DOSSIER: Suleiman Khaled Darwish

Living proof of Al Qaida's secret role in Assad's Syria

"Hamdi probably couldn't even shoot straight, but he knew a lot and that
alarmed the Saudis," a U.S. intelligence source said. "The Saudis got word
to Hamdi to sit tight and everything would be taken care of."

* Affiliation: Al Qaida

* Age: mid-30s

* Whereabouts: Damascus

Suleiman Khaled Darwish is one reason the United States is getting fed up
with Syria.

Despite the denials of President Bashar Assad, Darwish represents Al Qaida's
presence in Syria. Darwish, a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship, has
been the leading Al Qaida liaison in Syria and responsible for a range of
attacks against Syria's enemies.

Darwish's presence has shattered the long-held CIA assessment that Syria has
banned Al Qaida from the country and was cooperating with the United States
against the Islamic terrorist movement of Osama Bin Laden. U.S. intelligence
sources acknowledge that Syria has been fooling the Bush administration. In
return for a high U.S. political price, Syria provided information to
Washington on Al Qaida threats in Gulf Cooperation Council states in 2002.
At the same time, Damascus was harboring Al Qaida and aligned elements in
Assad's drive to destabilize neighboring Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

Al Qaida's presence in Syria is heavily controlled. The group does not have
anywhere near the independence that it had in Afghanistan before 2001 or the
Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah in Lebanon. For Assad, Al Qaida is another tool
to attack his enemies without leaving fingerprints.

Darwish, also known as Abu Al Ghadiyyah, serves as liaison between Al Qaida
and Syrian military intelligence, which has also been coordinating with
other terrorist groups. Nothing gets done without Assad's okay.

Little is known of Darwish, but U.S. intelligence sources said he was behind
Al Qaida-aligned plots in Jordan in 2004. These included the attempt to blow
up Jordan's intelligence headquarters in Amman with the use of chemical
weapons. He was also believed to have been involved in other Al
Qaida-aligned attacks in Jordan and Lebanon. The Hashemite kingdom has
demanded his extradition.

Recently Darwish has been busy. Assad has been trying to improve Syria's
strategic position by undermining Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon and sponsoring
the flow of weapons into the Palestinian Authority. In some of these
operations, Assad wants no fingerprints.

That's where Darwish comes in. He was believed to have been responsible for
a series of dirty tricks against Assad's opponents, particularly in Lebanon.
Assad has been alarmed by the U.S.-led drive that could result in
international sanctions against Syria for its continued occupation of
Lebanon.

Despite a much-heralded military redeployment in September, the United
Nations estimates that at least 14,000 Syrian troops remain in Lebanon.

On Oct. 1, a car bomb exploded in Beirut injuring former Lebanese Cabinet
minister Marwan Hamadeh. Hamadeh, reported to be in stable condition in a
Beirut hospital, has been an ally of Walid Jumblatt, who opposed the
revision of the Lebanese constitution that allowed the rule of
Syrian-sponsored Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

U.S. intelligence sources said the assassination attempt was a Syrian
message to Jumblatt to end his vocal opposition to Lahoud and the pro-Syrian
regime.

Another message was intended for the United States, which has been
supporting the Lebanese opposition. Not by coincidence, the bombing took
place near two American institutions in Beirut.

At the same time, Darwish has been organizing shipments of weapons and
insurgents into Jordan in an attempt to undermine the pro-U.S. kingdom.

In an effort coordinated with Syrian military intelligence, the weapons
include anti-tank rockets and surface-to-surface missiles.

Jordan has captured several of Al Qaida insurgents. Sources said they told
Jordanian intelligence that they were sent by Darwish and aided by Syria to
attack Jordanian and Western targets. Their goal was to send Amman a message
to end its cooperation with the United States, particularly in the war
against Al Qaida.

With the fate of thousands of terrorists in its hands, Syria can demonstrate
cooperation with the United States on Al Qaida whenever Damascus chooses. On
Sept. 23, Lebanon announced the arrest of Al Qaida cell members, who were
said to have planned attacks on U.S. and other embassies in Lebanon.
Intelligence sources were skeptical of the arrests and said they were staged
by Syria before a United Nations report on Syrian compliance with a Security
Council resolution to withdraw troops from Lebanon.

The purported head of the Al Qaida cell in Lebanon was identified as Ismail
Mohammed Al Khatib. After the United States demanded to interrogate Khatib,
accused of killing an American, Khatib was found dead in his cell of an
apparent heart attack.

Darwish is believed to be aligned with Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi and his efforts
to destroy the new Iraqi government. In September, Syria hosted a secret
conference of leading Saddam aides in Damascus to discuss strategy against
the United States. The attendees selected Ibrahim Izzet Al Douri to lead the
anti-U.S. Iraqi opposition. Al Douri was said to be the leading financier of
the anti-U.S. insurgency in Iraq and has been granted safe haven and freedom
of movement by Assad.

The result has been a partnership between Saddam supporters and Al Qaida in
the region. In Iraq, Al Qaida-aligned groups are becoming a fixture.

After being expelled from Iraq in 2003, the Ansar Al Islam group has
returned to northern Iraq. Ansar's focus is Irbil, a Kurdish-dominated city.

The Bush administration has determined that it cannot continue to ignore
Syria and its terrorist role. Last week, officials from Iraq, Syria and the
United States held three days of military talks to map out a strategy to
expel Al Qaida and Saddam supporters from the Iraqi-Syrian border.

Syria has played along with the U.S. effort, but the next few weeks will
determine whether anything has changed. Al Qaida operatives in Syria such as
Darwish will be watching and waiting.