Bashar Al-Assad - Tag Search

Now that President Obama has nominated Robert Stephen Ford to be the next U.S. ambassador to Syria -- the first since relations deteriorated in 2005 -- all eyes turn toward the confirmation process.

Senators don't make a habit of turning ambassadorial nominations into blood baths, but there is bipartisan distrust of Syria, and one Democratic lawmaker has already signaled his disapproval of Ford' nomination.

In an interview with the Jerusalem Post while on a trip to Israel, Congressman Eliot Engel (D-New York) called Ford's nomination a "mistake."

Bashar al-Assad's regime will ban Facebook in Syria, and campaign for a boycott of the service, because of this perceived slight:

... the social networking site permits Israelis living on the Golan Heights to list "Israel" as their country of residence, according to a report in Tuesday's Arab language newspaper Al Quds al Arabi.

I guess both sides have a point: The Golan is internationally recognized as Syrian territory occupied by Israel; but Israelis living in the Golan are, indeed, living in territory administered by the Israeli government.

One of our commenters directs me to Marc Lynch's analysis of the Syria-Iraq spat. Lynch identifies two possible reasons for the dispute. One of them is the domestic political angle we discussed on Monday: Maliki is trying to distract attention from the poor performance of the Iraqi security forces.

But Lynch also suggests an Iranian angle:

The most common regional politics argument is that Iran wanted to prevent Syria from reconciling with the U.S. and making peace with Israel, and thus pushed the Iraqi government to finger the Syrians (regardless of who was actually responsible)... Iran was sending a warning signal at Syria.

The whole post is worth a read, as Lynch's analysis often is.

The National's Phil Sands had a good item recently about the presence of Iraqi Ba'ath party members in Syria.

Just last month, 30 or so members of the Supreme Leadership for Jihad and Liberation, a network of more than half a dozen insurgent organisations, including the Iraqi Baath Party, held a summit meeting [in Damascus]. Over kebabs and spit-roasted chicken after the conference they discussed how to push the US military out of Iraq and how to topple the government.

I've been trying to figure out why Iraqi-Syrian relations collapsed so quickly, and I think the key to understanding that dynamic lies in Iraqi electoral politics.

Egypt's most famous criminal -- the "Iron Lady" -- was arrested at Cairo airport yesterday.

The 62-year-old Hoda Abdel Moneim is accused of running a pyramid scheme that defrauded thousands of people of nearly LE45 million (US$8 million). She fled the country in 1986 after the government launched an investigation; Egyptian authorities say they've tried to arrest her through Interpol but failed.

Moneim was sentenced in absentia in 2000 to ten years in prison.

This was Moneim's first return to Cairo after fleeing the country 22 years ago. She said she wants to spend the rest of her life with her family.

Update appended at the bottom.

Saturday finds the young guns of Foreign Policy Watch duking it out with Syria Today founder Andrew Tabler, who published an article on the Web site of Foreign Policy (the magazine) on Friday blaming Syria for holding up positive developments in negotiations with the United States.

Two million Iraqis might find themselves without fresh water next month as the Euphrates continues dropping to precipitously low levels.

Electricity production in Nasiriyah has fallen by 50 percent because there isn't enough water to power all of the city's hydroelectric turbines. Only two are still functioning -- and they might shut down in the next two weeks, because the river is expected to fall by another 20cm.

Some 3,000 people have been evacuated from villages north of Basra because there isn't enough fresh water to drink. As many as 300,000 Marsh Arabs have left their homes, according to Iraq's water minister.

And many of the country's fields are barren because there isn't enough water to irrigate them. The government has ordered villagers in the south to stop farming rice because it requires too much water.

Last week, Iraq and Syria pledged to form a "cooperation council" to work together on regional issues.

Today, Iraq recalled its ambassador from Damascus.

What changed? The sudden Syrian-Iraqi split was prompted by the confession from Wissam Ali Khazim Ibrahim, an alleged conspirator in last week's bombings, who said the attack was ordered by former Ba'ath Party officials living in Syria.

The Iraqi government is demanding that Damascus hand over the men, Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed and Sattam Farhan.

Syria has long faced charges -- from Iraqi and U.S. officials -- that it harbors and supports Iraqi insurgents. But it seems last week's bombings are propelling the Iraqi government to act.

Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is in Tehran today for talks with Ahmadinejad. He's the second Arab leader (after Sultan Qaboos of Oman) to visit Iran since the election.

The Western world is probably going to focus on Syria's efforts to secure the release of Clotilde Reiss, the French academic detained for attending a protest in Isfahan in June. The regime released her on bail earlier this week, largely thanks to Syrian negotiations. Now everyone's wondering if Syria will convince Iran to drop the charges against Reiss altogether.

Iraq and Syria pledged to establish a "cooperation council" to work together on key issues including water, electricity, border security and transportation. The announcement came after yesterday's meeting between Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

"The two sides discussed expanding co-operation over borders, oil, gas, water, transport, and working to increase trade between the two countries by establishing free-trade zones," a statement from al-Maliki's office said.

The two leaders released few details on their conversation, which was believed to center largely around security issues on the Iraqi-Syrian border.

Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki is in Damascus to meet with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Their meeting will touch on a number of issues -- water, economics, politics -- but will probably focus on security. And that appears to be a point of conflict between the two countries.

