Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 17, 1990                   TAG: 9003172481
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: BEIRUT, LEBANON                                 LENGTH: Medium

CARTER SAYS SYRIAN LEADER TO WORK FOR RELEASES

Assad and other Syrian officials "are using their good offices and have assured me in every possible way" that they will try to help, Carter said at a news conference.

He added that the officials would try "to both locate the hostages and convince those who might be holding them they should be protected and released."

Carter spent two days in Damascus during which he met with Assad and his foreign minister, Dr. Farouk al Sharaa.

Syria has 40,000 soldiers in Lebanon who control two-thirds of its territory.

Their sphere of influence includes areas where Iranian-backed fundamentalists believed holding 8 Americans and 10 other Western nationals are thought to operate. They are the Bekaa, Lebanon's eastern valley, and Beirut's predominantly Muslim Shiite southern suburbs.

Carter spoke on the fifth anniversary of the kidnapping of Terry Anderson, the Westerner who has been held hostage longest.

The former president did not seem discouraged by the latest statements purporting to come from the kidnappers. Those statements discounted an early release and even threatened to kill the captives.

In an account given by the official Syrian press agency received in Beirut, Carter said of Anderson, "My own conviction is that more opportunities exist now for his release than ever."

Carter said he was encouraged by the new attitude in Iran. "I think now there is a growing desire on the part of the Iranian government and the United States government to work out the problems between them and us," he said, "and there is no doubt that Iran has influence on those holding the hostages, although not complete control."