Al-Jundi was born to a small landowning family in the rural town of Salamiyah in the Hamah Governorate. Though Salamiyah was a predominantly Ismaili town, al-Jundi belonged to the Sunni minority of the area and would later in life be known as 'an inciter of anti-Ismaili sentiments.'[1] Al-Jundi received his military training at the Homs Military Academy.[2]
Ba'ath Party
Al-Jundi, like many members of his family, joined the Ba'ath Party early in his youth.[2] In 1960, al-Jundi, then a captain in the army of the United Arab Republic (UAR), became a founding member of the secretive Military Committee of the Ba'ath Party.[note 1] In the beginning, the Military Committee's goal was to rebuild the Ba'ath Party, which had been dissolved on the orders of Gamal Abdel Nasser when the UAR was founded, and establish a new party leadership.[4] Following the Syrian secessionist coup of 1961 that ended the UAR, the Military Committee started planning its own coup against the secessionist government.[5]
On 8 March 1963, the Military Committee launched a successful coup against the government of Nazim al-Qudsi, bringing the Ba'ath Party to power in Syria. Following the coup, al-Jundi became a member of the National Council for the Revolutionary Command, and the Ba'ath Party Regional Command.[6] Between 1963 and 1964, he served as commander of the Rocket Forces at al-Qutayfah.[7]
Minister of Agrarian Reform
Between 4 October 1964 and 21 December 1965, al-Jundi served as Minister of Agrarian Reform in the two successive cabinets of Amin al-Hafiz and Yusuf Zuayyin.[8] Al-Jundi's tenure saw rapid state appropriation of agrarian land from traditional landowners. But he was opposed to the redistribution of the lands in small lots. Instead, he advocated collective farming.[9] In 1966, Al-Jundi was again given the portfolio of agrarian reform in the Yusuf Zuayyin cabinet, which lasted from 1 March to 15 October.[10]
National Security Bureau
Following the 1966 coup d'état, Salah Jadid became the undisputed strongman of the country. He began his rule by re-organizing all the intelligence agencies under the central command of the Baath Party's National Security Bureau.[11] Jadid appointed his ally, al-Jundi, to head the National Security Bureau, which became known as the most intimidating apparatus in the country.[12] The Bureau, under al-Jundi, acquired a notorious reputation in the country for its brutal methods of rooting out opponents,[13] including arbitrary arrests, torture and infiltrating civil society with state informers.[14]
Death
In early 1969 the power-struggle between Defence Minister Hafez al-Assad and Jadid became increasingly bitter and violent. As a result, al-Jundi's power and influence rapidly declined. He committed suicide on 2 March 1969 after an argument on the phone with chief of military intelligence, Ali Zaza, which occurred after al-Jundi's personal driver was arrested by Zaza's security forces loyal to al-Assad.[15]
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