Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05DAMASCUS6521
2005-12-15 15:12:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Damascus
Cable title:  

Damascus Media Reaction: Lebanon, Syria, Iraq,

Tags:  KMDR PREL KPAO OPRC SY 
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UNCLAS DAMASCUS 006521 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR PA, NEA/ARN, INR/IC/CD, INR/S:STHIBEAULT
VOA NEWS CA, NEA/PPD:CBOURGEOIS, DBENZE AND AFERNANDEZ,
IIP/G/NEA-SA RWINCHESTER
WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC
CENTCOM FOR CCPA

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR PREL KPAO OPRC SY
SUBJECT: Damascus Media Reaction: Lebanon, Syria, Iraq,
Palestinian Territories (12/15)


UNCLAS DAMASCUS 006521

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR PA, NEA/ARN, INR/IC/CD, INR/S:STHIBEAULT
VOA NEWS CA, NEA/PPD:CBOURGEOIS, DBENZE AND AFERNANDEZ,
IIP/G/NEA-SA RWINCHESTER
WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC
CENTCOM FOR CCPA

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR PREL KPAO OPRC SY
SUBJECT: Damascus Media Reaction: Lebanon, Syria, Iraq,
Palestinian Territories (12/15)



1. Summary: Syrian newspapers continued to criticize the
second report of the International Investigation Commission
into the assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafiq al-Hariri
and cited Lebanese criticism of the report from the
"National Unity Forum," that described the Mehlis report as
"empty of evidence" and said that it "has confused the
Lebanese judicial."
Papers also reported the funeral of Lebanese MP Gebran
Tueni. Hasan M. Yousef, an op-ed writer in government-owned
Tishreen, considered Tueni's assassination "as part of a
conspiracy against both Lebanon and Syria."
All papers reported the visit of Arab League SecGen Amr
Mousa to Beirut on the first leg of a tour that will take
him on to Syria to defuse the "dangerous" situation between
the two neighbors. Subsequent to his meeting with Lebanese
Prime Minister Al-Saniora, Mousa told reporters "I am on an
urgent diplomatic mission to defuse the dangerous situation"
between Beirut and Damascus. Mousa added "I cannot watch and
let the situation deteriorate between Lebanon and Syria and
reach an explosive level," he said.
Mousa said he had "lengthy and practical discussions with
Saniora which were positive and constructive". But he denied
media reports he was carrying an initiative linked to calls
by Lebanon to convene an international court for the murder
of former Lebanese PM Rafiq al-Hariri.
End of summary.

2. Selected Headlines:

"In protest of the demand for an international tribunal,
ministers of the Amal Movement and Hizbollah persist in
suspending their participation in the cabinet. Franjieh
calls for stopping exploitation of martyrs' blood"
(Government-owned Tishreen, 12/15)

"Arab League SecGen confers with Lahoud and Al-Saniora:
Vicious forces endeavor to sabotage Lebanese-Syrian
relations" (Government-owned Tisheen, 12/15)
"President Emile Lahoud of Lebanon: Lebanon is keen to
maintain the best of relations with Syria. Arab League
Secretary General Amr Mousa: There are evil forces working

SIPDIS
to undermine Syrian-Lebanese relations" (Government-owned Al-

Thawra, 12/15)
"'National Unity Forum' rejects ready accusations: The
Mehlis report is empty of evidence and has confused the
Lebanese judicial" (Government-owned Tishreen, 12/15)
"Israeli warplanes continue to violate Lebanese airspace"
(Government-owned Tishreen, 12/15)
"Scores of Syrians staged a sit-in in front of International
Committee of the Red Cross in Damascus in solidarity with
Syrian prisoners in Israeli jails, rejecting the Israeli
decision to annex Golan" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 12/15)
"Four Palestinians killed, 5 wounded in Gaza Strip by
Israeli gunfire" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 12/15)
"A UN official expresses confidence that Iraqi elections
will run smoothly" (Government-owned Syria Times, 12/15)

"Occupation forces expand settlements in the West Bank. Nine
Palestinians killed and injured in Israeli shelling of Gaza"
(Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 12/15)


3. Editorial Block Quotes:

"Mehlis' Second Report"
Khalid al-Ashhab, an editorialist in government-owned Al-
Thawra, commented (12/15): "It is natural for Mehlis' second
report to go in the same direction as the first so as to
save face after the revelations about key gaps in major
testimony....
"It is perfectly natural for Mehlis to insist on what he
said in his first dramatic episode, and to proceed with this
scenario and its bloody plot until the [American] cowboy on
his horse takes off on a new invasion....
"You Lebanese must beware of those have who turned into
daggers in the back of Lebanon and Syria. These people see
sieges and occupations as divine missions and as ten
commandments that begin in Baghdad and do not end in
Beirut...."






"empty of evidence" and said that it "has confused the
Lebanese judicial."
Papers also reported the funeral of Lebanese MP Gebran
Tueni. Hasan M. Yousef, an op-ed writer in government-owned
Tishreen, considered Tueni's assassination "as part of a
conspiracy against both Lebanon and Syria."
All papers reported the visit of Arab League SecGen Amr
Mousa to Beirut on the first leg of a tour that will take
him on to Syria to defuse the "dangerous" situation between
the two neighbors. Subsequent to his meeting with Lebanese
Prime Minister Al-Saniora, Mousa told reporters "I am on an
urgent diplomatic mission to defuse the dangerous situation"
between Beirut and Damascus. Mousa added "I cannot watch and
let the situation deteriorate between Lebanon and Syria and
reach an explosive level," he said.
Mousa said he had "lengthy and practical discussions with
Saniora which were positive and constructive". But he denied
media reports he was carrying an initiative linked to calls
by Lebanon to convene an international court for the murder
of former Lebanese PM Rafiq al-Hariri.
End of summary.

2. Selected Headlines:

"Looking for Honesty"
Hasan M. Yusuf, an op-ed commentator, wrote in government-
owned Tishreen (12/15) "I have no information about the
criminals who assassinated colleague martyr Gebran Tueni....
But I can say for sure that this dirty criminal operation is
part of the major conspiracy that targets Lebanon and Syria
and seeks to demolish the entire Middle East and build the
US Greater Middle East on its rubble....
"In this new Middle East, Arabs would disintegrate into
waring tribes, sects, and ethnic minorities while the
Zionist entity would emerge as the only big and dominant
power...."
"With No One to Observe or Watch"
Ahmad Hamadah, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra
wrote (12/15): "If the United States practiced all forms of
torture and humiliation in public prisons like Guantanamo
and Abu Ghraib, how can we imagine the disastrous picture in
the secret American prisons in Europe?
"The ugliness of the situation in those prisons must be
beyond imagination....
"If international judicial and legal organizations failed to
do anything for the inmates in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo,
although their detention was illegal and in total
contradiction of human rights, what can they do with prisons
that have no known address and from which there is not a
single piece of information about the number of detainees or
the charges for which they were detained and tortured?
Seche