The
Syrian Social Nationalist Party (
SSNP) ' onMouseout='HidePop("86703")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/French_language">French
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
as
Parti Populaire Syrien or
Parti Social Nationaliste Syrien), is a
secularA secular state is a concept of secularism, whereby a state or country purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state also claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and claims to avoid preferential...
nationalistNationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
political partyA political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
and
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
. It advocates the establishment of a
SyriaGreater 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....
n nation state spanning the
Fertile CrescentThe Fertile Crescent, nicknamed "The Cradle of Civilization" for the fact the first civilizations started there, is a crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia. The term was first used by University of Chicago...
, including present day Syria, Lebanon,
IraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
,
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, the
Palestinian TerritoriesThe Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
,
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
,
CyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
,
KuwaitThe State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, Sinai, southeastern
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and southwestern
IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. It is the largest political group in Syria after the Ba'ath, with over 100,000 members. Founded in
BeirutBeirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
in 1932, the party has played a significant role in Lebanese politics since its founding, notably being involved in attempted coups in 1949 and 1961. It was active in resistance against the Israeli occupation of Lebanon from 1982 on. It is now part of the
March 8 AllianceThe March 8 Alliance is a coalition of various political parties in Lebanon. It has been the ruling coalition since January 25, 2011 when the alliance managed to nominate Najib Mikati as the new prime minister.-History:...
. In Syria, the SSNP became a major political force in the early 1950s, but was thoroughly repressed in 1955. It remained organised, and in 2005 was legalised and joined the Ba'ath Party-led
National Progressive FrontThe National Progressive Front , established in 1972, is a coalition of political parties in Syria that support the socialist and Arab nationalist orientation of the government and accept the "leading role in society" of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, .The Front was established by Syrian...
.
Foundation and early years
The SSNP was founded by
Antun SaadehAntun Saadeh was a Lebanese Syrian nationalist philosopher, writer and politician who founded the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.-Life:...
, a
LebaneseThe Lebanese people are a nation and ethnic group of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state....
Syrian nationalistSyrian nationalism refers to the nationalism of Syria, or the Fertile Crescent as a cultural or political entity. It should not be confused with the Arab nationalism that is the official state doctrine of the Syrian Arab Republic's ruling Baath Party, nor should it be assumed that Syrian...
philosopherPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
from a
Greek OrthodoxThe Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
family in the town of
Dhour el ShweirDhour El Choueir is a mountain town in Lebanon . It lies slightly north of the main Beirut Damascus highway. It overlooks the city of Beirut and the Mediterranean sea. It is 30 km from Beirut and 42 km from Beirut International Airport.It is one of Mount Lebanon's most favored summer...
. Saadeh had emigrated to
South AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
in 1919 (via the USA where he stayed for about a year before continuing on to
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
), at the age of fifteen, and in the years he lived there engaged in both Arabic-language journalism and
Syrian nationalistSyrian nationalism refers to the nationalism of Syria, or the Fertile Crescent as a cultural or political entity. It should not be confused with the Arab nationalism that is the official state doctrine of the Syrian Arab Republic's ruling Baath Party, nor should it be assumed that Syrian...
political activity. On his return to Lebanon in 1930 he continued working as a journalist and also taught German in the
American University of BeirutThe American University of Beirut is a private, independent university in Beirut, Lebanon. It was founded as the Syrian Protestant College by American missionaries in 1866...
. In November 1932 he secretly established the first nucleus of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, which operated underground for the first three years of its existence. In 1933 it started publishing a monthly journal called
Al-Majalla which was distributed in the
American University of BeirutThe American University of Beirut is a private, independent university in Beirut, Lebanon. It was founded as the Syrian Protestant College by American missionaries in 1866...
. The articles written in that journal and the speeches given by Saadeh consolidated the ideological basis of the party, and contributed to its popularity. Saadeh finally outlined his vision in a speech in a secret meeting in 1 June 1935.
