22 February 1958, abandoned on 28 September 1961;readopted on 30 March 1980[2]
Design
A horizontal
tricolour of red, white, and black; charged with two green
stars at the centre.
The current flag was first adopted in 1958 to represent Syria as part of the
United Arab Republic, and was used until 1961. It was readopted in 1980. Since its first adoption, variations of the red-white-black flag have been used in various Arab Unions of Syria with
Egypt,
Libya,
Sudan,
Yemen, and
Iraq. Although Syria is not part of any Arab state union, the flag of the United Arab Republic was readopted to show Syria's commitment to Arab unity.[3] The usage of the flag has become disputed because it is often associated with the
Ba'ath Party and has come to represent parties loyal to
Bashar al-Assad's government in the
Syrian civil war.[4]
The Syrian flag is described in Article 6 of the
Syrian Constitution. The first paragraph of the Article states:
The flag of the Syrian Arab Republic consists of four colours: red, white and black, with two green stars, of five angles each. The flag is rectangular, with its width measuring two-thirds of its length. It is divided into three rectangles of identical dimensions and have the same length as the flag. The upper one is red, the middle being white and the bottom one is black, with the two green stars in the middle of the white rectangle.
— 1st Paragraph of
Article 6 of the Syrian Constitution[5]
The flag is based on the Arab Liberation Flag, which had four colours – black, green, white and red – representing four major dynasties of Arab history: Abbasids, Faṭimids, Umayyads, and Hashimites.[6]
Originally in 1932 with 1:2 aspect ratio, was readopted in 1961. Adopted with 2:3 aspect ratio in 2011 by opposition
government-in-exile[9] (sometimes the original 1:2 aspect ratio flag is used unofficially).
Design
A horizontal
triband of green, white, and black, with three red
stars charged in the center.
During the ongoing civil war, the
Syrian opposition, represented by the
Syrian National Council, then by the
National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces[10] (commonly named the Syrian National Coalition) used a modified version of the independence flag first used in 1932 with a 2:3 aspect ratio. The modified independence flag began to be used as a universal display of the protesting opposition in late 2011.[10] The opposition wanted to distinguish themselves from the current Syrian government and favoured the use of the flag used when Syria gained its independence from France. Khaled Kamal, an official from the Syrian National Council, now believes this flag to also represent independence and the end of
Bashar al-Assad's government. Today the flag is mainly used in areas controlled by the Syrian National Coalition. The use of the modified independence flag is similar to the Libyan rebels' use of the pre-Gaddafi red-black-green-white
Libyan flag from the era of the
Kingdom of Libya in opposition to
Muammar Gaddafi's
green flag.[11] The original 1:2 aspect ratio flag has been used by the opposition unofficially on several occasions.
The
Ottoman flag had been used in Syria until Ottomans left the country on 18 September 1918. In 1918, the official flag of Syria was the Faysal flag, or
Flag of the Arab Revolt, the flag of the 1916–1918
Arab Revolt against the Ottomans. It was officially adopted by the
Hashemite family on 30 September 1918 and remained in use until 8 March 1920. This was the first flag to use the green/red/white/black combination seen in most subsequent Syrian flags. The colours' symbolism has been described as follows: white for the Damascene
Umayyad period, green for the
Caliph Ali, red for the
Khawarij radical Islamic movement, and black for the Islamic prophet
Muhammad, showing the "political use of religion" in opposition to the increasingly secularized Turkish colonial rule.[12] Alternately, it has been argued that the horizontal colors stand for the
Abbasid (black), Umayyad (white) and
Fatimid (green)
Caliphates and the red triangle to the
Hashemite dynasty.[13][14]
Under the Arab Kingdom of Syria, the Faysal flag was redesigned with a 7-pointed white star imposed on the red triangle, and was in use until 24 July 1920.
This flag was, however, adopted by Jordan somewhat later.[3] The kingdom lasted for just over 4 months in 1920 before being occupied by
France and formally incorporated into the
French colonial empire for some 12 years.
The Faysal flag was abandoned with the arrival of French colonials to Syria. The French High Commissioner for Syria, General
Henri Gouraud adopted the new flag of the
French Mandate of Syria (blue with a white crescent, see below) on 24 July 1920. The flag was based on the flag of the
Shebab Emirate used between 1697 and 1842, which stood for "the love of peace".[15] Gouraud's flag was in use until 1 September 1920, after which Syria was split into separate territories, each eventually given its own flag (see below).[16][12] On 22 June 1922 Gouraud established the
Federation of Syria, which used a green-white-green flag with a
French flag canton. When this federation was consolidated into the
State of Syria in 1925 the same flag continued to be used until the establishment of the republic on 14 May 1930.[17][18]
Independence flag
French Mandate and independence (1930–58, 1961–63)
The flag of the newly established Syrian Republic, under the French mandate was determined by the 1930 constitution. The constitution was drafted by a parliamentary committee led by nationalist leader
Ibrahim Hananu.[19] At first, French authorities refused to allow the constituent assembly to ratify the constitution, and
Henri Ponsot, the
High Commissioner of the Levant, dissolved the assembly on 5 February 1929. After a public uproar, French authorities rescinded their decision and decided to approve the draft with some changes.[20] On 14 May 1930, Ponsot issued decree number 3111, which approved the Syrian-drafted "Constitution of the
Syrian Republic", and which in Article IV of Part I states:
"[The] Syrian flag will be as follows: length double width, and is divided into three parallel and equal colours, the highest green, white then black, that the white section contains in a straight line three red five-pointed stars".
