Israel watched with concern today the pending visit of Syria’s President Hafez Assad to Baghdad. It was the first visit of Assad to neighboring Iraq in five years, possibly marking the end of years of rivalry between the Syrian and the Iraqi wings of the Ba’ath Socialist parties.
Relations between the two parties, which did not improve even after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem last November, have moved closer since Camp David. Iraq has even offered direct military assistance to Syria in the Golan Heights, so that Syria will be free to deal with the Lebanese crisis without fearing Israeli reactions.
Iraq’s appeasement policy fits well with Assad’s plans going back to the time he was commander of the Syrian Air Force 10 years ago. He always advocated close cooperation with Iraq in order to form a major political power of the Fertile Crescent, ranging from Iraq in the north, through Lebanon in the west all the way to Jordan in the south. Such a coalition could serve as an appropriate response to Egyptian power.
Iraq and Syria have differed on a solution of the Mideast crisis. Syria still officially holds to a policy that the conflict can be solved by peaceful means. Iraq believes only in the military option. Israeli analysts fear that the visit of Assad to his colleague, President Ahmed Hassan Bakr, may mean a departure from the relative moderate policy Syria was considered to have exercised until now.
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