Where does the flag of the Syrian revolution come from?

It has become synonymous with opposition to the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and was brandished by thousands of people around the world to celebrate the fall of the Syrian president, overthrown on December 8 by rebels led by Hay’s Islamists. ‘at Tahrir al-Sham (HTC). Since this date, the tricolor flag of green, white, black, decorated with three red stars, has already replaced the official flag (red, white, black, with two green stars) on several government buildings in Syria and embassies abroad. But this is not the first time that this banner, which dates from the pre-Baath era, has flown as a revolutionary emblem. When did this flag come from? And what does it symbolize? L’Orient-Le Jour takes stock.

Former official flag

The flag of the Syrian Revolution was first raised in Aleppo in 1932 and officially adopted in 1936 following the treaty granting semi-independence to Syria from mandatory France. This flag, which reflected the emerging regional identity, was retained after Syria gained full independence on April 17, 1946, when the last French troops left its soil. The three red stars symbolize the three main provinces of the time: Aleppo, Damascus and Deir ez-Zor, while the white refers to the Umayyads, the black to the Abbasids and the green to the first four caliphs of Islam.

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In 1958, with the creation of the United Arab Republic, born from the union of Nasserist Egypt and Syria, a new flag was put in place, which is the official flag still used under Bashar al-Assad. It uses the red, white and black colors of the Egyptian flag, with two green stars to symbolize the union of the two states. Several flags followed one another until the 1980s, evolving according to Syria’s various alliances with certain Arab countries. The flag of the Syrian Arab Republic (1963-1972), for example, adopts the red, white and black colors of the Iraqi flag then in use, with three green stars symbolizing Egypt.

That adopted with the creation of the Syrian Republic in 1932, and today designated as that of the Syrian revolution, was reestablished between 1961 and 1963, with the collapse of the Nasser regime. The red, white and black flag with two stars was again imposed a few years after the start of the reign of Hafez el-Assad, who came to power in 1971 after a coup d’état. In 1980, the Baathist regime decided to take it back. With the popular uprising of March 2011, opponents of the regime chose the green, white and black flag as a rallying sign. A choice criticized by the pro-regime media which evokes the use of a symbol of the French mandate, denouncing an apology for colonialism. Arguments dismissed by the regime’s detractors as propaganda. In November 2011, this flag was adopted by the Syrian National Council – a transitional political authority created two months earlier and based in Istanbul to coordinate all opponents of the Baathist regime – as the official flag of the opposition.