 Immediately after the coup , officers loyal to Umran and the Aflaqites were purged from the armed forces , being imprisoned alongside Umran at <unk> prison . One of the first acts of Jadid 's government was to appoint Assad Minister of Defence . Assad however , did not support the coup , and told Mansur al @-@ Atrash , <unk> Majdalani , and other Aflaqites that he did not support Jadid 's actions . Later , in an interview with Le Monde , Assad claimed that the military 's intervention was regrettable because the Ba 'ath Party was democratic , and that the disputes should have been resolved in a democratic manner . However , Assad did view the actions as necessary , as it put an end , in his view , to the dictatorship of the National Command . 
