Middle East References
May 10, 2004
International News Article | Reuters.com
President Imposes Sanctions on Syria
Nation Accused of Backing Terrorism
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 12, 2004; Page A01
Under pressure from Congress, President Bush slapped sanctions on Syria yesterday for supporting terrorism and interfering with U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq.
The White House said the sanctions include banning U.S. exports to Syria except for food and medicine, prohibiting Syrian aircraft from flying to and from the United States, freezing certain Syrian assets and cutting off relations with a Syrian bank because of money laundering concerns.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration has wavered about how tough its policy should be toward Syria. Some administration officials have been deeply suspicious of Damascus, believing its support of terrorism and development of weapons of mass destruction make it a potential candidate for the "axis of evil" that Bush had said consisted of North Korea, Iran and the former government of Iraq. But others have argued that Syria has been helpful in the war on terrorism, specifically in providing intelligence that helped thwart at least one potential attack.
Indeed, the Bush administration had been unenthusiastic about the Syrian Accountability Act, which was approved five months ago by huge margins in the House and the Senate, and had repeatedly delayed implementing it for fear of adding to tensions in the Middle East. But, facing a deadline next month for choosing from a menu of sanctions, the president finally acted.
"Despite many months of diplomatic efforts to convince the Government of Syria to change its behavior, Syria has not taken significant, concrete steps to address the full range of U.S. concerns," Bush said in a message to Congress. He declared a "national emergency" to address the "unusual and extraordinary threat" posed by Syria.
The United States rarely imposes economic sanctions on other countries because they rile the business community, which yesterday expressed dismay at the administration's actions. The Bush administration last levied sanctions almost a year ago, on Burma.
The practical effect of the new sanctions is mostly symbolic. Diplomatic relations will not be cut, no Syrian flights fly to the United States, and Bush said in his message to Congress that he will waive the sanctions for products such as telecommunications equipment and aircraft parts, in addition to the exemptions for food and medicine.
Thomas Crocker, a partner at Alston & Bird and a sanctions specialist, said the permitted products constitute a large portion of the $200 million in exports from the United States to Syria. Bush justified the continued sale of telecommunications equipment -- such as cellular phones -- as an effort "to promote the free flow of information."
Italy, Germany and France are Syria's biggest trading partners, Crocker said.
Syrian exports to the United States totaled nearly $260 million last year, much of it fuel oil and other petroleum products. While exports from Syria are not barred, U.S. companies may find it difficult to continue working there under the sanctions.
In Damascus, Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otari told reporters that the sanctions are "unjust and unjustified," but he said "these sanctions will not have any effect on Syria." He called on Washington to "reverse its decision and not provoke problems between the two countries."
Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), one of the sponsors of the sanctions law, said the president's action "was a long time coming, but it is better late than never." But, he said, "to me, it's only the beginning," adding that Syria will face even tougher sanctions if its behavior does not change.
In a statement, Bush echoed that sentiment. "The Syrian government must understand that its conduct alone will determine the duration of the sanctions, and the extent to which additional sanctions may be imposed should the Syrian government fail to adopt a more constructive approach to relations with its neighbors, weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism," he said.
Bush, who signed an executive order imposing the sanctions, accused Syria of "supporting terrorism, continuing its occupation of Lebanon, pursuing weapons of mass destruction and missile programs, and undermining United States and international efforts with respect to the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq."
Last year, U.S. immigration authorities, with the approval of then-acting Attorney General Larry Thompson, authorized the expedited deportation to Syria of Maher Arar, whom they accused of having links with al Qaeda. Arar said that for the 10 months he was in prison, he was beaten, tortured and kept in a grave before he was freed.
A year ago, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell traveled to Damascus and warned Syrian President Bashar Assad that Congress might force the administration's hand if Syria did not take demonstrative steps to act against terrorism and thwart insurgents crossing the Syrian border to fight U.S. troops in Iraq.
