Word: syrians
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Even Lebanon, a country that has suffered more than 100,000 dead in a decade- long civil conflict between its Christian and Muslim warlords, was shaken by the vengeful frenzy of violence it experienced last week. By the time a Syrian-brokered cease-fire slowed the fighting on Thursday, the twelve-day death toll stood at more than 300 people, nearly half of them victims of a vicious car-bomb war that made every street a potential deathtrap. Health and Communications Minister Joseph Hasham, a Christian, spoke for a large segment of the country when he said, "Eighty percent...
Indeed, many Lebanese now believe that only the Syrians can bring a halt to the bloodshed. Prime Minister Rashid Karami late last week demanded "the deployment of Syrian observers in all of Beirut." With the U.S. no longer playing a leading role in trying to end the car nage, Syria has increasing influence over its neighbor, largely due to the 25,000 Syrian troops stationed mostly in the eastern part of Lebanon. President Hafez Assad sought to extend that influence last month when Lebanese Muslim leaders, meeting in Damascus, drew up a 16-point plan that would increase their political...
While some observers thought Assad was reacting to, rather than shaping last week's events, at least one Western diplomat saw a shrewd logic to the Syrian leader's actions. "Each time there is fighting the Syrians allow it to go on for a few days before stepping in and separating the combatants," he said. "And each time this happens, Lebanon seems to become more dependent on Damascus. Perhaps the Syrians are encouraging the fighting to achieve their larger goals...
Despite Shultz's statement, that was never a very real hope. Apparently, neither Nabih Berri, leader of the Amal militia then holding the 39 TWA hostages, nor Syrian President Hafez Assad was able to deliver the seven. "They didn't have access to them," said one U.S. official last week. It also became clear to Washington that if the President insisted on the release of all 46, it would not even get the TWA 39. Said one U.S. official ruefully: "Sometimes policymakers have to decide on the greatest good for the greatest number...
...White House aide said that when Reagan called the Syrian President last week, the release of the seven abducted Americans was the top item on his agenda. Though Assad did not give Reagan much cause for hope, relatives of the seven were buoyed somewhat last week when Lebanese television, supplying Arabic subtitles, allowed them to plead on the air for the release of their loved ones...