SYRIA FOILED AGAIN GENERALLY SPEAKING, SYRIA'S SOLDIERS ARE NO GREAT SHAKES AT 
FIGHTING . BUT THEY'RE A PERSISTENT LOT WHEN IT COMES TO 
OVERTHROWING THE GOVERNMENT AT HOME . NO FEWER THAN TEN ATTEMPTED 
COUPS HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN 13 YEARS . ONE GROUP OF 
OFFICERS HAS PLOTTED STEADILY FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS . LED 
BY COLONEL ABDEL KARIM NAHLAWI, 39, THE MILITARY MALCONTENTS WERE IN 
ON THE COUP THAT SEVERED SYRIA'S UNION WITH EGYPT . LAST 
MARCH, THEY TRIED TO TAKE OVER THE GOVERNMENT, BUT WERE PACKED 
OFF AS MILITARY ATTACHES IN SYRIAN EMBASSIES ABROAD . LAST WEEK 
THE OFFICERS WERE UP TO THEIR OLD TRICKS AGAIN . INCENSED 
BY A DAMASCUS DECREE STRIPPING THEM OF THEIR ARMY STATUS, THE 
GROUP ARRANGED A DRAMATIC RENDEZVOUS IN TURKEY, THEN QUIETLY CROSSED THE 
FRONTIER AND MADE FOR THEIR OLD BARRACKS INSIDE SYRIA . GREETED 
JOYOUSLY BY SOME OF THEIR FORMER COMRADES IN ARMS, NAHLAWI'S MEN 
ISSUED A PUBLIC DEMAND THAT THEIR DISCHARGES BE CANCELED, AND THAT 
A NEW GENERAL STAFF TO THEIR LIKING BE PUT IN POWER 
. TO CONFUSE THINGS, THE REBELLIOUS SOLDIERS INSISTED ON A PLEBISCITE 
TO DECIDE ON CLOSER RELATIONS WITH NASSER'S EGYPT . OTHERWISE, NAHLAWI 
THREATENED, TROOPS UNDER HIS CONTROL WOULD MARCH ON DAMASCUS . FOR 
PRESIDENT NAZEM EL-KOUDSI, IT WAS AN OLD FAMILIAR TUNE . COOLLY, 
HE PLAYED FOR TIME, AGREED TO " CONSIDER " THE DEMANDS 
IF NAHLAWI WOULD NEGOTIATE AT ARMY HEADQUARTERS . THE TALKS DRAGGED 
ON FOR THREE CRISIS-FILLED DAYS . THEN, KOUDSI MOBILIZED HIS OWN 
FORCES, ONE NIGHT SUDDENLY SURROUNDED THE ARMY GHQ WITH ARMORED CARS 
. COLONEL NAHLAWI GOT THE POINT . IN ANOTHER COUNTRY, HE 
AND HIS MEN MIGHT HAVE BEEN JAILED, OR EVEN EXECUTED FOR 
TREASON . BUT KOUDSI, WHO KEEPS A PREPARED RESIGNATION IN HIS 
DESK JUST IN CASE THE SOLDIERS SHOULD SOME DAY WIN, CHOSE 
NOT TO PUSH HIS LUCK . ESCORTED ABOARD AN AIRLINER AND 
GIVEN $1,000 APIECE TO COVER THEIR EXPENSES, THE REBELS WERE SENT 
BACK TO DIPLOMATIC POSTS IN CIVVIES . 