SSNP supporters parade in Beirut, Sept. 24, 2023. (Credit: Hassan Assal)
BEIRUT — The Supreme Council of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) elected on Thursday Rabih Banat as party president for a second four-year term, following a meeting held at the party's headquarters in Raouche, Beirut.
SSNP, an ally of Hezbollah and the former Assad regime in Syria, was founded in 1932 by Antoun Saadeh, who was sentenced to death by Lebanese authorities and executed on July 8, 1949, after his party staged a failed coup attempt against the government in retaliation for repressive measures taken by the latter against party members.
Advocating for a "Greater Syria," the party has recently faced significant internal divisions, with rival factions led by former MP Assaad Hardan and the current leader, Banat.
After his election on Thursday, Banat affirmed that the "constitutional achievement accomplished by the Supreme Council today reflects the nationalists' commitment to their institution and to the principles for which they have fought, sacrificed, and given their lives for in belief of Saadeh's ideology."
Banat called for the rejection of sectarianism, which "serves the enemy's agenda, and to protect the resistance and its sources of strength", emphasizing national unity in the face of challenges.
Internal schisms
Internal schisms are common within the pan-Syrian party, which during the Civil War split between a reformist branch close to Palestinian factions and another branch closer to Damascus. They were reunited in 1978. With the regional and domestic political landscape much changed since the death of Saadeh, the SSNP has experienced recurring tensions over how to perpetuate its legacy.
More recently, a significant split occurred within the party, but this time, the division was more tied to power struggles, different approaches to internal governance, and personal rivalries rather than ideological reasons. While both sides are pro-Hezbollah and support the former Syrian regime that was toppled in December 2024, a major split occurred in recent years between loyalists to Asaad Hardan, who was the president of the party between 2008 and 2016, and others who contest Hardan's leadership style.
In 2020, with the election of Banat — who heavily opposes Hardan — as president of the party, the latter did not recognize his election, criticizing the process through which he has been elected.
Thus, two wings of the party emerged: the Banat and Hardan wings. Since then, armed clashes and storming of centers belonging to each side have taken place periodically in different parts of the country. The dispute culminated in 2023, when the SSNP, under the leadership of Banat, sacked Hardan from the party. Despite these developments, Hardan's followers still regard him as the legitimate head of the group.
Pro-Hezbollah, pro-Assad identity
Apart from these divisions, the SSNP remains a pro-Assad political party whose influence in Lebanon, already limited before the fall of the former Syrian regime in December, has become even more restricted now.
The party has several strongholds, including the area of Hamra in Beirut , where they organize a yearly parade to commemorate the anniversary of the "Operation Wimpy," which party member Khaled Alwan carried out against Israeli soldiers at the well-known café in 1982, during the Israeli occupation of Beirut.
SSNP also has centers in Bikfaya (Metn district), the stronghold of its political rival, the Kataeb party, and in Koura (Northern Lebanon), among other locations.
During the war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, many of the party's members were killed. Although the “support front” for Gaza, that was opened from South Lebanon in October 2023 one day after the start of the Gaza war between Hamas and Israel, has included fighters of the Eagles of the Whirlwind (the armed wing of SSNP), the party didn't announce specific military operations against the Hebrew state, unlike Hezbollah.
Nowadays, following the Lebanese government's decision to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year, the SSNP has, unsurprisingly, taken a stance in favor of these arms, criticizing the government's decision. One day after the cabinet decision, al-Bina, an outlet affiliated with the SSNP, wrote: "The government is bringing down Taif, Resolution 1701, and the cease-fire agreement and opens the country to [Israeli] aggression."
