(Translation by Yusra Ahmed)
A diplomatic Saudi document published among the 60 thousand leaked documents on WikiLeaks, mentioned that Syria had supported the former Minister of Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, who became the President of France in 2007, by helping in calming down the riots spread in Paris’s suburbs, which strengthened Sarkozi’s position in the presidency election.
The document was forwarded fro Saud Al Faisal, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia to the former King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz at the time. It said that supporters of Jacques Chirac, opponent of Sarkozy in election, wanted to prevent him from winning the presidency, therefore, they worked on erupting the riots in Paris’s suburbs where gangs of immigrants had initiated them.
The document continued explaining that Syria had supported Sarkozi by interfering and calming down the riots by its influence on gangs in Northern Africa, and ordered riotous people to stop their actions, which strengthened Sarkozy’s position in election.
The same diplomatic document mentioned that Syria acted in that way spiting Jack Chirac, who had a strong relationship with Rafic Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister. Therefore, Sarkozy felt gratitude for Syria’s support, and it was expected that Sarkozy’s security forces might have transferred to Bashar al-Assad details of communications between Chirac and Hariri.
This document is the first one to mention the possible connection between Syria and riots in Paris, which took place by criminal gangs receiving orders from the Syrian intelligence.
Severe riots had broken out in Paris on 27th October 2005 for 16 days. It coincided with Sarkozi’s preparation for his election campaign, and short time after Rafic Hariri’s assassination on 14th February 2005.
Relationships between Syria and France went through troubles after assassinating Hariri, and Chirac worked on isolating Bashar al-Assad from the international community. However, the situation had changed when Sarkozy won the election as he returned Syria to the international politics via Paris gate.
Moreover, Sarkozy invited Bashar al-Assad 3 times during less than 2 years, and he visited Damascus twice with few months intervals.
WikiLeaks, 2 weeks ago, published more than 60,000 Saudi diplomatic documents to the Internet, a move that echoes its famous release of US State Department cables in 2010.
There was no immediate way to verify the authenticity of the documents, although
WikiLeaks has a long track record of hosting large-scale leaks of government material. Many of the documents carried green letterhead marked “Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” or “Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
If genuine, the documents would offer a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the notoriously opaque kingdom. They might also shed light on Riyadh’s longstanding regional rivalry with Iran, its support for Syrian rebels and Egypt’s military-backed government, and its opposition to an emerging international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program.
A diplomatic Saudi document published among the 60 thousand leaked documents on WikiLeaks, mentioned that Syria had supported the former Minister of Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, who became the President of France in 2007, by helping in calming down the riots spread in Paris’s suburbs, which strengthened Sarkozi’s position in the presidency election.
The document was forwarded fro Saud Al Faisal, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia to the former King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz at the time. It said that supporters of Jacques Chirac, opponent of Sarkozy in election, wanted to prevent him from winning the presidency, therefore, they worked on erupting the riots in Paris’s suburbs where gangs of immigrants had initiated them.
The document continued explaining that Syria had supported Sarkozi by interfering and calming down the riots by its influence on gangs in Northern Africa, and ordered riotous people to stop their actions, which strengthened Sarkozy’s position in election.
The same diplomatic document mentioned that Syria acted in that way spiting Jack Chirac, who had a strong relationship with Rafic Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister. Therefore, Sarkozy felt gratitude for Syria’s support, and it was expected that Sarkozy’s security forces might have transferred to Bashar al-Assad details of communications between Chirac and Hariri.
This document is the first one to mention the possible connection between Syria and riots in Paris, which took place by criminal gangs receiving orders from the Syrian intelligence.
Severe riots had broken out in Paris on 27th October 2005 for 16 days. It coincided with Sarkozi’s preparation for his election campaign, and short time after Rafic Hariri’s assassination on 14th February 2005.
Relationships between Syria and France went through troubles after assassinating Hariri, and Chirac worked on isolating Bashar al-Assad from the international community. However, the situation had changed when Sarkozy won the election as he returned Syria to the international politics via Paris gate.
Moreover, Sarkozy invited Bashar al-Assad 3 times during less than 2 years, and he visited Damascus twice with few months intervals.
WikiLeaks, 2 weeks ago, published more than 60,000 Saudi diplomatic documents to the Internet, a move that echoes its famous release of US State Department cables in 2010.
There was no immediate way to verify the authenticity of the documents, although
WikiLeaks has a long track record of hosting large-scale leaks of government material. Many of the documents carried green letterhead marked “Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” or “Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
If genuine, the documents would offer a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the notoriously opaque kingdom. They might also shed light on Riyadh’s longstanding regional rivalry with Iran, its support for Syrian rebels and Egypt’s military-backed government, and its opposition to an emerging international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Zaman Al Wasl
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