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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #3718/01 2120714
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (TAO)
O 310714Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0640
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
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INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 6916

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 003718 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR PA, NEA/ARN, INR/IC/CD, INR/S:STHIBEAULT AND 
JMCCARTER, VOA NEWS CA, NEA/PPD:CBOURGEOIS, DBENZE AND 
AFERNANDEZ, IIP/G/NEA-SA RWINCHESTER 
WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC 
CENTCOM FOR CCPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR PREL KPAO OPRC SY
SUBJECT: Damascus Media Reaction: Israeli operation in Lebanon 
(7/28-30) 
 
¶1.  Summary: Syrian papers reported that Secretary General of 
Hizbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, stressed in a televised speech on al- 
Manar TV station that Israel has failed to achieve anything 
militarily so far in its 18-day aggression on Lebanon, and that 
Israel has received very tough blows. He added that Hizbollah is 
keen about national unity and solidarity in Lebanon, calling on 
his countrymen to be patient and steadfast. Nasrallah said "we 
are at an historical opportunity in Lebanon to liberate land and 
to restore Lebanese prisoners; victory of the Lebanese resistance 
in this battle is a victory for all Lebanese and Arabs and all 
resistance men. The victory of the Lebanese resistance is a 
victory for all honest Arabs, Moslems and Christians." He also 
praised Syria for hosting tens of thousands of Lebanese evacuees 
who were forced out of their homes by the continued Israeli 
aggression against Lebanese civilians and infrastructure. 
Nasrallah said that the resistance would target many Israeli 
cities in the 'beyond-Haifa stage' unless Israel stops its 
barbaric aggression on Lebanon. 
 
Syrian papers also reported that Israeli warplanes launched a 
series of raids against the Beirut-Damascus road near the 
border point of Al-Masna. A SANA report said that: "Israeli 
artillery bombarded the peripheries of Rashaya al-Fakhar and 
Halta Farm, Kafr Hamam, and Birkat Shab'a for two hours while 
military planes flew over many villages in the Hasbaya region 
dropping leaflets warning citizens against cooperating with the 
Lebanese Resistance." 
 
Papers also reported a statement by Information Minister Muhsin 
Bilal in an interview broadcast by channel two of German ZDF 
television Thursday night, highlights of which were carried by 
SANA. Dr Bilal denied that weapons are sent from Iran to 
Hizballah via Syria. He stressed that Syria supports the 
Lebanese and Palestinian national resistance against the Israeli 
occupation. Minister Bilal said that "Syria is offering every 
possible aid to the Lebanese brothers to help them overcome the 
horrible consequences of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon. 
"Syrians and Lebanese are one family and will not allow 
themselves to be separated by anyone." "Those who propose 
deployment of an international force on the Lebanese-Syrian 
border forget the fraternal relationship between the two 
sisterly countries," he said. "No Syrian or Lebanese will accept 
this," he added. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"Hizbollah Leader Nasrallah: Israel seeks to achieve in politics 
what it has failed to achieve in war.... Victory is presented to 
all Lebanese and honest Arabs.... The shelling al-Afoula 
settlement is a start for the new beyond-Haifa stage. Over 13 
Israeli soldiers injured in attacks in Maroun al-Raas and 19 
Israeli settlers wounded in shelling of Israeli settlements. 
Israeli massacres increase amid new American pressures" 
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 7/30) 
 
"America dispatches more military equipment to Israel. Rice 
discusses formation of international forces" (Government-owned Al- 
Ba'th, 7/30) 
 
"The second defeat: The Israeli army withdraws from the south 
following huge losses. Lebanese national resistance for the first 
time uses the 'Khaybar 1' missile system in the battle. A speedy 
US-British move to contain the situation and to make Lebanon join 
the New Middle East. Lebanese intelligence arrests a large number 
of Mossad networks in South Lebanon, some of whom previously 
served in the Lahd army" (Government-owned Tishreen, 7/29) 
 
