8th Regional Congress of the Syrian Ba'ath Party

8th Regional Congress of the Ba'ath Party
المؤتمر الإقليمي الثامن لحزب البعث
Congress delegates. In the first row from the right: Mahmoud Al-Zoubi, Tewfik Saleh, Fayez al-Nasser, Hafez al-Assad (president), Abdul Rauf al-Kasm, Hikmat al-Shihabi, Abdul Halim Khaddam.
BeginsJanuary 5, 1985 (1985-01-05)
EndsJanuary 20, 1985 (1985-01-20)
LocationsPeople's Palace of Syria, Damascus
Previous event7th Regional Congress of the Syrian Ba'ath Party (1980)
Next event9th Regional Congress of the Syrian Ba'ath Party (2000)
Participants771 representatives
ActivityElection held to form the new Central Committee of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and the new Regional Command
LeaderHafez al-Assad (Regional Secretary of the Regional Command of the Syrian Regional Branch)

8th Regional Congress (Arabic: المؤتمر الإقليمي الثامن, romanizedAl-Mutamar al'iiqlimiu al-Thaamin) was the last Regional Congress of the Syrian Ba'ath Party command under Hafez al-Assad's presidency and occurred from January 5 to January 20, 1985. The congress was held in the People's Palace and was attended by 771 delegates and was even attended by Rifaat al-Assad, who was exiled from Syria in mid-1984 after an attempted coup (but he was not given any opportunity to speak at the congress).