1979 Ba'ath Party Purge

1979 Ba'ath Party Purge

Syrian president Hafiz al-Assad (centre) with Iraqi vice president Saddam Hussein (left), Algerian foreign minister Abdelaziz Bouteflika (right), and Syrian vice president Abdul Halim Khaddam (far right, half-covered) at the 1978 Arab League summit in Baghdad.
Native name	Comrades Massacre
Date	22 July 1979
Location	Ba'athist Iraq
Also known as	Khuld Hall Incident, Comrades Massacre
Type	Purge
Cause	Failure of unity talks between Syrian and Iraqi Ba'ath Parties Saddam's claim that he has discovered a fifth column in the Revolutionary Command Council plotting to overthrow the party leadership in co-ordination with Hafez al-Assad
Organised by	Saddam Hussein
Outcome	Killing of former Secretary Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi on 8 August 1979 Saddam Hussein's domination of the Ba'ath Party Arrests and subsequent killings of Ba'athist opponents accused of Syrian collaboration Deepening rift between Iraq-based and Syrian-based Ba'ath movements Hafez al-Assad's support to Iran during the Iran-Iraq War
Deaths	21 executed
Arrests	68

This article is part of a series about Saddam Hussein
Personal Early life Saddamism Ba'athist Iraq Family Uday Qusay Raghad Rana Sajida Talfah Affiliations Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party Iraq-based Ba'ath Party Revolutionary Command Council Political offices President of Iraq (1979–2003) Prime Minister of Iraq (1979–1991, 1994–2003) Vice President of Iraq (1968–1979) Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council (1979–2003) Regional Secretary of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party (1964–1966, 1979–2006) Secretary General of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party (1992–2006) Rise to power 1959 Mosul uprising Ramadan Revolution 17 July Revolution First Iraqi–Kurdish War Yom Kippur War Second Iraqi–Kurdish War 1974–75 Shatt al-Arab conflict 1975 Algiers Agreement 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge Presidency Iran–Iraq War Iraqi invasion of Iran Dujail massacre Anfal campaign Halabja massacre Iraqi invasion of Kuwait Gulf War missile attacks on Israel missile attacks on U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia 1991 Iraqi uprisings 1999 Shia uprising 2003 invasion of Iraq Battle of Baghdad Firdos Square statue destruction Human rights record Al-Qaeda link allegations Timeline Nuclear weapon program Operation Opera Desposition Capture Interrogation Trial Execution Reactions Elections and referendums 1995 Iraqi presidential referendum 2002 Iraqi presidential referendum Books Blood Quran Zabibah and the King The Fortified Castle Men and the City Begone, Demons
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The 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge (Arabic: تطهير حزب البعث), also called the Comrades Massacre^[1][2] (Arabic: مجزرة الرفاق), was a public purge of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party orchestrated on 22 July 1979 by then-president Saddam Hussein^[3] six days after his arrival to the presidency of the Iraqi Republic on 16 July 1979.^[4][1]

Six days after the resignation of President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Hussein's accession to President of the Iraqi Republic, Regional Secretary of the party, and Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council on July 16, 1979, he organized a Ba'ath conference on July 22 in Al-Khuld Hall in Baghdad to carry out a campaign of arrests and executions that included Ba'athist comrades, who were accused of taking part in a pro-Syrian plot to overthrow Saddam.

The list included most of the comrades who opposed Saddam Hussein's rise to power after Al-Bakr,^[1] and among these was the former president's secretary, Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi. Names of people were announced and they were taken outside the hall to be executed. Ba'athist propaganda at the time showed that they were convicted of conspiracy and high treason to the party.^[2] Iraq subsequently cut off relations with its fellow Ba'athist regime in Syria, accusing Hafiz al-Assad of organizing the plot.^[5]: 92

Various rounds of unification talks were ongoing between the two Ba'athist parties at the official level, with the Iraqi vice-president Saddam Hussein publicly endorsing the merger of Iraq and Syria in 1978. By then, Saddam had become the effective leader of the Ba'ath party due to Iraqi President Ahmed Hussein Al-Bakr's health issues. A major demand of Saddam was the unification of both the Syrian and Iraqi wings of the Ba'ath party, as the first step to integrate Syria with Iraq. He also sought the rehabilitation of Michel Aflaq, who was on the kill-list of Syrian Ba'ath party, and make Aflaq the head of a re-unified Ba'ath Party. It was reported that Syrian President Hafiz al-Assad objected these demands and was strongly opposed to the idea of a unified military command.^[6]: 282

