THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 16 APRIL 1976

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006015084
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: April 16, 1976

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The President's Daily Brief
April 16, 1976
2
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Exempt from general
decla.ification schedule of E.O. 11652
exemption category, 58(1),(2),(3)
declassified ont); on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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/ ILL/ I I VIi LI I L1LiiV
April 16, 1976,
Table of Contents
Lebanon: Fighting flared up again yesterday, largely as an ex-
tension of the intense political maneuvering for stronger
bargaining positions. The Israelis, meanwhile, may be near-
ing the limits of their tolerance of Syrian military moves.
(Page 1)
Western Sahara: Morocco and Mauritania have made another move
to establish formal sovereignty over Western Sahara by
announcing on Wednesday a final agreement to partition the
disputed territory. (Page 2)
Notes: USSR
; USSR (food shortage) (Page 4)
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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MEDITERRANEAN -
SEA
559621 0-76
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it .11-7 A IN. A...d Li .1 VA VII' 1.1
LEBANON: Fighting
flared up in Lebanon
yesterday as Christian
militiamen seized two
villages in the moun-
tainous region east of
Beirut. The Christian
advances apparently
triggered moves by left-
ist forces on Christian-
held territory in the
capital. None of the
principal combatants
has formally renounced
the cease-fire, how-
ever, and so far the
escalation of fighting
has not prompted any
new advances by Syrian
forces or the introduc-
tion of additional
troops.
The Christians claim they seized
the towns of Bayt Shabab and Duhur
ash-Shuwayr because of persistent
mortar shelling from the two vil-
lages. There may be some truth,
'iowever, in charges from leftist
leader Kamal Jumblatt that the
Christians are trying to provoke
a leftist counterattack in order
to draw Syrian regular forces in
central Lebanon closer to Beirut.
Syrian troops based in Beirut ap-
parently have not been involved
in the fighting there, which ap-
pears to be concentrated in the
areas adjacent to the large Chris-
tian section of Ashrafiyah. Some
Syrian forces in Tripoli, however,
appear to have clashed with local
leftists and elements of the rene-
gade Muslim army.
The sudden increase in fighting--
although clearly a threat to the
truce--is largely an extension of
the intense political maneuvering.
Both the Christians and the left-
ists want to improve their posi-
tions on the ground before the
final round of bargaining over
President Franjiyah's successor.
Moreover, the controversy over
Syrian intervention and the stabil-
ity of the cease-fire are now key
issues in the presidential contest.
Ilyas Sarkis, the preferred candi-
date of the Syrians and Maronite
Christians, is believed to favor
a major peace-keeping role for
Syria, while Jumblatt's choice,
Raymond Edde, totally rejects that
idea. Despite Edde's and Jum-
blatt's strong objections, Muslim
support for Syria's continued pres-
ence appears to be growing.
1
--continued
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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PORTUGAL
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Canary Is. M
,
WESTERN
SAH A
FRANCE
SPAIN
*Madrid. 0
Rabat
ROCC
MAURITANIA
ouakchott
TENERIFE
ALGERIA
MALI
GRAN
CANARIA
FUERTEVENTURA
617, LANZAROTE
.ea
Drao
MOROCCO
CANARY ISLANDS ALGERIA
(Sp.)
ATLANTIC
"OCEAN
Dakhla
Agracha
Iron ".
EL AAIUN
BuCraa
Phosphate deposits
WESrTERN
SA ARA
Approximate
partition line
96174-76
,
MAURITANIA
o 50 100 Miles
0 50 100 Kilometers
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WESTERN SAHARA: Morocco
and Mauritania have made
another move to estab-
lish formal sovereignty
over Western Sahara by
announcing on Wednesday
a final agreement to
partition the terri-
tory.
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The Israelis may be
nearing the limits of their toler-
ance of Syrian military moves in
Lebanon. If the Syrians build up
their forces in Sidon and espe-
cially Tyre, which is south of the
Litani River, there is a strong
possibility that the Israelis will
initiate a limited intervention
into southern Lebanon to signal
the Syrians to confine their ac-
tions to a peace-keeping role. Is-
rael would probably seek to avoid
a direct military confrontation
with any Syrian or other Arab
forces already in the south.
The text of the agreement indi-
cates Morocco will acquire the
northern two thirds of the terri-
tory. Morocco thus will acquire
the rich phosphate reserves at Bu
Craa, while Mauritania will gain
control of the lucrative fishing
industry at Dakhla and the unex-
ploited iron ore at Agracha.
Algeria is certain to condemn the
partition as illegal. It still
holds Spain accountable as Western
2
--continued
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Sahara's administering state and
continues to support Polisario
Front guerrillas seeking independ-
ence for the territory. The Al-
gerians also hope to keep the UN
involved in the dispute by exploit-
ing a forthcoming report by a UN
envoy who was not allowed to stop
in Morocco and Mauritania because
he met with Polisario Front repre-
sentatives in Algeria.
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Last year's harvest
failure in the USSR
is causing localized
food shortages.
NOTES
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Some severe shortages are oc-
curring in rural areas, although
supplies of most foods remain ade-
quate in the central areas of ma-
jor cities. A foreign observer/
claimed he had "never seen the
food situation so bad as now" in
the Moscow suburbs. Some short-
ages will ease as the new crop
becomes available. Moscow also
might be able to bolster the low
meat supplies by importing. Since
the beginning of the year there
have been rumors of contracts with
New Zealand, Australia, and France.
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Top Secret
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