Editing Gamal Abdel Nasser (section)

=== Influence on the Arab world ===
{{quote box
| quote = The holy march on which the Arab nation insists, will carry us forward from one victory to another ... the flag of freedom which flies over Baghdad today will fly over Amman and Riyadh. Yes, the flag of freedom which flies over Cairo, Damascus, and Baghdad today will fly over the rest of the Middle East ...
| quoted = 1 | width = 35% | align = right | source = Gamal Abdel Nasser, 19 July in Damascus<ref name="Aburish 174-175" />}}

In Lebanon, clashes between pro-Nasser factions and supporters of staunch Nasser opponent, then-President [[Camille Chamoun]], culminated in [[1958 Lebanon crisis|civil strife]] by May.<ref name="Dawisha208">{{Harvnb|Dawisha|2009|p=208}}</ref> The former sought to unite with the UAR, while the latter sought Lebanon's continued independence.<ref name="Dawisha208" /> Nasser delegated oversight of the issue to Sarraj, who provided limited aid to Nasser's Lebanese supporters through money, light arms, and officer training<ref>{{Harvnb|Aburish|2004|p=164}}</ref>—short of the large-scale support that Chamoun alleged.{{sfn|Dawisha|2009|pp=208–209}}<ref>{{Harvnb|Aburish|2004|p=167}}</ref> Nasser did not covet Lebanon, seeing it as a "special case", but sought to prevent Chamoun from a second presidential term.<ref>{{Harvnb|Aburish|2004|p=166}}</ref> In Oman, the [[Jebel Akhdar War]] between the rebels in the interior of Oman against the British-backed Sultanate of Oman prompted Nasser to support the rebels in what was considered a war against colonialism between 1954 and 1959.<ref name=JAN>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EOZjCAAAQBAJ&dq=jebel%20akhdar%20war&pg=RA1-PA76 Gregory Fremont Barnes: A History of Counterinsurgency]</ref><ref name=NYTJAN>[https://www.nytimes.com/1957/07/28/archives/oman-dispute-highlights-usbritish-differences-london-moves-to.html?searchResultPosition=1 The New York Times: Oman Dispute Highlights U.S.-British Differences]</ref>

[[File:Negotiations between Chehab and Nasser.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Two men standing side by side in the forefront, wearing overcoats. Behind them are several men in military uniform or suits and ties standing and saluting or making no gestures.|Nasser (right) and Lebanese president [[Fuad Chehab]] (to Nasser's right) at the Syrian–Lebanese border during talks to end the [[1958 Lebanon crisis|crisis in Lebanon]]. [[Akram al-Hawrani]] stands third to Nasser's left, and [[Abdel Hamid Sarraj]] stands to Chehab's right, March 1959.]]

On 14 July 1958, Iraqi army officers Abdel Karim Qasim and [[Abdel Salam Aref]] overthrew the Iraqi monarchy and, the next day, Iraqi prime minister and Nasser's chief Arab antagonist, [[Nuri al-Said]], was killed.<ref name="Dawisha209">{{Harvnb|Dawisha|2009|p=209}}</ref> The entire Iraqi royal family was killed, and Al-Said's and Iraqi crown prince [['Abd al-Ilah]]'s bodies were mutilated and dragged across Baghdad.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WRXDRyFETQkC&pg=PA18-IA169|title=Lion of Jordan|author=Avi Shlaim|access-date=23 January 2018|year= 2008|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-27051-1}}</ref> Nasser recognized the new government and stated that "any attack on Iraq was tantamount to an attack on the UAR".<ref name="Aburish169-170" /> On 15 July, US marines landed in Lebanon, and British special forces in Jordan, upon the request of those countries' governments to prevent them from falling to pro-Nasser forces. Nasser felt that the [[14 July Revolution|revolution in Iraq]] left the road for pan-Arab unity unblocked.<ref name="Aburish169-170">{{Harvnb|Aburish|2004|pp=169–170}}</ref> On 19 July, for the first time, he declared that he was opting for full Arab union, although he had no plan to merge Iraq with the UAR.<ref name="Aburish 174-175">{{Harvnb|Aburish|2004|pp=174–175}}</ref> While most members of the [[Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council]] (RCC) favored Iraqi-UAR unity,<ref>{{Harvnb|Aburish|2004|p=172}}</ref> Qasim sought to keep Iraq independent and resented Nasser's large popular base in the country.<ref name="Dawisha209" />

In the fall of 1958, Nasser formed a tripartite committee consisting of Zakaria Mohieddin, al-Hawrani, and [[Salah al-Din Bitar|Salah Bitar]] to oversee developments in Syria.<ref name="Aburish176-78" /> By moving the latter two, who were Ba'athists, to Cairo, he neutralized important political figures who had their own ideas about how Syria should be run.<ref name="Aburish176-78" /> He put Syria under Sarraj, who effectively reduced the province to a [[police state]] by imprisoning and exiling landholders who objected to the introduction of Egyptian agricultural reform in Syria, as well as communists.<ref name="Aburish176-78" /> Following the Lebanese election of [[Fuad Chehab]] in September 1958, relations between Lebanon and the UAR improved considerably.<ref name="Salam102">{{Harvnb|Salam|2004|p=102}}</ref> On 25 March 1959, Chehab and Nasser met at the Lebanese–Syrian border and compromised on an end to the Lebanese crisis.<ref name="Salam102" />

[[File:Nasser addressing Damascus, 1960.jpg|thumb|right|alt=The back of a man waving to the throng below|Nasser waving to crowds in [[Damascus]], Syria, October 1960]]

Relations between Nasser and Qasim grew increasingly bitter on 9 March,<ref name="Aburish181-83">{{Harvnb|Aburish|2004|pp=181–183}}</ref> after Qasim's forces suppressed a [[1959 Mosul uprising|rebellion]] in [[Mosul]], launched a day earlier by a [[Abd al-Wahab al-Shawaf|pro-Nasser Iraqi RCC officer]] backed by UAR authorities.<ref name="Dawisha216">{{Harvnb|Dawisha|2009|p=216}}</ref> Nasser had considered dispatching troops to aid his Iraqi sympathizers, but decided against it.<ref>{{Harvnb|Aburish|2004|pp=179–180}}</ref> He clamped down on Egyptian communist activity due to the key backing Iraqi communists provided Qasim. Several influential communists were arrested, including Nasser's old comrade [[Khaled Mohieddin]], who had been allowed to re-enter Egypt in 1956.<ref name="Aburish181-83" />

By December, the political situation in Syria was faltering and Nasser responded by appointing Amer as governor-general alongside Sarraj. Syria's leaders opposed the appointment and many resigned from their government posts. Nasser later met with the opposition leaders and in a heated moment, exclaimed that he was the elected president of the UAR and those who did not accept his authority could "walk away".<ref name="Aburish176-78">{{Harvnb|Aburish|2004|pp=176–178}}</ref>