Word: syrians
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...Lebanese, Israeli and U.S. diplomats over five months, there was little hope that any of the foreign troops now in Lebanon were actually prepared to leave. It was understood by the three countries that Israel would not withdraw its estimated 38,000 troops from Lebanon until the 50,000 Syrian troops and the 10,000 to 15,000 Palestine Liberation Organization commandos had first been removed, and Syrian President Hafez Assad has made it clear that he has no intention of cooperating...
...movement of goods, products and persons" across the Israeli-Lebanese border. This clause will enable Begin to tell his countrymen that they have stabilized relations with Lebanon as a result of their sacrifices during the invasion and occupation. It is also one of the clauses that most enrage the Syrians because, as Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam put it last week, it indicates that Lebanon has become, in their view, "an Israeli protectorate...
...Soviets have been equally generous in providing more conventional arms to the Syrians. Since the Lebanese conflict began, the Soviets have supplied Syria with about 100 fighter aircraft to replace those lost in dogfights over the Bekaa Valley. The bulk of the new aircraft are advanced MiG-23s. Some 300 to 400 T-62 and T-72 tanks have been added to the Syrian arsenal, well in excess of the number of older and smaller T-54s and T-55s lost in Lebanon. The Soviets have also provided about 200 armored personnel carriers, and between 600 and 800 trucks...
...causing Assad to rethink a foreign policy that has been described as "acrobatic nonalignment." But even while courting Moscow's increased attentions, Assad has never been more than a reluctant Soviet suitor. For two years after the treaty's signing, Assad mysteriously failed to reappoint a Syrian Ambassador to Moscow. Following Israel's crushing victories last summer, however, Assad's room for maneuver shrank. Two months ago, Syrian Ambassador Muhammad Ah' Halabi presented his credentials in Moscow. Despite the dramatic increase in Soviet military aid to Syria, foreign analysts are leery of attaching too much...
...price of the convergence to the Syrians is not precisely known, but according to U.S. intelligence experts, the bill may run as high as $2 billion. Among other things, Western diplomats believe that Syria, in order to pay for its new arms, has been obliged to increase its economic involvement with the Soviet bloc. Against the advice of many of its own experts, for example, the Syrian national airline recently decided to buy Soviet-made Tupolev airliners. A Syrian contract with the French to build an experimental nuclear reactor has been handed to the Soviets. Similarly, a $200 million Syrian...