Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East

571 Pages·1989·7.183 MB·English

by  Patrick Seale

ASAD
OF SYRIA
THE STRUGGLE FOR
THE IDOLE EAST
By the same author
The Struggle for Syria
(1965; revised edition 1986)
French Revolution, 1968
(1968; with Maureen McConville)
The Hilton Assignment
(1973; with Maureen McConville)
Philby, The Long Road to Moscow
(1973; with Maureen McConville)
The Shaping of an Arab Statesman: ‘Abd al-Hamid Sharaf and the
Modern Arab World
(ed.) (1983)
OF SYRIA
THE STRUGGLE FOR
THE MIDDLE EAST
Patrick Seale
with the assistance of
MAUREEN McCONVILLE
University of California Press
Berkeley Los Angeles
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles
First published 1988 by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd., London
First University of California Press edition published 1989
First Paperback Printing 1990
Copyright ©1988 by Patrick Seale
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part
thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the
publisher.
ISBN 0-520-06667-7
ISBN 0-520-06976-5 (paperback)
Printed in the United States of America
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. @
To Rana Kabbani

Contents
Preface
PART ONE: THE REVOLUTIONARY
1 Coming Down the Mountain 3
2 The French Legacy 14
3 Party School and Army College 24
4 The Peasants’ Revolt 41
5 The Cairo Conspiracy 49
6 Capturing the State 72
7 Capturing the Party 86
8 Blindly to the Brink 104
9 The Six Day Walkover 117
10 The Fight to the Top 142
11 The Black September Fiasco 154
PART TWO: THE LEADER
12 Asad’s State 169
13 Sadat, the Unsound Ally 185
14 The October Illusion 202
15 Duel with Henry Kissinger 226
16 The Year Things Fell Apart 250
17 The Lebanese Trap 267
18 Jimmy Carter’s False Dawn 290
19 The Enemy Within 314
20 Standing Alone 337
21 Ally of the Ayatollah 349
22 Battle with Menachem Begin 364
23 The Defeat of George Shultz 392
24 The Brothers’ War 419
25 Forging a Nation 439
26 Dirty Tricks 459
27 Conclusions: the Balance Sheet 491
Notes 496
Select Bibliography 521
Index 541
Palmyra»
SYRIA
X
' ' \
JORDAN ^
SYRIAN D E S E» R
' m a I
SYRIA
® CAPITAL CITIES
• Major Cities
• Lesser Cities
■ Ancient Sites
W > Mou"’*'"s
Damascua-Beirut highway
(. i. I a I___I____I___I____I____I
20 10 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 km
______________1:2500000________________
Preface
This book is an attempt to explain what the world looks like from the
seat of power in Damascus. It is not an official biography of President
Asad, but it could not have been written had he not agreed to talk to
me, and for this direct access to him over several years I am grateful. I
also valued the conversations I had with his two eldest children, Bushra
and Basil.
My thanks are due to General Mustafa Tlas, the defence minister;
Dr ‘Abd al-Ra’uf al-Kasm, the former premier; Mr Faruq al-Shara‘, the
foreign minister; the late Ahmad Iskandar Ahmad and his successor as
minister of information, Mr Muhammad Salman; and Dr Najah al-
‘Attar, the minister of culture.
First-hand information generously given by men and women who
participated in events or were able to observe them at close hand was
an important source for this work. Some of my informants are
mentioned in footnotes, others are not. To all I am deeply grateful.
A number of Syrian officials assisted me, whether by arranging
interviews or helping to locate documents in the archives, or making
arrangements for me to travel about the country. I would particularly
like to thank the staff at the presidential palace, especially Mr Jubran
Kuriyeh, Mr As‘ad Kamil Elyas and Mr ‘Adnan Barniyeh, and Dr
Saber Falhut, head of the Syrian Arab News Agency, and his colleague
Mr Zuhayr Jannan.
Among the many Syrians who made me personally welcome I must
thank Dr Sabah Kabbani, Mr ‘Adnan ‘Umran, Dr Badi‘ al-Kasm, Dr
Osman al ‘A’idi, Dr George Huraniyeh, Dr Ghassan Maleh, Dr Nabil
Sukkar, Dr Rateb Shallah, Mr Ghalib Kayyali, Mr George Antaki, Mr
Naji Shawi, Dr Nagib Mura, Mr Wajih Mustafa, Mr Antoine Tourna
and Dr Nicolas Chahine.
Mr Albert Hourani, the most inspiring of teachers, guided my
studies in modern Arab history over many years. The Hon. David