The Syrian Tangle
FogOR the moment it seems that Syria is to be even a sporadic civil war. The con- fused situation which has prevailed there during the past few days consisted in its essentials of a coalition of evicted politiciatis, some of whom came, from, the Aleppo area, and a number of officers wishing to re-establish the connection with Egypt directed against the High Command of the,, Syrian, army in Dainacus. The compro- mise, which has now been reached includes the reinstatement of President Kudsi, the holding of a referendum on union with Egypt and the de- parture of seven officers who led the recent Lary putsch. These terms suggest that, in fact, little has been decided. Despite the apparent victory of the Damascus officers over their Aleppo colleagues, the promise of a plebiscite on . union with Egypt and of the restoration of Parlia- ment are substantial concessions. It is true that the opposition to Damascus, consisting as it does of Conservative politicians and pan-Arab officers, does not appear to he a very stable combination, , and that the former have probably been ap- peased by the exile of the officers responsible for the putsch of March 28, whose aim was appar- ently a more Left-wing type of regime; Throughout these events President Nasser has acted with great correctness, and his offer of mediation was certainly the most sensible move he could have made. Despite considerable pro- Nasser sentiment in Syria, it does not seem likely that the United Arab Republic will be restored to its pristine unity. President Nasser must feel re- luctant to enter the Syrian hornets' nest once again, and his interests dictate an independent and friendly Syria rather than a new merger. The danger would be if disorder in Syria led to inter- vention from some other quarter; in that case Egypt would be bound to act. As it is, however, even a majority for union with Egypt will hardly lead to much more than a change of name. And such a majority is rather unlikely. Syrian poli- ticians and army officers probably do not need to study the sayings of Mr. Dooley to learn to count the votes themselves when they hold a plebiscite.
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