The story of Nouran and Husni al-Zaim

Although the engagement between former President Husni al-Za’im and his wife was traditional, the way in which her father accepted the suitor certainly was not. Husni al-Za’im’s wife Nouran, who was the first lady of Syria from April to August 1949, had a sister named Omran, who was married to a distinguished journalist named Nazir Fansa. Omran was traveling to Aleppo with her mother-in-law when they met Husni al-Za’im’s sister on the train. She walked up to Omran and asked if she were single, saying that she was searching for a bride for her brother, who was an officer in the Syrian Army, currently serving as director of Military Police in Deir ez-Zour (on the Euphrates). Omran’s mother-in-law replied, “No, she is taken, but she’s got three other beautiful sisters; all of whom are single.”

As tradition dictated, Zaim’s sister did go to Aleppo to meet the three young girls, and liked just one of them, the future first lady. Her father said no, however, objecting to the age difference; Zaim was 49, while Nouran was only 19. A hard-headed man who did not take no for an answer, Zaim insisted that he would accept nobody else to be his wife. A few days later, he invited Nouran’s father to diner at the Officer’s Club. Several dignitaries were also invited and, in front of the entire club, Zaim confidently spoke out, “Gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you my father-in-law, the father of my future wife!” 
Embarrassed, Nouran’s father could neither interrupt his host, nor challenge him outright. He decided to overlook the difference of age, and bless the marriage, which took place in 1947, two years before Husni al-Zaim became President of the Republic. 

Nouran Baki Zada
The future first lady of Syria was born in Istanbul in 1928 and then moved to live in Aleppo. Her father longed to have a son and when his wife bore him nothing but girls, he gave all of them masculine names. Her sisters were called Omran, Orfan, and Kariman.
Nouran studied at the Franciscan School (originally founded as a nun’s school in Damascus during the years of the Mandate) and was fluent in three languages; Turkish, French, and Arabic.
During the first Arab-Israeli War of 1948, Husni al-Zaim was called back to Damascus and appointed Chief-of-Staff of the Syrian Army by President Shukri al-Quwatli. One of his memorable tasks was bringing large iron tubes to the war front, placing them on stand-by, then covering them with cloth, to fool the Israelis into thinking that they were cannons.
“The government sent Defense Minister Ahmad Sharabati to Europe to buy weapons. He went, fooled around, and came back with nothing!” said Zaim’s only daughter Niveen.
During the war, members of Parliament and certain ministers began to speak out against Zaim, blaming him for the defeat at the warfront. Parliamentarians accused him of corruption and misuse of public office, calling for his discharge from the Syrian Army.

Zaim complained to President Quwatli, and went to meet Prime Minister Khaled al-Azm, who kept him waiting for more than an hour, in complete disregard of his status as Chief-of-Staff. Enraged, Zaim went to Zabadani, a resort near Damascus, to meet with other disgruntled officers. They decided to launch a coup to topple the current government, and scheduled it for March 29, 1949. Niveen recalled, “The coup was top secret. Nobody knew about it; not even my mother.” She added, “My father launched the coup to save the country, not to become president. He actually wanted to make Fares al-Khury president, but when Khury refused, he took over the presidency for himself.” The coup succeeded, and on April 1, 1949, Zaim appointed himself president of Syria.
Zaim as president
Husni al-Zaim was an open-minded officer with strong revolutionary views about social life. He worked hard to abolish wearing the fez, claiming that it was outdated headwear taken from the days of the Ottoman Empire. He is credited for giving women the right to vote and run for public office in Syria. The law had been debated at the Syrian Parliament since 1920 and no leader dared push it through, except Zaim.
Once, senior Muslim clerics demanded an audience with the president, objecting to the increasingly liberal lifestyle being promoted by Syrian women. One issue of particular concern was the mixing of men and women at the Grand Hotel in Bludan.

