Damascus Media Reaction: Israel/Lebanon, Syria/Lebanon,

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 003969 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: Israel/Lebanon, Syria/Lebanon, Syria/Germany, Iraq (8/14) ¶1. Summary: Syrian papers reported that President Asad received a telephone call from UN SecGen Kofi Annan. Their talks dealt with the situation in Lebanon following the UNSC resolution and with implementation of the ceasefire. Papers also quoted an official Syrian source as saying that Syria supports the Lebanese national consensus and reservations expressed by Lebanese officials about UN Resolution 1701. The source said Syria urges the international community to help Lebanon rebuild what the Israeli military has destroyed, to enhance UNIFIL's role and to support a comprehensive peace based on UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 388. The official confirmed that the "April Understanding" is the framework that will control the fight in the interval between the cessation of aggressive acts and Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon, which gives the resistance the right to continue fighting occupation forces. Papers also reported a joint Syrian-Lebanese media dialogue held at the Ministry of Information during which Information Minister Bilal underscored the correctness of the Lebanese resistance's course and praised its steadfastness. He pointed out that the resistance has foiled all the enemy schemes and humiliated its allegedly undefeated military machine. Former Lebanese Minister Weam Wahab said that "the Syrian role, which has long succeeded in maintaining Lebanese unity and building its institutions, is today even more important for preservation of the Arabism of the region and for foiling the US-backed Israeli attempts to destroy resistance." Wahab added: "The whole region faces a new era after the resistance emerged victorious in the battle against Zionist aggression and its war machine." He referred to the Syrian rejection of bargaining against the resistance, saying, "Syria has chosen adherence to its national and pan-Arab stances as well as the aspirations of its people, who have rejected surrender to hegemonic superpowers." Charles Ayyob, Editor-in-chief of Lebanese daily Al-Dyyar, maintained that "the importance of victory lies in the fact that it came at a critical stage of Arab history, when solidarity was at its lowest and Israel and the US thought they could impose their conditions on Arabs and the whole region. Syria will remain the basic guarantor of Lebanese unity through its positive role, which supports Lebanese reconciliation and rejects participation in any suspicious project that could target national unity in Lebanon." He called on the Arab media to exert greater efforts to convey the real voice that echoes victory and confronts Zionist propaganda. Papers also reported that Information Minister Bilal received Volkhard Windfuhr, head of the Cairo Office of the German Magazine DER SPIEGEL and chairman of the Cairo-based Foreign Correspondents Association. Talk focused on the Israeli war against Lebanon. During the meeting, the minister underlined the importance of the international media, in general, and, in particular, its role in revealing the truth about the crimes committed by Israel against civilians and the infrastructure of Lebanon and Palestine. For his part, Windfuhr condemned the continuous Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, pointing out that Israel is carrying on a losing battle in Lebanon and Palestine. "The results of war will negatively impact Israel," he added. "Israel has not learned the lessons of its first experience in Lebanon, or of the experiences of other colonial countries that were forced out of the Arab lands by Arab resistance," the journalist said. End of summary. ¶2. Selected Headlines: "President Asad receives a phone call from UN SecGen Annan on the situation in Lebanon following the UNSC resolution" (Government- owned Tishreen, 8/14) "A Syrian official source expresses sorrow over the UNSC disregard for Lebanon's demands and its failure to hold Israel responsible for the aggression; Syria supports the national Lebanese consensus and Lebanese reservations about UNSC Resolution No. 1701" (Government-owned Tishree, 8/14) "Israeli madness on the eve of carrying out the UNSC resolution: Tons of bombs fall on Beirut suburb, Tyre and southern villages. Tel Aviv admits: No army in the world is able to disarm Hizbollah" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/14) "Austrian figures call for prosecuting Israel for war crimes in Lebanon" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/14) "'The New Yorker': Bush and Cheney are involved in the war against Lebanon" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 8/14) "A joint Syrian-Lebanese media dialogue held at the Information Ministry to discuss dimensions of the resistance victory" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/14) "Information Minister Bilal receives Volkhard Windfuhr, head of the Cairo Office of German Magazine DER SPIEGEL and chairman of the Cairo-based Foreign Correspondents Association. Bilal: The media has an important role in uncovering Israeli crimes" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/14) "Over 100 Iraqis killed or injured in explosions in Baghdad and over 195 Iraqis killed or injured in terrorist explosion south of Baghdad" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 8/14) ¶3. Editorial Block Quotes: -------------- "So as Not to Steal the Resistance's Victory" -------------- Abd-al-Fattah al-Awad, Chief Editor of government-owned Al- Thawrah, wrote (8/14): "There are attempts at the United