Word: assad
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Middle Eastern affairs, a curious courtship was taking place between Libya and Syria. On the occasion of the eleventh anniversary of his country's revolution, Libyan Strongman Muammar Gaddafi unexpectedly proposed an "immediate" merger with Syria. Equally unexpected was the almost instantaneous reply of Syrian President Hafez Assad: "We extend our arm to meet with yours in unity." Syria is at loggerheads with two of its Arab neighbors, Iraq and Jordan, and is desperately short of cash, so a union with Libya might conceivably work to its benefit. But such merger proposals, offered in the name of the "Arab...
What has changed, especially in the past few years, is that assassination has become an official form of warfare. National leaders like Libya's Gaddafi and Syria's Assad announce open season on their enemies, and whether or not they actually hire the hit men or, more likely, merely encourage assassins by their lusty rhetoric, they leave little doubt of their connivance. Not far from where Mr. Tabatabai met his postman, former Chilean Ambassador Orlando Letelier was blown apart on Embassy Row in 1976. The day before the Tabatabai assassination, former Syrian Prime Minister Salah Eddin al-Bitar...
...unofficial contacts are increasing. Sadat still sometimes heaps scorn on his erstwhile Arab brothers, but he has warned Egypt's newspapers not to make unnecessary attacks on the Saudis, and in recent weeks has directed most of his vitriol against Libyan Strongman Muammar Gaddafi and Syrian President Hafez Assad...
...with the Saudi leaders, but the Saudis quickly rebuffed him and brought an abrupt end to his proffered friendship. In a stinging speech the next night, Sadat reverted to form and assailed the Saudis as well as Libyan Strongman Muammar Gaddafi, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Syrian President Hafez Assad. Shouted Sadat to a meeting of provincial officials: "I will never surrender Egypt's will to make her own decisions to the lunatic Gaddafi, the bloodthirsty Hussein, the traitor Assad or to the Saudis, who are at once afraid of the Palestinians, the Syrians, the Iraqis and even their...
Adib Daoudy, 56, of Syria, is a member of the Alawites, a Muslim sect related to the Shi'ites, who form the dominant religious group in Iran. Although a foreign affairs adviser to Syria's President Hafez Assad, Daoudy has never belonged to a political party. Despite the fact that the Syrian government is pro-Khomeini, Daoudy has called the embassy hostage-taking an act that "has harmed everybody, including Iran and Islam." A graduate of the University of Damascus, he earned a Ph.D. in international law from the Sorbonne. In the early 1950s he served...