VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0727 0571319
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 261319Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7275
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0662
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000727 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL SOCI IZ SY
SUBJECT: SYRIANS DENOUNCE ATTACKS ON IRAQI SHRINES AND 
MOSQUES 
 
¶1.  (U) Syrian officials and religious leaders strongly 
denounced the February 22 bombing of the Golden Mosque in 
Samara and subsequent attacks on Sunni mosques and warned 
against attempts to fragment Iraq's national unity.  The 
Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted an official source on 
February 22 as saying that:  "The sinful attacks against holy 
shrines, mosques, and religious establishments are aimed at 
sowing sedition in Iraq and tearing apart the country's 
national unity."  Syria's new FM Walid Mu'allim and Iranian 
First Vice President Parviz Dawoudi condemned in their 
February 22 meeting the spate of attacks that seek to create 
sedition in Iraq, according to Al-Thawra newspaper.  Syria's 
Grand Mufti, Ahmad Baderedin Hassoun, called upon Islamic 
religious figures to prevent enemy schemes from tearing up 
Iraq's national unity. 
 
¶2.  (U) After Friday prayers on February 23, demonstrators 
outside the Sayda Zeinab Shiite mosque in Damascus protested 
the Samara attack with placards calling on the Iraqi people 
"to unite in the face of sedition and conspiracies which are 
being hatched by the occupation troops to weaken the unity of 
the Iraqi people," according to SANA. 
SECHE