PURGE BEGINS IN SYRIA

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28362, 22 August 1957, Page 13

PURGE BEGINS IN SYRIA

Swift Move By Communists

(Rec. 8 p.m.) BEIRUT, August 21. Syria’s new Communist masters are preparing purge trials in the Iron Curtain style, according to the “Daily Express,” London. The newspaper has also reported that, because of the Syrian crisis, cruisers and carriers of the United States 6th Fleet were moving to a set ret assembly point in th* Mediterranean last night. The newspaper reported that 15 officers had been turned out last night and most of tliem put under arrest on charges of plotting against the State. “The purge is reaching out to embassies and legations all over the world; the first batch of diplomats to be sacrificed will be announced within 48 hours,” the “Daily Express’’ said. The secret police chief, Colonel Seraj, ordered today a clean-out of every senior civil servant suspected of anti-Communist leanings. The “Daily Express” claimed that - President Kuwatly opposed thi • decrees which handed Syria ever to the Communists and then fled to Cairo before he could be arrested. The first batch of Russian technicians—mining engineers, factory specialists, and railway experts—arrived at Damascus yesterday. At Damascus, the Syrian Foreign Ministry, today instructed its United Nations representative to draw the Security Council’s attention to' “the conspiracy plotted by members of the United States Embassy at Damascus against the present Syrian regiire,” according to an official source. Fleet Move Denied A Washington message said that the United States Navy said tonight that it had no knowledge of a report in the London “Daily Express” that the 6th fleet was converging on a secret rendezvous in the Mediterranean. An Official statement added that the fleet was on routine manoeuvres and training exercises and that nothing had occurred to interfere with them.

Syrian M.P.’s In Russia

(Rec. 3 p.m.) MOSCOW, Aug. 20. A member of the Syrian Parliament now touring the Soviet Union, Shukri Rahmu, was reported to have told a Tass correspondent that what Syrians saw in Russia had exceeded all expectations, the Soviet news agency reported today. Another Syrian M.P., Abdul Hamid Duveidari, was quoted as Baying: “Everywhere in the Soviet Union we feel among friends. Soviet people greatly sympathise and respect the Syrian people who are striving to preserve their independence and are fighting for their freedom and happiness.”