Word: damascus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Lebanon, he said, Egyptian intelligence operatives almost brokered a deal for the release of an Israeli soldier kidnapped by militants of the Palestinian Hamas group based in Gaza. But he said that "certain third parties" - an apparent reference to Hamas exile leader Khaled Mishal and the Syrian regime in Damascus that supports him - "aborted our efforts." He also revealed that he asked Syrian President Bashar Assad to intervene with Hizballah to win the freedom of the two Israeli soldiers the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group captured to ignite the fighting in Lebanon. But Mubarak indicated that he would not join...
...Mubarak: A few hours after the abduction of the two Israeli soldiers by Hizballah, I dispatched Egypt's Foreign Minister [Ahmed Aboul Gheit] to Damascus. He conveyed a message to the Syrian President [Bashar Assad] cautioning against the gravity of the situation and requesting his interference with Hizballah to release the Israeli soldiers. Our efforts continue with regional and international partners to stop the current escalation. We keep our channels open with the Lebanese and the Israelis together with the Saudis, the Jordanians, the Americans, the Europeans, the Russians and the United Nations...
...mood in Damascus, home to a major faction of Hizballah's leadership, is undeniably tense. But the full-on panic of last fall - when local commentators seemed to calculate hourly updates on the odds of a U.S. invasion - is, so far, largely absent. The U.S. and Israel seem as anxious as officials here are to avoid open conflict; that relative security makes for a safely defiant atmosphere. Hizballah sympathizers take to the streets with bullhorns, engaging bystanders in an angry, fevered call-and-response drawn from party slogans or the latest news. Motorcycles and cars sport yellow-and-green Hizballah...
...that everyone here is cheering Nasrallah. Syrian citizens may have granted him sudden rock-star status, but Damascus is increasingly a city of diverse refugees, with the newly arrived Lebanese joining thousands of Palestinians and Iraqis already waiting out their own ongoing national crises. Many of these temporary residents, particularly the newcomers, don't seem to be spoiling for the fight that Hizballah is engaged...
...That sense of lukewarm support is strongest in places like Al Jidadeh, a short drive outside the city. The big crossing point in the commute between Beirut and Damascus is nearly always crowded. But for the past week, say Syrian relief workers, managing the checkpoint has been like trying to force a sea through a tiny spigot. The recent conflict may have created as many as 700,000 refugees; more than 200,000 of them have journeyed overland to Syria since the fighting began, that number surging over the past few days, as the risk of air and sea travel...