List of Syrian presidential firsts

The following lists achievements and distinctions of various presidents of Syria. It includes distinctions achieved in their earlier life and presidencies. The order in this list and the listed distinctions exclude acting presidents and presidents of the United Arab Republic.

Subhi Bey Barakat (1922–1925)

Subhi Bey Barakat (c. 1922)
  • First president of Syria[1]
  • First president of Syria under French mandate[1]
  • First president of the Syrian Federation[a][1]
  • First president of the State of Syria[1]
  • First president to be democratically elected by parliament[1]
  • First president to serve as Prime Minister, concurrent with his tenure as President[2]
  • First president to have an assassination attempt made on his life[3]
  • First president to murder someone[b][3]
  • First president to murder someone while in office[b][3]
  • First president to resign the presidency[1]
  • First president to run for presidency again after he left it[3]
  • First president to not be re-elected after running for presidency[3]
  • First president to have been a member of the General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire prior to becoming president[2]
  • First president to be elected to parliament after leaving the presidency[4]
  • First president to serve as speaker of parliament after leaving the presidency[4]
  • First president to be elected to a foreign parliament after leaving the presidency[5]
  • First president to be a member of the parliament of Hatay State after leaving the presidency[5]
  • First president to be an independent
  • First president to hold a foreign citizenship[2]
  • First president to hold Turkish citizenship[2]
  • First president to be photographed
  • First president to have facial hair
  • Firat president born in Asia
  • First president born in the 19th century[4]
  • First president born in what is today not Syrian territory[c][1]
  • First president born in the Ottoman Empire[4]
  • First president born in what later became Turkey[1][d]
  • First president of Turkmen ethnicity[6]
  • First president to be Sunni Muslim
  • First president to have Turkish as his mother tongue, and not be fluent in Arabic[4]
  • First president to be unmarried when assuming office[3]
  • First president to be married while in office[3]
  • First president to he married to a Syrian woman[3]
  • First president to be divorced[3]
  • First president to be divorced while in office[3]
  • First president to remarry, and to marry twice while in office[3]
  • First president to be married to a non-Syrian woman[3]
  • First president to be married to a Turkish citizen[3]
  • First president to have children
  • First president to die in Turkey[e][4]
  • First president to die in his city of birth[3]

Ahmad Nami (1926–1929)

Nami in 1925
  • First president born in what later became Lebanon[8][f]
  • First president of Circassian ethnicity[g][10]
  • First president to study in a military academy[h][11]
  • First president to be formerly married to a princess and be a prince (Damat) by marriage[11]
  • First president to be divorced prior to assuming office[11]
  • First president to not be married at anytime while in office[11]
  • First president to be a Freemason[8]
  • First president to die in Lebanon[8]
  • First president to die outside of Syria in lands not claimed by Syria[8][i]

Muhammad Ali Bey al-Abid (1932–1936)

Al-Abid in 1932
  • First president of the Syrian Republic
  • First president of the First Syrian Republic[12]
  • First president to not simultaneously serve as Prime Minister
  • First president to be a member of a political party
  • First president to be a member of the National Bloc
  • First president to have previously served as a government minister[12]
  • First president to have previously served as Minister of Finance[12]
  • First president to have previously served as a Member of Parliament[12]
  • First President to have previously served as a diplomat in the Ottoman Empire[j][12]
  • First president to be a millionaire[12]
  • First president to appear on a Syrian postal stamp[13]
  • First president to be related to a former president by marriage only prior to assuming presidency[k]
  • First president born in what is today Syrian territory[12]
  • First president born in Damascus[12]
  • First president of Arab ethnicity[12]
  • First president to not be from an ethnic minority in Syria
  • First president to be a native and fluent Arabic speaker
  • First president to die in Italy[12]
  • First president to not die in his city of birth[12]
  • First president to be buried in Syria[12]

Hashim al-Atassi (1936–1939, 1950–1951, 1954–1955)

Hashim al-Atassi

Bahij al-Khatib (1939–1941)

