| Gamal Mubarak defends Egypt's position on Gaza, First Lady charts relief efforts
| | . Azmi criticized Hezbollah leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. “Nasrallah bombed Israel with a rocket and then said ‘it wasn’t me’, Bashar Al-Assad, on the other hand, could’ve liberated his country, which didn’t fire a bullet in 40 years, but preferred to campaign against Egypt,” Azmi said.He added that Egypt is keen on securing its borders an | | Published on 1/25/2009 | | by Menna Taher |
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Israel and Hamas truce holds on Gaza Strip
| | ."Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad congratulated Hamas on "victory" while at an Arab summit in Kuwait City, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad called for Israel to be branded a terrorist state."Arabs should declare an unequivocal support for the Palestinian resistance ... I call on the Arab summit to officially declare Israel as a terrorist state for the crime it did in Gaza," Assad said."Ceasefire does not mean the end of | | Published on 1/19/2009 | | by Sakher Abu El Oun |
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Arab leaders work to mend fences, pledge Gaza aid
| | .The apparent reconciliation also came after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his Syrian counterpart Bashar Al-Assad expressed contradictory stands at the opening session. Assad called on the summit to brand Israel a terrorist state for its assault on the Gaza Strip and urged Arab countries to “declare an unequivocal support for the Palestinian resistance.”Mubarak, however, warned that regional pow | | Published on 1/19/2009 | | by Omar Hasan |
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League chief admits 'chaos' in Arab ranks
| | .In Qatar, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad called on Friday for all Arab countries with diplomatic ties to Israel to close their embassies in the Jewish state.He called for “cutting all direct and indirect ties with Israel, and shutting down its embassies.”Assad said his country had halted unofficial peace talks with Israel i | | Published on 1/16/2009 | | by AFP |
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Qaradawi to lead Muslim scholars’ visit to Arab leaders to seek action on Gaza
| | DOHA: A body of Muslim scholars announced in Qatar on Saturday it will start a round of visits to Arab leaders, seeking action to end the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip.The delegation from the International Union of Muslim Scholars led by influential Sunni cleric Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi will ask Arab leaders to cut diplomatic and economic ties with Israel and to use all their powers to stop the aggression, the union said in a statement.On Saturday the scholars met Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and next week they plan to meet Saudi King Abdullah II and Syria's President Bash | | Published on 1/4/2009 | | by AFP |
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Regional turbulence is the name of the game in 2008
| | If ever a region encapsulated the phrase “never a dull moment” it would be the Middle East and 2008 was no different in that respect. The year kicked off with Egyptian anger at conditions attached to the annual US aid package enforced by the American congress, namely requirements to improve human rights and secure the border with Gaza. The partial aid freeze instituted by Congress was rescinded by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in March.Anger was also directed at the European parliament for passing a resolution criticizing the human rights situation in Egypt and the continued incarceratio | | Published on 12/23/2008 | | by Abdel-Rahman Hussein |
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Obama’s daunting Middle East challenge (Part II)
| | . President Bashar Al-Assad will be ready to enter into direct negotiations with Israel and conclude a peace agreement as soon as the Obama administration engages Damascus directly. An accord between Israel and Syria will also pave the way to a peace agreement with Lebanon, once Israel withdraws from Shebaa Far | | Published on 11/20/2008 | | by Alon Ben-Meir |
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An Israeli looks at Obama
| | . Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has "made a strategic decision" that his country's future "is tied to the West, not Iran," Liel says. Peace with Israel would be the means by which Syria would realign itself. Iran would lose a key ally, as would Hamas and Hezbollah. Liel, who carried on back-channel contacts with Sy | | Published on 11/3/2008 | | by Gershom Gorenberg |
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Lebanon and Syria open diplomatic ties
| | .The two states had announced in August their intention to establish ties, following a pledge by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his Lebanese opposite number Michel Sleiman in Paris in July.Wednesday's announcement comes a day after Assad issued a presidential decree to open relations with Lebanon, where Damascus was the main powerbroker for three decades until it was forced to withdraw its troops in 2005. | | Published on 10/15/2008 | | by AFP |
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Putin of Arabia
| | . Now, Russia has signed strategic agreements with Iran and is reconstructing military bases in Syria in response to an appeal by President Bashar Al-Assad (who visited Moscow in a brazen bid for Kremlin support just after the Georgian war ended). Iran’s regime is eager to publicize its partnerships with Russia, and to make concessions to it in order to face the American and Israeli threat and to gain more time to pursue its nuclear pro | | Published on 9/29/2008 | | by Mai Yamani |
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Church leaders back Mubarak's son for president
