Federation of Arab Republics
Throughout 1970, Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi and Egypt's President Sadat were involved in the negotiations about the union between Egypt and Libya. Assad — at the time Lieutenant General — expanded the negotiations on Syria in September 1970 when in Libya. In April 1971, the three leaders announced the Federation of Arab Republics between Libya, Syria, and Egypt. When the Yom Kippur War started in 1973, Libya opposed its direction and criticized Egypt and Syria for restricted objectives. Libya was also unhappy with being sidelined. Nevertheless, Libya supported the war and had stationed troops in Egypt before it began. When the Arab countries lost the war and ceasefire negotiations started, Gaddafi was infuriated. After the war Gaddafi criticized Sadat and Assad for not consulting him before the war. Egypt's marginalization of Libya and acceptance of the Camp David accords led Libya to adopt a more hostile stance against Egypt. Eventually, Libya improved its relations with Syria, which also opposed Egypt after the Camp David accords.