TFLE01: SYRIA DAILY SITREP 14 FOR TUESDAY, AUGUST

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 DAMASCUS 003754 SIPDIS SIPDIS PARIS FOR WALLER, LONDON FOR TSOU, AMMAN FOR KANESHIRO, ALGIERS FOR CHEYNE E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/01/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV PREF PHUM LE SY SUBJECT: TFLE01: SYRIA DAILY SITREP 14 FOR TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2006 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires William Roebuck for reasons 1.4 b/d ¶1. (U) Summary: Syrian President Asad asked the Syrian military to raise its readiness, pledging not to abandon support for the Lebanese "resistance" against Israel, according to reports of Asad's July 31 annual address commemorating the foundation of the Syria Arab Army. Israel launched its third strike in three days on July 31 on the Lebanese side of the Syria-Lebanon border, wounding a Lebanese customs officer and four others, according to news reports. The Consular Section received 65 walk-in requests for American Citizen Services (ACS) on July 31. Syria has agreed to supply Lebanon with gasoline from its strategic reserves but there were no details about how fuel would be transported to Lebanon, according to news reports. End Summary. POLITICAL/SECURITY ¶2. (S) The following are political/military updates updates: -- Syrian President Bashar al-Asad asked the Syrian military to raise its readiness, pledging not to abandon support for the Lebanese "resistance" against Israel, according to news reports, citing Asad's July 31 annual address on the anniversary of the foundation of the Syria Arab Army. (Comment: Asad may have been seeking to underscore SARG support for the increasingly popular Hizballah movement, at a time when the Syrian public is bitterly angry over the deadly Israeli strike on Qana. Media contacts told us Asad did not deliver the speech in person.) -- Israel launched the third strike in three days the evening of July 31 near the Syria-Lebanon border of Jdeideh-Masna, wounding a Lebanese customs officer and four others, according to regional news reports. Some reports indicated the strike targeted a truck importing weapons from Syria, while others said two missiles struck near a vehicle carrying relief supplies near Lebanon's Masna customs post. -- The Defense Attache reports that Syrian artillery, missile and ground forces continue to be dispersed from their garrisons throughout Syria, in what appears to be a defensive effort to enhance the survivability of Syrian forces against Israeli attack by relocating them away from known positions. Syrian air defenses are in a heightened state of defensive readiness. -- Visiting Iranian FM Manouchehr Mottaki met with Syrian FM Walid Mu'allim on July 31 in Damascus, before continuing on to Beirut, according to regional media. -- Following the meeting, Mu'allim departed Damascus for Doha, where he delivered a message from Syrian President Asad to Qatar's Emir Sheikh Khalifa Ben Hamad al-Thani on the situation in the region, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). -- Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal arrived July 31 in Rome where he was scheduled to meet with the Italian FM, according to regional media reports. -- Egyptian FM Ahmad Aboul Gheit, who visited Damascus July 30, said that Syria is opposed to the deployment of international forces in Lebanon but would support the enhancement of already existing UNIFIL forces there, according to news reports. -- German FM Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke over the weekend by phone with Syrian FM Mu'allim about the Israel-Hizballah conflict, according to news reports. Steinmeier said in a subsequent interview that if disarming Hizballah requires a guarantee from Syria "then the objective should be to involve Damascus constructively in this course," according to regional press. ¶3. (C) The following are security updates: -- The UN Resident Coordinator in Syria, UNDP Representative Ali Za'tari, said that there were four demonstrations, comprised of about 300 persons each, on July 31 in front of UNDP headquarters in the Damascus neighborhood of West Mezzeh. Syria police responded effectively to each DAMASCUS 00003754 002 OF 002 demonstration, Za'tari said. -- The Regional Security Office reported that in response to previously reported demarches, the SARG has redeployed eight uniformed police outside the Embassy. CONSULAR ¶4. (U) The following are consular updates: -- The Consular Section received 65 walk-in requests for ACS services on July 31, continuing the consistently downward trend of the past week. There has been an increase of Syrian-Americans applying for renewal passports, with applicants stating that they "want to be ready." ECONOMIC ¶5. (C) The following are economic updates: -- Syria has agreed to supply Lebanon with gasoline from its strategic reserves and was finalizing the amount that would be provided, according to Nasri al-Khoury, SYG of the Higher Syrian-Lebanese Council, in news reports. Khoury declined to say how the gasoline would be transported across the border, according to Reuters. -- UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent officials reported continued frustration with the SARG's inability to provide precise numbers about the number of displaced Lebanese in Syria. Officials from both organizations estimated that 150,000 displaced Lebanese are in Syria. -- A shortage of medicines for chronic illnesses is starting to have an impact on populations in Syria and Lebanon, with some deaths occurring as a result, according to UN Resident Representative Za'tari. Lebanon is a source for medicine sold in Syria, Za'tari said. -- The Iranian Red Crescent director on a visit here met July 31 with Syria's health minister and, separately, with Syria's State Minister for Red Crescent Affairs Bashar Sha'ar and Syrian Red Crescent President Abdul Rahman Attar, according to the official Syrian press. ROEBUCK