 The cost of clamping down on the protests was a loss of legitimacy , and the emergence of Amin al @-@ Hafiz as the first Ba 'athist military strongman . The traditional elite , consisting of the upper classes , who had been overthrown from political power by the Ba 'athists , felt threatened by the Ba 'ath Party 's socialist policies . The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria was a historical rival of the Syrian Regional Branch , and it felt threatened by the party 's secular nature . Akram al @-@ Hawrani and his supporters and the Syrian Communist Party opposed the one @-@ party system which the Ba 'ath Party was establishing . 
