About Major Salim Hatum: The Druze army officer who helped shape Syrian politics during the 1960s

Captain Salim Hatum of the Syrian Army.

Salim Hatum was a Druze military officer and member of the Ba'athist Party who played a prominent role in Syrian politics in the 1960s.

Born in the village of Dhibin in Sweida in 1934, he enrolled at Homs Military Academy in 1955 and was commissioned a Lieutenant in 1957.

He was a key participant in the coup which overthrew Lieutenant General Amin al-Hafiz on February 23rd, 1966. Hatoum, who was the Commander of the Thunderbolt Battalion, secured key radio and television buildings where he read out Statement No. 1: his announcement that the Ba'ath Party had overthrown the military regime and the proclamation of a state of emergency.

He was promoted to Major and became part of the ruling Military Committee.

Prior to the coup, he was the Commander of a commando unit and added to this the command of the army garrisons situated near to radio and television stations. However, Hatum felt that he was not properly rewarded for his role in the coup and sought to overthrow the regime nominally headed by President Nureddin al-Atassi whose deputy, General Salah Jadid was effectively the power behind the throne. 

But the insurrection which he began in the Druze heartland (Hatum detained both al-Atassi and Jadid in Suwayda and considered executing both) was put down by air and ground action organised by Air Force Major General Hafez Assad, the future long-term leader of Syria. 

Hatum fled to Jordan where King Hussein gave him refuge. Back home in March 1967 he was convicted of treason and sentenced to death in absentia.

Hatum returned to Syria in June 1967 just after the end of the Six Day Way. He had made a statement published in the Lebanese An-Nahar newspaper that he was returning to fight the Israelis and may have thought that the defeat by Israel had weakened the government to the extent that they would ignore the death sentence handed down against him. However, he was apprehended and the death sentence confirmed by the Supreme State Security Court.

Major Hatum was executed by firing squad in the early hours of June 24th, 1967 at the Mezzeh Military Prison.

N.B.

. Hatum had been friends with "Kamel Amin Thaabet", the character played by Mossad spy Eli Cohen. He sat as part of the panel of officers of the Special Military Court which tried and convicted Cohen of espionage.

. Hatum's disagreement with his colleagues after the overthrow of Lieutenant General Hafiz was set against the backdrop of sectarian tensions within the Ba'athist movement between Alawite officers on the one hand, and those like Hatum who were of Druze origin. In Jordan he told a press conference that Alawites outnumbered non-Alawites by five to one in the Syrian Army. This, he argued, perverted the Ba'athist motto of "One Arab nation with an eternal message" to that of "One Nusayri state with an eternal message", Nusayri being a derogatory word for Alawite.

. Both Jadid and Assad considered Hatum to be reckless when charged with arresting Hafiz during the coup in February because of the amount of property damage caused and mass casualties sustained.

. Hatum is also spelt as "Hatoum".

© Adeyinka Makinde (2025).

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.