1979 Ba'ath Party purge

Public purge of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party by Saddam Hussein April 2025 1979 Ba'ath Party PurgeComrades Massacre Assadist–Saddamist conflict Saddam Hussein during 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge.jpg 290px Saddam Hussein speech during the purge 22 July 1979 Baghdad, Iraq Comrades Massacre Purge Failure of unity talks between Syrian and Iraqi Ba'ath Parties Saddam's claim that he has discovered a fifth column in the Revolutionary Command Council plotting to overthrow the party leadership in co-ordination with Hafez al-Assad Saddam Hussein * Killing of former Secretary Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi on 8 August 1979 Saddam Hussein's domination of the Ba'ath Party Arrests and subsequent killings of Ba'athist opponents accused of Syrian collaboration Deepening rift between Iraq-based and Syrian-based Ba'ath movements Hafez al-Assad's support to Iran during the Iran–Iraq War 21 executed 68 A public purge of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party was orchestrated on 22 July 1979 by then-president Saddam Hussein, six days after his accession to the presidency of the Iraqi Republic.Saddam Hussein's 'Official' Biography November 2025 Six days after the resignation of President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Hussein's accession to Presidency of the Iraqi Republic, Regional Secretary of the party, and Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council on 16 July 1979, he organized a Ba'ath conference on 22 July in Al-Khuld Hall in Baghdad to carry out a campaign of arrests and executions that included Ba'athist comrades, who were accused of taking part in a pro-Syrian plot to overthrow Saddam. The list included most of the comrades who opposed Saddam Hussein's rise to power after Al-Bakr, and among these was the former president's secretary, Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi. Names of people were announced and they were taken outside the hall and into custody; 21 of them were later executed. Ba'athist propaganda at the time showed that they were convicted of conspiracy and high treason to the party.28 August 2021 بعث العراق وسوريا... صراع الإخوة الأعداء https://www.independentarabia.com/node/254306/%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%A9/%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1/%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AB-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82-%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D8%B5%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%AE%D9%88%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A1 14 July 2022 اندبندنت عربية ar 29 August 2021 https://web.archive.org/web/20210829063658/https://www.independentarabia.com/node/254306/%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%A9/%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1/%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AB-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82-%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D8%B5%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%AE%D9%88%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%A1 live Iraq subsequently cut off diplomatic relations with its fellow Ba'athist regime in Syria, accusing Hafez al-Assad of organizing the plot.Ehteshami Hinnebusch Anoushiravan Raymond A. Syria and Iran: Middle Powers in a Penetrated Regional System Routledge 2002 0-415-15675-0 36619992 New York, USA92 Background Syria–Iraq unification talks Various rounds of unification talks were ongoing between the two Ba'athist parties at the official level, with the Iraqi vice-president, Saddam Hussein, publicly endorsing the merger of Iraq and Syria in 1978. By then, Saddam had become the effective leader of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party due to the Iraqi president, Ahmed Hussein Al-Bakr's health issues. A major demand of Saddam was the unification of both the Syrian and Iraqi wings of the Ba'ath Party, as the first step to integrate Syria with Iraq. He also sought the rehabilitation of Michel Aflaq who was on the kill-list of the Syrian Ba'ath party, and to make Aflaq the head of a re-unified Ba'ath Party. It was reported that the Syrian president, Hafez al-Assad, objected to these demands and was strongly opposed to the idea of a unified military command.Batatu Hanna Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics Princeton University Press 1999 0-691-00254-1 Chichester, West Sussex, UK282 Resignation of al-Bakr On 11 July 1979, an ailing al-Bakr announced his resignation before a meeting of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) and his intention to transfer the presidency to Saddam Hussein. It has been stated (such 283 Radio Free Europe, established by act of the US congress, would state in 2003), that it was a coup orchestrated by Saddam who compelled the ailing president to retire "for health reasons".Iraq: The Rise And Fall Of Saddam Hussein https://www.rferl.org/a/1105321.html 16 January 2023 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 9 April 2008 Moore Kathleen 3 January 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230103173027/https://www.rferl.org/a/1105321.html live Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi, an RCC member, fiercely objected to al-Bakr's resignation during the session and urged al-Bakr to take a temporary vacation without transferring power to his successor, a proposition that was declined by al-Bakr. This had raised the suspicion of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi second-in-command who became president on 16 July 1979. In an assembly of the party leadership convened on 22 July, Saddam staged a purge against the military wing of the Ba'ath Party whom he accused of collaborating with Syria to topple the regime in Iraq.22 July 2021 The 1979 Saddam Hussein coup d'état in Iraq https://irqnow.com/saddam1979/ 16 January 2023 Iraq Now282 Event right 230px BBC News "Saddam's 1979 Baath Party purge", Footage of the purge from a Ba'ath Party video thumb|Still from an off-air recording of Saddam's speech during the purge Saddam hurriedly convened an "emergency session" of party leaders on 22 July. During the assembly, which he ordered to be videotaped, he claimed to have