1963 Syrian coup d'état

The 1963 Syrian coup d'état, referred to by the Syrian government as the 8 March Revolution (Arabic: ثورة الثامن من آذار), was the seizure of power in Syria by the military committee of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The planning and the unfolding conspiracy of the Syrian Ba'athist operatives were prompted by the Ba'ath party's seizure of power in Iraq in February 1963.

The coup was planned by the military committee, rather than the Ba'ath Party's civilian leadership, but Michel Aflaq, the leader of the party, consented to the conspiracy. The leading members of the military committee throughout the planning process and in the immediate aftermath of taking power were Muhammad Umran, Salah Jadid and Hafez al-Assad, who belonged to the minority Alawite community. The committee enlisted the support of two Nasserists, Rashid al-Qutayni and Muhammad al-Sufi, and the independent Ziad al-Hariri. The coup was originally planned for 7 March, but was postponed one day after the government discovered where the conspirators were planning to assemble. After the coup, the Ba'athist Military committee initiated a series of purges that altered the structure of the Syrian armed forces by replacing 90% of its officer corps with Alawites.

The March 8 coup ended the era of democratic experimentation in the post-colonial Syrian Republic, and transformed Syria towards a party state exerting totalitarian domination over daily life. The coup has resulted in the ascendancy of the Ba'athist system, which exerts extensive control over social, economic, political, educational and religious spheres through brutal repression and state terror. Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party has maintained its grip on power for over six decades, through its control of the military, security apparatus, political system and the Mukhabarat, with the country being ruled by its Secretary-General Bashar al-Assad since 2000.