Word: assad
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Syria's Assad...
...enough to leap into a no-lose political situation. If he had not been successful, he would still have been lauded for the attempt by his supporters and any failure could have been blamed on the State Department and Reagan's limited negotiatory stance with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad...
...week, U.S. Special Envoy Donald Rumsfeld was in Damascus conferring with Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam. Little was accomplished, but the fact that the session was held at all was an achievement of sorts. In the streets of the capital, 50,000 Syrians rallied to praise President Hafez Assad and to demonstrate against U.S. mili military power...
Though Rumsfeld did not meet with Assad, that privilege was reserved for Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al Faisal. He became the first foreign visi tor to meet with Assad since Nov. 9, when the Syrian President dropped out of sight after suffering from what the government officially labeled as appendicitis. In television footage aired after the meeting with the prince, Assad looked wan and fragile. Whether he remained seriously ill and will require a long period of convalescence, as many reports have suggested, was a secret the Syrians were keeping to themselves...
Despite their radically different habits, Rifaat and Hafez Assad share the same political goals. As members of the Alawite branch of Shi'ite Islam, both are determined to preserve the sect's control. The Alawites have dominated Syria for 13 years, mostly because of the adamantine grip of Hafez