The country that marks the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789 with an annual celebration of the subsequent revolution found itself victimized by a new reign of terror this year. Once against, blood flowed in the streets of Paris. Only instead of a razor-sharp guillotine, the agent of death was razor-blade-filled bombs. And the executioners were not Danton and Marat but supporters of Georges Ibrahim Abdallah.
The innocent seemed to be the special target of the bombings. Each event was staged in a public area frequented by ordinary citizens: department stores, a motor vehicle department, cafes, and subways. Efforts by police and government to clamp down met with deliberate bombings in official buildings: police departments and post offices.
American terrorist experts were quick to point out that France had long sheltered the outlaws of other nations, including known terrorists. It seemed to be a natural consequence of such actions to finally reap the fruits of terror on its own soil.
Some suspected an effort to change France's politics on Middle East issues, such as the Iran/Iraq conflict or the presence of French troops in Beirut.
Another interpretation put forward by French intelligence sources is that the attacks are aimed at destabilizing the government of Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, whom Syria evidently considers an enemy of its goals.
One interesting aspect of the attacks was that world attention focused on Syria, rather than Libya, as a main sponsor of international terrorism. Though experts have been warning of the mounting body of evidence that Syria was as dangerous an exporter of violence as Qaddafi's regime, few in the political realms have paid any heed.
Now, French leaders are being forced to re-examine their former polite relations with Syria, as are all Western government leaders.
Recently published information points to a tie between Lebanese, Libyan, and Syrian terrorists, acting under the direction of Soviet-trained Syrian General Mohammed Khouli in order to pull off the recent series of bombings. Algeria contributed official passports to the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction, which Syria had chosen as the front group for its efforts and which had ties with the French terrorist group Action Directe. Certain pro-Syrian French nationals lent legal and logistical support as well.
Although Syria's leader, Hafez Assad, officially denies Syrian involvement in the anti-French campaign, his brother Rifaat Assad, former head of Syrian Security Services, has been continually implicated. Additionally, despite the Syrian president's oft-repeated protestations of support for France in its efforts to obtain release of hostages held in Lebanon, the areas in which the hostages are held are completely under Syrian control.
In retrospect, the current effort by Syria seems to date back to 1982, which marked the beginning of a series of bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, and disinformation against French targets. These are traced by Evan Galbraith, former U.S. ambassador to France, in his commentary in this World & I
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