Member states of the United Nations the membership of the USSR in the Security Council and all other UN organs was being continued by the Russian Federation with the support of the 11 member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The other fourteen independent states established from the former Soviet Republics were all admitted to the UN: Both Egypt and Syria joined the UN as original members on 24 October 1945. Following a plebiscite on 21 February 1958, the United Arab Republic was established by a union of Egypt and Syria and continued as a single member. On 13 October 1961, Syria, having resumed its
United Arab Republic again achieve such a tangible victory toward this goal. After Syria's withdrawal from the union in 1961, Egypt retained its "United Arab Republic" name until 1971. Between 5–10 June 1967, Israel seized control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula during the Six-Day War. Eventually, the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt in 1978. If ranked today, the United Arab Republic would be the 25th largest nation on the planet (Egypt is 30th and Syria is 88th). It was comparable in size to South Africa, and twice the size of France. Following the dissolution of the All-Palestine Government, the