Syria in the hot seat


	October 31, 2001	atimes.com

Central Asia/Russia

Syria in the hot seat
By Kim Ghattas

DAMASCUS - Syria has been keeping a low profile since the United States launched its war against terror, but there is an increasing sense that more will be demanded from it soon.

Here in the capital last week, hundreds of people visited the annual Damascus book fair, which offers books on an impressive variety of subjects. But this year books about religion are selling like candy. The demand for religious books might seem unusual for a secular state such as Syria. But it is a sign that - just as people around the world are buying books about the Middle East - the Arab world, too, is trying to come to grips with the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, which happened in the name of Islam.

One vocal taxi driver said he was angry at Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the attacks, for disfiguring Islam. "Why doesn't bin Laden help the Afghan people with all his money by building hospitals and schools," he asks, "instead of wasting it in a war against the United States?" But as with many Arabs and Muslims, there is a twist to his opposition to the attacks. "They shouldn't bomb Afghanistan, these poor people have suffered enough. After all, bin Laden is Saudi - the US should bomb Saudi Arabia," he says.

Ever since US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Washington could take military action against countries that did not cooperate with the US in its anti-terrorism campaign, ordinary Syrians worry they will be the next target. Still, they wonder whether the United States would take the risk of bombing Syria now that it is a member of the United Nations Security Council. Syria was elected to a two-year non-permanent seat of the Security Council last week by an overwhelming majority.

"We are afraid - who knows what is going to happen?" says Dalal Rajabasha, a middle-aged woman who bought a book on bin Laden authored by a Syrian as well as a book about Colin Powell, the US secretary of state. "We expect a US military strike against airports or roads because of our support for Hizbollah," she says.

Support for the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hizbollah is the main reason Syria is still listed by the United States as a state sponsoring terrorism. But, according to the US State Department outlook on global terrorism, "there is no evidence that Syrian officials have been directly involved in planning or executing terrorist attacks since 1986".

Syria allegedly played a role in several incidents in Beirut during the 1980s, including bombings of Western interests, hijackings, hostage-taking and assassination of Western diplomats. Syria continues to support Palestinian groups based in Damascus, which are also listed as terror groups by the United States. They include Ahmad Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) General Command and Abu Nidal. Hamas was also allowed to open an office in Damascus last year.

"Syria might have bits of information that it is willing to give, names of people who have transited through Syria," says an analyst who requested anonymity. Yet Syria's continued support of radical Islamist groups can constitute important and disrupting leverage in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

There have been reports about the option of dropping Syria from the list of countries that the United States alleges sponsor terrorism in exchange for cooperation. Washington wants Damascus to exert pressure on Hizbollah, an organization that is regarded as a Syrian tool in its quest to regain the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967. "The bargaining here is three ways, it doesn't only involve the US and Syria but also Israel," says a Western diplomat.

Sources in Damascus say that, for the moment, there is no friction between the United States and Syria but it is unclear how much cooperation there is, or has been requested. Diplomats in Damascus discount the possibility of any military strikes against "the heart of the Arab world", as one described Syria.

Last week, US President George W Bush said that Syrian offers for help in the fight against terrorism were taken seriously but that results, not just words, were needed.

Member of Parliament Yasser Nahlawi said that Syria would not spare any efforts to fight against terrorism as long as it was inscribed within the international legal framework and respected the rights of people. In other words, Syria prefers a UN-led campaign against terror and will not relinquish support for Hizbollah and other groups.

"A difference needs to be made between terrorists who kill civilians and a resistance movement that targets the military to liberate its land from occupation," says Nahlawi, highlighting a major difference in opinion between the United States and the Arab world. But although Syria has stuck to its guns on that for a long time, its election to the Security Council will now mean increased international pressure for a softer position and expectations that it would fall in line with the US war against terrorism.

(Inter Press Service)