Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi
Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi is a former Syrian military officer and head of the coup which ended the union of Syria and Egypt as the United Arab Republic on Sept. 28, 1961. Al-Nahlawi seized personal power in a second coup the following year, briefly ruling Syria before falling victim to another coup himself. After occupying several diplomatic posts, in Indonesia, Pakistan, Morocco and Turkey, he returned to Syria and attempted to seize power once again in a final and unsuccessful military coup attempt.
Al-Nahlawi was a lieutenant colonel in the combined Syrian-Egyptian army when he headed a coalition of moderate officers from Damascus who carried out a bloodless coup against Nasser and his deputy 'Abd al-Hakim Amer, who was the Egyptian viceroy in Syria. 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.