U.S. officials have been disappointed with Assad's response. During Powell's visit, Assad said he would close the Damascus offices of extremist Palestinian groups, but U.S. officials said the groups still plot attacks on Israel from Syria.
International News Article | Reuters.com
Wed May 5, 2004 06:36 AM ET
By Louis Charbonneau
VIENNA (Reuters) - Some members of the Bush administration believe Syria has centrifuges that can purify uranium for use in bombs, though the intelligence community is divided on the issue, diplomats and experts told Reuters.
Last week, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton said Adbul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist who sold nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, had "several other" customers who may want the bomb. Western diplomats in Vienna said Bolton was clearly referring to Syria.
One atomic energy expert, who follows nuclear intelligence closely, said Bolton leads a faction in President Bush's administration that believes they have strong evidence Syria is operating uranium-enrichment centrifuges.
But a U.S. official, who asked not to be named, warned the intelligence on Syria had not dispelled all doubts.
"Those who are pushing the idea that Syria has centrifuges have been held back by other members of the inter-agency community who question the veracity of the claim," he said.
Several Western diplomats who follow the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), have been saying for months that Syria was a customer of Khan's.
"Syria certainly had contact with Khan," said a non-U.S. Western diplomat, adding that suspicions of Syrian research in atomic weapons have existed for decades.
Since Washington began its post-September 11 policy of aggressively pursuing countries it believed had weapons of mass destruction that could be used against the United States and its allies, it has repeatedly issued warnings about Syria.
In the Central Intelligence Agency's most recently published report on Syria from June 2003, the CIA said: "We are looking at Syrian nuclear intentions with growing concern."
But several sources said not everyone in the U.S. intelligence community and government is certain Syria has operating centrifuges. Likewise, one of the sources said not even Syria's arch-foe Israel is convinced.
"There is disagreement within the intelligence community about whether Syria has operating centrifuges...in the U.S. and with the Middle East," the atomic energy expert said.
SYRIA DISMISSES CONCERNS
Syria, which has publicly called for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, dismissed the allegations.
"This can only be part of a campaign of absolutely baseless accusations against Syria," a Syrian official told Reuters in Damascus. "Syria has no program to acquire...nuclear weapons."
The U.S. official said some feared pressuring Syria now may undermine relations with Damascus when it is starting to cooperate on sealing its border to militants crossing into Iraq.
Centrifuges can be used to purify uranium for use as nuclear fuel or in weapons. Experts say getting weapons-grade material is the biggest hurdle for any country that desires the bomb.
But diplomats and arms experts said revelations about Khan's nuclear black market showed a means existed for Syria to get hold of equipment it needed to enrich uranium without decades of research that would have been needed to develop it on its own.
On the other hand, one arms expert said even with enrichment devices Syria could not be close to having a nuclear weapon.
"Could Syria have centrifuges? Sure. Is it possible that they could be close to getting a nuclear weapon? No way," Joseph Cirincione, director for Non-Proliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Reuters.
Everyone interviewed for this story said Bolton, who made strong assertions about Iraq's nuclear plans before the war in Iraq, would have trouble convincing people outside the United States that Syria was a threat.
The U.S. military has never found any evidence to support claims that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had revived his nuclear weapons program.
"Given what was revealed about the quality of intelligence in Iraq, people have become very wary of U.S. intelligence about other countries," said a Western diplomat close to the IAEA.
Bolton has crusaded against many states suspected by the Bush administration of seeking WMD. He has attacked Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya and now Syria.
Pakistan could hold the key to resolving the debate about any Syrian nuclear capabilities.
Khan, the man credited with building up Pakistan's successful nuclear weapons program, has been cooperating with Pakistani authorities after admitting that he leaked nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Diplomats and non-proliferation experts agreed that if Syria does in fact have centrifuges, they had to come from Khan and the Pakistani authorities would be able to resolve the issue. But Islamabad may refuse to cooperate, as in the case of Iran. (Additional reporting by Inal Ersan in Damascus and Saul Hudson in Washington)
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Reporters sans fronti�res - Syria - Annual report 2004
Reporters sans fronti�res - Syria - Annual report 2004
Syria - Annual report 2004
The US government stepped up its pressure on the regime after the Iraq war but promises of change have still not been fulfilled. There is no independent media and the Internet is censored.
