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DE RUEHDM #4385/01 2501143
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 071143Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1430
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6258
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4090
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0874
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7011

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 004385 
 
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: Lebanon, Peace Process, 
Palestinian Territories, Iraq (9/7) 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers today continued to focus on Lebanon, 
highlighting the visit to Lebanon by a Syrian popular delegation 
that represented social and parliamentary activists, in addition 
to Moslem and Christian clergymen.  The intent of the visit was 
to confirm Syria's popular and formal support for the Lebanese 
people and the Resistance.  The delegation met with President 
Lahoud, Speaker Nabih Berri, and Lebanon's Grand Mufti, Mohammed 
Rashid Qabani. 
 
Headlines also featured reports on the gradual lifting of the 
Israeli siege on Lebanon and cited a press statement by General 
Aoun calling for a national unity government. 
 
The Middle East peace process was also prominent in the papers. 
Headlines reported Italian PM Prodi's message to President Asad 
about peace proposals in the region, Syrian Foreign Minister 
Walid al-Mouallem's visit to Cairo to take part in the 126th 
session of the Arab League Ministerial meeting, and a statement 
by Russian FM Lavrov confirming that peace in the region cannot 
be achieved without moving on the Syrian, Lebanese and 
Palestinian tracks. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"President Asad receives a letter from Italian PM Prodi dealing 
with the situation in the region" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 
9/6) 
 
"With the participation of FM al-Mouallem, the 126th session of 
the Arab League Ministerial supports Syria's demand to restore 
the occupied Golan, rejects US sanctions on Syria, and demands an 
active mechanism to resume peace negotiations" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 9/7) 
 
"Lahoud and Berri receive the Syrian popular delegation.  Lahoud: 
Syria has always been a real supporter of Lebanon" (Government- 
owned Al-Ba'th, 9/7) 
 
"Lebanese Minister of Energy Fneish praises Syrian efforts to 
restore electricity in Lebanon" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 9/7) 
 
"Israel will lift siege on Lebanon today.  Aoun demands a 
national unity government and says:  International forces will 
not give us peace" (Government-owned TIshreen, 9/7) 
 
"Lavrov confirms that Hizbollah is legitimate, not imported, 
national resistance and that peace cannot be achieved in the 
region without moving on the three tracks" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 9/7) 
 
"7 Palestinians martyred, more than 30 wounded in the Gaza Strip. 
The EU demands that Israel stop settlement activities" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 9/7) 
 
"Britain will send additional forces to Iraq.  Nine Iraqis 
killed, 36 injured in various explosions in Baghdad" (Government- 
owned Tishreen, 9/7) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
 
--------------------------- 
 
"Allegiance to Lebanon or Someone Else? 
 
--------------------------- 
 
Isam Dari, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, wrote 
(9/7):  "Israel continues to violate Resolution 1701 on Lebanon, 
and the United States is turning a blind eye to these serious 
Israeli violations of a resolution that was drafted by the Bush 
administration itself.... 
 
"Resolution 1701 came to save Israel from a predicament into 
 
which it pushed itself.  When the military hostilities ended, 
the US Administration was no longer interested in the 
implementation of the other clauses of the resolution. 
America's friends and John Bolton's Lebanese team made no moves 
to lift the blockade or to force Israel to withdraw from the 
territories it occupied.  Indeed, these friends and the Bolton 
team found a good opportunity to continue their attack on the 
Resistance with unprecedented viciousness and unlimited 
insolence.  They also found sufficient time to attack Syria and 
its positions in a stunningly systematic manner and through an 
enviable distribution of roles, while they were extremely polite 
and timid toward the Israeli aggressor, not to mention their 
complete silence on the Zionist espionage and sabotage networks, 
which began to emerge and fall apart...." 
 
------------------------------------------ 
 
"Another Defeat for the US Administration" 
 
------------------------------------------ 
 
Ahmad Burghul, a commentator in government-owned Al-Ba'th, wrote 
(9/7):  "Steadfastness of the Lebanese Resistance in the face of 
the Israeli war machine proved a number of facts, primarily that 
the scenarios for changing the region by force and through 
foreign dictates can only fail, and that the future of the Arab 
region is determined only by its peoples.  This must be a lesson 
for the US Administration before it becomes a lesson to 
Israel.... 
 
"The neoconservatives in Washington were behind the war that 
Israel launched on Lebanon.... They exchanged roles with the war 
criminals in the Zionist entity to move the region decades back, 
destroy Arab capabilities, and attack the regimes and forces 
that still block the implementation of the American-Zionist plan 
that seeks to produce a new Middle East submissive to the 
American-Israeli will...." 
 
------------------------------ 
 
"When Annan Criticizes Israel" 
 
------------------------------ 
 
Ahmad Hamadah, a commentator in government-owned Al-Thawra, 
wrote (9/7):  "Arabs and the United Nations are the main victims 
of the domination of superpowers, led by the United States, over 
the international organization, its role, and its resolutions. 
Successive US administrations have used their weight in the 
organization's agencies to invalidate resolutions that call on 
Israel to implement Security Council resolutions.... 
 
"UN Secretary General Kofi Annan condemned Israel for its use of 
cluster bombs in Lebanon, but this is not enough.... Annan's 
condemnation and the establishment of an international team to 
investigate this issue are positive steps.  But they are not 
enough to force Israel to respect international legitimacy.  The 
international organization must play its full role in 
implementing Security Council resolutions that call on Israel to 
withdraw from the occupied Arab territories.  It must force 
Israel to recognize the right of return for Palestinian refugees 
and to implement Resolution 194.  This is the only way for the 
organization to regain its confiscated independent decision- 
making authority." 
 
------------------------- 
 
"Where Is the Arab Challenge?" 
 
------------------------- 
 
Umar Jaftali, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, 
wrote (9/7):  "Ever since the terrorist Israeli aggression on 
Lebanon stopped, the United Nations has appeared as if begging 
Israel to implement Resolution 1701, although Americans tailored 
the resolution more to serve Israel and its wishes than to 
 
 
benefit Lebanon.... 
 
"American and European pressure is directed at Lebanon, even 
though, Lebanon has implemented the resolution....  The US 
Administration does only what Israel wants and acts only to 
serve Israel's interests.... The strangest thing is that Arab 
efforts to help Lebanon in these difficult circumstances are 
crippled.... 
 
"Israel is engaged in procrastinations and maneuvers and is 
defying international legitimacy.  The Arab challenge, 
therefore, must be serious.  It must not feel content with media 
statements or with some financial assistance to Lebanon.  It is 
inconceivable that the entire Arab nation lacks the means to 
support its just causes." 
 
----------------------------------------- 
 
"'The True Pledge' and Swap of Prisoners" 
 
----------------------------------------- 
 
Ahmad Suwwan, a commentator in government-owned Tishreen, said 
(9/7):  "Kofi Annan's announcement that he will appoint a 
representative to negotiate a swap of prisoners between 
Hizbollah and Israel proves that Israel has failed to impose the 
condition that it offered before and during its war on Lebanon 
as the excuse for the war.... 
 
"Israel has failed to achieve any of its objectives in the war. 
After the Israeli defeat, the issue of the two captured Israeli 
soldiers returned to square one, and Hizbollah kept its pledge 
that the two Israelis would not be released except through 
indirect negotiations and an exchange of prisoners.... 
 
"Thanks to the Resistance, Israel was unable to obtain the 
release of the two soldiers...." 
 
Corbin