Word: syrians
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Both Washington and Jerusalem seem reluctant to recognize that reality. Even if they did, Assad would probably prefer not to negotiate now. The Syrian President believes that the Arabs should deal with Jerusalem only when they are as strong militarily as the Israelis, if not stronger. The Reagan Administration, moreover, has shown no interest in the kind of comprehensive talks, complete with Soviet representation, that Syria has demanded. Leaving aside the question of whether Moscow would be helpful or not, the White House is unwilling to grant the Kremlin any more influence in the region...
...meantime, the U.S.-Syrian relationship is likely to contain more jolts as American reconnaissance planes continue flying over Syrian antiaircraft batteries. America's long-term difficulties in dealing with Syria stem partly from the fact that, as one top U.S. diplomat put it, "our carrots and sticks
...recent weeks the state of Assad's health, always a crucial question in a one-man regime like Syria's, has become a subject of intense worldwide speculation. Syrian officials announced last month that their leader had suffered an attack of appendicitis. That diagnosis lost credibility when the patient failed to reappear for two weeks and word spread that he had had his appendix removed 20 years ago. Filmed news footage of Assad ostensibly sitting at a table with top officials and, a few days later, inspecting a bridge in Damascus, showed him to be wan and moving stiffly. Indeed...
...intelligence sources, Assad has been instructed by doctors not to talk, so instead he spends his waking hours scribbling notes to aides. While both U.S. and Israeli officials believe that Assad is in full command of his senses, the consensus is that it will be some time before the Syrian President can resume his usual 18-hour workdays. There are conflicting rumors about who is running the country. Sources ranging from P.L.O. officials to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir have told reporters that a five-man council was making decisions, but hard facts are an elusive commodity in Damascus. Among...
...side of Syrian behavior that can perhaps be understood best is its activity in Lebanon. Syrians consider Lebanon to be part of "Greater Syria," a vague concept of territorial grandeur that thrives more in memory than in reality. Indeed, the two countries share more than a millennium of history (see box). Both Lebanon and Syria achieved independence in the 1940s, but cultural and family ties still bind their populations, the Sunnis and the Druze...