Editorial Note
A military coup d’état was effected by Colonel Shishakli during the night of November 28–29. On November 30, telegram 310 from Damascus described this coup as the latest evidence of a long-standing feud between the Army and the People’s Party over the exercise of political power in Syria (783.13/11–3051). The pretext for the coup was said to be the Army’s fear that, under Dawalibi, government policy would favor civilian control of the military, neutrality between the Western and Soviet blocs, and unification with Iraq, and possibly Jordan, under a “Greater Syria” plan, rather than sympathetic consideration of the four-power proposals for a Middle East Command. For documentation on Syria’s participation in regional defense planning, see pages 1 ff.