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Persuasion and pressure over Iraq
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| 08 January 2003 |
There have been intriguing but unconfirmed reports about peace initiatives by Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad to avoid the risk of a conflict between the USA and Saddam Hussein.
Foreign Report's sources say that during Assad's recent meeting with Tony Blair in London, the Syrian president told the British prime minister he was thinking of flying to Baghdad to try and convince Saddam to give up his non-conventional weapons of mass destruction and avoid US intervention. Blair, though sceptical, replied: "Why not?"
After he succeeded his father, Assad tried to improve relations with Iraq, allowing bilateral trade to increase. The border was opened. Cheap Iraqi oil flowed.
According to our unconfirmed report, Assad flew to Baghdad and saw Saddam, but nothing came of it. However, a separate unconfirmed report says Assad made a U-turn, switching from persuasion to pressure.
Why? Because if war breaks out, the Syrians fear hundreds of thousands of refugees will flood their country from Iraq. The Syrian regime, dominated by an unpopular group of the Alawite sect, could be in danger. So, President Assad made a U-turn and ordered the pumping of Iraqi oil to stop.
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