Word: syrians
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...Tripoli, Arafat was surrounded on three sides by Syrian and rebel Palestinian forces and on the fourth by the Mediterranean. As he had done at Beirut in the summer of 1982, when he was fighting the Israelis instead of the Syrians, he delayed and postured as long as possible in the hope that some Arab states, and perhaps even the superpowers, would come to his rescue. The Soviet Union had already stressed to its Syrian clients the need to "overcome strife and restore unity" within the P.L.O., but the effect on the Syrians had been negligible...
Arafat has been losing his power base ever since his forced evacuation from Beirut last year. Then, last May, a Syrian-backed rebellion broke out within the P.L.O.'s ranks. The rebels were angry with Arafat for having left Beirut and for taking what they regarded as too moderate a line on future negotiations with Israel. They resented his talks with King Hussein of Jordan a short time earlier and his growing quarrel with Assad...
...rebels do not appear to have considered very seriously how much the ouster of Arafat could cost the P.L.O. in diplomatic and political prestige. Nor have they acknowledged how vulnerable their organization would become if it were operating solely at the whim of the Syrians. The Israelis, on the other hand, would welcome such a change. Said David Kimche, director general of the Israeli foreign ministry: "As long as the P.L.O. is independent, we have difficulty pinning down the responsibility for terrorism. But if the P.L.O. becomes a Syrian tool, then at least we will always have an address...
...Valley for the past 18 months (see box). The next step could be a retaliatory strike by the U.S., though officials in Washington were undecided about whether the U.S. had more to gain by demonstrating its vengefulness in the face of a terrorist act or by acting with restraint. Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass was quoted by a Lebanese magazine as threatening "kamikaze attacks" on U.S. warships in the event of an American raid on Syrian positions...
...meantime, random firing of rockets and artillery broke out again around Beirut. Shells were falling in the neighborhood of the presidential palace as Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam arrived for a talk with President Gemayel. The immediate problem is Syria's insistence that Lebanon's withdrawal agreement with Israel be abrogated or at least radically modified. Summarizing the impasse, a former Lebanese Cabinet minister declared bitterly: "The Syrian position is clear: simple intransigence. All this shelling is simply a means of keeping up the pressure on Gemayel...