حزب الإصلاح السوري

Washington DC, November 23, 2004 /RPS News/ - Reliable sources in the Middle East have confirmed to RPS that ever since the appointment of Ghazi Kanaan as the Interior Minister of Syria, the various security apparatuses that include the powerful military intelligence services have been at each other throats for control.

Ghazi Kanaan has been tasked by Baschar al-Assad to unify the various intelligence services under one umbrella. However, Assef Shawkat, Assad's brother-in-law, supported by Rustum Al-Ghazzali, the de Facto Governor of Lebanon, and Gen. Hassan Turkemani, the Defense Minister, oppose such a move for fear of losing their power base. The in-fighting is almost at a point of spilling of blood.

Syria's security apparatus includes the military intelligence (al-Mukhabarat al-`Askariya), General Intelligence (Idarat al-Mukhabarat al-`Amma), and the Political Security Force (Al-Amn as-Siyasi) all working independently from each other.

Last month, Syrian exiles invited by President Assad to attend a conference, witnessed the chaotic system firsthand after they were given assurances by the various Syrian embassies that they will not be harassed. Upon entering Syria, they discovered, to their dismay, that even though they got clearance from one intelligence service, others harassed them and interrogated them at length for more intelligence about Syrians in the Diaspora.

Powell Meets with Shara, Does not Relay US Anger

Washington DC, November 23, 2004/RPS News/ -- US Secretary of State Colin Powell met with his counterpart Faruq al-Shara in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt during an Arab conference on Iraq but instead of relaying the US anger over Syria's funding of insurgents using the Commercial Bank of Syria and Ezzat al-Douri as conduits, he praised Syria's work.

 Powell is leaving the Bush administration and many believe that his visit with Shara was a "poke in the eye" to those who have disagreed with him on Syria and who remain in power.

"The Syrians have taken steps recently but we think there is a lot more they can do and we are looking for greater opportunities to work with the Syrians," said the outgoing Powell.

"We will try to provide as much information to the Syrians about the activity that is taking place in Syria that they really need to get on top of and do something about," said Powell, who met Shara at the Iraqi Arab conference in this Red Sea resort.

Both Iran and Syria have been accused of failing to take action to halt cross-border infiltration by insurgents battling the US military and the security forces of Iraq's interim government.

Washington DC, November 23, 2004 /RPS News/ - The international conference, sponsored by Egypt and suggested at the behest of Arab countries, ended on Tuesday with Faruq al-Shara questioning US presence in Iraq.

Al-Shara, who addressed the Iraqi conference, said: "We have to ask ourselves whether we came to this conference to merely express our attachment to the unraveling status quo".

The Ba'athists in Damascus are afraid that the US troops in Iraq will always pose a threat to their lawlessness and support for terrorist organizations.

The United States has recently accused Syria of funding insurgents through the Commercial Bank of Syria to the tune of $1 billion that was paid to Iraqi Ba'athist insurgency and remnants of Saddam's regime given protection inside Syria.

Meanwhile, Middle East Newsline reported that a senior Iraqi commander was captured in al-Anbar province near the borders with Syria.

Washington DC, November 23, 2004 /RPS PR/ -- Farid Ghadry, president of the Reform Party of Syria, will answer questions on democracy, freedom, and peace on PalTalk www.paltalk.com Chat Room called Radio Free Syria found under Groups "By Language: Middle East" on Sunday November 28 at 5PM Damascus Time, 10AM Washington DC time, and 4PM Paris Time. The discussion will be broadcast on Radio Free Syria as a talk show.

PalTalk is a free messenger that requires the download of an advertising supported software.

Syrians are encouraged to participate. Some of the questions are already posted on RPS popular Arabic Forum. We also encourage Ba'athist to join including Abdul Halim Kaddam who monitors our web site regularly.

 Reform Party of Syria