By: Miles Copeland Jr, BBC interview

Date: March 1967

CIA agent Miles Copeland Jr in an interview with the BBC in 1967 admits that the CIA orchestrated and staged the 1949 Syrian Coup against President Shukri al-Kuwatli. The CIA orchestrated coup against Syria took place on the 29th March ending democratic rule in the country. The CIA chose Husni al-Za’im, Cheif of Staff of the Army as their man to overthrow President Shukri al-Kuwatli of Syria. The CIA backed coup destroyed Syria and plunged it into years of political instability and chaos. This coup was subsequently followed by more coup’s that eventually led to a series of events which culminated in the rise of Hafez al-Assad to power in 1971.