United Arab States United Arab States The United Arab States (UAS) was a short-lived confederation of the United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria) and North Yemen from 1958 to 1961. The United Arab Republic was a sovereign state formed by the union of Egypt and Syria in 1958. The same year, the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen (North Yemen), which had already signed a defense pact with Egypt, joined with the new state in 1958 in a loose confederation called the United Arab States. One reason for this decision was the fact that, for a long time, Yemen had felt threatened by its considerably
United Arab Republic was dissolved in 1961. Established on 1 February 1958, as the first step towards a larger pan-Arab state, the UAR was created when a group of political and military leaders in Syria proposed a merger of the two states to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Pan-Arab sentiment traditionally was very strong in Syria, and Nasser was a popular hero-figure throughout the Arab world following the Suez War of 1956. There was thus considerable popular support in Syria for union with Nasser's Egypt. The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party was the leading advocate of such a union. In mid-1957 western powers began