Word: assad
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Having an army in Lebanon poses a major problem for Assad. So far, an estimated 600 to 700 Syrian soldiers have died there. The requirements of the military presence in Lebanon have also seriously weakened the Syrian forces on the Golan Heights; the current troop level there is far below what it was in 1973, and no combat match at all for Israeli forces. To make up for the huge losses Syria suffered in the 1973 war (7,000 men, 600 tanks and 165 aircraft), the 230,000-man army has been rebuilt and re-equipped by the Soviets, with...
...Assad has no intention of pulling out of Lebanon, at least so long as the Israelis supply and advise the Christian militiamen. He has recently set about purging Israeli-trained officers from the Lebanese army and dismantling the various factions' checkpoints and military facilities in Beirut, thus leaving only the Syrian army responsible for security in the capital. Assad's goal is to have a Syrian presence throughout Lebanon, except for the areas south of the Litani River, which are patrolled by units of the 6,000-man United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL...
Back home, Assad, 48, remains firmly in control after eight years in power. In almost every way, the law of Syria?sometimes benevolent, often harsh?represents the will of Assad. When there was widespread criticism of corruption last year, he took a hard look at the influence buying of top government officials by free-spending entrepreneurs and fired his Premier, the Deputy Premier, a score of high-ranking civil servants and about a hundred more of lower rank...
...Assad does have opposition. Syria is a predominantly Sunni Muslim country. There are complaints that the Alawites, an Islamic sect to which Assad belongs, represent only 10% of the people most top government offices. Some hard-line Baath Party members grumble that Assad is watering down the Marxist policies of previous regimes, while Syrian entrepreneurs think he has moved too slowly away from Baathism's doctrinaire socialism...
...Assad is no democrat. The opposition is subjected to wiretapping, and enemies of the regime are not only imprisoned or exiled but sometimes publicly hung in Damascus' main square after summary trials. Assad keeps the security forces firmly under his control (all of the senior officers must be Alawi). Inside Damascus, a special 9,000-man infantry division, commanded by Assad's brother Rifaat, protects the President and his regime. There are stories of Rifaat's ruthless excesses: people losing a choice villa or apartment because he wanted it for a friend, or brutal beatings of someone who is less...