| | ."Hosni Mubarak has always denied any ambition to start a presidential dynasty similar to the accession in Syria, where President Bashar Al-Assad succeeded his father Hafez on his death in 2000.But Gamal's meteoric rise through NDP ranks has fuelled speculation that he is being groomed for succession.In 2005, Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt for the last 27 years, won Egypt's first contested presidential election.In the run- | | Published on 9/22/2008 | | by AFP |
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Church leaders back Mubarak's son for president
| | CAIRO: Most leaders of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church would vote for President Hosni Mubarak's son Gamal if he chose to run in the 2011 presidential election, a top cleric said on Sunday.Anba Morcos, a Cairo bishop and the church's spokesman, said the leadership is opposed to the principle of inheritance of power but would nevertheless endorse Mubarak junior, who heads the ruling National Democratic Party's politburo."If elections take place, I would vote for Gamal Mubarak because he is an economics man and was brought up in a firmly established political household, and this is the view of mos | | Published on 9/21/2008 | | by AFP |
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Making peace with Syria
| | PARIS: President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Damascus confirms the failure of his policy of isolating the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad.That policy began at the end of 2004, when Presidents George W. Bush and Jacques Chirac formed a common front, following the UN Security Council's Resolution 1559 of Sept. 2 of that year, which called for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and the disarmament of all militia | | Published on 9/11/2008 | | by Alain Gresh |
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Who Wants Cold War II?
| | . Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s recent visit to Moscow is a transparent manifestation of the potential for a renewed alliance. Russia continues to place hurdles before American proposals for sanctions on Iran, has signed with it lavish energy contracts, and is about to sell it advanced aerial systems aimed at thw | | Published on 9/2/2008 | | by Shlomo Ben-Ami |
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Syria and Iran: an alliance of convenience
| | . Although Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad is an Alawite — an offshoot of Shiism — the Sunnis make up the majority in Syria while the Shia are predominant in Iran. The two nations also have no shared border to foster great trade or security relations. Their economies differ in that Iran is overwhelmingly oil-based while Syria | | Published on 8/28/2008 | | by Alon Ben-Meir |
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Syrians see an economic side to peace
| | . Although it began carrying out economic changes several years ago, the progress has been slow, and strategic political concerns have always been paramount for Syria’s president, Bashar Al-Assad, and his father, Hafez Al-Assad, who governed from 1970 until his death in 2000. It is also far from clear that the talks will succeed. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel is facing accusations of corruption that could bring him down, and some say the Syrians may be unwilling to mak | | Published on 8/17/2008 | | by Nawara Mahfoud and Robert Worth |
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Arab League, UN hail Syria-Lebanon accord
| | . In a statement released by his press office, the secretary general hailed the outcome of the recent Damascus summit between Lebanese President Michel Sleiman and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.He noted "positively the decisions to begin the process to establish diplomatic relations through an exchange of ambassadors, and to take steps towards the delineation and control of the borders between the two countries."On Wednesday, during a visit to Syria by Sleiman, Beirut and D | | Published on 8/15/2008 | | by AFP |
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Ahmadinejad’s foray to Turkey
| | . Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad has asked Turkish officials to help Damascus allay Tehran's concerns over the Israeli-Syrian negotiations. To be sure, Turkey is playing a significant role with all major players in the region and speaks with a credible voice. Turkey, at this juncture, is better equipped than the EU | | Published on 8/14/2008 | | by Alon Ben-Meir |
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The extremists unbound
| | The pattern of policymaking in the Middle East, as it was defined since President Bush’s “axis if evil” speech of January 2002, is undergoing a momentous change of direction. Bush’s foreign-policy paradigm of an alliance of “moderates” to defeat the “extremists” — a model too enthusiastically seconded by an unimaginative Israeli leadership and by those Arabs (led by Egypt and Saudi Arabia) who dread the forces of radical change — has collapsed. The “extremists,” whom Bush expected to be defeated through economic sanctions, diplomatic isolation, and military action, have prevailed. It is the “m | | Published on 8/7/2008 | | by Shlomo Ben-Ami |
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Shebaa Farms can create momentum for peace
| | . At a news conference in France, Syria’s president Bashar Al-Assad stated that both Beirut and Damascus will determine their countries’ border at Shebaa Farms after Israel withdraws from the region, and then they will submit a map to the United Nations. There are several risks involved in Israel’s relinquishing control of the Shebaa Farms. This acti | | Published on 7/21/2008 | | by Cesar Chelala |
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United States and Syria should talk (about everything)
