Syria Happy To Be Free Of Nasser - 26/11/1961
Herald and News (Klamath Falls, Oregon)
Sun, Nov 26, 1961 – Page 17
Syria Happy To Be Free Of Nasser
By David Lancashire
DAMASCUS, Syria (Associated Press)
About 70 per cent of Syria’s people are glad to be out from the oppressive rule of President Nasser and his United Arab Republic, informed sources say.
The people were sick of the stiff import restrictions, crippling economic decrees, the secret police, terror and unheard-of income taxes imposed by Cairo.
The remainder of the population still stands by Nasser, these formants say. A small but vocal segment of Syria’s four and half million people, it consists of rabid Arab nationalists and Nasser-worshiping students.
Whether the revolutionary regime of the Premier Mamoun Kuzbari can command the loyalty of the Nasser-hating majority is another question.
Composed of known rightists and professional men, the revolutionary cabinet may prove not revolutionary enough for some Syrians, possibly even for some segments of the army that installed it.
Despite the regime’s neutral policy, 11 of Kuzbari’s 12 ministers lean clearly to the West. Syrians are sensitive to accusations of Imperialism or capitalism.
Kuzbari’s cabinet faces troubles from Egypt, its partner in the U.A.R. until last week’s military uprising dissolved those ties.
Nasser is expected to pour in money and agents to whip up dissent and work on Syrian feeling for Arab unity. Damascus once was the capital of Islam and these feelings may be even deeper in Syria than in the rest of the Arab world.
Nasser’s powerful propaganda has lost some of its effectiveness in the last three years, however, and closer Syrian ties with neighboring Iraq and Jordan might be enough to offset it.
The communists, who came close to ruling Syria four years ago, appear to have scant chance for a comeback at the moment.
The communists were outlawed when Syria joined Nasser’s U.A.R.
The party’s heyday was in 1957 when Syria accepted $175 million in Red economic aid.
About 400 technical experts from behind the iron curtain still are growing on railways, dams, and construction projects here.
Broken up and scattered during Nasser’s rule, underground communists made a bid this week to cash in on the week-old revolution. A party statement issued across the border in
Lebanon pledged support to the revolution and demanded participation in the next elected government.
But Syrian political sources say they have learned their lesson and Parliament, expected to be elected within four months, will keep the Communists suppressed.
