ABSTRACT
The broad lines of division within the Arab world which had been laid down at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s remained unchanged during 1986. Regarding Egypt, the war had already provided the necessary opening for Egypt's return — by degrees — to a position of centrality in the Arab world, first and foremost via its massive assistance in all forms to Iraq. Little success was achieved during the rest of 1985 in easing relations between Syria and Iraq which, along with the Egyptian-Syrian relationship, was the most significant of all inter-Arab rifts. The first League Council meeting, on 4 January, condemned American warnings of possible retaliation against Libya following the bloody attacks by the Abu Nidal group at the Rome and Vienna airports. Iraqi leaders scornfully dismissed the idea of instantly changing their hostile relations into ones of unity.
