Since becoming an independent nation state in April 1946, Syria has sought to dominate the Middle East and most specifically, their neighbors.  Aside from Lebanon, the Palestinians have held a special, hostage-like place in the Asad heart.  When the PLO was created by Egypt as a means to control Palestinian destiny, Syria made their own puppet Palestinian organization to compete.

 

The Asad regime has always seen the Palestinian issue in a pan-Arab sense - something far too important to entrust to the Palestinians.  With the dawn of the Madrid peace process in 1991, Syria sought to lead the Arab world in a "comprehensive peace" - a code phrase meaning that Syria would like to dictate the pace of all peace tracks and have veto power over any other state or entities' agreements with Israel.  Syrian demands must be satisfied for Palestinians and Israelis to make peace and Qatar must have no diplomatic relations with Israel until Syria is satisfied, and so on...

Five months after the Madrid peace conference, Syria's foreign minister declared that "a bilateral deal was out of the question.  Damascus would not abandon the goals of the Palestinians, Jordanians, and Lebanese." Of course, the Palestinian, Jordanian, and Lebanese goals were different from Syria's but why should their needs stand in the way of the goals of the rightful and true leader of the Arab world, namely Syria?

Nothing angered Hafiz al-Asad more than the secret Oslo Channel between Israel and the Palestinians that came to light in 1993.  That Syria was having their role as leader of the Palestinians usurped by Palestinians was devastating, much like the 1994 bilateral peace agreement between Israel and Jordan.  How dare the Palestinians and Jordanians abandon Syrian goals?  At least they still had Lebanon.

Arafat's incremental approach to peace with Israel during the 1990s led Syrian Defense Minister, Mustafa Tlas to conclude: "[Arafat] is the son of 60,000 whores...In his concessions to Israel, Yasir Arafat resembles a striptease dancer who removes more of her clothing whenever she ascends the stage." 

For the love of all that is holy, please keep me away from that strip show.

In essence, today's story out of SANA says that Syria recognizes that the Palestinian Authority is weak, and that they would like kudos for offering to once again control the Palestinian issue. 

Awfully big of them.

2) Hama ranks first in Arab Architecture Heritage Prize in Qatar, reports the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

This is a heart-warming story to fill the Syrian heart with pride.  Bashar al-Asad's father, Hafiz, would no doubt be choking back tears of joy were he only alive to witness this moment.

The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria had always wanted to over-throw the secular Syrian regime.  Many of them lived in Hama, Syria in 1982.  After a series of assassination attempts against Hafiz, he decided to send the Muslim Brotherhood and his fellow citizens a not-so-subtle message.  Ever the Mafia-like leader, Hafiz went a touch further than did Godfather, Don Corleone.

On February 2, 1982 the Syrian air-force began dropping bombs on Hama, kicking off perhaps the biggest Arab massacre to date.  Asad then sent his brother, Rifaat, to lead the special forces who then ringed the city with artillery and shelled it for three weeks. Afterward, military and internal security personnel were dispatched to comb through the rubble for surviving Muslim Brothers and their sympathizers. Next followed several weeks of torture and mass executions of suspected rebel sympathizers, killing many thousands.

As homes crumbled upon their living occupants, a few residents managed to escape the shelling and started to flee. They were met by the Syrian army which had surrounded the city. Most were shot dead.

Hours of shelling turned Hama into rubble. Once the tanks and artillery had done all they could, the next wave of attacks came in the form of Syrian soldiers. They quickly converged on the town killing at will. Groups of soldiers rounded up men, women, and children and shot them in the back of the head. Many other soldiers invaded homes with the orders to kill all inhabitants.

After the majority of the people in Hama were dead, the soldiers began looting.  Finally, in went the bulldozers to flatten the historic district of Hama - which ever parts weren't flat already from bombs and artillery.

Official Syrian estimates put the number of dead at 20,000, however, the Syrian Human Rights Committee and others estimated that Asad murdered between 30,000-40,000 people in Hama that February.

This new award for Hama is quite an achievement for Syria, however, I'm sure the residents of Hama in 1982 would have preferred normal mafia-like warnings like a dead fish or the head of a horse in a bed.

Read more about the Hama Massacre here.

3) Diplomats: Syria to limit IAEA inspector visit, reports the New York Times.

In September 2007, Israel (unofficially, allegedly, but most probably) blew up a nuclear facility in northern Syria that greatly resembled the nuclear reactors in Pyongyang, North Korea.

It only took eight months for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headed by Noble Peace Prize winner, Mohamed El-Baradei, to set up an investigation into Syria's nuclear activities.

Syria, who already has one old nuclear site under IAEA inspections, has now agreed to let the inspectors investigate al-Kibar, the site of the Israeli bombing from last September.

Syria has said Israel's target was an unused military building. Nuclear analysts say satellite imagery since the bombing show the site was bulldozed and swept clean, possibly to purge any traces of nuclear activity.

Haaretz reports that U.S. Ambassador Gregory Schulte accused Syria of camouflaging the reactor for years and "going to great lengths" after the bombing to remove debris, usually at night "under the cover of tarpaulins."

"Syria's obfuscations and concealment efforts raise many troubling questions," he said.

Ibrahim Othman, Syria's atomic energy agency director, told the 35-nation nuclear watchdog group today that he "would leave it up to agency experts to discover the truth, namely that the United States fabricated this evidence and such claims, if pressed, would endanger peace and security in the Middle East," he said.

Syria-Today reported that Syrian Ambassador to the U.S. Imad Moustapha declared during an April 25 news conference that  the CIA had “fabricated” the evidence.

Diplomats said that during the 35-nation meeting, Syria rejected IAEA interest in three other locations Washington believes harbored facilities for producing plutonium from fuel generated by the reactor.

Syria's reasoning, it later emerged, was that they were still in a technical state of war with Israel and the three other sites were crucial to Syrian national security.  Another statement said that the other sites had no nuclear connection.

It begs the questions: If they are civilian nuclear reactors, what does it have to do with the state of war between Syria and Israel or Syrian national security? If the three sites have no connection to nuclear activity, wouldn't it merely take a very quick and painless inspection to reveal this?

"If it were intended for a civil nuclear energy program, why not declare the reactor to the IAEA... as Syria was obligated to do? What does Syria have to hide?" U.S. Ambassador Gregory Schulte asked.

Another Western diplomat told Reuters, "It is clear we are heading towards a long stonewalling process, as in Iran."

Of course, this pattern is quite familiar so it looks as though we will be seeing more of the same.

3.5) Not no worry.  For those looking for some good news, Syria-Today is reporting that Damascus and Tehran are boosting their military cooperation.

Syrian Defense Minister General Hasan Turkmani explained that "Iran and Syria share the same viewpoint regarding regional issues and efforts are being exerted to strengthen bilateral relations between them."

One wonders if that includes wiping Israel off of the map before, during, or after the new Syrian-Israeli peace dialogue?

Iran's Defense Minister Mustafa Muhammad Najjar explained, "Iran supports Syria in taking back the occupied Golan." 

Just the kind of diplomatic talk the West loves to hear.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad added that it was important to boost Syrian-Iranian cooperation in all fields, emphasizing the need to strengthen coordination between the two armies.

I think I'll move to Hama.