Before his trip, Maliki told reporters that the Iraqi insurgency is "coming from our neighbors." But Thabet Salem, a Syrian political commentator, says Assad will probably tell Maliki he can't do any more to secure the border.

"They have deployed 14,752 soldiers alongside the borders, 500 or more posts are observing the borders, while the Iraq have done absolutely nothing, along with the Americans, on their side of the borders," he said.

"The Syrians will exploit the visit to tell Maliki 'please stop doing these allegations, you have to do something, we have done what we can'."

The two men will also discuss a possible oil pipeline from Iraq to the Mediterranean, and Iraq's frequent complaints that Syrian dams are drying up the Euphrates.

As we reported yesterday, a U.S. military delegation is in Damascus talking about the Iraq insurgency. Neither the American nor Syrian government is releasing much information about the talks.

But the Iraqi government is talking about the meeting -- and it isn't pleased.

"It is not the duty of the American delegation to negotiate on behalf of Iraq," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told The Associated Press. "It is the Iraqi government that will directly negotiate on security with Syria."

P.J. Crowley, a State Department spokesman, suggested at yesterday's press briefing that the visit is in the context of U.S.-Syrian relations. But he also said that "Iraq benefits from the effort to deal with the problem." And that seems to be the crux of the Iraqi government's complaint -- that the U.S. is negotiating for Iraqi security.

Al-Dabbagh said Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki will make his own trip to Damascus next week to discuss security.

Waiting for Holbrooke's talk to start, reading about the U.S. military delegation to Syria, and I stumbled across this old photo of George Mitchell meeting with Bashar al-Assad. Is it just me or do these chairs look horribly uncomfortable?

And what's with that inlaid table-looking thing in the middle?

A U.S. military team is in Damascus today for talks with the Syrian government. They're focused mainly on Syria's efforts to stop insurgents from crossing the border into Iraq. The Obama administration views that as a sort of benchmark: If Damascus cracks down on insurgents, Washington will respond with positive gestures.

Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said last month that there has already been a "significant decrease" in insurgents from Syria.

Yossi Beiditz, the IDF's senior intelligence official, testified before a Knesset committee today. I think his analysis of Syria's foreign policy gets it largely right.

"In the estimate of the IDF Intelligence Branch, should Syria encounter a dilemma in the [region] after a deal with Israel, it will be willing to cool off its ties with Iran, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian groups," he said.

Bashar al-Assad is playing both sides right now, using his ongoing relationship with Iran to win concessions from the West and from other Arab states. But that state of affairs can't continue indefinitely; a regional conflict would force Assad to choose sides. And with Iran going through political unrest and economic turmoil, Assad would probably choose the West.

First post of August, and we start the morning with a couple of notable speeches from the Levant.

The return of the Golan Heights is non-negotiable, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad said today in a speech marking Syria's Army Day. Syria says it is willing to resume talks with Israel, with Turkey as an intermediary, if they focus on a return of the Golan -- which the Israeli government is unwilling to discuss.

The Arab world is losing patience with Obama, a prominent Lebanese Shi'a cleric said yesterday. Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah charged the U.S. with slipping back towards the Bush administration's policies in the Middle East.

Fadlallah, in an April interview, said he believed Obama was "sincere" about improving relations with the Muslim world.

Amos Harel, writing in Ha'aretz, speculates that the uneasy truce along the Israeli/Lebanese border is about to end.

Senior Israel Defense Forces staff and defense establishment personnel are very concerned about the possibility of a serious incident on the Lebanese border in the near future.

Tensions with Hezbollah have risen lately, especially since one of the organization's warehouses of Katyusha rockets in southern Lebanon blew up about two weeks ago. In response, defense officials have held several high-level consultations on the situation.

A good general rule for journalists: Skepticism is in order whenever unnamed military sources feed you information about a "possible" military conflict in which they might be involved.

Israel wants Turkey to resume its role as a mediator between Israel and Syria, according to a Qatari newspaper report. Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in Syria yesterday and reportedly told Syrian president Bashar al-Assad about the request.

Turkey has indicated that it is willing to mediate, though it's unclear if the two sides will actually resume talks; the Golan Heights remains a seemingly impassable issue.

The Assads are hoping for a visit from the Obamas:

"We would like to welcome him to Syria, definitely," Assad told Sky News in an interview broadcast on Friday. "I am very clear about this."

Asked whether a meeting could take place any time soon, Assad replied: "That depends on him." Smiling, he added: "I will ask you to convey the invitation to him."

We shouldn't assume a meeting would lead to much substantive progress, particularly on the big issue of Israeli-Syrian peace: that depends on the Golan Heights, and the Israeli position on the Golan is quite clear.

But it would obviously be a huge step towards better relations with Syria. It is increasingly clear that the Assad regime wants to distance itself from the ayatollahs in Iran -- and that creates a tremendous diplomatic opportunity for the U.S.

A little saber-rattling from Syria, where officials basically threaten Israel with war if it doesn't return the Golan Heights.

During a ceremony Saturday inaugurating a new communications center in Kuneitra, the Syrian town closest to the border with Israel, the Syrian Committee for the Liberation of the Golan threatened to take practical measures to return the Golan to Syrian control, adding that Israel was not showing any willingness to negotiate the return of the territory in peace talks.

The "committee" is a militant group that's believed to receive support from parts of the Syrian government, similar to a Hizballah (but without the political wing). Israel, of course, has no intention of returning the Golan.