19 December 1965
Personal details
Born(1921-11-12)12 November 1921
First Arab-Israeli War

Amin al-Hafiz (

Arabic: أمين الحافظ, romanized: Amīn al-Ḥāfiẓ 12 November 1921[1] – 17 December 2009),[2] also known as Amin Hafez, was a Syrian general, politician, and member of the Ba'ath Party who served as the President of Syria
from 27 July 1963 to 23 February 1966.

Early life

Amin al-Hafiz was born in 1921 in a

French mandate of Syria. In 1948, at the age of 27, al-Hafiz volunteered to fight in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. In 1954, he joined the uprising against Adib Shishakli and was promoted to command the Eastern Front at Deir ez-Zor and then to be commander of the Homs academy, before being posted to Cairo. When Syria broke with Egypt in September 1961, al-Hafiz was sent home to Damascus.[3]

Career

Rise to power

Hafiz (right) with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser on his arrival to Cairo for the Arab League summit, 1964.

During his stay in Damascus, he was contacted again by the military committee's leader,

pan-Arab Ba'ath Party. Amin became president, instituted socialist reforms, and oriented his country towards the Eastern Bloc
.

Downfall

On 23 February 1966, al-Hafiz was

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. In 1971, the courts of Damascus sentenced him to death in absentia; however, Saddam Hussein "treated him and his fellow exile, Ba'ath founder Michel Aflaq, like royalty", and the sentence was not carried out.[7] After the fall of Saddam in the Iraq War of 2003, al-Hafiz was quietly allowed to return to Syria.[8] He died in Aleppo on 17 December 2009; reports of his age differ, but he was believed to be in his late 80s.[2][9] He received a state-sponsored funeral.[7]

Popular culture

Amin al-Hafiz was portrayed by

The Spy.[10]

References

  1. ^ "Celebrity Astrology & Numerology - celebrity horoscopes astrology directory".
  2. ^ a b Syria-news Archived 5 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in Arabic)
  3. ^ a b Seale 1990, p. 80.
  4. ^ "Amin al-Hafez obituary". The Guardian. London. Associated Press. 16 February 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  5. ^ "Salah Jadid, 63, Leader of Syria Deposed and Imprisoned by Assad". The New York Times. Associated Press. 24 August 1993. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  6. ^ "Syria:Coups and Countercoups, 1961-70". countrystudies.us/. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  7. ^ a b Joffe, Lawrence (16 February 2010). "Amin al-Hafez obituary: Leader of Syria's first Ba'athist regime". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  8. ^ Anthony Shadid (18 May 2005). "Syria Heralds Reforms, But Many Have Doubts". The Washington Post. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  9. ^ AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE (18 December 2009). "Amin el-Hafez, Baathist Leader of Syria in 1960s, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  10. ^ "The Spy – Full Cast and Crew". TV Guide. Retrieved 12 September 2023.

Works cited

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