Husni al-Za'im

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Husni al-Za'im
حسني الزعيم
Prime Minister of Syria
In office
17 April 1949 – 26 June 1949
Preceded byKhalid al-Azm
Succeeded byMuhsin al-Barazi
Personal details
Born11 May 1897
Brigadier General
Battles/wars1948 Arab–Israeli War

Husni al-Za'im (

parliamentary democracy, allowing him to seize power in 1949. However, his reign as head of state was brief, he was tried and executed in August 1949 by his former coup co-conspirators. Al-Za'im infamously executed Lebanese intellectual Antoun Saadeh
in July 1949.

Coup of 1949

On 30 March 1949, al-Za'im seized power in a bloodless coup d'état. There are "highly controversial" allegations that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) engineered the coup.[2] Most of the evidence currently available suggests that the decision to initiate a coup was Za'im's alone, but Za'im benefited from some degree of American assistance in planning the operation.[3][additional citation(s) needed]

Four days after the coup that overthrew democratic rule the Syrian government ratified the controversial Trans-Arabian Pipeline (Tapline) deal.[4]

Syria's

Adib al-Shishakli and Sami al-Hinnawi
, who staged another coup six months later in August 1949 and had al-Za'im tried and executed by a firing squad.

Al-Za'im's takeover, the first military coup in the history of Syria, would have lasting effects, as it shattered the country's fragile and flawed democratic rule, and set off a series of increasingly violent military revolts. Two more would follow in August and December 1949.

Regime

His

Lake Tiberias.[5] Settling the refugees was made conditional on sufficient outside assistance for the Syrian economy. The overture was answered very slowly by Tel Aviv and not treated seriously.[6]

Lacking popular support, al-Za'im was overthrown after just four and a half months by his colleagues, al-Shishakli and al-Hinnawi. As al-Hinnawi took power as leader of a military junta, Husni al-Za'im was swiftly spirited away to

Mezze prison in Damascus, and executed along with Prime Minister Muhsin al-Barazi
.

Al-Za'im worked hard to abolish wearing the fez, claiming that it was outdated headwear taken from the days of the Ottoman Empire. He is credited for giving support to women's the right to vote and run for public office in Syria. The law had been debated at the Syrian Parliament since 1920 and no leader dared to support it, except Zaim.

During the 137 days of his rule in Syria al-Za'im did not execute anyone. He did have inventive punishments for those who disobeyed him, however. When the quality of bread dropped to unacceptable levels, Zaim ordered all bakers to walk on the gravel, barefoot, until blood flowed from their feet.[7]

Family

Husni al-Za’im's wife Nouran, was the first lady of Syria from April to August 1949. The marriage took place in 1947, two years before Husni al-Zaim became President of the Republic. In order to please his young wife, Zaim asked her 11-year-old sister Kariman to live with them in Damascus. He treated her as a sister as well, and sent her to the Lycee Laique (one of the finest preparatory high schools in town). Another sister Orfan, would visit them often, and took up the habit of playing with a guard,

Abdel Hamid Sarraj
(the chief of security at the president's office who went on to become head of the intelligence bureau and minister of interior during the union years with Egypt 1958–1961).

During the incidence of al-Za'im's arrest, and when the guards came to arrest him, Zaim got dressed and said goodbye to his pregnant wife. "Relax" he asked her, "I will be back soon to receive our first baby together!" Niveen (his daughter) said, "My mother and aunt told me that the couch they had been sitting on was riddled with bullets. Sarraj knew in advance that an attack was coming and told them to go upstairs to keep them from harm's way." Less than a week before the coup—which led to the execution by firing squad of Za'im and his Prime Minister Muhsen al-Barazi—Nouran's cousins came to him, saying that they had confirmed intelligence information. They added that Sami al-Hinnawi (his comrade from the war of 1948) was planning to have him killed. Zaim summoned Hinnawi and directly asked, "Sami, my brothers-in-law are telling me you want to kill me?" Hinnawi replied, "Impossible. How can I kill my leader and friend?" After the president was arrested on 14 August, Nouran and her sister were kept under house arrest for an entire week. "No food was brought into the house," said Niveen. A Senegalese guard tried helping them by passing his own food through the window.[7]

References

  1. ISBN 978-0292774452
  2. ISBN 9780465019656
    .
  3. ISBN 9780465019656
    .
  4. ISBN 9781471139796
    .
  5. ^ Jeffrey Sosland, Cooperating Rivals: The Riparian Politics of the Jordan River Basin, SUNY Press, 2007 p.32
  6. ^ Elmer Berger, Peace for Palestine: First Lost Opportunity,University Press of Florida, 1993 p.264 n.7
  7. ^ a b Farah Sudki, The story of Nouran and Husni al-Za'im, Forward Magazine, November 2008

External links


Preceded by
Shukri al-Kuwatli
President of Syria

1949(4 months and 3 days) 		Succeeded by
Hashim al-Atassi (military rule)
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