Iran's regime angered by Syria's new alignment with U.S.
Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Wednesday, January 12, 2000
NICOSIA [MENL] -- Iran's Islamic regime appears to be growing angrier toward
Syrian negotiations with Israel and the prospects that Damascus would sign a
peace treaty with the Jewish state.
Arab and Western diplomats said that in talks with their Iranian
counterparts and officials, Teheran appears alarmed by the prospect that the
U.S.-mediated negotiations would lead to full diplomatic relations between
Israel and Syria and a turn by Damascus away from Iran and toward
Washington.
The diplomats said they don't expect President Hafez Assad to decide on
such a change. But Teheran fears that Assad's successor, particularly his
son Bashar, could make such a decision.
"Iran is waiting for the succession issue to be decided," a Western
diplomatic source said. "This will be the most important signal regarding
the future of Iranian-Syrian relations."
The diplomatic sources said Iran appears to have concluded that Bashar
will be aligned with the United States if he succeeds the 69-year-old Assad.
Assad's health is deteriorating and Syrian sources don't expect him to be
able to function more than a year.
The two countries could have their first full airing of view when Bashar
arrives for talks in Teheran. The sources said the visit had been delayed
until after the last round of negotiations with Israel, which ended on
Monday. They said it is unclear whether Bashar would make the trip until the
outcome of the current negotiations is decided.
Both the diplomats as well as Iranian government sources said the
Islamic regime led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appears split over how to
respond to any Israeli-Syrian peace treaty. They said Khamenei appears
resigned to such a prospect while many of his allies, said such a
development would result in Arab and U.S. pressure to follow suit.
The result, the diplomats said, is that Iranian opponents of a Syrian
peace have been leaking statements by Khamenei against Syria. Last week, the
Doha-based Al Jazeera satellite television quoted Khamenei as terming the
Syrian-Israeli negotiations as "a great treason against the Arabs and
Muslims."
On Sunday, the television station denied the report. The Iranian embassy
in Damascus did the same.
On Monday, the Teheran-based Iran Daily warned that Israeli territorial
concessions would result in a high price for the Arabs. The daily, which is
regarded as a mouthpiece of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said Assad is
determined to talk peace out of weakness.
"Firstly, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was a
traditional ally of Assad's Ayria, the Arab countries' standing,
particularly in the military sphere, plunged in a all-time low. In fact,
Syria has not signed a single important arms deal since 1993, and it has
large unpaid debts to the Kremlin," the newspaper said.
The editorial suggested that peace with Israel would not last and is not
in the interest of the Syrian people. "Real and long-lasting peace can only
be built on the will of the people concerned and for their interest," the
newspaper said. "Does the Syrian-Israeli peace talk fulfill this very basic
criteria, or is it just another exercise in futility? Time will tell."
The newspaper, in what was perhaps the most cutting Iranian statement
against Teheran's longtime ally, Assad, cited his deteriorating health and
the succession issue as the reason Syria is negotiating peace with Israel.
"There is also the personal gain for messrs Clinton, Barak and Assad," Iran
Daily said. "Barak needs to appease his coalition partners with a positive
move in the peace process before the extremists bring his coalition and him
down. Assad, a frailing 69 year old has publicly said that he wants to leave
a 'clean slate' to his successor, probably his son Bashar, and Clinton, in
his last year of his scandal-tainted presidency wants to add this episode
to his foreign ministry legacy."