What is Syrias motivation in participating in the peace process?
• For Syrian president Hafez Assad, that [U.S. financial aid] is the real prize. Perhaps the most urgent objective for the 69-year-old mr. Assad is to exploit peace with Israel to cultivate among the American political elite an interest in the survival of his brutal dictatorship. Even a small aid package would achieve this goal, an especially important one when reports of mr. Assad’s declining mental and physical capabilities and his family’s violent internal feuding suggest profound vulnerability within his regime. … [However, ] Ending [Syrian] support for terrorism – as well as providing full cooperation to U.S. investigations of anti-American terrorist attacks, extraditing nazi war criminals, securing the freedom of Israelis still missing in action, and stopping transport of Iranian arms to Hezbollah across Syrian-controlled territory – should be the beginning of this [Peace] process, not its end.
