Cablegate: Syria: 2006 Country Reports On Terrorism

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OO RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHDM #5431/01 3551211
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 211211Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2667
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0279
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DAMASCUS 005431

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

S/CT FOR RHONDA SHORE; NCTC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER ASEC PGOV SY
SUBJECT: SYRIA: 2006 COUNTRY REPORTS ON TERRORISM

REF: SECSTATE 175925

1. (U) Maria d.G. Olson is the Embassy POC. Address: 6110
Damascus Pl. Dulles, VA 20189. Unclassified e-mail:
OlsonM@state.gov. Tel: (963) (11) 3391-3785. Cell Phone:
(963) 94405166.

2. (SBU) The Syrian Government continued to provide
political and material support to Hizballah and political
support to Palestinian terrorist groups. HAMAS, Palestinian
Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PLFP), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine- General Command (PFLP-GC), among others, base
their external leadership in Damascus. The Syrian Government
insists that the Damascus-based groups undertake only
political and informational activities, but Palestinian
groups with leaders in Syria have claimed responsibility for
anti-Israeli terrorist acts.

3. (SBU) Syria's public support for the Palestinian groups
varied, depending on its national interests and international
pressure. In 2003, these groups lowered their public profile
after Damascus announced that they had voluntarily closed
their offices in Syria. In September 2005, however, Syrian
President Bashar al-Asad held a highly publicized meeting
with rejectionist leaders, and a month later the rejectionist
leaders participated in a meeting in Damascus with the
Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel. In
April 2006, visiting Hamas Foreign Minister Zahar met with
Damascus-based Palestinian leaders and attended a rally at
the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp, alongside Hamas leader
Khalid Mish,al and representatives of other rejectionist
groups and Hizballah. In July, Mish,al held a highly
publicized press conference under tight security at a
Damascus hotel, expressing gratitude for Syria,s
unconditional support to the Palestinian cause.

4. (SBU) Syrian officials publicly condemned international
terrorism, but made a distinction between terrorism and what
they considered to be "legitimate armed resistance" by
Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, by Lebanese
Hizballah, and by Iraqi opponents of the "occupation of
Iraq." The Syrian Government has not been implicated directly
in an act of terrorism since 1986, although preliminary
findings of a UN investigation into the February 2005
assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri
indicated a strong likelihood of official Syrian involvement.
That investigation continues.

5. (SBU) On September 12, four Syrian nationals with alleged
Islamist ties used grenades, guns and a small truck bomb to
launch an attack against the U.S. Embassy in Damascus. All
four of the assailants were killed, as was a Syrian security
officer as he responded to the attack. In the incident's
aftermath, the Syrian government enhanced security for the
Embassy and American personnel in Syria, although the
government declined to provide the Embassy with the findings
of its internal investigation into the attack. Damascus has
repeatedly assured the United States that it will take every
possible measure to protect U.S. citizens and facilities in
Syria, but at the same time has not taken measures considered
necessary by the USG.

6. (SBU) In the past, Damascus cooperated with the United
States and other foreign governments against al-Qaida and
other terrorist organizations and individuals. In May 2005,
however, the Syrian Government ended intelligence cooperation
on security, citing continued U.S. public complaints about
inadequate Syrian assistance to end the flow of fighters and
money to Iraq. In 2004-2005, Syria upgraded physical
security conditions on the border and began to give closer
scrutiny to military-age Arab males entering Syria (visas are
still not required for citizens of Arab countries). It also
highlighted the repatriation of more than 1,200 foreign
extremists and the arrest of more than 4,000 Syrians trying
to go to Iraq to fight. In November 2006, Syria,s FM
announced the resumption of diplomatic relations with Iraq
after a 25-year rupture, and, a month later, the Syrian and
Iraqi ministers of Interior signed a five-year memorandum of
understanding to boost, among other things, joint efforts to
control the borders and combat terrorism.

7. (SBU) As in recent years, Damascus highlighted in Syrian
government-controlled press information about clashes on

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Syrian territory with terrorist groups, particularly with the
Jund a-Sham group. Separately, in November, security agents
on the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon engaged in a
gunbattle with a Syrian Islamic militant from the Tawhid and
Jihad group. The militant, who was trying to use fake
documents to cross into Lebanon, subsequently blew himself up
with a hand grenade.
ROEBUCK

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