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Syrian American Businessman warmed Assad relations with White House: WikiLeaks

(Tranlation by Yusra Ahmed)

A Saudi diplomatic document published on WikiLeaks revealed that As-Safir, the Lebanese newspaper was fund by the former Libyan president Muamar Gaddafi, then it was rescued by the support of an American- originally Syrian businessman.

The document forwarded from the Saudi Ambassador in Beirut to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh, mentioned that Talal Salman, the Chief Editor of As-Safir newspaper, was loyal to his Shiite sect more than his professionalism in journalistic work. Moreover, it highlighted that businessman Jamal Daniel owned 40% of the newspaper shares.

The document mentioned that Salman tried to communicate with responsible figures in United Arab Emirates to generate fund, but was no clear results.

Jamal Daniel, was born in Tartus in Syria, a businessman who has complicated political and trade relationships, very close to “the Bush” family and al-Assad family, especially Bashar al-Assad. Daniel gave huge effort to return Bashar’s relationships with Washington after assassinating Rafiq al-Hariri in 2005.

In 2012, Daniel established a website to update the region’s news, but in reality, it aimed to brighten al-Assad’s image in the West.

An email sent by journalist Anas Azraq, was published on WikiLeaks, mentioned that Jamal Daniel is the son of Atif Daniel, who was one of the shadow Arab figures and based in Switzerland, and was described as a “Spy” by many Baath Party’s members.
The email mentioned that Jamal Daniel was the one behind the launch of American-Syrian relationships in 2005, only months after assassinating al-Hariri, when Damascus via its Embassy in Washington signed a contract with New Bridge strategies company, which is known of its efforts to introduce American companies to Iraq.
The email explained that contract helped in improving Syria’s image in the United State and it helped Damascus to get closer to the White House, by support of an American businessman of Syrian origin, who had strong relationships with “the Bush Family” from father to son.

Zaman Al Wasl
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