Salah Jadid facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Salah Jadid
صلاح جديد |
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| Assistant Regional Secretary of the Syrian Regional Branch |
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| In office 1 August 1965 – 13 November 1970 |
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| Regional Secretary | Amin al-Hafiz Nureddin al-Atassi |
| Preceded by | Muhammad az-Zubi |
| Succeeded by | Jaber Bajbouj |
| Chief of Staff of the Syrian Army | |
| In office 11 November 1963 – 1966 |
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| Preceded by | Ziad al-Hariri |
| Succeeded by | Ahmad Suwaydani |
| Member of the Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch |
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| In office March 1966 – 13 November 1970 |
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| In office 1 February 1964 – 19 December 1965 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 1926 Dweir Baabda, Alawite State |
| Died | 19 August 1993 (aged 66–67) Mezzeh prison, Damascus, Syria |
| Nationality | Syrian |
| Political party | Ba'ath Party (Syrian) Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (1947–1966) |
| Military service | |
| Years of service | 1946–1970 |
| Rank |  Major General |
Salah Jadid (1926 – 19 August 1993) was an important Syrian general and a key leader of the Ba'ath Party in Syria. He was the real leader of Syria from 1966 until 1970. In 1970, he was removed from power by Hafez al-Assad in a political change known as the Corrective Movement.
Contents
Salah Jadid: A Syrian Leader
Early Life and Military Career
Salah Jadid was born in 1926 in a village called Dweir Baabda, which is close to the city of Jableh. He came from an Alawite family. Some reports say he might have been born in 1924. He went to the Homs Military Academy and joined the Syrian Army in 1946.
Jadid was first a member of a political group called the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP). Later, in the 1950s, he joined the Ba'ath Party, which was led by Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. Even after joining the Ba'ath Party, he stayed close to the SSNP; his brother, Ghassan, was a well-known member of that group in Syria. In the 1950s, Jadid changed his political loyalty again. He became a member of the Arab Nationalist Movement, a group that supported the ideas of Gamal Abdel Nasser. Jadid was in favor of Syria joining the United Arab Republic (UAR), which was a country formed by Egypt and Syria.
Rise to Power and Challenges
During the time of the UAR, Salah Jadid was stationed in Cairo, Egypt. In 1959, he helped create the Military Committee with other Ba'athists. The main goal of this committee was to keep the UAR together. At first, there were only four members: Jadid, Hafez al-Assad, Abd al-Karim al-Jundi, and Muhammad Umran. The Military Committee also worked to prevent the Syrian Ba'ath movement from disappearing.
Some members of the committee believed that Aflaq was responsible for the Ba'ath Party becoming weaker during the UAR years. In 1959, the party's Third National Congress supported Aflaq's idea to end the party. However, at a 1960 National Congress, where Jadid was a representative for the Military Committee, they changed their minds. They decided to bring the Ba'ath Party back. They also wanted to improve relations with Nasser by making the UAR more democratic from the inside. But some people in the party wanted Syria to leave the UAR.
The Military Committee did not achieve all its goals, and in September 1961, the UAR broke apart. The new government leader, Nazim al-Kudsi, punished Jadid and others because they supported Nasser. As a result, they all had to leave the Syrian Army.
In 1963, Jadid was promoted from Lieutenant colonel to Major general. He was then named the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Syria. This was a very important position.
His Final Years
In 1970, a conflict happened between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Jordanian army. Salah Jadid sent Syrian-controlled Palestinian troops into Jordan to help the PLO. However, Hafez al-Assad and his group within the Ba'ath Party did not support this decision, and the troops left Jordan.
This action started a growing disagreement between Jadid's group and Assad's group within the Ba'ath Party and the army. The Syrian Communist Party supported Jadid, which also gave him the support of the Soviet ambassador. Assad was upset by this.
In November 1970, Jadid tried to remove Assad and his supporter Mustafa Tlass from their positions. Assad responded by carrying out a political takeover within the party, which he called the Corrective Movement. Salah Jadid was arrested on November 13, 1970. He remained in the Mezzeh prison in Damascus until he passed away from a heart attack on August 19, 1993.
See also
In Spanish: Salah Jadid para niños
