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Assadist–Saddamist conflict
Part of the Arab Cold War (until 1990), Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict (until 1990), Iraq–Syria relations, and Shia–Sunni conflict (until 1990)
Syrian president Hafez al-Assad (centre) with Iraqi vice president Saddam Hussein (left), Algerian foreign minister Abdelaziz Bouteflika (right), and Syrian vice president Abdul Halim Khaddam (far right, half-covered) at the 1978 Arab League summit in Baghdad.
Date 1979–2024 Location Arab world (mainly in Iraq and Syria) Result Saddamists ousted from power in Iraq in 2003 Assadists ousted from power in Syria in 2024 Eventual decline of Ba'athism
Belligerents
Assadists Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction) Ba'ath Party – Syria Region Assadists in Iraq Assadists in other Arab states  Ba'athist Syria (until 2024) Supported by:  Iran  Hezbollah  Iraq (from 2004) Popular Mobilization Forces Badr Organization Iraqi Shia militias ISCI Dawa Kurdistan Region/Peshmerga (sometimes) KDP PUK  Libya (until 2011)  North Korea  Soviet Union (sometimes, until 1990)  Russia (from 2000s) PLO (factions) SSNP PFLP DFLP Houthis  South Yemen (until 1990)	Saddamists Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction) Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region Saddamists in Syria Saddamists in other Arab states  Ba'athist Iraq (until 2003) JRTN (from 2006) Supported by: MEK (until 2003)  United States (until 1990)  United Kingdom (until 1990)  West Germany (until 1990)  Italy (until 1990)  Egypt (until 1990)  Saudi Arabia (until 1990)  Kuwait (until 1990)  Jordan  France  Soviet Union (sometimes, until 1990)  North Yemen (until 1990) Lebanese Forces Muslim Brotherhood in Syria Free Syrian Army PLO (factions)
Commanders and leaders
Hafez al-Assad Bashar al-Assad Maher al-Assad Hassan Turkmani Assef Shawkat Fawzi Mutlaq al-Rawi	Saddam Hussein Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri Tariq Aziz Ali Hassan al-Majid Salah Al-Mukhtar Raghad Hussein

Part of a series on
Ba'athism
Organizations Arab Ba'ath 1940–1947 Arab Ba'ath Movement 1940–1947 Ba'ath Party 1947–1966 Baath Party (pro-Iraqi) 1968–2003 Baath Party (pro-Syrian) 1966–present
Variants Neo-Ba'athism 1966–2024 Saddamism 1979–2003
People Zaki al-Arsuzi Michel Aflaq Salah al-Din al-Bitar Abdullah Rimawi Wahib al-Ghanim Fuad al-Rikabi Salah Jadid Hafez al-Assad Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr Saddam Hussein Bashar al-Assad Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri
Literature On the Way of Resurrection The Battle for One Destiny The Genius of Arabic in Its Tongue
History Ba'athist Iraq Ramadan Revolution November 1963 coup d'état 17 July Revolution 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge Iran–Iraq War Gulf War UN sanctions Iraq War De-Ba'athification Ba'athist Syria Syrian Committee to Help Iraq 1963 / 1966 coup d'états Corrective Revolution Intervention in Lebanon Syrian occupation of Lebanon Syrian civil war Fall of the Assad regime
Regional organizations Algeria pro-Iraq pro-Syria Bahrain pro-Iraq pro-Syria Egypt pro-Iraq pro-Syria Iraq pro-Iraq pro-Syria Jordan pro-Iraq pro-Syria Kuwait pro-Iraq Lebanon pro-Iraq pro-Syria Libya pro-Iraq Mauritania pro-Iraq pro-Syria Palestine pro-Iraq pro-Syria Sudan pro-Iraq pro-Syria Syria pro-Iraq pro-Syria Tunisia pro-Iraq pro-Syria Yemen pro-Iraq pro-Syria
Splinter groups Arab Socialist Revolutionary Ba'ath Party 1960–1962/63 Socialist Lebanon 1965–1970 Arab Revolutionary Workers Party 1966–present Democratic Socialist Arab Ba'ath Party 1970–present Sudanese Ba'ath Party 2002–present
Armed groups Arab Liberation Front Al-Awda Al-Abud Network Jeish Muhammad Rejectionists Snake Party Supreme Command for Jihad and Liberation Naqshbandi Army General Military Council for Iraqi Revolutionaries Free Iraqi Army
Related topics Arab nationalism Arab socialism Assadist-Saddamist conflict Nasserism Pan-Arabism Unity, Freedom, Socialism
Politics portal Socialism portal
v t e

