Salah Jadid
This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2011) |
Salah Jadid صلاح جديد | |
---|---|
Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch | |
In office March 1966 – 13 November 1970 | |
In office 1 February 1964 – 19 December 1965 | |
Personal details | |
Born | 1926 First Arab-Israeli War Six-Day War |
Salah Jadid (
Early life and career
Jadid was born in 1926 in the village of Dweir Baabda, near the coastal city of Jableh,[1] to an Alawite family of the Haddadin tribe.[2] However, there is another report stating his birth year as 1924.[3] He studied at the Homs Military Academy, and entered the Syrian Army in 1946.[4] Jadid was originally a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), but later became a member of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, led by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar, in the 1950s through an associate of Akram al-Hawrani.[1] Even so, Jadid remained close to the SSNP; his brother, Ghassan, was one of its most prominent members in Syria. He changed allegiance again in the 1950s, when he became a member of the Arab Nationalist Movement, a party supporting Gamal Abdel Nasser's ideological beliefs. Jadid supported Syria's ascension into the United Arab Republic (UAR), a union republic consisting of Egypt and Syria.[5]
During the UAR-era, Jadid was stationed in
In 1963 Jadid was promoted from Lieutenant colonel to Major general and named Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Syria.[8]
Downfall and death
In 1970, when conflict erupted between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Jordanian army, Jadid sent Syrian-controlled Palestinian troops of the nominally PLO-run Palestine Liberation Army, based in Syria, into Jordan to aid the PLO. This decision was not supported by Assad's more moderate Ba'ath faction, and the troops withdrew.
The action helped trigger a simmering conflict between Jadid's and Assad's factions within the Ba'ath Party and army. The Syrian Communist Party aligned itself with Jadid, drawing him the support of Soviet ambassador, Nuritdin Mukhitdinov. Angered by this, Assad decided to scare the Soviets by sending Mustafa Tlass to Beijing to procure arms and wave Chairman Mao's Little Red Book.[9] In November 1970, Jadid tried to fire Assad and his supporter Mustafa Tlass. Assad responded by launching an intra-party coup dubbed the Corrective Movement. Jadid was arrested on 13 November 1970, and remained in the Mezzeh prison in Damascus until dying from a heart attack on 19 August 1993.[10]
References
- ^ a b Seale 1990, p. 63.
- ^ Tucker & Roberts 2008, p. 535.
- ^ Bulloch, John (23 August 1993). "Obituary: Salah Jadid". The Independent. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
- ^ Moubayed 2006, pp. 259–260.
- ^ a b c Moubayed 2006, p. 260.
- ^ Seale 1990, pp. 61–62.
- ^ Seale 1990, p. 66.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
- ISBN 0-521-35976-7. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- ^ "Salah Jadid, 63, Leader of Syria Deposed and Imprisoned by Assad". The New York Times. 24 August 1993. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
Bibliography
- Moubayed, Sami M. (2006). Steel & Silk: Men and Women who shaped Syria 1900–2000. Cune Press. ISBN 978-1-885942-41-8.
- ISBN 978-0-520-06976-3.
- Tucker, Spencer; Roberts, Priscilla Mary (2008). The encyclopedia of the Arab–Israeli conflict: a Political, Social, and Military History: A–F. Vol. 1. ISBN 978-1-85109-841-5.