Damascus Media Reaction: Syria, Lebanon, Iraq,

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