The death last week of Mr. Hafez Assad, the president of Syria, leaves a gaping hole in the Middle East. Mr. Assad was one of the last of the region's strongmen. He ruled Syria with an iron fist. He was an unbending defender of the Arab cause and one of the most resolute opponents of the state of Israel. His son Bashar will take his office, but assuming his authority in the country and in the region is another matter.

Mr. Assad, "the Lion of Damascus," was minister of defense when he seized power in a coup in 1970. A shrewd and calculating man, he then consolidated power and ensured the loyalty of officials by promoting members of his Alawite sect to senior positions. When challenged, Mr. Assad was ruthless. One of his enduring legacies will be the decision to bombard the city of Hama in 1982. Tens of thousands of people died in that attempt to crush a Muslim-fundamentalist opposition.

Mr. Assad will be most remembered for his confrontation with Israel. He was defense minister during the Six Day War in 1967, launched the surprise attack against the Jewish state in 1973 and pulled the strings throughout the long, deadly proxy war in Lebanon. As the rest of the Arab world moved toward compromise with Israel, only Mr. Assad seemed implacable and unyielding. For him, there would be no peace without a complete return of the Golan Heights, lost in 1967. On several occasions, most recently in March, he turned his back on a deal that did not return all of Syria's land.