NEW UNANNOUNCED SYRIAN POLICY ON IRAQIS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAMASCUS 000119 SIPDIS SIPDIS PARIS FOR WALLER, LONDON FOR TSOU, STATE FOR PRM, CAIRO FOR DOETSCH, AMMAN FOR KANESHIRO E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2017 TAGS: PREF PGOV PREL SY IZ SUBJECT: NEW UNANNOUNCED SYRIAN POLICY ON IRAQIS REF: A. DAMASCUS 110 ¶B. DAMASCUS 77 ¶C. DAMASCUS 111 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michael H. Corbin for reasons 1.4 b/d ¶1. (C) Summary: Following weeks of unconfirmed reports that the SARG has tightened its entry policy for Iraqis, UNHCR contacts and the issuance of an internal SARG immigration circular confirms the new and stricter measures. Syrian officials, however, continue to dismiss reports of the new policy, which would limit new Iraqi arrivals to a 15-day stay unless they provide evidence of a legitimate rental contract and credible reasons for an extension of up to three months. Visiting UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres plans to raise the matter in talks with SARG officials later this week. The SARG's new policy is in part a reaction to the rising number of Iraqis in Syria, currently estimated at between 800,000 to 1.3 million (or 4 to 7 percent of the country's total population) and subsequent rises in prices, crime and social woes. Despite these very real concerns, the timing of the new policy seems in large part political, particularly since the SARG has yet to ask for international assistance on behalf of Iraqis here. The SARG seems intent on demonstrating to the USG and to the Iraqi government its influence on Iraq. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Following several weeks of unconfirmed reports that the Syrian government has significantly tightened its entry policy for Iraqis (refs A and B),UNHCR's Representative Laurens Jolles confirmed to us February 4 that SARG immigration authorities are implementing new and stricter measures, despite assurances to the contrary by Syrian MFA interlocutors in conversations with UNHCR. Press reports and anecdotal evidence indicate that since mid-January SARG border officials have begun giving new Iraqi (as well as Somali) arrivals a passport entry stamp instructing them to report to the Ministry of Interior if they intend to stay for more than 15 days, Jolles said. (Note: This is similar to the entry stamp given to non-Arabs, including official and non-official Americans, although non-Arabs are usually required to have a Syrian visa, which is not required of Iraqis. End Note.) ¶3. (C) According to an internal Immigration Department circular on the new policy obtained from an Embassy contact, Ministry of Interior immigration officials can extend this 15-day entry stamp for a three-month period. Jolles thought, however, that extensions would only be issued when applicants provide evidence of a legitimate rental contract and credible reasons for a longer stay, including legal employment in Syria. According to the circular, there are exceptions to the 15-day rule for official Iraqi delegations, taxi drivers who regularly make the trip between Damascus and Baghdad, sports teams, and registered students (although it was not clear if this applied to all students or merely university students, or whether their families would be permitted entry under this clause),Jolles said. If an Iraqi cannot provide a credible reason for a long stay, the new policy requires the applicant to leave--at the end of the significantly shorted permitted stay--for a month before reentering the country, Jolles said. ¶4. (C) Jolles said that he understood the reasons behind the SARG's new policy, noting that the estimated number of between 800,000 to 1.3 million Iraqis in the country represent between 4 to 7 percent of the country's total Syrian population. The influx of Iraqis has caused prices to jump, with press reports suggesting that housing costs in some areas have risen by 300 percent. (Comment: We believe that in some traditionally low-income areas, housing prices may have risen more than 300 percent, while in higher-income areas, the increase has been less.) Additionally, the presence of Iraqis is certain to have contributed to serious budgetary strains connected to SARG subsidies, particularly on items such as diesel and electricity (ref C). Separately, there are reports that the presence of Iraqis children in Syrian schools has led to overcrowded classrooms. ¶5. (C) Separately, the influx of Iraqis has also contributed to rising social woes such as prostitution and theft, according to the editor-in-chief of Al-Ba'ath newspaper, an official SARG mouthpiece. Although the SARG has sought to limit the amount of public information available about DAMASCUS 00000119 002 OF 002 Iraqi-related prostitution and crime, we increasingly hear reports suggesting that they are widespread and growing. UNHCR's Jolles told us recently that his office gets occasional reports of Iraqi girls imprisoned on prostitution charges but that when UNHCR officials seek to visit the girls, they have already been released, suggesting the girls work for organized rings. Syrian contacts have commented to us that they have been told the new SARG policy is linked in part to the presence of some 20 Iraqi criminal gangs in Syria. Separately, one of our contacts told us that SARG security responded last month to the kidnapping of an Iraqi girl by an Iraqi organized crime ring in Damascus' predominantly Iraqi Shia neighborhood of Sayda Zeinab. Syrian forces killed six to eight assailants and retrieved the girl unharmed, according to our contact, who noted that officials had also sought to ensure that the incident was not publicly reported. ¶6. (C) While expressing a degree of understanding for the SARG's desire to address the problem, Jolles criticized the government for its lack of transparency in implementing the new measures. He said that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres would raise the matter in his talks with SARG officials at the end of this week. (Note: Guterres is expected to arrive in Damascus the evening of February 7 and meet with SARG officials and the diplomatic community in the following days. End Note.) ¶7. (C) Comment: The SARG's lack of transparency in implementing this new measure is not surprising. While social and economic pressures linked to Iraqis have been building for the past three years in Syria, the timing of the new policy may be driven more by SARG political calculations than by SARG fears about an Iraqi-provoked socio-economic crisis, particularly since the SARG has not asked for international assistance for Iraqis. The SARG seems intent on demonstrating to the USG and to the Iraqi government its influence on Iraq. Other measures in this effort include the banning of Iraqi Airlines from flying in Damascus and last week's meeting between Syrian President Bashar al-Asad and Iraqi Sunni Sheihk Harith al-Dhari, despite an outstanding Iraqi warrant for his arrest (both to be reported septel). CORBIN