14 Facts About Salim Hatum

Salim Hatum was a Syrian Druze military officer and politician who played a significant role in Syrian politics in the 1960s.

Salim Hatum fled Syria amid a warrant for his arrest, but returned in 1967 and was jailed and executed.

Salim Hatum began his military career in the Homs Military Academy, where he joined the Ba'ath Party, an Arab nationalist movement, headed by Michel Aflaq.

Salim Hatum was one of the few Ba'athist officers among the Arab nationalists in the army during this period, although the Ba'athists were the most organized force unofficially headed by a secretive grouping known as the Military Committee and officially, if only nominally, organized by the political party under Aflaq.

Meanwhile, Salim Hatum led the unionists' capture of the city's radio station.

Salim Hatum was elected as a member of the Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch on 1 August 1965, serving one term that lasted until 19 December of that year.

Salim Hatum ordered tank fire against his home and armed clashes raged throughout the city, ending in the deaths of some 50 people.

Salim Hatum felt he was not properly rewarded for his role in the 1966 coup, having been kept from any position in the Ba'ath Party's Regional Command or the Syrian government.

Salim Hatum decided to oust Jadid and Assad by establishing contact with officers and party figures who had been loyal to Bitar and Hafiz, namely former secretary-general of the party's National Command Munif al-Razzaz and former deputy chief of staff Fahd al-Sha'ir.

Jundi subsequently led a crackdown against officers belonging to the Druze community, like Sha'ir and Salim Hatum, arresting over 200 military personnel.

Salim Hatum threatened to kill them, but after pressure from local elders, he reneged and had them detained instead.

Salim Hatum stated in a press conference in Jordan, that sectarianism was taking hold in the Syrian Army, with the purges undertaken by Assad and Jadid resulting in the entrenchment of Alawite power in the country, with Alawite officers taking up key positions in the state.

Salim Hatum felt Jadid would not pursue the death warrant against him with his government now weakened by the defeat.

Tlass later took personal responsibility for his execution, stating Salim Hatum "lost the correct path by conspiring with Jordan".