VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0092/01 0281538
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281538Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2874
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6533
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4313
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2921
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7484
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1537
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4878
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 1092
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7216

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000092 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR PA, NEA/ARN, INR/IC/CD, INR/R/MR:STHIBEAULT AND 
JMCCARTER, VOA NEWS CA, NEA/PPD:CBOURGEOIS, AZAIBACK, AND 
AFERNANDEZ, IIP/G/NEA-SA MDAVIDSON 
WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC 
CENTCOM FOR CCPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR PREL KPAO OPRC SY
SUBJECT:  Russia, Syria/Argentina, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestinian 
Territories (1/26-28) 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers on Jan. 28 reported that Russian Foreign 
Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Tehran and Damascus must be 
involved in the Middle East peace process.  "We are deeply convinced 
that Iran and Syria must not be isolated, but, rather, brought into 
the peace process," Lavrov told Russian journalists in Moscow on 
Jan. 27.  Lavrov believes Iran and Syria must understand that they 
are expec 
ted to have a positive influence on the situation, which 
will allow them to take their deserved equal place in the regional 
dialogue. 
 
On Syrian/Argentinean relations papers reported that the President 
of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner, on Jan. 25 received a verbal message 
from President Asad about bilateral relations between the two 
countries.  The message was conveyed by Information Minister Mohsen 
Bilal.  During the meeting Kirchner expressed Argentina's respect 
for the president and people of Syria, indicating that he would 
visit Syria in the very near future.  Kirchner emphasized Syria's 
important role in the region, indicating that the Middle East is the 
key to peace in the world. 
Bilal reviewed Syria's vision of current events and developments in 
the region, particularly in Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon, stressing 
Syria's efforts to ensure stability and security in the Middle East. 
 He expressed Syria's readiness to host a conference on Iraqi 
reconciliation with the participation of all of Iraqi society. 
Papers also featured Minister Bilal's interview with Brazilian 
newspaper "Folia," in which he stressed Syria's call for "a just and 
comprehensive peace in the Middle East based on international 
legitimacy and the land for peace formula."  Bilal also said, "we 
condemn all forms of terrorism" stressing the need to differentiate 
between terrorism and the people's right to resist occupation. 
 
As for unrest in Lebanon, papers reported 
President Lahoud's statement confirming that the measures which have 
been taken by the Lebanese army in Beirut and the suburbs and the 
rest of the Lebanese areas "have blocked attempts to drown Lebanon 
in a state of instability and chaos in order to have negative 
repercussions on Lebanon's regional and international presence." 
Lahoud called on Lebanese spiritual leaders to translate their calls 
for calm into deeds.  Papers also reported that Hizbollah SecGen 
Nasrallah on Jan. 25 called on the Lebanese and national political 
leaderships to "leave the streets, exercise self-control, show calm 
and return home.  I ask the people to comply with all the measures 
taken by the Lebanese army."  Nasrallah called on all Lebanese "not 
to instigate or strain the atmosphere, in order to preserve the 
safety and security of civil peace and coexistence."  News reports 
said that two Lebanese students were shot dead and scores were 
wounded when a number of pro-government gunmen attacked the campus 
of Beirut's Arab University. 
Government-owned Tishreen on Jan. 27 quoted press sources saying 
that a Syrian worker was "brutally" killed and his body mutilated in 
the Lebanese town of Amshit, Jubayl district, which is under the 
control of supporters of the Samir Ja'ja'-led Lebanese Forces 
party. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterates the importance of 
engaging Syria and Iran in any dialogue on the region" 
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/28) 
 
"A message from President Asad to Argentinean President Kirchner 
conveyed by Minister of Information Bilal.  Kichner: "I will visit 
Damascus soon" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 1/27) 
 
"Minister of Information Bilal to Brazilian newspaper 'Folia': 
Syria denounces all forms of terrorism" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 
1/26) 
 
"Militias of the Lebanese authority try to drag Lebanon into 
sedition as their bullets kill two and wound tens of Lebanese. 
Lahoud:  Chaos will not solve any dispute.  Lebanese speaker calls 
for concordance and dialogue.  Former Lebanese PM al-Hoss urges 
resort to reason, to avert catastrophe.  Former Lebanese PM Karami: 
Lebanon is at a crossroads.  Nasrallah:  He who aims a weapon at a 
 
brother is an Israeli.  Lebanese army imposes curfew in Beirut" 
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/26) 
 
"Nine Lebanese injured by poisonous Israeli balloons over Tyre and 
al-Nabatyieh in southern Lebanon" (Government-owned Tishreen, 1/28) 
 
"The Lebanese opposition praises the army's role in containing 
chaos:  The governing team is responsible for bloodshed" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 1/28) 
 
"Normal life returns to the Lebanese capital.  Beirut bids farewell 
to its martyrs.  Lebanese opposition holds the authority's militias 
responsible for chaos and stirring up sedition" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 1/27) 
 
