Syria Atlarge.

Syrian President Bashar Assad's trip to Rome last month, his fourth official visit to a Western country and the first since September 11, was unquestionably an important diplomatic success for Syria, which has increasingly turned to Europe for diplomatic and economic support, and for Italy, whose newly-elected right wing prime minister is eager to compensate for an anti-Islamic remark last year that outraged the Arab world. The Syrian president, accompanied by his wife, Asma Assad, Foreign Minister Farouk al- Shara, Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Ghassan al-Rifai, Tourism Minister Agha al- Qalaa and scores of high ranking officials and businessmen, landed in Rome on February 19 for a three-day visit that included meetings with Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, parliament leaders and Pope John Paul II. The presence of such a large Syrian delegation in Rome produced a livid backlash from Israeli representatives there. Ambassador Ehud Gol released a statement describing Assad as a dictator who used torture and massacres to put down opponents of his regime. "Terrorism, anti-Semitism and violations of human rights are the three realities of Syria," said Gol. "Syria is a state which funds and arms worldwide terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, guilty of some of the most terrible terrorist outrages."1 The visit also provoked expressions of concern from the Italian right. One of the government coalition parties, Lega Nord (Northern League), conveyed a letter to Berlusconi stating that Italian and European foreign policy should focus on the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, the "last bulwark of Christianity in the Middle East."2 Nevertheless, Assad's arrival was regarded by many as a diplomatic success for Berlusconi, who had damaged Italy's international reputation last September by remarking that Western civilization was superior to Islamic culture and expressing hope that "the West will continue to conquer peoples, like it conquered communism." Although Berlusconi claimed to have been quoted out of context and apologized profusely for his incautious use of words, the gaffe provoked diplomatic protests throughout the Arab and Islamic world and embarrassed Italy's Western allies. Shortly thereafter, in connection with this and other views expressed by members of the leading government coalition party, Forza Italia, Foreign Minister Renato Ruggiero, a former director-general of the World Trade Organization, resigned from his post (Berlusconi is now acting foreign minister). Italy has since gone to considerable lengths to repair the damage. Indeed, some commentators in Italy believe that the recent conversion to Islam by the Italian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Torquato Cardilli, is not unrelated to Italy's attempts to extricate itself from the fiasco. The decision to host Assad in Rome for three days was clearly intended to serve this objective. Nevertheless, the visit was hardly a shift in Italian policy toward the Middle East, which has traditionally deviated from those of other Western governments. In 1957, Italian oil magnate Enrico Mattei invoked the wrath of Anglo-American oil companies by signing a deal with Iran (as many Italians are quick to ...