Many commentators seem surprised at the Bush administration's harsh allegations of Syrian cooperation with Iraq against the United States. They shouldn't be. Syria has a long history of anti-American activity, and the Assad regime is hardly out of character by its siding with Saddam Hussein.
Back in 1983, Syrian military intelligence sent Islamic Lebanese terrorists to attack the American presence there, culminating in the massive suicide bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut. Syria continued to use terrorist proxies to further its policies. Assad, Sr. understood, as Gary Gambill notes in the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin (April 2003), "the State Department's proclivity for wishful thinking and how to exploit the faulty calculus of overly optimistic policymakers." This incredible "proclivity for wishful thinking" has provided a reliable safety umbrella protecting Syria from American fallout - irrespective of the Assad regime's nefarious international behavior. Even when the CIA reported that Syrian "fingerprints" were found in the terrorist bombing in Daharan, Saudi Arabia, in 1998, which caused the deaths of 19 American soldiers, no official American outcry was heard. The Assad regime, long on the State Department's list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (Syria provides patronage and political, propaganda and operational support to at least 10 of the 35 terrorist groups on the US State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism), was protected.
So, four months after Bashar Assad succeeded his deceased father, Syria began importing an estimated 200,000 barrels of Iraqi oil per day in violation of UN sanctions, thus saving Damascus about $1.5 billion last year.
Then, Syria increased support for terrorist groups: Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hizballah, the PFLP-GC/Jibril, the PFLP/Habash, the DFLP/Hawatmeh, the PLF, the Fatah Revolutionary Council/Abu Nidal, Fatah/Abu Mussa and an extremist faction of the Popular Struggle Front, as well as the PKK, Japanese Red Army and others. Syria's patronage allows the terrorist organizations to find refuge on Syrian or Syrian-controlled Lebanese territory. They can organize training and develop a logistical infrastructure (weapons, storehouses, communications, false documentation, financing etc.); they can also take advantage of the political and propaganda cover of official Syrian bodies. They can travel freely between Syria, Lebanon and Iran, and between Syria and Lebanon and other Arab states. They can travel to and from Europe, and even to the United States.
Yet, in spite of Syria's continuing sponsorship of terrorism, its occupation of Lebanon, its violation of UN sanctions on Iraq, and, according to a recently declassified CIA report, its continuing development of an offensive chemical and biological weapons capability, the administration not only failed to label Syria a "rogue state" or include it in the so-called "axis of evil," Syria was falsely characterized as an ally in the war against al-Qaida. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times (April 16th), "Syria has functioned as a hub for an al-Qaeda network that moved Islamic extremists and funds from Italy to northeastern Iraq," where they fought alongside the Ansar al-Islam terrorist group - eradicated by US and Kurdish forces in late May. According to Italian court documents, wiretapped conversations and interrogations of seven al-Qaeda suspects arrested in Italy in early April showed "a detailed picture of overseers in Syria coordinating the movement of recruits and money." Add to the mix the similarities between the Assad and Hussein regimes. Run by rival branches of the same secular Arab nationalist Baath party, using Pan-Arab ideology to mask the violent political domination by a minority sectarian group (Sunni Muslims constitute 20+% of Iraq, while Alawites comprise 12% of Syria) - including the slaughter of tens of thousands of their own citizens, and development of Weapons of Mass Destruction to achieve regional domination. The last thing Bashar Assad needs is the rise of a democratic, stable government next door. It might give the average Syrian the right idea.
Thus, the stage was set for a Syrian-Iraqi partnership. Saddam Hussein used the Syrian conduit, among others, to keep the flow of dual-use equipment for his WMD programs and re-arm his military. Assad's flow of arms to Iraq even increased as the US troops deployed in the Persian Gulf. Arms and spare parts from former Soviet bloc countries arrived at Syrian ports and were transported overland to Iraq. The late Hafez Assad had always been more subtle and officially behind the scenes of his country?s international banditry than has Saddam, thus State could cover up his evil actions. But Bashar Assad, who fantasizes of being another Nasser, hoped to secure the transfer of Iraqi WMD and missile technology to Syria. The acquisition of Iraq's solid fuel experts was a coup, for example, since Syria has long sought to develop solid fuel technology to increase the range of its missile arsenal. According to intelligence sources, at least seven Iraqi scientists from Saddam's solid fuel research program have taken up residence in the Syrian town of Hamat, reportedly the site of a new Syrian missile research facility.
