Shukri al-Quwatli
First president of the Syrian Republic after independence (1943–1949 and 1955–1958)
The president who led the independence talks, then the union with Egypt, then its dissolution.
Shukri al-Quwatli was born in 1891 CE in Damascus, into a distinguished Sunni family. He joined the Arab movement against the Ottomans and the Great Arab Revolt of 1916. The Ottomans under Jamal Pasha arrested him for his nationalist activity during World War I; he returned to Damascus after the war.
In the 1930s he led the National Bloc against the Mandate, then was elected president of the republic in 1943 — at the height of the national movement. Under his rule:
- Syria achieved its independence in 1946 (the withdrawal negotiations)
- he took part in the 1948 Palestine War — which Syria (along with the other Arab armies) lost; the defeat led to Husni al-Za'im's coup in 1949
- he returned to the presidency in 1955
- on 1 February 1958 he co-led with Nasser the founding of the United Arab Republic (Syria + Egypt) — but he was removed from power after the 1961 coup
After the 1961 coup he lived in exile in Beirut, then Geneva. He died on 30 June 1967 CE in Beirut, weeks after the fall of the Golan Heights in the Six-Day War. He is considered Syria's first republican president, embodying the rise of the Syrian national movement.
