Syrian support for international terrorism: 1983-86

US Department of State Bulletin, Feb, 1987

Although the December 1985 attackon Rome's airport was committed under Libyan sponsorship, the surviving member of the four-man terrorist team, according to reports on the Italian investigation, told investigators the team was trained in Syrian-occupied areas of Lebanon. The team then traveled to Damascus, where it remained while final preparations were made for the attack in which 16 civilians and 3 terrorists were killed.

In Ankara on November 6, Turkishprosecuters issued an indictment accusing six Palestinians working for the Abu Nidal organization of killing a Jordanian diplomat in July 1985. The indictment also linked the men with four other actions, including the September 6, 1986, attack on an Istanbul synagogue killing 21 persons, a 1983 attempt to place a bomb on an Alitalia flight, and the attempted car bombing of a U.S. officers' club in Izmir in 1983.

The Abu Nidal organization's moveto Syria in 1983 was followed by a dramatic increase in the group's terrorist attacks: more than a dozen attacks in 1984 and twice that number in 1985. More than half of the 1985 attacks occurred in Western Europe, including attacks on British tourists at hotels in Athens. When King Hussein launched his February 1985 peace initiative, Jordan became a major target. But when Jordanian-Syrian relations began to warm in mid-1985, attacks on Jordanians at home and abroad diminished.

In its dealings with Western countries,Syria has consistently tried to play down the importance of its connection with Abu Nidal and has denied permitting his group to engage in terrorist activity. However, there is no evidence that Damascus has actually restrained Abu Nidal's activities (Abu Nidal training camps in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley continue to operate, for example) or cut back on other forms of support. Although it may not know about every operation, given the amount and nature of Syrian support, Damascus could influence and constrain the Abu Nidal group's activities in Syria and Syrian-controlled areas of Lebanon if it chose to do so.

Other Syrian-Supported Palestinian Groups

Syria also provides varying amounts ofsupport to other radical Palestinian groups. These include Saiqa, which is under total Syrian control; the Abu Musa group, now almost totally dependent on Damascus; the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine--General Command (PFLP-GC); and the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which now maintains its principal base in Damascus.

In all, Syrian-sponsored groups,including the Abu Nidal organization, were linked to about 30 terrorist attacks during 1985, a quarter of them in Greece alone. The Abu Musa group announced from Damascus its responsibility for another attempt to bomb an El Al airliner, in Madrid on June 26, 1986. The suspect in that attempt has admitted being a member of the group. Two weeks later, other groups supported by Syria, the PFLP, and the Lebanese Syrian Social Nationalist Party attempted an attack on an Israeli resort town on July 10, 1986.