Former US envoy to the United Nations John Bolton says neither diplomacy nor Israeli-Syria talks will move Damascus away from Tehran.
"I don't really understand why he (Ehud Olmert) is engaging in these talks. Israel should be isolating the Syrian...
Military trucks carrying an estimated 1000 soldiers (a full brigade) in full combat fatigues were seen travelling north west of the village of Menin towards the military prison of Sednaya.
Sources who have spoken to the Movement for Justice and...
The opening of diplomatic relations between Syria and Lebanon is a major strategic shift, but analysts say it remains to be seen whether Damascus' influence over its smaller neighbor has really ended.
The move, announced by French President Nicolas...
Syria's president urged France and the United States on Saturday to contribute to efforts toward Syrian-Israeli peace talks, but suggested little progress was likely before the United States elects a new leader.
"In all frankness, this (U.S.)...
Those who believe Nicolas Sarkozy is a bit of a show-off may have their suspicions confirmed this weekend when the French president welcomes about 40 heads of government, including all the EU's leaders, to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris for the extravagant...
Syrian dissidents are demanding an international investigation into riots in a Syrian prison, in which several dozen people have reportedly been killed.
Legal experts and Syrian opposition parties are condemning what they call the deteriorating...
Syria's foreign minister said on Monday he wished his country could match Israel's atomic arsenal, but denied U.S. allegations that it had been building a secret nuclear reactor at a site bombed by Israel last year.
Walid al-Moualem, making Syria's...
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will be joining Israel's leader at a summit to launch a new Mediterranean Union in Paris next month, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Tuesday.
"The Syrian president will be there, sitting next to,...
A senior United Nations official has harshly criticized Israel's indirect negotiations with Syria, whose second round ended yesterday, charging that "Israel has given Syria a huge gift, without thus far receiving anything in exchange."
Terje...
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says he is not comfortable with a decision to invite the Syrian president to Paris next month.
Mr Kouchner said he was not "especially amused" - though he acknowledged that such visits helped to...
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice escalated the Bush administration's anti-Iran rhetoric on Tuesday, accusing its government of pursuing nuclear weapons and calling any dialogue with its leaders pointless until they suspend the country's enrichment...
UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei on Monday urged "full disclosure" from Iran over its nuclear programme and said he was sending experts to Syria to probe allegations of a secret nuclear reactor.
In his opening address to the summer meeting...
Shortly after the Prime Minister's Office announced the commencement of indirect peace talks with Syria via Turkey, leading Israeli academics and Middle East experts expressed doubts and disagreement about the prospect of successful negotiations....
Truth be told, the most dramatic element about the Prime Minister Office's formal announcement on Wednesday of indirect peace negotiations with Syria was not the content of the statement, but the statement itself.
"Syria and Israel have started...
President George W. Bush said Wednesday he was extending US sanctions against Syria following Washington's charge that Damascus had been building a nuclear reactor with North Korea's help.
Bush announced his decision to continue for one year a...
As Turkey works to hold meeting between Israeli, Syrian officials, source in Damascus tells Egyptian newspaper there is no chance for such a session, as real talks can only begin under new US administration
Turkey is interested in getting senior...
Many contradicting trends and confusing political signals have been exchanged in recent months in the Middle East, making it a daunting task to untangle the intertwining motives in the region.
The revelation of talks between Israel and Syria...
Amid regional fears of a summer war between Israel and Syria, the two countries may in fact be inching closer to a deal. Not even President George W. Bush's recent disclosures to Congress, intended to prove Syrian-North Korean nuclear cooperation,...
The following is a text of an editorial in Voice of America which reflects the Views of the United States Government:
The Syrian government continues to crack down hard on human rights and democracy advocates. Most recently, a Syrian military...
Is Ehud Olmert serious about returning the Golan Heights to Syria?
When President Bashar Assad said Turkish intermediaries forwarded him a message from the Israeli prime minister about giving back the strategic plateau, government officials in...
