Draft Letter from Wlli Stoph to the President of the Syrian Arab Republic Hafez al-Assad

Appendix 2

Draft

President of the
Syrian Arab Republic
Hafez al-Assad

D a m a s c u s

Dear Comrade President!

The messages you have sent me on 6 and 11 October 1973 in the context of the renewed Israeli aggression I did share with the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the SED, Comrade Erich Honecker, and the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED.

In a statement on 7 October 1973, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED, the State Council, and the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic have already condemned Israel’s new aggression in strongest terms and affirmed the active solidarity with the Arab peoples.

The people of the GDR are upset over the shameless and criminal violent acts by the Israeli aggressors. At hundreds of solidarity meetings, manifestations, and factory assemblies the aggressor Israel is denounced and condemned.

Dear Comrade President, there is no doubt that the political and social achievements of your people, as well as the close alliance of your country with the Soviet Union and the other states of the socialist community, are a thorn in the side of imperialism.

With the aggression and escalation of criminal acts of war against the Syrian and Egyptian people, Israel and its imperialist backers want to suppress the desire for freedom of the Arab peoples and to curb the social progress in the Arab world. They must not, and they will not, succeed with this.

The GDR strongly condemns the barbaric acts of terror against the Syrian civilian population and the brutal destruction of vital objects and facilities. Our energetic protest is directed against the violation of the principles of international law and the breach of the charter of the United Nations. In the just struggle that your people are fighting against the aggressor, also for the liberation of the territories occupied by the Israeli occupants, the GDR will always provide active support.

Our people are looking with great respect at the steadfastness, the courage, and the willingness to sacrifice by the Syrian people and their armed forces. The struggle of the peoples for their independence, for the defense of their sovereignty and territorial integrity, and for social progress cannot be stopped by aggressions and terror.

The GDR is still advocating a just and durable peace in the Middle East. Its foundations are the cessation of the Israeli aggression and the Israeli terror, the liberation of the Arab territories occupied by the Israeli occupants, and the establishment of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Please allow us to guarantee you that the GDR will do everything in its power to effectively support the struggle of the people of the Syrian Arab Republic against the imperialist-Zionist aggression.

I wish you, dear Comrade President, strength, and health for the benefit of your people in these difficult days.

Please accept the expression of my eminent respect.

Will Stoph

[added handwritten^[1]] Erich Honecker

[added handwritten] Horst Sindermann