The scope and nature of Syria's involvement in terrorist activity has been obscure in the minds of many observers over the years. The reason is simple. State sponsorship of terrorism is fundamentally a secret, or covert, action program, ranging from the use of propaganda to politically legitimize violence to the supply of funds, training, arms, and other operational assistance to carry out these ends. Syria's role in these activities has fluctuated over the years and moved from place to place in accordance with Damascus' changing impression of what its vital interest is in the Middle East and beyond. Specific terrorist operations have sometimes seemed to be no more than the coincidental by-product of Syrian propaganda and militant behavior. While it is not always easy to determine whether a particular terrorist action or series of actions in any targeted country is inspired or directed by Damascus, the pattern of Syrian sponsorship of violence in different countries is becoming clearer and clearer.
Syria has been linked with the latest violent attacks perpetrated in West Berlin, London, Madrid, and Paris, Unfortunately, the nature of the Syrian regime and the objectives of President Hafez al-Assad are poorly understood. That is, the government is comprised largely of the 'Alawite minority and constantly has to contend with opposition threats. In addition to responding to internal threats, Assad actively sponsors terrorist groups and operations as an adjunct to his foreign policy in the Middle East and the international arena.
Reign of terror
More specifically, Syria, as a military dictatorship, is based upon repression and terror directed against its own citizens. In 1981, for instance, Damascus security forces led by Rifat Assad, brother of the president and a contender for the presidency, summarily executed over 1000 political prisoners in the desert at Palmyra.
An Amnesty International report in 1983 on the Syrian government massacre of the Muslim Brotherhood opposition movement at Hama in February 1982 asserted that "when law and order was restored...estimates of the dead on all sides ranged from 10,000 to 20,000." The report alleges that there were mass executions and that cyanide gas was used to kill the inhabitants. It also details the systematic abduction, detainment, and torture of those considered politically threatening to extract confessions. According to various reports, the methods of torture included beating, electric shock, isolation, and sexual assault. Another example of repression there related to the status of the Jewish community. The 4,500 Jews in Syria are forbidden to emigrate and may travel abroad only by leaving family members behind as hostages.
Syrian terrorism is not only directed internally. It is also employed against its citizens abroad. After the attempted assassination of Assad in July 1980, his brother Rifat, in his capacity as head of the security forces, threatened that Syria would pursue and liquidate its enemies, both "inside Syria and abroad." Thus, in 1985 three Syrian terrorists were arrested in Stuttgart on a mission to assassinate a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood living in West Germany whose wife had been previously murdered.
Glorification, encouragement, and direction of terrorism has been a central tenet in the policy of Ba'ath Syria since 1966. Assad,
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