IRANIAN ARCHITECT OF SYRIA-IRAN-HIZBALLAH

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 000021

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/02/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV SY IR
SUBJECT: IRANIAN ARCHITECT OF SYRIA-IRAN-HIZBALLAH
RELATIONSHIP RETURNS TO DAMASCUS

REF: DAM 4139

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Stephen A. Seche for reasons 1.4 b/d


1. (C) Summary: Iran's incoming Ambassador to Damascus,
Mohammed Hassan Akhtari, has returned for his second tour as
Ambassador to Syria after overseeing the creation of the
Syria-Iran-Hizballah triangle during his first tenure from
1986-1998, according to media reports. Akhtari's appointment
comes after a string of public reports of Syria-Iran
exchanges, including most recently President Asad's December
21 meeting with visiting Iranian VP Hussein Dahqan and Asad's
November 14 meeting with visiting Iranian FM Manouchehr
Mottaki. It also follows a December 21 report in Jane's
Defense Weekly that the Syrian PM and the Iranian FM signed
November 14 an accord guaranteeing mutual cooperation and aid
in the event of international sanctions or military
confrontation with the West. Akhtari's return signals
increased cooperation between Syria and Iran as both
countries face international pressure, but the SARG may be
making a foreign policy miscalculation about how the USG will
react, according to contacts. End Summary.


2. (U) President Asad accepted December 28 the credentials
of Iran's incoming Ambassador to Syria, Mohammed Hassan
Akhtari, who has returned for a second tour as Ambassador
after serving from 1986-1998 in Damascus, according to media
reports. Most recently, Akhtari had been working in the
office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni,
according to the press reports.


3. (C) Akhtari's appointment comes after a string of
published accounts about Syria-Iran exchanges, including
President Asad's December 21 meeting with visiting Iranian VP
Hussein Dahqan, Asad's November 14 meeting with visiting
Iranian FM Manouchehr Mottaki, and Asad's August 7-8 trip to
Tehran (reftel). Other Iranian visitors this year included
security authorities and a high-level official in charge of
nuclear issues, according to Al-Hayat correspondent Ibrahim
Hamidi. Akhtari's appointment also follows a December 21
report in Jane's Defense Weekly that Syrian PM Naji al-Otri
and the Iranian FM had signed on November 14 an accord that
promises mutual cooperation and aid in the event of
international sanctions or military confrontation with the
West. (Note: None of our contacts could confirm such an
accord and questioned whether Syrian and Iranian authorities
would need to put such an agreement on paper.)


4. (C) Fouad Sandouk, whose boss Syrian businessman Sa'eb
Nahhas has numerous ties to Iran, said Akhtari's return
signals increased cooperation between Syria and Iran as both
countries face international pressure. The Iranian
government needs Syria and Hizballah to threaten Israel,
which Iran fears may strike Iranian nuclear facilities,
Sandouk said. Syria needs Hizballah and Iran to keep Israel
from moving into Lebanon and as leverage in future
negotiations over the Golan Heights, Sandouk said.


5. (C) Hamidi agreed and said Akhtari, who served in
Damascus during the Iran-Iraq war, was the architect of the
Syria-Iran-Hizballah relationship. Hamidi predicted more
economic deals between the two countries and the possibility
of a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to
Damascus, while expressing concern that the SARG is making an
enormous foreign policy miscalculation about a possible USG
reaction. The SARG has misread the U.S. in the past,
thinking that its efforts to secure the Syria-Iraq border
would protect it from criticism on its Lebanon policy, Hamidi
said. SARG officials may now think that increased
cooperation on the Syria-Iraq border will protect them from
criticism for its Iran policy, but Syria would be the weakest
link in the Syria-Iran-Hizballah triangle, Hamidi said.
SECHE