Word: assad
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...Saturday, many Syrians will celebrate their Independence Day by driving up into the foothills of Mount Hermon and picnicking amid the apple blossoms in that portion of the Golan Heights that remains under Syrian control. In recent years, the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad has used the occasion to call for Israel - which has occupied most of the Golan Heights since the war of 1967 - to return the territory in exchange for an end to the conflict between the two countries, which have officially been at war since the creation of the Jewish state in 1948. But the Syrian...
...Ford has not yet been sent to Damascus, in part because of U.S. concerns over the increase in weapons deliveries to Hizballah and other issues. Administration officials were particularly miffed when Assad hosted both Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah at a dinner in Damascus in February, shortly after the U.S. had named Ford as ambassador-designate. In his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during confirmation hearings, Ford voiced concern that though the Syrian government says it is committed to a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement, it also threatens to revert to its old behavior...
...that's the message Syria is trying to send through stepping up weapons shipments, the exercise could backfire. "Assad says he wants talks with Israel, but doubling down on Hizballah isn't going to make the Israelis come running, especially not a Likud government," says Tabler. "It makes a war that much more likely...
...that talk of serious change is merely a ruse. "It is all just a game," says Hassan al-Amin, who runs an exile website from London. "Saif cannot do anything without his dad's blessing. They have a great relationship." Skeptics point to Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad promised change but has brought few reforms since his father Hafez died in 2000. In neighboring Egypt, Hosni Mubarak's son Gamal could face a similar predicament if he runs in next year's presidential elections. (See "Why the U.S. Is Back on the Road to Damascus...
...talking about peace will only last so long, however, until discussion turns again to war. And that's exactly what's happened over the past few days as Israeli and Syrian ministers have traded threats, with hard-line Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday threatening to topple the Assad regime. "When there is another war, you will not just lose it, but you and your family will lose power," said Lieberman. So as the U.S. moves to restore relations with Damascus, its first order of business may be crisis management: to calm rising Israeli-Syrian tensions and get both...