Word: sa
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...Administration continued to keep a tight lid on the substance of Habib's negotiations. They are believed to involve a complex set of trade-offs to persuade Syria to remove the three batteries of Soviet-made SA-6 missiles it deployed in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley after Israel shot down two of its helicopters. Moreover, Habib was believed to be trying to devise a broader peace plan to eliminate the bloodletting that periodically tears at Lebanon's own internal politics. One reason he may have decided to interrupt his shuttle was to give Saudi Arabia time...
...threat and the danger were still there. Syrian SA-6 missiles last week streaked into the sky over the Bekaa Valley to down at least one Israeli reconnaissance drone. Israel and Syria remained at loggerheads over the deployment of the Soviet-made missiles, and there was always the grave risk that one side or the other could miscalculate and ignite the region in conflict. But for the first time since the confrontation began, there was cautious optimism in both Jerusalem and Damascus that U.S. Special Envoy Philip Habib, 61, might succeed, through his patient, peripatetic diplomatic shuttle, in fashioning...
...strategic Sannin Ridge, several miles northwest of the city, so bitterly fought over by the Syrians and the Christian Phalangists. Initially, the Lebanese units would be under Syrian control, but in time command could shift to officers sympathetic to the Christians. Second, the Syrians would quietly remove their SA-6 missiles from Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, possibly after a formal request from the Lebanese government. Israel, in turn, would exercise more discretion in its reconnaissance flights over Lebanon. Israel would also tacitly agree not to engage Syrian forces. In short, no more Syrian helicopters would be shot down...
Still, Begin, who is waging a rugged campaign for re-election on June 30, knew that there was no disposition whatsoever in Israel for a full-scale war with Syria. In fact, the SA-6 issue was superseded on the front pages last week by a national teachers' strike...
...crux of the crisis was Syria's deployment two weeks ago of three batteries of Soviet-made SA-6 antiaircraft missiles in the Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon. Israel continued to demand that the missiles be removed from Lebanon and threatened military action. It was not as though the missiles were there merely for show, after all. On several occasions last week, Syria fired a succession of the SA-6s and managed to shoot down a pilotless Israeli reconnaissance drone...