1979 Ba'ath Party Purge

1979 Ba'ath Party Purge
	Syrian president Hafiz al-Assad (centre) with Iraqi vice president Saddam Hussein (left), Algerian foreign minister Abdelaziz Bouteflika (right), and Syrian vice president Abdul Halim Khaddam (far right, half-covered) at the 1978 Arab League summit in Baghdad.
Native name	Comrades Massacre
Date	22 July 1979
Location	Ba'athist Iraq
Also known as	Khuld Hall Incident, Comrades Massacre
Type	Purge
Cause	Failure of unity talks between Syrian and Iraqi Ba'ath Parties; Saddam's claim that he has discovered a fifth column in the Revolutionary Command Council plotting to overthrow the party leadership in co-ordination with Hafez al-Assad;
Organised by	Saddam Hussein
Outcome	Killing of former Secretary Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi on 8 August 1979; Saddam Hussein's domination of the Ba'ath Party; Arrests and subsequent killings of Ba'athist opponents accused of Syrian collaboration; Deepening rift between Iraq-based and Syrian-based Ba'ath movements; Hafez al-Assad's support to Iran during the Iran-Iraq War;
Deaths	21 executed
Arrests	68

The 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge (Arabic: تطهير حزب البعث)`, also called the Comrades Massacre^[1]^[2] (Arabic: مجزرة الرفاق), was a public purge of the Iraqi Ba'ath Party orchestrated on 22 July 1979 by then-president Saddam Hussein^[3] six days after his arrival to the presidency of the Iraqi Republic on 16 July 1979.^[4]^[1]

Six days after the resignation of President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr and Hussein's accession to President of the Iraqi Republic, Regional Secretary of the party, and Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council on July 16, 1979, he organized a Ba'ath conference on July 22 in Al-Khuld Hall in Baghdad to carry out a campaign of arrests and executions that included Baathist comrades, who were accused of taking part in a pro-Syrian plot to overthrow Saddam.

The list included most of the comrades who opposed Saddam Hussein's rise to power after Al-Bakr,^[1] and among these was the former president's secretary, Muhyi Abdul-Hussein Mashhadi. Names of people were announced and they were taken outside the hall to be executed. Ba'athist propaganda at the time showed that they were convicted of conspiracy and high treason to the party.^[2] Iraq subsequently cut off relations with its fellow Ba'athist regime in Syria, accusing Hafiz al-Assad of organizing the plot.^[5]

^ ^a ^b ^c صدام وإعدام البعثيين, retrieved 2022-07-14
^ ^a ^b "بعث العراق وسوريا... صراع الإخوة الأعداء". اندبندنت عربية (in Arabic). 2021-08-28. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Saddam Hussein's 'Official' Biography
^ Ehteshami, A. Hinnebusch, Anoushiravan, Raymond (2002). Syria and Iran: Middle Powers in a Penetrated Regional System. New York, USA: Routledge. p. 92. ISBN 0-415-15675-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[صدام_وإعدام_البعثيين-1] صدام وإعدام البعثيين, retrieved 2022-07-14

[:1-2] "بعث العراق وسوريا... صراع الإخوة الأعداء". اندبندنت عربية (in Arabic). 2021-08-28. Retrieved 2022-07-14.

[:0-3] Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[4] Saddam Hussein's 'Official' Biography

[5] Ehteshami, A. Hinnebusch, Anoushiravan, Raymond (2002). Syria and Iran: Middle Powers in a Penetrated Regional System. New York, USA: Routledge. p. 92. ISBN 0-415-15675-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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