Word: syrians
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...Lebanese crisis was by no means over. The country still contained an estimated 60,000 Israeli soldiers and perhaps half as many Syrian troops, and the two armies might yet wage a full-scale war with each other on Lebanese soil. Last week, in fact, sporadic fighting broke out between the Syrians and both the Israelis and the Christian Phalange forces, which are closely aligned with the Israelis. The Lebanese Parliament had elected a new national president, the leader of the Christian Phalangist forces, Bashir Gemayel, who was despised by many Lebanese Muslims as an "Israeli stooge." But the Israeli...
...last June that Israel did not want any Lebanese territory, Jerusalem has insisted that a 25-mile-wide strip inside the Lebanese border be subject to international guarantees under a multinational force. To complicate matters, the Israelis have said that they will not leave until the estimated 30,000 Syrian troops that are based in the Bekaa Valley withdraw from Lebanon. The Israelis have strongly hinted that if negotiation fails they will force the Syrians' withdrawal by military means...
...remaining problems is piecing together a strong central Lebanese government and arranging for the withdrawal of Israeli and Syrian troops from the country. The Israelis would like to see a central government controlled by their Christian allies, and are therefore hoping that Christian Lebanese Forces Leader Bashir Gemayel, 35, will win the presidential elections that must take place by Sept. 15. In the Israelis' view, such a regime would promote stability, keep the leftist Arab elements in check and prevent a Palestinian threat from returning to their border. But the idea of a strong central government may prove...
...quest for Lebanese independence may prove equally illusory. For Syrian President Hafez Assad, whose prestige was shaken by his army's poor showing against the Israelis, maintaining a presence in the Bekaa Valley would provide a buffer against any future Israeli advances toward Syria. It would also give Hafez Assad a larger role in the Arab world. "As long as Assad has a foot in Lebanon, he is an Arab leader," says American University's Perlmutter. "Without it, he isn't." The Israelis, who want to avoid the quagmire of an extended occupation, might nonetheless use their...
...trust the P.L.O. to go." The P.L.O. still wants to leave behind in Lebanon a political and military symbol of its former power. Israel is adamantly opposed to that. Moreover, the proposals being considered last week apply only to P.L.O. forces in Beirut. They do not cover P.L.O., Syrian or Israeli forces elsewhere in Lebanon, a source of great concern to the Lebanese government...