Despite Saadeh's claims, some authors state that when the party began overt activity, it was the object of many critiques due to having many ideological and organizational resemblances to European fascism, and due to the resemblance of its external symbols to those of German
NazismNazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. Such resemblances went against the idea that it was an authentic national ideology and couldn't be acknowledged by the party. The party's founder Saadeh was aware of these accusations and he addressed them during his speech of 1 June 1935 (long before the events of World War II, and before the party was given publicity and the accusations started appearing in the press):
Saadeh was sent to trial in 1936 and spent six months in prison for creating a clandestine party. He was also accused in the trial of having been in contact with the fascist movements of Germany and Italy, but the charge was dropped thanks to a letter from Germany denying any relationships. The party was also the object of harsh repression by the French
mandatoryA League of Nations mandate was a legal status for certain territories transferred from the control of one country to another following World War I, or the legal instruments that contained the internationally agreed-upon terms for administering the territory on behalf of the League...
authorities. Saadeh himself was arrested several times, and in 1938 was forced to remain in South America after a visit he made there before the outbreak of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. According to Reeva S. Johnson, Saadeh, the party's 'leader for life', was an admirer of
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
influenced by Nazi and fascist ideology. The party adopted a reversed swastika as the party's symbol, sang the party's anthem to
Deutschland über alles, and included developing the cult of a leader, advocating totalitarian government, and glorifying an ancient pre-Christian past and the organic whole of the Syrian
Volk or nation.
The party he founded was organised with a hierarchical structure and a powerful leader. Its ideology was an entirely secular form of nationalism; indeed, it posited the complete separation of religion and politics as one of the two fundamental conditions for real national unity. The other condition was determined economic and social reform.
Saadeh's concept of the nation was that it was shaped by geography, not by ethnic origins, language or religion, and this led him to conclude that the Arabs could not form one nation but many nations could be called Arab. Arab nationalist thinker
Sati' al-HusriSāti` al-Husrī was an Ottoman and Syrian writer, educationalist and an influential Arab nationalist thinker in the 20th century.-Early life:...
considered that Saadeh "misrepresented" Arab nationalism, incorrectly associating it with a
BedouinThe Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
image of the Arab and with Muslim sectarianism. Palestinian historian
Maher CharifMaher Charif is a Palestinian Marxist historian specialising in modern Arab intellectual history and the history of Arab political movements...
sees Saadeh's theory as a response to the religious diversity of Syria, and points to his later
extension of his vision of the Syrian nation to include
IraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, a country also noted for its religious diversity, as further evidence for this. The party also accepted that due to "religious and political considerations", the separate existence of Lebanon was necessary for the time being.
Lebanese historian
Kamal SalibiKamal Suleiman Salibi was a prominent Lebanese historian, professor of history at the American University of Beirut and the founding Director of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies in Amman, Jordan...
gives a somewhat contrasting interpretation, pointing to the position of the Greek Orthodox community as a large minority in both Syria and Lebanon for whom "the concept of pan-Syrianism was more meaningful than the concept of Arabism" while at the same time they resented Maronite dominance in Lebanon. Saadeh, according to Salibi,
found a ready following among his co-religionists. His idea of secular pan-Syrianism also proved attractive to many Druzes and Shiites; to Christians other than the Greek Orthodox, including some Maronites who were disaffected by both Lebanism and Arabism; and also to many Sunnite Muslims who set a high value on secularism, and who felt that they had far more in common with their fellow Syrians of whatever religion or denomination than with fellow Sunnite or Muslim Arabs elsewhere. Here again, an idea of nationalism had emerged which had sufficient credit to make it valid. In the Lebanese context, however, it became ready cover for something more archaic, which was essentially Greek Orthodox particularism.
Prof. Salibi remarks on the beginnings of Saadeh's party in the 1930s: "[A]mong its first members were students and young graduates of the American University of Beirut." This early party was "mainly Greek Orthodox and Protestants with some Shi'ites and Druzes... ." In Lebanon as a whole the party was not popular. "Christians were generally opposed to their Syrian unionism, while Moslems were suspicious of their reservations with regard to pan-Arabism. [T]he Lebanese authorities were able to suppress them without difficulty."
From 1945 on, the party adopted a more nuanced stance regarding Arab nationalism, seeing Syrian unity as a potential first step towards an Arab union led by Syria.
According to historian
Stanley G. PayneStanley George Payne is a historian of modern Spain and European Fascism at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He retired from full time teaching in 2004 and is currently Professor Emeritus at its Department of History. Payne is one of the most famous modern theorists of fascism...
