MIDDLE EAST SPREADING INFECTION IN THE MIDDLE EAST, REVOLUTION IS REACHING EPIDEMIC 
PROPORTIONS . A REVOLT IN YEMEN LAST SEPTEMBER OUSTED THE CENTURIES-OLD 
DYNASTY OF THE IMAM AND INSTALLED A " REPUBLIC " THAT 
HAS EVER SINCE BEEN PROPPED UP BY 20,000 EGYPTIAN TROOPS SENT 
IN BY GAMAL ABDEL NASSER . IN TWO BLOODY DAYS' WORK 
LAST MONTH, IRAQI ARMY OFFICERS DEPOSED AND KILLED PSYCHOTIC DICTATOR ABDUL 
KARIM KASSEM . LAST WEEK, ON A QUIET, GREY FRIDAY MORNING, 
THE INFECTION REACHED SYRIA . BROKEN BONDS . EVERYONE KNEW IT 
WAS COMING, FROM SYRIA'S STRONGMAN, GENERAL ABDEL KARIM ZAHREDDIN, DOWN TO 
THE LOWLIEST PRIVATE IN THE ARMY . WHEN ZAHREDDIN SEVERED SYRIA'S 
UNION WITH EGYPT 17 MONTHS AGO, HE HAD PROFITED FROM THE 
NATION'S REVULSION AGAINST THE POLICE STATE AND HARSH ECONOMIC CONTROLS IMPOSED 
BY NASSER . BUT SYRIANS, PASSIONATE BELIEVERS IN ARAB UNITY, ALSO 
FELT GUILTY ABOUT BREAKING THE BONDS . WISPY PRESIDENT NAZEM EL-KOUDSI 
SIGHED, " THE TROUBLE WITH SYRIANS IS THAT WE ARE NEVER 
CONCERNED WITH JUST OUR OWN PROBLEMS BUT WITH ISSUES AFFECTING ALL 
ARABS . " THE REGIME SURVIVED THREE MAJOR AND COUNTLESS MINOR 
CONSPIRACIES, BUT ONCE IRAQ REBELLED AGAINST DICTATOR KASSEM IN THE NAME 
OF ARAB UNITY, THE SYRIAN REGIME WAS DOOMED . SIX CABINET 
MINISTERS RESIGNED DISCREETLY, AND WHEN MEMBERS OF THE BAATH (RENAISSANCE) PARTY 
WERE ASKED TO REPLACE THEM, THEY REFUSED . DESPERATE PRESIDENT KOUDSI 
EAGERLY OFFERED TO UNITE SYRIA WITH THE NEW REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT OF 
IRAQ BUT RECEIVED NO OFFICIAL REPLY FROM BAGHDAD . SCHOOLS WERE 
CLOSED TO PREVENT STUDENT DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT, AND TANKS AND 
ARMORED CARS PATROLLED THE STREETS OF DAMASCUS . THE REVOLUTION CAME 
AS QUIETLY AS A SUNRISE . GENERAL ZAHREDDIN SUSPECTED COLONEL MOHAMMED 
HARIRI, CHIEF OF THE SOUTHERN FRONT COMMAND, OF BEING A TOP 
CONSPIRATOR AND ORDERED HIM SENT OUT OF THE COUNTRY AS MILITARY 
ATTACHE TO JORDAN . HARIRI REFUSED TO GO, AND THE ENTIRE 
SOUTHERN COMMAND BACKED HIM UP . AN ARMORED COLUMN MOVED OUT 
FROM THE BADANI MILITARY CAMP AND ENTERED DAMASCUS, WHERE THE TANKS 
PATROLLING THE STREETS QUICKLY JOINED THE REBELS . SCARCELY A SHOT 
WAS FIRED AS SYRIA CHANGED ITS ALLEGIANCE . TEMPERS WERE SO 
COOL THAT PRESIDENT KOUDSI WAS ALLOWED TO REMAIN AT HOME WITH 
HIS FAMILY . PREMIER KHALED EL-AZM, WHO LIVED BESIDE THE TURKISH 
EMBASSY, SIMPLY SLIPPED NEXT DOOR AND WAS GIVEN POLITICAL ASYLUM . 
