Atrash continued to hold the office of RCC, and was reelected as speaker on 15 February 1966, shortly before the 1966 Syrian coup d'état (21–23 February), which brought the left-wing neo-Ba'athist government of Jadid to power and caused an internal party split. The Jadid government's coming to power resulted in the self-imposed exile of the leading Ba'ath ideologue Michel Aflaq. Atrash, a partisan of Aflaq, was arrested and jailed in the Mezzeh Prison during the coup. The new defense minister and future president Hafez al-Assad later paid him a visit to discuss Syria's political situation and check on his health.