1.
GV Aircraft in sky and army parachutists making descent, in Syria
0.05

2.
GVs Parachutists landing (3 shots)
0.21

3.
SV Syrian President Hafez al-assad and Minister of Defence watching the parachute descents
0.24

4.
GVs ZOOM OUT FROM Parachutes on ground to WS and parachutists walking away (2 shots)
0.32

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SV Female parachutists removing headgear
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SVs & CUs Syrian parachutists with automatic weapons on ground. Soldiers male and female, with weapons on ground (2 shots)
0.50

7.
GV Male and female army parachutists running and carrying automatic weapons
0.56

8.
GV Parachutists running along and chanting as they are applauded
1.01

9.
CU President Assad applauding PULL OUT TO GV President Assad and other officials applauding
1.14

10.
GV ZOOM IN TO CU Girl parachutists reading a speech in Arabic
1.26

11.
CU AND GV President Assad speaking in Arabic
1.57




Initials AM/





Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Syria is continuing troop training to combat a group of right-wing Moslem extremists blamed for bombings and assassinations over the past eighteen months. Among the latest recruits in the Revolutionary Youth Union are the son and two nephews of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.

SYNOPSIS: For their graduation on Wednesday (1 October) the trainees made a parachute descent.

More than two hundred of the recruits made the drop fully armed, watched by the President and military officers. In recent months hundreds of people have been killed in fighting between members of the Moslem brotherhood and government security forces.

On Thursday (2 October) the President's forces uncovered a large cache of arms, explosives and ammunition during a raid on a Moslem Brotherhood hideout in Aleppo.

At the beginning of July this year the Syrian Government launched a new offensive against the brotherhood which has been leading an armed insurrection against the Socialist regime. Since then security forces have mounted several raids on brotherhood hideouts.

But the troubles at home are not the only problem on President Assad's mind. Syria is expected to seek further military supplies and perhaps sign treaty of friendship and co-operation with the Soviet Union during the President's forthcoming visit to Moscow. The move is explained in Damascus as a reaction to what is considered to be an attempt by the United States to encircle Arab regimes most militantly opposed to the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. The war between Iran and Iraq is seen as complementary to the United States acquiring military facilities in several Arab states. President Assad has attacked the United States for what he sees as an American ploy to exploit the fighting between Iran and Iraq. He blamed the United States for all "the calamities in the Middle East", adding that Arab countries in the Gulf region should resist American designs of direct military intervention in the Iran-Iraq war under the pretext of ensuring Gulf security and ensuring oil flow.