At 4 am on September 28, 1961, an armored column under Lieutenant Colonel Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi, chief of Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer's bureau in Syria, and Desert Guard units under Lieutenant Colonel Haydar al-Kuzbari entered Damascus. Within hours the rebels seized army headquarters, the broadcasting station, and the airport, arresting First Army commander Lieutenant General Jamal Faysal and Amer himself, Nasser's viceroy over the Syrian region of the United Arab Republic. The Damascus officers initially demanded Syrian autonomy within the union, grievances sharpened by Nasser's July 1961 nationalization decrees and the August abolition of Syria's regional government, but when Nasser refused, secession acquired its own momentum and by nightfall Damascus radio declared Syria independent, ending the three and a half year Egyptian Syrian union.
The army handed government to traditional politicians under Maamun al-Kuzbari, the country was renamed the Syrian Arab Republic, and it regained its Arab League and UN seats within weeks, with the USSR and US extending recognition on October 7 and 8.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Target identified in Coup Atlas research: UAR President Gamal Abdel Nasser lost authority over the Syrian region; his deputy Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer, the effective Egyptian ruler of Syria, was arrested and expelled to Cairo. Neither was physically harmed.
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi (lieutenant colonel, coup leader)
Abdel Hakim Amer (UAR vice president and viceroy in Syria, arrested)
Gamal Abdel Nasser (UAR president, lost the Syrian region)
Jamal Faysal (First Army commander, arrested)
Maamun al-Kuzbari (first prime minister of the secessionist government)
Sources
At 4 am on 28 September 1961 an armored column commanded by Lt Colonel Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi, chief of Amer's bureau in Syria, and Desert Guard units under Lt Colonel Haydar al-Kuzbari entered Damascus; the uprising by disgruntled Syrian Army officers resulted in the breakup of the United Arab Republic and the restoration of an independent Syria, with the army entrusting government to politicians of the traditional parties.
Within half an hour the rebels seized army headquarters, the broadcasting station, and the airport; First Army commander Lieutenant General Jamal Faysal was arrested at his house, followed by his Egyptian deputy and UAR Vice President Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer; the coup authors initially declared they wanted Syrian autonomy within the UAR, not separation, but Nasser refused to yield and the process acquired its own momentum.
SOURCE REVIEWEDKarol Sorby, The Separatist Period in Syria, 1961-1963, Asian and African Studies (Slovak Academy of Sciences)open source ↗
The coup was headed by Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi commanding officers from the Damascus middle class; Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran were the first to recognize the post UAR order, followed by the USSR and the US on October 7 and 8, 1961, and within a week Syria regained its United Nations and Arab League seats.
SOURCE REVIEWEDAl Majalla, The United Arab Republic: A look at Egypt and Syria's shortlived unionopen source ↗
Discontent with growing Egyptian dominance of the union culminated in Syria's secession from the UAR on September 28, 1961, after a series of resignations by key Syrian officials, with the officers taking advantage of Field Marshal Amer's absence in Cairo at the moment of maximum tension.
SOURCE REVIEWEDEBSCO Research Starters, Syria and Egypt Form the United Arab Republicopen source ↗
Editorial Note
The deposed executive is the union presidency itself: Nasser remained unharmed in Cairo but lost the Syrian region, while his proconsul Amer was arrested in Damascus and sent home. Sources differ on whether Amer was in Damascus or Cairo at the decisive moment; the detailed Sorby study records his arrest in Damascus after returning for crisis talks. Arc links: Nahlawi attempted a further coup on March 28, 1962, and the secessionist republic was swept away by the March 8, 1963 Baathist coup.
Cross-Reference
Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: UAR President Gamal Abdel Nasser lost authority over the Syrian region; his deputy Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer, the effective Egyptian ruler of Syria, was arrested and expelled to Cairo. Neither was physically harmed..
Baseline coding: Incumbent executive removed from power. Recorded leader fate: deposed; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
“THE WORLD And Now Syria Help for Nasser,” March 11, 1963
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →