-Analysis-
AMMAN — The Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party suspended its activities in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime and the escape of Bashar al-Assad, thus turning a page in the history of one of the most problematic parties in the region.
The party had previously been overthrown in Iraq in 2003 by the U.S. occupation, and the arrest, trial and execution of Saddam Hussein, and the formation of the De-Ba’athification Commission to pursue the remnants of the regime. Meanwhile in Lebanon, it continues to assert its presence, declaring that it is independent of the Syrian Ba’ath in terms of organization and structure.
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Despite the Ba’ath Party’s defeats, Saddam still maintains a favorable standing in the hearts of many. His pictures are still circulated not by Ba’athists but by various figures who see him as an Arab leader who was only overthrown by the occupation, despite the atrocities and crimes he committed that amount to crimes against humanity.
The first paradox is the appearance of a picture of Hussein in a demonstration in Beirut to celebrate the Syrian revolution and the overthrow of Assad. The picture was even hung on the “flag of the revolution.”
Of course, the relationship between the two can only be understood from a sectarian perspective that champions the Sunni component, especially because Saddam is always mentioned in battles against “enemies,” especially against Israel. Voices are always heard repeating phrases such as, “If Saddam were alive, Israel would not have dared to do what it is doing.”
Abu Uday’s ghost
The ghost of Abu Uday, or “Uday’s father,” (in reference to Saddam’s eldest son, Uday, who was killed in July 2003 by U.S. forces in Mosul) was present during the overthrow of Assad. Social media users circulated pictures from Damascus of young men raising the flag of the Syrian revolution next to a picture of Saddam. The same picture was seen on a car’s rear window in front of the Aleppo Citadel.
We do not know the truth of these pictures. But it’s no secret that Russian propaganda and fake news bet on the image of Hussein as the last Arab “hero/butcher.” But we do not know exactly why?
The paradoxes of Saddam’s presence are many and strange. Social media users posted that some released prisoners in Syria thought that they had been freed by the Iraqi army, and that Saddam invaded Syria and removed Assad. That is could be because some prisoners had been in detention for more than 30 years, and Saddam’s ties to Bashar Assad’s father, Hafez, were sour.
Saddam Hussein in Jordan
Saddam’s resurrection preceded the collapse of the Syrian Ba’ath Party. In November, a soccer match in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup between Jordan and Iraqi took place in a tense atmosphere. The match began with Iraqi fans booing the Jordanian national anthem. It ended in a goalless draw — satisfactory for Jordan but frustrating for Iraq — and was followed by limited verbal clashes between rival fans.
Jordanian captain Ihsan Haddad blamed social media for what happened. He said it didn’t represent anyone on the ground or reflect the relationship between the two countries and peoples. His statement is largely correct on a broad political and social level. But Haddad overlooked the existence of sensitivity on the ground due to political and religious reasons that can be felt simply by walking in any Jordanian neighborhood.
That is mainly linked to the Jordanians’ attachment to Saddam and their public hostility to the components of the period following his overthrow, specifically the section linked to Iran, its militias and the sectarian parties loyal to Iran.
This in turn also generated anger toward the Iraqis. A large segment of Iraqis realized, when they were residing in Jordan during the U.S. invasion, that the Iraqi who was welcomed by the people was the Iraqi who supported the “glorious” Saddam.
Soccer fans
Social media platforms are flooded with videos of Jordanian fans chanting for Saddam in stadiums. In 2019, during a Jordan-Kuwait match in Amman, Jordanian fans chanted for Saddam (who led Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990) prompting Kuwait to file an official complaint. The Jordanian Football Association apologized and expressed its strong rejection of these chants. Some of those who were behind the chants were reportedly detained and tried before the State Security Court.
Fans of Al-Ramtha soccer club (in northern Jordan) shouted similar chants when it won the local league competition in 2021. There are thousands of photos showing Jordanian vehicles with stickers of Saddam, to the point that it has become a well-known habit even to non-Jordanians, specifically Iraqis.
