The role of the Middle East was very crucial for the United States, especially after World War II. The United States had three strategic objectives in the Middle East and consistently followed them throughout the various events that occurred in the region. First, with the emergence of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, policymakers began to recognize the importance of the Middle East as a strategic area for containing Soviet influence. This also coincides with the United States becoming increasingly wary of Arab nationalism and the threat it posed to US influence. Second, the emergence of the new Israeli state in 1948 further deepened US politics and involvement in the region, while at the same time creating friction between the US and Arab states who were becoming increasingly suspicious of US ties -Israel. A third focus was the importance of Middle Eastern oil, which made up a large part of the world's reserves. The United States recognized its importance especially after seeing the economic implications of World War II. While all of these goals have played a significant role in U.S. relations with the Middle East, perhaps one of the largest has been U.S. policy aimed at containing communism and Arab nationalism in the region. An example of how politics came into play is during the American-Syrian crisis of 1957. The main driving force in this particular case was the US policy of containing Soviet influence in the region. The crisis itself began in 1957, when the Syrian government revealed that it had discovered a U.S. attempt to overthrow the Syrian government. This effort, led by Eisenhower, was the result of US fears that Syria was increasingly falling under Soviet influence. These fears stemmed from the fact that Syria was generally pro Ba'... middle of paper... the Western Iraqi government pushed Chamoun to seek US help and intervention. The United States could not reject this request because this would have consequences for the West's political and military influence in the region. Using the Eisenhower Doctrine, the United States landed its troops in Beirut. In doing so, the United States acted in accordance with its own interests in the region and consolidated its role in crushing Arab nationalism. This intervention also solidified the perception of the United States as imperialist in the region. This crisis also had an impact on US policy as it reminded the US government that it needed to pursue a campaign to “win the hearts and minds” of the Arab people in order to maintain its strategic objectives in the Middle East. However, the 1958 crisis became the symbol of the conflict between the West and growing Arab nationalism.