| | The recent compromise on power sharing in Lebanon spares the country further bloodshed, and allows its people to return to a modicum of normalcy. However, the underlying causes of the conflict remain, and Lebanon continues to be an arena where external powers play out their rivalries. Unless and until Syria and the United States reach a grand bargain, the Lebanese will continue to pay the price. It should now be clear to the most casual observer that Syria's military withdrawal from Lebanon was hardly the end of its influence there. Iran and Syria are in an alliance to thwart US and Israeli ob | | Published on 7/17/2008 | | by Theodore H. Kattouf |
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Syria and Lebanon, more than just neighbors
| | ." This also explains why there was so much media attention surrounding President Bashar Al-Assad's visit to Beirut on March 3, 2002 — it was the first of its kind by a Syrian leader in nearly 30 years.Long before the Ba'athists came to power, the argument in Damascus has always been that, although we accepted an independent Lebanon, we will never tolerate or accept an anti-Syria | | Published on 7/16/2008 | | by Sami Moubayed |
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Al-Assad admits tense relations with Egypt
| | CAIRO: Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad admitted that relations with Egypt and Saudi Arabia were “strained” in an interview he gave Al Jazeera Sunday night.The Syrian leader, long ostracized in the international arena, seemed to have transcended this image somewhat with a coming out at the Euro-Med Conference in Paris, whe | | Published on 7/14/2008 | | by Abdel-Rahman Hussein |
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Israeli-Syrian negotiations, the need for a bold move
| | By all accounts, the Israeli-Syrian indirect negotiations through Turkish mediation are going well, and the fact that a fourth round of talks is scheduled for the end of July suggests that both sides expect to make further progress. The reports from Damascus and Ankara, however, indicating that Syria will not enter into direct negotiations with Israel before the advent of new American administration show an obstructive apprehension on the part of the Syrian government. Indeed, Damascus should not only agree to direct negotiations with Israel--as Turkish officials strongly recommend--but time h | | Published on 7/11/2008 | | by Alon Ben-Meir |
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Death toll rises in Lebanon clashes
| | .Representatives from the Sunni militant side and the Alawites, a secretive offshoot of Shia Islam to which Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad belongs, had agreed to a ceasefire on Sunday but the accord was not respected.The clashes in Tripoli have raised fears of a nationwide deterioration of the security situation amid stalled efforts by Prime Minister Fuad Siniora to form a national unity government following a deal last | | Published on 6/23/2008 | | by AFP |
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Mubarak stays away from mini-summit in Libya
| | .The officials say Mubarak has dodged the summit to avoid a reconciliation with Syria's Bashar Al-Assad. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to the media. Relations between Egypt and Syrian have been strained since the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. | | Published on 6/10/2008 | | by Salah Nasrawi |
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Muted Arab Summit ends with no Lebanon solution
| | .” Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad had denied that his country was meddling in Lebanese affairs, insisting that, in fact, the opposite was true.Speaking in his opening statement on Saturday, Al-Assad said, “I would like to make a point with regards to Syrian interference in Lebanon. It is the contrary which is true be | | Published on 3/30/2008 | | by Abdel-Rahman Hussein |
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Does experience matter?
| | . Day-to-day decisions about dialogue with the likes of Ahmadinejhad, conferences with Bashar Al-Assad and trade with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps matter when it comes to actually governing. And on these issues there will be significant differences.As of February 2008 there are four candidates left standing, though Republican candidate Mike Huckabee has been mathematically el | | Published on 2/26/2008 | | by Danielle Pletka |
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A wonderful day in the neighborhood
| | . Bush's latest inflammatory statement on Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad: "My patience ran out on President Assad a long time ago," Bush told reporters on December 20, "and the reason is he houses Hamas, he facilitates Hezbollah, suiciders go from his country into Iraq, and he destabilizes Lebanon." Of course, it might be useful to remember that, in the w | | Published on 1/22/2008 | | by Mark Perry |
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The Annapolis opening has closed
| | . Bashar Al-Assad's position is clear and unchanging: Syria is willing to renew negotiations based on the foundation built in the 1990s. Furthermore, it is not satisfied with the hypothetical, conditional "deposit" of the '90s but wants a "commitment" to withdraw from the Golan in return for a "cold p | | Published on 1/21/2008 | | by Itamar Rabinovich |
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Syria and the Palestinians: A love-hate relationship
| | . This negativity has produced an Israeli reluctance to respond to the peace gestures from the young Syrian president, Bashar Al-Assad.Syria's relations with the Hamas movement pose the biggest questions for the current Palestinian leadership. Khaled Mishaal's Damascus base has become a point of contention for Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, especially since Hamas decided to violently seize power in Gaz | | Published on 1/21/2008 | | by Daoud Kuttab |
