Syrian President Promises to Allow Jews to Leave if They Wish

President Hafez Assad promised Sunday to allow the remaining members of Syria’s ancient but dwindling Jewish community to leave the country if they wish, U.S. officials said.

Assad made the promise to Secretary of State Warren Christopher after Christopher asked about reports that Jews’ requests for exit visas were being denied, they said.

In response to U.S. pressure, Assad decreed last year that Jews could travel abroad for the first time. But after Bill Clinton was elected President, the government stopped issuing visas, members of the Jewish community said--perhaps because the regime wanted to hold back on the issue while it tested the new Administration’s attitudes.

“President Assad made a very firm recommitment to his decision to allow freedom of travel to Syrian Jews,” a senior U.S. official said. Another official said the Syrians had attributed the visa problems to “a bureaucratic glitch.”

The centuries-old Jewish community dwindled from about 4,000 people to about 1,400 after the travel ban was lifted.

Some Syrian Jews have emigrated to Israel. But many, if not most, have gone to Brooklyn, N.Y., where there is a thriving Syrian community.

The leader of the Jewish community, Rabbi Avraham Hamra, said that of the 1,400 remaining, about 400 already have exit visas.