Word: assad
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...produced nothing less than a "new birth" of Arab unity. The Jordanian monarch could be forgiven a bit of rhetorical excess. For while deep divisions in the Arab world remained, Hussein had indeed produced a remarkable and unexpected achievement. He had coaxed radical Syria and its inscrutable President, Hafez Assad, back into the Arab fold...
What inspired Syria's change of heart? According to summit participants, Assad concluded he could no longer remain aloof from the Arab world. Sentiment among the Arab leaders overwhelmingly favored pressuring Iran to end the war, and Assad apparently felt he had to move with the tide, putting at risk the millions of tons of free and subsidized oil that Iran has provided his country as a reward for his support. As for Egypt, the participants were eager to mend relations with the Arab world's most populous and powerful state so that Cairo's 450,000-man army could...
Bringing Syria around was not easy. The longtime feud between Assad and Saddam Hussein poisoned the first day's summit proceedings. The two men, who are rivals for leadership of the region's socialist Baath movement, refused to shake hands, exchange words or even look at each other. But after hours of delicate mediation by other Arab leaders, the atmosphere thawed. At one point, when the Syrian and Iraqi Foreign Ministers were deadlocked over a U.N. resolution calling for a cease-fire in the gulf war, Jordanian Foreign Minister Taher Masri went to Assad's suite to discuss the problem...
...confirm Fahd's waning authority, his proxy in Amman, Crown Prince Abdullah, played an important role in persuading Syria's Assad to moderate his views. Moreover, the absence of the Saudi monarch served, as it turned out, to cast more of the spotlight on Jordan's Hussein, who has emerged in recent years as the Arabs' most active statesman. In the end, it was Hussein who persuaded Assad and Saddam Hussein to talk directly to each other...
Almost too late, Assad realized that Iran and Hizballah posed a threat to Syria's position in Lebanon. He also came to understand that an Islamic stronghold in Lebanon might eventually undermine Assad's own secular Baath ; Party government in Damascus. In 1984 Assad threw his support to Amal, the mainstream Lebanese Shi'ite organization and militia led by Nabih Berri, but Hizballah's influence continued to spread. One reason Assad sent his army into West Beirut in February was to bring the Iranians to heel...