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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #3848/01 2181224
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 061224Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0791
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1185
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4571
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0790
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 6929

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 003848 
 
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: Syria/Iran, Israel/Lebanon, 
Israel/Syria, Palestinian Territories, Iraq (8/3-6) 
 
 
Summary: Syrian papers reported that President Asad had a 
telephone conversation with Iranian President Ahmadi Najad 
focusing on developments of the Israeli aggression against 
Lebanon and means to support Lebanon's steadfastness. 
 
Papers also reported the Israeli massacre in the town of al-Qaa 
in northern Bekaa that resulted in the killing of 33 Syrian and 
Lebanese farm workers and their families while loading trucks 
with fruit. Headlines featured two Syrian Foreign Ministry 
messages addressed to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the 
President of the UN Secretary Council condemning the Israeli 
massacres in Qana and al-Qaa. The identical messages called for 
a fact-finding commission to investigate the Qana and al-Qaa 
massacres. Syria demanded full Israeli compensation for the 
Syrian victims who fell at al-Qaa. Syria also supported 
Lebanon's demand to require Israel to pay compensation for the 
Israeli massacres in Qana and al-Qaa and the destruction of 
Lebanese infrastructure. 
 
Papers also reported that Syrian Foreign Minister al-Mouallem 
received a phone call from his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul 
on the deteriorating situation in Lebanon. The conversation also 
dealt with the necessity of coordinating the international 
community's efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire and pull-out 
of Israeli troops to the Israeli side of the blue line. "It has 
become unacceptable to keep silent regarding the Israeli crimes," 
al-Mouallem told Gul, stressing the need to pressure Israel to 
halt its aggression immediately. In another telephone 
conversation, al-Mouallem and Italian Foreign Minister Masimo 
D'Alema stressed that the "priority is for a ceasefire in Lebanon 
and withdrawal of the Israeli troops to beyond the blue line, as 
well as for rejection of any political solution that does not 
have the consensus of all Lebanese." 
 
Papers also reported that Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal 
Miqdad warned of the danger of sending new international troops 
to Lebanon outside the framework of the United Nations Interim 
Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Miqdad, speaking at an extraordinary 
meeting of the Executive Committee of the Organization of the 
Islamic Conference (OIC), expressed Syria's support of the 
Lebanese stance that rejects conceding any political advantage 
to Israel as a result of its aggression.  Miqdad underlined the 
importance of Israeli withdrawal from the positions it has 
occupied in its latest aggression, calling for an international 
investigation committee on the Qana and al-Qaa massacres.  "The 
only way to solve problems in the region is by exerting pressure 
on Israel and the US to achieve a just and comprehensive peace 
in the region based on resolutions 242 and 338 and the Land-for- 
Peace formula, to end the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan 
and the other occupied Arab territories," Miqdad concluded. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"President Asad discusses developments of the Israeli 
aggression and means to support Lebanon's steadfastness, in a 
telephone call with Iranian President Ahmadi Najad" (Government- 
owned Tishreen, 8/6) 
 
"President Asad reviews with Moratinos efforts to realize 
ceasefire in Lebanon" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 8/4) 
 
"Two messages from the Syrian Foreign Ministry to Kofi Annan and 
the UN Security Council on the Israeli massacres in al-Qaa and 
Qana, demanding a fact-finding commission and an investigation of 
both massacres" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/6) 
 
"Ottri receives a phone call from Lebanese Prime Minister al- 
Saniora extending condolences for the Syrian victims of al-Qaa 
massacre, and reviews developments in Lebanon with Kamal Shatila, 
Chairman of the Lebanese Popular Conference" (Government-owned 
Tishreen 8/6) 
"Syrian Foreign Minister al-Mouallem talks on the phone with 
Turkish counterpart Gul and Italian counterpart D'Alema: It has 
become unacceptable to keep silent on Israeli crimes; no 
 
alternative to an immediate halt of the attacks against Lebanon" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 8/5) 
"The Putrajaya Summit in Malaysia condemns the Israeli aggression 
against Lebanon and calls for an immediate ceasefire" (Government- 
owned Al-Thawra, 8/4) 
"US envoys carry Israeli conditions. During his meeting with 
David Welch, Berri reiterates the importance of curbing Israeli 
aggression and returning the displaced without any conditions. 
Scores of fatalities and casualties in Hizbollah's shelling of 
Haifa and Israeli settlements" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 8/6) 
 
