Syria - History
	Syria was formerly part of Turkey´s Ottoman Empire. Turkish forces were defeated in the First World War (1914-18) and Syria was occupied in 1920 by France, in accordance with a League of Nations mandate. Syrian nationalists proclaimed an independent republic in September 1941. French powers were transferred in January 1944, and full independence was achieved on 17 April 1946. In December 1949 Syria came under an army dictatorship, led by Brig. Adib Shishekly.He was elected President in July 1953 but was overthrown by another army coup in February 1954. In February 1958 Syria merged with Egypt to form the United Arab Republic (UAR). In September 1961, following an army coup in Damascus, Syria seceded and formed the independent Syrian Arab Republic. In 1963 Maj.-Gen. Amin al-Hafiz formed a Government in which members of the Arab Socialist Renaissance (Baath) Party were predominant. In February 1966 the army deposed the Government of President al-Hafiz, replacing him with Dr Nur ed-Din al-Atasi. However, in November 1970, after a bloodless coup, the military (moderate) wing of the Baath Party seized power, led by Lt-Gen. Hafiz al-Assad, who was elected President in March 1971. In March 1972 the National Progressive Front (NPF), a grouping of the five main political parties (including the Baath Party), was formed under the leadership of President Assad. Syria had progressively intervened in the Lebanese civil war during 1976, finally providing the bulk of the 30,000-strong Arab Deterrent Force (ADF). Syria condemned the Egyptian President, Col Anwar Sadat, for Egypt´s peace initiative with Israel in November and December 1977, the Camp David agreements between Egypt and Israel, signed in September 1978, and the subsequent peace treaty concluded between them. Syria, alone of all the Arab states, refused to recognize the independent Palestinian state (proclaimed at the 19th session of the Palestine National Council (PNC) in Algiers in November 1988), in accordance with its long-standing policy of preventing any other force in Lebanon from acquiring sufficient power to challenge Syrian interests. In March 1989 the Christian forces, commanded by Gen. Awn (the head of the interim Lebanese Government appointed by President Gemayel in September 1988), began an attempt to expel Syrian forces from Lebanon. This rapidly developed into one of the most violent confrontations of the entire civil war. Syria´s relationship with Iraq came under strain for some years in the 1970s, owing to rivalry between different wings of the Baath Party, in Damascus and Baghdad. Syria supported Iran in its war with Iraq, which began in September 1980. In November 1987 an extraordinary summit meeting of the League of Arab States, convened to discuss the Iran-Iraq War, produced a unanimous statement expressing solidarity with Iraq, condemning Iran for prolonging the war and for its occupation of Arab (i.e. Iraqi) territory. However, after the summit, Syria announced that a reconciliation with Iraq had not taken place, and that Syrian relations with Iran remained fundamentally unchanged. Syria had used its veto to prevent the adoption of an Iraqi proposal to readmit Egypt to membership of the the Arab League, but it could not prevent the inclusion in the final communiqué of a clause permitting individual member nations to re-establish diplomatic relations with Egypt. Egypt´s recognition of the newly-proclaimed Palestinian state in November 1988 gave fresh impetus to attempts to achieve a reconciliation between Egypt and Syria. These culminated in the restoration of diplomatic relations between Egypt and Syria in December 1989, and in the visit of President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to Damascus, the first such visit by an Egyptian head of state for more than 12 years.