Damascus Media Reaction: Israeli Operation in Lebanon

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 003602 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: Israeli Operation in Lebanon (7/21-23) ¶1. Summary: Syrian newspapers continued to report on the Israeli operation in Lebanon. All papers reported that Bashar al- Ja'afari, Syria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, called on the UN Security Council "to shoulder responsibility in putting an immediate end to the Israeli aggression against the Lebanese and Palestinian people." Speaking before a UN Security Council session on the Middle East, Mr. Ja'afari said "Syria, which has always stressed readiness to establish a comprehensive and just peace as well as stability and security in the region, urges the Council to exercise pressure on Israel to cease fire immediately." He added that "Syria also calls on the Council to shoulder responsibility in getting Israel to stop this aggression and compensate for the casualties and damages inflicted by its aggression." The Syrian diplomat stressed that instability in the region is "due to Israel's continuing occupation of Arab lands and the immunity it takes from some influential world powers, as if Israel is above the law at the expense of our legitimate rights in Palestine, Lebanon and the occupied Syrian Golan." Mr. Ja'afari criticized the superpowers' double- standard policy in dealing with the Middle East and their bias towards Israel. He also accused the superpowers of minimizing the Arab-Israeli conflict and ignoring the fact that the problem lies in the occupation and settlement in the occupied Arab territories since 1967 and displacing people from their homes. He stressed that "Israel's brutal aggression on Lebanon doesn't only aim at destroying Lebanon or world peace and security, but also at undermining the credibility of the UN." He added that Israel has so far ignored more than a thousand UN resolutions calling on Israel to abide by international resolutions. Syrian papers reported that Egypt and France have demanded a quick cease-fire in Lebanon, stressing the necessity for the intensification of diplomatic efforts on regional and international levels. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu-Ghait said in a joint press conference with his French counterpart, Philippe Douste-Blazy, that no one could imagine allowing the destruction of the infra-structure of Lebanon to continue. The Syrian press also quoted the Lebanese Daily As-Safir, which reported that the Lebanese intelligence services have arrested a spying network that has been working for Israel for years. "The confession of suspects could lead to the exposure of a number of sleeper spy cells working for Israel on Lebanese soil." As-Safir quoted a well-informed source as saying that activities of this spy network exceeded what the already uncovered Mahmoud Rafa network did. "Members of the network, using developed technologies and communication apparatuses, facilitated selection of certain goals in Beirut's southern suburb with signs guiding Israeli aircraft to those targets," the papers indicated. "One of the prominent figures in the network confessed that Israel had put itself on alert four days before the arrest of the two Israeli soldiers and provided its sleeper spies with cell phones with directives and technologies to target centers and headquarters of Hizbollah in all Lebanese territories, particularly in Beirut's southern suburb." End of summary. ¶2. Selected Headlines: "Syria calls on UNSC for an immediate halt of Israeli aggression: Instability in the region is caused by the continuing Israeli occupation and the immunity granted to Israel" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 7/23) "President Asad reviews Russian efforts to halt the Israeli aggression against Lebanon with Sultanov" (Government-owned Al- Thawra, 7/21) "Israeli aggression targets eyewitnesses. Israeli warplanes shell the satellite antennas of Lebanese TV channels and mobile phone networks to cover up its massacre. The Israeli army occupies the UNIFIL positions. The national resistance repels Israeli land infiltrations and shells Israeli settlements" (Government-owned Tishreen, 7/23) "An Israeli espionage network arrested in Lebanon" (Government- owned Tishreen, 7/23) "America confirms its direct partnership in the aggression against Lebanon by accelerating an urgent shipment of laser- controlled bombs to Israel" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 7/23) "Demonstrations in Tel Aviv protesting the bloody Israeli campaign against Lebanon" (Government-owned Tisrheen, 7/23) "The Higher Popular Committee for Supporting the Steadfastness of the Lebanese People discusses mechanisms of branch committees in the governorates throughout Syria for providing services to the Lebanese brothers in Syria. A second Syrian humanitarian aid convoy heads to Lebanon" (Government-owned Tishreen, 7/23) "Israel attacks all its targets in Lebanon, threatens general mobilization and escalates its aggression. Timid and non-serious international efforts encourage the aggressors. The resistance responds inflicting casualties on Israeli settlers" (Government- owned Tishreen, 7/22) "SecGen of Hizbollah Nasrallah is discontent with those who stand by the executioner against the victim: Our steadfastness is part of victory.... Every Israeli failure is a success for the resistance. We absorbed the first shock; now we are taking the initiative and preparing for more surprises" (Government-owned Tishreen, 7/22) "US Secretary of State Rice thanks Israel, rejects a cease-fire before ending Hizbollah and speaks about the birth of a new Middle East" (Government-owned Tishreen, 7/22) "The heroism of the Resistance continues for the ninth day. Inability and confusion characterize statements by Israeli leaders and generals. Nasrallah confirms: The hand-over of the two Israeli soldiers will only be through indirect