While the hostage crisis ostensibly revolved around a dispute between Lebanese , Shi'ites and the Israeli government, it was played out against the larger and ever tortured context of Middle East politics. The American diplomacy used in bringing the Beirut drama to a conclusion, moreover, produced some new twists and turns in the labyrinth of Washington's policy in the Middle East, an area of vital but sometimes conflicting U.S. concerns. For the Reagan Administration, the episode revealed some casting changes among principal characters, created some fresh strains between the U.S. and countries in the region, and may have even opened new opportunities for diplomatic progress.
The most clearly enhanced diplomatic position, if only because of such previously abysmal relations with the Reagan Administration, belonged to Syria and its President for the past 14 years, Hafez Assad. In putting his prestige on the line by guaranteeing the safe delivery of the 39 U.S. hostages from their various Shi'ite captors, including the fanatics of Hizballah (Party of God), Assad convincingly demonstrated that he controls many of the levers of power in seemingly chaotic Lebanon. Ronald Reagan acknowledged Syria's "central responsibility" in the successful efforts to free the hostages, and the President also telephoned his thanks to Assad, an ally of both the Soviet Union and Iran. "There's no doubt about it," said a State Department official. "Syria's role was important and positive."
Even so, the evidence that Washington planned to work for a wider diplomatic opening to Syria was mixed at best. State Department Spokesman Bernard Kalb pointedly remarked that Syria remained on the list of countries that the U.S. regards as sponsors of terrorism "because according to reliable reports a number of terrorist organizations have received some form of support" from Damascus. Furthermore, there is no sign that Assad has wavered in his firm opposition to a peace initiative put forward by Jordan's King Hussein and Palestine Liberation Organization Leader Yasser Arafat, which calls for direct negotiations with Israel. Assad is unhappy that Hussein and Arafat are acting without Damascus' consent. The Syrian President also insists that any settlement between Israel and its neighbors must come from an international conference involving all front-line Arab states, the Soviet Union and the U.S., a gathering that Washington and Jerusalem adamantly oppose. In short, said National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane last week in an interview with ABC News, on most Middle East issues there remains "considerable disagreement" between the U.S. and Syria.