unease. Bitar supported Hariri in his conflict against the Military Committee; presumably believing that Hariri worked as a check on the Military Committee's growing power. On 23 June, when Hariri was on a diplomatic visit to Algiers, the Military Committee transferred his supporters from sensitive military posts and demoted Hariri to become Syria's military attaché in Washington. On the same day, a new Agrarian Reform Lawwhich abolished the 1962 Agrarian Reform Law and amending the 1958 onewas published. Bitar had promised to introduce a new agrarian law for some time; according to Rabinovich its publication was "probably fixed so as to serve the Ba'ath in its struggle against Hariri". Hariri resisted the committee's move and promptly returned to Damascus to marshal his supporters. Neither Hariri nor the Committee sought a violent confrontation, and when it became clear that the committee had a larger following in the officer corps, Hariri admitted defeat and left the country. He left for Paris on 8 July and was accompanied to the airport by Haddad and Bitar. Bitar reportedly had tears in his eyes when he said goodbye because he believed that without Hariri, the committee would have full control over the military, leaving the civilian leadership considerably weaker in its competition for control of the Ba'ath Party. On 18 July, Jassem Alwan, a Nasserite officer, launched a coup against the Ba'athists. The coup failed but the Ba'athists' violent suppression of it was controversial20 suspected conspirators were immediately executed. President Atassi was removed from his post on 27 July and was replaced by Hafiz; according to Rabinovich, the Ba'athists thought it unnecessary to have an independent figurehead after the failed 18 July coup. Alwan's attempted coup and Atassi's demotion affected Egyptian–Syrian relations. On 22 July, the traditional date for Nasser's Revolution Day address, Nasser stated that Egypt had withdrawn from the Federal Union Agreement, blaming the Ba'athists for the withdrawal. He condemned the Ba'ath as irreligious and heretical; the latter was particularly effective because many Syrian Muslims viewed the Ba'ath Party's open embrace of secularism and the fact that many party officials were Christians or belonged to heterodox Muslim sects with disdain. Once order had been restored after the coup attempt, Bitar dissolved his cabinet and appointed a new one on 4 August. Third cabinet: 4 August – 11 November 1963 In contrast to his second cabinet, no vacant portfolios were left for a possible