Word: syrian
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Awad's involvement with Rashid began in Baghdad. A former captain in the Syrian army, Awad had knocked around the Persian Gulf for a few years before he and one of his brothers settled down in Iraq. By 1982 he had his own construction firm and a lucrative contract to lay foundations for a string of warehouses at Baghdad's military airport. Early that year he met a handsome 30-year-old expatriate from Jerusalem named Mohammed Rashid. Awad knew Rashid was with the fedayeen -- freedom fighters -- but that was not unusual among Palestinians. Awad would go on picnics with...
...Downstairs in our building was a Syrian, Imad, who saved us. For four months he brought us food and water. He warned us when soldiers came. He installed double-bolt locks on our doors. He mailed our letters. Years ago, Imad went to engineering school at George Washington University. He's very pro-American. If he were caught hiding us, he faced execution. But he never wavered. Imad is a saint...
...Assad has not completely changed course -- and in so doing has underscored some of the problems confronting the coalition against Saddam in the gulf. The state-controlled media continue to attack the U.S. bitterly for its support of Israel. In addition, Damascus officials have asserted that the 3,000 Syrian troops in Saudi Arabia will defend the desert kingdom but will not participate in an attack against the army of another Arab nation, even though Saddam and Assad, who head rival wings of the socialist Baath party, bitterly resent each other...
Assad's allies profess not to be worried. "It's what the Syrians do, not what they say, that counts," says a Western diplomat. That point was emphasized earlier this month, when the first of 300 Syrian tanks and other armored vehicles arrived at the Saudi port of Yanbu. Assad had agreed to the shipment in September but claimed that transportation problems had delayed the deployment. Though Western diplomats initially dismissed that excuse, they now believe Assad and are confident that Damascus will honor its original commitment to send its entire 9th Armored Division, totaling...
Meanwhile, the Syrians are exasperated by the aid Washington has promised Israel. For the first time the U.S. is to supply Jerusalem with Patriot missile systems, which will greatly strengthen Israel's antiaircraft defenses. Such unqualified U.S. support for Jerusalem makes Assad's alignment with Washington all the harder to sell at home. But at least one diplomat in Damascus believes Syrian authorities may be inflating their assessments of the domestic opposition to convince Washington of the need to downplay relations with Israel. Damascus has asserted that if Jerusalem gets involved in any conflagration in the region, it will quickly...