War (of Words) with Syria
View current page...more recent posts
Monday, May 05, 2003
[Transcript of NBC interview of Powell.]
Transcript: Powell Says U.S. Interested in Comprehensive Mideast Settlement
US Department of State -- May 4
(On NBC, secretary discusses Syria, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Cuba)
Given the new situation in the Middle East, Secretary of State Colin
Powell said on NBC's [Meet the Press] May 4, the United States will be
looking for action by Syria on a number of issues, and is interested
in a comprehensive Middle East settlement that takes into account the
interests of Syria and Lebanon, as well as those of Israel and the
Palestinians.
[Transcript of ABC interview of Powell.]
Transcript: Powell Says U.S. Watching Syria's Anti-Terrorist Actions
US Department of State -- May 4
In a May 4 interview on ABC's This Week, Secretary of State Colin
Powell said the United States will "be watching" to see whether or not
Syria carries out its promises to shut down terrorist offices
operating in its country and restrict the activities of terrorists in
other ways.
[More on Powell's Sunday talk show circuit. Offers carrot and stick approach.]
Praising Syria's President, Powell Also Hints at Sanctions
New York Times -- May 4
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Colin L. Powell labeled as "significant" today the promises he received from President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to shut down the offices of militant groups in that nation, but he said the United States would carefully scrutinize whether Mr. Assad would back up his words with actions in the coming weeks and months.
Speaking on a round of Sunday television interview shows the day after returning from the Middle East, Mr. Powell also hinted that the United States would be prepared to consider political and economic sanctions against Syria if no action was forthcoming, while positive steps could lead to economic benefits for Syria.
Lebanon nixes U.S. call to remove Hezbollah from border area
The Associated Press via Ha'aretz -- May 4
BEIRUT - Lebanon's president rebuffed U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's call to end Hezbollah's military presence in the country's south and replace it with Lebanese forces, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Emile Lahoud told Powell, who visited Beirut on Saturday, that Hezbollah is a "legal political party," whose guerrilla war helped end Israel's 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon, a leading independent daily newspaper, An-Nahar, reported.
Syrian Reaction to Powell Visit Mixed
Voice Of America -- May 4
Greg LaMotte
Cairo - There is a mixed response from Syrian media to Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit Saturday to Damascus. While some view the visit as beneficial, others say the United States needs to drop its demand that Syria close offices of Palestinian groups the United States views as terrorist organizations.
The moderate Syrian Christian newspaper Al-Anwar said Mr. Powell, through discussion, received a Syrian pledge to cooperate in a regional peace process.
But Syria's ruling Baath party newspaper An-Nahar said Mr. Powell's call for Syria to close the offices of radical groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, violated the Palestinians' right to plead their case to the international community. Both groups have boasted of carrying out suicide attacks in Israel.
Lebanon clash
Sun Network (India) -- May 4
Beirut - Anti-Syrian demonstrators clashed with Lebanese security forces near the Foreign Ministry in Beirut. Several hundred protestors called for freedom and independence from what they said was the Syrian occupation of their country. They urged U S Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is currently in Lebanon, to ask the Syrians to pull out of their country.
Syria maintains thousands of troops in Lebanon … something the right-wing Christians oppose. The US wants both Lebanon and Syria to cut off support to militants in the region, including the Hezobllah. The protestors carried pictures of Genral Michel Aoun, a former Lebanese army commander who lives in exile in France and urged supporters to continue protesting the presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon. The demonstrators then broke through two security barricades and headed to the offices of opposition TV and radio station which were closed by authorities last year. They clashed with security forces, who used batons and rifle butts to break up the protest in the Ashrafieh neighbourhood in Beirut.
Hizbollah, Hamas Brush Off Powell's Syria Demands
Reuters -- May 4
By Joseph Logan
BEIRUT - Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas said on Sunday they were confident Lebanon and Syria would not bow to U.S. demands to rein them in and vowed to keep up armed resistance to Israel.
The militant Palestinian group Hamas, whose Damascus office Washington demands Syria close to get in line with U.S. plans for the Middle East after the Iraq war, also shrugged off U.S. pressure and said its fight with Israel would continue.
"I doubt anyone would answer their call, for as long as there is (Israeli) occupation, no one can even propose disarming the resistance," Sheikh Hassan Izzedine, a senior official of Syrian and Iranian-backed Hizbollah, told Reuters.
"We are not worried a bit about the future and we consider ourselves people with a just cause and we reject any threat."
Since helping drive Israel from south Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year-occupation, Hizbollah has periodically clashed with Israeli troops in a disputed border zone that Lebanon and Syria claim is Lebanese, but which the United Nations sees as Syrian land occupied by Israel.
Lebanon has resisted pressure to fully deploy its army in the area, and Hizbollah officials on Sunday echoed the Lebanese government's argument that doing so would be tantamount to guaranteeing the Jewish state's security.
"We have to distinguish between sending the army to the border...and the army being protection for Israel, defending the Zionist entity and being a policeman for Israel in the region," Hussein Khalil, an aide to Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, told Hizbollah's TV station.
[Oops, this story has changed slightly since I linked it.]
Militant groups shrug off Powell
BBC -- May 4
Militant Palestinian groups have shrugged off US pressure on Syria and Lebanon to stop supporting them, saying it will have no impact.
"This is just talk, it's a storm in a cup because we are merely media offices," Abu Jihad Talaat of Islamic Jihad told Reuters news agency.
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official speaking from Lebanon, said: "The Americans know well that our presence is part of the Palestinian presence in Syria and Lebanon and that it's not voluntary.
"It is forced, because of the occupation of our land and the expulsion of Palestinians (at the creation of Israel)."
And Marwan Abou Sami, of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said the groups had not been officially told to move their offices.
Israeli officials expressed doubts that Syria would crack down on militant groups.
One foreign ministry spokesman told AFP news agency: It's a good step by the United States to try to put an end to this. The future will tell but I have my doubts."
{Powell did the rounds of the Sunday talk shows. Here are some of his comments from Meet the Press.]
Powell: Syria knows what U.S. expects
CNN -- May 4
WASHINGTON -- Syrian President Bashar Assad "has no illusions" that the United States expects him to curb the activities of terrorist organizations in his country or face the consequences, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday.
[More on Powell's visit to Syria and Lebanon.]
Analysis / No more Mr. Nice Guys
Ha'aretz -- May 4
By Zvi Bar'el
In an unorthodox move that enraged Syria and Lebanon, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell held a press conference even before meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud. Powell was making the point that if Syria is inviting him for "dialog," as Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shara put it, Syria had better be informed publicly of the rules of this dialog and of who exactly it is who's setting them.