Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06DAMASCUS4448
2006-09-13 15:39:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Damascus
Cable title:
LOCAL PRESS REACTION TO ATTACK ON U.S. EMBASSY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 004448
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
PARIS FOR WALLER, LONDON FOR TSOU, DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2006
TAGS: ASEC PGOV SY
SUBJECT: LOCAL PRESS REACTION TO ATTACK ON U.S. EMBASSY
REF: A. DAMASCUS 1160
B. DAMASCUS 2598
Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY: A/DCM William V. Roebuck for reasons 1.4
B/D
C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 004448
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
PARIS FOR WALLER, LONDON FOR TSOU, DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2006
TAGS: ASEC PGOV SY
SUBJECT: LOCAL PRESS REACTION TO ATTACK ON U.S. EMBASSY
REF: A. DAMASCUS 1160
B. DAMASCUS 2598
Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY: A/DCM William V. Roebuck for reasons 1.4
B/D
1. (U) No one has yet claimed responsibility for yesterday's
attack, but the SARG is publicly blaming militant Islamists.
Asharq Al-Awsat reported that a "Syrian security member was
killed by the bullets of an American Marine element that was
on the roof of the Embassy." However, the RSO confirms that
U.S. Marines fired no shots yesterday. The government-owned
news agency, SANA, reported that the fourth terrorist died of
severe wounds before authorities were able interrogate him.
2. (U) Less specific than Syrian Ambassador to the U.S. Imad
Moustapha's comments on CNN blaming Jund al-Sham, SANA
reported that Syrian forces thwarted an operation by an
unspecified Sunni Islamic jihadist group, referred to
generically as a "Takfiri" group. Initial official statements
were even more vague, with the government-controlled paper
Al-Thawra reporting that the Interior Minister General Bassam
Abdel Majeed simply stated that it was a "terrorist operation
targeting the U.S. embassy."
3. (U) Echoing Ambassador Moustapha,s public accusation that
U.S. policy had provoked the attack, other Syrian officials
including MP and Prominent Sunni Sheikh Muhammad Habash
blamed U.S. policy. He said, "I am certainly not a news
reporter, but after this continuous series of U.S. injustices
in the region, I can understand why people are angry at the
U.S. policies and why militants who might or might not be
affiliated with extremist organizations carry out such acts."
JUND AL-SHAM
4. (C) Despite the Syrian press not yet having named Jund
al-Sham as responsible for the September 12 attack on the
U.S. Embassy, regional and international press has focused on
the group. The group, Jund al-Sham, Arabic for Soldiers of
the Levant, is a Sunni Muslim group. The group is reportedly
affiliated with a branch of al-Qaida and has been linked to
various attacks mostly in northern Syria (in and around
Aleppo) and more recently in Damascus. In the last year, the
state-controlled press has linked the group to a series of
attacks and gun battles with security forces. SARG officials
portray the group as the most active militant group in the
country.
5. (C) COMMENT: The SARG argues that the violent activities
of Jund al-Sham demonstrate that Syria too is targeted by
terrorism because of the SARG's secular nationalist ideology.
Regime proxies insist that militant Islamists also target the
Alawite regime because it is viewed as dominated by a
"heretical" Muslim sect. Many Syrians, including members of
Syria's civil society groups and opposition members, argue
that the SARG is fabricating the clashes with Jund al-Sham to
persuade the West it is taking steps to prevent foreign
fighters from infiltrating Iraq and that it is confronting a
rising Islamist force (ref A). These voices further insist
that the SARG's "battle" against Jund al-Sham is designed to
subtly warn the West that the Asad regime is the last bulwark
in Syria preventing a fundamentalist takeover. Interestingly,
Jund al-Sham,s last few attacks have come in close proximity
to the release of a report by the international investigators
into the assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri
(ref B) END COMMENT.
CORBIN
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
PARIS FOR WALLER, LONDON FOR TSOU, DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2006
TAGS: ASEC PGOV SY
SUBJECT: LOCAL PRESS REACTION TO ATTACK ON U.S. EMBASSY
REF: A. DAMASCUS 1160
B. DAMASCUS 2598
Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY: A/DCM William V. Roebuck for reasons 1.4
B/D
1. (U) No one has yet claimed responsibility for yesterday's
attack, but the SARG is publicly blaming militant Islamists.
Asharq Al-Awsat reported that a "Syrian security member was
killed by the bullets of an American Marine element that was
on the roof of the Embassy." However, the RSO confirms that
U.S. Marines fired no shots yesterday. The government-owned
news agency, SANA, reported that the fourth terrorist died of
severe wounds before authorities were able interrogate him.
2. (U) Less specific than Syrian Ambassador to the U.S. Imad
Moustapha's comments on CNN blaming Jund al-Sham, SANA
reported that Syrian forces thwarted an operation by an
unspecified Sunni Islamic jihadist group, referred to
generically as a "Takfiri" group. Initial official statements
were even more vague, with the government-controlled paper
Al-Thawra reporting that the Interior Minister General Bassam
Abdel Majeed simply stated that it was a "terrorist operation
targeting the U.S. embassy."
3. (U) Echoing Ambassador Moustapha,s public accusation that
U.S. policy had provoked the attack, other Syrian officials
including MP and Prominent Sunni Sheikh Muhammad Habash
blamed U.S. policy. He said, "I am certainly not a news
reporter, but after this continuous series of U.S. injustices
in the region, I can understand why people are angry at the
U.S. policies and why militants who might or might not be
affiliated with extremist organizations carry out such acts."
JUND AL-SHAM
4. (C) Despite the Syrian press not yet having named Jund
al-Sham as responsible for the September 12 attack on the
U.S. Embassy, regional and international press has focused on
the group. The group, Jund al-Sham, Arabic for Soldiers of
the Levant, is a Sunni Muslim group. The group is reportedly
affiliated with a branch of al-Qaida and has been linked to
various attacks mostly in northern Syria (in and around
Aleppo) and more recently in Damascus. In the last year, the
state-controlled press has linked the group to a series of
attacks and gun battles with security forces. SARG officials
portray the group as the most active militant group in the
country.
5. (C) COMMENT: The SARG argues that the violent activities
of Jund al-Sham demonstrate that Syria too is targeted by
terrorism because of the SARG's secular nationalist ideology.
Regime proxies insist that militant Islamists also target the
Alawite regime because it is viewed as dominated by a
"heretical" Muslim sect. Many Syrians, including members of
Syria's civil society groups and opposition members, argue
that the SARG is fabricating the clashes with Jund al-Sham to
persuade the West it is taking steps to prevent foreign
fighters from infiltrating Iraq and that it is confronting a
rising Islamist force (ref A). These voices further insist
that the SARG's "battle" against Jund al-Sham is designed to
subtly warn the West that the Asad regime is the last bulwark
in Syria preventing a fundamentalist takeover. Interestingly,
Jund al-Sham,s last few attacks have come in close proximity
to the release of a report by the international investigators
into the assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri
(ref B) END COMMENT.
CORBIN