negotiations and a prisoner swap. Resistance fighters kill and wound 23 enemy soldiers, destroy three tanks and damage a helicopter" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 7/21) ¶3. Editorial Block Quotes: -------------- "Blood and Oil" -------------- Dr. Abdul-Karim Abdul-Samad, an op-ed writer in government-owned Tishreen, said (7/22): "Since the beginning of the Israeli aggression Syria has made humanitarian efforts, on the popular and official levels, to ease the suffering of the Lebanese people through border entry facilities, shipment of food and medicine to Lebanon, and a national blood donation campaign for wounded Lebanese.... "What brings the Syrian and Lebanese people together is bigger than all American and Israeli conspiracies.... The relations between the two peoples grow stronger at times of hardship.... When brothers share their blood and food in the battle for the defense of the homeland, and when their efforts and sweat are mixed in the construction process, no force on earth can drive them apart.... "While Syria is providing blood and humanitarian relief materials to the Lebanese, the US is supplying Israel with special fuel for the warplanes that are bombing Lebanon.... Syrians, who are donating their blood, wonder about the source of this American fuel. They hope the source is not Arab, so that the picture will not be gloomier and so that the Arab public, which has not yet had its say, will not say: Syria is offering the blood of its sons in support of Lebanon while they other Arabs are offering their oil to support the aggression...." -------------- "US Field and Israeli Threshing Ground" -------------- Isam Dari, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, commented (7/22): "The attempt to implement Security Council Resolution 1559 by force is not the only objective of the Israeli war on Lebanon.... "In addition to this tactical objective, there are strategic objectives: The massive military strikes on Lebanon are part of similar strikes against the Palestinians and the Iraqis. All these strikes, or hostile wars, seek to rearrange the region in accordance with Zionist and American plans, which cannot see light except in the shadow of what they call creative instability and amid destruction and sectarian wars that the occupiers in Iraq feed and the Israelis are trying to ignite in Lebanon and the region in general.... "In light of this, we are not surprised that the rejection of a cease-fire comes from Washington, not from Tel Aviv. For this is an American war using Israeli tools. The resistance will foil the American-Israeli plans...." -------------- "Larsen's Mission" -------------- Samir al-Shibani, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, wrote (7/22: "News reports have circulated that an international conference will be held to find new mechanisms to implement Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for disarming Hizbollah.... "Many Lebanese agree that the resolution cannot be implemented, because it torpedoes national unity and coexistence in fraternal Lebanon and threatens its unity, sovereignty and dignity, for whose sake the Lebanese paid seas of tears and rivers of martyrs' blood.... "This international scurring to implement UN Resolution 1559 is surprising. It raises many questions about the multiple visits by Arab and international envoys to the region.... Such visits are quite exposed to the Arab masses, who will continue to be active and impressive in the Arab street despite the intensive assaults against the Arab nation.... The Arab street can easily distinguish between the banner of resistance and the white banner of surrender...." -------------- "Don't Ask Wherefrom" -------------- Hanan Hamad, a columnist in government-owned Tishreen, wrote (7/22): "Don't ask wherefrom this Israeli zeal to carry out UNSC resolutions... Why has the UNSC remained silent about Israel's refusal to carry out other UNSC resolutions for six decades...? "While the international organization has failed to force Israel to implement any of its resolutions on the Arab-Israeli conflict, it has permitted Israel to work to implement Resolution 1559 through its destructive weapons, which spare no child, woman, or elderly person.... "The international community is now held hostage by the United States, and indirectly by Israel, which is now assigned to fulfill the wishes of the American master.... "Today, Israel is not only enjoying Western support as well as some 'Arab' support -- which is the most painful thing -- but it is also doing the job for which it was created, as a forward base for the strategic Western plan in the region...." -------------- "Attorney for Satan" -------------- Ahmad Burghul, a commentator in government-owned Al-Thawrah, commented (7/21): "The brutal Israeli aggression against Lebanon is placing the entire region at a real crossroads that might lead it to the unknown.... "The release of the captured Israeli soldiers can be achieved only through a prisoner swap, not through the destruction of Lebanon.... "Israel is a criminal, a killer, an enemy that does not hesitate to commit the most heinous crimes with or without reason. Hizbollah did not launch an aggression, as some Arab voices claim. The capture of the two Israeli soldiers was an act of self-defense and was aimed at releasing the Lebanese prisoners in the Zionist prisons.... "Any attempt to cast doubt on the resistance and its objectives amounts to bias toward Israel and an encouragement for it to persist in its aggression, brutality, and crimes.... "Those who stand against the resistance today, or even hesitate to support it, work on behalf of Israel, the historical enemy of Lebanon, Arabs, and Muslims. Rights are regained through resistance and steadfastness, not through humiliation, submission, and begging. The Resistance's deterrence of the aggression today is a source of pride for all of us, requiring that we offer support and backing." Seche