Baath Party eyes a comeback in Daraa

PARIS — In the first incident of its kind in Syria’s southern Daraa province, two People’s Assembly members—Farouq Qassim al-Hammadi and Yassin Ghassab al-Zamel—came together with notables, neighborhood heads and community leaders in the city of Inkhil to form a new military body in August. 

The new faction, announced on August 13, is to be commanded by Abdulhakim al-Eid, the commander of local groups affiliated with the 8th Brigade. It aims to “manage the city’s interests and problems, and rid it of bad habits,” according to its founding statement, which was published on social media. 

“A package of rules and ordinances to be followed and carried out once the city’s notables agree to them” would be issued shortly, the statement continued.

What sets the new faction apart from Daraa’s many other armed groups, is the key role al-Zamel—a prominent figure in the ruling Arab Socialist Baath Party—and other Baathist figures from Inkhil played in forming it, sources in the city told Syria Direct.

The reasons for their involvement—and whether they were directed to do so by the Baath Party itself as the Syrian regime works to restore its role in the southern province it regained nominal control of under a Russian-sponsored settlement agreement in 2018—have not been specified.

The Baath Party’s rule of Syria was entrenched in the country’s 1973 Constitution, which effectively established a one-party system. Article 8 put it plainly: “The Arab Socialist Baath Party is the leading party in society and the state. It leads a patriotic and progressive front, seeking to unify the resources of the masses and put them at the service of the Arab nation’s goals.” 

The party’s stranglehold on power was shaken when the Syrian revolution broke out in the spring of 2011, and its role in managing the country has declined. But today in Daraa province, where the revolution began, the Baath Party has its sights set on a comeback. 

Returning to the forefront

Six years after regime institutions returned to Daraa under the 2018 settlement agreement, Baath Party headquarters in many cities and towns remain shuttered. Local settlement factions, or figures affiliated with them, have not agreed to restore these facilities to their pre-2011 status. 

Members of the Baath Party division in Busra al-Sham, a town in eastern Daraa, work out of its main headquarters in Daraa city. The 8th Brigade, which is formally affiliated with the Syrian Military Intelligence Division and led by former opposition commander Ahmed al-Awda, stops members from reopening their local office, one member of the division told Syria Direct. 

Headquarters remaining closed does not mean that party members are not present in Daraa, nor that they are not active in its cities and towns. In Inkhil, “Baath Party members resumed activity in the city following the settlement,” though its headquarters remained closed, Abu Ismail, a teacher and former party member in the city, said. 

“Baathists in Inkhil hold their regular meetings at the house of one party member in the city, and held internal party elections weeks ago,” Abu Ismail told Syria Direct. Party members played a role in “promoting” the mid-July People’s Assembly elections and “supporting the party’s candidates,” he added, asking to be referred to by a pseudonym for security reasons. 

Syria’s schools have historically been the most important arena for the Baath Party to actively promote its ideals. When Damascus regained control of Inkhil, “the party took control of the city’s schools and organized many activities aimed at spreading its ideas, principles and slogans,” Abu Ismail said. 

Party figures have also sought to play roles in essential services, some of which were restored to Inkhil at residents’ expense, through fundraising campaigns. Prominent Baath Party members tried “repeatedly to take the lead in organizing these donations and portray the campaigns as being sponsored or supported by the party,” Abu Ismail explained. “People rejected this, and excluded these figures.” 

The situation is different in the city of Tafas. There, the Central Committee in western Daraa—a body formed following the 2018 settlement to administer the area and negotiate with the regime—has claimed “the party’s activity is prohibited.” However, “party elements are active in secret, organizing meetings at houses and going to Daraa city to complete their work” under an “unannounced agreement” reached several months ago with the committee and local military commanders, one media source close to the committee told Syria Direct. 

In mid-July, the Central Committee allowed Baath Party members to install a ballot box in the city for the People’s Assembly elections, which was done “under the protection of local groups in the city,” the source added. 

There is also coordination between Baath Party members in the city and the Central Committee’s Reform Committee on some issues inside the city, but it is not disclosed to avoid provoking residents who reject the party, the source said. 

Syria Direct reached out to the Central Committee for comment on the Baath Party’s role in Tafas, and to verify the accuracy of the claim that it coordinates with party members, but received no response by the time of publication. 

One Baath Party official in the northern Daraa countryside, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the party “oversees schools and works on social reconciliation, as well as organizing festivals, sports and educational activities.” He noted the party has “direct channels of communication with government officials” in the southern province. 

Baath Party members are also involved in resolving problems related to essential services, either contacting officials “by phone or conducting field visits,” he said. If there is no response, “we escalate it to branch leadership at the conclusion of the division’s meeting.” 