"Pro-Lebanese forces kill a Syrian worker and mutilate his body" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 1/27) 
 
"More than 17 Palestinians killed within two days. Hamas calls on 
Head of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas to end sedition" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 1/28) 
 
"Gaza:  More clashes reported between Fatah and Hamas postpone 
dialogue" (Government-owned Tishreen, 1/27) 
 
"Seven US soldiers killed in Iraq.  Washington is angry:  Stop war 
on Iraq and bring our soldiers back" (Government-owned Tishreen, 
1/28) 
 
"President Asad discusses the situation in Iraq and its impact on 
neighboring countries with an Iranian party delegation" 
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/26) 
 
"Speaker of the US House of Representatives visits Iraq.  Killing of 
a US marine in al-Anbar and 22 Iraqis in Mosul" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 1/27) 
 
"Bush orders his troops to kill Iranians in Iraq" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 1/27) 
 
"A war in Haifa Street in Baghdad.  Iraqi VP Abdul Mehdi:  Occupying 
Iraq was a foolish decision" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/26) 
 
"Imminent detente in the Palestinian government crisis" 
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/26) 
 
"British MPs call on Blair government to hold dialogue with Middle 
East countries" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/26) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
----------------------- 
 
"A Long US Horror Film" 
 
----------------------- 
 
Isam Dari, Chief Editor of government-owned Tishrin, wrote (1/27): 
"Neoconservatives in the US Administration base their policies and 
actions on mythical Talmudic ideas that run against reason, logic, 
and sound analysis.... 
 
"These neoconservatives belong to Christian Zionism, which believes 
that the world will end with the Armageddon and that this battle 
will be preceded by chaos, disasters, and much suffering. 
 
"The theorists of neoconservatives do not hide their hostile 
intentions and insistence on inventing strange theories, such as 
'creative instability,' especially in our Arab region.  They push 
the American army to spread sedition, disaster, destruction, and 
suffering based on those satanic Talmudic ideas, which are embraced 
not only by clergymen, but also by political decision-makers, 
economic and financial leaders, and research centers managed by 
thinkers and experts in all fields.... 
 
"This explains what is happening in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, 
 
and Lebanon.  Chaos is spreading rapidly and the US Administration 
is promoting horror, death, destruction, and disaster in the 
neighborhood of the Armageddon battle, which, according to their 
sick mind, will take place on the Hill of Megiddo -- 20 miles east 
of Haifa -- and be the end of the world." 
 
"The team that rules the United States today is, therefore, fully 
responsible for what has happened and is happening in the region. 
It is responsible for the tragedy of Iraqis, the torment of 
Palestinians, and the chaos that it is feeding strongly in 
Lebanon.... 
 
"These leaders might be leading their own people, before anyone 
else, to a disaster and marking the end of the American empire.  For 
today's world, which is based on reason and sound judgment, can no 
longer accept myths.  And nations, no matter how helpless, are able 
to foil attempts to invent a new world history derived from these 
myths and sick dreams." 
 
------------------ 
 
"Gradual Sedition" 
 
------------------ 
 
Hanan Hamad, a columnist in government-owned Tishrin, wrote (1/27): 
 "The spread of domestic sedition in Iraq, Lebanon, and the 
Palestinian territories is a product of Bush's plans and strategies 
for the region.... 
 
"They are certainly the practical translation of creative 
instability and hard labor that the emissaries of the US 
Administration, doves and hawks, have preached while touring the 
region, from Colin Powell, who talked elaborately about a new map of 
the region, to Condaleeza Rice, who was not touched by the 
destruction of Lebanon and the massacres against the Lebanese when 
she saw them firsthand in her visit during the aggression, but 
considered them to be the birth pangs, though bloody, of a new 
Middle East." 
 
---------------- 
 
"Double Impasse" 
 
---------------- 
 
Muhammad Khayr al-Jammali, an editorialist in government-owned 
Al-Thawra, wrote (1/26):  "In his State of the Union address, 
President Bush appeared as if begging Americans to support his Iraq 
plan, frightening them with threats that exist only in his 
imagination.... 
 
"But Because President Bush's experience in office in the past six 
years has been enough to characterize his policy as a failed policy 
and to label him as the worst president in the history of the United 
States -- given the political, material, and moral damage he has 
brought upon his country and its foreign relations -- his plan did 
not enjoy the support of the American people and Congress.... 
 
"Bush is facing a double impasse, one at home and one abroad.... 
Now that Bush has defied the will of the majority of Americans 
through his refusal to withdraw from Iraq and to change his strategy 
toward the region, the important question is:  How can one who does 
not respect his people's unanimity on a certain policy or issue 
claim to be willing to bring democracy and freedom to others? 
 
 
Corbin