Three years after Syria ended its near 30-year military presence in Lebanon, Damascus stands accused of still pulling strings there and leaving its tiny neighbour paralysed by political deadlock.
On April 26, 2005, Syria withdrew the last of its...
Officials following contacts between Israel and Syria say significant US involvement will probably be necessary for negotiations to move ahead, and that Syria is still demanding such involvement.
Both Israeli and foreign experts on Syria told...
The director of the CIA has accused North Korea of helping Syria to build a nuclear reactor.
North Korean involvement would violate international agreements
Michael Hayden said there was evidence of North Korean workers and technology on...
If the US helps facilitate billions of dollars in business for Syria and builds up Damascus as the primary American ally in the Arab world in place of Saudi Arabia, the Syrians would be willing to discuss scaling back alliances with Iran and making...
DEBKAfile’s Middle East and intelligence sources report that President Bashar Assad has fallen out with his brother-in-law Gen. Asif Shawkat, sacked him as military intelligence chief and appointed Gen. Ali Younes in his place.
Shawkat has not...
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Wednesday rejected the notion of excusing Syrian leaders from scrutiny in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. In Senate testimony, Rice also ruled out unconditional U.S. talks...
With negotiations on the Palestinian track limping along unproductively, Israeli leaders have again begun talking about renewing peace negotiations with Syria. But at the same time they are keeping a wary eye on new deployments by the Syrian military.
"Israel...
Relations between the European Union and Syria have deteriorated in the last year and are increasingly of concern, Germany's foreign minister said on Friday at an informal meeting with EU counterparts in Slovenia.
'We are certainly in a more...
Jiri Paroubek, leader of the opposition Czech Social Democrats (CSSD), today called on Syrian President Bashar al-Asad to make a humanitarian gesture toward imprisoned dissident Riyad Saif, party spokeswoman Kveta Kocova told journalists.
German...
Has the Syrian regime succeeded in plagiarizing the Chinese development model in which economic liberalization and growth goes hand in hand with political dictatorship and oppression of civil rights? In recent years, economic growth has been a good...
The Bush administration yesterday froze the U.S. assets and restricted the financial transactions of Syrian businessman Rami Makhluf, a powerful behind-the-scenes middle man for the Syrian government, in a move targeting the political and economic...
Imad Mughnieh's body may be back in Beirut and the tangled wreckage of his bombed car towed away by the police but the shattering fallout of the Hezbollah commander's assassination in Syria was still reverberating through the increasingly isolated...
Last month, Syria's leading dissident went to jail again. Riad Seif's arrest didn't come as much of a surprise; the former member of parliament and longtime human rights advocate had devoted much of the past two decades to criticizing the authoritarian...
Over the last months the Syrian government has arrested dozens of dissidents who were demonstrating against the authorities. The latest crackdown coincides with the preparations for the festival of 'Damascus, cultural Capital of the Arab world...
The UK is deeply concerned about the recent arrest and detention of twelve civil society activists in Syria associated with the "Damascus Declaration".
The trial of these activists for peacefully expressing their views is profoundly undemocratic...
Syrian authorities released opposition figure Adnan Makkiyeh from jail on Tuesday, three days after arresting him in a crackdown on reformists, the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria said.
"Adnan Makkiyeh was released today after...
Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on the arrest of Mr Riyad Seif and detention of other activists of the Damascus Declaration
Recalling the Presidency Statement of 27 September 2007 and the Declaration by the...
Syrian police have arrested Riyad Saif, Leader of the Syrian opposition and former Member of the Syrian Parliament on the evening of the 30 January 2008.
MEPs from the EPP-ED Group in the European Parliament José Ignacio Salafranca (Spain), Jana...
White House - Office of the Press Secretary, 30/01/2008
The United States condemns the arrest on Monday of democracy activist Riad Seif by the Syrian regime.
His arrest, which follows repeated refusals by the regime to allow Mr. Seif to travel abroad for medical treatment, is an escalation of a long...
