Middle East - Anthony Ham [390]
Two Weeks
Two weeks in Syria is ideal, allowing an extra day each in Aleppo and Damascus. From Aleppo, a day trip taking in Qala’at Samaan (Click here) and the Dead Cities (Click here) is a must. You’ve the option of then taking the picturesque train ride to liberal Lattakia (Click here), a base for a half-day trip to Qala’at Saladin (Click here); from Lattakia, buses lead down the coast and around to Hama. The other alternative from Aleppo is a round trip to Rasafa (Click here), although this can also be done from Hama (Click here). Apamea (Click here) is a jewel of a Roman city and can be visited as part of an excursion from Hama, or en route from Aleppo. Having visited Palmyra, day trips from Damascus include Maalula (Click here) and Seidnayya (Click here), while Bosra (Click here) and its extraordinary theatre enables you to tick off the third of Syria’s wonderful Roman cities.
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Jordan (Click here)
Lebanon (Click here)
Turkey (Click here)
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France never had much luck with its Syria–Lebanon mandate. Local opposition to its policy of carving up the country into mini-states (Grand Liban, Lebanon, Aleppo and Damascus) and minority enclaves (for the Druze and Alawites) led to revolts against French rule. Elections were held in 1928 and 1932, but moves to establish a constitution were stymied by the occupying power, which compounded its unpopularity in 1939 when it ceded the northern cities of Antioch (Antakya) and Alexandretta (Iskenderun) to encourage Turkey’s neutrality in WWII.
A nationalist government was formed under Shoukri al-Quwatli in August 1943, but the French continued to be in denial about the waning of its influence in the region, bombing Damascus after locals had demonstrated in support of a final handover of administrative and military services to the new government. The situation was only resolved after the British intervened and oversaw the final departure of all French troops and administrators at the end of the war.
A period of political instability followed and by 1954, after several military coups, the nationalist Ba’ath Party (‘Ba’ath’ means ‘renaissance’) took power virtually unopposed. A brief flirtation with the Pan-Arabist idea of a United Arab Republic (with Egypt) in 1958 proved unpopular and coups in 1960, 1961 and 1963 saw the leadership change hands yet again. By 1966 the Ba’ath Party was back in power, but it was severely weakened by losses in two conflicts: the Six Day War with Israel in 1967 and the Black September hostilities in Jordan in 1970. At this point, Defence Minister Hafez al-Assad seized power.
Assad maintained control longer than any other post-independence Syrian government, with a mixture of ruthless suppression and guile. The most widely condemned example of the former came on 2 February 1982, when Assad ordered the shelling of the old city in Hama in response to a growing campaign by the Muslim Brotherhood. He followed this with a warning that anyone left in the city would be declared a rebel. In the fighting that followed, between 10,000 and 25,000 people were killed out of a total population of 350,000, and mosques, churches and archaeological sites were damaged and destroyed.
In 1998, he was elected to a fifth seven-year term with a predictable 99.9% of the vote. It took failing health to finally remove the man from power; his death was announced on 10 June 2000.
Syria Today
Following the death of Assad senior, his son Bashar acceded to power. A new government was formed in December 2001 with a mandate to push forward political,