"Foreign Minister Mouallem reviews international efforts to reach 
a ceasefire in Lebanon with Norwegian envoy" (Government-owned Al- 
Thawra, 7/28) 
 
"Syrian Information Minister Bilal: Syrians and Lebanese are one 
family; they will allow no international power to separate them" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 7/29) 
 
"Demonstrations expand internationally condemning Israeli 
 
aggression against Lebanon. The Moslem brotherhood in Egypt 
condemns attempts to sow seeds of sedition that had, previously, 
exhausted the nation's body and mind. Islamic scholar Sheikh 
Yousef Al-Qaradhawi stresses backing of the resistance" 
Government-owned Tishreen, 7/29) 
"Israel confesses painful blows. Israel abandons field 
confrontations in favor of air escalation. An Israeli officer: 
Hizbollah eradicated the spearhead unit in the Goulani Brigade. 
14 Israeli soldiers injured in a resistance operation at Maroun 
al-Raas. Peres and Halloutz: Grave losses inflicted upon our 
forces" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 7/28) 
 
"Hizbollah officials to Al-Thawra: We are ready to respond to 
Israel's scorched-earth policy" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 
7/28) 
 
"14 Palestinians martyred, eight injured in Gaza and Jennin by 
Israeli occupation" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 7/28) 
 
"30 Palestinians martyred in three days of Israeli aggressions. 
Occupation forces destroy Palestinian houses on the pretext of 
tunnels" (Government-owned Tishreen, 7/29) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
---------------------------- 
 
"The Least That Can Be Done" 
 
---------------------------- 
 
Isam Dari, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, wrote 
(7/29): "The UN Security Council was content to express shock at 
the crime that the occupation army committed when it bombed a 
position of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon UNIFIL, killing 
four soldiers. 
 
"The Council did not dare to condemn Israel. In other words, the 
United States did not allow the Council to issue such a 
condemnation. Thus, the international cover was removed, not 
only from Lebanon and the Palestinian people, but also from 
forces that supposedly serve as peacekeepers. Those forces were 
sent to Lebanon by an organization that could not defend them 
even with an expression of condemnation. 
 
"If the Security Council was prevented from condemning the 
killer of the forces that it sent to Lebanon, how could we 
expect this esteemed Council to condemn the same killer for the 
massacres it is perpetrating against the people of Lebanon? 
 
"The message here is clear: The United Nations must get out of 
the game of death and fire that Israel is playing in Lebanon so 
that no international witnesses will remain there to write 
diaries about Israel's terrorism. UNIFIL's mission must also end 
so that the region up to the Litani and Al-Awwali rivers in 
southern Lebanon will be cleared to pave the way for the 
scorched-earth plan that Israel is preparing to implement under 
the pretext of crushing the resistance, and also to pave the way 
for the deployment of the international force that US Secretary 
of State Condoleezza Rice is proposing, and which she imposed on 
the Rome conference. That international force will occupy south 
Lebanon and will be assigned the mission of annihilating the 
Lebanese national resistance on behalf of Israel. We should not 
forget that the current proposal says that this force should be 
made up of NATO troops. 
 
"The international organization lost its role, or delegated it 
to the US Administration. Or perhaps this administration robbed 
the United Nations of this role, rendering it unable to perform 
its mission in accordance with its Charter. 
 
"Has anyone noticed that in the press conference that was held 
at the end of the Rome conference, a journalist asked UN 
Secretary General Kofi Annan a question but got the answer from 
 
SIPDIS 
Rice, who did not allow the UN chief to answer...? 
 
 
------------------- 
"The Secret Agenda" 
 
------------------- 
 
Ahmad Hamadah, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra, 
said (7/28): "US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's talk 
about a new Middle East shows the hidden agenda of the brutal 
Israeli aggression against Lebanon.... 
 
