Coup Atlas Research Database
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65205101987ConspiracyMilitary coup

Syria, 1987 — military coup conspiracy

Syria (SYR)Western Asia, AsiaMay 10, 1987

Event Summary

This entry is coded 10 May 1987, during the period in which President Hafez al-Assad of Syria had thoroughly coup-proofed his regime after suppressing the 1984 succession crisis provoked by his brother Rifaat al-Assad. Assad, who had seized power in 1970 and survived earlier conspiracies, built one of the region's most coup-resistant states by staffing coup-critical positions with trusted Alawite kin and clansmen, allowing senior officers to run their units as lucrative fiefdoms in exchange for loyalty, and maintaining a labyrinth of competing intelligence agencies. After Rifaat's March 1984 bid, Assad sent his brother into exile, purged Rifaat's proteges, and broke up the Defense Companies, folding them into the regular army and expanding the Republican Guard.

In 1987 Syria remained deeply engaged in Lebanon, with Syrian troops re-entering West Beirut in February 1987. The 10 May 1987 coding sits in this period of Assad's post-1984 consolidation and purge of potentially disloyal officers, in a regime that faced no successful challenge to his rule for its remaining years.

Researched Details

Researched

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

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Assad remained in power until his death in 2000, having coup-proofed his regime against any successful challenge
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
President Hafez al-Assad (target)
the purged Defense Companies of Rifaat al-Assad
the Alawite-dominated officer corps and intelligence services

Sources

After Rifaat al-Assad's failed 1984 coup, his closest supporters and others who had failed to prove loyalty to Hafez were purged from the army and Ba'ath Party, and the Defense Brigades were reduced and later dismantled and merged into the armed forces, with their role assumed by the Republican Guard.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: 1984 Syrian coup attempt open source ↗
Hafez al-Assad coup-proofed his regime by distributing coup-critical positions to trusted members of his family and Alawite sect, offering outreach that made key social layers complicit, and building a labyrinth of brutal intelligence agencies to police the state and military.
SOURCE REVIEWED History Today: Syria, Coup Proof? open source ↗
Despite Syria having been wracked by sixteen military coups before Hafez al-Assad, there was never an attempt by the military to depose him, as he inculcated the military with intense loyalty through reform, incentives, and surveillance.
SOURCE REVIEWED LSE International History: Hafez Assad and Syria's Civil War open source ↗
Hafez al-Assad had come to power in 1970 in the Corrective Revolution and created a military dictatorship stronger than his predecessors with a cult of personality around his family, ruling until his death in 2000.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: Hafez al-Assad open source ↗

Editorial Note

No discrete May 1987 plot is documented in the sources located this session; Syria's well-documented coup events under Hafez al-Assad are the 1963, 1966, and 1970 coups and Rifaat al-Assad's 1984 attempt. The coding sits in the post-1984 Assad consolidation and officer-purge period. Context with strong framing, weakly anchored to a specific 1987 event. First Syria record in the run.

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:

Cline Center id
65205101987

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

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Assad remained in power until his death in 2000, having coup-proofed his regime against any successful challenge.

Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. 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.

Washington Post

“Failed Coup Plot Reported in Syria,” May 14, 1987

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

Syria — Military coup, 19631963-01-13ConspiracyWestern AsiaSyria — Military coup, 19841984-03-30AttemptedWestern AsiaSyria — Military coup, 19551955-04-22ConspiracyWestern Asia