[3] Hatum was born in the village of Dhibin near the town of Salkhad in the Jabal al-Druze region of southern Syria, during French Mandatory rule.

Arab nationalist officers sought to topple the secessionist government of Nazim al-Qudsi and formed an alliance within the military to launch a coup in 1963.

[8] On 7–8 March 1963 Ziad al-Hariri, an independent unionist officer, headed the coup by leading the takeover of Damascus, capturing several strategic points in the city.

[7] It then broadcast that the National Council for the Revolutionary Command had replaced the secessionist government and that it was reinstating several discharged Ba'athist officers into the army, including all of those on the Military Committee, which at that time was made of Muhammad Umran, Salah Jadid, Hafez al-Assad, Abd al-Karim al-Jundi and Ahmad al-Mir.

[9] In addition to the commando unit he headed prior to the coup, Hatum was also made the commander of the army garrisons posted near the strategic radio and television stations.

[6] The Military Committee increasingly challenged the authority of President Amin al-Hafiz and Prime Minister Salah al-Din al-Bitar, both staunch allies of Aflaq.

The leaders of the coup, Jadid and Hafez al-Assad, viewed Hatum as reckless and deplored the severe use of force he deployed and the consequent mass casualties when he arrested Hafiz.

In the meantime, in August, one of Hatum's co-conspirators, colonel Talal Abu Asali, publicly cursed Jadid and promised to avenge Hafiz during a drinking session with other officers.

As a result, he was arrested the following day by Chief of Staff Ahmad Suwaydani, who assigned Hatum (who was far from suspicion at that point) to head the investigation against Asali.

He further asserted that Alawites outnumbered non-Alawites in the officer corps five to one and the government was leading Syria under the slogan of "One Nusayri state with an eternal message."

However, he was arrested by the authorities to Atrash's protestations[14] and brought to court, where Tlass confirmed the death sentence and Hatum was executed by firing squad on 26 June.