The German Foreign Ministry has summoned Syria's ambassador to Berlin to demand the release of jailed political dissident and former member of parliament Riad Seif, a spokesman said.
"The Syrian ambassador to Berlin was called in to the foreign...
We condemn the recent arrest of Syrian political activist Riad Seif.
His arrest and detention, along with the lack of transparency in the recently started legal proceedings against 10 Damascus Declaration National Council members, are yet another...
Opposition leader Riad Seif appeared before an investigation judge today charged with "inciting sectarianism" and "weakening national feeling".
Case number 1738 was brought against Saif by the attorney-general. The full list of charges were:...
The MJD has learnt that opposition leader and former MP Riyad Said has today been arrested by the Syrian secret police. The arrest is believed to be linked to the organizing of a meeting of opposition figures at his house in December 2007.
Saif...
The Syrian secret police today referred all of the ten Damascus Declaration detainees, incuding the President of the Damascus Declaration National Council Dr. Fida al-Hawrani, to the judical authorities.
The public prosecutor has charged them...
Neither rain, nor snow nor sleet from a huge storm the night before could dampen the militancy of the aging all-stars of 60 years of Arab conflict with Israel gathered at a trade union resort hotel outside Damascus on Wednesday. It was the biggest...
Long-simmering tensions between Lebanon's Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim communities are increasingly turning into violent street fights, often over small matters like the hanging of political posters or insults traded on the Internet - raising new fears...
The ongoing impasse over the appointment of the next Lebanese president, after Emil Lahoud stepped down on November 24, is the product of Syrian machinations and interference in Lebanese politics. The agreement reached on Sunday in Cairo may finally...
Brussels, 31 December 2007
16858/07 (Presse 308)
Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on the situation of Human Rights Defenders in Syria
The EU is deeply concerned about the recent detention of members of...
Syria will have few friends at the table Sunday when Arab foreign ministers convene in Cairo to discuss the crisis in Lebanon, which has been without a president for six weeks.
Most Arab governments blame Syria for the political impasse in Lebanon,...
A demoralizing aspect of much international political behavior, commentary, or policy counsel on Syria in the past two years has been the extent to which it has fed off amnesia.
Almost nobody, it seems, recalls that the Syrian-Lebanese crisis...
US President George W. Bush called on Syria Friday to immediately release dozens of opposition activists reportedly arrested this week amid events marking International Human Rights Day.
"All those detained should be released immediately," Bush...
The New York Times, Thanassis Cambanis, 14/12/2007
Syrian authorities this week arrested more than 30 people who had been working for political change, escalating a crackdown on dissent just a week after critics elected a leadership committee in an unusually direct and public challenge to President...
In a move which signals a new level of engagement with the opposition in Syria, Members of the European Parliament issued a statement today condemning the recent arrest of over 40 pro-democracy activists.
In a busy press conference, Jana Hybášková...
Syrian secret police agents raided the homes of at least 30 pro-democracy activists in Syria and led them to security headquarters for interrogation.
The 30 activists, all members of the National Council of the Damascus Declaration, were arrested...
In an unprecedented step, the Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change held a meeting on 1 December 2007 to officially launch the next phase of the Declaration's strategy for change in Syria.
The announcement of the National Council...
Situation in the Middle East has not improved substantially since September 2000. September 11 and following Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom operations have not brought positive change. Postcolonial disarray did not allow for Middle Eastern societies...
Deep in a tunnel under Mount Myohang, in North Korea, its regime has preserved as a museum piece the Kalashnikov assault rifle and pistols sent as gifts from President Hafez al-Assad of Syria to Kim Il Sung in the early years of their friendship....
NEW YORK - The victory by the Lebanese Army over Fatah al-Islam is a victory for the state over the militias and states-within-a-state. The Lebanese Army crushed these "red lines," which the secretary general of Hizbullah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,...
The French president, Nicola Sarkozy, has offered Syria Franco-Syrian talks in return for facilitating the presidential elections in Lebanon. Guessing the Syrian response, however, will not be an easy task.
Damascus can claim that it has nothing...
