Word: assad
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Syrian President Hafez Assad ordinarily is no one's idea of a cooperative statesman, not with his record as a bloodily repressive dictator. But Assad is shrewd enough to sense which way the winds of world power are blowing. So last week he accepted the American formula for a Middle East peace conference. That, in effect, made him the first Arab leader since Egypt's Anwar Sadat to agree to public, direct peace talks with Israel: that is what the conference is supposed to lead to, after a brief ceremonial opening...
SYRIA President Hafez Assad's behavior is motivated mostly by one aim: the return of the Golan Heights. Outclassed by the Israelis militarily, the Syrians believe that their best chance rests in having outsiders pressure the Jewish state to abide by U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338, which call on Israel to trade land for peace. Thus Damascus will not settle simply for a one-on-one session with Israel. At the same time, Assad is tempted by the opportunity he sees in Saddam's humiliation to take his old rival's place as the No. 1 radical Arab strongman...
JORDAN U.S. officials think King Hussein badly wants to take part in the talks, in part to get back in Washington's good graces after leaning toward Saddam in the war. But last week the King refused to accept Baker's proposal for a parley for fear of incurring Assad's wrath. Asked whether he would attend a peace conference without Syria present, he replied, "I haven't said that." Would he attend if Syria did too? "I haven't said that, either...
Life in exile isn't so bad -- just ask Rifaat Assad, the fiftysomething brother of Syrian strongman Hafez Assad. Rifaat once ran a 20,000-man militia at home but was kicked out of the country in 1983 when Hafez Assad began to worry about his sibling's lust for power. Since then Rifaat has lived the lush life of a global businessman, managing millions of dollars' worth of investments in Europe and the Middle East. He visits the properties with an entourage of 20 that includes his two wives and several shapely female "secretaries," all traveling aboard two customized...
...word failure in the same news story, abandoned his first peace effort a year ago because of Israeli intransigence. Last week flashes of frustration occasionally cracked through his self-discipline. He slept poorly, acted testy with reporters after a 9 1/ 2-hour session with Syrian President Hafez Assad and went running to let off steam...