Before the Iraq war, Syria began to stress its moderation and openness to dialogue with Washington. As the only Arab country on the UN Security Council, it even voted for the council's Resolution 1441 demanding that Iraq destroy the "weapons of mass destruction" it supposedly possessed. Syria's former UN ambassador, Haitham al-Kilani, suggested at the time that the country feared war against Iraq and said some government officials feared Syria would be the next target.
In late 2003, the difficult relationship between Washington and Damascus turned into a crisis when the US Congress approved economic and political sanctions against Syria for allegedly supporting "terrorism." The "Syrian Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act" aimed to force Syria to end its occupation of Lebanon.
Progress that preserves the old order is the slogan of the Baath Party, which seized power in 1963. The youthful president, Bashar al-Assad, is at a loss how to resolve this contradiction, of developing a market economy and granting civil liberties, while protecting the pillars and economic interests of the regime founded by his father.
A group of 287 intellectuals, pointing to the strategic changes in the region, urged the president in May to lift the state of emergency, allow freedom of expression and hold free elections. Assad did not arrest those who signed the petition - as was done in a crackdown in mid-2001 - but replied to them in an interview with the satellite TV station Al-Arabiya, saying his priority was to open up the economy rather than making political reforms.
Parliamentary elections in March were predictably won by a Baathist-led alliance of seven parties and a new government in September saw the information ministry go to Baathist Ahmed al-Hassan. When US forces overthrew Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on 9 April, Syria's state-controlled TV ignored the news from its neighbour and rival and instead broadcast a programme about Arabic poetry.
But many homes and cafés have satellite TV reception and were able to see the toppling of President Hussein's statue in Baghdad live on Arab stations. Another propaganda example came on 6 October, the day after an Israeli air attack a dozen kilometres from Damascus, when Syrian newspapers instead celebrated the 30th anniversary of the 1973 war between Israel and Syria amid a mass of photos of the late President Hafez al-Assad.
Privately-owned radio and TV stations are unofficially banned. Foreign journalists allowed into the country are kept under close observation and news and opposition Internet websites are censored.
New information about a lawsuit in France against a Syrian journalist
A Paris court on 30 January 2003 dismissed a libel suit by former Syrian Vice-President Rifaat al-Assad against Syrian journalist Nizar Nayyuf, who had accused him of murdering people in Palmyra prison on 27 June 1980. Many witnesses told the court this was true. Nayyuf had been freed in Syria on 6 May 2001 after nine years in prison.
A journalist released
Ibrahim Hamidi, bureau chief in Syria of the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, was freed on 1,000 Syrian pounds (20 euros) bail on 25 May 2003 after five months in prison. He was released just before a meeting of the Euromed Partnership, that Syria belongs to, but remained accused of publishing "false news" and risked between one and three years in jail. He had been arrested on 23 December 2002 after reporting three days earlier that preparations were being made in the northeast of the country to receive up to a million refugees if Iraq was invaded. The authorities denied this and arrested Hamidi, who was one of the few journalists who had managed to avoid official sanctions. Western governments condemned his arrest.
Harassment and obstruction
A team from the Lebanese Hezbollah TV station Al-Manar that wanted to film a press conference by US secretary of state Colin Powell in Damascus on 3 May 2003 was turned away by US security agents. The US considers Hezbollah a terrorist organisation.
Lawyer Haissam Maleh, president of the Syrian Human Rights Association, received a presidential amnesty on 2 July. He had been prosecuted by a military court since 4 September 2002 for putting out "false news" and for distributing in Syria copies of Tayyarat, the Association's paper published in Lebanon.
