Syrian support for international terrorism: 1983-86

US Department of State Bulletin, Feb, 1987

Syrian Support for International Terrorism: 1983-86

The following documents were prepared by the Office of the Ambassador at Large for Counter-Terrorism and made available December 5, 1986. The chronology of selected terrorist incidents by Syrian-supported groups is not intended to be all-inclusive but is illustrative of Syria's involvement in and support for terrorism and terrorist groups. The groups cited in this chronology have links with Syria.

New evidence of Syrian suppport for anddirect involvement in international terrorism has been brought to light in two recent trials including the conviction in Great Britain of Nizar Hindawi for the attempted bombing of an El Al civilian airplane with 375 passengers aboard.

Syria clearly has a long record ofinvolvement in terrorism. Syria is one of the "charter members' of countries on the U.S. Government's terrorism list, which was first compiled in 1979.(1)

The pattern of Syrian activity in supportof terrorism has varied. From the mid-1970s through 1983, Syrian personnel are known to have been directly involved in terrorist operations. These operations were primarily directed against other Arabs such as Syrian dissidents, moderate Arab states such as Jordan, and pro-Arafat Palestinians, as well as Israeli and Jewish targets. In 1982, for example, a car bomb exploded in front of the offices of a Lebanese-owned, pro-Iraqi newspaper in downtown Paris, killing one person and injuring scores of others. France later expelled two Syrian diplomats and ordered its ambassador home for consultations.

By late 1983, Damascus had curtaileduse of its own personnel. Instead, it began to rely more heavily on terrorist groups made up of non-Syrians who have bases and training facilities in Syria and Syrian-occupied areas of Lebanon. The most notorious of these is the Abu Nidal organization.

Available evidence indicates thatSyria prefers to support groups whose activities are generally in line with Syrian objectives rather than to select targets or control operations itself. Damascus utilizes these groups to attack or intimidate enemies and opponents and to exert its influence in the region. Yet at the same time, it can disavow knowledge of their operations. Such Syrian-supported groups have carried out scores of attacks against Palestinian and other Arab, Turkish, Israeli, and Western targets during the past 3 years.

In 1986, investigations into majorincidents have revealed another change in Syrian activities: that Syria has not abandoned its willingness to be directly involved in terrorist attacks. The British trial and investigation of the abortive El Al bombing exposed the direct involvement of President Assad's intelligence services. And the trial concerning the bombing of the German-Arab Friendship Union in West Berlin revealed the involvement of Syrian officials. To a large degree, Syria had been successful in covering its tracks. Now, however, in Britain and Berlin, evidence of more direct Syrian involvement has emerged.

London and Berlin Investigations

In the British investigation of theaborted El Al attack, Hindawi told British police he was recruited by Haitham Said, an aide to Major General al-Khuli, chief of Syrian Air Force intelligence. According to the evidence presented at the trial, al-Khuli's operatives: (1) supplied Hindawi, a Jordanian, with a Syrian passport; (2) gave him $12,000 and promised him more money when he completed his mission to plant a bomb aboard an El Al civilian airliner; (3) provided him with the bomb which was carried into London aboard the Syrian Arab Airlines, which also gave him SAA crew member hotel accommodations; and (4) trained him in the bomb's use.

Hindawi tried to use his pregnantgirlfriend as the unwitting carrier of the sophisticated bomb which was built into her carry-on bag. If an alert security official had not spotted the device after her bag cleared an earlier check, 375 innocent persons, including some 230 Americans, would have perished.

After the April 17 plan failed,according to evidence presented at the trial, Hindawi followed instructions to go to the Syrian Embassy, where he was greeted by the ambassador and hidden in a Syrian safehouse in London. British press reports of the investigation say Britain also has evidence that the Syrian Ambassador in London was personally involved several months before the attempted bombing in recruiting Hindawi for Syrian intelligence.

In West Berlin, Hindawi's brother,Ahmad Hasi, and another Arab, Farouk Salameh, were convicted for the March 29 bombing of the German-Arab Friendship Union in West Berlin in which 11 persons were injured. In a sworn statement, Hasi said he picked up this bomb at the Syrian Embassy in East Berlin from a senior Syrian Air Force intelligence officer, Haitham Said, and a Syrian explosives expert was sent from Damascus to repair the device after it twice failed to explode.

Abu Nidal

Syria continues to support the mostactive and brutal international terrorist group operating today, Abu Nidal.2 Although Abu Nidal now also receives backing and support from Libya and sanctuary in Eastern Europe, Damascus had provided Abu Nidal with important logistical support ever since the group moved from Iraq in 1983. Syria allows Abu Nidal's group to maintain training camps in the Lebanese Bekaa Valley, an area under the control of the Syrian Armed Forces. Syria provides the group with travel documents and permits its operatives to transit freely through Damascus when departing on missions. Syria continues to permit operation of Abu Nidal facilities in Damascus. (The Syrian Government asserts that the sole function of these facilities is limited to cultural and political affairs.)