, the Arab nationalism was influenced by European fascism, with the creation of at least seven Arab nationalist shirt movements similar to the brown shirt movement by 1939, with the most influenced ones being the SSNP, the Iraqi Futawa youth movement and the Young Egypt movement. These three movements would share characteristics like being territorially expansionist, with the SSNP wanting the complete control of Syria, belief in the superiority of their own people (with Saadeh theorizing a "distinct and naturally superior" Syrian race), being "nonrationalist, anti-intellectual, and highly emotional" and "[emphasizing] military virtues and power [and stressing] self-sacrifice". Also according to Payne, all these movements received strong influence from European fascism and praised the Italian and German fascism but "[they never became] fully developed fascist movements, and none reproduced the full characteristics of European fascism"; the influence in Arab nationalism remained long after 1945. Also, Saadeh's superior race was not a pure one, but a fusion of all races in Syrian history. The SSNP would be "[a] elite group, with little structure for mobilization".
The SSNP Emblem and Flag
The SSNP emblem is a combination of the
crescentIn art and symbolism, a crescent is generally the shape produced when a circular disk has a segment of another circle removed from its edge, so that what remains is a shape enclosed by two circular arcs of different diameters which intersect at two points .In astronomy, a crescent...
and the
crossA cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other, dividing one or two of the lines in half. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally; if they run obliquely, the design is technically termed a saltire, although the arms of a saltire need not meet...
. The party flag features a red hurricane, called the
zawba'a, within a white circle on a black background. Each arm symbolizes one of the four virtues of the party's mission: freedom, duty, discipline and power. It is alleged that the symbol was modeled after the Nazi
swastikaThe swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
.
1947–1949
Saadeh returned to Lebanon in 1947. Upon his arrival, Saadeh made a famous speech declaring his opposition to the government. The government retaliated by arresting members of the party and tensions remained between the two sides until it culminated in a failed coup d'état attempt.
In 1949, members of the pro-government
Phalanges PartyThe Lebanese Phalanges , better known in English as the Phalange , is a traditional right-wing Lebanese political party. Although it is officially secular, it is mainly supported by Maronite Christians. The party played a major role in the Lebanese War...
attacked and burned the SSNP's newspaper office in The Gemayze area, seconds after Saadeh left the place. The government response to the attack was to withraw both parties' licenses and declare both parties illegal, but only SSNP members were arrested (including top officials), before a memo was issued reinstating the Phalange's license. Police broke into Saadeh house to arrest him, but he had already left. In the midst of these events, Saadeh declared a coup d'état against the government and starting organizing the party's members. He received a message from the Syrian military dictator
Husni al-Za'imHusni al-Za'im was a Syrian military man and politician. Husni al-Za'im, whose family is of Kurdish ancestry, had been an officer in the Ottoman Army. After France instituted its colonial mandate over Syria after the First World War, he became an officer in the French Army...
offering him weapons to support his coup d'état, and asked to meet him in his palace. Saadeh accepted the invitation and traveled to Syria to meet the president. When he arrived to the palace, he was instantly apprehended and handed over to the Lebanese authorities who tried and executed him within 8 hours.
1950–1960
The party was seen in these years as a right-wing, anti-Communist organization. The party opposed Nasserite influences and objected to the declaration of The
United Arab RepublicThe United Arab Republic , often abbreviated as the U.A.R., was a sovereign union between Egypt and Syria. The union began in 1958 and existed until 1961, when Syria seceded from the union. Egypt continued to be known officially as the "United Arab Republic" until 1971. The President was Gamal...
. This opposition was based on ideological beliefs.
During the
Lebanon crisis of 1958The 1958 Lebanon crisis was a Lebanese political crisis caused by political and religious tensions in the country. It included a U.S. military intervention.-Background:...
, party members participated on the Government side, fighting against the Arab nationalist rebels in northern Lebanon and in Mount Lebanon. The party was subsequently legalized.
Notable Members:
Samaan Nader
1961–1975
In 1961 the party launched an abortive coup attempt in Lebanon, resulting in renewed proscription and the imprisonment of many of its leaders. In prison the SSNP militants read and discussed politics and reconsidered their ideology, coming under the influence of
MarxismMarxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
and other left-wing ideas. By the beginning of the 1970s, the party had undergone a considerable ideological transformation, and was seen as decidedly left-wing and no longer deeply inimical to pan-Arab nationalism. These ideological turns, however, resulted in splits, and there are now two rival groups laying claim to Saadeh's mantle.
Lebanese Civil War
With the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975, SSNP militias fought alongside the nationalist and leftist forces allied in the
Lebanese National MovementThe Lebanese National Movement or Mouvement National Libanais in French, was a front of parties and organizations active during the early years of the Lebanese Civil War...
