Britain Breaks Syrian Ties, U.S. Withdraws Its Envoy : Damascus Linked to El Al Plot

Britain broke diplomatic relations with Syria today after its ambassador was implicated in an attempt to blow up an Israeli airliner and the United States announced it is withdrawing its ambassador to Syria in a show of support.

The decision by the Reagan Administration to withdraw Ambassador William Eagleton from Damascus was announced by White House spokesman Larry Speakes, accompanying President Reagan on a campaign trip to Tampa, Fla.

The U.S. action is one step short of breaking relations. A third, milder option would have been to recall Eagleton for consultations.

In a statement given to reporters aboard Air Force One, Speakes said, “We applaud the reaction of Her Majesty’s government. We support the British decision. . . . In the coming days we will be in close consultation with Her Majesty’s government.”

Jordanian Convicted

The moves came hours after a Jordanian was convicted of the El Al crime in a London court.

British Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe told Parliament that Ambassador Loutof Allah Haydar had been told to close down his embassy and withdraw its 21-member staff.

The British Embassy in Damascus with a staff of 19 also will close, he said.

Syria immediately severed diplomatic links with Britain and closed its airspace and seaports to British airlines and ships.

Nezar Hindawi, found guilty today and immediately sentenced to 45 years in prison, testified that he went to the Syrian Embassy after the failure of the April 17 plot in which he had sought to dupe his pregnant Irish fiancee into taking explosives onto the El Al Boeing 747.

He told London’s Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, that he met with Haydar and was given refuge in a house by embassy staff.

Had Done ‘Good Things’

Police testified that Hindawi had confessed before the 14-day trial that the ambassador greeted him warmly and said he had done “good things,” even though an El Al security agent found the bomb in the woman’s luggage as she was about to board and fly from London’s Heathrow Airport to Tel Aviv.

“There is conclusive evidence of Syrian official involvement with Hindawi,” Howe said. “The whole House will be outraged by the Syrian role in this case.”

He claimed that Haydar was personally involved in getting Hindawi the “sponsorship of the Syrian intelligence authorities” several months before the attempted bombing. Hindawi’s applications for British visas were backed by notes from the Syrian Foreign Ministry, Howe said.

Haydar today reiterated denials that his country was involved in the attempted bombing and claimed that it was a joint U.S.-Israeli intelligence scheme to discredit Syria.

“All Britain had to do was dance to the tune,” said the ambassador, who was summoned to the Foreign Office shortly after Hindawi was convicted.

Syrian President Hafez Assad has repeatedly denied links to international terrorism and recently denied that Syria had any hand in the Hindawi bomb plot, saying he was framed by Israel’s Mossad intelligence service.

Hailed by Israeli Sources

Israel declined immediate official comment on Britain’s decision, but sources privately hailed it as a firm stand against “state-sponsored terrorism.”

Hindawi, 32, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for hiding a bomb in Ann Marie Murphy’s suitcase and trying to send her on a flight carrying 375 people to Israel. The plot, carried out two days after the U.S. raid on Libya, was thwarted when an El Al guard found the explosives as she prepared to board the plane at Heathrow Airport.