WikiLeaks [36]: Shi'as in Lebanon are "frightening"...

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 001327  
SUBJECT: ALGERIAN MFA WARY ON EVE OF ASAD VISIT   
¶1. (S) Ambassador delivered reftel demarche December 21 to  the MFA Director General for Arab Affairs on the eve of Syrian President Bashar al-Asad's expected visit.  On foreign fighters, DG Abdelhamid Bouzaher said that the flow into Iraq had declined in recent years from a 2003-05 peak.  He added that many young returning Algerian fighters had been "disillusioned" by their experience, not wanting to be used merely as suicide bombers.  Ambassador noted Syria was still the main route into Iraq and Damascus needed to do more.  On Iran, Bouzaher saw Syria's relationship with Iran as less one of "strategy and substance" than convenience and temporary interest.  Ambassador noted that, over the years, Syria had facilitated Iranian access to Lebanon but the Syrian government was likely to listen carefully to any concerns Algeria might voice.  Ambassador asked that Algeria lend its weight to pressing Syria to adopt a more positive approach to Lebanon, including the normalization of relations, which was important for the security and stability of the entire region.  He also raised the need for Arab countries to normalize relations with Iraq, rather than leave the diplomatic field in Baghdad to Iran.....
¶4. (S) Bouzaher saw the resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict as the "key to the entire region," including all of the issues involving Syria.  In the case of Iran, he said, solving this problem would rob them of their vision of a "divine mission" to reclaim Jerusalem, and therefore, by implication, make it easier for Syria to stand against Iranian support for Hizballah in Lebanon.  Bouzaher saw Syria's relationship with Iran as less one of "strategy and substance" than of convenience and temporary interest. Ambassador noted that, over the years, Syria had facilitated Iranian access to Lebanon but the Syrian government was likely to listen carefully to any concerns Algeria might voice.  Bouzaher repeated that Syria had been a victim of its own isolation, and said that he did not believe it had any real substantive interest in close relations with Iran. Instead, he said al-Asad wanted to improve his relations with the U.S, a desire that "was complicated" by recent cross-border U.S. military actions inside Syria. 
¶5. (S) Ambassador asked that Algeria lend its weight to pressing Syria to adopt a more positive approach to Lebanon, including the normalization of relations, which was important for the security and stability of the entire region. Bouzaher stressed that Algeria had "an Arab nationalist duty" to support Lebanon and would continue to do so.  He said Algeria has consistently pushed for a full investigation into the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, but in the absence of specific proof, was not eager to blame Syria outright.  Bouzaher stressed that Algeria's relationship with Syria had suffered greatly in the 1990s over the terrorism issue, but was now improving.  Bouzaher believed that Syria "has intentions to normalize" relations with Lebanon, and added that Syria has to realize that the situation in Lebanon could be very damaging to Sunni interests.  As Sunni Arabs, he said, Algeria found the Shi'a in Lebanon "frightening;" it was a situation not at all favorable to "our way of seeing things."  Bouzaher said that the core issue in Lebanon was the arming of Hizballah, "as everyone knows.".."