War (of Words) with Syria
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Tuesday, May 27, 2003
[To hedge bets on which is the next country to be liberated, this page follows news about Iran from time to time.]
U.S. dismisses Iran's claim that it arrested suspected al-Qaida members
Knight Ridder Newspapers -- May 27
By Jonathan S. Landay
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration on Tuesday dismissed Iran's claim that it had arrested suspected al-Qaida members but said the United States would use diplomacy to pressure the Islamic regime to stop harboring terrorists.
"It's a diplomatic course that the president is pursuing and it's a course that trusts the Iranian people, at its core, that the future of Iran will be determined by the people of Iran," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
Fleischer reiterated U.S. charges that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, rejecting Tehran's assertions that its nuclear program is for civilian energy production.
"They don't need nuclear energy for their electric grid," he said. "They have sufficient energy from . . . gas and from oil."
[One shouldn't debate a topic as important as national security.]
Hezbollah threats alarmist: Lebanese community
Australian Broadcast Company, The World Today -- May 27
Reporter: Tanya Nolan
HAMISH ROBERTSON: Claims made by the Federal Government that the Lebanese-based Hezbollah group poses a terrorist threat to Australia have been met with confusion and alarm amongst some members of the Arab-Australian community.
Federal Attorney-General, Daryl Williams, is seeking to ban the terrorist-wing of the Hezbollah organisation on the basis of what he says is ASIO intelligence suggesting the group has a capacity to carry out an attacks here in Australia.
Members of the Lebanese community say Hezbollah sympathisers are resident here in Australia and spokespeople for Australia's Jewish community say Hezbollah does pose a serious threat, as demonstrated by its past attacks around the world.
But Lebanese community leaders also say that they're committed to the war on terrorism, and are concerned that the Government's claims are alarmist and may generate a backlash.
Tanya Nolan reports.
TANYA NOLAN: Attorney-General Daryl Williams has bipartisan political support for the threat he perceives to come from the Lebanese-based and Iranian and Syrian sponsored group Hezbollah, but asked on our sister program, AM, today what that specific threat is, the Attorney-General wouldn't elaborate
DARYL WILLIAMS: The question you're asking is one that successive governments would have declined to answer on the basis that you're asking questions relating to national security
[Ashcroft's Australian counterpart: Although your perfectly reasonable compromise meets our immediate goal to ban Hezbollah, you oppose a change in law that will increase the power of the Attorney-General. Why do you hate Australia?]
We're in reach of Mid-East terrorists: A-G
news.com.au -- May 28
By John Kerin and Cameron Stewart
The militant Lebanese-based terror group Hezbollah, which maintains an open threat to kill Australians in the Middle East over the Iraq war, has the global reach to mount an attack in Australia, the Federal Government has warned.
Pumping up pressure on the Federal Opposition and the Labor states to support a ban on the terrorist wing of Hezbollah in Australia, Attorney-General Daryl Williams said yesterday the group was one of the few with the resources to harm Australians at home.
But Mr Williams did not produce evidence of active terrorist cells in Australia.
It is understood that although there are people with links to the organisation in Australia, the Government believes there are no active terrorist cells here.
A high-level US government report states that Hezbollah is active in Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East and has terrorist cells in Europe, North and South America and Asia, but does not mention Australia.
Hezbollah may be trafficking drugs in South America
San Jose Mercury News -- May 23
By TIM JOHNSON
WASHINGTON - A recent arrest in Paraguay is raising concern on Capitol Hill about links between the radical Hezbollah group and drug trafficking in South America.
Police in Asuncion arrested a relative of Assad Ahmad Barakat, the chief of Hezbollah in South America, with about five pounds of cocaine hidden in an electric piano that he allegedly intended to smuggle into Syria.
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, brought up the arrest in a hearing this week that examined links between drug trafficking and international terrorism. The arrest of Barakat's relative, Hatch said, demonstrated "the narco-terrorist financing operations needed to support Barakat and Hezbollah."
Hezbollah condemns bombings in Riyadh, Casablanca: Newspaper
Zee News (India) -- May 25
Cairo -- The leader of Lebanon's Shiite Muslim fundamentalist movement, Hezbollah, condemned this month's suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia and Morocco for having targetted "innocent people," an Egyptian newspaper reported today.
