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Syria: Stuck Between Iraq and a WMD Cache
Damascus Aiding Anti-Coalition Insurgency in Iraq
Syrian efforts to undermine the stabilization and rebuilding of Iraq has put the regime of President Bashar al-Assad on a crash course with the United States. In addition to rising suspicions that at least part of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program was spirited into Syria prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom with the assistance of senior Syrian Baath Party officials, intelligence officials in Washington have acknowledged mounting evidence that money from Syria is helping to fund anti-coalition terrorists in Iraq, hundreds of whom have entered Iraq from Syria.
"No doubt about it," a U.S. military official said when asked if Syria is aiding anti-American forces in Iraq, according to the Washington Times, April 21, 2004. The Syrian ruler is anxious to prevent the establishment of a pro-American government in Iraq as it would undermine his authoritarian rule, according to the Times.
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| Syrian Ruler Bashar al-Assad |
Meanwhile, U.S. Marines have increased their presence from some 400 to about 1,000 troops along the northwestern Iraqi border with Syria in an effort to stem the influx of terrorists bringing weapons and cash into Iraq. The Iraqi border towns of al Qaim, Qusaybah, and Husaybah - identified as major entry points - have been of particular concern to U.S. forces. Five Marines and ten Iraqis were killed in Husaybah between April 17 and 18 while engaging an estimated 150 terrorists. U.S. military officials, however, expect to have the area under relative control shortly. "We did find, fix and ultimately finish a number of terrorist cells that were out there, that were facilitating this type movement, " Maj. Gen. John Sattler, chief of operations for U.S. Central Command, told the Times.
The size, sophistication, and intensity of the attack, in addition to its proximity to the border, indicate Syrian involvement in the Husaybah attack, according to Stratfor.com, April 20, 2004, the online outlet for the private intelligence firm of the same name. While the Syrian government continues to proclaim its innocence in aiding the insurgency, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers issued a warning to Damascus to stop aiding terrorist infiltration following the attacks in Husaybah.
Later that day Secretary of State Colin Powell demanded that Syria "control the transit of its border by terrorists and people supporting the insurgents in Iraq ... it is not in Syria's interest to be seen as a base from which infiltrators can come across ... to kill innocent Iraqis or to kill coalition troops."
In response, the Bush Administration has implemented provisions of the Syrian Accountability Act, passed by the U.S. Congress last fall. The Act was overwhelmingly supported by Congress on the strength of evidence indicating Damascus' continued funding of terrorism and occupation of Lebanon. As of May 11, Syria is banned from receiving most exports from the U.S. excepting foodstuffs and medicine and a freeze on Syrian assets in the United States has been imposed.
American reaction to the Syrian crisis may be limited for the time being, however, as U.S. military forces are stretched thin in Iraq and post Saddam Iraqi security forces are still in formation. Efforts to increase security along the Iraqi and Syrian border will have to come from Syria, according to Stratfor.com. Moreover, the Bush Administration is restrained politically in launching another military front in the Global War on Terror. "It's an ongoing problem ... it's something that we feel needs to be reiterated until it's taken care of, and it's not taken care of yet," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on April 20, 2004.
Iraqi WMDs Secretly Moved to Syria Just Before Operation Iraqi Freedom?
Tension between Damascus and Washington have risen markedly since January when Dr. David Kay, who spearheaded the search for WMD in Iraq last year, told the London Telegraph, that "a lot of material went to Syria [from Iraq] before the war, including some components of Saddam's WMD program ... precisely what went to Syria and what has happened to it is a major issue that needs to be resolved."
Just prior to Kay's interview, Syrian journalist Nizar Nayuf claimed to have knowledge of the locations of three sites within Syria storing Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Nayuf, long recognized for his opposition to the al-Assad regime, recently escaped Syria to Western Europe.
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| Map showing the locations of three Syrian sites storing Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, as provided by Syrian journalist Nizar Nayuf to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. |
WMDs On The Move?
Nayuf told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, that the three Syrian cities of al-Baida, Tal Snan, and Sjinsjar were hosting Iraqi WMDs. Nayaf claimed that Iraq's Special Republican Guard coordinated the transfer of weapons with Assif Shoakat - a cousin of Syrian President Assad and CEO of the Assad family-owned Bhaha Import-Export Company - just before the execution of Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Agence France Presse (AFP), January 6, 2004.
Western intelligence agencies have accused Syria of smuggling WMDs and extended-range Scud missiles out of Syria and into Sudan aboard commercial cargo flights in an effort to forestall their detection and a possible strike by U.S. or Israeli military forces. Sudanese President Omar Bashir has ordered the immediate removal of all Syrian weapons of mass destruction and Scud missiles from Sudan, according to the Middle East News Line (MENL), April 23, 2004. "There is widespread concern in the Syrian regime that Damascus will be the next to face heavy U.S. and international pressure to open its WMD facilities in the wake of the Libyan example ... the Syrians have decided that they want to take some of their assets out of the country," according to an unnamed intelligence source quoted in the MENL, April 8, 2004.
