VZCZCXYZ0030
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0835/01 2271347
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 151347Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4041
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 7041
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4723
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 3389
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7852
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1958
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 5284
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 1481
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7576

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000835 
 
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:  Shara, Syria/India, Nasrallah, Iraq, Palestinian 
Territories, Middle East Peace (8/15) 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers on August 15 reported a meeting with 
journalists in Damascus by Vice President Shara on August 14 
confirming that Syria has no intention of waging war against Israel 
to restore occupied Golan, but he accused Israel for seeking "any 
excuse to launch a war."  "Israel knows we don't want war.  We 
should always be ready to respond to Israeli aggression, but Syria 
will not start a war," Shara said. "People on Syria's streets do not 
want war, although they will not accept anything less than Israeli 
withdrawal from the whole of occupied Golan.  The Arab initiative is 
clear in this regard and we support it," Shara said.  "Israel wants 
any excuse to launch a war," Shara added saying that any 
preparations Syria was making were defensive in nature."  Shara 
criticized the role of Saudi Arabia in the region, describing it as 
"paralyzed."  He said that President Asad proposed to hold a summit 
with King Abdullah and President Mubarak, but "they were not 
authorized to hold such a meeting," referring to the US.  Shara also 
denied claims by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the 
existence of tension between his country and Iran.  Shara described 
relations between Syria and Iran as strategic, and based on 
understanding and accord regarding regional issues.  Shara also 
reiterated Syria's position towards regional issues, particularly 
those in Iraq, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon. 
 
On Syrian-Indian relations, papers featured the visit to India on 
August 14 by FM Mouallem who called for a strategic partnership 
between Syria and India, asking India to play a bigger role in the 
peace process in the Middle East saying that New Delhi must use its 
growing relations with Washington to promote stability in the 
region.  Mouallem conferred with senior Indian officials.  Talks 
tackled horizons of mutual cooperation between the two countries. 
Mouallem also announced that President Asad would pay a visit to 
India within a year to promote bilateral relations. 
 
All papers featured a speech by Hizbollah SecGen Hassan Nasrallah on 
August 14 commemorating the 1st anniversary of the July War. 
Nasrallah warned Israel against launching another war against 
Lebanon, saying any attempt to attack his country "will be faced 
with a great surprise likely to change the fate of the war and the 
region."  He said that his group supports the mediation efforts by 
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in the upcoming week in a bid to 
reach a solution to the ten-month-old political impasse.  "We 
support a compromise in Lebanon and we warn the Lebanese against 
attempts undertaken by the United States and some Lebanese 
politicians to hamper any resolutions to the crisis," he said. 
Nasrallah addressed Arabs, rather than their leaders, and thanked 
them for their "moral support" during the war. "We did not ask for 
more," he added.  "We must all realize that had the resistance lost 
the war, not only Lebanon, Syria and Palestine would have suffered 
from negative repercussions but also Saudi Arabia, Jordan and 
Egypt," Nasrallah said. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"Vice President Shara in an important meeting with Journalists: We 
are committed to peace... We do not seek war... We reject 
capitulation... We want the forthcoming Arab Summit in Damascus to 
be a summit of solidarity... President Bush's peace Conference is 
based on illusion and has no clear objectives...  Syrian -Iranian 
relations as strategic...." (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 8/15) 
 
"Foreign Minister Mouallem continues his meetings in New Delhi and 
discusses means of boosting cooperation and establishing a strategic 
partnership with India" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 8/15) 
 
"On the first anniversary of the Lebanese resistance victory and the 
Israeli aggression defeat, Secretary General of Hizbollah Nasrallah: 
 We promise Zionists great surprises if they attack us... The 
resistance revived hope of the Arab nation and presented an 
alternative to liberate the land" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 
8/15) 
 
"Seven Palestinians martyred in a bloody day in Gaza.  Israeli 
Foreign Minister:  Reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas is a big 
mistake" (Independent al-Watan, 8/15) 
 
 
"A massacre in Mosul. 175 Iraqis victimized by three car bombs. Nine 
US soldiers killed.  A US helicopter is downed" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 8/15) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
----------------------- 
 
"Shameful Achievements" 
 
----------------------- 
 
Omar Jaftali, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, wrote 
(8/15):  "The American people definitely know that President Bush's 
talk about achievements and victories in Iraq and Afghanistan is 
deliberate deception given the number of deaths among US troops and 
the huge material losses that the United States has suffered.... 
 
