Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview Shmuel Bar ...

Bashar’s Syria 431141. Reports in Israel claimed that Ghazi Kana’an objected to Bashar’s policy of escalationof Hezbollah activity against Israel in early 2002. See Ha’aretz, 27 November 2001, 14 April 2002;Yedi‘ot Aharonot, 15 September 2002.142. In response to Bashar’s taunts against the Arab countries that refuse to sever ties withIsrael, the Egyptian press launched a government-inspired campaign against “the young Presidentof a neighboring country, who is inexperienced, and like his predecessors, is interested in draggingEgypt into a war in which it will pay the full price, while his country will remain, as usual, a spectatoron the side.” Al-Jumhuriyya (Cairo), April 6 2002. Even more critical articles described Bashar asyoung, superficial, witless and an opportunist to boot” Akhbar al-Yawm, 6 April, 2002.143. A joke circulating in Cairo relates that in an Arab summit in Sharm al-Sheikh an informalmeeting took place between President Mubarak, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, King AbdallahII of Jordan, and President Bashar al-Asad on a terrace overlooking the Red Sea. When a waiterapproached, Mubarak placed the order: “I’ll have a coffee, and bring some ice cream for the kids ...”144. The province of Alexandretta (5,545 sq km) includes the cities of Antioch (now Antakya)and Alexandretta (now Iskenderun). The population is predominantly Arab but includes many Christians.The province of Alexandretta was awarded to Syria in 1920 and in 1936 became the subjectof a complaint to the League of Nations by Turkey, which claimed that the privileges of the Turkishminority in the province were being infringed. The province was given autonomous status in 1937by an agreement, arranged by the League, between France (then mandatory power in Syria) andTurkey. In 1939, France transferred the province to Turkey and it became Hatay province. Syria neverrecognized this transfer and the claim has been a constant irritant in Syrian-Turkish relations.145. On the occasion of the visit of Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs AbdallaDardari to Turkey see, http://www.champress.net/english/index.php?page=show 11 det&id=492146. One of the three bilateral agreements signed by Bashar and his Turkish counterpart NecdetSezer dealt with preventing double taxation. This was interpreted by the Turkish Foreign Ministryas an indirect sign that Damascus finally recognizes Hatay as a province belonging to Turkey, sinceunder the new agreement Syria recognizes investments made in Hatay as taking place in Turkishterritory. http://www.byegm.gov.tr/YAYINLARIMIZ/CHR/ING2004/01/04x01x07.HTM147. See Bashar’s remarks: “They [the Americans] removed their masks and said that theywanted oil and that they wanted to re-draw the map of the region in accordance with the Israeliinterests.” the American occupation of Iraq was compared by Bashar to the Mongol occupation andsacking of Baghdad in 1258.148. Bashar’s explanations included responses to the interviewer, such as, “This is against ourprinciple. And I would never do such a thing in my life. What do we achieve? ...Ithink what happenedtargeted Syria. That would affect our relation with the Lebanese people and with most of the country.So we wouldn’t do it because it’s against our interest, and it’s against my principle. I would never doit. It’s impossible.”149. This is a scenario suggested by the Director of IISS in Berlin, Dr. Volker Perthes, thoughhe accords it a low probability. See http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/10/04/opinion/edperthes.php150. Volker Perthes refers to this option as “a Syrian Musharaf.”Select BibliographyBooks and Articles’Aflaq, Michel, Fi Sabil al–Ba’th (In the Path of the Ba’th), Beirut, 1978.’Aflaq, Michel, Ba’adh al-Muntalaqat al-Nadhriya (Some Theoretical Points of Departure), 1963.Abu Rahmoun, Samir, ‘An al-‘Alawiin Ahil al-Tawhid (Ajar, Golan, matba’at al–Balad, Jadida, January2004).