By September 1962 Syria's secessionist republic was near ungovernable, with increasingly violent clashes between pro-Nasser and anti-Nasser factions, student demonstrations, and bombings. On September 13 President Nazim al-Qudsi appointed the veteran independent Khalid al-Azm as prime minister and allowed the supposedly defunct National Assembly to convene at his residence. In its single session the Assembly confirmed Azm, authorized the government to legislate in the Assembly's absence, and granted the government authority to dissolve the Assembly on the understanding elections would follow within a year.
Azm's national unity cabinet included all factions except the extreme pro-Nasser group but could not govern effectively, and the entire order was swept away by the Baathist coup of March 8, 1963.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: The Constitutional Assembly (the reinstated Constituent Assembly) was dissolved on September 20, 1962 by the Qudsi and Azm government acting with army backing; no individual was physically harmed and President Qudsi remained in office.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Nazim al-Qudsi (president)
Khalid al-Azm (prime minister appointed September 13, ruling by decree)
Abdel Karim Zahreddine (army commander in chief supervising the arrangement)
Sources
On September 13, 1962 President Qudsi appointed Khalid al-Azm as prime minister and allowed the supposedly defunct National Assembly to convene at his residence; in its single session the Assembly confirmed Azm and approved measures renaming the reinstated Constituent Assembly the Constitutional Assembly, empowering the government to legislate in the Assembly's absence, and granting the government authority to dissolve the Assembly with new elections within one year.
SOURCE REVIEWEDSyria: Coups and Countercoups, 1961-70, Library of Congress country studyopen source ↗
On September 20 the Assembly was again dissolved; although Azm included representatives of all political factions except the extreme pro-Nasser group in his cabinet, he was unable to govern effectively.
SOURCE REVIEWEDSyria: Coups and Countercoups, 1961-70, Library of Congress country studyopen source ↗
On 17 September a new National Unity Government led by Khalid al-Azm was sworn in and the parliament dissolved, part of the chaotic sequence in which internal army struggles shaped government policy until the radicalized army swept away the old order in the coup of 8 March 1963.
The restored secessionist regime operated under a National Security Council including the army commanders, the president, and five key ministers who supervised the government, the institutional source of the era's instability, with the military intent on retaining control over the government and preventing a return to full democracy.
Auto coup coding: the removal ran from the executive against the legislature, with the presidency untouched, so the deposed institution is the Assembly rather than a leader. Date discrepancy: the country study dates the second dissolution to September 20 (the dataset's date) while the Wikipedia aftermath section places the Azm government's swearing in and the parliament's dissolution on September 17; the Assembly's confirmation session was September 13. Keep distinct from the two other 1962 Syria records (the March 28 attempt and the April 13 resolution) and from the 1961-09-28 secession coup.
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: The Constitutional Assembly (the reinstated Constituent Assembly) was dissolved on September 20, 1962 by the Qudsi and Azm government acting with army backing; no individual was physically harmed and President Qudsi remained in office..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; 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
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.
Baseline Source-Document Entries
The Jerusalem Post
“Syria to Moot House Dissolution,” September 20, 1962
“Syrian Parliament is Dissolved,” September 21, 1962
New York Times
“New Parliament in Syria Ended by Premier It Chose,” September 21, 1962
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 →