"In Afghanistan, Taliban controls most of the regions of this 
war-stricken country, and the NATO forces failed to achieve 
'miracles' in five years of occupation of Afghanistan.... 
 
"In Iraq, what US forces and mercenaries are doing is nothing but 
deliberate killing of Iraqis, fragmentation of the Iraqi homeland, 
and total destruction of the country, while the companies of 
colonialist looters are pumping out Iraq's oil without controls.... 
 
"We wonder if the one million Iraqis killed in the war were members 
of Al-Qa'eda....Who but the American occupation brought Al-Qaeda to 
Iraq...? 
 
"Americans, more than anyone else, now realize that they are being 
fought in Iraq by a popular resistance that rejects occupation and 
defends its land and people.  This resistance targets only the 
foreign occupation army and mercenaries who are fighting under its 
banner.  Americans and all the nations of the world are fed up with 
the lies and charlatanism of the US Administration and its 
practices, which will remain a black blot in modern US history." 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
"Not Inciting against Iraqis, but Serving Them" 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
Ibrahim Darraji, an editorialist in independent al-Watan, wrote 
(8/15):  "Syria, through its hosting of 1.5 million Iraqi refugees, 
is taking the biggest brunt and paying the tax of the American 
occupation of Iraq in a way that is exhausting its economy and 
infrastructure and increasing the suffering of Syrian citizens.... 
 
"Most of the Western promises of help for Syria to cope with the 
Iraqi refugee problem remain just promises....  The Syrian 
government must think in a realistic and practical way about how to 
handle this crisis, to deal with the West in the same way and the 
logic it understands, to make decisive decisions embodying Syria's 
suffering, and to transfer the burden to the main party that caused 
it.... 
 
"We understand that pan-Arab, ethical, and human considerations that 
made Syria open its border to Iraqi refugees, but the price must not 
be paid by Syria alone.  We are not inciting against Iraqis in Syria 
but actually serving them by this call because the party that was 
the reason behind their expulsion and displacement must bear the 
responsibility and provide them with the requirements of a dignified 
life...." 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
"Syrian Policy and Credibility of Peace-Making" 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
Ahmad Suwwan, a commentator in government-owned Tishreen, wrote 
(8/15):  "Syria, which sticks to the bases, principles, and elements 
 
of a genuine, just, lasting, and comprehensive peace in the region, 
presents a model and example of political credibility, sound 
decision-making, and successful analysis when it stresses that the 
removal of the Israeli occupation from all the occupied Arab 
territories will lead the region toward peace, security, stability, 
calm, and constructive and fruitful cooperation.... 
 
"Syria has never been the problem; it has always been part of the 
solution.... Israel, as the occupying power, is the problem, and it 
must meet the requirements of a just peace.... The United States, 
for its part, needs to be an honest broker, not a party biased 
toward occupation...." 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
"One Year Past the July Aggression; How the Lebanese Resistance 
turned Magic against the Magician" 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
Yunus Ibrahim, a commentator in government-owned    Al-Ba'th, wrote 
(8/15):  "The July 2006 war upset balances, changed equations, 
smashed Israel's arrogance, liberated the Arabs and helped them 
break free from the complex of fear and lack of self confidence. 
What Arabs need to do now is study history thoroughly to see what 
the nation has come through over its long history.  They will find 
that success and victory are always linked to awareness, 
determination, and faith, while failure is linked to division, 
fragmentation, and pinning hopes on others for salvation...." 
 
--------------- 
 
"Cheney's Wars" 
 
--------------- 
 
Sa'id Musallam, a commentator in government-owned   Al-Thawra, wrote 
(8/15):  "US Vice President Dick Cheney, who reportedly controls the 
Bush administration completely, was the one who pushed this 
administration toward foreign wars to fulfill his own ambitions, 
primarily his financial greed, out of his instinctive love for 
domination and hegemony and the use of force to subjugate 
others.... 
 
"Cheney embraces rancorous thought against Islam and Arabism.... 
Cheney's agenda for the next stage will focus on wars and violence 
despite the many failures that his plan has sustained, whether in 
Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, or elsewhere.  He is determined to open 
fronts and divide the region using whatever time and military and 
financial power are available to him, even if this ultimately leads 
to the destruction of the empire over the heads of its hawks, 
thinking that he will win what he personally seeks." 
 
Corbin