Editing Aleppo (section)

===Post-independence===
[[File:Aleppo Quwwatli.jpg|thumb|''Boulevard de France'', renamed after [[Shukri al-Quwatli]] upon the independence of Syria]]
The increasing disagreements between Aleppo and Damascus led eventually to the split of the [[Syrian National Block|National Block]] into two factions: the [[National Party (Syria)|National Party]], established in Damascus in 1946, and the [[People's Party (Syria)|People's Party]], established in Aleppo in 1948 by [[Rushdi al-Kikhya]], [[Nazim Qudsi]] and [[Mustafa Bey Barmada]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rothe |first=Wenja |date=January 1972 |title=Hvorfor blive ved med at interessere sig for Rorschach prøven?: En kommentar og nogle overvejelser vedrørende førskolebørns Rorschachprøver. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00291463.1972.11675812 |journal=Nordisk Psykologi |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=344–351 |doi=10.1080/00291463.1972.11675812 |issn=0029-1463 |access-date=28 October 2020 |archive-date=23 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923074731/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00291463.1972.11675812 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> An underlying cause of the disagreement, in addition to the union with Iraq, was Aleppo's intention to relocate the capital from Damascus. The issue of the capital became an open debate matter in 1950 when the Popular Party presented a constitution draft that called Damascus a "temporary capital."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/syrias-assad-end-one-party-rule-410958 |title=Syria's Assad to 'End' One-Party Rule |date=15 February 2012 |website=ibtimes.com |access-date=15 April 2018 |archive-date=6 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306081100/http://www.ibtimes.com/syrias-assad-end-one-party-rule-410958 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Aleppo 1950s.JPG|thumb|left|230px|[[Aleppo Public Park]] and adjacent highway, 1950]]
[[File:King Faisal street Aleppo 1950.jpg|thumb|left|230px|[[King Faisal Street]], 1950]]

The first [[coup d'état]] in modern Syrian history was carried out in March 1949 by an army officer from Aleppo, [[Hussni Zaim]]. However, lured by the absolute power he enjoyed as a dictator, Zaim soon developed a pro-Egyptian, pro-Western orientation and abandoned the cause of union with Iraq. This incited a second coup only four months after his.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilford |first=Hugh |title=America's Great Game: The CIA's Secret Arabists and the Making of the Modern Middle East |publisher=Basic Books |year=2013 |isbn=9780465019656 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/americasgreatgam0000wilf/page/94 94, 101] |url=https://archive.org/details/americasgreatgam0000wilf/page/94}}</ref> The second coup, led by [[Sami Hinnawi]] (also officer from Aleppo), empowered the Popular Party and actively sought to realize the union with Iraq. The news of an imminent union with Iraq incited a third coup the same year: in December 1949, [[Adib Shishakli|Adib Shishakly]] led a coup preempting a union with Iraq that was about to be declared.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mardelli |first1=Bassil A. |title=Middle East Perspectives: Personal Recollections |date=16 April 2010 |publisher=iUniverse |location=New York Bloomington |isbn=978-1-4502-1118-5 |page=28 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=INl8jGsewjUC&q=adib+shishakli+mother+kurd&pg=PA28 |access-date=5 September 2021 |archive-date=23 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923074744/https://books.google.com/books?id=INl8jGsewjUC&q=adib+shishakli+mother+kurd&pg=PA28 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Nasser addresses Aleppo, 1960.jpg|230px|thumb|left|Nasser's speech in Aleppo (1960)]]

Soon after Shishakly's domination ended in 1954, a [[United Arab Republic|union]] with Egypt under [[Gamal Abdul Nasser]] was implemented in 1958. The union, however, collapsed three and a half years later when a junta of young Damascene officers carried out a separatist coup. Aleppo resisted the separatist coup, but eventually it had no choice but to recognize the new government.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iIy5CgAAQBAJ&q=nawaf+ghazaleh&pg=PT606 |title=Understanding the Volatile and Dangerous Middle East: A Comprehensive Analysis |isbn=9781491766583 |last1=Carol |first1=Steven |date=25 August 2015 |publisher=iUniverse |access-date=7 July 2022 |archive-date=23 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923074826/https://books.google.com/books?id=iIy5CgAAQBAJ&q=nawaf+ghazaleh&pg=PT606 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Syrien 1961 Aleppol 2.jpg|thumb|150px|Streets of Aleppo shortly after [[1961 Syrian coup d'état|1961 Coup d'état]]]]

In March 1963 a coalition of [[Baathist]]s, [[Nasserist]]s, and Socialists launched a new coup whose declared objective was to restore the union with Egypt. However, the new government only restored the flag of the union. Soon thereafter disagreement between the Baathists and the Nasserists over the restoration of the union became a crisis, and the Baathists ousted the Nasserists from power. The Nasserists, most of whom were from the Aleppine middle class, responded with an insurgency in Aleppo in July 1963.

