Anwar Bannud

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Anwar Bannud (1908–1979) was a Syrian military officer who served as chief of staff of the Syrian Army from January 2, 1950, to April 23, 1951. Born in Aleppo, he trained at the Military Academy in Damascus and graduated in 1925. Under the French Mandate, he served in the Army of the Levant and became the only Syrian officer to reach the rank of colonel during that period. In 1944 he was director of the Homs Military Academy, where he encouraged students to mutiny against the French occupation. After the French left Syria, Bannud joined the new Syrian Army and, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, served with the Arab Liberation Army under Fawzi al-Qawuqji, taking command when al-Qawuqji resigned. He blamed civilian leaders for the war defeat and supported a series of coups that brought Husni al-Zaim and later Adib Shishakli to power. Shishakli appointed him chief of staff, but Bannud’s popularity stirred distrust, and he was dismissed in 1951 and sent to Ankara, Turkey as a military attaché. He remained there until the 1954 coup that toppled Shishakli. Bannud died in 1979.