(LNM), against the Phalangists and their right-wing allies of the
Lebanese FrontThe Lebanese Front or Front libanais in French, also known as the "Kufur Front", was a coalition of mainly Christian parties formed in 1976, during the Lebanese Civil War...
. An important development followed with the renewal of contact between the party and its former bitter enemy, the Syrian Baath Party.
After the
Israeli invasion of LebanonThe 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
in 1982 and subsequent rout of the leftist forces, a number of the leftist organizations regrouped to engage in resistance to the Israeli occupation. Along with the
Lebanese Communist PartyThe Lebanese Communist Party – LCP or Parti communiste libanais in French, is a communist political party in Lebanon...
, the Communist Action Organization, and some smaller leftist groups, the SSNP played a prominent role in this. One of the best-known early actions of the resistance was the killing of two Israeli soldiers in the Wimpy Cafe on west Beirut's central Rue Hamra by party member Khalid Alwan. The party continues to commemorate this date. The FBI blames them for the assassination of
Bachir GemayelBachir Gemayel was a Lebanese politician, militia commander, and president-elect...
in 1982.
In 1983 the party joined the Lebanese National Salvation Front established to oppose the abortive May 17 accord with Israel signed by Gemayel's brother and successor
Amine GemayelAmine Pierre Gemayel was President of Lebanon from 1982 to 1988 and is the leader of Kataeb Party.Born in the Lebanese village of Bikfaya, Amine Gemayel is the son of Pierre Gemayel, founder of the Kataeb Party...
.
Some party members were willing to sacrifice their lives through
suicide attackA suicide attack is a type of attack in which the attacker expects or intends to die in the process.- Historical :...
s in resistance against
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, the first being in 1985. A party member
Sana'a MehaidliSana'a Mehaidli was a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party who, at the age of 17, blew herself and a Peugeot filled with explosives up next to an Israeli convoy in Jezzin, South Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War...
, who
martyrA martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
ed herself at age 16 against an Israeli checkpoint in
LebanonLebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, is considered "the progenitor of all female martyrs for the Palestinian cause".
Diego GambettaDiego Gambetta is an Italian born social scientist. He is a professor of sociology at the University of Oxford and an official fellow at Nuffield College. He is well known for his vivid and unconventional applications of economic theory and a rational choice approach to understanding a variety of...
says that they can't be considered a terrorist organization because they only act against military targets, and that they should be considered a guerrilla organization.
Recent history
The SSNP participated in the
1992 Lebanese general electionGeneral elections were held in Lebanon between 23 August and 11 October 1992, the first since 1972. Independent candidates won the majority of seats, although most of them were considered members of various blocs...
and won 6 seats. In the
1996 Lebanese general electionGeneral elections were held in Lebanon between 18 August and 15 September 1996. Independent candidates won the majority of seats, although most of them were considered members of various blocs...
the party won 5 seats. In
2000 Lebanese general electionGeneral elections were held in Lebanon between 27 August and 3 September 2000. Independent candidates won the majority of seats, although most of them were considered members of various blocs...
the party won 4 seats. In the 2005 Lebanese general elections the party won 2 seats and in the
2009 Lebanese general election-Background:Prior to the election, the process to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 years was put into motion, but as this requires a constitutional amendment, it did not happen before the election.- Allocation of seats :...
again 2 seats.
During the
2008 conflict in LebanonThe 2008 conflict in Lebanon began on May 7, after Lebanon's 17-month long political crisis spiraled out of control. The fighting was sparked by a government move to shut down Hezbollah's telecommunication network and remove Beirut Airport's security chief Wafic Shkeir over alleged ties to Hezbollah...
, at least 14 people were killed in the town of
HalbaHalba is the capital of Akkar District in North Governorate, Lebanon, close to the border with Syria. It is located at around .The population in Halba is majority Muslim Sunnah, and minority Christian Greek Orthodox and Christian Maronites....
, in the Akkar region of north Lebanon, as about 100 pro-Future Movement gunmen attacked an office of the SSNP. 10 of the dead were SSNP members, three were government loyalists and one was an Australian citizen of Lebanese descent on vacation in Lebanon, who was trying to get information at the SSNP offices about evacuating from the city. The Australian father of four, Fadi Sheikh, reportedly had his hands and feet cut off.
