Free Republic

WASHINGTON — His father ran a brutal regime but earned grudging respect for knowing when and how to make deals, as in 1991 when he joined the U.S.-led coalition that expelled Iraq from Kuwait. * * * Martin Indyk, a former assistant secretary of State who met many times with Hafez Assad and spent three hours with Bashar Assad a year ago, calls him an "enigma" and an "ingénue" who appears to be not entirely in control of his own government. Surrounded by holdovers from his father's 30-year rule and Alawites from Syria's ruling religious sect, Assad is "an empty...

Israel accused Syria yesterday of allowing up to 200 militants linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda network to settle in southern Lebanon. The newspaper Ha'aretz, quoting "various intelligence services", said Syria had also provided sanctuary for bin Laden's son, Omar, before and after the September 11 attacks in America. The leader of the September 11 hijackers, Mohamed Atta, visited Syria two or three times, the newspaper said. The information was published amid rising tension between Israel and Syria, following the death of an Israeli soldier in a raid by Syrian-backed Hizbollah guerrillas across the Lebanese border. Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the Israeli...