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Gamal Mubarak forced to wait for power
| | . Mubarak, who turns 80 next year and has ruled the country for more than a quarter of a century, has always denied any ambition to start a presidential dynasty like that of fellow Arab state Syria where President Bashar Al-Assad succeeded his father Hafez on his death in 2000. But Gamal’s meteoric rise up the ranks of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) since his entry into politics in 1995 has prompted charges from the opposition that he is being prepared for the succession. In 2002, Gamal was put in | | Published on 11/3/2007 | | by Alain Navarro |
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Converting Syria
| | An Arab-Israeli peace requires a comprehensive approach, because the problems at stake are intertwined. Not only are key issues such as Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees insoluble without an all-Arab consensus, but any country that is left out of the peace process is bound to persist in its role as a revolutionary power bent on regional destabilization. Admittedly, Israeli governments have never liked the idea of negotiating peace with all enemies simultaneously, if only because the political costs of the required concessions would be unbearable. The Israeli strategy of peacemaking therefore | | Published on 10/7/2007 | | by Shlomo Ben-Ami |
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There is a role for Damascus
| | Meeting President Bashar Al-Assad of Syria these days gives you the impression of a much more relaxed, self-confident and, some Syrian observers would add, mature decision-maker than the man who assumed power upon the death of his father seven years ago.This is not so much the result of his "re-election" in a referen | | Published on 9/30/2007 | | by Volker Perthes |
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Israel maintains careful silence on Syria flight
| | . In June 2006, warplanes flew over the presidential palace of Bashar Al-Assad in northern Syria while the leader was inside.Kazziha believes the incursion could also have served as a warning message to Syria, “to let them know you are always within our reach,” and expects it might not be the last time this happens.“I wouldn’t put it beyond Israel to continue r | | Published on 9/8/2007 | | by Abdel-Rahman Hussein |
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Syria fires on Israeli war planes
| | . In June 2006, Israeli warplanes flew over President Bashar Al-Assad’s palace in northern Syria while he was inside, an action Damascus condemned as an “act of piracy.” Over the past few months, Israeli and Syrian leaders have both said their countries do not want a war, but were preparing for any possibility while each side has accused the other of a | | Published on 9/8/2007 | | by AFP |
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Syrian leader discusses Iraq, Middle East with pope
| | . Shara also handed the pope a "personal message" from President Bashar Al-Assad, the statement said, adding that Shara also met the Vatican's equivalent of foreign minister, Dominique Mamberti. The talks covered the hundreds of thousands of refugees from the fighting in Iraq, which Syria was taking in and "the aid expected from international bodies" to enable Da | | Published on 9/5/2007 | | by AFP |
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Cheney in ‘94: Invading Baghdad would create ‘quagmire’
| | .” However, Abdel Salam says that the regional situation has changed, with Syria weaker under Bashar Al-Assad, Iran more extreme under Ahmadinejad, and Saudi Arabia and Al-Qaeda playing new influential roles. In addition, the Soviet Union was not an element to consider in 2003.That the US thought in 2003 they could successfully invade Iraq and their assessment that Iraq would be an easy targ | | Published on 8/23/2007 | | by Deena Douara |
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Massimo D’Alema, don’t betray Lebanon
| | By a strange twist of fate, the blast that killed Lebanese parliamentarian Walid Eido, his son, and several others last week almost coincided with the visit to Damascus by Oliviero Diliberto, an Italian parliamentarian and leader of the Italian communists, who are in the ruling coalition. The coincidence of a European dignitary’s visit to Damascus with an assassination in Beirut was not so surprising. Each happens all too frequently these days. It is better for Italy that it happened to Diliberto and not to Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema, who had visited with Syrian Presid | | Published on 6/25/2007 | | by Emanuele Ottolenghi |
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Breezing through Syria for the sake of the old city
| | . A trip to Syria may have to include politics — President Bashar Al-Assad’s portrait lines so many streets and highways, adorns the walls of all restaurants and businesses and is plastered large-scale on the side of government buildings (his late father, Hafez Al-Assad, makes a few appearances too). But the autocratic gloss is quickly undermined by the kin | | Published on 6/22/2007 | | by Frederick Deknatel |
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Skepticism over Gamal Mubarak's presidential ambitions
| | ."Egypt is not Syria," he said, referring to Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad's takeover after his late father, Hafez Al-Assad in 2000."Nothing like this has ever happened before here and Egypt would have to change fundamentally for something like this to happen."Speaking to The Daily Star Egypt Mohamed Khalil Kwaitah, an MP representing the NDP, also denied t | | Published on 4/29/2007 | | by Jonathan Spollen |
