Adib ash-Shishakli (1909 – 27 September 1964, Arabic: أديب الشيشكلي, romanized: ʾAdīb aš-Šīšaklī) was a Syrian military officer who served as President of Syria briefly in 1951 and later from 1953 to 1954. He was overthrown and later assassinated.
Adib ash-Shishakli (1909 – 27 September 1964, Arabic: أديب الشيشكلي, romanized: ʾAdīb aš-Šīšaklī) was a Syrian military officer who served as President of Syria briefly in 1951 and later from 1953 to 1954. He was overthrown and later assassinated.
The president of Syria, officially the president of the Syrian Arab Republic, (Arabic: رئيس الجمهورية العربية السورية, romanized: Ra'īs al-Jumhūriyyah al-ʿArabiyyah as-Sūriyyah), is the head of state and head of government of Syria. The president directs the executive branch of the Syrian government and serves as the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces. The president represents the nation in international relations and formalizes treaties with foreign countries.
In 1922, French authorities created the Syrian Federation under the Mandate for Syria and Lebanon, with Subhi Barakat serving as its president. The federation was short-lived and was replaced by the State of Syria in 1925. Barakat briefly remained president until the outbreak of the Great Syrian Revolt later that year, which led to his resignation. He was succeeded by Ahmad Nami, who served as president until his removal in 1928. In the following years, the Syrian presidency underwent several changes in leadership, including a coup by Husni al-Za'im in March 1949, followed by another led by Adib Shishakli in 1951. Following the 1958 referendum, Syria joined the United Arab Republic, and its president Gamal Nasser, also became the Syrian president in the same referendum. This lasted for three years until the 1961 coup, when Syria restored its independence and the 1950 constitution.
The Second Syrian Republic, officially the Syrian Republic from 1950 to 1958 and the Syrian Arab Republic from 1961 to 1963, succeeded the First Syrian Republic that had become de facto independent in April 1946 from the French Mandate. The Second Republic was founded on the Syrian Constitution of 1950, which was suspended from 1950 to 1954 under Adib Shishakli's strongmanship, and later when Syria joined with the Republic of Egypt in forming the United Arab Republic in 1958. The Second Republic resumed when Syria withdrew from the union in 1961. In 1963, the Syrian Ba'athist Party came to power in a bloodless military coup, which laid the foundations for the political structure in Ba'athist Syria.
The green, white, black and red flag is the first flag of the Syrian Arab Republic and with the shortest usage, that being from 1961 to 1963. It was also the flag of the Syrian opposition during the Syrian civil war, and became the official flag of Syria anew in 2025.
The 1954 Syrian coup d'état took place in February of that year to overthrow the government of Adib Shishakli. Leading the anti-Shishakli movement were former President Atassi and the veteran Druze leader Sultan al-Atrash.
The 1951 Syrian coup d'état (Arabic: انقلاب 1951 في سوريا) was the fourth coup d'état in Syria following independence. The coup was led by Adib Shishakli, who forced the existing government, led by President Hashim al-Atassi and Prime Minister Maarouf al-Dawalibi to resign.