Born in Hama in 1907, Bajih Kallas hailed from a Syrian Christian family. He studied at the Homs Military Academy and graduated in 1925. When the French bombed Damascus in 1945, he defected from the French controlled Army of the Levant and joined the rebels in northern Syria. After independence in 1946, he became chief-of-staff of northern Syria. From this position he helped plan and execute the first coup of March 1949, launched by his good friend, Husni al-Zaim. During the short lived Zaim era, he served as senior adviser to the Defense Ministry. He distanced himself from Zaim, however, and co-planned the coup that brought him down in August 1949, with its mastermind Sami al-Hinnawi. Kallas served on the War Council created by Hinnawi, which decided to execute President Zaim and his Prime Minister Muhsen al-Barazi on the charges of "treason."