The then prime minister, Mustafa Miro, cancelled the publishing licence on 31 July of the satirical weekly Addomari, and the information ministry said it had contravened a number of laws and regulations by not appearing for more than three months. The magazine had not come out since April because of official harassment. Editor Ali Farzat had had trouble with distribution and advertising, along with censorship and official warnings.
The information ministry had demanded to see its contents beforehand, but the paper refused and instead stopped appearing. Farzat knew he risked a ban if the paper did not come out within the three-month deadline, so he published an issue a few days beforehand, on 28 July, headlined "Belief in the possibility of reform."
The paper's lawyer, Anwar al-Bunni, said the authorities banned its distribution because it contained articles about the country's censored media along with messages to President Assad and new information minister Adnan Omran. Several of its staff were also summoned by state security officials. Bunni criticised the censoring of the paper and said he would take legal action to get back the publishing licence.
Addomari became Syria's only independent satirical newspaper after a September 2001 law allowed non state-controlled newspapers for the first time since 1963.
Iraqi WMDs, Now in Syria
Iraqi WMDs, Now in Syria
By Larry Elder
Townhall.com | May 6, 2004
"Week after week after week after week," said Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., about President Bush's rationale for going to war with Iraq, "we were told lie after lie after lie after lie." Were we?
Jordan recently seized 20 tons of chemicals trucked in by confessed al-Qaeda members who brought the stuff in from Syria. The chemicals included VX, Sarin and 70 others. But the media seems curiously incurious about whether one could reasonably trace this stuff back to Iraq. Had the terrorists released a "toxic cloud," Jordanian officials say 80,000 would have died!
So, I interviewed terrorism expert John Loftus, who once held some of the highest security clearances in the world. Loftus, a former Army officer, served as a Justice Department prosecutor. He investigated CIA cases of Nazi war criminals for the U.S. attorney general. Author of several books, Loftus once received a Pulitzer Prize nomination.
John Loftus: There's a lot of reason to think (the source of the chemicals) might be Iraq. We captured Iraqi members of al-Qaeda, who've been trained in Iraq, planned for the mission in Iraq, and now they're in Jordan with nerve gas. That's not the kind of thing you buy in a grocery store. You have to have obtained it from someplace.
Larry Elder: They couldn't have obtained it from Syria?
Loftus: Syria does have the ability to produce certain kinds of nerve gasses, but in small quantities. The large stockpiles were known to be in Iraq. The best U.S. and allied intelligence say that in the 10 weeks before the Iraq war, Saddam's Russian adviser told him to get rid of all the nerve gas. It would be useless against U.S. troops; the rubber suits were immune to it. So they shipped it across the border to Syria and Lebanon and buried it. Now, in the last few weeks, there's a controversy that Syria has been trying to get rid of this stuff.
They're selling it to al-Qaeda is one supposition. We know the Sudanese government demanded that the Syrian government empty its warehouse in Khartoum where they've been hiding illegal missiles along with components of Weapons of Mass Destruction. But there's no doubt these guys confessed on Jordanian television that they received the training for this mission in Iraq. . . And from the description it appears this is the form of nerve gas known as VX. It's very rare, and very tough to manufacture . . . one of the most destructive chemical mass-production weapons that you can use. . . They wanted to build three clouds, a mile across, of toxic gas. A whole witch's brew of nasty chemicals that were going to go into this poison cloud, and this would have gone over shopping malls, hospitals . . . .
Elder: You said that the Russians told Saddam, "There is going to be an invasion. Get rid of your chemical and biological weapons."
Loftus: Sure. It would only bring the United Nations down on their heads if they were shown to really have Weapons of Mass Destruction. It's not generally known, but the CIA has found 41 different material breaches where Saddam did have a weapons of mass destruction program of various types. It was completely illegal. But no one could find the stockpiles. And the liberal press seems to be focusing on that.
Elder: It seems to me that this is a huge, huge story.
Loftus: It's embarrassing to the (press). They've staked their reputations that this stuff wasn't there. And now all of a sudden we have al Qaeda agents from Iraq showing up with Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Elder: David Kay said, in an interim report, that there was a possibility that WMD components were shipped to Syria.
