The World : Soviets Assure Syria of Aid

Syrian President Hafez Assad, ending a three-day visit to the Soviet Union, received strong assurances of increased military support from Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev. Syria already owes an estimated $8 billion to the Soviet Union for military hardware. In a joint statement, the two leaders also said they approved of efforts by factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization to close ranks after a four-year rift. And, in a related development, Marxist Palestinian leader George Habash was quoted in a Kuwaiti newspaper as saying that the abrogation of a 1985 pact between Jordan and the PLO had paved the way for a greater Soviet role in Middle East peace efforts.