Supported by Moscow, Syria backs away from its promise to leave Lebanon
"No war is possible without Egypt, and no peace is possible without Syria." Henry Kissinger
Sure enough, it was Syria's turn, backed by the Soviet Union, to block the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon. After five months of negotiations, the U.S. had finally extracted an agreement from Israel and Lebanon for a removal of Israel's 30,000 troops in Lebanon. But the deal was based on a simultaneous withdrawal of Syrian and Palestine Liberation Organization forces. When U.S. Secretary of State George...