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O 180623Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1027
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6192
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4034
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RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 6961

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 04046 
 
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: Asad's Speech, Syria/Britain, 
Israel/Lebanon, Palestinian Territories, Iraq (8/17) 
 
¶1.  Summary: Syrian papers reported that the Syrian Cabinet 
stressed that President Asad's address to 4th General Conference 
of the Syrian Journalists Union reflected the impulse of the 
Syrian people and all the Arab nation and expressed the Arab 
street's support for the Lebanese national resistance.  "With 
its strategic inclinations, the speech has outlined future moves 
by emphasizing the constants of steadfastness and resistance as 
the only legitimate means to restore rights and achieve just and 
comprehensive peace in the region," the Cabinet emphasized in 
its weekly session headed by Premier Mohammad Naji Ottri.  The 
Cabinet hailed "the steadfastness of the Lebanese resistance and 
its honorable victory against the brutal Israeli aggression that 
restored the Umma's honor and dignity and destroyed the myth 
that the Israeli army is invincible."  The Cabinet added that 
"the Resistance's victory also foiled the New Middle East 
project that aims to establish US-Israeli hegemony in the region 
and to deprive the Arab people of their rights and identity." 
 
Papers also reported that Information Minister Bilal said in a 
televised statement that President Asad's speech expressed the 
Arab people's dignity and talked about the stage of resistance, 
asserting that the new Middle East will be as Syria wants but 
not the Middle East of chaos, destruction and aggression. 
Answering a question on Syria's criticism of the positions of 
some Arab countries regarding the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, 
Dr. Bilal said "Syria is tied by fraternal relations with the 
Arab countries," confirming deep-rooted and strong relations 
with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.  He added that Syria has 
always hoped that all Arabs would stand by Syria in the battle 
for a just peace that guarantees Israeli withdrawal from all 
occupied Arab lands.  The Minister noted that Syria has always 
defended legitimate Arab issues, underlining the country's 
stance in the face of the fierce campaign that accuses the Arab 
and Islamic nations of terrorism or fascism.  Dr. Bilal said 
that the resistance victory is a victory for Arab dignity, for 
the Arab nation and for Lebanon.  He criticized those who called 
immediately after the cease-fire for disarmament of Hizbollah, 
even though the Israeli Foreign Minister had stressed that there 
is no power in the world able to disarm it.  Dr. Bilal said the 
whole world knows that Syria had put an end to the civil war in 
Lebanon, stopped the inner bleeding in Lebanon and supported 
Lebanon's unity and sovereignty.  He also pointed out the Syrian 
government's and people's stances regarding the Lebanese people 
during the Israeli aggression on Lebanon as proof of the unity 
of fate of the two people. 
 
On Syrian-British relations, all papers reported that Syrian 
Minister of Information Bilal conferred with Chris Doyle, 
Director of the Council for British-Arab Understanding.  The two 
discussed means of boosting dialogue between the Arab and British 
peoples in order to find common understanding of events in the 
Middle East.  During the meeting, Minister Bilal confirmed the 
important role of Arab media and other institutions concerned 
with dialogue among civilizations to narrow the gap between the 
Syrian and British peoples and convey the true image of the Arab- 
Israeli conflict.  Doyle said that British public opinion 
sympathizes with Arab issues, but more efforts should be made to 
reinforce this feeling through dialogue and visits, adding that 
everyone who visits Syria leaves with a good impression. 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"The Cabinet hails the Lebanese Resistance's steadfastness and 
its honorable victory: President Asad's speech reflects the Arab 
street's opinion" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/17) 
 
"Information Minister underscores the importance of enhancing 
Arab-British dialogue in order to create mutual understanding" 
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 8/17) 
 
"Lebanese President:  It is a shame to talk about disarming the 
resistance while our martyrs' blood is still on the ground. 
Israel is violating UN resolution 1701 by maintaining the siege 
against Lebanon" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/17) 
 
"The Bush administration proposes to help disarm Hezbollah.  The 
Lebanese government decides to send the Lebanese army to the 
South.  Annan: disarming Hezbollah is not a task for 
international forces" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/17) 
 
"Repercussions of failure interact in Israel.  An investigation 
committee is established.  Israeli Chief of Staff Dan Haluts is 
atop the list of Israeli officials to be investigated" 
(Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 8/17) 
 
"Tens are killed or wounded in Baghdad attacks.  Basra and Mosul 
witness more clashes" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/17) 
 
"Three Palestinians martyred in the Gaza Strip.  Palestinians 
consult to form a national Palestinian unity government.  Egypt 
offers a new proposal to release the captured Israeli solider" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 8/17) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
--------------------- 
 
"Why this Hatred?" 
 
--------------------- 
 
Omar Jaftali, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, 
wrote (8/17):  "Despite the huge destruction of Lebanese 
infrastructure, and despite the hundreds of martyrs and wounded 
and displaced people in the terrorist Israeli aggression on 
Lebanon, President Bush said hours after the ceasefire:  "The 
war between Israel and Hizbollah was part of the struggle 
between freedom and terror." 
 
