Abdul Karim al-Nahlawi
Lieutenant colonel Abdul Karim al-Nahlawi | |
|---|---|
| Native name | عبد الكريم النحلاوي |
| Born | 1926 (age 97–98) Damascus, French Syria |
| Allegiance | .svg){kind=small} First Syrian Republic (1948–1950) Second Syrian Republic (1950–1958; 1961–63) United Arab Republic (1958–1961) |
| Service |  Syrian Army |
| Years of service | 1948–1963 |
| Rank | Lieutenant colonel |
| Battles / wars | First Arab-Israeli War |
Abdul Karim al-Nahlawi (Arabic: عبد الكريم النحلاوي; born 1926) is a Syrian former military officer. He is known for being the leader of the 1961 Syrian coup d'état against Gamal Abdel Nasser which ended the union of Syria and Egypt as the United Arab Republic (UAR). ِ
On 28 March 1962, Al-Nahlawi attempted to seize power directly for himself in another coup against his former political allies Nazim al-Qudsi, Maarouf al-Dawalibi and Khalid al-Azm. However, the coup failed and after this failed coup, he briefly held diplomatic posts in Indonesia, Pakistan, Morocco and Turkey, but after the 8th March 1963 Baathist coup d'état, he was expelled from the army and went into exile in Saudi Arabia, where he has lived ever since.[1]
Al-Nahlawi was a lieutenant colonel in the UAR's armed forces when he headed a coalition of moderate officers from Damascus in a coup on behalf of Maamun al-Kuzbari,[note 1] and in collaboration with Haydar al-Kuzbari (who was married to Al-Nahlawi's sister and is the cousin of Maamun al-Kuzbari), and Muwafak 'Asasa (موفق عصاصة). The coup was against Nasser and locally his deputy Abdel Hakim Amer, who was the Egyptian viceroy in Syria.[2] The Syrian officers were to some degree operating at the behest of the Syrian middle and upper class who opposed Nasser's socialist policies and in particular land reform.
References
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ Cited by name by Gamal Abdel Nasser in the Ministerial Council of 19 October 1961, as deceitfully praising the union and socialist policies in public whilst conspiring the coup, which was the case of several of Syria's class of hereditary notables and financial rentiers who all pretended to be Nasserists with zeal.