— Article IV, Part I, Constitution of the Syrian Republic[21]
The flag's green colour stood for the
Rashidun, white represented the
Umayyads and black symbolised the
Abbasids. Originally, the three red stars represented the three districts of Syria: the "states" of
Aleppo,
Damascus, and
Deir ez-Zor.[12] In 1936, the
Sanjak of Latakia and
Jebel Druze were added to Syria, and the representation of the three stars was changed, with the first representing the districts of Aleppo, Damascus and Deir ez-Zor, the second Jebel Druze, and the final star representing Sanjak of Latakia.[18] The flag was used as a symbol for the desire for autonomy, for Syrians to rally around when France reneged on its agreement to leave the country, due to the outbreak of World War II.[22][12] The symbolism was as follows: black for the dark oppressed past, white for a promising future and red for the blood to be sacrificed to move from the former to the latter.[12] The flag was adopted when Syria gained its independence on 17 April 1946.[3] The standard was used until the creation of the
United Arab Republic, a state union of Syria and
Egypt, in 1958. After the collapse of the United Arab Republic, Syria continued to use the UAR's flag until 28 September 1961, when the independence flag was restored to disassociate Syria from the former failed union.[3]
The current two-star flag of Syria was first adopted by
Gamal Abdel Nasser, the then
president of Egypt and later the president of the
United Arab Republic.[23] The flag was changed from the former independence flag in April 1958 along with associated laws designed to create a greater Arab identity.[23] The new flag took the coloured red-white-black bands from the
Egyptian revolutionary flag, and the stars on the flag were changed from red to green to indicate the
pan-Arab colours. The two stars represented Egypt and Syria.[24]
After Syria left the UAR on 28 September 1961, the previous independence flag was readopted to disassociate Syria from the failed union.
Following the
1963 Ba'athist coup d'état,[25] a new flag was adopted by its
Revolutionary Command Council on 8 March 1963, and was used until 1 January 1972.[3] In 1963, the Ba'athist regime came to power in
Iraq as well, and the two Ba'athist governments began negotiations in Cairo in order to once again form a union between Egypt, Syria and Iraq. The process failed after the Iraqi Ba'athist government was overthrown in November 1963 but both Syria and Iraq did adopt a new flag to represent the union.[26] This flag was not much different from the flag of the UAR, with only a change from two stars to three, in order to represent the addition of Iraq to the Federation.[3] The three stars represented the unity of Egypt, Syria and Iraq, as well as three pillars of Ba'athism: unity, freedom, and socialism.[27]
President
Hafez al-Assad adopted a new flag on 1 January 1972, as Syria joined Egypt and
Libya in the
Federation of Arab Republics. The green stars were replaced by the
Hawk of Quraish (the symbol of the tribe of Muhammad).[12] The eagle held the ribbon with the name of the Federation, but unlike Egypt and Libya, Syria did not include its name on the coat of arms.[18] This flag was an official flag during the
Yom Kippur War in 1973.[3] The Federation was dissolved in 1977, but Syria continued to use the flag for the next three years.[18] The flag was abrogated on 29 March 1980,[3] and replaced by the current two-star flag[27] in order to show Syria's commitment to Arab unity.[3]
List of flags of Syria
The following section below is a list of flags used in
Syria.
A horizontal tricolour of red, white and black with 2 dark green stars.
1972–1980
Presidential flag of Syria
A horizontal tricolour of red, white and black with the old emblem of
Egypt.
1963–1972
Presidential flag of Syria
A horizontal tricolour of red, white and black with 3 dark green stars.[29][30]
1958–1961
Presidential flag of Syria
A horizontal tricolour of red, white and black with 2 dark green stars. The coloured emblem of Egypt is at the top-left hoist.
1941–1958, 1961–1963
Presidential flag of Syria
A horizontal tricolour of dark green, white and black with 3 red stars.[29]
Royal flags
Flag
Date
Use
Description
1920
Royal flag of Syria
A horizontal tricolour of black, dark green and white with a crown to the right on the center and a red triangle flipped with a white 8-pointed star inside.
Flag of Syria with the Coat of Arms of the Syrian Armed Forces in the top left hand corner. Across the top the flag says "Homeland Honor Devotion" (وطن شرف إخلاص), and "Syrian Arab Army" (الجيش العربي السوري) across the bottom.[31][32]
Blue background with a 32-pointed yellow star and wheats crossed below it, below the wheats are Arabic text and the text "GHB". On the top left hoist is a red shooting star.[36][37]
Podeh, Elie (1999). The Decline of Arab Unity: The Rise and Fall of the United Arabic Republic. Sussex Academic Press.
ISBN978-1-902210-20-9.
Schumann, Cristoph (2008). Liberal Thought in the Eastern Mediterranean: Late 19th Century Until the 1960s. BRILL.
ISBN9789004165489.
Thomas, Martin (2007). Empires of Intelligence: Security Services and Colonial Disorder after 1914. University of California Press.
ISBN978-0-520-25117-5.