"The American position shows that the Israeli attacks against 
Lebanon were not a reaction to Hizbollah's capture of the two 
Israeli soldiers, but rather an effort to serve the strategic 
interests of Israel and the United States at the expense of the 
peoples of the region and their rights.... 
 
"The failure of the American and Israeli policies over the past 
months to impose their vision on Lebanon made Washington and Tel 
Aviv turn to the military option to achieve what they failed to 
achieve through diplomacy. 
 
"The objective of the new Middle East plan is to integrate the 
Israeli entity into the Arab and Islamic region after abolishing 
the region's identity and culture and fragmenting it into feeble 
ethnic and sectarian entities so that Tel Aviv will emerge as 
the only master of this region and the main controller of its 
resources and capabilities. 
 
"However this plan will not succeed. Events in Iraq serve as 
proof, and here is Lebanon proving the failure of this dangerous 
plan, thanks to the steadfastness of the Resistance and its 
ability to reshuffle cards and upset equations...." 
 
------------------ 
 
"Futile Questions" 
 
------------------ 
 
Ali Qasim, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra, wrote 
(7/28): "The world agrees almost unanimously that the outcome of 
the Rome conference and the failure of the Security Council to 
condemn Israel represented a green light for Israel to continue 
its aggression against Lebanon.... 
 
"Perhaps it is difficult for anyone in the world to understand 
the logic that drives the US Administration to add fuel to the 
fire, and perhaps it is more difficult to see this logic 
obstruct the international will. But this is the bitter reality 
in this American age.... 
 
"The world should ask Washington where it wants to lead it, for 
how long it will continue to practice political debauchery, and 
why it refuses to learn from its failures in Afghanistan and 
Iraq.... 
 
"But it might be futile to ask these questions, because 
Washington deals with the world disdainfully, supports the 
continuation of the killing and destruction unashamedly, and 
uses all the tools of pressure, hegemony, and blackmail to drag 
the world behind it toward the swamps of wars...." 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
"At the Climax of Challenge and Confrontation" 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
Samir al-Shibani, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, 
wrote (7/29): "The steadfastness that the valiant resistance men 
showed in Marun al-Raas, Bint Jubayl, and Aytarun was not only a 
surprise for the enemy, but it also shocked the enemy's elite 
military troops, who suffered heavy human and material 
losses.... 
 
 
 
"The steadfastness of the resistance came also as a shock for 
the Arab and international silence, which hides evil objectives 
and satanic dreams.... It has become quite obvious that 
defeating the Arab nation Umma is not only a US-Israeli goal 
but also a goal for some false Arabs...." 
 
----------------------- 
 
"The Option of Victory" 
 
----------------------- 
 
Samira Al-Maslmeh, an editorialist in independent weekly Al- 
Iqtissadiya, wrote (7/23): "The time will come when the facts 
will be divulged about the Israeli aggression, about those 
Lebanese who stand behind it and about those who secretly 
called for continuing the aggression while they claimed in 
several world capitals that they endeavored to stop this 
aggression against their country. 
 
"Those few Lebanese seem really afraid of Hizbollah's real 
victory, which will expose them in front of Lebanese and Arabs. 
They really hope this will not happen. Some of them are making 
efforts to defeat Hizbollah. But to those Lebanese we say: 
Conspiring like bats in the dark, in secret and behind-the - 
scene sessions in some Arab, American and European capitals, 
will be useless. Those who have fallen will be doomed to 
failure. The age of secret conspiring against the Arab nation is 
over. There are two obvious parts of the picture now .... One is 
drawn by the resistance, and the other by the remnants of 
official Arab regime, whose tails are Israeli agents in Lebanon 
who serve Israel's interests, like Marwan Hamadeh former 
Lebanese Minister and current MP and the retired, defeated 
resistor Elias Atallah, who, in the words of the Israeli 
Ambassador to the UN, are true friends of Israel...." 
 
Seche