Syria, Libya and Iran, the three Moslem countries most closely involved with international terrorism, have become more careful about direct implication in terror activities against American or Western fargets, according to Dr. Ariel Merari, of Tel Aviv University’s Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies.
Merari, Director of the Center’s Project on Terrorism, was speaking at a press conference presenting its Inter ’85, the second annual project on terrorism covering the year 1985.
The three countries were more careful to camouflage any aid to international terrorist operations, he said, following the American air strike against terrorist bases near Tripoli, Libya, last year. Moreover, he noted that the raid had not been followed by the anticipated outbreak of anti-American revenge activities.
But he added that the three nations doubtless continued to aid terrorism by financial and training aid and the provision of weapons and sabotage equipment.
INCREASE IN ATTACKS
Merari cited an increase in murderous and indiscriminate terrorist activities carried out by PLO groups in 1985 and early this year, including several “shop window” attacks such as the onslaughts at Rome and Vienna airports, the Larnaca, Cyprus, massacre of Israeli yachters, and the killing of Israeli sailors in Barcelona and the Achille Lauro attack.
The incidence of PLO attacks was more than twice that of previous years, he noted, and the attacks were more indiscriminate.
The 130-page Inter ’85, published for the Jaffee Center by The Jerusalem Post, opens with a statistical survey describing the primary characteristics of terrorist incidents that took place throughout the world during 1985.
The second part of the volume surveys the main trends and foci of interest reflected in the statistics. It focuses on three subjects — Shiite/Fundamentalist terrorism, Palestinian terrorism and the attitude adopted by Western states to the dilemma posed by international terrorism.
It closes with three appendices — 18 detailed statistical tables, a chronology of significant international terrorist incidents in 1985 and a list of all organizations involved in acts of international terrorism in 1985.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
