SYRIA: INFLUENTIAL WOMEN

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000107 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR S/WE SASHA MEHRA AND GERDA LANE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KWMN PHUM PGOV PREL SUBJECT: SYRIA: INFLUENTIAL WOMEN REF: A. SECSTATE 00202341 ¶B. DAMASCUS 02066 ¶1. (SBU) In response to reftel A requesting the names of the five most influential women in government and civil society, Post notes the difficult bilateral relations with the SARG and the regime's deep suspicion about USG intentions to use Syrian civil society for U.S. political purposes. Additionally, because the regime employs police-state tactics to control the Syrian population, most civil society groups operating here are linked in some way to the government. With that aside, we offer the requested mix of women in the event that they are useful for current or future contacts: -- First Lady Asma Al-Akras Al-Asad, who has taken an active role on promoting women's empowerment and development of rural areas through the establishment of the local NGO, FIRDOS; -- Buthayna Sha'aban, Minister of Expatriates, former SARG spokeswoman, and participant in past Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations; -- Sheikha Munira Qubasi, Syrian founder of a growing Sufi-influenced religious women's movement (reftel B); -- Popular Syrian actress Muna Wasif (also mother of exiled Syrian intellectual Ammar Abdulhamid); -- Hind Kabawat, who is a Syrian/Canadian civil society activist who focuses primarily on interfaith dialogue and people-to-people diplomacy. ¶2. (SBU) None of our contacts were able to come up with Syrian candidates who could be considered Oprah Winfrey-type media icons. CORBIN