Daily Press Briefing, Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman, Washington, DC, July 21, 2005

QUESTION: The Syrian Prime Minister is saying that the disarming of Hezbollah will cause a big threat to Syria's national security. Do you have any comment on that?

MR. ERELI: I guess if anybody's qualified to say what can harm the Lebanese, it's the Syrians. They know better than anybody what might do harm to the Lebanese. Their presence has harmed the Lebanese. Their actions now on the border stifling a trade is hurting the Lebanese.

I certainly think, however, on this score, they're way off the mark. Why? Because armed militias in Lebanon, independent of the central government, are not, as evidenced in Resolution 1559, are not a recipe for success and do not contribute to stability. To the contrary, they undermine central government authority and that is why it is important that these militias be disbanded.

The claim that somehow independent armed militias prevent outside interference just doesn't wash. So let's be clear: There needs to be, as called for in Resolution 1559, a disbanding of armed militias, a extension of government authority throughout the country. And Syria would do well to facilitate that as opposed to stand in the way of that and continue to act in ways that undermine Lebanese sovereignty as opposed to strengthen it.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Today, Syria hit back at the accusations about their borders, the militants crossing their borders, saying that so far they had detained thousands of would-be insurgents.

MR. ERELI: Syria?

QUESTION: Yes, Syria. And they speak about 1,200 foreign extremists and more than 4,000 Syrians. Do you have any comment on that?

MR. ERELI: (A) It's a number that, I guess, hard to verify but; (b) and I think this is the important point, the really important point is that there's no indication, whether or not they detained 1,400 people and whether or not those 1,400 people are really as problematic as they might suggest, there's still no indication, frankly, that the problem of support for the insurgency from Syria has ended. And that's the bottom line. The Iraqis are telling us that Syria is a problem. Other evidence indicates that Syria's a problem. So regardless of what's happened with these 1,400, there are serious issues that remain in terms of insurgency activity in Iraq that is being conducted because of support and other facilitation frominside Syria.

And it remains an issue that we continue to press the Syrian Governmentabout, that the Iraqis, more importantly, continue to press the SyrianGovernment about, and that frankly continues to undermine stability in Iraq, in which therefore is a problem not just for Iraq, but for the whole neighborhood.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. ERELI: Yes, sir.