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