With the return of the party’s activity in the south, members in Daraa work with “caution,” ensuring their activities are held “in safe places, because we’ve received many threats,” the official said. 

Many Baath Party members have been killed by unidentified assailants in Daraa amid persistent insecurity in the province. Notable among these was the assassination of Farid al-Amarin, the secretary of the Nawa division in western Daraa, in April 2022. 

‘Direct leadership’

In most countries, political parties play an important role in invigorating political life, shaping voter opinions, ensuring a peaceful transfer of power and monitoring the work of government. This is not the case in Syria, where the Baath Party directly manages and interferes in state institutions. 

Reviewing the official social media accounts of Baath Party divisions in Daraa province, Syria Direct observed that party secretaries played roles higher than a typical monitoring role in their relationship with government institutions. 

On July 28, Habis al-Ghassin, the Baath Party’s secretary in al-Sanamayn, a city north of Daraa, paid a visit to the Integrated Education Group at the Arab Cultural Center in the city. At the start of the same month, al-Ghassin and another member of branch leadership also visited the Agricultural Bank in al-Sanamayn, “ to assess the work situation, identify difficulties and challenges and find ways to overcome them.” 

In Busra al-Sham, the local division’s secretary Aqla Abdulkarim has conducted many visits to government and community institutions. These include a visit to a well-digging and sewage project in the nearby town of Maaraba, both of which were funded by residents, in the company of municipal head Khaled al-Kurdi.

Images of the visits published online, as well as the language used in announcements of these activities, indicate that officials within local government institutions treat party secretaries as high-ranking officials in their own right. 

“The roles Baath Party secretaries play are not the usual monitoring roles of political parties in the world, but rather are direct leadership and executive mechanisms,” Muhammad Said Masri, a defected Syrian police officer and a researcher at the Turkey-based Jusoor Center for Studies, told Syria Direct. 

When a division secretary visits a school or state institution, the director provides an “official reception,” something not available to other political parties, “if any, in Syria,” Masri said. 

“Members of the party are treated as though the Baath is [still] the leader of the state and society, completely ignoring the revolution that took place on the ground and the constitutional changes” made to the 2012 constitution, which removed Article 8 and emphasizes political pluralism, he added. When the regime returned to southern Syria, “they came back to reinforce their theory that the party is the leader of the state and society.” 

One manifestation of that was the dismissal of the head of the Agricultural Engineers Union, Abdulkafi al-Khalaf, on July 17, and the appointment of Ali Saadat in his stead. This “exceeded the party’s constitutional and customary authority over professional unions,” Masri said. “Withdrawing confidence from the union head, council or one of its members” is a power held by its general assembly, its highest body under Law No. 8 of 2018, which regulates the agricultural engineering profession.

Security reports

Under the Baath Party in Syria since the 1970s, security reports became an essential tool for controlling and monitoring citizens. They also became tied to advancement in state institutions. “A teacher cannot be promoted to supervisor or principal before writing security reports against his colleagues and students,” researcher Masri said.

“Competence is not a criterion in Syria, but rather party affiliation and participation in party activities,” most importantly security reports, he added. “To be a real Baathist, you must write security reports—it is an essential element for promotion.”

Thus, Baath party cadres became a central part of Syria’s far-reaching security and intelligence system, a role that persists in Daraa today, four local sources said. 

“Most security studies conducted by security branches in the Houran today are carried out through Baath Party members,” one former opposition commander in eastern Daraa contended. “The security branch sends security studies about individuals, and party members verify or confirm the information, and are sometimes asked to prepare security studies.” 

Residents are “afraid of Baath Party members’ reports, and cannot speak comfortably around them,” Abu Ismail, the teacher from Inkhil, added. 

In May 2024, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in his capacity as secretary-general of the Arab Socialist Baath Party, met with its new Supervision and Inspection Committee and discussed “activating the committee’s role and carrying out its tasks more effectively to achieve the desired impact.” 

These words were a reference to what is known as the “incoming reports, or public reports section, which is a section of official party meetings,” Masri said. 

Historically, the Syrian regime transformed the Baath Party “from a political tool to a monitoring and intelligence [tool] over society, to the extent that Baath elements have become part of the intelligence system,” Masri said. It is once more using “reliable party arms for security tasks in Daraa,” where the regime has only nominally been in control since the 2018 settlement.

Far from separating the party from power, it appears that Assad and Baath leaders “have decided to reactivate its political, social and administrative role, which declined in past years, and revitalize the party and its members to be a political front once more,” Masri said. 

“Bashar al-Assad is returning to his father’s approach of establishing a totalitarian system, based on sectarianism, security and the army, with the Baath Party as its political arm,” he added. “Bashar al-Assad looks to the Baath Party as one of the pillars of the country’s leadership.” 

This report was originally published in Arabic and translated into English by Mateo Nelson.