"Bush once again claimed that the brutal aggression that Israel 
launched against Lebanon was a result of Hizbollah's capture of 
the two Israeli soldiers.  He said Hizbollah, which attacked 
Israel, was defeated in the battle! 
 
"Although Israeli official and media circles admitted that 
Israel was defeated in the aggression on Lebanon and that the 
valiant national resistance inflicted a miserable defeat on the 
occupation forces, what is important is that the United States, 
which supported the war militarily and politically, counted 
heavily on its forward policeman in the region to implement its 
colonial plans.  But the policeman stood impotent before the 
will of the owners of the land and the cause, and he failed to 
achieve what the US Administration was hoping to achieve in 
Lebanon first and in the region second. 
 
"If President Bush is disturbed by the results of the brutal 
Israeli aggression, then this is his problem.  But his repeated 
claim that the victim is the terrorist and the aggressor is the 
freedom fighter no longer fools anyone in the world, except the 
followers of the American-Zionist policy who still claim that 
Israel is an oasis of democracy and freedom in the Middle East, 
while those around it are 'barbarians' who have no connection 
with civilization. 
 
"At the end of the day, no one in our region cares about Bush's 
opinion and extremist positions in support of the Israeli 
aggression.  What matters is the result, which proved that the 
national resistance waged the most honorable fight against 
Israel and taught it a lesson it will not forget.  As for the 
'heroic' Israeli acts, they were against women, children, and 
old people in their homes, and against Lebanese roads and 
bridges.  History will undoubtedly record what the resistance 
did in its bright pages, and it will record nothing but shame 
and disgrace for the aggressors." 
 
--------------------------------- 
 
"Bush Refuses to Acknowldge Defeat" 
 
--------------------------------- 
 
Hanan Hamad, a commentator in government-owned Tishreen, wrote 
(8/17):  "President Bush was not expected to admit that Israel 
suffered a bitter military defeat in Lebanon.  Over six years of 
his rule, Bush has never admitted his repeated defeats in 
Afghanistan and Iraq or even in his open war on what he calls 
terrorism.  How, then, can he concede defeat in the war that 
Israel launched on his behalf...? 
 
"Perhaps the most dangerous thing in Bush's twisted vision about 
the results of the Lebanon war is that he has failed to learn 
the lessons of the repeated defeats and reconsider the reckless 
policies that his administration has adopted toward the Arab and 
Islamic region.  These reckless policies are a result of the 
lack of balance between Washington's formidable military and 
material power and the modest mental abilities that control the 
power.  These modest mental abilities made the head of the US 
Administration and his aides and advisers think that the war 
against the Resistance in Lebanon would be inexpensive and would 
bring huge benefits.  The fact that Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld 
talk about success in Lebanon indicates that the adventuristic 
mentality that governs the US administration continues to push 
them to make more mistakes...." 
 
----------- 
 
"A New Era" 
 
----------- 
 
Ali Qasim, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra, wrote 
(8/17):  "A new era has emerged in the Middle East after 
Hizbollah's victory.... 
 
"Assessments might agree or disagree, but in the end they 
acknowledge the victory of the Resistance and see it as the most 
important transformation in the region, on the basis of which a 
new Middle East will be built.  This was one of the facts that 
President Asad mentioned in his speech.... The new era, the era 
of Resistance, has abolished the myths that the official Arab 
fear created. 
 
"The Resistance continued the series of its surprises even after 
the victory, when it announced on the day it fulfilled  its 
'True Promise', that it will reconstruct what the barbaric war 
and the rancorous aggression destroyed.... The achievements of 
the Resistance, during and after the war, contemplate thus 
setting  another precedent through which the features of the new 
Middle East are drawn as desired by the will of those who stood 
fast, bore the burden, and were stronger than tyranny, not as 
planned by the United States, Israel, and those who move in 
their orbit.... 
 
"This is why we see all this activity and these attempts by the 
defeated parties to compensate for what they missed or to 
correct what they misread, in parallel with their determination 
to beautify the face of a defeat whose features no one in the 
world can change, a defeat that is exploding into crises that 
will not be confined to Israel, but that will also affect all 
the parties to the defeat, including the United States, where 
voices critical of the logic of war are growing louder than ever 
before." 
 
-------------------- 
 
"Hysteria of Defeat" 
 
-------------------- 
 
Dr. Sa'id Musallam, a commentator in government-owned Al-Thawra, 
wrote (8/17):  "The violent Israeli air raids and attacks 
against Lebanon during the last day of the war were a 
manifestation of the hysteria of defeat.... Israel will not let 
Lebanon get away with its victory.  Israel will certainly use 
trickery and devious ways, as well as its influence with the 
proponents of the New Middle East plan, to take revenge against 
Lebanon and its resistance.  It is a new wave of circumvention 
 
aimed at pushing Lebanon into the trap and playing the tunes of 
partition, sectarianism, and division of the unified national 
position.  This mission will be delegated to followers and 
agents in the hope they will be able to do what the Zionist 
military machine failed to do.  Here, there is need for caution 
and vigilance...." 
 
Corbin