West Europeans Adopt Sanctions Against Syria

West Europeans Adopt Sanctions Against Syria
2 French Hostages Reportedly Released

Michael Dobbs, Washington Post Foreign Service
The Washington Post
November 11, 1986

Callers claiming to represent a pro-Iranian Lebanese terrorist group said in Beirut tonight that they had released two French hostages, and news services quoted Syrian sources as saying that the two had arrived in Damascus. There was no official confirmation or identification of those freed, however.

The kidnapers, the Revolutionary Justice Organization, had promised earlier today to release some of the French hostages, following an intensive round of private negotiations that reportedly involved Iran, Syria and Algeria.

Political analysts here said that the promise appeared designed at least in part to provide diplomatic support for Syria following western accusations of involvement in terrorism. It also reflected a recent improvement in relations between France and Iran.

In a statement earlier today, the kidnapers had said that the hostages would be freed "within 48 hours." They said the decision had been made as "a good will gesture" toward France as a result of the mediation of Algeria and Syria.

French hostages being held by the Revolutionary Justice Organization include two members of a television crew kidnaped in west Beirut on March 8 -- Aurel Cornea and Jean-Louis Normandin. The group also holds Marcel Coudari, whom it has accused of spying for the United States and Israel, and Camille Sontag, an 84-year-old businessman.

[A French diplomatic source in Damascus said Sontag and Coudari were the freed hostages, but declined to give any details, The Associated Press reported.

[Reliable Syrian sources, speaking on condition they not be identified, said Sontag and Coudari were brought to Damascus from Beirut late today and that they would be turned over to the French Embassy sometime Tuesday.

[They also said a third French hostage may be released soon, but refused to elaborate.]

The release of the French captives in Lebanon would represent a political boost for Prime Minister Jacques Chirac, who has personally supervised the hostage negotiations.

Chirac has been criticized at home and abroad for his refusal to join other western leaders in attacking Syria for allegedly sponsoring international terrorism.

Today's developments coincided with a meeting of European Community foreign ministers in London at which 11 countries, including France, agreed to impose political and military sanctions against Syria.

The sanctions, which include an arms embargo, were demanded by Britain, which has accused the Syrian secret service of masterminding an attempt to plant a bomb on an Israeli airliner in London.

Chirac is embroiled in a political controversy over remarks attributed to him by The Washington Times in which he allegedly "pooh-poohed" the British accusations against Syria.

He was quoted as saying that he "tended to share" the views of West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher that the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, may have tried to frame Syria and its president, Hafez Assad.

[West Germany's chief government spokesman, Friedhelm Ost, denied today that West German leaders had told Chirac that Israeli intelligence agents were linked to the bombing and he said that a transcript of the interview published today by The Washington Times made it "unequivocally" clear that Chirac did not say that they had, The Associated Press reported from Bonn.

[According to the transcript published by the Times of its English translation of the French-language interview, Chirac said:

["But let's take the Syrian affair. I spoke to both Kohl and Hans-Dietrich Genscher about it. I don't go as far as they do, but their thesis is that the (airplane bomb) plot was a provocation designed to embarrass Syria and destabilize the Assad regime. Who was behind it? Probably people connected with the Israeli Mossad in conjunction with certain Syrian elements close to Assad who seek his overthrow."

[Ost said that the West German government "has absolutely no information about a conspiracy by the Israeli Mossad secret service and Syrian dissidents to pin the (airliner bombing attempt) on President Hafez Assad" of Syria. "Accordingly, neither the chancellor nor the foreign minister could have passed such information along."]

Assad's government has positioned itself to take the credit for the release of French hostages in Beirut.

French television crews flew to Damascus over the weekend following rumors that the hostages were about to be freed.

The Revolutionary Justice Organization had demanded that Syrian and French representatives assemble at the Hotel Beaurivage in Moslem west Beirut to take delivery of the hostages. The hotel is used as a base by Syrian military observers in Lebanon.

Similar arrangements were made for the release on June 21 of two other members of an Antenne-2 television crew, Georges Hansen and Philippe Rochot. Both men were later driven by Syrian security police to Damascus where they were handed over to the French Embassy and flown back to Paris.

In private, French officials have said they believe that Iran has more influence over the hostage groups than does Syria.

France provides economic and military support to Iran's enemy, Iraq, in the Persian Gulf war, but has recently moved to patch up its relations with Tehran.

A commentary by Tehran radio today praised Chirac for honoring "some" of Iran's conditions for improved relations. These include the repayment of Iranian assets in France that were frozen after the 1979 Islamic revolution, the end of arms shipments to Iraq, and a crackdown on Iranian opposition groups in France.

The French government forced the principal Iranian opposition group, Mujaheddin Khalq, to abandon its Paris headquarters in June and move to Baghdad. It announced last week that it had reached agreement with Tehran to make an initial payment of $ 330 million toward settlement of the loan dispute.

The Tehran radio commentary noted, however, that France was continuing its policy of "all-sided support for Iraq." Next to the Soviet Union, France is Iraq's largest arms supplier.

The Revolutionary Justice Organization has also asserted responsibility for the kidnaping of two Americans: Joseph James Cicippio, an accountant at the American University of Beirut, and Edward Austin Tracy, a writer. It has accused both men of working for the Central Intelligence Agency.

A total of 19 foreigners are missing in Lebanon -- six Americans, eight Frenchmen, two Britons, one Irishman, one Italian and one South Korean.