Dr. Edmond Melhem – Understanding SSNP’s Role in Syria’s Anti-Terror Efforts

Historical background
From the perspective of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), two key points about Syria warrant consideration. Firstly, the SSNP defines “Syria” or “natural Syria” as encompassing a region much larger than the current boundaries of the Syrian Republic. This expansive geographical concept includes present-day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Kuwait, the Sinai Peninsula, and Cyprus, forming a cohesive geographic and political entity. According to the SSNP, the inhabitants of these regions collectively form a unified nation.
The second point about Syria relates to its geographical position and economic and political importance. Geographically, Syria connects three continents, Europe from the south, Asia from the west, and Africa from the east. This geographical position rendered Syria a “highway between West and East for trade and culture”. Historians who wrote about the history of Syria tell us that “Syria has almost always been an important link in the trade routes which connect the Mediterranean world with India and the Far East.” Its geographical position, moreover, contributed to its strategic importance. It rendered this land a battle-ground between great empires fighting for its control.

At different phases of history, Syria was subdued by various conquerors. Each of them seized either the whole country or a large portion of it, establishing confederations and other forms of government for a time, and left some mark on the life of the country. In the last century, geographical Syria again became a battleground where the modern French and British Empires competed for control and domination of the economically and strategically important Eastern Mediterranean lands. The politics of their imperial rivalry during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries led to the partitioning of geographical Syria, resulting in the creation of several countries or administrative configurations from the Ottoman Empire. Artificial borders were imposed on the inhabitants of Syria by British and French diplomats who signed a secret agreement known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement, agreeing that the French would control what is now Syria and Lebanon, while the British would control what is now Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine.

The division of geographical Syria that was carried out according to the aims and interests of Great Britain and France caused several problems. As Professor Najib E. Saliba pointed out:
It established artificial boundaries in a country hitherto united by geography, history, economy and popular sentiment; it separated the interior of Syria from its natural ports of Tripoli, Beirut and Sidon; it hampered the movement of goods and people, and separated families across boundary lines and, above all, it created the conditions for future political instability.
Antun Sa’adeh, the founder of the SSNP, summed up the story of partitioning ‘natural Syria’ in 1920: He wrote:
After the First World War, the condominium of Great Britain and France over Syria resulted in the partition of the country according to their political aims and interests and gave rise to the present political designations: Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Cilicia and Iraq. Natural Syria consists of all those regions which constitute one geographic-economic-strategic unit.

… To be continued