Syria's Assad yet to decide on curbing Palestine militants/terrorists

The Times of India ^ | May 11 2003 | AP

[knighthawk]

CAIRO: Syria has made no final decision about restricting Palestinian militant groups operating on its soil, President Bashar Assad said in comments published Saturday.

Assad's remarks, made in an interview with Newsweek magazine, are in sharp contrast with the comments of US Secretary of State Colin Powell after their meeting in Damascus on May 3.

Powell told reporters the following day that Syria had indicated it had closed the offices of some of the radical Palestinian groups in Damascus.

``They did closures. I expect them to do more,'' Powell said. US officials accompanying him named the groups as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command. The United States and Israel regard them as terrorist organizations.

In the interview posted on the Newsweek web site, Assad said he discussed with Powell stopping the activities of Palestinian groups, ''not closures.''

The president was asked if he gave Powell an assurance there would be some restriction on these groups.

''We talked about all these issues, but no final decision was made. We are still talking,'' Assad replied.

Assad said he could not stop the flow of funds to the Palestinian groups. ''All the Arabs support the Palestinians and send them money. You cannot stop that. No one in our area calls it terrorism. They are talking about freedom.''

Assad confirmed that Powell had raised the issue of Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese group that periodically attacks Israel across the southern Lebanese border.

''They do not get arms via Syria. We give them political support because they want to get back their lands,'' Assad said, referring to a tiny parcel of Israeli-occupied land claimed by Lebanon but which the United Nations says belongs to Syria.

Asked if he would consider stopping political support for Hezbollah, Assad replied: ''As long as they don't do any terrorist acts, we are supporting them.''

Assad sounded pessimistic about the chances of peace under the current Israeli leadership.

''We don't trust (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon because he definitely doesn't want to make peace,'' he said.

''Nobody trusts Sharon,'' he added. ''Not only me. None of the officials that I have met say that he wants peace."

Questioned about Syria's positions in the Iraqi crisis, Assad said his government had not approved the entry of volunteer fighters into Iraq - they had crossed the long border illegally. Nor had it allowed Iraq to hide weapons of mass destruction in Syria.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[facedown]

Assad said he could not stop the flow of funds to the Palestinian groups. ''All the Arabs support the Palestinians and send them money. You cannot stop that. No one in our area calls it terrorism. They are talking about freedom.''

Very not good.

[AdvisorB]

I've heard it said that baby bashir is a prisoner of
his late fathers neanderthal cronies. If that is true,
he's not in a position to do anything. He's just a
figurehead for a loathsome, fanatical, fascist, regime that
is as divorced from reality as that other bathist regime
recently consigned to the dustbins of history. I believe
we have more sweeping to do.

[WOSG]

Very "wake up and smell the coffee" not good.

We need to make he feel the heat so he sees the light.

I am disappointed the Powell and admin folks are NOT talking about the liberation of Lebanon and the removal of Syrian forces from Lebanon.
"Syria, you want people talking about freedom? This is freedom, get the ___ out of Lebanon! ... oh, and free your own dissidents while you are at it."