War (of Words) with Syria
View current page...more recent posts
Wednesday, Dec 31, 2003
Syria Asks UN to Help Rid Mideast of Nuclear Arms
Reuters -- December 29, 2003
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS - Syria pushed for a ban on nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in the Middle East on Monday, using its final days on the U.N. Security Council to shine a spotlight on Israel's suspected nuclear arms.
PM, Shalom differ on Syrian overtures
Jerusalem Post -- December 31, 2003
By HERB KEINON
The Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry disagree over how to handle recent conciliatory Syrian overtures, diplomatic officials said Tuesday.
They said the Foreign Ministry wants to seriously look into whether the overtures can be the basis for restarting negotiations, but the Prime Minister's Office – while paying lip service to the idea that Israel is interested in pursuing peace with all its neighbors – doesn't want to throw a "life raft" to the Syrians, currently in a weak position internationally.
Report: Likud MK invited to Syria
Associated Press via Jerusalem Post -- December 30, 2003
A lawmaker from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud Party has been invited to Syria to discuss a recent proposal by Syrian President Bashar Assad to renew peace talks between the bitter foes, Israel Radio reported Tuesday.
[Original LA Times story requires subscription.]
Syria sold weapons to Saddam
The Scotsman -- December 31, 2003
JASON BEATTIE
SYRIA repeatedly breached United Nations embargoes to supply Iraq with arms and military hardware in the run-up to the coalition’s invasion in March, it was reported yesterday.
Iran and Syria are next to feel the heat
Telegraph -- December 22, 2003
By Benedict Brogan and Anton La Guardia
Tony Blair will seek to use the diplomatic breakthrough with Libya to secure similar concessions on weapons of mass destruction from Iran and Syria. Ministers believe that his New Year offensive will restore his fortunes.
Secret "back channel" talks, which have been going on for months with both countries, will be stepped up as London and Washington try to capitalise on the surprise U-turn by Col Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator.
Now, Syria is in Washington's sights for alleged weapons programme
AFP via SpaceWar -- December 21, 2003
With Libya's renunciation of weapons of mass destruction and Iran's acceptance of tough new inspections of its nuclear programme, Syria finds itself more than ever in Washington's sights for its own alleged weapons programme
[The WaPo article referred to below.]
Commanders Doubt Syria Is Entry Point
Officers See No Sign Of Foreign Fighters
Washington Post -- October 28, 2003
"If somebody is saying the Ho Chi Minh Trail runs through my area of operations, I'm going to tell them they're wrong," said Lt. Col. Joseph Buche, commander of the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne's 3rd Battalion.
[Did anyone remember to brief the Dubster?]
US commanders: Claims about illegal infiltration from Syria to Iraq - ''unfounded''
Al Bawaba -- October 29, 2003
Commanders of U.S. military forces responsible for monitoring the border between Iraq and Syria told The Washington Post there is no evidence from human intelligence sources or radar surveillance aircraft indicating that significant numbers of foreign fighters are infiltrating into Iraq illegally.
U.S. President, George Bush, on Tuesday blamed foreign fighters for four suicide car bombings in Baghdad on Monday that killed at least 40 people.
Under a project that the U.S. military calls Operation Chamberlain, sophisticated Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) planes are gathering information about vehicle movement and relaying it to ground forces.
Commanders from the 101st Airborne have told the newspaper that neither the aircraft nor human intelligence sources show significant infiltration from Syria. "Concerns about illegal infiltration along the Syrian border appear unfounded," the officers told The Post.
Syria slams ICRC attack as harming Iraqi interests
Reuters -- October 29, 2003
[A hunch, you say? Lock and load!]
U.S. VOICES ASSESSMENT OF WMD TO SYRIA
Middle East Newsline -- October 29, 2003
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- For the first time, the U.S. intelligence community has released an assessment that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were transferred to neighboring Syria in the weeks prior to the U.S.-led war against the Saddam Hussein regime.
U.S. officials said the assessment was based on satellite images of convoys of Iraqi trucks that poured into Syria in February and March 2003. The officials said the intelligence community assessed that the trucks contained missiles and WMD components banned by the United Nations Security Council.
The U.S. intelligence assessment was discussed publicly for the first time by the director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency in a briefing in Washington on Tuesday. James Clapper, a retired air force general and a leading member of the U.S. intelligence community, said he linked the disappearance of Iraqi WMD with the huge number of Iraqi trucks that entered Syria before and during the U.S. military campaign to topple the Saddam regime.
"I think personally that the [Iraqi] senior leadership saw what was coming and I think they went to some extraordinary lengths to dispose of the evidence," Clapper said. "I'll call it an educated hunch."