ABSTRACT
The decisions of the Riyadh and Cairo conferences were an important achievement for the Syrians. Their position in Lebanon was strengthened by the Arab legitimation they received, and the cost of maintaining their forces in Lebanon was borne by inter-Arab financing. The Shtura Agreements, concluded between the Palestinians and the Lebanese government under Syrian auspices on July 25, 1977, specified the manner in which the Cairo Agreement and its supplements were to be implemented. There were many practical expressions of Syria's rigid attitude toward the Muslim and leftist camp. Syria, throughout 1977, tried to get the Palestinians to fulfill their obligations in the various agreements by means of persuasion, while refraining from the use of force when they failed to honor their commitments. The Syrians now wanted to disengage themselves from the Lebanese crisis and to concentrate on the struggle against the Sadat initiative —a struggle in which the Palestine Liberation Organization was their main ally.
