Hostility Toward the United States
The Syrian government stakes out an ideological position toward the United States that very closely matches the Soviet line. According to Damascus, the U.S. pursues a "general strategy of world imperialism" in a "colonialist" effort to control economic resources. Its goal in the Middle East is to set up military bases for two reasons: to "tighten" control over the oil regions and to threaten the Soviet Union.
Syrian media discern an American hand behind many of the region's troubles. According to them, Washington "sent the U.S. war machine to kill Palestinians and Lebanese citizens. It undertook a fascist military adventure against the Iranian revolution and then instigated Saddam's regime [in Iraq] to wage a war on its behalf against the Iranian revolution." President Asad reminds Syrians that the goal of all this is "to occupy our territory and exploit our masses," rendering the Arabs nothing but "puppets" and "slaves."
It is crucial to note that the United States is seen to have its own goals in the Middle East-"imperialist hegemony over the Arab homeland" and support of Israel is regarded not as a cause of this but a consequence. Israel, indeed, has no real autonomy; the U.S. can order Israel to do its bidding. Syria's prime minister says that "Israel is a U.S. base," Asad calls it an American "tool", and the newspaper Tishrin terms it the "big stick" of the United States. Israel's expansionism serves to soften up the Arabs, to discourage them, and render them ready to capitulate to American wishes. "It has become obvious," the same Syrian daily concludes, "that the Zionist entity implements aggressive and expansionist action in the region only after total agreement with the U.S. administration." In Syrian parlance, Zionism is but a symptom of imperialism, and they are but "two sides of one coin." In the final analysis, Israel threatens because of its links to the U.S. Were the American influence in the Middle East eliminated, the Israeli challenge would be greatly reduced, if not ended.
Ironically, Syrian leaders understand Israel's value to the United States better than do many Americans. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister 'Abd al-Halim Khaddam explains: "There is a deep and organic link between the United States and Israel. We are under no illusions about this. The link is not due to the 'Zionist lobby' in the United States but to the fact that it is the only friend of the United States in the area and because it represents a major base for protecting U.S. interests." True, this formula is sometimes turned around when Syrian leaders hope to affect American policy; then they speak of a conspiracy carried out by "world Zionism." But there is no argument from Syria, as, say, from Saudi Arabia, that the U.S. is backing the wrong side in the Middle East.
Syrian leaders sharply disagree with those who see the main Arab problem as Zionism, which they see as no more than a screen for American intentions. "No matter how skillful Washington is in maneuvering and applying pressures, it will not succeed in convincing the Arabs that Israel [instead of the U.S.] is the one which occupies Arab territories." After the 1982 conflict in Lebanon, the Syrian prime minister stressed that "the war was not merely between Syria and Israel, but between Syria and those behind Israel." The U.S., not Israel, is the "essence of evil," and Syrian leaders imply that an agreement between them and Israel is ultimately impossible not because of dispute over the Palestinians or other local issues but because of Israel's role as an agent for the United States. Enmity toward the United States drives the animosity with Israel more than the other way around.
In the view of the Syrian rulers, Israel is by no means the only American lackey in the Middle East. When the Muslim Brethren revolted in 1980, American agents were blamed: "The weapons are Israeli, the ammunition from Sadat, the training is Jordanian, and the moral support is from other parties well known for their loyalty to imperialism." More recently, the Syrians identified a "reactionary axis" of Arabs working for the U.S. - 'Arafat, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq. To these are sometimes added Somalia, Sudan and Oman.
The language against these purported clients can become wildly abusive, resembling Mu'ammar al-Qadhdhafi's. A radio commentary of January 1981 accused "the gang of CIA agents in Amman"-meaning the Jordanian monarchy-of foisting on Jordanian citizens "the cud of all the byproducts of the Zionist and imperialist psychological war machine." When Sadat was killed, Syrian radio broadcast a speech celebrating this event and calling for the death of other Arab traitors, including King Husayn of Jordan and Saddam Husayn of Iraq.
Even though Israel and some Arab governments are both seen to be working for the U.S., a basic difference separates them. Because their state was created for imperialistic purposes, Israelis as a people are irredeemably pro-American. In contrast, the Arab masses are spontaneously pro-Soviet. What are called "puppet and collaborating" regimes can force the latter to turn toward the United States, but this is an aberration. Accordingly, Syrian rulers always profess friendship for Arab peoples even while reviling their leaders; in contrast, they condemn the Israeli people as well as their government.
The Asad government, having rejected Camp David, faces Washington's anger. The newspaper Tishrin argues that
the United States is directing all its psychological, economic, political, and diplomatic resources for war against Syria, using all its agents, hirelings, lackeys, and mercenaries.... The United States believes-and it has the right to do so-that the elimination of Syrian steadfastness against imperialism and Zionism and their plots of dragging the region to the colonialist camp, means the collapse of Arab steadfastness.
The U.S. confronts Syria with a stark choice: accept Camp David, the symbol of defeatism in Syrian rhetoric, or the U.S. will "topple the Syrian regime and replace it with a fascist one."
More broadly, the Arabs face a choice: either "submit to a hostile United States or choose a strategic alliance with the friendly Soviet Union." Syrian rhetoric discounts the possibility that the Arabs can stand up to the "U.S. onslaught" alone. But "feverish and venomous" efforts against the Arabs will fail so long as Syria, backed by the Soviet Union, resists them. Syrian rulers present themselves as the vanguard of a "struggle against U.S. domination of the Middle East," and welcome the special American enmity that this entails.
Although the Asad regime derives its position toward the United States from positions generated in Moscow, it is considerably more strident. Thus, the foreign minister calls the United States an "enemy like Israel" and Asad is quoted as saying that "the United States is the primary enemy."
Syrian rulers explicitly threaten the United States from time to time, as when a newspaper editorial called on the Arabs "to strike at every type of U.S. interest, to behead the snake." More significantly, the prime minister asserted in 1980, "If I were able to strike at Washington I would do so." These threats are not idle. There have been repeated attacks against American soldiers and diplomats, perhaps most spectacular being the Katyusha artillery rocket barrage in May 1983 on Secretary of State Shultz as he spent the night in the U.S. Ambassador's residence in Beirut. This incident may have been the first time a Soviet ally has aimed its guns on an American secretary of state.
A leading Syrian politician observed in 1980 that "the United States is the United States whether Carter goes or Reagan comes," while another commentary noted that "the departure of one person [as president of the U.S.] and the arrival of another will make no difference." In short, the Syrian leadership contends that its conflict with the United States results from structural reasons and will continue for many years.