Scud C and Scud D missiles, along with the WMD related components; have been arriving in Khartoum under the auspices of a new trade agreement between Syria
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| Scud ballistic missile on transporter, erector, launcher vehicle (TEL). |
and Sudan. According to Western intelligence sources, ten commercial flights, chartered by the Syrian Defense Ministry, have flown every month since January with the illicit cargo labeled as medical supplies, reported Geostrategy-Direct, an online intelligence news service, April 15, 2004. Cooperation between Syrian and Sudan has increased over the years including Syrian assistance in Sudanese agricultural, food, and transportation from Syria.
Motivated by the opportunity to improve relations with the United States, Bashir was anxious to demonstrate he was not cooperating with Syria and their WMD program. An unnamed U.S. intelligence official confirmed the Scud missile shipments to Sudan but said the intelligence community was unable to verify WMD components had also been shipped, MENL reported April 23, 2004.
Jordan Chemical Attack Averted: Syria, Iraqi WMD Connection?
Through a series of preemptive arrests, Jordanian Army special operations troops prevented a series of major chemical and poison gas terrorist attacks on the headquarters of the Intelligence Services and the American Embassy.
Jordanian officials say the arrested suspects admitted to plotting the attacks and a subsequent investigation uncovered large quantities of a deadly but unnamed chemical that was to be dispersed via explosion. Jordanian intelligence director Lt. Gen. Saad Kheir said a successful attack would have killed some 20,000 persons within a one-kilometer radius of Amman. According to the detained terrorists, the operational objective for their cell was to kill at least 80,000 people through a series of attacks in Jordan.
Similar attacks against the U.S Embassy and the Prime Minister's office using an unspecified poisonous gas were also planned, according to Jordanian officials. Al Qaeda operative Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi is suspected of coordinating both attacks in addition to the recent beheading of American civilian Nick Berg in Iraq.
Acting on an anonymous tip, Jordanian authorities intercepted three vehicles carrying identical gas and chemicals entering Jordan from Syria in early April. Although Syria has long been suspected of developing an indigenous WMD capability, the deadly chemical and gas agents intercepted by Jordanian officials could have been part of Iraq's original WMD program some of which is now suspected of having been smuggled into Syria. Either way, it appears that that the Syria government or al Qaeda operatives working in Damascus have begun arming terrorists with chemical and gas weapons. The recent attack on the Israeli port of Ashdod may have been the first attempt to release poison gas. See U.S. Law Enforcement Starting to Focus on Maritime/Seaborne Terror.
Mysterious Attacks in Damascus
Meanwhile, a series of explosions and gunfire erupted in the Mazza district of downtown Damascus on April 27, 2004. Fifteen "car bomb-like" explosions were heard followed by an exchange of heavy machine-gun fire between Syrian security forces and what Syrian Information Minister Ahmad al-Hassan has described, in an interview with Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, as Islamic militants of "foreign nationality." The Mazza district is home to several Western embassies - including Britain and Canada - along with several UN offices, some of which have been abandoned over the years.
According to al-Hassan, Syrian security forces confronted a suspicious car near the Canadian Embassy. At that point, several men fled the car and ran inside an abandoned UN building. The car exploded shortly afterwards and an exchange of machine gun fire ensued. The terrorists tried to escape in a second car, which was subsequently disabled as Syrian security forces opened fire on it and crashed into a wall. As many as a dozen grenades were reportedly thrown at the Syrian security forces during the exchange and four people were reported killed, two terrorists, one policeman, and one civilian bystander, he said. Two captured terrorists led Syrian authorities to a hideout in Khan al-Sheih, 18 miles south west of Damascus, where a weapons cache of rocket-propelled grenades, cylinders of an unknown gas, automatic weapons, and an unidentified yellow powder were retrieved.
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| Blackened apartment building is seen in the Mazza district of Damascus where the Syrian government claims its forces fought armed insurgents. |
In a statement faxed to AFP, The Martyr Adib al-Kilani Group claimed responsibility for the attack. The previously unknown terrorist organization said the attack was in revenge for the February 1982 razing of the west central Syrian town of Hama by government forces attempting to crush the anti-government Muslim Brotherhood movement. An estimated10,000 to 20,000 Syrians were killed when government artillery leveled much of the town.
The vacant basement apartment of the bombed building in Mazza was once occupied by Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of President Bashar al-Assad who was in charge of internal security during the government's suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. Syrian officials have not verified the authenticity of the fax.
Officials from both the United States and Syrian anti-government groups have questioned the motive and the participation of al Qaeda-linked terrorists to the attack. The dissident Reform Party of Syria (RPS) claimed the attacks were actually carried out by Syrian government agents to justify a crackdown on internal opposition groups, according to BBC News, April 04, 2004. Others, including some members of Congress, support this theory. "This was a charade, one more political maneuver by the regime to avoid U.S. sanctions," Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) declared. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) added, " ... This was staged. Syria seems to be once again starting fires just to get credit for putting them out."
by JINSA Editorial Assistant Jonathan Howland
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