Amin Hafiz

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Amin Hafiz

Gen. Amin al-Hafiz (or Hafez; born 1911) was a Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
n politician, military officer and a member of the Ba'th Party.

z led a coup d'etat

Coup d'état

A coup d??tat , often simply called a coup, is the sudden unconstitutional overthrow of a government by a part of the state establishment – usually the military – to replace the branch of the stricken government, either with another civil government or with a military government....
against the government of Syria in 1963, in the turbulent years after the break-up of the United Arab Republic

United Arab Republic

The United Arab Republic , often abbreviated as the U.A.R., was a union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961 when Syria seceded from the union....
(UAR), installing the National Council of the Revolutionary Command (NCRC) at the head of government. The NCRC was dominated by the Syrian branch of the radical, pan-Arab Ba'ath Party, and Hafiz became its President.

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Encyclopedia

Gen. Amin al-Hafiz (or Hafez; born 1911) was a Syria

Syria

Career

Rise to power

Hafiz led a coup d'etat

Coup d'état

United Arab Republic

Eastern bloc

During the Cold War, the terms Eastern Bloc, Communist Bloc or Soviet Bloc were used to refer to European annexed or expanded Soviet Socialist Republics of the USSR and Satellite state states, including members of the Soviet-dominated organizations Comecon and the Warsaw Pact....
.

Downfall

On February 23, 1966, he was overthrown by a radical Ba'athist faction headed by Chief of Staff Salah Jadid

Salah Jadid

Salah Jadid was a Syrian general and political figure in the Baath Party, and the country's de facto leader between 1966 and 1969/1970....
. The coup sprung out of factional rivalry between Jadid's "regionalist" (qutri) camp of the Ba'ath Party, which promoted ambitions for a Greater Syria

Greater Syria

Greater Syria , also known simply as Syria, is a term that denotes a region in the Near East bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea or the Levant....
and the more traditionally pan-Arab Hafiz faction, called the "nationalist" (qawmi) faction. Jadid's supporters were also seen as more radically left-wing. But the coup was also supported and led by officers from Syria's religious minorities, especially the Alawite

Alawite

The Alawis ? also known as Nu?ayri , an-Na?iriyyah, and al-An?ariyyah, or in English as Alawites ? are a sect of Shia Islam Islam prominent in Syria....
Muslim

Muslim

:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits "....
s and the Druze

Druze

The Druze are a religious community found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and in the Palestinian territories whose traditional religion is said to have begun as an offshoot of Islam, but is unique in its incorporation of Gnosticism, Neoplatonism and other philosophies, similar to other followers of Ismaili Shi'a Islam....
, whereas Hafiz belonged to the majority Sunni population. Alawis have ruled Syria ever since.

Exile and return

After the coup, Hafiz lived in exile until 2005, when he was quietly permitted to return to Syria. He was alive as of October 12, 2006.