DAMASCUS RADIO WENT ON THE AIR PROCLAIMING THE BAATHIST SLOGANS OF 
" UNITY, FREEDOM, SOCIALISM ! " A JUBILANT SYRIAN ARMY OFFICER 
AT A BORDER POST SAID, " WE WANT UNITY, NOT WITH 
NASSER, BUT WITH ALL ARABS . " AS IN IRAQ, THE 
SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE REVOLUTIONARY COMMAND INSISTED ON ANONYMITY . 
THE NEW 20-MAN CABINET HAS ONLY TWO MILITARY MEN, AND THE 
BAATH PARTY IS STRONGLY REPRESENTED . NEW PREMIER SALAH EL-BITAR, 45, 
IS A FORMER SYRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER AND A BAATHIST WITH STRONG 
SYMPATHIES TOWARD ARAB UNITY . A TALL, HULKING DAMASCENE WITH DARK, 
BROODING EYES AND BRILLIANTINED HAIR, HE ONCE SIGNED A MANIFESTO DENOUNCING 
UNION WITH EGYPT, BUT LATER ADVOCATED CLOSE FEDERAL TIES . TWO 
IN ONE . TWO REVOLUTIONS WITHIN A SINGLE MONTH HAVE THUS 
PUT THE BAATHISTS INTO POWER IN TWO NATIONS STRETCHING FROM THE 
MEDITERRANEAN TO THE PERSIAN GULF . THE BAATH PARTY STRONGLY EMPHASIZES 
UNITY WITH ALL ARAB STATES, INCLUDING EGYPT, BUT REJECTS DICTATORSHIP BY 
ANYONE, INCLUDING NASSER . ITS PHILOSOPHY CALLS FOR ITTIHAD, LOOSE FEDERATION, 
AND PLEDGES OVERALL ALLEGIANCE TO URUBA, A PERVASIVE PANARABISM . WHEN 
NEWS OF THE SYRIAN REVOLT REACHED THE IRAQI CAPITAL OF BAGHDAD, 
A MILITARY PARADE WAS TRANSFORMED INTO A VICTORY CELEBRATION, WITH LONG 
LINES OF CITIZENS AND STUDENTS SNAKE-DANCING THROUGH THE CITY . IN 
CAIRO, NASSER'S MEN HAILED THE NEW SYRIAN REGIME . IT SEEMS 
PROBABLE THAT NASSER WILL PROFIT FROM HIS PAST MISTAKES AND SETTLE 
FOR A COALITION OF " LIBERATED " ARAB STATES GOVERNED BY 
BAATHISTS AND PRO-NASSERITES BUT RETAINING THEIR SEPARATE IDENTITIES AND SOVEREIGNTIES . 
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAVE NEXT THREATENS THE MONARCHIES OF JORDAN AND SAUDI 
ARABIA, WHICH HAVE BITTERLY OPPOSED NASSER'S INTERVENTION IN YEMEN AND HAVE 
NO LOVE FOR THE UNITY PROPOSALS OF THE BAATH PARTY . 
THE BELEAGUERED KINGDOMS LAST WEEK SEEMED TO BE GIRDING FOR A 
LAST-DITCH STAND . KING HUSSEIN ALERTED HIS ARAB LEGION, THE MOST 
EFFICIENT FIGHTING FORCE IN THE ARAB WORLD . PRINCE FEISAL, PREMIER 
OF SAUDI ARABIA, PROTESTED THAT EGYPTIAN PLANES HAD BOMBED SAUDI TOWNS 
ON THE YEMEN BORDER AND ANGRILY DECLARED, " LET THE WORLD 
KNOW THAT WE ARE NOT AFRAID OF WAR . WE SAUDIS 
ARE INDEED THE CHILDREN OF WAR . IF WE HAVE TO 
DIE, THEN LET US DIE WITH HONOR . UNLESS THESE ATTACKS, 
PROVOCATIONS AND CHILDISH ACTS END, THEN THIS COUNTRY WILL TURN THE 
TABLES AND TURN THE AGGRESSORS HEAD OVER HEELS . " POSITIVE 
WAY . THE UNITED NATIONS' SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST, 
DR . RALPH BUNCHE, LAST WEEK VISITED THE REPUBLICAN AREAS OF 
