Muslim Brotherhood in Syria

By: Cassandra Lee

Facts about Syria

Population: about 18 million people

Area: 185, 180 square kilometers

Sunnis are the largest religious group

The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria was established in 1945 and was actively involved in political roles until 1963 when their opposing party rose to power. The Baath Party, having a secular nationalist ideology, began to weaken Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood and advocated for their activities to be banned. As a result, the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria reacted violently towards government officials and the Baath Party. The actions of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood were so extreme that Hafez al-Assad, the president at that time, created a law in which members of the Brotherhood were punished to death or exiled. Violence from the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria continued until the Hama Massacre in 1982 which caused the Brotherhood and others against the government to withdraw.

In 1996, a newly elected chair for Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood was able to influence Bashar al-Assad to release some Brotherhood prisoners. The chair was only able to negotiate this, even though he had a larger goal in mind. When protests first broke out in 2011, the Brotherhood decided not to take part in it; however, they started to participate a few months in. At this time, Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood worked alongside other Syrian opposition and was considered to be highly persuasive. As the Brotherhood shares their philosophy, it causes people with radical visions to come together and push the Brotherhood philosophy down so no one listens to them. The Muslim Brotherhood remains very cautious of these extremists, especially when they are sending weapons to rebels, as they do not want weapons being put in the wrong hands.

The Brotherhood strongly believed that foreign influence would have the power to resolve the crisis in Syria. The Brotherhood worked closely with the Turkish government; they helped by intervening while also providing humanitarian aid. The Brotherhood believed that the League of Arab States as well as the United Nations did not fulfill their role to resolve the conflict and protect innocent civilians. Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood created a document in 2012 called the “Covenant and Pact” which is designed to provide a foundation of a democratic system for when Assad’s ruling comes to an end.

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