Heir-apparent in Damascus shares father’s hard-line views

LONDON, Feb. 7 (JTA) — The heir apparent to Syrian President Hafez Assad said Syria would not loosen its control of Lebanon and denied that Damascus was using its support of the Islamic fundamentalist Hezbollah as a bargaining chip to pressure Israel. In his first media interview, Bashar Assad also echoed his father’s line when he bitterly criticized Arab states that have signed what he termed “unilateral peace deals” with Israel. Assad, 34, told a Lebanese daily that Lebanese “resistance fighters” had emerged in response to what he called Israeli occupation of its 9-mile-wide security zone in southern Lebanon and said they were defending the honor of all Arabs. He said Syrian support of anti-Israeli forces in Lebanon is a “national expression of resistance” to the “usurpation of Lebanese land.” A former student of ophthalmology, Assad also said the “Lebanese National Resistance” had “touched Arab feelings and revived nationalist fervor.” “It has moved Israeli society more toward chaos and confusion. At the same time, it has fortified Israel feelings of loss and indecision as to whether to stay in Lebanon and continue to suffer, or to withdraw ignominiously. “Saying that the resistance is no more than a Syrian bargaining chip, however, dwarfs its role. The resistance is certainly not a bargaining chip in anyone’s hand. It is a national expression in reaction to the usurpation of Lebanese land. Without naming Egypt and Jordan, Assad declared that “unilateral peace deals signed by some Arab states with the enemy have weakened the Arabs’ negotiating position immeasurably.” But he insisted that Syria would stand firm — alone, if necessary: “Israel made great gains out of these unilateral deals,” he said, “and all because of the lack of Arab coordination and consensus.”