ABSTRACT
The Republic of 'Iraq—a kingdom until July 1958, and a republic, under military regimes, since then—is the most easterly of the major Arab states, abutting, eastward and northward, on non-Arab'territory. The 'Iraqi vilayets were disliked by the Turks, who made them the theme of many pejorative jokes, and Syrians and Egyptians have habitually thought poorly of Traqi culture and amenities. Lebanese territory consists of a block of land approximating to 4,000 square miles in extent, roughly quadrilateral in shape but tapering in breadth from north to south. It is bounded on the west by the Mediterranean Sea with some 145 miles of coastline, on the north and east by Syria, on the south and south-east by Israel. The Syrian Arab Republic is a state of some 72,000 square miles, with a population of close to 6,000,000 souls. The natural resources of Syria, other than the land and water which make extensive agriculture possible, are in fact jejune.
