Flush with money from his Arab and Soviet sponsors, as well as an income tax levied by the Gulf states on Palestinian workers, Mr. Arafat quickly built up a state called the Fakhani Republic after the Beirut neighborhood in which he operated in much ofLebanon.
Flush with money from his Arab and Soviet sponsors, as well as an income tax levied by the Gulf states on Palestinian workers, Mr. Arafat quickly built up a state -- called the Fakhani Republic after the Beirut neighborhood in which he operated -- in much ofLebanon.
Under the younger Assad, it has strengthened its 30-year-old strategic alliance with the Islamic Republicof Iran, ramped up weapons deliveries to Hizbullah, the intractable and well-armed Shia movement in Lebanon, and promoted a hardline stand by Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist group that pioneered suicide attacks on Israeli civilians.