But that's not all. Syria has provided a wholesale bolt hole for Iraqi officials and Saddam's relatives. On April 6th, US forces fired upon a Russian diplomatic convoy en route to Syria from Baghdad apparently carrying Iraqi officials. Besides leading Arab diplomatic opposition to America's demands prior to the war, Syria's chief government-appointed cleric issued a fatwa (religious ruling) calling on Muslims to carry out suicide operations to defend Iraq. In early March, Iraqi intelligence opened a training camp for Arab "martyrs" near the town of al-Khalis, 40 miles north of Baghdad. Over the next few weeks, Syrian sponsored terrorist groups mobilized volunteers in Syria and Syrian-occupied Lebanon (including Fatah, Hizballah and Islamic Jihad). On April 12th, US forces discovered some 300 suicide vests, filled with C-4 explosives and detonators, inside an Iraqi school. It is believed that 80 more vests had been moved from the site and are likely in the hands of non-Iraqi suicide bombers. These and other "volunteer" troops arrived in Damascus, where convoys brought them and weapons overland to Iraq. In southern Iraq, Syrian-sponsored "volunteers" driving pickup trucks with Kornet anti-tank missiles mounted in the back knocked out two American tanks during the first week of the war. Even more critical were intelligence reports that Syria had provided the Iraqis with night vision equipment. During a March 28th press briefing at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared, "We have information that shipments of military supplies have been crossing the border from Syria into Iraq, including night-vision goggles.... These deliveries pose a direct threat to the lives of coalition forces."
According to the recently declassified CIA report, a key Iraqi base of Saddam's nuclear weapons program is al-Qa'im in northwestern Iraq, near the Syrian border. Satellite photos reveal a number of long structures, with large steel doors the size of sheds, housing large trucks. Informed Israeli sources revealed that, in addition to bases like al-Qaim, where it is probable that German-supplied centrifuges for manufacturing weapons grade uranium for nuclear weapons are located, the Iraqi regime also has mobile labs (large refrigerated trucks) for manufacturing biological weapons. These mobile labs, one of which was recently captured by US forces, are still out there, hidden or on the move.
While the war in Iraq is not fully over, and serious mopping up action is still required, the US administration's public hard line on Syria's criminal duplicity has begun to force Bashar Assad to pull back from his overt support of Saddam and turn over some of the Iraqi bigwigs that fled to safe haven in Syria. However, until Assad fully cooperates in destroying his terrorist proxies and bases, and is wholly transparent regarding Syria's WMD programs, US President Bush still has a long way to go before finally dissolving the partnership of evil.
--------------------------------------------------------
Yedidya Atlas is a senior correspondent and commentator for Arutz-7 Israel National News (www.IsraelNationalNews.com).
Back in 1983, Syrian military intelligence sent Islamic Lebanese terrorists to attack the American presence there, culminating in the massive suicide bombing of the US Marine barracks in Beirut. Syria continued to use terrorist proxies to further its policies. Assad, Sr. understood, as Gary Gambill notes in the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin (April 2003), "the State Department's proclivity for wishful thinking and how to exploit the faulty calculus of overly optimistic policymakers." This incredible "proclivity for wishful thinking" has provided a reliable safety umbrella protecting Syria from American fallout - irrespective of the Assad regime's nefarious international behavior. Even when the CIA reported that Syrian "fingerprints" were found in the terrorist bombing in Daharan, Saudi Arabia, in 1998, which caused the deaths of 19 American soldiers, no official American outcry was heard. The Assad regime, long on the State Department's list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (Syria provides patronage and political, propaganda and operational support to at least 10 of the 35 terrorist groups on the US State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism), was protected.
So, four months after Bashar Assad succeeded his deceased father, Syria began importing an estimated 200,000 barrels of Iraqi oil per day in violation of UN sanctions, thus saving Damascus about $1.5 billion last year.
Then, Syria increased support for terrorist groups: Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hizballah, the PFLP-GC/Jibril, the PFLP/Habash, the DFLP/Hawatmeh, the PLF, the Fatah Revolutionary Council/Abu Nidal, Fatah/Abu Mussa and an extremist faction of the Popular Struggle Front, as well as the PKK, Japanese Red Army and others. Syria's patronage allows the terrorist organizations to find refuge on Syrian or Syrian-controlled Lebanese territory. They can organize training and develop a logistical infrastructure (weapons, storehouses, communications, false documentation, financing etc.); they can also take advantage of the political and propaganda cover of official Syrian bodies. They can travel freely between Syria, Lebanon and Iran, and between Syria and Lebanon and other Arab states. They can travel to and from Europe, and even to the United States.