The SSNP in Syria
In
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
the SSNP grew to a position of considerable influence in the years following the country's independence in 1946, and was a major political force immediately after the restoration of democracy in 1954. It was a fierce rival of the
Syrian Communist PartyThe Syrian Communist Party was a political party in Syria, founded in 1944. It became a member of the National Progressive Front in 1972...
and of the radical pan-Arab Ba'ath Party, the other main ideological parties of the period. In April 1955 Colonel
Adnan al-MalkiAdnan al-Malki was a Syrian Army officer and political figure in the mid-20th century. He served as the deputy-chief of staff of the army and was one of the most powerful figures in the army and in national politics until his assassination in 1955.-Political career:Malki was a member of the Baath...
, a Baathist officer who was a very popular figure in the Syrian army, was assassinated by a party member. This provided the Communists and Baathists with the opportunity to eliminate their main ideological rival, and under pressure from them and their allies in the security forces the SSNP was practically wiped out as a political force in Syria.
The SSNP's stance during the Lebanese civil war was consistent with that of Syria, and that facilitated a rapprochement between the party and the Syrian government. During Hafez al-Assad's presidency, the party was increasingly tolerated. After the succession of his son Bashar in 2000, this process continued. In 2001, although still officially banned, the party was permitted to attend meetings of the Baath-led
National Progressive FrontThe National Progressive Front , established in 1972, is a coalition of political parties in Syria that support the socialist and Arab nationalist orientation of the government and accept the "leading role in society" of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, .The Front was established by Syrian...
coalition of legal parties as an observer. In Spring 2005 the party was legalised in Syria. It is considered to be one of the largest political parties in the country, after the ruling Baath Party, with perhaps 100,000 members.
In the 22 April 2007
electionParliamentary elections were held in Syria on 22 April 2007. The number of seats reserved for the parties in the National Progressive Front was increased to 170 from 167, decreasing the seats for independents to 80 from 83...
for the
People's Council of SyriaThe People's Council -External links:* official government website...
, the party gained 2 out of 250 in the parliament.
SSNP politicians in Lebanon
- Dr. Antoine Abu Haidar
- Dr. Milad el Sibaaly
- Assaad Hardan
Assaad Hardan is a Lebanese politician and the leader of theSyrian Social Nationalist Party.He joined in 1968 the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and became leader of the Central Political Bureau, after a highly controversial role during the civil war...
- Salim Saade
Salim Abdallah Saade is a Lebanese politician and member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.-References:...
- Gebran Areiji
Gebran Oreiji is a Lebanese politician and former president of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party .He joined the SSNP in 1970 and working since 1974 to the magazine party. He emigrated to Latin America in 1975, then in France in 1977 and returned to Venezuela from 1978 to 1990.Returning to...
- Ghassan Ashqar
Ghassan Assad Ashqar is a Lebanese politician and member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.-References:...
- Mahmoud Abdel Khalek
Mahmoud Abdel Khalek is a Lebanese politician.Member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party , which he was president, he ran unsuccessfully for the 2000 parliamentary elections for the post of Druze member of Baabda....
- Mahmoud Al Hassan
- Georges Bourgi
- Ali Qanso
Ali Khalil Qanso , or Kanso, was born in 1948 in Doueir, Lebanon. He is a pro-Syrian Shiite Muslim. He received a degree in Arabic literature from the Lebanese University in 1969....
Lebanon
- Assad Ashqar
- Abdallah Saadeh
- Inaam Raad
- Mahmoud Abdel Khalek
Mahmoud Abdel Khalek is a Lebanese politician.Member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party , which he was president, he ran unsuccessfully for the 2000 parliamentary elections for the post of Druze member of Baabda....
- Ali Qanso
Ali Khalil Qanso , or Kanso, was born in 1948 in Doueir, Lebanon. He is a pro-Syrian Shiite Muslim. He received a degree in Arabic literature from the Lebanese University in 1969....
- Gebran Areiji
Gebran Oreiji is a Lebanese politician and former president of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party .He joined the SSNP in 1970 and working since 1974 to the magazine party. He emigrated to Latin America in 1975, then in France in 1977 and returned to Venezuela from 1978 to 1990.Returning to...
- Assaad Hardan
Assaad Hardan is a Lebanese politician and the leader of theSyrian Social Nationalist Party.He joined in 1968 the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and became leader of the Central Political Bureau, after a highly controversial role during the civil war...
External links