SYRIAN OFFICIALS PUBLICLY DENY REGIME ROLE IN AIN

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 000293

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

PARIS FOR WALLER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV KCRM LE BY
SUBJECT: SYRIAN OFFICIALS PUBLICLY DENY REGIME ROLE IN AIN
ALAQ BUS BOMBINGS

REF: USUN NEW YORK 0183

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michael H. Corbin for reasons 1.4 b/d


1. (SBU) In the past week, Syrian Interior Minister Maj.
Gen. Bassam Abdul Majeed rejected suggestions that the regime
was involved in the February 13 Ain Alaq bus bombings in
Lebanon, despite the March 13 announcement by Lebanese
officials of the arrest of four Syrian members of Fatah Islam
in connection with the crime. Abdul Majeed denied that
Syrian intelligence had coordinated the attacks with Fatah
Islam, noting that Fatah Islam leader Shaker Abssy, who is a
Jordanian-born Palestinian, had spent three years in a Syrian
prison with hard labor from mid-2003 to mid-2006 for links to
Al-Qaeda, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency
(SANA) and picked up in the March 15 issue of the official
Syrian Al-Ba'ath and Al-Thawra newspapers. Abssy was
released after completing his sentence in Syria, but a new
warrant for his arrest was issued January 28 when detainees
with suspected links to Al-Qaeda revealed that Abssy had
resumed his Al-Qaeda-related activities, according to SANA.
Authorities continue to search for Abssy, who remains at
large, according to SANA.


2. (SBU) On the same day that papers carried articles about
Abdul Majeed's denial, Al-Ba'ath also covered a piece by New
Yorker writer Seymour Hersh about his conversation with a
former British intelligence officer, suggesting that Lebanese
government officials had offered weapons and money to Fatah
Islam shortly after the split with its pro-Syrian parent
group, Fatah al-Intifada.


3. (C) Comment: It is somewhat unusual for SARG officials
to respond so quickly and directly to accusations against the
Syrian regime. Usually responses are indirect and seek to
obscure the facts about individuals linked to alleged crimes.
Abdul Majeed may have been encouraged to respond promptly,
given that the Lebanese announcement about the arrests
corresponded with UNIIIC investigator Serge Brammertz's
latest interim report to the UNSYG, who may visit Syria in
April (as reported in reftel). The SARG's official response
certainly reflects the depth and bitterness of its ongoing
dispute with the Lebanese government, with Syria trying to
downplay the extent of its influence next door. It is also
possible that the Syrians are concerned about Abssy's
activities, particularly in light of a growing number of
comments by the SARG to foreign visitors about what appear to
be genuine security concerns.
CORBIN