Yet, in spite of Syria's continuing sponsorship of terrorism, its occupation of Lebanon, its violation of UN sanctions on Iraq, and, according to a recently declassified CIA report, its continuing development of an offensive chemical and biological weapons capability, the administration not only failed to label Syria a "rogue state" or include it in the so-called "axis of evil," Syria was falsely characterized as an ally in the war against al-Qaida. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times (April 16th), "Syria has functioned as a hub for an al-Qaeda network that moved Islamic extremists and funds from Italy to northeastern Iraq," where they fought alongside the Ansar al-Islam terrorist group - eradicated by US and Kurdish forces in late May. According to Italian court documents, wiretapped conversations and interrogations of seven al-Qaeda suspects arrested in Italy in early April showed "a detailed picture of overseers in Syria coordinating the movement of recruits and money." Add to the mix the similarities between the Assad and Hussein regimes. Run by rival branches of the same secular Arab nationalist Baath party, using Pan-Arab ideology to mask the violent political domination by a minority sectarian group (Sunni Muslims constitute 20+% of Iraq, while Alawites comprise 12% of Syria) - including the slaughter of tens of thousands of their own citizens, and development of Weapons of Mass Destruction to achieve regional domination. The last thing Bashar Assad needs is the rise of a democratic, stable government next door. It might give the average Syrian the right idea.
Thus, the stage was set for a Syrian-Iraqi partnership. Saddam Hussein used the Syrian conduit, among others, to keep the flow of dual-use equipment for his WMD programs and re-arm his military. Assad's flow of arms to Iraq even increased as the US troops deployed in the Persian Gulf. Arms and spare parts from former Soviet bloc countries arrived at Syrian ports and were transported overland to Iraq. The late Hafez Assad had always been more subtle and officially behind the scenes of his country?s international banditry than has Saddam, thus State could cover up his evil actions. But Bashar Assad, who fantasizes of being another Nasser, hoped to secure the transfer of Iraqi WMD and missile technology to Syria. The acquisition of Iraq's solid fuel experts was a coup, for example, since Syria has long sought to develop solid fuel technology to increase the range of its missile arsenal. According to intelligence sources, at least seven Iraqi scientists from Saddam's solid fuel research program have taken up residence in the Syrian town of Hamat, reportedly the site of a new Syrian missile research facility.
But that's not all. Syria has provided a wholesale bolt hole for Iraqi officials and Saddam's relatives. On April 6th, US forces fired upon a Russian diplomatic convoy en route to Syria from Baghdad apparently carrying Iraqi officials. Besides leading Arab diplomatic opposition to America's demands prior to the war, Syria's chief government-appointed cleric issued a fatwa (religious ruling) calling on Muslims to carry out suicide operations to defend Iraq. In early March, Iraqi intelligence opened a training camp for Arab "martyrs" near the town of al-Khalis, 40 miles north of Baghdad. Over the next few weeks, Syrian sponsored terrorist groups mobilized volunteers in Syria and Syrian-occupied Lebanon (including Fatah, Hizballah and Islamic Jihad). On April 12th, US forces discovered some 300 suicide vests, filled with C-4 explosives and detonators, inside an Iraqi school. It is believed that 80 more vests had been moved from the site and are likely in the hands of non-Iraqi suicide bombers. These and other "volunteer" troops arrived in Damascus, where convoys brought them and weapons overland to Iraq. In southern Iraq, Syrian-sponsored "volunteers" driving pickup trucks with Kornet anti-tank missiles mounted in the back knocked out two American tanks during the first week of the war. Even more critical were intelligence reports that Syria had provided the Iraqis with night vision equipment. During a March 28th press briefing at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared, "We have information that shipments of military supplies have been crossing the border from Syria into Iraq, including night-vision goggles.... These deliveries pose a direct threat to the lives of coalition forces."
According to the recently declassified CIA report, a key Iraqi base of Saddam's nuclear weapons program is al-Qa'im in northwestern Iraq, near the Syrian border. Satellite photos reveal a number of long structures, with large steel doors the size of sheds, housing large trucks. Informed Israeli sources revealed that, in addition to bases like al-Qaim, where it is probable that German-supplied centrifuges for manufacturing weapons grade uranium for nuclear weapons are located, the Iraqi regime also has mobile labs (large refrigerated trucks) for manufacturing biological weapons. These mobile labs, one of which was recently captured by US forces, are still out there, hidden or on the move.
While the war in Iraq is not fully over, and serious mopping up action is still required, the US administration's public hard line on Syria's criminal duplicity has begun to force Bashar Assad to pull back from his overt support of Saddam and turn over some of the Iraqi bigwigs that fled to safe haven in Syria. However, until Assad fully cooperates in destroying his terrorist proxies and bases, and is wholly transparent regarding Syria's WMD programs, US President Bush still has a long way to go before finally dissolving the partnership of evil.
--------------------------------------------------------
Yedidya Atlas is a senior correspondent and commentator for Arutz-7 Israel National News (www.IsraelNationalNews.com).