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Bush, back off Syria … try a little diplomacy
| | America, please stand up for Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.Pelosi is not only the moral fiber of courage which the US sorely needs post-Iraq War, but is also the first woman to hold such a position in US politics.In speech after speech, she has embarrassed the Bush administration’s bungling of Iraq, the War on Terra (Terror) and the squandered chances for pushing ahead a peace agenda in the broader Middle East.And the piece de resistance came last week when she plowed ahead with her plans to meet with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad i | | Published on 4/11/2007 | | by Alexander Gainem |
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Human rights in Syria; Pelosi’s silence
| | . Last weekend, three Republican congressmen, Frank Wolf, Joe Pitts and Robert Aderholt, traveled to Syria to meet with President Bashar Al-Assad. Last month, Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief, also paid a visit. The message from these various visitors has generally been consistent: Syria needs to cooperate on Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and Iraq. Pelosi’s visit fits the mold. At a pres | | Published on 4/6/2007 | | by Nadim Houry and Radwan Ziadeh |
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Arab leaders to mandate peace drive at Saudi summit
| | . Saudi-led efforts to break the deadlock in the run-up to the summit failed to yield a breakthrough, but King Abdullah held talks on Tuesday with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad for the first time since relations chilled over last summer's Lebanon war and Syrian policy in its neighbour. The summit is also expected to adopt a resolution calling for amendments to the Iraqi constitution to give more power to the former Sunni Arab elite. | | Published on 3/29/2007 | | by Lydia Georgi |
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Europe can do much more for Lebanon
| | After an absence of more than three years from Damascus, the European Union High Representative Javier Solana met with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad this week. Curiously, he did so on March 14, two years after almost 1 million Lebanese assembled in Beirut to protest the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the continued Syrian occupation. While in Syria, Solana asserted that it was “fundamental to reach peace, stability and independence for Lebanon.” The EU has often pledged its support for Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora’s government. Yet in order to reali | | Published on 3/16/2007 | | by Dana Moss and Daniel Rackowski |
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Seymour Hersh delivers a “miserable unpleasant touch of reality”
| | .Intrinsic to the strategy is insisting that certain members in the conflict refuse to compromise, as has happened with Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad’s repeated attempts to negotiate and make peace with Israel. Hersh spoke of the obvious irony of the Bush administration’s refusal to negotiate with the Iranians until they comply with the very thing they are supposed to be negotiating for.He further mentioned the mysterious disappea | | Published on 2/27/2007 | | by Deena Douara |
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Beirut curfew lifted day after clashes
| | .While the opposition blamed the pro-government camp for igniting the violence, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a member of the parliamentary majority, fingered Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad "who is trying to burn Beirut." The Al-Mustaqbal newspaper, owned by the family of Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority in parliament, accused "Hezbollah and its affiliates of seeking to waste the chance of taking advantage of the in | | Published on 1/26/2007 | | by AFP |
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Walid Moallem defends a ‘noble peace’ with Israel
| | . When I asked if Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad endorsed these positions, he answered: “He is the leader. I am expressing his ideas.” Moallem portrayed Syria as a potential partner in stabilizing the region. He referred at one point to “the noble cause of peace between Syria and Israel.” Later, he said that while Syria | | Published on 12/19/2006 | | by David Ignatius |
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Does George W. Bush have a surprise up his sleeve?
| | . Sir Nigel Sheinwald, the top foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair, visited Damascus this week for talks with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his intelligence chiefs. Sheinwald had visited Washington a week before to plan the trip with senior administration officials who, though skeptical the mission would accomplish much, gave it their blessing. Sheinwald presented a series of British-US concerns, including Syria's ro | | Published on 11/5/2006 6:34:57 AM | | by David Ignatius |
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A Khawaga's Tale: From Cairo to Damascus, a traveler’s trail
| | Eid presents an opportunity to cruise through Syrian historyDAMASCUS: Over the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, the Khawaga’s Trail led to Syria, where boys with guns run riot, tourism’s potential is enormous and George Washington’s face is almost as prolific as President Bashar Al-Assad and Sheikh Nasrallah.Taxis, hotels, restaurants and even the barber happily accept payment in green backs. Even though Syria has very attractive bank notes, so go figure!On the 200 Syrian pound banknote is a hero of mine, that formidable leader of Egypt and a righteous man of history | | Published on 10/29/2006 9:48:31 AM | | by Peter A. Carrigan |
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