Syrian Social Nationalist Party

Syrian Social Nationalist Party
الحزب السوري القومي الاجتماعي
AbbreviationSSNP
PresidentRabie Banat[1]
FounderAntoun Saadeh
Founded16 November 1932
HeadquartersDamascus (Syria)
Beirut (Lebanon)
NewspaperAl Binaa
Armed wingEagles of the Whirlwind
Membership (2016)100,000
Ideology
Historical:
Political positionSyncretic[a]
National affiliationNational Progressive Front
March 8 Alliance
International affiliationAxis of Resistance
ColoursBlack, red, and white
     
People's Assembly
3 / 250
Cabinet of Syria
1 / 28
Parliament of Lebanon
0 / 128
Cabinet of Lebanon
1 / 24
Party flag
Website
www.ssnparty.org

The Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP; Arabic: الحزب القومي السوري الإجتماعي) is a Syrian nationalist party operating in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. It advocates the establishment of a Greater Syrian nation state spanning the Fertile Crescent, including present-day Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Cyprus, Sinai, Hatay Province, and Cilicia, based on geographical boundaries and the common history people within the boundaries share.[20] It has also been active in the Syrian and Lebanese diaspora, for example in South America,[21] and as of 2020 is the second-largest political party in the pro-Assad National Progressive Front (with 3 seats in the People's Assembly, in comparison with the 167 seats for the Syrian Ba'ath Party).[22]

Founded in Beirut[23] in 1932[21] by the Lebanese intellectual Antoun Saadeh[24] as an anticolonial political organization hostile to French colonial rule, the party played a significant role in Lebanese politics. It launched coups d'état attempts in 1949 and 1961, following which it was repressed in the country. SSNP was active in the fight against the Israeli military during the 1982 Lebanon War and subsequent Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon until 2000, while simultaneously supporting the Syrian occupation of Lebanon due to its beliefs in Syrian irredentism.

In Syria, SSNP operated as an ultranationalist movement until the 1950s; advocating armed uprising to establish a one-party state. It participated in the 1949 Syrian coup d'état, which overthrew the democratically elected government of Shukri al-Quwatli. SSNP continued to engage in violent activities throughout the country; and was banned in 1955 after its assassination of a Syrian Ba'athist military officer Adnan al-Malki. Despite its ban, the party remained organized, and by the late 1990s had allied itself with the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Lebanese Communist Party, despite the ideological differences between them. The SSNP was legalized in Syria in 2005, and joined the Syrian Ba'ath Party-led National Progressive Front. From 2012 to 6 May 2014,[25][26] the party was part of the Popular Front for Change and Liberation.[27] The party would take the side of the Ba'athist government during the Syrian Civil War, where almost 12,000 fighters of its armed branch, the Eagles of the Whirlwind (dismantled in 2019), fought alongside the Syrian Armed Forces against the Syrian opposition and the Islamic State.[28]

  1. ^ "كلمة رئيس الحزب السّوريّ القوميّ الاجتماعيّ الأمين ربيع بنات لمناسبة الأول من آذار".
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Davis was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Ya'ari, Ehud (June 1987). "Behind the Terror". Atlantic Monthly. [The SSNP] greet their leaders with a Hitlerian salute; sing their Arabic anthem, "Greetings to You, Syria," to the strains of "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles"; and throng to the symbol of the red hurricane, a swastika in circular motion.
  4. ^ Pipes, Daniel (1992). Greater Syria. Oxford University Press. pp. 100–101. ISBN 0-19-506022-9. The SSNP flag, which features a curved swastika called the red hurricane (zawba'a), points to the party's fascistic origins.
  5. ^ Yamak, Labib Zuwiyya (1966). The Syrian Social Nationalist Party: An Ideological Analysis. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674862364.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Glavin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference goetz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Antun Saadeh, The Genesis of Nations, (Dar al-Fikr, Beirut)
  9. ^ Antun Saadeh, "The Explanation of the Principles". URL: http://www.ssnp.com/new/library/saadeh/principles/ Archived 27 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Syrian Nazis on the Air". AIJAC. 27 July 2009.
  11. ^ Beshara, Adel (2007). Antun Sa'adeh: The Man, His Thought: an Anthology. DK/Prima Games, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. pp. 267–315. ISBN 978-1465453136.
  12. ^ a b Danial Pipes (August 1988). "Radical Politics and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party".
  13. ^ Morrison, J., Woog, A. (2009). Syria. United States: Facts On File, Incorporated, Page 49
  14. ^ Beshara, Adel (11 January 2013). Lebanon: The Politics of Frustration – The Failed Coup of 1961. Routledge. p. 160. ISBN 978-1-136-00614-2.
  15. ^ MEED. Economic East Economic Digest, Limited. April 1983.
  16. ^ Solomon, Christopher (2022). "1:Introduction". In Search of Greater Syria: The History and Politics of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. New York, NY 10018, USA: I.B. Tauris. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-8386-0640-4. It survived and made itself useful during Syria's occupation of Lebanon by relying on its militia, unique ideology, and adopting a politically pragmatic approach that brought the SSNP from the right side of the political spectrum to its current place in the camp of the left.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  17. ^ Beshara, Adel (11 January 2013). Lebanon: The Politics of Frustration – The Failed Coup of 1961. Routledge. p. 160. ISBN 978-1-136-00614-2.
  18. ^ "In Search of Greater Syria: Book Summary". Bloomsbury Collections. 2021.
  19. ^ Zambelis, Chris (26 March 2014). "Assad's Hurricane: A Profile of the Paramilitary Wing of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party". refworld. Jamestown Foundation. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023.
  20. ^ "About". ssnp.com. Syrian Social Nationalist Party. 17 May 2004. Archived from the original on 17 May 2006. Retrieved 23 March 2024. Our Syria has distinct natural boundaries…
  21. ^ a b Cecilia Baeza (5 December 2018). "Arabism and its Repercussions: Forms of Solidarity among Syrians in Latin America". Arab Reform Initiative. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  22. ^ "2020 People's Assembly Election results". IPU Parline.
  23. ^ Wege, Carl Anthony (2011). "Hizbollah–Syrian Intelligence Affairs: A Marriage of Convenience". Journal of Strategic Security. 4 (3): 1–14. doi:10.5038/1944-0472.4.3.1. ISSN 1944-0464. JSTOR 26463938. S2CID 32051188.
  24. ^ Yonker, Carl C. (2021). The Rise and Fall of Greater Syria : a Political History of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Berlin. ISBN 978-3-11-072909-2. OCLC 1248759109.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  25. ^ "Syrian Arab news agency – SANA – Syria : Syria news ::". Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  26. ^ "Noticias de Prensa Latina". Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  27. ^ "IDEOLOGY". Archived from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  28. ^ Samaha, Nour (28 March 2016). "The Eagles of the Whirlwind". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 28 June 2021.


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