Communist Penetration

Immediately to the north of Jordan lies Syria, an ancient land but an independent Arab nation for only ten years.* It is regarded by the U.S. State Department as the Arab nation most dangerously infiltrated by Communists. Czechoslovaks have already let Syria have 50 German tanks at the giveaway price of $8,000 apiece. Last week Cairo's radio reported that a shipment of Czechoslovakian arms, presumably including the tanks, reached a Syrian port.

Since the Communists launched their drive to penetrate the Middle East last year, six Iron Curtain countries have made agreements with Syria to ship industrial goods in exchange for Syria's surplus cotton. The Czechs have offered to build two cement plants, the East Germans a textile factory. Last week Syria voted $23 million to build an oil refinery at Horns. Next day the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey offered to build the refinery at its own expense. So low, however, was Russia's bid (reportedly $10 million) that the Syrians are considering approving both projects.

Reason for Communism's easy success in Syria is the weakness that has characterized all its governments since the French pulled out in 1946. Each has been subject to the sway of Damascus' fast-mobilizing street demonstrations. The Syrian army, penetrated by Communist influence, now backs the fellow-traveling Arab Socialist Resurrection Party, which noisily opposes Western policies. Syria is the only Arab country that has elected an avowed Communist to Parliament. Having long since shed the "independent" label under which he first campaigned, Deputy Khaled Bakdash last week headed back from the 20th Communist Party Congress in Moscow full of useful new guidance.

* Promised independence after the Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1918, Syria was mandated to France, which claimed an "interest" in the area dating from the Crusader kingdoms founded there by Prankish knights in the 11th century. In May 1941 Gaullist General Georges Catroux drove out Vichyite administrators and proclaimed Syria's independence. By 1944 France had shifted most powers to the Syrians, and when the last troops withdrew in April 1946 Syria was completely independent--France's first postwar loss of empire.

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