Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – June 24, 1985

I went to our embassy in Damascus at six in the morning. I met with the Lebanese Council and Hezbollah. We discussed the issues of Lebanon and the hijacked American plane. They asked me for my opinion on current affairs. I said that plane hijacking and hostage taking ends up harming Lebanon, so they should try to find a clue of them and try to solve the issue well. The human aspect of the issue is also important, because innocent people and their families suffer from this issue.

A group of Amal organization officials came. They complained about the lack of kindness of the Islamic Republic to them and expressed their shame about the war with the Palestinians, but they considered the responsibility of the Palestinians. I advised them and told them not to use Mr. Musa Sadr's movement to divide Muslims and Arabs and group issues.

Lebanese scholars, both Shia and Sunni, came. There were long negotiations about the situation in Lebanon. I advised them to unite Shiites and Sunnis and warn them against differences. They are usually aware and bright. Mr. Seyyed Fazlullah, Sheikh Shamsuddin, Sheikh Saeed Shaaban, Maher Hammoud and... spoke.

The Palestinian leaders of the "Palestine Salvation Front" from [Yasser] Arafat's opponents also came and declared their loyalty to the Islamic Republic and armed jihad [with Israel]. We met with Mr. Abdul Halim Khaddam [Deputy President of Syria] and he said something about Lebanon's issues. He mostly wanted to justify that Syria is not guilty of using Shiites in the war against the Palestinian camps in Beirut, but he could not convince us.

We went to the Syrian parliament and negotiated with the speaker of the parliament and a group of Syrian representatives. We didn't have much to talk about. The Syrian parliament has little power and all powers are in the hands of the president. Mr. Khaddam came and brought Hafez Assad's answer about our request for SAM and Scud missiles. He talked about the problems of Syria and explained Syria's strong dependence on the Soviets and said he was afraid that the Soviets would cut off the facilities. We were not convinced and decided to talk to Hafez Asad himself.

I went to the embassy [Iran in Damascus] to conduct a press interview and talked to reporters and answered questions. Near the evening, we met Hafez Asad for the second time. Most of our discussion was about getting SAM and Scud missiles. They are afraid of the Soviets to give us [missiles]. We did not stop insisting and demanding and said that participating in war with us requires this amount of risk; They decided to discuss more, but they accepted our suggestions about Lebanon and the future of Iraq, the tripartite committee for cooperation with Syria and Libya, and other political issues.

We went to Zainabiyah to visit [the holy shrine of Hazrat Zainab (PBUH)], but due to the crowd and people's demonstrations and the declaration of support for the Islamic Republic, we could not visit properly and returned to our place of residence.

Abdul Halim Khaddam came and announced that Mr. Hafez Asad has accepted our request regarding the delivery of SAM and Scud missiles. He also talked about our relations with the Soviet Union and said that your propaganda against the Soviet Union and the issue [of the occupation] of Afghanistan [by the Soviet Union] is an obstacle to the warmth of relations. We said that we may reduce the advertisements, but we cannot do anything about Afghanistan. The occupation of an Islamic country by the Russians cannot be tolerated and is like the occupation of Palestine. Then he, the speaker of the parliament and several ministers escorted us to the airport.

On the way, he said that the US informed Hafez Assad that if the hijacking hostages in Beirut are released, the Lebanese prisoners in Israel will be released. I informed the officials of Hezbollah [Lebanon] and asked them to find the root of the hijackers and a solution to convince them and rely on human issues, as well as Islam's opposition to terror, etc.