War (of Words) with Syria
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Wednesday, Apr 30, 2003
FM: Syria won't interfere in Iraq
UPI -- April 29
By Thanaa Imam
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Sharaa said Tuesday his country will not interfere in Iraq's internal affairs and noted that forming a temporary administration in Baghdad was normal, but difficult.
"We don't wish to interfere in the Iraqi affairs," Sharaa said during a joint news conference with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul in Damascus.
He, however, said Syria and Iraq had "historical ties deriving from centuries of joint interests that no regime can cancel."
[Depends on the definition of the word "threaten".]
Rumsfeld Says United States Not Threatening Syria
Rueters -- April 29
"We have no hidden agenda," Rumsfeld told a news conference after talks in Riyadh with Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz.
"I think it's a mischaracterization that we threatened Syria. We are not in the business of threatening," Rumsfeld said. "It was a fact, not a threat and that's all I have to say."
Powell to Visit Syria and Lebanon, but Delays Israel Trip
New York Times, April 29
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
WSHINGTON — Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, preparing for an intensive new phase of American diplomacy in the Middle East, said today that he would travel to Syria and Lebanon this week. At the same time, administration officials said that a long-awaited plan intended to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians would be published on Wednesday.
Mr. Powell will meet with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in Damascus on Saturday and pay a visit to Lebanon the same day, the Bush administration announced.
Mr. Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today that while in Syria he would press Mr. Assad further on American demands that Syria hand over any Iraqi leaders who had fled there during the war. The United States also wants Syria to end its support of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations that use Syrian territory or Syrian-held territory in Lebanon as a base for attacks on Israel.
[A story covered previously spoke of preparations to respond to Hezbollah.]
U.S. Fears Hizbullah Retaliation
Middle East News Online -- April 22
"It has a significant presence of its trained operatives inside the United States waiting for the call to action," Sen. Bob Graham, a former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said. "In recent years they have been infiltrating into this core in the United States people who have gone through their training camps and have the skills of terrorist activity."
via What Really Happened
Dissonance
Compare the differences in wording from two different entries in the CIA World Factbook. Current rhetoric from the Bush administration has introduced the word "occupation" to the description of the Syrian deployment in Lebanon.
Syria
Since 1976, Syrian troops have been stationed in Lebanon, ostensibly in a peacekeeping capacity.
Lebanon
Syria maintains about 20,000 troops in Lebanon based mainly in Beirut, North Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley. Syria's troop deployment was legitimized by the Arab League during Lebanon's civil war and in the Ta'if Accord. Damascus justifies its continued military presence in Lebanon by citing Beirut's requests and the failure of the Lebanese Government to implement all of the constitutional reforms in the Ta'if Accord.
Hizbollah Urges Muslims to Defend Syria Against US
Reuters -- April 22
By Mariam Karouny
BEIRUT - Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah called on Arab and Muslim states on Tuesday to defend Syria if the United States launched any military action against Damascus.
[Discussion of cabinet shakeup and Syria's role in same. Report on Lahoud's speech about Lebanese security in light of regional situation.]
HARIRI’S FIFTH GOVERNMENT A CABINET OF SOLIDARITY WITH SYRIA
Monday Morning (Beirut) -- April 21
Lahoud condemned the recent US threats made against both Syria and Lebanon, “especially those focussing on Syria”, saying it was “unfair to punish the Lebanese and the Syrians for standing by Iraq and insisting on a peaceful solution”.
Speaking to a delegation of Army officers visiting Baabda Palace and led by the Army commander-in-chief, General Michel Sleiman, the president said that “Israel’s way of collecting the fruits of the US victory in Iraq depends largely on discrediting Lebanon and Syria and describing them as supporting the Iraqi regime instead of the Iraqi people”.
Lebanon’s support, the president explained, was aimed at alleviating the ill-effects of the invasion on the Iraqi people, adding that Israel’s game was already known since it was under pressure to implement the ‘road map’ peace plan that promises an independent Palestinian state by 2005. But to make up for that pressure, Tel Aviv wanted to strip Lebanon and Syria of any ability to resist or of any negotiating leverage.
[Gingrich expounds on diplomacy at the AEI.]
Gingrich blasts 'diplomatic failure' at State Department
White House defends Powell
CNN -- April 22
"The concept of the American secretary of state going to Damascus to meet with a terrorist-supporting, secret-police-wielding dictator is ludicrous," said Gingrich, who resigned the speakership under fire in 1999. He had represented Georgia as a Republican congressman. "The United States military has created an opportunity to apply genuine economic, diplomatic and political pressure on Syria."
[Analysis of US pressure and its effects on Syria's politics.]
Syria's stark choice
Assad must decide whether to purge prominent figures from his regime or face renewed US wrath
Guardian -- April 21
Brian Whitaker
Syria, unfortunately, is playing directly into the hands of American neo-conservatives.
According to diplomatic sources, the onslaught from Washington is by no means over, and the US is now threatening to expose key business figures in Syria over military sales to Saddam's regime.
The American move could plunge Syria into political turmoil because those involved are closely linked to the country's "old guard" - senior members of the regime who retained power after the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, succeeded his father almost three years ago.
More articles by Brian Whitaker.
Syria welcomes Bush's soothing comments
Syrian FM says Damascus always favored dialogue with Washington following US President's statement.
Middle East Online -- April 21
DAMASCUS - Syria welcomed Monday an apparent softening of US charges against Damascus, with Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara saying the country always favored dialogue to confrontation with Washington.
"We welcome the recent statement by President (George W.) Bush and I would like to add that Syria from the beginning never wanted confrontation but dialogue with the USA," he told reporters during a joint press conference with visiting Spanish counterpart Ana Palacio.