The Assadist–Saddamist conflict, also known as the Ba'ath Party intraconflict, was a conflict and ideological rivalry between the Assadist Syrian-led Ba'ath Party and its subgroups, loyal to Ba'athist Syria, and the Saddamist Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party and its subgroups, loyal to Ba'athist Iraq. The conflict continued ideologically even after the Fall of Saddam, and ended after the Fall of the Assad regime and eventual decline of Ba'athism. Nonetheless, both regimes demonstrate shared traits, including autocratic rule, oppression, limitations on freedoms, power monopolization, electoral fraud, and responsibility for extensive suffering in both nations and the wider region.

History

The conflict emerged after the Ba'ath Party split into two factions, that of Syria and that of Iraq, following the 1966 Syrian coup d'état where Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar were overthrown by Hafez al-Assad and Salah Jadid. In the 1970s, the two Ba'athist parties managed to reconcile, although the conflict erupted again as a result of the 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge in Iraq.

In 1980, when Saddam Hussein invaded Iran, leading to the Iran-Iraq war, the Syrian Ba'ath chose to ally with Iran. This began a Syrian Ba'athist alliance with Shia Islamists, and an Iraqi Ba'athist alliance with the West and Sunni Islamists. Despite the Ba'ath Party as a whole claiming to be secular, the conflict is partially rooted in sectarianism as the Iraqi Ba'ath party was led by Sunnis, while the Syrian Ba'ath party was led by Alawites. The Iraqi Ba'ath Party supported the Muslim Brotherhood in their revolt against the Syrian Ba'ath.

During U.S. Middle East envoy Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Iraq in 1983, Saddam Hussein gave him a videotape. The video was allegedly filmed in Syria, and showed Hafez al-Assad overseeing Syrian troops strangling and stabbing puppies to death, and a line of young women biting off the heads of snakes. The video appeared to have been edited, with various clips of Assad applauding spliced in to suggest he was present. Rumsfeld would later write that he was sceptical of the video's authenticity, speculating that Saddam was using the video as a means to paint the Assad regime as barbaric and convince the U.S. to take Iraq's side in a potential conflict. The video was later released by Rumsfeld via his "The Rumsfeld Papers" website in 2011.

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. After United Nations Security Council authorization, Syria joined the coalition that liberated Kuwait from Iraqi occupation in the 1991 Gulf War. Syria broke relations after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 and joined other Arab states in sending military forces to the coalition that forced Iraq out of Kuwait. However by 1997, Syrian president Hafez al-Assad began reestablishing relations with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. Hafez died in 2000 and Iraq sent Vice President Taha Muhie-eldin Marouf to attend the state funeral. The ascendance of Bashar al-Assad in 2000 boosted this process. Under Bashar, Syria ignored the sanctions against Iraq and assisted Iraq to illegally import oil.

In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq and removed the Saddamists from power, leaving the Syrian Arab Republic as the only remaining Ba'athist state, until a 2024 offensive by the Syrian opposition which ousted the Ba'athist regime from power.

In 2024 after collapse of Bashar al-Assad regime, Khamenei stated Iranian support to support the regime in 2013 was a response to Hafez al-Assad's support during the Iran–Iraq War years war by blocking transit of 1 million barrel of oil through the Mediterranean Sea.

See also

• Arab Cold War
• Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict
• Iraq–Syria relations
• Shia–Sunni conflict
• Sino-Soviet split

