Mountain of Evidence Led to Syria-Terror Connection

In the closing stages of the trial that led to Friday’s conviction of Jordanian Nezar Hindawi as the key man in a plot to blow up an Israeli airliner, the jury was warned not to be distracted by the political impact of its verdict.

“There may be repercussions--that has nothing to do with us,” said prosecutor Roy Amlot. “It is this man and this man alone who is on trial.”

While the prosecutor’s comments may have been legally correct, there was little question that in many capitals around the world, Syria, too, stood convicted Friday.

The evidence presented during the three-week trial at the Old Bailey marked the first conclusive proof ever presented of a terrorist plot that could be tied directly and unequivocally to Syria, a country long suspected of masterminding such activities.

Unlike Libya, the other nation also accused of sponsoring terrorism, Syria is an important and powerful regional power in the Middle East, and the ripples from the London courtroom could eventually be felt by those struggling to bring peace to that troubled region.

Among the evidence put forth here that linked Syrian officials to the attempt to plant plastic explosives aboard the El Al Israel Airlines Boeing 747:

--Hindawi, 32, traveled on an official Syrian passport under a false name and his visa applications for entry to Britain were on two occasions backed by official notes from the Syrian Foreign Ministry.

--Shortly after the explosives were discovered by an alert El Al security agent, Hindawi met personally with the Syrian ambassador to London, Loutof Allah Haydar. According to Hindawi’s signed statements, Haydar telephoned Damascus for instructions before sending him to the home of a Syrian security agent where two Syrian diplomats attempted to alter his appearance by dyeing and cutting his hair.

Tells of Recruitment

--In signed statements taken by police investigators, Hindawi described how he had been recruited by the head of military intelligence in Damascus for attacks against Israel in return for money and a promise of places for Jordanians at Syrian universities.

--Hindawi said he spent some time in hotel accommodations reserved for Syrian Arab Airline crews and, according to his own court testimony, was traveling with such a crew to leave Britain when news of the bomb’s discovery broke.

--Hindawi stated in pretrial statements that Syrian airline crews had smuggled explosives --including those used in the attempt on the El Al jet--as well as drugs and weapons into Britain, and that Syrian intelligence officers posed as crew members during stopovers here.

--During his detention, Hindawi allegedly attempted to contact Syrian intelligence officials in Damascus to request their assistence in securing his release.

The mountain of damning evidence showing extensive Syrian government involvement constituted one of the most detailed accounts of a state-sponsored act of terrorism ever made public. Usually, the very nature of such professional backing tends to ensure what diplomats call “plausible deniability” to those involved.

Detailed Account

“Not since the assassination of Trotsky has there been such a detailed account of an act of state-sponsored murder,” commented Aberdeen University professor Paul Wilkinson, a specialist on international terrorism.

(Soviet theorist Leon Trotsky was axed to death in August, 1940, in Mexico City, and it was widely believed that the act was carried out on the orders of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.)

“Usually, state sponsors (of terrorism) are very careful to maintain at least the thin veil of deniability,” noted Brian Jenkins, director of the Rand Corp.’s research program on political violence. “In this trial, the veil was stripped away.”

Jenkins said the evidence indicated a departure from methods used in previous, highly skilled terrorist operations where Syrian involvement was suspected.

“For such a high-ranking diplomat (as Ambassador Haydar) to meet with a terrorist directly is somewhat foolhardy,” he said.

Three Syrian diplomats believed actively involved with Hindawi were quietly expelled last May 10 when Damascus refused to lift their diplomatic immunity to permit the British police to question them.

Those expulsions, like other British government action related to the affair, were carried out with little fanfare because of the strict British rules limiting pretrial publicity, but those constraints were lifted Friday.

Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe told the House of Commons on Friday that evidence independent from the trial also pointed to Haydar’s personal involvement in winning Syrian intelligence service backing for Hindawi several months before the attempt was made against the El Al jet.

“The whole House will be outraged by the Syrian role in this case,” he said.

Neither Howe nor Foreign Office officials would comment on the origins of this information. But, in a recently published book, “The Master Terrorist,” Israeli journalist Yossi Melman claimed that Israeli intelligence had tapped into communications between Damascus and Syria’s embassy in London.

“Israel’s military intelligence had even managed to monitor the conversations between Damascus and the Syrian Embassy in London, which included a clear order to place the bomb on the El Al plane,” Melman wrote.

Melman also charged that Hindawi and his brother, Ahmad Nawaf Mansour Hasi, trained in a camp at Damouer, near Damascus, run by the Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal.

Many of those who have studied the growth of international terrorism claim Syria has been more directly and consistently involved in terrorist activities in recent years than Libya, a country attacked by American bombers last April because of its role in sponsoring such violence.

“Syria is a more serious offender than Libya,” said Wilkinson. “The Syrians are involved more extensively, with a wider number of proxy groups.”

Syria is suspected of backing Abu Nidal, the man thought to have organized attacks on the Rome and Vienna airports in December of last year and the hijacking of an Egyptian airliner to Malta last November. Spanish authorities also suspect Syrian involvement in a Madrid airport bombing last June.

However, until the Hindawi trial, there had been no hard evidence.

Earlier this month, in an interview with Time magazine, Syrian President Hafez Assad vehemently denied his government’s involvement with international terrorism.

“Syria has no connection with terror,” he said. “We challenge (Western) intelligence services to prove that Syria was behind a single terrorist operation anywhere.”

British officials Friday were pushing hard for joint action by all Western countries against Syria.

“Of course there is concern about reprisals and retaliation,” said Howe. “But you cannot flinch in action against terrorism for fear of what the reaction might be.”

In announcing Britain’s decision to break diplomatic ties with the Damascus government, Howe said the evidence accumulated here had been passed to other Western nations in hopes they might take steps to isolate Syria. The United States responded within hours, announcing it would withdraw its ambassador; Canada recalled its ambassador for consultations.

Seeking Support

Howe said Britain would urge support from its 11 European Communities partners at a routine foreign ministers meeting Monday in Luxembourg.

“We’re not laying down any specific blueprint of action, but we would like support,” stated a Foreign Office spokesman.

He said Britain would urge its European partners to take such measures as suspending or drastically reducing high-level government contact with the Damascus leadership, recalling ambassadors for consultations and putting tighter controls on the movements of employees of Syrian Arab Airlines, the national airline.

“If high-level contacts are about to take place, we hope they will not,” said a Foreign Office spokesman.

Timing Right

With the mood in Europe dramatically harder on the terrorism issue than during the immediate aftermath of the U.S. raid on Libya, political observers believe Britain is likely to get a receptive hearing.

While Britain’s call for action against Syria is likely to generate more support than initial U.S. pleas to move against Libya, the consequences of isolating the Damascus government are far greater than any action against Libya, a small country away from the center of Middle East conflict run by an acknowledged maverick, Col. Moammar Kadafi.

Assad’s government has attained considerable power with the destabilization of Lebanon and is the principle Soviet proxy in the Middle East, but it has shown the ability to work in American interests when it chooses.

In July, 1985, Assad’s intervention helped end the prolonged hijacking of a Trans World Airlines jet in Beirut, and the American hostages were driven to Damascus on their route to freedom.