uncovered a fifth column within the party. Abdul-Hussein "confessed" to be part of a Syrian-financed faction established in 1975 that played a major role in the Syrian-backed plot against the Iraqi government. He also gave the names of 68 alleged co-conspirators.282-283 These were removed from the room one by one as their names were called and taken into custody. After the list was read, Saddam congratulated those still seated in the room for their past and future loyalty. Those arrested at the meeting were subsequently tried together and found guilty of treason. Twenty-two of the accused, including five members of the RCC,Iraq executes coup plotters https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19551595/iraq_executes_coup_plotters/ Salina Journal 8 August 1979 12 Newspapers.com 25 April 2018 5 June 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20190605114949/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19551595/iraq_executes_coup_plotters/ live were sentenced to death while thirty-three were given prison sentences and thirteen were released.Efraim Karsh Karsh Efraim Rautsi Inari 1991 Saddam Hussein : a political biography United Kingdom Grove Press 116 0-8021-3978-7 Some party members were given weapons and directed to execute their comrades.Executed Today. "1979: Saddam Hussein's Ba’ath party coup." Executed Today. Retrieved 4 December 2024.Fang Bay July 11, 2004 When Saddam ruled the day http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/040719/19iraq.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20140116075402/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/040719/19iraq.htm 16 January 2014 U.S. News & World ReportEdward Mortimer. "The Thief of Baghdad." New York Review of Books. 27 September 1990, citing Fuad Matar. Saddam Hussein: A Biography. Highlight. 1990. https://web.archive.org/web/20080723145337/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/3519 23 July 2008 Some of the victims are listed below: NamePositionMohammed Mahjoub al-Douri ar محمد محجوب الدوريMuhammad Ayish Hamad ar محمد عايش حمدAdnan al-HamdaniGhanim Abdul-JalilMember of the Regional Command from 1974 to 1979Muhyi Abdul-Hussein MashhadiMember of the Regional Command from 1974 to 1979 Secretary of president al-Bakr. Aftermath Details of the events were publicised on 28 July 1979, and Iraqi media began accusing Syria of backing the alleged plot. Syrian Ba'athists responded by denying any relations to the coup plotters.283 On 8 August, the Iraqi News Agency announced that twenty-one of the twenty-two Iraqis were executed by firing squad for "their part in a plot to overthrow Iraq's new president". The twenty-second man was condemned to death in absentia because he was "nowhere to be found", the agency said. A tape of the assembly and of the executions was distributed throughout the country. Shortly thereafter, in early August 1979, Hussein took to the balcony of the presidential mansion in Baghdad to inform “a chanting crowd of 50,000 supporters that he had just witnessed the punishment the state court had ordered for 21 of those men: They had been executed by a firing squad. The crowd cheered.”Behind Iraq's Bold Bid Claudia Wright 26 October 1980 The New York Times https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1980/10/26/114147903 https://archive.today/20240812003314/https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OC410TL8EQtaqXmcND7Iuw99X2iHmEgC/view 12 August 2024 44748 130thumb|250px|Joint meeting of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) and the Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region in Baghdad – Iraq, on 16 June 1988, presided by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein; on his right side is RCC deputy chairman Izzat Ibrahim ad-Duri. The events led to a complete rupture of ties between the Ba'athist governments of Syria and Iraq. Hussein's personal conclusion, which he conveyed to Syrian president Assad, was that Syrian Ba'athists "were deep in the plot,” though he continued to provide Syria with the financial support originally offered during the 1978 Arab League summit. This agreement was eventually halted in 1980 with the outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War, during which Assad overtly aligned with Iran, spurring Iraq to accuse him of betraying Pan-Arabism.283-284 A 1981 secret memo issued to Syrian Ba'ath Party members by Assad further demonstrated the division between the two nations, with Assad declaring that Syria's policy was to prolong "the war to a degree that will facilitate the replacement of Saddam" and install the pro-Syrian Iraqi Nationalist Front in Iraq. Syria would go on to support Iraqi opposition parties for decades, including the pro-Iranian Shia Islamic Dawa Party.Henri J. Barkey Phebe Marr Scott Lasensky Iraq, Its Neighbors, and the United States: Competition, Crisis, and the Reordering of Power Yacoubian Mona United States Institute of Peace 2011 978-1-60127-077-1 Washington DC 149, 150 6: Syria and the New Iraq: Between Rivalry and Rapprochment Iraq in turn supported the National Alliance for the Liberation of Syria, a coalition of Syrian opposition factions that included pro-Iraqi Syrian Ba'athists and Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, which opposed the Alawite-dominated Ba'ath Party rule in Syria. It also supported the Islamist revolts in Syria after 1980. Relations between the two countries remained strained until Saddam Hussein's overthrow in the invasion in 2003.Arnold Guy Wars in the Third World Since 1945 Bloomsbury Academic 2016 978-1-4742-9102-6 London, UK 450, 45191-92 See also The Great Purge, a purge in the Soviet Union orchestrated by General Secretary Joseph Stalin between 1936 and 1938. The Night of the Long Knives, a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. January 13 massacre References Category:1979 murders in Asia Category:1970s murders in Iraq Category:Ba'athist Iraq Category:Iraq–Syria relations Category:Political and cultural purges Category:Political repression in Iraq Category:Saddam Hussein Category:1970s in Baghdad Category:Massacres committed by Iraq Category:Political violence in Baghdad Category:20th-century mass murders in Iraq Category:Massacres in 1979 Category:Mass murders in Baghdad Category:Filmed crimes Category:1979 in Iraq Category:Ambushes in Iraq