Again, the Ba'ath government tried to absorb the dissent of the Syrian middle class (whose center of political activism was Aleppo) by putting to the front [[Amin al-Hafiz]], a Baathist military officer from Aleppo.<ref>{{cite news |title=Amin al-Hafez obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/feb/16/syria |work=The Guardian |access-date=31 May 2012 |agency=Associated Press |date=16 February 2010 |location=London |archive-date=9 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130909123147/http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/feb/16/syria |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Tilel street old pic, Aleppo.jpg|thumb|Tilel street, 1970s|200px]]

President [[Hafez al-Assad]], who came to power in 1970, relied on support from the business class in Damascus.<ref>Seale, Patrick (1990) Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East</ref> This gave Damascus further advantage over Aleppo, and hence Damascus came to dominate the Syrian economy. The strict centralization of the Syrian state, the intentional direction of resources towards Damascus, and the hegemony Damascus enjoys over the Syrian economy made it increasingly hard for Aleppo to compete. Despite this, Aleppo remained a nationally important economic and cultural center.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200725024213/http://www.cbssyr.org/economy%20statistics/Foreign%20Investment/2008/m-tab7.htm The centralization of Economy in Syria]</ref>

[[File:Aleppo View.jpg|General view of the city from the Citadel (1989)|thumb|250px]]
On 16 June 1979 thirty-two military cadets were [[Aleppo Artillery School massacre|massacred]] by antigovernmental Islamist rebel group [[Syrian Muslim Brotherhood|Muslim Brotherhood]].{{sfnp|Seale|1989|p=316}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Conduit |first=Dara |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1112495832 |title=The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria |date=2019 |isbn=978-1-108-75832-1 |location=Cambridge, U.K. |pages=101 |oclc=1112495832}}</ref> In the subsequent violence around fifty people were killed.<ref>[[Middle East International]] No 103, 6 July 1979; pp.12-13</ref> On 10 July a further twenty-two Syrian soldiers were killed.<ref>Middle East International No 104, 20 July 1979; pp.13-14</ref> Both terrorist attacks were part of the [[Islamist uprising in Syria]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lia |first=Brynjar |date=2016-10-01 |title=The Islamist Uprising in Syria, 1976–82: The History and Legacy of a Failed Revolt |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=546 |doi=10.1080/13530194.2016.1139442 |s2cid=146869114 |issn=1353-0194}}</ref> In 1980, events escalated into the [[Siege of Aleppo (1980)|a large-scale military operation]] in Aleppo, where Syrian government responded with military and security forces, sending in tens of thousands of troops backed by tanks, armored vehicles and helicopters.<ref name="Things Fall Apart p153">{{cite book |last1=Byman |first1=Daniel |last2=Pollack |first2=Kenneth Michael |title=Things Fall Apart: Containing the Spillover from an Iraqi Civil War |url=https://archive.org/details/thingsfallapartc00byma |url-access=limited |year=2008 |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |location=Washington D.C. |page=[https://archive.org/details/thingsfallapartc00byma/page/n169 153] |isbn=9780815713791}}</ref> Several hundred rebels were killed in and around city and eight thousand were arrested. By February 1981, the Islamist uprising in the city of Aleppo was suppressed.{{sfnp|Carré |Michaud |1983 |pages=141–146}}

Since the late 1990s, Aleppo has become one of the fastest growing cities in the Levant and the Middle East.<ref name="acad" /> The opening of the industrial city of [[Shaykh Najjar]] and the influx of new investments and flow of the new industries after 2004 also contributed to the development of the city.<ref>Oxford Business Group. (2011). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=oDz9juos_tkC&q=Sheik+Najjar+Aleppo The Report: Syria 2011] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923075255/https://books.google.com/books?id=oDz9juos_tkC&q=Sheik+Najjar+Aleppo |date=23 September 2023 }}''. Oxford Business Group. pp. 149–152.</ref> In 2006, Aleppo was named by the [[Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization]] (ISESCO) as the capital of Islamic culture.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aleppo-cic.sy/ |title=ﺣﻠﺐ ﻋﺎﺻﻤﺔ ﺍﻟﺜﻘﺎﻓﺔ ﺍﻟﺈﺳﻠﺎﻣﻴﺔ-Aleppo the Capital of Islamic Culture |access-date=2008-07-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705113151/http://www.aleppo-cic.sy/ |archive-date=5 July 2008}}. Retrieved 1 February 2010.</ref>