War (of Words) with Syria
View current page...more recent posts
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Syrians Worry About Their Baath Party
AP via Austin-American Statesman -- May 13
BEIRUT, Lebanon --Despite three decades of hostility between the rival Baath parties of Syria and Iraq, the Syrian Baathists are watching with concern how the party that ruled neighboring Iraq under Saddam Hussein has been crushed and dissolved by the U.S. forces in Iraq.
[Harsh words for Christians? Any form of criticism is "bashing"?]
State Dept. Duped by Syria, State Official Bashes Christians
Christian Broadcast Network -- May 13
By Chris Mitchell
Some observers feel Syria is dancing circles around the State Department with public assurances but little concrete action.
CBN.com – JERUSALEM — Syria recently promised Colin Powell that it would take action against terrorists inside its borders, but it hasn't fulfilled those promises. And in a separate story, a State Department official has some harsh words for conservatives and Christians.
Syrian President Bashar Assad assured Powell that Syria would close the offices of Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad. But Assad told The Washington Post that there are differences of opinion about what was meant by "closures" of the offices.
So the offices remain open, and other actions like cutting aid to Hezbollah have not been implemented. Some observers feel Syria is dancing circles around the State Department with public assurances but little concrete action.
In another State Department issue, The Jerusalem Post reported Monday that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns criticized U.S. groups that support Israel. The groups include conservatives, Christians and representatives of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby in Washington.
Burns met with left-wing Knesset members, Peace Now activists and Palestinian representatives on May 4th about the new peace proposal called the "road map." According to the minutes of the meeting, Burns stated that "the common sense of all peoples will override the conservative and Christian viewpoints once they see the road map's potential."
SYRIA: AN OK FOR PRIVATE RADIO STATIONS
Monday Morning (Beirut) -- May 12
The Syrian authorities have approved the creation of four private radio stations, but they will be limited to broadcasting music and advertisements, according to the official SANA news agency.
The stations are expected to begin broadcasting on FM wavelength in the coming months to Syria and neighboring countries, SANA said.
Syria’s two government-run radio stations, Radio Damascus and the Voice of the People, are the only ones authorized to broadcast programs on political issues.
A parliamentary bill on setting up private radio stations was approved by the Syrian government in January 2002.
In 2001, Syria authorized the creation of two private newspapers, the satirical Al-Dumari paper and an economic paper, Al-Iqtissadiya.
Iran, Syria, Lebanon all shun confrontation: Lebanese PM
AFP via IranMania -- May 13
BEIRUT - Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri said after talks Monday with Iran's President Mohammad Khatami that Beirut, Tehran and Damascus all shunned confrontation in the Middle East and sought a global settlement
"And I think that cooperation among the moderate countries will lead towards a better situation in the region," he said. "Khatami represents moderation in the Muslim world."
On the issue of US pressure on Lebanon and its ally Syria to disarm the Lebanese Shiite Muslim fundamentalist militia Hezbollah, Hariri said the focus should be on finding a comprehensive settlement in the Middle East.
U.S. troops reopen Iraqi border crossing with Syria, general says
AP via San Jose Mercury News -- May 13
MATT KELLEY
WASHINGTON - U.S. forces on Tuesday reopened a border crossing between Iraq and Syria, the commander of the Army's 101st Airborne Division said.
Maj. Gen. David Petraeus said his forces, based in Fort Campbell, Ky., reopened a crossing near the northern city of Mosul "to trade in accordance with United Nations regulations." He was referring to remaining sanctions that ban shipments of weapons and other restricted material to Iraq.
[Most of the interview was concerning Israel-Palestine issues, but the following except covered Syria.]
Powell Interview with Israeli Television Channel 2 on May 12
US Department of State -- May 13
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, last week you said that President Assad of
Syria lied to you. What makes you believe that he doesn't do it again,
especially after an interview to Newsweek when he said that he is not
going to close the terror organization offices, and he's not going to
crack down on Hezbollah?
