Syria’s Assad Visiting Jordan

President Hafez Assad of Syria made the 110-mile journey to Amman today for the first time in almost a decade, capping an eight-month effort to improve ties between the estranged Arab neighbors.

Bagpipers played martial music as Assad disembarked from his Boeing 727 jetliner, and Jordan’s King Hussein greeted him with the traditional Arab kiss on each cheek. An aide to Hussein said the two leaders will discuss “all issues which interest the Arab case.”