Cablegate: Damascus Media Reaction: Chavez Visit, Golan, Lebanon,
VZCZCXYZ0631
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DE RUEHDM #4283/01 2431303
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (TAO)
O 311303Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1314
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6246
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4081
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2640
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7268
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1269
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4650
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0865
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7002
UNCLAS DAMASCUS 004283
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: Chavez Visit, Golan, Lebanon,
Palestinian Territories (8/31)
1. Summary: Syrian papers today continued to give prominent
coverage to Venezuelan President Chavez's visit to Damascus.
Papers reported that President Asad held a plenary meeting with
his Venezuelan counterpart in the presence of members of the two
delegations; afterward, the two leaders held a closed door
meeting. Several agreements and protocols were signed between
the Syrian People's Assembly and Venezuela's National Council in
the presence of two Presidents. The two countries also entered
into other agreements, whose topics include cooperation in the
fields of environment, agriculture, and air and naval transport;
political consultation between foreign ministries; and economic,
trade, and technical cooperation, particularly with respect to
oil, energy, media, and building and construction. The
Presidents held a press conference following their meeting.
President Asad said that Syria supported Venezuela's candidacy
for a seat on the UN Security Council. Chavez offered to help
Syria build an oil refinery, to enable it to export refined
products, rather than crude oil.
Papers also reported that a resistance group in the Golan Heights
threatened Wednesday to abduct Israeli soldiers, to be swapped
for Syrian prisoners in Israel. In a statement faxed to foreign
news agencies in Damascus, a group calling itself "Men of the
National Syrian Resistance" threatened to "take the necessary
measures" to secure the release of 16 Syrians jailed in Israel.
The statement said: "The Lebanese model, the model of Hezbollah,
is not so far from ours in planning for and implementing the
release of prisoners."
End of summary.
2. Selected Headlines:
"President Asad and President Chavez discuss bilateral
cooperation, regional and international issues and hold a press
conference. Asad: We agree on a multipolar world system that
reflects world cultures and civilizations. Chavez: In my heart
are thousands of love songs to the great people of Syria and to
Damascus, the heart of Arabism" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 8/31)
"Chavez... a lovely Syrian day; President Asad: The Security
Council's continued submission to the US threatens more chaos and
bloodshed. President Chavez: Israel is an obstruction to peace
in the region. Thirteen agreements inked between Syria and
Venezuela. Entry visas not required between Syria and Venezuela.
Syria supports Venezuela's membership in the UN Security Council.
Cooperation among Arab countries and Latin American states is
enhanced. Israeli practices in Lebanon and Palestine are
criminal" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 8/31)
"Israel welcomes Annan with a new crime in Gaza" (Government-
owned Al-Thawra, 8/31)
"Israeli violations of UNSC Resolution 1701 continue. Israel
foils Al-Saniora's optimism and rejects Annan's call for removing
siege on Lebanon and withdrawing from South Lebanon" (Government-
owned Tishreen, 8/31)
"National resistance in the Golan calls on Israel to release
prisoners" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/31)
3. Editorial Block Quotes:
--------------------------------------------- ---
"Chavez Visit Enhances the Course of Resistance"
--------------------------------------------- ---
Isam Dari, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen,
commented (8/31): "Damascus today opens its arms and heart to a
first-class statesman who embodies absolute courage in an age of
submissiveness, capitulation, cowardice, and defeat....
"All Syrians today received with much love, appreciation, and
respect Syria's great guest, President Hugo Chavez, the renowned
leader who has rejected American dictates and proven that wise
and courageous leadership supported by the popular will can
defeat the policy of force and despotism....
"The policies of Chavez and other Latin American leaders prove
to everyone in this world that the policy of bending to the
storm leads only to humiliation and capitulation, while the
policy of confrontation, steadfastness, and rejection of
dictates, pressures, and threats is alone able to protect
countries and safeguard dignity and freedom....
"Certainly Chavez' visit will greatly bolster the policy of
resistance, steadfastness, and confrontation and contribute to
the birth of a new world free from unilateralism and the
policies of domination and aggression...."
----------------------
"Hugo Chavez, Welcome"
----------------------
Elias Murad, Chief Editor of government-owned Al-Ba'th,
commented (8/31): "Chavez is a free revolutionary who links the
problems of the Arab nation to the problems of Latin America and
realizes the possibility of waging and winning joint battles.
He also believes that through the alliance of oppressed nations
and states it is possible to prevail over the new international
empire that the United States is leading....
"Syrians respect and appreciate the Venezuelan President, who
proved to be more Arab than some Arabs when he summoned his
country's ambassador from Tel Aviv to protest Israel's
aggression against Lebanon and when he announced that what
Israel was doing against the Lebanese and the Palestinians was
also directed against the Venezuelan people....
"Syrians see in Chavez' visit a boost for the forces of justice,
freedom, and independence and a challenge to the real threat to
the world and its security, namely, the Israeli-American
danger...."
-------------------------------
"Another Comic Political Scene"
-------------------------------
Khalid al-Ashhab, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra,
wrote (8/31): "In another comic political scene, pawns of the
March 14 group in Lebanon have called on Hizbollah to prove its
Lebanese identity and its patriotism.... Instead of succeeding
in casting doubt on the patriotism of the Resistance, leaders of
the March 14 group succeeded in proving their collaboration with
and loyalty to foreigners....
"One who follows the political scene in Lebanon today will
notice with a small laugh and bitter irony that pawns of the
March 14 group, which hunt for lies, allegations and suspicions,
realize that the elephants and the castles that protect them
have failed to achieve their schemes and goals. Today they are
trying to find a last breathe of life for their scheme in
Lebanon and the region, after they have been baffled by the
winds of the Lebanese Resistance. Therefore, the role that has
been designed for these pawns has become restricted in
anticipation of prominent and inevitable changes.
"Just as the Resistance does not need to prove its patriotism
and Lebanese identity, so these pawns do not need to prove their
treason."
Corbin