Bahij al-Khatib
  • First president to not be born in a city, and to be born in a village[15]
  • First president to have served as Governor of Damascus[15]
  • First president to serve as a government minister after his presidency[15]
  • First president to serve as a Governor after his presidency[15]
  • First president to serve as Governor of Damascus after leaving office[15]
  • First president to serve as Governor of Suwayda after leaving office[15]

Taj al-Din al-Hasani (1941–1943)

Taj al-Din al-Hasani
  • First president to have previously served as acting president[16]
  • First president to have previously served as Minister of Interior[16]
  • First president to die in office[16]
  • First president to die in Syria[q][16]

Ata Bey al-Ayyubi (1943)

Ata Bey al-Ayyubi
  • First president to serve for less than one year[17]

Shukri al-Quwatli (1943–1949, 1955–1958)

Al-Quwatli in 1943
  • First president post-independence from French mandate[18]
  • First president to be a member of the National Party
  • First president to be sentenced to death (by French authorities in Syria)[r][18]
  • First president known to have attempted suicide prior to assuming office[18]
  • First president to be ousted by a coup d'état[19]

Husni al-Za'im (1949)

Husni al-Za'im (c. 1949)
  • First president to assume power following a coup d'état[19]
  • First president to be a military ruler[19]
  • First president to be a WWI veteran[20]
  • First president born in Aleppo[21]
  • First president of Kurdish ethnicity[21]
  • First president to die in post-independence Syria[21]

Fawzi Selu (1951–1953)

Fawzi Selu

Adib Shishakli (1953–1954)

Shishakli in the 1950s

Nazim al-Qudsi (1961–1963)

Nazim al-Qudsi
  • First president after Syria's secession from the United Arab Republic[24]
  • First president to have previously served as Syrian Ambassador to the United States[24]
  • First president to die in Jordan[24]

Lu'ay al-Atassi (1963)

Al-Atassi in 1963

Amin al-Hafiz (1963–1966)

Amin al-Hafiz (c. 1960s)

Nureddin al-Atassi (1966–1970)

Al-Atassi in 1970
  • First president to die in France[28]

Hafez al-Assad (1970–2000)

Al-Assad in 1986
  • First president in the 21st century[29]
  • First president to rule for more than ten years[29]
  • First president to rule for more than twenty years[29]
  • First persident born in Qardaha[29]
  • First president to be non-Sunni
  • First president to be Alawite[30]
  • First president to have a non-Sunni wife
  • First president to have an Alawite wife
  • First president to have been an air force pilot prior to his presidency[29]
  • First president to lead an intervention to occupy territory of another nation[29]
  • First president to appear on Syrian currency
  • First president to reside in the People's Palace
  • First president to die in the 21st century[29]

Bashar al-Assad (2000–2024)

Al-Assad in 2018
  • First president to be the son of a former president[29]
  • First president to directly succeed his relative as president[29]
  • First president to directly succeed his father as president[29]
  • First president to be an ophthalmologist[29]
  • First president to have a woman as vice president[t][31]
  • First president to bombard civilian areas with chemical weapons[29]
  • First president to be ousted following a popular revolution and insurgency, not regular legal process or a coup d'état[29]
  • First president to be granted humanitarian asylum in another nation[32]
  • First president to be married to a British citizen[33]
  • First president to have a wife from a different religious sect than his[34]
  • First president to be alive at a time when no former president was alive

Ahmed al-Sharaa (2025–present)