YEMEN AS PART OF THE U.N . EFFORT TO PREVENT THE 
ARKANSAS-SIZED NATION FROM BECOMING AN INTERNATIONAL BATTLEGROUND . YEMEN HAD DELAYED 
BUNCHE'S VISIT UNTIL AN EGYPTIAN ARMORED COLUMN COULD SEIZE THE FORMERLY 
ROYALIST-HELD TOWN OF MARIB, AND THEN EXHIBITED IT TO BUNCHE AS 
EVIDENCE OF REPUBLICAN CONTROL OF THE COUNTRY . AFTER A 60-MINUTE 
SESSION WITH YEMEN'S STRONGMAN ABDULLAH SALLAL, BUNCHE DECLARED, " I WAS 
MOST IMPRESSED BY HIS EARNESTNESS, SINCERITY, STRENGTH AND SERIOUSNESS OF PURPOSE 
. " STOPPING OFF IN CAIRO ON HIS WAY HOME, BUNCHE 
CONFERRED FOR TWO HOURS WITH NASSER, THEN SAW NEWSMEN . HE 
EMPHASIZED THAT THE YEMENI PEOPLE HE SAW SUPPORTED SALLAL'S GOVERNMENT / 
IN A POSITIVE WAY . " THE RADIO VOICE OF THE 
ROYALIST TRIBESMEN FIGHTING TO RESTORE THE IMAM PLAINTIVELY BEGGED BUNCHE TO 
VISIT THE AREAS THEY CONTROLLED " AND SEE THE REAL TRUTH 
SEE THE ROADS, RAVINES AND MOUNTAINS OF YEMEN LITTERED WITH EGYPTIAN 
DEAD . " BUT, ON THIS TRIP AT LEAST, RALPH BUNCHE 
WAS SATISFIED TO DRAW HIS CONCLUSIONS FROM ONE SIDE ONLY . 
LATER, THE U.N . LET IT BE KNOWN THAT HE PLANS 
TO VISIT THE IMAM ON A SEPARATE JOURNEY IN THE NEAR 
FUTURE . HARD LOOK . IN 1958, THE LAST TIME THERE 
WAS A BIG REVOLUTIONARY CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST, THE U.S 
. RUSHED 14,000 MARINES AND TROOPS TO LEBANON . LAST WEEK 
THE U.S . ROLE WAS FAR MORE AMBIVALENT . WASHINGTON SENT 
A MESSAGE TO NASSER EXPRESSING " GRAVE CONCERN " AT CONTINUED 
EGYPTIAN BOMBING OF SAUDI ARABIA . INSTEAD OF MARINES, THE U.S 
. SENT VETERAN DIPLOMAT ELLSWORTH BUNKER TO SAUDI ARABIA TO REASSURE 
THE UNDERSTANDABLY NERVOUS PRINCE FEISAL . U.S . POLICY SEEMS AIMED 
AT SAFEGUARDING THE TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF JORDAN AND SAUDI ARABIA FROM 
AGGRESSION BEYOND THEIR BORDERS, NOT IN MAINTAINING THE MONARCHS IN POWER 
AGAINST THEIR OWN PEOPLE . IN ISRAEL, PREMIER DAVID BENGURION INTERRUPTED 
A VACATION TO CONFER WITH HIS DEFENSE CHIEFS . THE REVOLUTION 
IN SYRIA IS UNLIKELY TO BE THE FINAL FIRECRACKER ON THE 
STRING . BAATHIST AND NASSERITE ELEMENTS ARE KNOWN TO BE AT 
WORK IN JORDAN, ESPECIALLY AMONG THE PALESTINIAN ARABS . SAUDI ARABIA 
CAN NO LONGER TRUST ITS SMALL AIR FORCE OR EVEN THE 
OFFICER CORPS OF ITS REGULAR ARMY . IF IT COMES TO 
FIGHTING, THE SAUDI RULERS WILL DEPEND ON THEIR " WHITE ARMY, 
" THE BEDOUIN TRIBESMEN TRADITIONALLY LOYAL TO THE KING . BUT 
IF THE ROAD AHEAD LOOKS ROUGH FOR THE MONARCHIES, IT BY 
NO MEANS IS SMOOTH FOR THE / LIBERATED " STATES, SINCE 
VICTORY MOST OFTEN PRESENTS ONLY NEW OCCASIONS FOR QUARRELS, IN KEEPING 
WITH THE ARAB PROVERB THAT SAYS, " I AND MY BROTHER 
AGAINST MY COUSIN ; I AND MY COUSIN AGAINST THE FOREIGNER 
. / 