When Hafiz al-Asad came to power in 1970, Syria was one of the most unstable and weak states of the Middle East. In the course of his long tenure, he established a powerful police state and made Syria a major regional actor. While the domestic transformation under Assad is reasonably well known, Syria's foreign relations remain obscure. The particular strength of this volume of essays lies in its detailed treatment of Syrian relations with its five neighbors (Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon), as well as Iran and the PLO. Amazia Baram's chapter on relations with Iraq, Yair Hirschfeld's on Iran, and the editors' on the PLO are especially impressive. With the exception of one American, all the contributors are Israelis — a testimony to Israel's remarkable scholarly depth in Middle Eastern studies; no other country, not even France or the United States, could produce such an array of specialized and insightful research.
Syria Under Assad
Domestic Constraints and Regional Risks
Edited by Moshe Ma'oz and Avner Yaiv. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986. 273 pp. $35
Reviewed by Daniel Pipes
Orbis
https://www.danielpipes.org/11129/syria-under-assad
Translations of this item:
Related Topics: Syria
receive the latest by email: subscribe to daniel pipes' free mailing list
The above text may be cited; it may also be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.