Al-Sharaa in 2026

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Barakat was the only president of the Syrian Federation.
  2. 1 2 Barakat killed his would-be assassin while resisting him during the attempt on his life.
  3. ↑ Barakat was born in Antakya, now in Turkey's Hatay Province.
  4. ↑ Though Barakat's family comes originally from Hama.[3]
  5. ↑ Barakat died in Antakya in Turkey's Hatay Province. At the time, Much of Hatay was claimed by Syria as the Sanjak of Alexandretta.[7]
  6. ↑ Nami's family had settled in Syria from the Caucasus in the late 18th century.[9]
  7. ↑ Nami was of Turkish and Circassian origin.
  8. ↑ Nami attended the Ottoman Military Academy.
  9. ↑ President Subhi Bey Barakat died in Antakya in Turkey's Hatay Province. At the time, Much of Hatay was claimed by Syria as the Sanjak of Alexandretta[7]
  10. ↑ Al-Abid served as the Ottoman Empire's ambassador to the United States.
  11. ↑ Al-Abid was President Subhi Barakat's father-in-law; that relation was ended by Barakat divorcing al-Abid's daughter before al-Abid assumed the presidency.
  12. ↑ So far, al-Atassi is the only president to serve three non-consecutive periods.
  13. ↑ Al-Attasi is the only president to have served as Prime Minister under the Arab Kingdom of Syria.
  14. ↑ Today referred to as Speaker of the People's Assembly.
  15. ↑ National Bloc (1928-1947) and People's Party (1948-1960).
  16. ↑ Al-Atassi is the only president to die during the time Syria was part of the United Arab Republic.
  17. ↑ Though at the time, Syria was still under French Mandate.
  18. ↑ Al-Quwatli was later pardoned by French authorities.
  19. ↑ President Husni al-Za'im was affiliated with the party, though he not a member.
  20. ↑ Al-Assad was the first Arab president to have a woman vice president.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "From Barakat to Assad: The Syrian presidency in 100 years". Al Majalla. 16 December 2024. Archived from the original on 16 December 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "من الصفحات المجهولة في تاريخنا … من صبحي بركات.. وكيف يتحول المقاوم إلى عدو المقاومين؟" [From the unknown pages of our history.. who was Subhi Barakat.. and how does a resistance fighter turn into an enemy of resistance fighters?]. Al-Watan (in Arabic). 26 October 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "من أنطاكيا إلى أنطاكيا... الطرُق التي مرّ بها صبحي بركات، أول رئيس سوريا" [From Antakya to Antakya... The paths that Subhi Barakat, the first president of Syria, passed through]. Raseef22 (in Arabic). 18 December 2022. Archived from the original on 18 December 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Symbols and Flags of the State in Syria (19) Subhi Barakat". Syrian Future Movement. 30 December 2024. Archived from the original on 9 December 2025. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  5. 1 2 Mehmet Tekin (2009). Hatay Devleti Millet Meclisi Zabıtları [Minutes of the Parliament of the State of Hatay] (in Turkish). Ankara: Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi. pp. 12–13. ISBN 9789751622211.
  6. ↑ "الرئيس الأول للدولة السورية، صبحي بركات" [The first president of the Syrian state, Subhi Barakat]. Levant Writers' Association (in Arabic). 24 September 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  7. 1 2 Atabey, Figen (15 July 2015). "HATAY'IN ANAVATANA KATILMA SÜRECİ" [The Process of Hatay's Joining the Motherland]. Avrasya Uluslararası Araştırmalar Dergisi (in Turkish). 3 (7): 193–209. doi:10.33692/avrasyad.509271. ISSN 2147-2610.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Symbols and Flags of the State in Syria (20) Ahmad Nami". Syrian Future Movement. 4 January 2025. Archived from the original on 16 December 2025. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  9. ↑ "الرئيس السوري أحمد نامي زوج ابنة السلطان عبد الحميد" [Syrian President Ahmad Nami, the husband of Sultan Abdul Hamid's daughter]. Al Jazeera Arabic (in Arabic). 6 June 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  10. ↑ Khoury 2014, p. 327.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Moubayed 2006, p. 298.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Symbols and Flags of the State in Syria (3) Muhammad Ali al-Abed". Syrian Future Movement. 26 May 2024. Archived from the original on 7 October 2025. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  13. ↑ "محمد علي العابد.. أول رئيس لسوريا مات كئيباً ومنسياً" [Muhammad Ali al-Abid.. The first president of Syria died sad and forgotten]. Syria TV (in Arabic). 14 July 2023. Archived from the original on 9 December 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Symbols and Flags of the State in Syria (6): Hashim Atassi". Syrian Future Movement. 23 July 2024. Archived from the original on 15 November 2025. Retrieved 15 June 2026.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "بهيج الخطيب" [Bahij al-Khatib]. Syria Modern History (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  16. 1 2 3 4 "Symbols and Flags of the State in Syria (7) Taj al-Din al-Hasani". Syrian Future Movement. 3 August 2024. Archived from the original on 7 October 2025. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  17. ↑ "عطا الأيوبي" [Ata al-Ayyubi]. Syria Modern History (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2026.
