|
|
Getting Tough on Syria
| Article
# : |
10355 |
|
|
Section : |
Current Issues
|
| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1986 |
839 Words |
| Author
: |
Evan Galbraith
|
France and the United States have been strangely reluctant to act against Syria in its involvement in terrorism.
Credit for the present wave of bombings in Paris has been claimed by a group linked by the French police to the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction (LARF), the group most certainly responsible for the murder of our military attache Colonel Charles Ray in Paris when I was ambassador to France in 1982. The murder gun was later found in an apartment controlled by LARF leader Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, now in jail in France.
Much effort has made to identify LARF and Ibrahim Abdallah, and we now know of his loyalty to Syria and of Syria's support for LARF. He comes from an area in Northern Lebanon close to the Syrian border and was active in the Syrian Popular Party, an organization that advocated Syrian control of Lebanon. He, friends, and relatives formed a Marxist cell which became known as LARF some three or four years before Ray was murdered. The French are convinced of his association with Syrian intelligence.
There are other data to contemplate. After the defeat of the Palestinians by the Israelis in the summer of 1982, the power vacuum thereby created in Beirut was filled by Syria's arming or acquiescing in the arming of various warring factions in Lebanon in order to prevent the establishment of a strong central government in Lebanon. During this period Syria also acquiesced in the bombing of our Marine barracks. The French launched an air strike against a Shi'ite group in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley, but we did nothing and soon withdrew from Lebanon. Since that time both the United States and France have made a series of conciliatory gestures toward Syria, including a visit by French President Francois Mitterrand to Damascus. This visit was particularly strange; given the fact the French are certain the Syrians had murdered the French ambassador in Beirut a few years earlier.
The next bit of history is the fact that the Soviet Union has supplied Syria with billions of dollars' worth of arms and money. The Soviets moved quickly and massively to reconstitute Syria after its defeat by Israel in June 1982, and Syria is now a formidable military force, dominating Lebanon and threatening Jordan. It also supports Iran is its war with Iraq, Syria's traditional enemy.
What does the Soviet Union require in return for its support of Syria?
Several things: chaos in Lebanon, support for Soviet efforts in the Arab world, perhaps another war with Israel, and--terrorism. Just as the Soviets supply East German instructors to Libyan terrorist training camps, so do the Soviets encourage Syria to support terrorism in Western Europe. The notorious Abu Nidal operates out of Damascus. Georges Ibrahim Abdallah was in contact with the Red Brigade in Italy, the Red Army faction in Western Germany, and Direct Action in France, all Communist-oriented terrorist groups supported by the East Bloc.
Make Syria Pay
Fortunately, we have in Prime Minister Jacques Chirac a resolute anti-terrorist. But Syria must be made to pay. It is not enough simply for President Reagan to cite Syria along with Libya and Iran as sources of
...
Read Full Article
|
|
