VZCZCXRO1210
OO RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHDM #5431/01 3551211
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 211211Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2667
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0279
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DAMASCUS 005431 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
S/CT FOR RHONDA SHORE; NCTC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER ASEC PGOV SY
SUBJECT: SYRIA:  2006 COUNTRY REPORTS ON TERRORISM 
 
REF: SECSTATE 175925 
 
¶1.  (U) Maria d.G. Olson is the Embassy POC.  Address:  6110 
Damascus Pl. Dulles, VA 20189.  Unclassified e-mail: 
OlsonM@state.gov.  Tel:  (963) (11) 3391-3785.  Cell Phone: 
(963) 94405166. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The Syrian Government continued to provide 
political and material support to Hizballah and political 
support to Palestinian terrorist groups. HAMAS, Palestinian 
Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Popular Front for the Liberation of 
Palestine (PLFP), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of 
Palestine- General Command (PFLP-GC), among others, base 
their external leadership in Damascus. The Syrian Government 
insists that the Damascus-based groups undertake only 
political and informational activities, but Palestinian 
groups with leaders in Syria have claimed responsibility for 
anti-Israeli terrorist acts. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Syria's public support for the Palestinian groups 
varied, depending on its national interests and international 
pressure. In 2003, these groups lowered their public profile 
after Damascus announced that they had voluntarily closed 
their offices in Syria.  In September 2005, however, Syrian 
President Bashar al-Asad held a highly publicized meeting 
with rejectionist leaders, and a month later the rejectionist 
leaders participated in a meeting in Damascus with the 
Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel. In 
April 2006, visiting Hamas Foreign Minister Zahar met with 
Damascus-based Palestinian leaders and attended a rally at 
the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp, alongside Hamas leader 
Khalid Mish,al and representatives of other rejectionist 
groups and Hizballah.  In July, Mish,al held a highly 
publicized press conference under tight security at a 
Damascus hotel, expressing gratitude for Syria,s 
unconditional support to the Palestinian cause. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Syrian officials publicly condemned international 
terrorism, but made a distinction between terrorism and what 
they considered to be "legitimate armed resistance" by 
Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, by Lebanese 
Hizballah, and by Iraqi opponents of the "occupation of 
Iraq." The Syrian Government has not been implicated directly 
in an act of terrorism since 1986, although preliminary 
findings of a UN investigation into the February 2005 
assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri 
indicated a strong likelihood of official Syrian involvement. 
 That investigation continues. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) On September 12, four Syrian nationals with alleged 
Islamist ties used grenades, guns and a small truck bomb to 
launch an attack against the U.S. Embassy in Damascus.  All 
four of the assailants were killed, as was a Syrian security 
officer as he responded to the attack.  In the incident's 
aftermath, the Syrian government enhanced security for the 
Embassy and American personnel in Syria, although the 
government declined to provide the Embassy with the findings 
of its internal investigation into the attack. Damascus has 
repeatedly assured the United States that it will take every 
possible measure to protect U.S. citizens and facilities in 
Syria, but at the same time has not taken measures considered 
necessary by the USG. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) In the past, Damascus cooperated with the United 
States and other foreign governments against al-Qaida and 
other terrorist organizations and individuals. In May 2005, 
however, the Syrian Government ended intelligence cooperation 
on security, citing continued U.S. public complaints about 
inadequate Syrian assistance to end the flow of fighters and 
money to Iraq.   In 2004-2005, Syria upgraded physical 
security conditions on the border and began to give closer 
scrutiny to military-age Arab males entering Syria (visas are 
still not required for citizens of Arab countries).  It also 
highlighted the repatriation of more than 1,200 foreign 
extremists and the arrest of more than 4,000 Syrians trying 
to go to Iraq to fight. In November 2006, Syria,s FM 
announced the resumption of diplomatic relations with Iraq 
after a 25-year rupture, and, a month later, the Syrian and 
Iraqi ministers of Interior signed a five-year memorandum of 
understanding to boost, among other things, joint efforts to 
control the borders and combat terrorism. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) As in recent years, Damascus highlighted in Syrian 
government-controlled press information about clashes on 
 
DAMASCUS 00005431  002 OF 002 
 
 
Syrian territory with terrorist groups, particularly with the 
Jund a-Sham group.  Separately, in November, security agents 
on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon engaged in a 
gunbattle with a Syrian Islamic militant from the Tawhid and 
Jihad group.  The militant, who was trying to use fake 
documents to cross into Lebanon, subsequently blew himself up 
with a hand grenade. 
ROEBUCK