Nations and in world capitals to steal the victory of the resistance.... No one can steal the fruits of this victory.... This victory buried the new Middle East plan, the birth pangs of which were announced by Condoleezza Rice at the beginning of the aggression on Lebanon.... "The resistance victory also irrevocably abolished the notion of 'the invincible army' and constituted an American defeat to be added to the resounding US defeat in Iraq. "There must be an international investigation into Israel's crimes in Lebanon.... The international community must force Israel to implement all UN resolutions.... The Syrian vision, which supported the line of resistance in Palestine and Lebanon, produced effective fruits.... It proved to be a sound vision...." -------------- "The Accounts Do not Tally" -------------- Ali Nasrallah, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra, maintained (8/14): "Israel and the United States miscalculated and thus failed to achieve their objectives in Lebanon.... Arabs need to learn the lesson, reconsider their positions, and correct their mistakes. Now that Lebanon has foiled the Israeli- American plan, Arabs need to reassess their position, the sources of their power, and the size of their capabilities, which can do a great deal to protect their rights and interests. What foiled the plan and dream of Rice and Olmert was Lebanon in its valiant resistance, the steadfastness of its people, and the solidarity of the Arab and Islamic peoples with it." "A new resisting Middle East rejecting hegemony, aggression, and occupation is being born now...." -------------- "Be Ashamed, Mr. President" -------------- Abd-al-Hamid Sallum, an op-ed writer in government-owned Al- Ba'th, said (8/14): "President Bush should be ashamed of himself for calling Muslims fascists.... "After all this treacherous aggression and the positions that the United States has been adopting to prolong the aggression and the killings, destruction, and displacement associated with it, and after the statements we heard from this rancorous American president, do we still need more analyses, theorizing, and debate to realize that the aggression on Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq shows hidden hatred targeting the entire [Arab] nation in all its groups and colors without exception...?" -------------- "Additional US Forces To Iraq... Why?" -------------- Muhammad Hasan Salha, a commentator in government-owned Al- Thawra, wrote (8/14): "Bush said that containing the situation in Iraq, in light of the qualitative and quantitative development of the national resistance, warrants the dispatch of more US forces to Iraq to face what he called terrorism and its growing strength, and to contain its operations and its ability to attract Iraqi public opinion and mobilize it to join the resistance against the occupation represented by the United States and against the occupation's command represented by the US forces.... "Why did President Bush declare at this time in particular that Iraq needs more US forces to confront the alleged terrorism inside Iraq? And why has he declared that additional forces will be sent to Iraq, and has perhaps already begun to dispatch such forces...? "Is it true that the additional Marines will serve the US democracy in Iraq? There is no doubt that US occupation forces are taking painful blows in Iraq, and their size, equipment, and technology are totally unable to undermine the will and actions of the resistance in Iraq. Increasing [the size of US forces] and conducting visits will not subjugate the will of the resistance, for it defies all weapons. The resistance is not a body that can be torn apart by a missile fired from an aircraft, nor is it a wall that can be destroyed by a tank shell. It is a spirit that moves to create life. It is against death, because it is something that comes out of death and means life. "If the will and actions of the resistance in Iraq defy US and all other weapons, what is the purpose of sending additional US forces and US weapons to Iraq? Simply, they are there to support Israel's aggression against Lebanon and to expand the aggression toward Syria, or at least send a message of military threat to Syria to stop supporting the legitimate Arab resistance against the US-Israeli plan in the region.... "By dispatching more US soldiers to the region, the United States will have announced in a more provocative manner its bias toward Israel in its aggression against Lebanon to ensure the implementation of Resolution 1559 at a later stage.... "Hence, the dispatch of additional US forces to the region, about three military divisions, is not to work in Iraq, but rather to threaten Lebanon and Syria and to threaten Iran, which stands firmly in favor of just Arab and Muslim causes.... "The US is employing all its capabilities to achieve its goals and attain its objectives by using all available means and by using the United Nations and the Security Council as tools of diplomatic pressure that pave the way for launching aggressive military operations in the region. "Within a few days only, Israel will launch an enormous aggressive operation, one that will be commensurate with the size of the forces that are being mobilized for this purpose, in addition to the US forces that will be dispatched to Iraq. Moreover, such an operation will initially be commensurate with the size of the US objective, namely, eliminating Hizbollah and the Islamic resistance and establishing the new Middle East that the United States wants to establish and that is going through a difficult birth. We say to the United States and Israel that because this birth is against the laws of nature it will be a stillbirth." Corbin