SECRETARY POWELL: He did mislead me once before. It is not a matter of
me believing him or not believing him now, it's a matter of what he
does. What I said to him very clearly is there are things that we
believe he should do if he wants a better relationship with the United
States, if he wants to play a helpful role in solving the crisis here
in the region, and frankly if he wants to have good relations with a
neighbor of his that will have a new government, a government that I
believe will be very pro-American, very pro-Western, and will not view
with favor any efforts on the part of Syria to either destabilize Iraq
or to continue its terrorist support activities in Israel and in the
territories.
So I believe that President Bashar al-Assad has every incentive to
respond to the issues that I put before him last weekend. If he
chooses not to respond, if he chooses to dissemble, if he chooses to
find excuses, then he will find that he is on the wrong side of
history. He will find that he will not have better relations with the
United States, and he can take his choice. Does he want to have good
relations with the United States? Or does he want to have good
relations with Hamas? His choice.
Hizbullah braces for America’s wrath
Politburo member expects no change in support
The Daily Star -- May 12
Alia Ibrahim
Hizbullah appears to be the main target of the United States in the Middle East, now that the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been toppled. It faces accusations of carrying out terrorist activities but insists it is a legitimate resistance group.
Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, a member of the party’s politburo, stressed that the resistance has two clear and simple aims, liberating the occupied lands and deterring Israel.
Speaking to The Daily Star, he was very firm in denying accusations that the party undertook terrorist activities during the 80s, including any involvement in Western hostage-taking and the bombing of the US Marine barracks.
He said that all those activities had taken place before 1985, the year when Hizbullah was officially formed, adding that this was a time when chaos had reigned in the country.
[How relations between the US and Iran may affect relations between Israel, Lebanon and Syria.]
US and Iran hold secret talks after 23 years of hostility
The Independent -- May 13
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
The United States and Iran have held secret talks that could have an important bearing on the interlocking problems of Afghanistan, the future government of Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Though Bush administration officials denied yesterday the dialogue could lead to a normalisation of relations, senior representatives of the two countries have had three rounds of talks this year.
The next session is due next week in Geneva – technically under the auspices of the United Nations, but in practice they are bilateral discussions between the Iranians and an American team led by Zalmay Khalilzad, President George Bush's special envoy for Afghanistan and Iraq.
The contacts were disclosed as the Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami, began a historic visit to Beirut. He was expected to make a nod in the direction of one important demand by Washington – for Hizbollah guerrillas, who operate from Lebanon and are backed by Tehran, to rein in attacks on Israeli-occupied territories.
In oblique confirmation of Iran's desire to lower the temperature with the US, Rafik al-Hariri, the Lebanese Prime Minister, declared after talks with Mr Khatami yesterday that neither wanted to inflame tensions in the region, and would press for a diplomatic solution. "We still have in Lebanon part of our land occupied, the Syrians have the Golan Heights. All these need to be solved," Mr Hariri said, referring to the Shebaa farms and to the territory Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.
[Exceprt from a review of "Water Wars: Drought, Flood, Folly, and the Politics of Thirst" by Diane Raines Ward.]
Water, water everywhere, but too few drops for all
The Sun -- May 11
It's easy to believe, for instance, that the tension in the Middle East is all about religion and nationalism. Take the Six-Day War of 1967. According to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, "In reality, it started two-and-a-half years earlier, on the day Israel decided to act against the diversion of the Jordan [River]."
Israel, through the canals and pipes of its National Water Carrier, had been diverting water from the Jordan River to deliver water to its people. The Jordan has its source in several streams that originate in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Arab League leaders, angered by the water diversion downstream, decided to do their own diversion upstream.
Israel warned its neighbors that if they tried to cut off any of the water supply there would be hell to pay. They did, and there was. Israel bombed water projects on the Hasbani and Wazzani rivers in Lebanon and the Yarmouk River dam in Syria, then annexed the Golan Heights, thus ensuring control of the Jordan River's headwaters.
After war, Syria speeds reforms
The Washington Post via MSNBC -- May 12
By Alan Sipress
DAMASCUS, Syria — For more than 20 years, Syrian boys and girls have worn military-style school uniforms, olive green with stripes on their epaulets to signify their grade and caps to match.