Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)

This article is about the pan-Arab Ba'ath Party, which is Iraqi-led but has branches in multiple countries. For the Ba'ath Party's regional branch established in 1951, see Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region.

Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party
حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي
General SecretarySalah Al-Mukhtar
Founded1966
Split fromBa'ath Party (unitary)
HeadquartersBaghdad, Iraq (1966-2003)
Armed wingNational Defense Battalions (until 2003)
Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Order (2006–present)
IdeologyArab nationalism
Ba'athism
Saddamism
Political positionRight-wing[n 1]
ColorsBlack, red, white and green (Pan-Arab colors)
Party flag

The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (spelled "Ba'th" or "Baath", "resurrection" or "renaissance"; Arabic: حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي Ḥizb al-Ba‘th al-‘Arabī al-Ishtirākī), also referred to as the pro-Iraqi Ba'ath movement, is a Ba'athist political party which was headquartered in Baghdad, Iraq, until 2003. It is one of two parties (with identical names) which emerged from the 1966 split of the original Ba'ath Party.

In 1966, the original Ba'ath Party was split in half; one half was led by the Damascus leadership of the Ba'ath Party which established a party in Syria and the other half with its leadership in Baghdad. The two Ba'ath parties retained the same name and maintained parallel structures in the Arab world, but relations became so antagonistic that Syria supported Iran against Iraq during the bloody Iran–Iraq War; it also joined the U.S.-led coalition against Iraq in the Gulf War. The Ba'athists seized power in Iraq for the first time in 1963, but were deposed several months later. The party's regional organisation governed Iraq between 1968 and 2003, for many years under the leadership of Saddam Hussein. The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region was banned in 2003 by the Coalition Provisional Authority following the invasion of Iraq by the US and its allies.

  1. ^ Sassoon 2012, p. 30, The rift between the Ba'th parties in Syria and Iraq widened. In February 1966, a military coup by the party's left wing in Syria forced 'Aflaq and the Syrian leadership to seek refuge in Iraq. From that point on, despite short periods of rapprochement, the chasm between the so-called left-wing in Syria and the right-wing supported by al-Bakr and Saddam Hussein was never bridged..
  2. ^
    • Alla, Malumud Ata (1974). Arab Struggle for Economic Independence. Progress. p. 62. This struggle sharpened after the Right-wing Baathists seized power in Iraq in 1963 and instituted a reign of terror against the Communists and other progressive forces, which considerably weakened the influence of the Baath Party in all the Arab countries.
    • Coughlin, Con (2005). Saddam: His Rise and Fall. Harper Perennial. p. 41. ISBN 0-06-050543-5.
    • A. I. Dawisha, (1976). Egypt in the Arab World: The Elements of Foreign Policy. American Political Science Review. Cambridge University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0333191958. "Then in July 1968, a coup occurred in Baghdad which brought in the right-wing faction of the Baath party."
    • Blamires, Cyprian; Jackson, Paul (2006). World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 82-84. ISBN 978-1576079409.
    • Alan John Day, ed. (1983). Political Dissent An International Guide to Dissident, Extra-parliamentary, Guerrilla, and Illegal Political Movements. Gale Research Company. p. 223. ISBN 9780810320505.


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