Syria, Kuwait join in effort to halt Iran-Iraq war

Syria and Kuwait have agreed on a joint effort to end the Iran-Iraq war as part of moves to unite the Arab world against Israel, informed sources in Damascus said.

Damascus radio announced that an Iranian delegation would arrive in Syria tomorrow without giving any reason for the visit. But the announcement came after President Hafez al-Assad had just returned from touring seven Arab states in a campaign for united Arab action against Israel's annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights.

Syria has been prominent in opposition both to Iraq's conduct of the war and to the Saudi plan, which stirred such bitter disagreement that an Arab summit conference last month in Morocco broke up in disarray after only one session, with President Assad among several absent heads of state.

But divisions remain over the 15-month-old Iran-Iraq war. Saudi Arabia and Jordan have publicly proclaimed their support for Iraq in its conflict with Iran and other conservative states have lent more discreet backing. But Syria and some other radical Arab states have consistently opposed Iraq's conduct of the war, saying it wastes Arab resources which should be devoted to the struggle against the traditional enemy, Israel.