IRAQI REPRESENTATIVES IN SYRIA COMMENT ON NEW

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 002518 SIPDIS SIPDIS PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/21/2016 TAGS: PREL PREF SY IZ SUBJECT: IRAQI REPRESENTATIVES IN SYRIA COMMENT ON NEW ARRIVALS, NEW PM REF: DAM 594 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Stephen A. Seche for reasons 1.4 b/d ¶1. (C) Summary: Iraqi contacts in Damascus commented recently on a range of issues, including the arrival of more Iraqis in Syria, Palestinian-Iraqis seeking refugee in Syria, the new Iraqi Prime Minister and next steps in the Syria-Iraq bilateral relationship. They asserted that up to 150,000 mostly Sunni families would visit Syria during the summer, some for short-term tourism and others for the entire summer. All of our contacts stated they knew the new Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, from his more than two decades in Damascus and said that he was even-handed and honest. One contact claimed Maliki had ties to a former head of State Security Branch of Syria's General Intelligence Directorate, Muhammad Nasif Kheirbek. None of our contacts anticipated a rapid upgrade of relations between the two countries even given that Iraq now has a new government, at least not until the two countries resolve several issues. A Kurd contact speculated that the Iranian Embassy here supports the Damascus office of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and that the Turkman Front's Damascus office gets help from the Turkish Embassy. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Iraqi contacts in Damascus commented recently on a range of issues, including the arrival of more Iraqis in Syria, Palestinian-Iraqis seeking refugee in Syria, the new Iraqi Prime Minister and next steps in the Syria-Iraqi bilateral relationship. Those commenting included Loqman Merza, formerly of the Damascus-based office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and now consul at the Iraqi Interest Section; Mohammed Said of the office of SCIRI; Amanoail Khoshaba of the Assyrian Democratic Movement; Faiq Mahdy Faraj of the Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party; and Ershad Salihi of the Iraqi Turkman Front. ¶3. (C) On new Iraqi arrivals to Syria: Our contacts confirmed news reports that Syria is experiencing a new wave of Iraqis, prompted by the end of the Iraqi school year, a lack of security in some parts of the country, and soaring temperatures in Baghdad, which still experiences regular electrical outages. Several of the representatives asserted that between 110,000 and 150,000 mostly Sunni families would visit Syria during the summer, some for short-term tourism and others for long-term stays in Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Lattakia. The majority of Shiites in Syria live in Damascus (usually in outlying, poorer suburbs like Saida Zeinab), while Sunnis reside in the capital, Homs and Aleppo, Said said. Demand created by the new arrivals was further pushing up real-estate prices in Damascus, said Mahdy, who complained that an apartment cost more than USD 1,000 per month in rundown buildings in his neighborhood. Commenting on recent arrivals of Palestinian-Iraqis from Iraq, contacts were less expansive and not sympathetic, emphasizing that Palestinian-Iraqis were Sunnis and had been closely associated to the former Iraqi regime and its intelligence services. ¶4. (C) On Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki: All of our contacts stated they knew Maliki from his more than two decades in Damascus and that he was even-handed and honest. Said was the most expansive, claiming he had regularly attended Friday prayers with Maliki (whom he referred to as Abu Isra'a) in the predominately Shiite Damascus neighborhood of Saida Zeinab. Said characterized Maliki as moderate in religion and said that the Da'awa office in Damascus once led by Maliki is now closed. When asked if Maliki still had contacts with Syrian authorities that could facilitate the improvement of bilateral relations between Syria and Iraq, the often-evasive Said responded, "He doesn't have bad relations with them." Khoshaba claimed that Maliki had ties to the former head of the State Security Branch in the General Intelligence Directorate, Muhammad Nasif Kheirbek. (Note: Other non-Iraqi contacts we have spoken with concur in general with this view of Maliki. One prominent journalist said that Maliki was thought to have headed the military wing of the Da'awa Party when he was here. He maintained a very low profile and was not widely known outside a tight circle of expatriate Iraqis.) ¶5. (C) On the bilateral relationship: None of our contacts anticipated a rapid upgrade of relations between the two countries even given that Iraq now has a new government, despite hints to the contrary in the official Syrian press during the February visit to Damascus of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr (reftel). Said and Merza added without elaboration that Syria and Iraq first had to resolve the issues of Syria's "financial debts to Iraq," border security, and the issue of Iraqi Baathists who still live in Syria. The SARG's primary candidate for Ambassador to Iraq remains Keriakos Keriakos, a former general from Qamishli (and a Christian of Assyrian origin) who handled Iraqi issues for an extended period while serving in military intelligence. ¶6. (C) Comment: Most of these Iraqi contacts travel regularly to Iraq. All of them indicated that they have good and regular contact with each other in Damascus and predicted that the SARG would continue to allow their organizations to function in Damascus. Mahdy had the most gossip about the other groups, speculating that the Iranian Embassy had turned over one of its diplomatic residence to the SCIRI representative who recently moved from a modest office in a working-class neighborhood to a new glitzy office/residence directly across from the Iranian Embassy. Mahdy also speculated that the Turkish Embassy provided financial support to the Turkman Front, which has its office in the upscale Damascus neighborhood of East Mezzeh. SECHE