VZCZCXYZ0631
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #4283/01 2431303
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O 311303Z AUG 06
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UNCLAS DAMASCUS 004283 
 
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: Chavez Visit, Golan, Lebanon, 
Palestinian Territories (8/31) 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers today continued to give prominent 
coverage to Venezuelan President Chavez's visit to Damascus. 
Papers reported that President Asad held a plenary meeting with 
his Venezuelan counterpart in the presence of members of the two 
delegations;  afterward, the two leaders held a closed door 
meeting.  Several agreements and protocols were signed between 
the Syrian People's Assembly and Venezuela's National Council in 
the presence of two Presidents.  The two countries also entered 
into other agreements, whose topics include cooperation in the 
fields of environment, agriculture, and air and naval transport; 
political consultation between foreign ministries; and economic, 
trade, and technical cooperation, particularly with respect to 
oil, energy, media, and building and construction.  The 
Presidents held a press conference following their meeting. 
President Asad said that Syria supported Venezuela's candidacy 
for a seat on the UN Security Council.  Chavez offered to help 
Syria build an oil refinery, to enable it to export refined 
products, rather than crude oil. 
 
Papers also reported that a resistance group in the Golan Heights 
threatened Wednesday to abduct Israeli soldiers, to be swapped 
for Syrian prisoners in Israel.  In a statement faxed to foreign 
news agencies in Damascus, a group calling itself "Men of the 
National Syrian Resistance" threatened to "take the necessary 
measures" to secure the release of 16 Syrians jailed in Israel. 
The statement said: "The Lebanese model, the model of Hezbollah, 
is not so far from ours in planning for and implementing the 
release of prisoners." 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"President Asad and President Chavez discuss bilateral 
cooperation, regional and international issues and hold a press 
conference.  Asad:  We agree on a multipolar world system that 
reflects world cultures and civilizations.  Chavez:  In my heart 
are thousands of love songs to the great people of Syria and to 
Damascus, the heart of Arabism" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 8/31) 
 
"Chavez... a lovely Syrian day;  President Asad:  The Security 
Council's continued submission to the US threatens more chaos and 
bloodshed.  President Chavez:  Israel is an obstruction to peace 
in the region.  Thirteen agreements inked between Syria and 
Venezuela.  Entry visas not required between Syria and Venezuela. 
Syria supports Venezuela's membership in the UN Security Council. 
Cooperation among Arab countries and Latin American states is 
enhanced.  Israeli practices in Lebanon and Palestine are 
criminal" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 8/31) 
 
"Israel welcomes Annan with a new crime in Gaza" (Government- 
owned Al-Thawra, 8/31) 
 
"Israeli violations of UNSC Resolution 1701 continue.  Israel 
foils Al-Saniora's optimism and rejects Annan's call for removing 
siege on Lebanon and withdrawing from South Lebanon" (Government- 
owned Tishreen, 8/31) 
 
"National resistance in the Golan calls on Israel to release 
prisoners" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/31) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
"Chavez Visit Enhances the Course of Resistance" 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
Isam Dari, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, 
commented (8/31):  "Damascus today opens its arms and heart to a 
first-class statesman who embodies absolute courage in an age of 
submissiveness, capitulation, cowardice, and defeat.... 
 
"All Syrians today received with much love, appreciation, and 
respect Syria's great guest, President Hugo Chavez, the renowned 
leader who has rejected American dictates and proven that wise 
 
and courageous leadership supported by the popular will can 
defeat the policy of force and despotism.... 
 
"The policies of Chavez and other Latin American leaders prove 
to everyone in this world that the policy of bending to the 
storm leads only to humiliation and capitulation, while the 
policy of confrontation, steadfastness, and rejection of 
dictates, pressures, and threats is alone able to protect 
countries and safeguard dignity and freedom.... 
 
"Certainly Chavez' visit will greatly bolster the policy of 
resistance, steadfastness, and confrontation and contribute to 
the birth of a new world free from unilateralism and the 
policies of domination and aggression...." 
 
---------------------- 
 
"Hugo Chavez, Welcome" 
 
---------------------- 
 
Elias Murad, Chief Editor of government-owned Al-Ba'th, 
commented (8/31):  "Chavez is a free revolutionary who links the 
problems of the Arab nation to the problems of Latin America and 
realizes the possibility of waging and winning joint battles. 
He also believes that through the alliance of oppressed nations 
and states it is possible to prevail over the new international 
empire that the United States is leading.... 
 
"Syrians respect and appreciate the Venezuelan President, who 
proved to be more Arab than some Arabs when he summoned his 
country's ambassador from Tel Aviv to protest Israel's 
aggression against Lebanon and when he announced that what 
Israel was doing against the Lebanese and the Palestinians was 
also directed against the Venezuelan people.... 
 
"Syrians see in Chavez' visit a boost for the forces of justice, 
freedom, and independence and a challenge to the real threat to 
the world and its security, namely, the Israeli-American 
danger...." 
 
------------------------------- 
 
"Another Comic Political Scene" 
 
------------------------------- 
 
Khalid al-Ashhab, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra, 
wrote (8/31):  "In another comic political scene, pawns of the 
March 14 group in Lebanon have called on Hizbollah to prove its 
Lebanese identity and its patriotism.... Instead of succeeding 
in casting doubt on the patriotism of the Resistance, leaders of 
the March 14 group succeeded in proving their collaboration with 
and loyalty to foreigners.... 
 
"One who follows the political scene in Lebanon today will 
notice with a small laugh and bitter irony that pawns of the 
March 14 group, which hunt for lies, allegations and suspicions, 
realize that the elephants and the castles that protect them 
have failed to achieve their schemes and goals.  Today they are 
trying to find a last breathe of life for their scheme in 
Lebanon and the region, after they have been baffled by the 
winds of the Lebanese Resistance.  Therefore, the role that has 
been designed for these pawns has become restricted in 
anticipation of prominent and inevitable changes. 
 
"Just as the Resistance does not need to prove its patriotism 
and Lebanese identity, so these pawns do not need to prove their 
treason." 
 
Corbin