Coup Atlas Research Database
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64501201970AttemptedMilitary coup

Iraq, 1970 — military coup attempt

Iraq (IRQ)Western Asia, AsiaJanuary 20, 1970

Event Summary

On 20 January 1970 two retired officers, Major General Abd al-Ghani al-Rawi and Colonel Salih Mahdi al-Samarrai, led an attempted coup against the Baathist government of President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr in Iraq, one of the most serious challenges to the regime in its early years. The plotters aimed to storm the Republican Palace, but the conspiracy had been penetrated by the Baath security apparatus, in which the rising Saddam Hussein was a central figure, and the attempt was crushed as the conspirators walked into a trap. The regime responded with a wave of executions of the plotters and alleged accomplices, and it accused Iran of backing the coup, expelling the Iranian ambassador and worsening relations with Tehran.

The failure further entrenched the Baath, which continued to eliminate rivals and consolidate the security state that Saddam Hussein would come to dominate through the 1970s.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr's Baath government crushed the coup and executed the plotters
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (president of Iraq, target)
Abd al-Ghani al-Rawi (retired major general, coup leader)
Salih Mahdi al-Samarrai (colonel, co-leader)
Saddam Hussein (Baath security chief)

Sources

In January 1970 an attempted coup led by two retired officers, Major General Abd al-Ghani ar Rawi and Colonel Salih Mahdi as Samarrai, was thwarted as the conspirators walked into a trap.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Baathist Iraq open source ↗
During the 1970s military officers unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow the Baathist regime on at least two occasions, the first being the January 1970 attempt.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Baathist Iraq open source ↗
The Baathist regime had used violence systematically since its 1968 coup, with Saddam Hussein a pre-eminent practitioner in the security apparatus that penetrated such plots.
SOURCE REVIEWED U.S. State Department, Office of the Historian open source ↗
The Baath had come to power in the 17 July 1968 Revolution under Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, with Saddam Hussein becoming the country's de facto leader by the mid-1970s.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Baathist Iraq open source ↗

Editorial Note

Date match to the 20 January 1970 al-Rawi and al-Samarrai coup attempt against al-Bakr; the day level narrative detail is lightly documented in accessible English sources this session, so it is flagged, while the attempt, its leaders, its penetration by Baath security, and its failure are verified. The most recent of the many Iraq records in the dataset run.

Cross-Reference

Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
64501201970
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-645-1970-01-20

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr's Baath government crushed the coup and executed the plotters.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
Open dataset DOI ↗
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Luttwak

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

New York Times

“Iraq reports executing 16 after foiling coup attempt,” January 22, 1970

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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Related Records

Iraq — Military coup, 19681968-10-06AttemptedWestern AsiaIraq — Military coup, 19731973-06-30AttemptedWestern AsiaIraq — Military coup, 19661966-06-30AttemptedWestern Asia