SYRIAN EXILE POLITICIAN ON PLANS FOR NEW PARTY,

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 000297

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2024
TAGS: PREL SY AU
SUBJECT: SYRIAN EXILE POLITICIAN ON PLANS FOR NEW PARTY,
PARLIAMENT IN EXILE

Classified By: CDA Dean Yap. Reason: 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary and Action Request. A Syrian exile politician
resident in Vienna, Marwan Hammoud, briefed Econ/Pol
Counselor March 10 on plans to establish a new, democratic
Syrian opposition party that would operate both in Syria and
abroad and on plans by a coalition of parties to establish a
centrist parliament- and government-in-exile. The
"center-left" political party envisaged would promote
economic and political reform and building a Syrian identity.
The parliament- and government-in-exile allegedly brings
together five centrist groups -- excluding both the extreme
left and Islamist groups. Post has had intermittent
mid-level contact with Hammoud in the past but has no way of
assessing his credibility. In the course of the
conversation, Hammoud openly sought USG political and/or
material support for the plans he outlined. Washington
guidance on further contact with Hammoud is requested. End
Summary and Action Request.


2. (C) Marwan Hammoud, "Coordinator" of the Salvation and
National Reconciliation Front in Syria SNRFS has been an
intermittent EMBASSY contact for several years. In previous
contacts, Hammoud has briefed EMBASSY officers on his own
organization's political program and plans, and has offered a
limited description of its presence and activities in Syria.
In addition, he has provided some information on plans in the
broader Syrian exile political community. Though Hammoud has
credentials as an exile politician dating back at least
several years, the EMBASSY cannot evaluate his role or
credibility.

New Opposition Party
--------------


3. (C) Hammoud met March 10 with Econ/Pol Counselor to brief
on the results of a February meeting in Bonn, at which 15
representatives of the Front and other organizations planned
the establishment of a new political party and a linked human
rights organization. This followed an October 2008 meeting
and is to be a prelude to another, larger meeting, likely in
May, that would formally establish the party.


4. (C) Describing the new party as a center-left grouping,
Hammoud did not provide details on the other organizations
cooperating with the SNRFS. He did emphasize that the party
was multi-ethnic/multi-religious in character and rejected
participation by Islamists or persons from the far-left. The
party rejected pan-Arabism or ethnic (Kurdish) or
confessional (Alaouite Sunni or Christian) politics as a
basis for its program, which Hammoud stressed was focused on
economic and political reform and building a Syrian national
identity. He asserted that the party had some 300-400
"members" outside Syria and could count on up to 11-12,000
supporters in Syria. Moreover, up to 10-15% of the
population would be passive supporters of the new party.
These included, he claimed, members of the armed services and
police, and also persons who were formal members of the Baath
party.


5. (C) The Syrian and exile branches of the SNRFS, the basis
of the new party, have limited contact, Hammoud
acknowledged. Some party supporters in the Gulf region are
able to visit Syria regularly and carry messages; the party
has also sometimes smuggled people into Syria via Cyprus,
Hammoud claimed. He himself had not been in Syria for 21
years and would be arrested if he attempted to enter the
country.

Parliament- and Government-in-Exile
--------------


6. (C) In addition to the project above, Hammoud said the
Front is working on a second track with four other
organizations to create a parliament-in-exile (tentatively
named the "Syrian Patriotic Association") that would, in
turn, elect a government-in-exile and draft a new Syrian
constitution. The other organizations are: the National
Salvation Front, headed by former Vice-President Khaddam; the
National Union, headed by Rifaat Al Asad; the Damascus
Declaration organization; and an otherwise unidentified
Kurdish group. The five are in frequent consultation and are
planning a congress in the late summer or early fall.
Hammoud described the decision of the five to break with
non-democratic opposition groups, most importantly the Muslim
Brotherhood, as the key step in facilitating the present
cooperation among the five.


7. (C) All together, these groups count an exile membership
of a few thousand, Hammoud thought. He claimed, though, that
they could count on the passive support of up to two-thirds
of the Syrian population -- whereas the government enjoyed
support from no more than 10-15% of the population.

Bio Note
--------------


8. (C) Hammoud reported that he left Syria to study medicine
in the former Yugoslavia in 1983, where he was drawn into
opposition politics -- initially as a member of the Communist
Party. In 1986, however, he abandoned the Communists for a
forerunner to the SNRFS. He did not complete his degree. In
Yugoslavia he also became acquainted with the then-opposition
figure Zoran Djindjic (later assassinated),whom he sees as a
political role model. Hammoud left Yugoslavia for Austria in

1995. Details of his past political activity are not known
to us, but we note an internet report of his attendance at a
2006 London meeting of Syrian exiles at which he broke with
ex-Vice President Khaddam's National Salvation Front because
of its non-democratic internal proceedings. Hammoud speaks
little or no English; our contact with him is in German.
YAP