Word: assad
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...leave, had taken part in the assault. Yet plainly Syria was deeply involved. A Muslim officer who fought under Aoun stated that both Druze and Syrian forces advanced on Suq al Gharb, then turned back under heavy Christian fire, leaving 35 dead Syrians behind. In Damascus, Syrian President Hafez Assad convened representatives of various Muslim, Druze and Palestinian militias to map out a combat plan to topple Aoun. The war council aroused international concern that Syria, which has upwards of 30,000 troops inside Lebanon, might be preparing to invade the 300-sq.-mi. Christian enclave. Despite the evident danger...
Friedman explains what on the surface seems inexplicable, such as why Syrian President Hafez Assad would destroy an entire city--Hama--in his country. He knows and understands how the shackles of tradition and history have shaped the policies of leaders involved in nation-building in the Middle East...
...framework of Friedman's analysis of the Middle East is Assad's destruction of Hama, which the author feels characterize the three conflicting elements that have caused conflict in the Middle East: tribe-like loyalty, authoritarianism and modern nation-state building...
...Assad liquidated the city because the Sunni Moslem revolt based there could have spread throughout the country. He didn't see the Sunnis as Syrians but as an alien people. And he was able to exercise his power in such a horrific manner by taking advantage of the tradition of authoritarian rule...
Hama represents Assad's difficulty in forging a unified state out of people with several ethnicities, traditions and cultures...