Word: assad
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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While Gemayel temporarily preserved his authority, he had condemned his country to yet another round of blood-letting. Assad is unlikely to abandon his objective of imposing order on Lebanon, although he is reluctant to commit Syrian troops to the battle. One Syrian option would be to starve Lebanon economically by shutting off its seaports. Said the Beirut leftist daily newspaper As Safir, which often reflects Syrian strategy: "[Gemayel] will not be able to rule, and total paralysis will engulf the state." That situation would be acutely painful for Lebanon's long-suffering citizens, especially since they seemed so close...
...electrifying propaganda coup. For the U.S. Congress, nettlesome questions arise over who sponsored the mission and whether the CIA was involved. Suspicions about Damascus' support for terrorism harden in London and Paris. TIME's editors travel to Syria for a rare and wide-ranging interview with President Hafez Assad...
...mounted a vigorous campaign last week to distance itself from terrorist attacks in the Mediterranean and Western Europe, most recently in Paris, where a wave of bombings last month left ten people dead and more than 160 injured. In an interview with TIME (see following story), Syrian President Hafez Assad denied that Syria had anything to do with the attempted bombing of the El Al jetliner and charged that Hindawi's actions were part of an Israeli plot to discredit Damascus. The farfetched theme was echoed by Loutof Haydar, Syria's Ambassador to Britain, whom Hindawi has implicated...
Suspicions about Syria's role were bolstered by an interview with Pierre Marion, head of France's foreign-intelligence operations in 1981-82. Marion said that during his term he met twice with Assad's brother Rifaat, who at the time headed one of Syria's secret-service branches. "I looked him in the eyes and I said, 'Your Excellency, you are going to promise me that there will be no more terrorist attacks in France,'" Marion recalled. "He promised it to me and he kept his word...
...recall that the Syrians played a leading role last year in negotiating the release of 39 Americans held hostage aboard a TWA jet in Beirut, and that they helped free three Soviet hostages in Beirut last October. In Washington and Paris, the hope remains that something will come of Assad's promise to work quietly for the release of the Americans and Frenchmen held hostage. Simultaneously, the Hindawi trial is being closely watched to see whether it will yield any conclusive proof that Syria sponsors terrorism. --By Jill Smolowe. Reported by Scott MacLeod/Cairo and Adam Zagorin/Paris