Word: assads
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...crisis, Begin had darkly hinted that Secretary of State Alexander Haig's envoy had only a week to work his magic, or Israel would attack the missiles. Two days after the Cabinet meeting, in what seemed to be a reassuring signal to Syria's President Hafez Assad, Begin spoke before a gathering of war veterans and flatly declared that Israel would not be the first to use force. Said an Israeli diplomat: "I would say that the chance of war now is almost nothing...
...tight-lipped as ever about his mission. "I know you guys have to make a living too," he told reporters, "but this is a serious effort that in no way would be served by public comment." Habib has skillfully managed to cool tempers during his meetings with Begin and Assad. Remarks an American diplomat involved in the shuttle: "He has a knack for timing, knowing when to act as conceptualizer one moment and a street-wise Brooklyn type the next...
...Habib. After meeting with Begin early in the week, Habib went to Beirut for talks with Lebanon's President, Elias Sarkis. Then he climbed back into his black limousine for a midnight drive to Damascus, where he met for the second time with Syria's President, Hafez Assad, to impress upon him the need for restraint while trying to coax concessions that might break the negotiating impasse. Later he hopped aboard an executive Air Force jet for another shuttle to Israel. At week's end he flew to Saudi Arabia for consultations. Lips sealed on the progress...
...Syrians made no attempt last week to camouflage the menacing new weaponry they had moved into Lebanon in support of their 22,000 peace-keeping forces in the country. Syrian President Hafez Assad was obviously defying the Israelis, insisting that the missiles were necessary for the defense of his forces and that he had no intention of removing them. With equal vehemence, Israel insisted that the presence of the missiles was an unacceptable violation of the tacitly accepted status quo in Lebanon's complex political equation and that they had to be removed. Warned Prime Minister Menachem Begin: "There...
...what was Syria up to? One theory was that President Assad was trying to bolster his political image at home while easing his isolation in the Arab world brought about in part by his backing of non-Arab Iran in its war with Iraq. Last week the 21-nation Arab League, which originally approved Syria's presence in Lebanon to enforce the 1976 armistice in the civil war but has grown increasingly concerned about Assad's belligerence, gave the President a pledge of support in the event of war with Israel...