ABSTRACT
The region of Greater Syria has for centuries been an historical-geographical term and, periodically, has also constituted a political-territorial unit. This was the case during the Muslim Arab Umayyad period and the Muslim Mamluk Era. It is more likely that Asad's strategic goal was and still is to achieve a framework of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinians under his leadership. On the eve of Hussein's ascent to power in Damascus, Asad, as Syria's Defense Minister and air force commander, denied air cover to Syrian troops dispatched in September 1970 to help the PLO rebels in Jordan. Three years later, in preparation for the October war against Israel, Asad renewed diplomatic relations with Jordan. Jordan had been isolated in the Arab world following the decisions taken at Rabat summit, and Hussein was deeply disappointed at Sadat's attitude towards him. It then subverts the Jordanian-PLO agreement and having it replaced by several Syrian-Jordanian cooperation agreements in late 1985 and early 1986.
