We don't know nothing!
This may or may not be in error:
The Syrian government has knowledge about the presence of al Qaeda cells in Lebanon and Syria and is prepared to share it with the United States, Sky News reported July 23, citing Syrian Cabinet minister Amr Salem. Such al Qaeda cells have grown since Syria withdrew its forces from Lebanon, he said. Salem added that Syria is also prepared to mediate discussions on Iraq between the United States and Iran.
But now, the People's Daily Online reports:
Syria categorically denied on Tuesday reports that it has information about the terrorist al- Qaida organization in Lebanon and that it is ready to offer them to Washington as "baseless".The press office of Syran Ministry of Communication and Technology made the denial in a statement, the official SANA news agency reported.
The French AFP news agency carried a report by Britain's Sky News television on Sunday that Syria is prepared to tell the United States the whereabouts of al-Qaida cells in Lebanon.
They quoted Syrian Communication and Technology Minister Amr Salem as saying that "Syria has real hard knowledge."
The Syrian statement denied the reports, saying that "the news is categorically baseless and these issues have not been raised at all during the interview or in any talk of the minister with this news network or any media side."
The press office of the ministry has asked representative of the Sky News network about the subject and got an official statement that the al-Qaida issue was not part of the interview and the network did not say the minister has made such remarks, said the statement.
"Such lies and deviation are only to deform the honorable stances of Syria", it stressed.
Sky News' website is mum; even though they seem to be the root source of all of this. So either:
- Several news agencies misquoted Sky News. Unlikely.
- Sky News misquoted Amr Salem. Given that at least the Daily Telegraph has specific Amr Salem quotes, this is a bit doubtful, but a possibility.
- Amr Salem exceeded his authority in disclosing this information. Possible, but I'm not sure that's the likelihood.
- The Syrians used this venue to leak that al Qaeda is in Lebanon (like we didn't know that), either to warn the US against adventures in Beirut, or to warn the Lebanese to stay in line. We'll have to see what game they're playing, but I'm going to put my money on this one.
