VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0543/01 1561256
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 051256Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3609
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6849
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4564
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 3204
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7707
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1790
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 5123
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 1327
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7450

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000543 
 
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:  Syria/Italy, Nahr al-Bared, International Tribunal, Golan, 
Iraq (6/5) 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers on June 5 reported the June 4 arrival in 
Damascus of Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister 
Massimo D'Alema who will hold talks with senior Syrian officials on 
bilateral relations and regional issues. 
 
As for developments in Lebanon, papers reported continuing fierce 
clashes in Nahr al-Bared, tension in the refugee camp of Ein 
el-Hilweh in Sidon, southern Lebanon, and the explosion that took 
place in Sad al-Bushiriyeh in northeastern Beirut.  Papers also 
reported that Lebanese MP Mustafa Hussein has withdrawn from 
al-Mustaqbal Bloc in rejection of the US plots against Lebanon. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Masimo Dalima 
arrives in Damascus.  Dalima:  Syria plays a positive role in the 
region;  we maintain excellent relations with Syria" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 6/5) 
 
"Tension prevails in Nahr al-Bared and Ein el-Hilweh refugee camps. 
An explosion in Sad al-Bushiriyeh in northeastern Beirut.  Former 
Lebanese Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss:  America prevents accord 
among the Lebanese people" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 6/5) 
 
"Lebanese MP Mustafa Hussein withdraws from al-Mustaqbal Bloc in 
rejection of the US plots against Lebanon" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 6/5) 
 
"Amnesty International:  Israel drowns Palestinians in poverty and 
misery" (Government-owned Tishreen, 6/5) 
 
"Cheney created mercenaries in Iraq" (Government-owned Tishreen, 
6/5) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
----------------- 
 
"Modern Setbacks" 
 
----------------- 
 
Abd-al-Fattah al-Awad, Chief Editor of government-owned Al-Thawra, 
wrote (6/5):  "Why is Syria the target of hatred...?  The fact is 
that Syria has not accepted the roles that others designed for it. 
It has always been eager to have its own role, a Syrian role that 
helps formulate other roles, not only play them.  The Syrian 
decision-maker, furthermore, never allowed the sovereignty and 
dignity of Syria -- people and country -- to be harmed. 
 
"Within this context we can explain the political whoredom and 
attempts to bargain over Syria's role and to usurp Syria's right to 
preserve its dignity and sovereignty.... 
 
"Despite offers to give the Golan back to Syria in return for 
Syria's abandonment of its role in supporting the Palestinian cause 
and regaining Arab rights, and despite the 'stabs' that Syria has 
received secretly and in the dark, it has insisted that the return 
of the Golan in full be a Syrian right not open for bargaining or 
deal-making. Forty years after the occupation of the Golan, we find 
ourselves more determined to regain it in full. 
 
"Syria has announced its readiness for peace, but we are completely 
sure that Israel is neither willing nor able to achieve it...." 
 
------------------ 
 
"Anti-Syria Media" 
 
------------------ 
 
Izz-al-Din al-Darwish, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, 
wrote (6/5):  "The so-called 'moderate' Arab media outlets lack 
credibility and adopt Israeli concepts, terminology, and 
 
interpretations.... 
 
"For example, these outlets try to absolve Israel of the systematic 
killing of Palestinians when they claim that Palestinians never stop 
firing missiles at Israeli towns, although the fact is that 
Palestinians are trying to defend themselves by using the most basic 
means available to them.... 
"These Arab media outlets sometimes talk about Arab resistance and 
opposition with a kind of disdain, focusing on Syria, which refuses 
to surrender to the American-Israeli plan in the region, and on 
Lebanon's Hizbollah, which liberated most of south Lebanon from the 
Israeli occupation and inflicted a solid defeat on the Israeli 
occupation army in the July/August 2006 aggression. 
 
"When these cheap and subservient media outlets talk about Syria, 
the timing is often mean, the words provocative, and the objective 
closely linked to what is happening on the ground, from Palestine to 
Iraq to Lebanon.... 
 
"But these media outlets, which receive enormous funding to play 
this subversive role, cannot harm Damascus and its status. 
 
"Syria has remarkable Arab, regional, and international support. 
Everyone returns to it on every matter related to the region. 
Superpowers have tried to isolate Syria to please Israel but have 
failed and have returned to talk with it on equal footing.... 
 
"Let them say what they will.  The day will come when their words, 
falsehoods, and poison backfire." 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
"What Comes After Chapter Seven?" 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
Ibrahim Darraji, an editorialist in independent     al-Watan, wrote 
(6/5):  "There are a number of scenarios regarding the results of 
investigations into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime 
Minister Rafiq al-Hariri and the work of the International Tribunal 
that will be formed under Security Council Resolution 1757.  One of 
the possibilities is to politicize the case fully and accuse 
official Syrian figures of involvement in the assassination.  In 
this case, Syria must handle the matter calmly and wisely and not 
feel content with mere rejection and denial. 
 
"Syria, in this case, must decide to try the suspects before the 
Syrian judiciary.... The Charter of the International Criminal Court 
as well as Paragraph 2 of Article 6 of Al-Hariri Tribunal itself 
allow this, provided that the national trial is fair.... 
 
"Syria will have no problem here as long as we are confident that we 
are innocent.  Then we commit ourselves to holding trials based on 
international judicial standards and leave it to our national 
judiciary to decide on conviction or acquittal.... This way Syria 
will be carrying out its duty and not giving others an excuse to 
target it on the pretext of lack of cooperation.  Such a Syrian step 
would also help our friends at the Security Council defend our 
position and underline our commitment, especially since the 
imposition of penalties on the pretext of lack of cooperation would 
require a return to the Security Council for a new vote." 
 
-------------------- 
 
"The Inevitable End" 
 
-------------------- 
 
Muhammad Khayr al-Jammali, an editorialist in government-owned 
Al-Thawra, wrote (6/5):  "President Bush's administration does not 
appear willing to put an end to the mad, bloody, destructive war it 
is waging in Iraq, despite the mounting American losses and the talk 
about reducing the troops by 50 percent and conducting a review in 
September.... 
 
"President Bush wants to continue the war until complete defeat and 
to the last American soldier in Iraq.... The increasing American 
losses mean that the defeat of the American Army will be the 
inevitable end of the hateful occupation unless a miracle happens 
and saves what is left of this army through a speedy withdrawal or 
based on a short timetable." 
 
Corbin