Syria: From the Great War to Civil War by McHugo John

Author:McHugo, John [McHugo, John]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780863567636
Publisher: Saqi
Published: 2014-06-29T16:00:00+00:00

THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF SYRIA SHOWING MAJOR TOWNS

CHAPTER FOUR

Hafez al-Assad, 1970–2000

Foreign Policy Challenges

I

When Hafez al-Assad seized power on 13 November 1970, it was the start of a new era for Syria. He would stay in control of the country until his death on 10 June 2000. By then his rule would have lasted longer than that of the French, or of all governments since independence combined. Few at the time would have predicted that he would manage to remain at the helm for so long, but all would have agreed that Syria needed stability and that this required a very firm hand. Before Israel seized the Golan Heights, Syria had already been in chaos. Now it had its back to the wall. Anyone who stared up at the crest of Mount Hermon from a roof terrace in the old city of Damascus was looking at enemy-occupied territory. Not only was there a major threat to Syria unparalleled since independence, but stability and internal reconciliation were desperately needed after the upheavals of the quarter century since the French finally left. The price Syria was about to pay, as an observer has recently commented, was that it would be run by a regime with a heart that was made of lead.1

Indeed, the regime was perfectly prepared to use violence either in Syria or abroad when it deemed this expedient. This included assassinations and terrorism. The list of those whom Hafez al-Assad’s regime is accused of assassinating is long and distinguished. It includes the co-founder of the Ba’th Party, Salah al-Din Bitar, General Muhammad Umran, who was one of Hafez al-Assad’s colleagues on the Ba’thist secret military committee which carried out the coup of 8 March 1963 and became minister of defence before the 1966 coup, the Lebanese president-elect Bashir Gemayel, and Kamal Jumblatt, the left-wing Lebanese leader and Druze notable.

As with earlier periods of Syrian history, during the rule of Hafez al-Assad foreign challenges had an all-important impact on what took place inside the country. For that reason, this chapter will look at Syria’s foreign policy during his thirty years in power, while the nature of his rule and the internal problems of Syria will be considered in Chapter Five. Two key foreign policy issues stand out. The first is the continuation of the Arab-Israeli conflict generally and Syria’s struggle for the return of the Golan Heights. The other is Syria’s involvement in Lebanon.

In 1970 Israeli tanks were poised little over thirty-five miles from Damascus, while Israeli radar and telescopes on the summit of Mount Hermon could observe planes taking off and landing at Damascus airport, and even the traffic moving in and out of the city. The recovery of the Golan Heights and justice for the Palestinians were nonnegotiable, red line issues for any ruler of Syria. Syria’s first priority was therefore to strengthen its armed forces so that, in partnership with the Egypt of Anwar Sadat, who became its president after Nasser’s death, it could stand up to Israel in battle.

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