Saddam’s daughter Raghad congratulated the Jordanian team
Sports fans have always reflected a political stance, and this is something that cannot be ignored in any way, from the Madrid and Barcelona Clasico, through the Liverpool and Manchester United games, to the Jordan and Iraq game.
In the last Asian Cup held in Qatar, Jordan and Iraq teams clashed in the Round of 16. Jordan won the game after it turned a one-goal deficit into a two-goal victory. The Iraqis celebrated their goal by mocking Jordan’s national dish, Mansaf, prompting major quarrels that led to the expulsion of an Iraqi player. Making the matter worse, Saddam’s daughter Raghad congratulated the Jordanian team, deepening the political dimension among both fans.
Saddam and Iraq oil
For Jordanians, Saddam embodied the character of the strong Arab leader who stood up to America, bombed Israel, confronted the Iranian project and protected the entire region from the spread of the Iranian Shiite revolution. His “authentic” positions, in the Arab Bedouin sense, extended to every Jordanian home, with tens of thousands of Jordanians studying in Iraqi universities for free. He also provided oil and gas to Amman for free or for lower prices, which made a difference to the Jordanian citizen compared to the prices of the post-Saddam era.
Many Jordanians attribute Saddam’s popularity to his support for the Palestinian cause. Speaking to AFP last year, Jordanian lawmaker Khalil Attia justified the relationship between Jordanians and the president of another country. “He represented to them a hero and a savior leader, and had a project to advance the Arab nation. And he preserved the unity of Iraq,” Attia said.
Ties then frayed after Jordan under Abdullah II hosted U.S. bases before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
There is hardly a Jordanian discussion that does not include mention of the virtues of the “martyred president,” or “Mr. President,” or “the glorious Saddam Hussein,” or “Abu Uday,” as Jordanians describe him in the context of any conversation. They also recall his role in supporting the families of Palestinian martyrs and funding scholarships for Palestinian and Jordanian students to study in Iraq.
The names “Saddam” and “Uday” were given to many Jordanians born between the 1980s and the 2000s, and members of the Jordanian Nawaiseh clan previously decided to name all their sons born in 2010 with Saddam.
On the political level, Jordan was like most Arab countries that supported Iraq during its war with Iran in the 1980s. The picture of King Hussein of Jordan next to Saddam at the moment of launching an Iraqi military operation against Iran may be one of the most famous pictures of Arab leaders.
King Hussein also supported Saddam after his invasion of Kuwait, unlike most Arab countries that opposed the occupation of the Iraqi army and joined the American efforts to expel the Iraqis. After the former monarch initially adopted a position of neutrality, he returned to declare that the American intervention was against all Arabs and all Muslims and not against Iraq alone.
Their ties then frayed after Jordan under Abdullah II hosted U.S. bases before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Jordanian heroes of the past
Jordanians, who take a position in the middle of a regional conflict and crisis, see Saddam as failed by his people and by the regimes that helped to overthrow him after they assigned him the task of protecting them from the Iranian tide. He therefore, deserved a supportive stance from Jordan — in particular, after decades of a relationship in a way that is equivalent to the Shiite sect’s feeling of betrayal of Imam Hussein, the repercussions of which are evident to this day politically, socially and in the popular religious heritage.
It appears that Saddam’s relationship with Jordanians takes on this dimension, which is expressed in many forms. There is a political aspect, such as rejecting religious visits to the shrines of the Shiite Imams in southern Jordan, or reservations about the position of Iraqi factions in supporting Gaza.
In addition to the celebration and sanctity that Jordanians surround Saddam with, they also celebrate some local figures. These include former Prime Minister Wasfi al-Tal, who was assassinated in Egypt by fighters from the Black September terror organization in 1971, and Haditha al-Jazi who led the Jordanian army in the Battle of Karameh, Israel’s first military defeat. Some also cite the late King Hussein, recalling better social and economic conditions than those the people are experiencing today.
But the common denominator among these figures is that they are all dead and from the past. Jordanians do not find anyone — in their present or future — who represents their aspirations, either domestically, regionally or at the level of the Arab nation.