Zaim said yes, granting them an audience at the same hotel. When the clerics walked in that evening, he had them seated around a dining table, then snapped at one of the waiters, “Please prepare diner, bring the whiskey, and call in the dancing girls!” Zaim looked back at his guests, who were horrified at his attitude, and no longer dared demand enforcement of Islamic codes. During the 137 days of his rule in Syria, however, Husni al-Zaim never executed anybody. He did have creative ways of punishing those who disobeyed him, however. When the quality of bread dropped to unacceptable levels, Zaim ordered all bakers to walk on the gravel, barefoot, until blood flowed from their feet.
Zaim at home
In order to please his young wife, Zaim asked her 11-year old sister Kariman to live with them in Damascus. He treated her as a sister as well, and sent her to the Lycee Laique (one of the finest preparatory high schools in town). Another sister Orfan, would visit them often, and took up the habit of playing with a guard, Abdul-Hamid Sarraj (the chief of security at the president’s office who went on to become head of the intelligence bureau and minister of interior during the union years with Egypt 1958-1961). On the evening of August 14, 1949, Orfan went to see Sarraj, but found him sitting alone in darkness. He asked her to leave him alone.
The summer in Damascus was at its peak, so Orfan and Nouran decided to lie down at the couch in the entrance of the house. Sarraj came in shouting, asking the two girls to go up and sleep in their rooms. Young and naïve, they immediately obeyed. Within less than an hour, the house was invaded and sealed off by soldiers. The guards (under Sarraj’s command) were disarmed and Zaim was arrested, on orders from his life-long friend and comrade Sami al-Hinnawi. Another coup had taken place, the second in Syria’s history.

Zaim got dressed and said goodbye to his pregnant wife. “Relax” he asked her, “I will be back soon to receive our first baby together!” Niveen added, “My mother and aunt told me that the couch they had been sitting on was riddled with bullets. Sarraj knew in advance that an attack was coming and told them to go upstairs to keep them from harm’s way.”
Less than a week before the coup—which led to the execution of Zaim and his Prime Minister Muhsen al-Barazi—Nouran’s cousins came to him, saying that they had confirmed intelligence information, saying that Sami al-Hinnawi (his comrade from the war of 1948) was planning to have him killed. Zaim summoned Hinnawi and directly asked, “Sami, my brothers-in-law are telling me you want to kill me?”
Hinnawi replied, “Impossible. How can I kill my leader and friend?”
According to Niveen, the decision to kill Zaim was one taken by many parties, “Abdul-Hamid Sarraj—in cooperation with the British—was responsible for killing the father I never met. Zaim’s biggest mistake was promoting Sami Hinnawi within the Syrian Army, making it easier for him to launch a coup. Hinnawi was an old friend and had a big family. My father wanted to guarantee a good retirement for him.”
After the president was arrested on August 14, Nouran and her sister were kept under house arrest for an entire week. “No food was brought into the house” said Niveen. A Senegalese guard tried helping them by passing his own food through the window.

After Zaim
Husni al-Zaim was executed by firing squad with 176 bullets. His wife was not informed of his death until after the birth of her firstborn, Niveen. The new administration blocked access to Zaim’s bank account, claiming that funds were missing from the state treasury. Shortly after his death, the weapons he had ordered for the Syrian Army arrived, made out in his name, “Marshal Husni al-Zaim.” King Farouk of Egypt, a friend and ally of Zaim, sent Nouran a large amount of money when he realized what had happened in Damascus, and declared mourning in the royal courts of Egypt for 3-days. Farouk, himself a young man, then proposed to marry Nouran, shortly after his divorce from Queen Farida. Nouran refused and went on to marry another Syrian man instead, from the Dardari family.
Her husband was buried in an unknown village, as part of the humiliation imposed on him by the revolutionaries. A farmer from the Awad family discovered it while plowing the land at a farm near Damascus. Nouran went there and identified her husband by remaining parts of his trousers. General Adib al-Shishakli was president at the time and ordered that the body be found and given a proper funeral and burial. “Everyone was surprised,” recalled Niveen, “by the number of people who showed up for the burial, although it was an undeclared event.” 
Nouran’s pension was increased by President Gamal Abdul-Nasser during the union years with Egypt (1958-1961). Looking back at her mother and father, Niveen Zaim said, “All I can say is that Syria lost much after the death of Husni al-Zaim. I never knew him but everybody says that I resemble him in many things. He wanted to do many good things for Syria but never had the chance, because of the betrayal that surrounded him. History will be fair to him, however, and give Husni al-Zaim justice.”