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Kucinich Meets with Syrian President Sunday, September 2, 2007 6:46 PM DAMASCUS, Syria -- U.S. Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, a Democratic presidential candidate, met Sunday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as part of a Middle East peace initiative and fact-finding tour to several countries over the next five days. In the meeting with President Assad, Kucinich is expected to discuss approaches to dealing with the continued violence and instability in Iraq, as well as to discuss the Baker Hamilton report to the U.S. Congress which recommended direct engagement with Syria as part of a new Middle East foreign policy initiative....

President Al-Assad Reviews Regional Developments with US Senator Kucinich President Al-Assad Reviews Regional Developments with US Senator KucinichSunday, September 02, 2007 - 02:55 PM Damascus, (SANA) – President Bashar al-Assad met on Sunday Democratic Senator Dennis Kucinich and reviewed with him the current situation in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and the latest regional and international developments.Opinions were exchanged regarding American-Syrian relations, the possibility of pushing the peace process forward and maintaining security and stability in these sensitive circumstances.Senator Kucinich pointed out to Syria's pivotal role in bolstering security and stability in the region.President al-Assad affirmed Syria's stances in support of...

Middle East Newsline reports that on his recent trip to Moscow, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad received briefings on the technical specifications and potential applications of one of Russia’s most effective air- and missile defense systems: the S-300PMU2. The reason for Assad’s interest in the advanced weaponry appears to be the need for expanded deterrence against Israel. "Syria wants a strategic air defense system that would present a major threat to Israeli warplanes," a source has told the news agency. "I think Assad will buy and deploy the S-300 over the next few months."

President al-Assad discusses with American Pastor Warren relations between Syria and the USA Sunday, November 12, 2006 - 07:35 PM DAMASCUS, (SANA)_ The meeting between President Bashar al-Assad and Pastor Rick Warren, a famous Protestant clergyman in the USA and an accompanying delegation on Sunday focused on the Syrian-American relations. The American delegation stressed that the American administration is mistaken not to hold dialogue with Syria. The importance of dialogue among religions and achieving the just and comprehensive peace in the region which leads for stability and prosperity were emphasized during the meeting. Pastor Warren hailed the religious coexistence, tolerance...

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the Syrian military on Monday to raise its readiness, pledging not to abandon support for Lebanese resistance against Israel. "We are facing international circumstances and regional challenges that require caution, alert, readiness and preparedness," Assad said. "The barbaric war of annihilation the Israeli aggression is waging on our people in Lebanon and Palestine is increasing in ferocity," Assad said in a written address on the occasion of the 61st anniversary of the foundation of the Syria Arab Army.

The United States should conduct military strikes against Hezbollah and Hamas facilities in the Middle East before engaging in any military action against Iraq, the leaders of an influential US Senate committee demanded Sunday. Democratic Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham and his Republican counterpart, Richard Shelby, made their recommendation amid increasing concern among member of the US intelligence community that if faced with certain downfall, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein could hand over weapons of mass destruction to regional terrorist groups. "Against those international terrorists such as Hezbollah and Hamas, we need to be launching attacks on their headquarters and...

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki stressed Tehran's right to civilian nuclear technology, after talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a surprise visit to Damascus, AFP reported. "We reiterated our indisputable right to peaceful nuclear technology," he said at a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Muallem. The Iranian foreign minister also said that he would visit Kuwait on Saturday as part of regular consultations with Iran's Arab neighbours across the Persian Gulf. "I will tell them (Kuwaiti officials) that the Bushehr nuclear plant (under construction in southern Iran) is in keeping with the highest international norms...

Saddam's nephew finds sanctuary in Syria By Con Coughlin in Baghdad (Filed: 18/05/2003) A leading member of Saddam Hussein's family has been discovered living in Damascus under the protection of the Syrian government after fleeing Iraq last week, The Telegraph can reveal. Fatiq al-Majid, one of Saddam's nephews, entered Syria last Monday after leaving Iraq at the al-Rabie'a checkpoint, which is under the control of American troops. Majid was given a Syrian visa and made his way to Damascus, where he is now living in exile. Majid confirmed his presence in Damascus when contacted by telephone by The Telegraph last...

AP News Alert BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) -- A U.N. spokesperson says the U.N. commission investigating the assassination of a Lebanese politician wants to question Syria's president.

CAIRO , December 31, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) - The bombshell dropped by former Syrian vice-president Abdel Halim Khaddam on a possible Syrian role in the assassination of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri has sent seismic waves in Damascus and would tighten the noose around the Arab country, experts agreed on Saturday, December 31. “Khaddam’s testimony at this critical juncture in Syrian history has, in effect, sent shock waves across the country’s political landscape and ushered in grave consequences,” Syrian opposition writer Akram Al-Beni told IslamOnline.net. Speaking from Paris, where he has lived since resigning as vice-president in June, Khaddam said in...

DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syria's parliament called for the country's former vice president to face treason charges after he publicly accused President Bashar al-Assad of threatening Rafiq Hariri just months before Lebanese ex-premier's murder. "We appeal to Justice Minister Mohammed Ghafri to bring Abdel Halim Khaddam before justice for high treason and to take the necessary measures," said speaker Mahmud al-Abrash. The parliament passed the motion unanimously calling for a trial during a regular session in which several lawmakers accused Khaddam of "treason" and "corruption" for his remarks, which dealt a new blow to Assad's regime. "I demand, in my own...

Syrian lawmakers on Saturday accused former Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam of treason and demanded action against him after he implicated President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri. "I demand, in my own name and the name of the people that Khaddam is judged because he has attacked the dignity of Syria and humiliated milliions of Syrians," said MP Umeima Khudur. In an explosive interview with Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television, Khaddam said Assad had threatened Hariri just months before his February murder.

Veteran Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam, widely regarded as the architect of his government's Lebanon policy before its troop pullout in April, announced his resignation on Friday. "I have decided to resign," he told the Dubai-based satellite television Al-Arabiya in an interview from Paris. Khaddam first asked to resign at a congress of Syria's ruling Baath party in June, but there had been no word since on whether President Bashar al-Assad had accepted the resignation. At the time, he criticised Syrian foreign policy leading up to the withdrawal from Lebanon after a 29-year deployment under international pressure over...

By Aaron Klein © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is supporting the insurgency against civilians and U.S. troops in Iraq and using the violence he aids to blackmail the U.S. and international community into easing the push for United Nations sanctions against his country, one of Lebanon's most prominent opposition leaders told WorldNetDaily yesterday in an exclusive interview. Druze leader Walid Jumblatt (radiofarda.com) "The Syrian regime is helping the insurgency in Iraq and allowing all kinds of militants to come in and out, and go to Iraq to attack random soldiers and innocent people," said Walid Jumblatt, head of...

Asharq Al-Awsat exclusive interview with U.N Chief investigator, Detlev Mehlis Asharq Al-Awsat, New York - Asharq Al Awsat exclusively interviews Detlev Mehlis, Head of the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1595 into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri. FAKHRY: Let me start, firstly, by asking you about the reasons as to why you are leaving the Investigation Commission. Are you not concerned that it might portray the wrong image about where this investigation is headed? MEHLIS: No. As I mentioned before, my leaving has nothing to do with the...

By JAMES RISEN WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 — As American soldiers massed on the Iraqi border in March and diplomats argued about war, an influential adviser to the Pentagon received a secret message from a Lebanese-American businessman: Saddam Hussein wanted to make a deal. Iraqi officials, including the chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had told the businessman that they wanted Washington to know that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction, and they offered to allow American troops and experts to conduct an independent search. They also offered to hand over a man accused of being involved in the...

Syrian President Bashar Al Assad met yesterday with leaders of 10 militant Palestinian groups based in Syria, defying US pressure to crack down on these groups. The meeting came as Syria is facing international demands on another front as well that it cooperate with a UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. Amid the pressure, Bashar decided not to attend the world summit at UN headquarters in New York next week. Bashar also received a US snub when it was announced in Washington on Wednesday that the Syrian leader will not get an invitation for a...

THE CEDAR REVOLUTION HAS TAKEN so many interesting narrative turns, it is easy to forget that the Lebanese opposition confronts a criminal regime in Syria that is more isolated than ever and for that reason quite possibly more dangerous than before. While some repentant skeptics have grudgingly begun to credit the Bush vision for democracy in the Middle East, the White House has prudently refrained from gloating because the outcome is far from resolved. For all the appeasing noises the Damascus regime has made, it may decide not to leave Lebanon without a fight. Some analysts believe that Bashar al-Assad...

BEIRUT, March 25, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad was reportedly to declare a detailed schedule of widrawing his troops from Lebanon, as a UN fact-finding mission report found Lebanon’s inquiry into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri seriously flawed and held Syria responsible for insecurity and disorder in its neighbor Arab country. The reported announcement is seen as critical to the organization of Lebanese parliamentary elections in May. Interviewed by French television Thursday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Assad was now within days of announcing a schedule for the withdrawal of the...

Texas Professor And Bashar Assad, Sitting In A Tree Posted By: Dave_Cantrell.. Reneé just handed me a copy of last Sunday’s “Life” section from the local Express-News wherein columnist Susan Yerkes gushes over Trinity University Middle East history professor David Lesch, “a widely recognized Middle East expert.” He lamented the “lack of post-war planning” and demanded that the United States immediately withdraw from Iraq “in an orderly way.” So what has professor Lesch been doing in his spare time? Vacationing with Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad, of course! Assad invited Lesch to bring his wife and son to spend their vacation...