A man waves the flag of the Syrian revolution in Bar Elias, in the Lebanese Bekaa, not far from the border with Syria, on Dec. 8, 2024. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
It has become a symbol of opposition to Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime, waved by thousands worldwide to celebrate the president's downfall on Dec. 8, when rebels led by the Islamist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled him.
Since then, the tricolor flag — green, white and black, with three red stars in the middle — has already replaced the official flag (red, white and black, with two green stars) on several government buildings in Syria and embassies abroad.
However, this banner, dating back to the pre-Baath era, has flown as a revolutionary emblem before. When does this flag originate? And what does it symbolize? L’Orient-Le Jour explains.
Previous official flag
The Syrian Revolution flag was first raised in Aleppo in 1932 and officially adopted in 1936 following the treaty granting Syria semi-independence from French mandate rule. This flag, reflecting the emerging regional identity, was retained after Syria achieved full independence on April 17, 1946, when the last French troops left its soil.
The three red stars represent the three main provinces of the time: Aleppo, Damascus and Deir ez-Zor. The white symbolizes the Umayyads, the black the Abbasids, and the green the first four caliphs of Islam.
In 1958, with the creation of the United Arab Republic — a union between Nasser's Egypt and Syria — a new flag was introduced. This flag, which remains the official flag under Bashar al-Assad, adopted the red, white, and black colors of the Egyptian flag, with two green stars representing the union of the two states.
Several flags followed until the 1980s, evolving with Syria's shifting alliances with various Arab countries. For example, the flag of the Syrian Arab Republic (1963-1972) adopted the red, white and black of the then-Iraqi flag, with three green stars symbolizing Egypt.
The flag adopted with the creation of the Syrian Republic in 1932, now recognized as the Syrian Revolution flag, was reinstated between 1961 and 1963 after the collapse of Nasser’s regime.
The red, white, and black flag with two stars returned a few years into the reign of Hafez al-Assad, who came to power in 1971 after a coup. In 1980, the Baathist regime officially reinstated it. With the popular uprising of March 2011, opponents of the regime adopted the green, white, and black flag as a symbol of unity.
This choice was criticized by pro-regime media, which associated the flag with the French mandate, accusing the opposition of glorifying colonialism — arguments dismissed by regime opponents as propaganda.
In November 2011, the flag was adopted by the Syrian National Council — a transitional political authority established two months earlier and based in Istanbul to coordinate opposition efforts — as the official flag of the opposition.
This article was originally published in French in L’Orient-Le Jour.