BACKGROUND the perfect gift. . . Another Saddam? Continued from preceding page a subscription to THE JEWISH NEWS 27676 Franklin Road Southfield, Mich. 48034 I ORDER TODAY 1— Please send gift subscription to: NAME ADDRESS CITY 1 1 1 1 STATE ZIP FROM OCCASION 1 year - $29 — 2 years - $52 — Out of State - $41 — Foreign - $62 Enclosed $ Are you a home owner in Oak Park or Southfield? If so, you may qualify for a home improvement gi ggih loan available to families within The Neighborhood Project living area! COVENANT CREDIT UNION In cooperation with The Neighborhood Project, THE 0 0 Foto Covenant Credit Union offers a home (4> iii3O1te 0 ), 6 improvement loan at the Prime interest rate. z a 11=11•• ■ ■•■• 41111•11111=1 .411= ■ 1 To take advantage of this exceptional offer, call The Neighborhood Project, 967-1112. SPONSORED BY I HE JEWISH WELFARE FEDORA I ION COUPON ALL RUGS ON SALE 1 Week Only May 24 - 31 TAKE AN ADDITIONAL 2 0 % O F F ON OUR ALREADY 20% DISCOUNTED PRICE Choose from Regal, Martex & Fieldcrest in all sizes & all colors SEVENTH HEAVEN , Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10-6m Thurs. 10-9, Sun. 12-5 32 FRIDAY, MAY 24, 1991 Hunters Square 11 -!1 Orchard Lake at 14 Mile 8553777 1119 fiS highly developed offensive missile systems. President Assad's forces will play a key role in the postwar security structure being constructed in the Gulf and this strong but poor state is expected to win substantial additional rewards from the weak but rich Gulf states. Even given President Assad's profound antipathy toward the Jewish state, and persistent reports that he is planning a military strike to seize a foothold on the Golan Heights, it is considered unlikely that the current arms buildup is being under- taken with the intention of an imminent attack on Israel. Rather, military analysts expect that President Assad will use his enhanced military power to con- solidate his hold on Lebanon and prepare to "intervene" in another vulnerable neighboring state, Jordan. If such a scenario does ma- terialize and Syria repeats its Lebanon strategy in Jor- dan, President Assad would then be in a position to con- front Israel on three land fronts. President Assad and Iraq's President Saddam Hussein are leaders of rival wings of the Ba'ath Party and Israeli sources perceive the two as being virtually inter- changeable. Hafez Assad is regarded as a polished Saddam Hussein whose ambitions and aspira- tions, masked by a calculating pragmatism, are no less ruthless or dangerous. He is said to still nurture dreams of restoring Greater Syria, which includes Leb- anon, Jordan, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza and, ultimately, Iraq, Kuwait and Cyprus. President Assad, a mem- ber of the minority Alawite sect who has ruled Syria for 20 years, has demonstrated patience since Syrian forces first entered Lebanon in 1976 as the sole member of an Arab Deterrent Force created by the Arab League to separate rival militias fighting for control of the fractured country. Last October, after Syria agreed to participate in the anti-Iraq military coalition being assembled in the Gulf, the West turned a blind eye as President Assad moved his tanks into Beirut to topple the anti-Syrian Lebanese Christian leader, President Michel Aoun. An estimated 1,000 Chris- tian civilians were reported to have been massacred as Syrian troops installed Elias Hrawi, most of whose sup- porters are Muslim, in the presidential palace. At home, President Assad has also shown a measure of ruthlessness that is unusual even in the Middle East. In 1982, while international at- tention was again focused elsewhere — this time on Israel's invasion of Lebanon — his troops sealed off the town of Hama, a stronghold of the dissident Muslim Brotherhood, and killed up to 30,000, many with cyanide gas. Syrian antagonism toward Israel is so deeply entrench- ed that Israeli analysts believe it would be not only politically unlikely but also psychologically inconceivable for President Assad to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state. During his recent diplo- matic shuttles through the region, Mr. Baker discovered that President Assad was even more intransigent than Mr. Shamir on the question of procedural issues. The Syrian leader's terms for embarking on negotia- tions with Israel are not only a full-scale international peace conference under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council, but also an unconditional Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied in the 1967 Six Day War. ❑ mmml1.1 NEWS l'immmm Duty In Jordan Can Be Boaring Tel Aviv (JTA) — What is believed to have been a wild boar threw the Israel Defense Force into turmoil in the Upper Jordan Valley last week. For several hours, the re- gion where the Israeli, Jor- danian and Syrian borders converge was placed on high alert for suspected in- filtrators, after reports that an IDF unit had come under automatic weapons fire following a loud explosion at a point south of the Kin- neret. The soldiers reported that they returned the fire. The searches yielded no trace of intruders and were called off in the morning. According to the Central Command, the explosion was caused by an animal, probably a wild boar, an animal common to the area, which detonated a land mine, drawing automatic fire from nervous soldiers.