"In principle, we do not approve of this kind of operation," Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview with the government daily al-Ahram.
Israel's propagandists target Hizbullah
Yellow Times -- May 26
By Sharif Hikmat Nashashibi
Much was made in the British media on May 23 of the alleged Israeli capture of a Hizbullah boat, supposedly laden with weapons, weapons-making material and instructions, and supposedly destined for the occupied Palestinian territories. However, an analysis of the reports points to sloppy, highly selective journalism in the face of Israeli propaganda.
Hizbullah hospital wins praise along border
Facility embodies ‘softer’ side of jihad
The Daily Star -- May 27
Nicholas Blanford
In marked contrast to the general lack of development in the border district since Israel’s troop withdrawal three years ago this week, the Hizbullah-run Saleh Ghandour Hospital in Bint Jbeil is proving a rare success story.
With international attention focused on Hizbullah’s military presence in the border area, the hospital represents the often overlooked aspect of the party as it quietly dispenses low-cost healthcare to local residents, regardless of their faith.
Bassem Sidawi, a Christian doctor from Ain Ibl, worked at the hospital during the years of occupation, treating locals as well as the occasional Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army militiamen who had been wounded by Hizbullah’s resistance fighters. Today, Sidawi still treats patients at the hospital and will not hear a word against the party.
“It makes me very angry when I see Hizbullah being described as a terrorist organization, “Sidawi said. “It’s a manipulation of what is happening here. Hizbullah is not a terrorist group.”
Australia plans to ban Hizbullah
Al Bawaba -- May 27
The Australian government said Tuesday that it is planning to ban the Lebanon-based Hizbullah group, “due to intelligence suggesting members of the group have been involved in various terror activities.”
Justice Minister Daryl Williams said that while the US and Britain had banned Hizbullah, Australia hadn’t, “The Australian laws regarding terror groups permit us to ban only groups that are enlisted on the list of terror organizations published by the UN Security Council (UNSC)”, he explained.
According to Australian anti-terror laws, a group must be declared a terrorist organization by the United Nations Security Council before it can be proscribed in Australia.
Williams added that Australia should prepare itself to cope with expected terror threats. “The US is conducting an all-out war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, but it seems it is not tackling other organizations which have a similar political doctrine to that of Al Qaeda. Hizbullah is a dangerous terror group and we ought to fight it,” Williams told the Australian parliament.
HAMAS RUNS INSURGENCY OPERATIONS FROM SYRIA
MENL -- May 25
WASHINGTON -- Hamas has employed its offices in Syria for the financing and planning of insurgency operations, a new report says.
The report by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said Hamas leaders use their Damascus headquarters for the planning of major operations against Israel. The report, authored by Matthew Levitt, said Hamas leaders in Damascus have acknowledged their central role in insurgency operations.
"From their Syrian safe haven, Hamas leaders Khaled Mashaal, Mussa Abu Marzouk, Imad Al Alami, and others actively launch terrorist operations." the report said. "Hamas leaders have acknowledged the central role that their group's Damascus-based 'political' leaders play in operational decision-making."
The report cited a statement from the late Hamas military commander Salah Shehada in the Gaza Strip. Shehada, who was assassinated last year in an Israeli air attack in Gaza City, had asserted that "the political apparatus is sovereign over the military apparatus, and a decision of the political [echelon] takes precedence over the decision of the military [echelon], without intervening in military operations."
U.S. sees signs Syria curtailing 'terror support'
Reuters via Ha'aretz -- May 23
WASHINGTON - The United States sees some signs that Syria is curtailing its support for "terrorism" but not the kind of dramatic moves Washington has been looking for, a senior State Department official said on Friday.
Syria and Iran remain among the seven nations that the United States lists as state sponsors of terrorism, in part because of U.S. allegations that both nations support anti-Israel groups like Hezbollah.
"We are not going to look fondly toward nations such as Iran or Syria which serve as origination and transshipment points for weapons (that are going to) Hezbollah and we have made that clear to both of them," the U.S. official, who asked not to be identified, told reporters as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell flew home from a two-day visit to Paris.