  18. 1 2 3 "شكري القوتلي" [Shukri al-Quwatli]. The Arab Orient Center (in Arabic). 2002. Archived from the original on 11 August 2002. Retrieved 15 June 2026.
  19. 1 2 3 "This day in history: The mother of all Syrian coups". Al Majalla. 29 March 2025. Archived from the original on 29 March 2025. Retrieved 15 June 2026.
  20. ↑ "حسني الزعيم.. 137 يومًا من حكم سوريا" [Husni al-Za'im.. 137 Days of Ruling Syria]. Enab Baladi (in Arabic). 14 August 2019. Archived from the original on 5 August 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2026.
  21. 1 2 3 "حسني الزعيم.. الانقلاب الأول" [Husni al-Za'im.. The First Coup]. The Arab Orient Center (in Arabic). 26 May 2019. Archived from the original on 18 August 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2026.
  22. 1 2 "رموز وأعلام الدّولة في سورية (21) فوزي سلو" [Symbols and Flags of the State in Syria (21) Fawzi Selu]. Syrian Future Movement (in Arabic). 11 March 2025. Archived from the original on 10 July 2025. Retrieved 15 June 2026.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 "Symbols and Flags of the State in Syria (13) Adib Shishakli". Syrian Future Movement. 30 September 2024. Archived from the original on 6 December 2025. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  24. 1 2 3 "Symbols and Flags of the State in Syria (12) Nazem Al-Qudsi". Syrian Future Movement. 25 September 2024. Archived from the original on 18 October 2025. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  25. ↑ "لؤي الأتاسي.. تعرفوا على أول رئيس لسوريا بعد الثامن من آذار 1963" [Lu'ay al-Atassi.. Learn about the First President of Syria after 8 March 1963]. Syrian Snack (in Arabic). 8 March 2019. Archived from the original on 21 August 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  26. ↑ "أصل الأسرة وتاريخها" [The Origin and History of the Family]. Atassi Family Website (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 29 December 2005. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  27. ↑ "أمين الحافظ" [Amin al-Hafiz]. Syrian Modern History (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 20 November 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  28. ↑ "Symbols and Flags of the State in Syria (27) Noureddine Atassi". Syrian Future Movement. 28 June 2025. Archived from the original on 1 July 2025. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Hafez al-Assad: Biography, Facts, Religion, & Son". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  30. ↑ "حزب البعث في سوريا: من حلم الوحدة إلى أداة السلطة" [The Ba'ath Party in Syria: From the Dream of Unity to an Instrument of Power]. BBC News Arabic (in Arabic). 11 January 2025. Archived from the original on 17 January 2025. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  31. ↑ "Syria's First Female Vice President Hailed as Progress for Women". Arab News. 24 March 2006. Archived from the original on 17 January 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
  32. ↑ "Bashar al-Assad and family given asylum in Moscow, Russian media say". BBC News. 9 December 2024. Archived from the original on 10 April 2026. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  33. ↑ "Asma al-Assad: Syria's London-born first lady not welcome in UK". France 24. 10 December 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  34. ↑ "In Syria, the army's loyalty to Assad runs deep". Haaretz. 27 April 2011. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  35. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Syria, a (Former) Jihadist in Washington: What to Know about the Trump–Al-Sharaa Meeting". ISPI. 11 November 2025. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  36. ↑ "الشرع أول رئيس سوري يزور جزيرة أرواد" [Al-Sharaa is the first Syrian president to visit Arwad Island]. Syria 360 (in Arabic). 8 June 2026. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  • Khoury, Philip Shukry (2014). Syria and the French Mandate: The Politics of Arab Nationalism, 1920-1945. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9781400858392.
  • Moubayed, Sami M. (2006). "Nami, Ahmad (1879-1960)". Steel & Silk: Men and Women Who Shaped Syria 1900-2000. Cune Press. ISBN 978-1-885942-40-1.
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