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Sectarianism in the Syrian context refers to political mobilisation along religious community lines — Sunni, Alawite, Druze, Christian, Shia — and to the use of communal identity as a resource for political competition and conflict. Syria’s diverse religious landscape (Sunni Arab majority of approximately 70%, Alawite 10–12%, Christian 10%, Druze 3%, with smaller communities) has made sectarian politics both a persistent risk and a consistently exploited political tool. The French Mandate explicitly cultivated sectarian identity as an instrument of colonial management, creating separate administrative units for different communities and recruiting minorities into security forces on explicitly communal grounds. Under the…
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The Corrective Movement (al-Haraka al-Tashihiyya) was the name given by Hafez al-Assad to his bloodless coup of 13 November 1970, which removed his rival Salah Jadid from power and established Assad’s own presidency. The term “Corrective” was deliberately chosen to signal continuity with the Ba’ath revolution of 1963 rather than a break with it: Assad was presenting himself not as a coup-maker but as a Ba’athist leader correcting the errors of the Jadid period. The political differences between Assad and Jadid were real. Jadid was an austere ideological Ba’athist who had subordinated the military to civilian party control and pursued…
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The United Arab Republic was the political union of Syria and Egypt under the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser, which existed from 1 February 1958 to 28 September 1961. It was the most ambitious practical experiment in pan-Arab political unity in the twentieth century, and its relatively rapid failure was a significant blow to the pan-Arab nationalist project. The union was initiated at Syrian insistence: Syrian politicians and army officers, alarmed by domestic instability and communist influence, approached Nasser in early 1958 and pressed for a merger. Nasser agreed, but insisted on full union rather than federation — both countries…
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The troupes spéciales du Levant (Special Troops of the Levant) were local auxiliary military forces established by the French Mandate authorities in Syria and Lebanon from 1920 onward. Recruited primarily from minority communities — Alawites, Druze, Circassians, Armenians, and Christians — rather than from the Sunni Arab majority that dominated the urban nationalist movement, they embodied an explicitly colonial logic: staffing security forces with communities whose interests were not aligned with potential opposition gave the Mandate authorities forces less likely to side with nationalist insurgency. The consequences extended far beyond the Mandate period. Young men from rural Alawite families who…
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The Golan Heights is a strategic plateau of approximately 1,800 square kilometres on Syria’s southwestern border, overlooking the Jordan River valley and the Sea of Galilee. It was captured by Israel from Syria during the Six-Day War of June 1967, in fighting that lasted less than three days and in which Syrian defences collapsed with unexpected speed. The loss of the Golan was both a military catastrophe and a profound national humiliation for Syria; the plateau’s commanding position over northern Israel and the Jordan valley made it of the highest military value, while the speed of its loss suggested a…
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The Republican Guard (Al-Haras al-Jumhuri) is an elite Syrian military formation whose primary purpose has been the protection of the Assad regime rather than conventional battlefield effectiveness. Heavily Alawite in its officer corps and better paid and equipped than the regular Syrian Arab Army, the Republican Guard was positioned around Damascus and the presidential palace complex. Its institutional loyalty was to the Assad family rather than to any formal military hierarchy. Under Bashar al-Assad, the Fourth Armoured Division — commanded by his brother Maher al-Assad — absorbed much of the praetorian function that earlier formations had served. The existence of…
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The Axis of Resistance (Mihwar al-Muqawama) is the informal alignment of states and non-state actors that defines itself in opposition to Israeli and American influence in the Middle East. Its core members are Iran, Syria (under the Assads), Hezbollah in Lebanon, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hamas. The concept emerged from the specific alliance between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Assad regime established in 1979–80, in which shared opposition to Israel and the United States overcame the apparent paradox of a secular Ba’athist state and a revolutionary Shia theocracy acting as strategic partners. The alliance deepened through Iran’s support…
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Jabhat al-Nusra li-Ahl al-Sham (the Support Front for the People of the Levant) was established in Syria in 2012 by Abu Muhammad al-Julani, dispatched by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State in Iraq. Unlike ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra concealed its Al-Qaeda affiliation, presented itself as a Syrian organisation, and avoided the most extreme sectarian rhetoric. It became one of the most militarily effective opposition factions. When ISIS claimed authority over Jabhat al-Nusra in April 2013, Julani refused the merger and pledged loyalty to Al-Qaeda central under Zawahiri. In July 2016, Julani announced a formal break with Al-Qaeda, rebranding as Jabhat…
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Daesh is the Arabic acronym for al-Dawla al-Islamiyya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), widely used by Arabic speakers and adopted by governments wishing to avoid legitimising the organisation’s self-description as a “state.” The organisation is also known as ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), ISIL, or simply IS. It emerged from Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi after the 2003 American invasion, and developed its ideology — combining jihadist theology with an apocalyptic vision and a commitment to state-building — through the Iraqi insurgency. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dispatched operatives…
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The Free Syrian Army was the armed opposition umbrella organisation announced on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad, a defecting Syrian air force officer, and a small group of other defectors. Its announcement represented an attempt to give the armed opposition a unified identity, a chain of command, and a degree of international legitimacy. In practice, the FSA never achieved any of these things. It was less an organisation than a brand: a name under which dozens of local armed groups — organised around neighbourhood, tribal, family, or local command structures — could present themselves to international supporters without…
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