Arab Federation - Failure

Failure

Tension between the UAR and the Arab Union (Arab Federation) resulted in the fall of as-Said, the Union and the entire Iraqi Hashemite regime. During the summer of 1958, UAR troop movements to the Syrian border instigated the Arab Union to mobilize troops to counter this move. In July 1958, troops led the Qasim travelling through Iraq, took a chance to overthrow the King and his government in Baghdad. With the fall and resulting deaths of Saed, King Faisal II and the rest of the Iraqi royal family, both the Hashemite regime fell and with it the short lived Arab Union.

The revolution and downfall of the Hashemite dynasty in Iraq would not be the end of relations between Iraq and Jordan. In 1975 Jordan turned away from their economic relationship with Syria and instead looked to Iraq. Iraq offered Jordan a strong economy, oil money, a large market and strategic depth. With Iraq's financial aid, Jordan made some economic gains. In fact, by 1990 Iraq was "Jordan's largest market, it was repaying trade credit debts in oil, and it held out the hope of lucrative reconstruction contracts after the Iran-Iraq War."