The Syrian opposition has adopted the pre-Baath Syrian flag from the days of the Syrian republic. Here, oppositionist supporters wave it during a demonstration against Assad in central Beirut on Mar. 17, 2012.
Both the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian National Council, the exiled opposition group, have adopted the pre-Baath flag as their official emblem.
A young woman with her face painted with the rebel Syrian flag attends a demonstration against Assad in front of the Syrian Consulate in Istanbul on Dec. 16, 2011. At this point, more than 5,000 people had been killed in Syria.
The opposition flag's black and green panels were inspired by the Pan-Arab flag, which Arab-nationalists propagated during the Arab revolt in World War I. It was the official Syrian flag until the Baathist takeover in 1963, when the emblem with three green stars between red and black panels -- similar to today's official flag - took its place. The three stars, which signified Iraq, Syria, and Egypt, displayed a then-unrealized union between the three countries.
Not all groups opposing the regime have embraced the opposition flag; some superimpose revolutionary text on the official flag. In this rendering, only the word "Syria" is visible, but many national flags with rebel slogans display phrases like "Allah, Syria, Freedom."
In this photo, a group of protesters holds an official Syrian flag as they demonstrate in Istanbul on Aug. 28, 2011. The group of nearly 150 people chanted slogans and brandished banners in Arabic, Kurdish, and Turkish against the Syrian government.
A Syrian child holds an opposition Syrian flag as Syrian refugees chant slogans during a protest after Friday prayers at the Yayladagi refugee camp in Hatay, Turkey, on July 6, 2012.
Moubayed writes, "Millions still identify with the current flag, regardless of their views of the regime. Likewise, not everybody who opposes Assad feels at ease with the revolution's flag. And all of these people are going to have to work together to build a new Syria."