Loftus: A possibility? We had a Syrian journalist who defected to Paris in January. The guy is dying of cancer, and he said, "Look, my friends in Syrian intelligence told me exactly where the stuff is buried." He named three sites in Syria, and the Israelis have confirmed the three sites. They know where the stuff is, but the problem is that the United States can't just go around invading Arab countries. . . We know from Israeli and defectors' intelligence that the son of the Syrian defense minister was paid 50 million bucks to bring the stuff across the border and bury it.
Elder: Why would al-Qaeda attack Jordan?
Loftus: Jordan is an ally of the United States. It's at peace with Israel. And Jordan has a long history of trying to prosecute terrorists. . . There are a lot of reasons. . . They want to make an example of them. They want to terrorize as many of the Arab states as possible. This is sort of a political dream for the president. The worst nightmare is al-Qaeda gets Weapons of Mass Destruction from Iraq. And it looks like it's coming true.
A Syria/Iraq/al Qaeda/WMD connection? Why, this calls for a congressional investigation.
Israel News : Jerusalem Post Internet Edition
Israel News : Jerusalem Post Internet Edition
Khaled Abu Toameh May. 10, 2004
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Nearly two decades after Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was expelled from Syria, the Syrian government has agreed to the reopening of offices in Damascus that were used by his Fatah faction.
Fatah officials in the West Bank and Gaza Strip hailed the move as a sign of improving relations between Arafat and Syrian President Bashar Assad.
One of the offices in Damascus, known as "Bureau 23," served as Arafat's main headquarters in Syria. The other one, called "Bureau 36," housed Fatah's Financial Department.
The two offices were shut down on the orders of Bashar's father, President Hafez Assad, who in 1985 humiliated Arafat by declaring him persona non grata in Syria. Arafat was forced to leave Damascus International Airport shortly after he arrived there on an official visit to Syria.
Ties between Syria and the PLO leadership deteriorated sharply following the signing of the Oslo Accords. The Syrians accused Arafat of failing to consult with other Arab countries, including Syria.
Last week, in yet another sign of the rapprochement between Assad and Arafat, the Syrian authorities permitted Fatah supporters to hold a rally at the Yarmouk refugee camp in solidarity with the PA chairman.
It was the first time in more than 20 years that Arafat's supporters in Syria were allowed to demonstrate and carry his pictures in public.
The event was covered by state-run Syrian television and the official news agency SANA, which said it was organized in support of Assad.
Sources in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Assad's decision to reopen the Fatah offices in Damascus came after he received a message from Arafat last week. Assad met with PA Culture Minister Yahya Yakhluf in the presidential palace in Damascus. It was the second message of its kind in less than a month.
The first message was delivered to Assad by PLO "foreign minister" Farouk Kaddoumi, who is acting as a mediator between the Syrian president and Arafat.
Last month, Arafat dispatched Yakhluf and PLO Executive Committee member
Samir Ghosheh to Syria to coordinate ahead of the Arab summit that was cancelled by Tunisia.
The sources said Assad's discussions with Yakhluf last week focused on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
They said a Fatah delegation led by Fatah Central Committee members Abbas Zaki and Abu Maher Ghnaim is also expected to visit Damascus next month in a further sign of improving ties between Arafat and Assad.
�Syria Foils Israeli Bid to Kill Hamas Leader�
�Syria Foils Israeli Bid to Kill Hamas Leader�
Reuters, Arab News
DUBAI, 7 May 2004 — Syria has foiled an Israeli intelligence attempt to assassinate Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas who lives there, an Arabic newspaper reported yesterday. The London-based Asharq Al-Awsat quoted an unidentified Syrian source as saying security forces arrested a cell of Israeli intelligence agents a few days ago who used fake passports to enter Syria, which is officially at war with Israel.
