What is “Syria National Social Party”? (Part 2)
Posted by: adonis49 on: December 8, 2008
What is “Syria National Social Party”? (Part 2, December 8, 2008)
Note: In part 2, I will go quickly through 60 years of history and events. Any pertinent analysis will be relegated to part 3 and, if necessary, part 4 so that my articles do not exceed one thousand words.
Shortly after the execution of Antun Saadeh a military coup in Syria executed President Hosni Al Zaim and his Prime Minister who were bribed by the British to hand over Saadeh to the Lebanese government. The leadership of SNSP moved to Damascus and the party became to most popular movement there until 1956. In the meantime, members of SNSP assassinated Riad Solh (Lebanon PM) in Jordan; there are evidences that Bechara Khoury (President of the Republic) and the infamous foreign affair minister Abou Shahla (who was the attorney of the oil pipeline consortium Tapline) were the most involved in that execution.
In 1956 Gamal Abel Nasser succeeded in taking over Monarchic Egypt by military coup. Abdel Nasser could not swallow a popular political party that would rob him of the dream for leading One Arab Nation. A Syrian officer was assassinated and the SNSP was blamed and persecution started. The leadership of the SNSP had to relocate to Lebanon (Camil Chamoun was then the President of the Republic). The SNSP deposed its leader George Abdul Massih who split the party for the first time.
Nasser fomented a revolt in Lebanon and the SNSP was cornered into taking the position of the government and defended it successfully. When Fouad Chehab became President of the Republic he made a deal with Nasser; the SNSP was not to have any representation in the Parliament and the party experienced a period of harassment. In 1961 on the New Year Eve, the SNSP tried a military coup that was nearly successful but failed. Its leadership and thousands of members were horded into prisons. At least 40 members died in prisons, mostly the non-Lebanese members, and the remaining prisoners suffered tortures for many years.
As President Charles Helou was about to end his term he released the prisoners. It was said that the Lebanese government had its back on the wall of the popular advances of the leftist parties and the increased power of the Palestinian “Resistance” forces. The SNSP was to be a counter balance but the convention of Melkart robbed the government and the right wing parties any hope for the support of the SNSP. Between the years 1972-75 the SNSP experienced another ugly split, strong arm tactics were used for the first time. It was obvious that the Syrian regime of Hafez Assad was not happy with the alliance of the SNSP with the main Palestinian “Fateh” organization; Syria wanted total hegemony over the Palestinian cause and its resistance movement.
The civil war broke in 1975. The SNPS was supporting the Lebanese National Left alliance and the Palestinian movement but refrained from any mass slaughter on confessional allegiances or citizenships. The SNSP was mostly on the defensive. The Maronite Phalange Party of Amin Gemayel rounded up over 20 members of the SNSP in Aintoura and shot them on a church wall. Six months ago, the salafist Islamists brutally killed 11 members of the SNSP in Halba in the presence of the army and security forces!
When Syria was given the green light by the US to enter Lebanon then the SNSP faction supporting Syria took over the leadership of the party and the two factions decided to unite. Last year, a truly democratic election was held but this long and heavy inertia elected the faction supporting the Syrian regime. During the Syrian mandate for over 15 years, the SNSP was allocated three representatives in the Parliament and one minister in every successive government. This is where this party stands for the time being. There is evidence that the SNSP is the most popular secular party in Syria that is officially governed by the Baath Party.
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