"Italian calls to withdraw the Italian ambassador to Israel. 
Italian MP Marco Rezzi: We cannot stand silent about the Israeli 
invasion of Lebanon" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/6) 
 
"Italian Foreign Minister D'Alema underlines Syria's right to 
restoration of the Golan" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 8/4) 
"Another day of Israeli hysteria.... Zionist criminals perpetrate 
brutal massacres to compensate for their defeat in ground 
battles. Lebanese national resistance fighters bravely confront 
occupiers and bombard settlements in northern Israel and the 
Central Israeli Air Force Base" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/5) 
"Resistance rockets reach the Israeli settlement of Khdeira" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 8/5) 
"The aggression against Lebanon is title of Damascus Mosques' 
Friday sermons. Imams express the anger of Arab Street and call 
for solidarity with the Lebanese national resistance" (Government- 
owned Tishreen, 8/5) 
"The Turkish-Israeli Friendship Association is about to collapse. 
A Turkish lawsuit to sue Israel for its inhumane crimes" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 8/5) 
"Nasrallah delivers a confident speech and sends clear messages 
to Israel: If Beirut is bombarded, we will pound Tel Aviv... 
Olmert is dull and Peres a dotard... The US administration is a 
criminal and a slaughterer.  To Arab leaders: No place for your 
chairs in the New Middle East" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 8/4) 
"UN organizations appeal for tackling the tragic situation in 
Palestine. Four Palestinians martyred, including an infant, in 
the Israeli aggression against Rafah" (Government-owned Tishreen, 
8/5) 
"A US Marine convoy is attacked in Baghdad. Fierce confrontations 
in Mosul" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/5) 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
------------------------------------- 
 
"The Resistance Option Will Continue" 
 
------------------------------------- 
 
Isam Dari, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, 
commented (8/5): "The American and British governments have 
hindered the efforts of international legitimacy and the EU and 
have stood as a strong obstacle to every call for a cease-fire 
in Lebanon.... 
 
"This is part of the plan to create a new Middle East at the 
expense of Arabs.... Iraq is being destroyed through sectarian 
wars ignited by American-British occupiers. Occupied Palestine 
is being destroyed in parallel to the destruction of Lebanon.... 
The international community, which is hobbled by American- 
British shackles, is unable to do anything to prove that it is 
not heading toward the same fate as that of The League of 
Nations.... But the option of resistance, the policy of 
steadfastness, and the will of nations will prevail in the end." 
 
---------------------------------------- 
 
"Isn't a Minimum Reaction Required?" 
 
---------------------------------------- 
 
Izz-al-Din al-Darwish, an editorialist in government-owned 
Tishreen, said (8/3): "Israel has been preparing to launch this 
aggression against Lebanon since the adoption of UN Security 
 
Council Resolution 1559.... 
 
"Israel wanted to implement the resolution by the force of 
Israeli-American weapons and on the rubble of Lebanon and the 
bodies of its sons.... 
"Israel is launching a war of genocide and destruction in 
Lebanon, and the US Administration is supporting this war with 
everything in its power, seeing it as the labor for a new Middle 
East, as Secretary Rice announced from the first hours of the 
Israeli aggression.... 
 
"The Bush administration apparently would not mind destroying 
the entire Arab region as long as this is what Israel wants.... 
 
"After all this, how can Arabs count on a US role to bring about 
peace in the region or, at least, to stop the Israeli aggression 
against Lebanon? Arabs must engage in soul-searching and take a 
position to defend their land, dignity, and honor...." 
 
------------------- 
 
"The Short-Sighted" 
 
------------------- 
 
Ahmad Hamadah, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra, 
wrote (8/3): "The Israeli government, through its plan to expand 
its ground operations in south Lebanon, is trying to achieve any 
kind of military victory against Hizbollah after the miserable 
defeat it has suffered so far.... 
 
"The Israeli government also wants to win more time to 
crystallize the American-Israeli plan against Lebanon before the 
adoption of any ceasefire resolution by the Security Council.... 
A third Israeli objective is to destroy what is left of the 
infrastructure of the Lebanese state.... 
 
"In all its positions and policies, the Israeli government 
focuses on Israel's security and uses this as a pretext.... 
Security is not maintained through policies of aggression and 
terrorism. The new ground attack will not help Israel achieve 
security. If Israel's rulers believe their brutal crimes will 
enable them to achieve any security, they are wrong and 
shortsighted." 
 
Corbin