Sami al-Hinnawi

Al-Hinnawi was born in Aleppo and had served in the Ottoman army before serving in the French-Syrian army during the French Mandate of Syria.

Al-Hinnawi overthrew the military rule of Syrian President Husni al-Za'im on August 14, 1949 with the aid of fellow members in the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, including Adib al-Shishakli. After the coup, he swiftly ordered al-Za'im and Prime Minister Muhsin al-Barazi to be brought to Mezze prison in Damascus, where both were executed in front of Muhsin al-Barazi's son.

Al-Hinnawi was then installed as leader of a military junta, but al-Shishakli remained the military strongman. On December 19, 1949, Shishakli carried out another coup d'état (the third that year), strengthening his dictatorship. On October 31, 1950, al-Hinnawi was murdered in Beirut, Lebanon, by Hersho al-Barazi, a cousin of Muhsin al-Barazi.[1]