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Viewing cable 06DAMASCUS200, Damascus Media Reaction: Syria, Lebanon, Iraq,

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06DAMASCUS200 2006-01-18 14:19 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Damascus
VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0200/01 0181419
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 181419Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6614
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 5726
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 3625
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2081
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 6855
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0716
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4214
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0446
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 6597
UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000200 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR PA, NEA/ARN, INR/IC/CD, INR/S:STHIBEAULT AND 
JMCCARTER, VOA NEWS CA, NEA/PPD:CBOURGEOIS, DBENZE AND 
AFERNANDEZ, IIP/G/NEA-SA RWINCHESTER 
WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC 
CENTCOM FOR CCPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR PREL KPAO OPRC SY
SUBJECT: Damascus Media Reaction: Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, 
Palestinian Territories, Iran (1/18) 
1. Summary:  Syrian papers today reported Egyptian President 
Mubarak's meeting with US Vice-President Dick Cheney and 
headlined Mubarak's statement that Syria has cooperated with the 
IIC. 
 
News reports featured a statement by Saudi FM Saud al-Faisal to 
the Financial Times that Saudi Arabia has presented Lebanon and 
Syria with a set of proposals designed to defuse tension between 
the two countries, and that the Kingdom is waiting for a response 
from Beirut and Damascus. 
Papers also cited a statement by Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov 
that Syria has made efforts to cooperate with the IIC and 
rejecting international sanctions against Syria. 
 
Papers reported that Syria will host a general conference of the 
Arab Bar Federation on Saturday 1/21 that will deal with pressure 
and threats facing Syria. Sources in the Arab Bar Federation said 
that President Asad will deliver an important speech during the 
conference and will announce important measures to be taken in 
Syria. 
 
End of summary. 
 
2. Selected Headlines: 
"Under the patronage of President Asad, Syria hosts the General 
Conference of Arab Bar Federation. Secretary General of Arab 
Lawyers Union Ibrahim Simlali: We are here in Syria because the 
Arab nation [Umma] needs Damascus" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 
1/18) 
"Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov praises Syrian cooperation with 
the IIC investigating the assassination of former Lebanese PM 
Rafik al-Hariri. Lavrov: We refuse to politicize the 
investigation and invest it with political aims" (Government- 
owned Al-Thawra, 1/18) 
"Mubarak receives Cheney: Syria has cooperated with the IIC" 
(Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 1/18) 
"Thousands of Lebanese students stage a sit-in outside the US 
Embassy in Beirut, protesting foreign intervention in Lebanese 
internal affairs. US Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman 
demands that the Lebanese Premier get rid of Hizbollah" 
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/18) 
"Lebanese MP Marwan Fares, a member of the Syrian Social National 
Party (SSNP): Treachery is an attribute of those who killed and 
displaced people in Mount Lebanon" (Government-owned Tishreen, 
1/18) 
"Turkey reiterates the importance of peaceful methods to solve 
regional problems" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/18) 
"Martyrdom of Al-Qassam Brigades' leader in Tulkarm. Olmert in 
Sharon's footsteps: We will negotiate with Hamas after 
dismantling their weapons" (Government-owned Tishreen, 1/18) 
"Five US soldiers injured in Kerbala. Several Iraqis killed or 
wounded in separate attacks" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/18) 
3. Editorial Block Quotes: 
------------------------ 
"Their Goals and Means" 
------------------------ 
Isam Dari, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, said 
(1/18): "Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has shown hatred 
not only toward Syria, but also toward a wide sector of the 
Lebanese themselves, particularly the Lebanese resistance.... 
"Jumblatt's reported description of Hizbollah's weapons as 
weapons of treachery suggests that Jumblatt takes orders from his 
masters oversees, with the goal of disarming Hizbollah and 
Palestinians in Lebanon.... 
"Jumblatt is very enthusiastic about Resolution 1559, and more 
enthusiastic about anything American and French.... He wants to 
prove to the White House and the Elysee Palace that he is the 
winning horse and that he is in a hurry, more than the Bush 
administration and Israel, to implement this resolution.... 
"Jumblatt received Israelis in his palace [in 1982]... History 
and the Lebanese people have not forgotten this." 
------------------- 
"Evils of Sedition" 
------------------- 
Omar Jaftali, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, said 
(1/18): "Treachery is a description that befits those who accuse 
the resistance of treason and engage in political trades and 
media exchanges to facilitate foreign interference in Lebanese 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
affairs.... These people, fortunately, are a minority, while the 
majority of the Lebanese consider resistance a strategic option 
for Lebanon.... 
"This small group of Lebanese is engaged in suspicious activities 
and serving the American-Israeli plans that seek to impose 
hegemony on the entire region.... This group is assisted by the 
activities of US Ambassador Feltman and Assistant Secretary of 
State Welch, who are inciting the Lebanese against each other, 
unleashing the evils of sedition, and directing accusations 
against the nationalist forces, which are struggling so that 
Lebanon will remain free and proud, without foreign 
trusteeship...." 
---------------------------- 
"When History Is Distorted" 
---------------------------- 
Ali Qasim, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra, said 
(1/18): "After the collapse of false testimony in the Al-Hariri 
case and the disclosure of a series of scandals regarding the 
mechanism used to make accusations, some [Lebanese] politicians 
had no option but to tamper with memory and history and strike 
deals in an attempt to emerge from the tunnel and prepare, at a 
later stage, to blow the Lebanese situation apart under the 
pretext of searching for independence.... 
"In this respect, we see frantic attempts to strike a deal with 
the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General 
Command.... A PFLP-GC official in Lebanon maintains that Walid 
Jumblatt asked the organization to hand over its heavy weapons in 
Lebanon to the Progressive Socialist Party in return for money 
and political cover.... The growing talk in Lebanon recently 
about the rejection of any deals at the expense of Lebanon was 
meant to cover the failure to accomplish a deal with the PFLP- 
GC...." 
------------- 
"A Hot File" 
------------- 
Bassam Radwan, a columnist in government-owned Tishreen, wrote 
(1/18): "The Iranian nuclear issue represents a conflict between 
Iran, which has the right to possess peaceful nuclear technology, 
and the United States and its allies, which want to deprive Iran 
of this right.... 
"There is a blatant discrepancy in the West's approach toward the 
Iranian file compared to its approach toward Israel's nuclear 
weapons.... 
"A diplomatic solution remains the only logical and realistic way 
out of the crisis.... This solution should guarantee Iran's legal 
right to possess peaceful nuclear technology and the right of the 
international community in general to ensure that the Iranian 
program will not diverge toward military industrialization...." 
Seche