Syrian Ba'ath Party

  

The Democratic Arab Socialist Union, officially the Democratic Arab Socialist Union – Syrian Branch, was a Ba'ath political party that ruled Syria as a one-party state from 1967 to 2004. Established in 1942 as the Arab Revolutionary Socialist Party, it was based on the ideas of Syrian intellectuals that championed socialism and Arab nationalism, being the first Ba'ath party before others were formed in different Arab countries. In 1956 it received its current name and formed a united front with similar parties in Syria before being banned. The party became active in the politics of the First Syrian Republic before being actively suppressed by the government, but it gained a following in the military, which led to the 1967 Syrian coup d'etat. The Arab socialist movement had branches across the Arab world, and until 2004 the Syrian Democratic Arab Socialist Union was the second-largest branch after the Egyptian Branch. The party was officially banned in 2005 after the invasion of Syria but it has continued to function in the Syrian Civil War as the leading opposition force.