On 11 July 1979, an ailing Ahmed Hussein al-Bakr announced his resignation before a meeting of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) and his intention to transfer the presidency to Saddam Hussein.^[6]: 283 US government's Radio Free Europe claimed in 2003 that it was a "coup" orchestrated by Saddam who compelled the ailing President to retire "for health reasons".^[7]

RCC member Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi fiercely objected to al-Bakr's resignation during the session and urged al-Bakr to take a temporary vacation without transferring power to his successor, a proposition that was declined by Al-Bakr. This had raised the suspicion of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi second-in-command who became president on 16 July 1979. In an assembly of party leadership convened on 22 July, Saddam staged a purge against the military wing of the Ba'ath Party whom he accused of collaborating with Syria to topple the regime in Iraq.^{[8][6]: 282}

External videos
BBC News "Saddam's 1979 Baath Party purge", Footage of the purge from a Ba'ath Party video

Saddam hurriedly convened an "emergency session" of party leaders on July 22. During the assembly, which he ordered to be videotaped,^[3] he claimed to have uncovered a fifth column within the party. Abdul-Hussein "confessed" to be part of a Syrian-financed faction established in 1975 that played a major role in the Syrian-backed plot against the Iraqi government. He also gave the names of 68 alleged co-conspirators.^{[6]: 282–283} These were removed from the room one by one as their names were called and taken into custody. After the list was read, Saddam congratulated those still seated in the room for their past and future loyalty. Those arrested at the meeting were subsequently tried together and found guilty of treason. Twenty-two men, including five members of the Revolutionary Command Council,^[9] were sentenced to execution. Those spared were given weapons and directed to execute their comrades.^[10][11]

Some of the victims are listed below:

Details of the events were publicised on 28 July 1979, and Iraqi media began accusing Syria of backing the alleged plot. Syrian Ba'athists responded by denying any relations to the coup plotters.^[6]: 283 On August 8, the Iraqi News Agency announced that twenty-one of the twenty-two Iraqis were executed by firing squad for "their part in a plot to overthrow Iraq's new president". The twenty-second man was condemned to death in absentia because he was "nowhere to be found", the agency said.^[9]  A tape of the assembly and of the executions was distributed throughout the country. Shortly thereafter, in early August 1979, Hussein took to the balcony of the presidential mansion in Baghdad to inform “a chanting crowd of 50,000 supporters that he had just witnessed the punishment the state court had ordered for 21 of those men: They had been executed by a firing squad. The crowd cheered.”^[12]

The events led to a complete rupture of ties between the Ba'athist governments of Syria and Iraq. Hussein’s personal conclusion, which he conveyed to Syrian president Assad, was that Syrian Ba'athists "were deep in the plot,” though he continued to provide Syria with the financial support originally offered during the 1978 Arab League summit. This agreement was eventually halted in 1980 with the outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War, during which Assad overtly aligned with Iran, spurring Iraq to accuse him of betraying Pan-Arabism.^{[6]: 283–284} A 1981 secret memo issued to Syrian Ba'ath Party members by Assad further demonstrated the division between the two nations, with Assad declaring that Syria's policy was to prolong "the war to a degree that will facilitate the replacement of Saddam" and install pro-Syrian Iraqi Nationalist Front in Iraq. Syria would go on to support Iraqi opposition parties for decades, including the pro-Iranian Shia Islamic Dawa Party.^[13] Iraq in turn supported the National Front for the Liberation of Arab Syria, a coalition of Syrian opposition factions that included pro-Iraqi Syrian Ba'athists and Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, which opposed the Alawite-dominated Ba'ath Party rule in Syria. It also supported the Islamist revolts in Syria after 1980. Relations between the two countries remained strained until Saddam Hussein's overthrow in a 2003 American invasion.^{[14][13][5]: 91–92}