Hafez al-Assad, Syrian president, 69

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

Saturday June 10 12:50 PM ET

Syria's President Assad Dies; Son to Succeed Him
By Issam Hamza

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian President Hafez al-Assad died on Saturday in
Damascus, state television said. He was 69. Syria's parliament almost
immediately amended the constitution to allow his son Bashar, 34, to succeed
him.

A political source said the veteran leader had died at 11 a.m. The source
had no immediate word on the cause of death but Qatari television said it
was a heart attack. Assad had suffered from heart problems and diabetes.

His death occurred at a critical stage in the Middle East peace process and
only a week before the opening of a key conference of the ruling Baath party
that had been expected to elect his son as a member of the party's regional
command. It had also been expected he would be named vice-president.

Bashar has played an increasingly powerful role domestically and abroad in
the past two years.

In a recent interview, he said he had recommended many members of Syria's
new cabinet, which took office on March 13.

Led Anti-Corruption Drive

He has also led an anti-corruption campaign which resulted in the detention
of several high-ranking officials. The campaign included former Prime
Minister Mahoud Zu'bi, who committed suicide last month after being
dismissed from the ruling party and sent for trial on corruption charges.

Bashar has also visited several Arab countries and France in the past two
years.

Members of parliament were seen openly weeping and gesticulating at the news
of Assad's death.

Israel, in its first reaction, said it would strive to forge a peace deal
with whoever succeeded him.

``The government of Israel understands the grief of the Syrian people
following of the death of President Assad,'' said a statement issued by
Prime Minister Ehud Barak's office.

``Israel worked in the past for a peace deal with Syria and will continue to
work for this in the future with all future leadership,'' the statement
said.

Clinton ``Saddened''

President Clinton said he was saddened and would continue to work with Syria
to achieve a comprehensive Middle East peace settlement.

``I am saddened by the news of President Assad's death and want to offer my
condolences to his family and to the Syrian people,'' he said in a statement
issued by the White House while he was visiting Minnesota.

``We look forward to working with Syria to achieve the goal of a
comprehensive peace.''

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said in a statement he mourned the death
of Assad. He declared three days of official mourning in Palestinian-run
areas.

Relations between Arafat and Assad had long been strained and Damascus is
headquarters for factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization opposed
to PLO Chairman Arafat's peacemaking with Israel.

Russia's Interfax news agency, quoting a senior source in the Foreign
Ministry, said Moscow was saddened and hoped Assad's death would not derail
the Middle East peace process.

Assad had looked frail for some years, but his steely determination provoked
fear at home and grudging respect in adversaries abroad.

The course of his long rule, launched with a coup in 1970, was above all set
by Syria's confrontation with Israel.

He fought Israel as defense minister in 1967, launched a surprise attack on
it in 1973 and battled its advance through Lebanon in 1982.

When Syria joined the 1991 U.S. drive to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, the
optimism in Damascus over Assad's ''strategic option'' for peace turned to
disappointment as Israeli interest appeared to wane after the 1996 election
of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Barak Election Revived Hopes

Hopes of progress in Syrian-Israeli relations revived when Ehud Barak
defeated Netanyahu in elections in 1999, pledging to withdraw from southern
Lebanon and seek a peaceful settlement with Syria and the Palestinians.

But direct talks, and a rare summit meeting in Geneva between Assad and
Clinton, failed to get the peace talks back on track. Assad's determination
to win back the whole of the Golan Heights captured by Israel in 1967 was a
major stumbling block.

Israel's rushed withdrawal from its southern Lebanon occupation zone in May
this year, after years of harassment by Syrian backed Hizbollah guerrillas,
appeared to remove one of Assad's levers against the Jewish state.

Assad's biographer, Patrick Seale, said on CNN television:

``The transition will be very smooth.

``Bashar has been prepared to take over for the past six years, since the
death of Basel,'' Seale said, referring to Bashar's brother, who was being
groomed as heir apparent when he was killed in a car accident in 1994.

``The most important elements of Assad's legacy are four-fold: the
independence of Syria, the refusal to accept U.S. and Israeli diktats, the
importance of recovering all territory lost in 1967, and an honorable
peace,'' Seale said.

``Assad did not want the political order in the Middle East dominated by
Israel. He wanted a balance of power in order to keep the peace. He felt an
imbalance causes war because the stronger partner always tries to impose his
will on the weaker.''

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