Husni al-Zaim
| Husni al-Za'im حسني الزعيم |
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|---|---|
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| 9th President of Syria | |
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In office 11 April 1949 – 14 August 1949 |
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| Preceded by | Shukri al-Kuwatli |
| Succeeded by | Hashim al-Atassi |
| 23rd Prime Minister of Syria | |
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In office 17 April 1949 – 26 June 1949 |
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| Preceded by | Khalid al-Azm |
| Succeeded by | Muhsin al-Barazi |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 May 1897 Aleppo, Syria |
| Died | 14 August 1949 (aged 52) Damascus, Syria |
| Profession | Statesman, soldier |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
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| Service/branch |
Ottoman Army French Army Syrian Army |
| Years of service | 1917–1949 |
| Rank |
 Brigadier General
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| Battles/wars | 1948 Arab–Israeli War |
Husni al-Za'im (11 May 1897 – 14 August 1949) (Arabic: حسني الزعيم) was a Syrian military man and politician. Husni al-Za'im, whose family is of mixed Turkish and Kurdish ancestry, had been an officer in the Ottoman Army. After France instituted its colonial mandate over Syria after the First World War, he became an officer in the French Army. After Syria's independence in 1946 he was made Chief of Staff, and was ordered to lead the Syrian Army into war with the Israeli Army in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The defeat of the Arab league forces in that war shook Syria and undermined confidence in the country's chaotic parliamentary democracy.
On 30 March 1949, al-Za'im seized power in a bloodless coup d'état. There are "highly controversial" allegations that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) engineered the coup. Some of the evidence currently available suggests that the decision to initiate a coup was Za'im's alone, but Za'im benefited from some degree of American assistance in planning the operation.
Syria's President, Shukri al-Kuwatli, was briefly imprisoned, but then released into exile in Egypt. Al-Za'im also imprisoned many political leaders, such as Munir al-Ajlani, whom he accused of conspiring to overthrow the republic. The coup was carried out with discreet backing of the American embassy, and possibly assisted by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, although al-Za'im himself is not known to have been a member. Among the officers that assisted al-Za'im's takeover was Adib al-Shishakli and Sami al-Hinnawi, both of whom would later become military leaders of the country.
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Wikipedia