References

1. Nina Wiedl, Kathrin (2006). The Hama Massacre – reasons, supporters of the rebellion, consequences. GRIN Verlag. pp. 3–34. ISBN 978-3-638-56770-1.
2. "Like Father, Like Son – Tyranny in Syria, A Massacre in Hama". Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. 11 June 2015. Archived from the original on 16 May 2016.
3. Karsh, Efraim (1989). The Iran–Iraq War: Impact and Implications. Springer. ISBN 978-1349200504.
4. El-Azhary, M. S. (23 May 2012). The Iran–Iraq War (RLE Iran A). Routledge. ISBN 978-1136841750.
5. Razoux, Pierre (2015). The Iran–Iraq War. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674088634.
6. "The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood". Cablegate. 26 February 1985. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
7. Ephraim Kahana; Muhammad Suwaed (2009). The A to Z of Middle Eastern Intelligence. Scarecrow Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-8108-7070-3.
8. Timmerman, Kenneth R. (1992). The Death Lobby: How the West Armed Iraq. London: Fourth Estate. ISBN 978-1857020311.
9. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-01-22. Retrieved 2019-11-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
10. "Iraqi Scientist Reports on German, Other Help for Iraq Chemical Weapons Program". fas.org. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
11. The Research Unit for Political Economy. "The Iran-Iraq War: Serving American Interests". History of Iran. Iran Chamber Society. Archived from the original on 2013-01-03. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
12. Hendelman-Baavur, Liora (20 May 2009). "Iran-Egypt Relations". Iran Almanac. Archived from the original on 2016-10-09. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
13. "Saddam To Assad, The Ba'ath Party's Brutal Slant On Arab Power Is Finally Over". Worldcrunch. Retrieved 2024-12-09.
14. Dina, Ezzat. "An era ends in Syria". Ahram online. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
15. Batatu, Hanna (1999). Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00254-1.
16. Ehteshami, Anoushiravan; Hinnebusch, Raymond A. (2002). Syria and Iran: Middle Powers in a Penetrated Regional System. New York, USA: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-15675-0.
17. Nasr, Vali, The Shia Revival (Norton), 2006, p.154
18. "The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood". Cablegate. 26 February 1985. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
19. Rumsfeld, Donald (2011). Known and Unknown: A Memoir. Sentinel. pp. 7–8. ISBN 978-1-59523-067-6.
20. Reeve, Elspeth (8 March 2011). "Rumsfeld Releases a Puppy Snuff Film from Saddam". The Atlantic. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
21. "New Video Released: Middle East Envoy". The Rumsfeld Papers. 8 March 2011. Archived from the original on 5 November 2011. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
22. Mansour & Thompson 2020, p. 118.
23. Mansour & Thompson 2020, p. 117.
24. Harris 2012, p. 267.
25. "بیانات در دیدار هزاران نفر از اقشار مختلف مردم درباره تحولات منطقه" (PDF). Khamenei official website (in Persian). Retrieved 12 December 2024.

Bibliography

• Harris, William W. (2012). Lebanon: A History, 600-2011. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190217839.
• Mansour, Imad; Thompson, William R. (2020). Shocks and Rivalries in the Middle East and North Africa. Georgetown University Press. ISBN 9781626167681.

v t e Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict
Background	Iranian revolution 1979 Khuzestan insurgency Arab separatism in Khuzestan Qatif conflict 1979 Qatif Uprising
Conflicts	Assadist–Saddamist conflict (until 1990) Iran–Iraq War Action of June 5, 1984 Qatar–Saudi Arabia diplomatic conflict Qatar diplomatic crisis 2011 Egyptian revolution 2011 Bahraini uprising Saudi-led intervention in Bahrain insurgency in Bahrain First Libyan civil war Syrian civil war Hezbollah involvement Iranian involvement Saudi involvement Spillover in Lebanon Axis of Resistance War in Iraq (2013–2017) Iranian intervention in Iraq Yemeni crisis Houthi insurgency Operation Scorched Earth Operation Blow to the Head Yemeni revolution Yemeni civil war Saudi-led intervention in Yemen Houthi–Saudi Arabian conflict Houthi takeover in Yemen Second Libyan civil war
Incidents	1987 Mecca incident Khobar Towers bombing 2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests 2016 Saudi Arabia mass execution Execution of Nimr al-Nimr 2016 attack on the Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran 2019 Saudi Arabia mass execution 2011 alleged Iran assassination plot 2015 Mina stampede 2017 Lebanon–Saudi Arabia dispute 2017–2020 Qatif unrest 2018 Riyadh missile strike International Maritime Security Construct United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 May 2019 Gulf of Oman incident 2019 Afif attack Abha International Airport attacks Abqaiq–Khurais attack
Iranian relations with GCC member states	Bahrain Kuwait Oman Qatar United Arab Emirates
Related topics	Iran and state-sponsored terrorism Iran–Israel proxy conflict Arab League–Iran relations Arab–Israeli alliance Warsaw Middle East conference Russia–Syria–Iran–Iraq coalition Opposition to military action against Iran Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition Gulf Cooperation Council Iran International Shia–Sunni relations Shia Islam in Saudi Arabia
Category:Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict

• Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict
• History of the Ba'ath Party
• Iraq–Syria relations
• Geopolitical rivalry