Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region

The Regional Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, officially the Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, is the ruling organ of the Ba'ath Party organization in Syria. The term Regional Command (Arabic: Al-Qiyada Al-Qutriyya‎‎) stems from Ba'athist ideology, where region literally means an Arab state. According to the Syrian Constitution, the Regional Command has the power to nominate a candidate for president. While the constitution does not state that the Regional Secretary of the Regional Command is the President of Syria, the charter of the National Progressive Front (NPF), of which the Ba'ath Party is a member, states that the President and the Regional Secretary is the NPF President, but this is not stated in any legal document. The 1st Extraordinary Regional Congress held in 1964 decided that the Regional Secretary of the Regional Command would also be head of state.Amin al-Hafiz, the sitting Regional Secretary, became head of state and retained his post as Prime Minister.

At the 2nd Regional Congress in 1965, the Military Committee weakened the powers of the National Command by passing a resolution that the Regional Secretary of the Regional Command was ex officio head of state. The Regional Secretary was given the powers to appoint the Prime Minister, the cabinet, the commander-in-chief and the leading military commanders.(Arabic: lajna quamiyya‎‎). Before the 1970 Corrective Revolution that brought Hafez al-Assad to power, the local party leadership was elected by fellow Ba'ath Party members; when al-Assad came to power the Regional Command began to appoint all party officials. Under Bashar al-Assad this policy was reversed, and party members were again able to elect the local party leadership, but candidates had to be approved by the party leadership.

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