Damascus Media Reaction: Israeli Operation in Lebanon,

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 003658

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,
Palestinian Territories, Iraq (7/25)



1. Summary: The Israeli military operation in Lebanon remained
the major topic in the Syrian press. Papers reported that
President Asad received telephone calls from UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan and Greek Socialist Party leader George
Panadreou, which focused on latest developments in Lebanon and
ongoing contacts to end the continuing Israeli aggression there.

Papers also reported that Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel
Moratinos said during a meeting with Syrian Information Minister
Muhsen Bilal that his country will work with Syria at the
upcoming Rome Conference to revive the peace process as one
package deal including Shebaa Farms and the occupied Syrian
Golan.
Papers also reported that Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-
Mouallem received a phone call from Malaysian Foreign Minister
Sayed Hamid Albar, who expressed his country's support to the
steadfastness of the Lebanese and Palestinian people in
confronting Israeli aggression. The Malaysian Minister, whose
country is the current president of the Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM) and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC),
briefed Minister al-Mouallem on the Malaysian government's
efforts, on behalf of the NAM and the OIC, to reach a ceasefire
and pave the way for diplomatic efforts to establish a just and
comprehensive peace in the Middle East as the only way to bring
about security and stability in the region.

Papers also reported that the United Nations Organization in
Syria filed an urgent petition for donors to provide more than
$ 13.6 million as part of the financial aid needed to continue
extending humanitarian aid to displaced Lebanese civilians in
Syria. In a statement issued in Damascus, the UN group said "the
needed contributions would meet the increased demands of the
Lebanese who have fled to Syria, and will boost the organization
and the other humanitarian organizations in doing their relief
duties with more effectiveness." It hoped the appeal would draw a
"quick response," and thus spur donors to do their duties in
meeting persistent and urgent humanitarian needs. The
announcement said the number of Lebanese who have fled to Syria
is about 160,000, and is increasing by the hour.

End of summary.


2. Selected Headlines:

"President Asad receives two telephone calls, from UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan and President of the Greek Socialist Party
George Papandreau on current contacts to stop the Israeli
aggression against Lebanon" (Government-owned Tishreen, 7/25)

"Syrian-Spanish talks on the explosive situation in the region.
Foreign Minister Moratinos: The package of Syrian ideas will be
raised at the Rome Conference" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 7/25)

"Foreign Minister al-Mouallem reviews with Malaysian Foreign
Minister AlBar efforts of the Non-Aligned Countries and Islamic
Conference for a ceasefire in Lebanon" (Government-owned Al-
Thawra, 7/25)

"Lebanese national resistance receives US Secretary of State Rice
by destroying 5 Israeli tanks and downing an Apache. The
resistance shells Haifa, killing and injuring 27 Israelis. US
Secretary of State Rice holds a strained meeting with Speaker of

SIPDIS
Lebanese Parliament Berri" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 7/25)

"Nasrallah: The Enemy has failed to achieve its goals; the Maroun
al-Ras battle showed its weakness before the national resistance"
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 7/25)

"The UN calls for urgent humanitarian aid to Lebanon. Over
160,000 Lebanese refugees are in Syria" (Government-owned
Tishreen, 7/25)

"Syria provides Lebanon with electricity around the clock. Over
120 tons of additional Syrian aid dispatched to Lebanon"
(Government-owned Tishreen, 7/25)

"Six Palestinians killed in Israeli shelling of Gaza. Israel
shells Lebanese village Kafer Shouba with phosphorus bombs"
(Government-owned Tishreen, 7/25)
"Scores of Iraqis victimized by terrorist attacks. Academy of
Moslem Scholars holds the occupation responsible for the
deteriorating security situation" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th,
5/25)

3. Editorial Block Quotes:
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"Theory of Adventure"

--------------

Abdul-Fattah al-Awad, Chief Editor of government-owned Al-
Thawra, wrote (7/25): "Isolating Syria is not at all
possible.... It is impossible to ignore the Syrian role because
this role is associated with a vision that proved right....

"The new Middle East that Washington is promoting is a Middle
East without resistance against Israel.... But the logic of
history does not accept an occupation without resistance....
Relying on force to draw new maps using Israeli pencils is
doomed to failure because similar experiences have brought dire
consequences for the advocates of this logic....
"The US still insists on continuing the Israeli destruction of
Lebanon.... Until recently, the American band was playing the
tunes of Lebanon's 'sovereignty and independence', but today it
is beating the drums of war and dancing to their tune.... Those
who accept the American positions agree, in fact, to work as
paid laborers in the new Middle East project, which carries
within itself the seeds of failure because it is based on
unethical and unrealistic principles.

"Instead of talking about a solution that would end the pains
and suffering of the Lebanese, they promise us a new Middle
East, while insisting on the continuation of the barbaric
aggression that Israel is launching amid international hypocrisy
and a defeatist Arab position. Therefore, all meetings,
conferences, and emissaries that do not place the end of the
Israeli aggression at the top of their agendas will be useless.
The beginning point is the end of the aggression and the
exchange of prisoners. The genuine, realistic, and final
solution is the one that discusses the core of the conflict in
the region, represented by the arrogant and American-backed
Israeli occupation."

--------------

"US Illusion"

--------------

Muhammad Khair al-Jamali, an editorialist in government-owned Al-
Thawra, said (7/25): "Washington still harbors the illusion of
redrawing the Middle East map despite the failure of this
illusion in Iraq....

"The new Middle East that Rice is promising is a deformed,
fragile, and flimsy Middle East that is open to the hegemony of
Zionist-American power. In this new Middle East there is no
place for the will of countries or the resistance of nations. It
must remain silent on the occupation and believe the lies that
Israel and the United States promote about terrorism and the
attempts they make to obliterate the facts of the conflict and
disregard the reasons of its explosion in Palestine, Lebanon,
and Iraq, foremost among which are the American occupation of
Iraq and the continuation of the Israeli occupation of the
Palestinian territories, the Golan, and parts of south
Lebanon....

"Rice is wrong in her belief that the barbarism of the Israeli
aggression can lead to a new Middle East.... The tragic results
of this aggression will turn the entire Arab people into a

resistance believing that resistance is their only way to end
the occupation and confront the policy of hegemony.... Israel's
involvement in the implementation of the American new Middle
East plan makes the United States a stable partner of Israel in
its aggression against Arabs, which will heighten Arab hatred
towards the US and its policy and, consequently, further
endanger American interests in the region."

--------------

"Partners in Crime and Aggression"

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Charles Kamleh, a columnist in government-owned Tishreen, wrote
(7/25): "When the US provides Israel with laser-guided bombs to
destroy targets deep underground, it effectively enters the
battle and becomes a party to the aggression and the crime. This
being the case, there is no meaning in any US diplomatic
action....

"If the international conference, that will be held in Rome on
July 26 to discuss the Lebanese crisis, intends to discuss the
crisis of the aggression and at the same time excludes central
countries that cannot be passed over and without whose
participation and approval no lasting and comprehensive solution
can be reached, then the most that such a conference can do is
strengthen the position of the aggressor or try to bring him out
of his crisis through the imposition of the conditions that the
aggression failed to impose by force...."

Seche