“The cell was discovered and its members arrested by Syrian security forces who prevented them from carrying out the mission assigned to them by Israeli intelligence. This prevented the assassination attempt from being implemented,” the source said.
The cell members said they were Muslims and some were Yemenis, the newspaper reported, without giving further details. A Hamas official in Beirut said the group was not aware of any attempt on Meshaal’s life and that his aides had not been involved in thwarting such an attack.
“We have no information on this issue,” Usama Hamdan, Hamas head in Lebanon, told Reuters. “There has been talk in the press but if it is true, we have not been officially informed.” Israeli officials have vowed to kill leaders of resistance groups it accuses of responsibility for “terror acts”. Meshaal survived an Israeli assassination attempt in Jordan in 1997.
Syrian President Bashar Assad has warned Israel that Damascus would consider any attempt to kill Syrian-based leaders of Palestinian groups as aggression against the Arab state. Israel assassinated the Hamas spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and its Gaza leader, Abdulaziz Al-Rantissi.
Hamas, which has played a leading role in the Palestinian uprising against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, is sworn to the destruction of Israel and its members have been behind dozens of suicide attacks on Israelis. Syria regards Palestinian and Lebanese groups fighting Israeli occupation as freedom fighters. Israel and its US ally call them terrorists.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s representative in Beirut warned Israel and Lebanon yesterday to step back from launching a fresh border conflict, after a shooting incident and an air raid by the Jewish state.
The escalating attacks come despite signs Israel and Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah could be on the verge of an agreement on a final prisoner exchange and after a month of calm. “I want to emphasize with more strength the seriousness with which we view this situation,” said the envoy, Staffan de Mistura. “I’m calling on all parties to exercise the maximum restraint. We have to stop this dangerous escalation. We’re appealing to the parties to stop there and not to go further.”
The Israeli Army earlier said its soldiers had opened fire at dawn on a “group of suspects” approaching a position in the disputed Shebaa Farms area where the Israeli, Lebanese and Syrian borders intersect.
“The soldiers most likely foiled an imminent attack against their position,” an army source said. The Shebaa Farms area was captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War but is claimed by Beirut with the consent of Damascus.
Arutz Sheva - Israel National News
Arutz Sheva - Israel National News
12:45 May 09, '04 / 18 Iyar 5764
(IsraelNN.com) IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya’alon stated that Syria and Iran are response for attacks from southern Lebanon into northern Israel. He added that despite the seriousness of Friday’s attack, which claimed the life of a soldier and left others injured, a military response is not always called for.
When pressed to respond during an Army Radio interview this morning, he was asked if Syrian targets would be hit by air force planes in retaliation for the latest attack. The senior commander reiterated that each case must be weighed and analyzed to ascertain if a military assault is to our advantage. In some cases he explained, alternative methods, such as the political arena, are preferred.
Referring to Friday’s attack, the commander added it is believed Hizbullah terrorists may have been trying to approach the Gladiola Outpost in the Har Dov area to abduct soldiers.
The Daily Star - Politics - Israeli minister calls for attacks on damascus
The Daily Star - Politics - Israeli minister calls for attacks on damascus: "By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Monday, May 10, 2004
JERUSALEM: Israeli Transport Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who heads the National Union Party in the governing coalition, said Sunday that the military should bomb 'strategic targets' in Damascus to put an end to attacks by the Syrian-backed Hizbullah militia.
'In order to put an end to Hizbullah's attacks, it is necessary to attack strategic targets in Damascus, such as the army headquarters, the central electricity board, the telephone exchange, the public broadcasting house or the Presidential Palace, even if this last site has a more symbolic character,' Lieberman told army radio.
'It is effectively Syria which is responsible for everything that is going on in Lebanon, and it is through (Syrian) territory that the weapons from Iran reach Hizbullah,' said the minister.
Despite the clashes with Hizbullah, Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon said Sunday he doubted the Lebanese militia was looking to escalate the situation.
'I get the feeling that Hizbullah knows it is not in its interest,' Yaalon told public radio."
