NEW 10-2006:

The streets of Damascus on March 8, 1963. This was the day that Baathist and Nasserist officers carried out a revolution at 6:45 am against the regime of Prime Minister Khalid al-Azm and President Nazim al-Qudsi. The rebels announced their coup through Syrian Radio and TV at 8:40 am in the name of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). They pledged to restore the Syrian-Egyptian union, which had been shattered in September 1963.

 


NEW 10-2006:

Israeli prisoners captured by Syria during the Arab-Israeli War of 1973, known as the October War. Their hands are tied and they are blindfolded to be presented to the International Press.

 


 

President Gamal Abdul-Nasser delivering a calm yet aggressive speech from Cairo against the Syrians coup d'etat that toppled the United Arab Republic (UAR) on September 28, 1961. The "secession" coup was the biggest disaster for Nasser's prestige since he had assumed power in the July Revolution of 1952. He never trusted the Syrians after 1961, since most of those who supported the "sucession" were originally the same Syrians who had created it in 1958. This includes former President Shukri al-Quwatli, former Prime Minister Sabri al-Asali, and the Baath leader Akram al-Hawrani.

 


 

President Shukri al-Quwatli of Syria and President Gamal Abdul-Nasser of Egypt signing the Syrian-Egyptian union and creating the United Arab Republic (UAR) on February 6, 1958. Other footage shows the Syrians voting in a plebiscite for Nasser as president of the UAR on February 24, after President Quwatli stepped down from office. In reward for his sacrifice, Quwatli was named the "First Arab Citizen." Finally, the film shows Nasser attending parades on February 23, 1959, celebrating the first anniversary of the UAR.
 
The Argentinian-born Cuban rebel Che Guevara visiting Damascus in 1957. This was two years before he helped Fidel Castro come to power in Cuba. Che Guevara was welcomed in Syria by President Shukri al-Quwatli, who developed a habit in the 1950s of welcoming internationally acclaimed rebels to Syria.

President Nazim al-Qudsi in two rare videos. In one he is welcoming the Iraqi Foreign Minister Hashim Jawad at the Presidential Palace in Damascus on January 23, 1962. The second video is of President Qudsi arriving at the Syrian Parliament on December 18, 1961 for his swearing-in-ceremony. He is greeted by a standing ovation of Syria's deputies in the first Parliament created after dissolving the Syrian-Egyptian union on September 28, 1961. President Qudsi was the first president to be elected after the downfall of the United Arab Republic (UAR) in 1961 and the last to rule in the civilian era since he was ousted by the Baath Party in a military coup d'etat on March 8, 1963.

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Salama al-Aghawany, the famous Syrian monologue artist, at a fund-raising activity in the Christian neighborhood of Qasaa in Damascus in 1951. At this event, he is trying to raise funds for an NGO of bank employees so they can rent an office for thier activities. With sharp humor, he targets his patron Fakhri al-Barudi, and Pierre Mukannas, director of Banque de Syrie et du Liban

 


A speech by General Adib al-Shishakli at a military reception in 1953 in his native Hama. He was serving as Chief-of-Staff under the puppet regime of President Fawzi Selu, which he had created in November 1951. Shishakli was acclaimed as one of the best speakers in modern Syrian history. 

 



A television interview with the National Bloc leader Fakhri al-Barudi in 1965. The interview was made on Independence Day and Barudi recounts the French bombing of Damascus on May 29, 1945 when he was a commander of the National Youth and member of the National Bloc, the leading anti-French movement in Syria.



A speech given by President Hashim al-Atasi shortly after he returned to power on March 1, 1954. Atasi was 82-years old, commemorating the Muslim New Year. This is the only recorded speech available for President Hashim al-Atasi, who ruled Syria in 1936-1939, 1949-1951, and 1954-1955

 

A speech by Prime Minister Saadallah al-Jabiri at the Arab League in Cairo in June 1945, recounting the bombing of Damascus by the French Army on May 29, 1945.


 

A speech by President Gamal Abd al-Nasser announcing the creation of the United Arab Republic (UAR) between Syria and Egypt in February 1958.