THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 7 JULY 1976

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006015157
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: July 7, 1976

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The President's Daily Brief
July 7, 1976
2
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Exempt from general
declauilication schedule of EO. 11652
exemption category 511( 1),(2),(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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July 7, 1976
Table of Contents
Lebanon: Palestinian and leftist forces in northern Lebanon are
still attacking Christian villages. Their offensive has re-
duced the likelihood of an early resumption of negotiations.
(Page 1)
China: The power balance in the party leadership has changed
somewhat as a result of the death of Politburo member Chu
Te. (Page 2)
Sudan: Elements of an ultraconservative religious sect, backed
by Libya, apparently were primarily responsible for the abor-
tive coup. (Page 3)
Notes: USSR Jordan - Saudi Arabia; USSR-Rhodesia; 25X1
China-Taiwan; USSR (spacecraft); Spain (Pages 5, 6, and 7)
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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1,1E 3.1 TE h' I? .1N EA
SEA.
*DAMASCUS
620026 7.76
/
Golae
Heights
I LS /
Ni:17 r AC I
0 Palestinian Refugee Camp
MILES 20
KILOMETERS 20
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LEBANON: Leftist and
Palestinian forces in-
tensified their attacks
yesterday on Christian
villages in northern
Lebanon.
The new offensive is in retaliation
for the continuing Christian as-
sault on Tall Zatar refugee camp
in Beirut and is intended to draw
Christian forces away from the
camp. The thrust of the Palestin-
ian-leftist attack has been through
Christian areas populated mainly
by Greek Orthodox communities,
which have generally been spared
involvement in the war.
The Palestinians said yesterday
they had taken the town of Chekka
followin a heav bombardm
25X1
Chekka is astride one of the few 25X1
Christian-controlled access routes
to the larger Christian town of
Zagharta--the home town of Presi-
dent Franjiyah--which may be the
ultimate target of the Palestin-
ian-leftist offensive. Although
Zagharta is relatively well de-
fended and has withstood numerous
attacks from surrounding Muslim
villages, it is located on the
periphery of the Christian core
area and could be blockaded.
25X1
1
--continued
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The Palestinian offen-
sive in the north has
dampened hopes for an
early resumption of
serious negotiations.
CHINA: The death yes-
terday of Chu Te, a
Politburo member and
leading moderate spokes-
man, has somewhat al-
tered the balance of
power in the party lead-
ership.
According to press reports, the
Syrians sent Libyan Prime Minister
Jallud to Beirut on Monday with a
"new" peace plan. The plan is in
fact only a restatement of pre-
vious Syrian demands that the Pal-
estinians return captured assets
of the Syrian-controlled Saiqa or-
ganization and accept as a basis
of negotiations the political re-
form agreement brokered by Damas-
cus last January. In exchange,
the Syrians would resume high-level
settlement talks and negotiate a
timetable for the withdrawal of
their troops from Lebanon.
The Syrians apparently hope that
the Palestinians' losses in Beirut
will force them to reconsider.
Damascus also probably hopes that
Foreign Minister Khaddam, who made
a surprise trip to Moscow on Mon-
day, will be able to elicit Soviet
help in pressing Palestinian
leaders to accept Syria's ground
rules for negotiations.
Despite his 90 years, Chu report-
edly was outspoken in defense of
ousted vice premier Teng Hsiao-
ping and scornful of some of the
party's younger, more radical
leaders. Chu was a highly re-
spected party elder, and his mod-
erate views probably played an im-
portant role in containing the
anti-Teng campaign.
2
--continued
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SUDAN: Elements of the
ultraconservative Ansar
religious sect appar-
ently played a major
role in the abortive
coup last Friday, which
evidently had substan-
tial Libyan backing.
Chu's death reduces to five the
number of people on the Politburo's
elite standing committee. Of
these, only Defense Minister Yeh
Chien-ying can clearly be counted
as a member of the moderate camp.
Premier Hua Kuo-feng, also a stand-
ing committee member, has appar-
ently avoided firm factional alli-
ances, although his policy prefer-
ences appear to be generally mod-
erate.
With yet another vacancy at the
highest level of the party--four
standing committee members have
died in just over one year--the
jockeying for position in antici-
pation of the post-Mao era is
likely to intensify further.
Chu's funeral, which probably will
take place in a few days, should
be the occasion for the first ma-
jor leadership turnout since the
funeral of Chou En-lai in January.
It will provide an indication of
whether any of Teng Hsiao-ping's
second-echelon associates have
also fallen victim to the campaign
against him.
The Ansar sect, which has long
been at odds with President Nu-
mayri, has about three million
members scattered throughout the
central part of the country. The
intended beneficiary of the coup
attempt was Ansar leader Sadiq al-
Mahdi, who has been living in ex-
ile in Libya for the past few
years.
Libyan President Qadhafi almost
certainly provided material sup-
port for the coup plotters and may
have facilitated the secret return
--continued
3
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The Sudanese government
has imposed special se-
curity precautions that
will remain in effect
for the next few days.
of some exiled Ansar members to
help organize the move. Sudan's
close identification with Egyptian
President Sadat and his Middle
East negotiating policy probably
is at the root of Libya's in-
triguing against Numayri.
Sudan broke diplomatic relations
with Libya yesterday. Numayri is
playing up the coup attempt as a
Libyan-directed invasion re uirin
urgent UN attention.
25X1
25X1
A dusk-to-dawn curfew has been es-
tablished, and a 1,500-man Suda-
nese brigade that has been sta-
tioned along the Suez Canal since
October 1973 has been airlifted
back to Sudan.
Numayri's hold on power will con-
tinue to be determined largely by
his ability to retain the loyalty
of key military units. Any moves
to censure the army for its re-
ported tardiness in coming to Nu-
mayri's defense last week could
weaken his standing with the armed
forces.
--continued
4
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NOTES
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--continued
5
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The USSR may be prepar-
ing its people for in-
creased Soviet or Cuban
support for guerrilla
operations against
Rhodesia.
The Chinese artillery
shelling of a small is-
land near Kinmen (Que-
moy) last weekend ap-
parently was a response
to Chinese Nationalist
firing at the same is-
land several hours ear-
lier.
A Pravda column of July 2 labeled
as "straightforward military ag-
gression" Rhodesia's recent air
strikes and cross-border opera-
tions against Mozambique and its
alleged "diversionary" acts against
Zambia. Pravda also noted the
Rhodesian government's threats to
take punitive military action
against Tanzania and other black
African states bordering Rhodesia
and suggested that such threats
are part of a Rhodesian-South Afri-
can plan to suppress the Rhodesian 25X1
insurgents.
25X1
We still do not have sufficient
information to explain the unusual
air and naval activity that has
occurred during the past two months
in southern Fukien Province oppo-
site Taiwan. It is evident, how-
ever, that the activity is not of
a magnitude that would suggest a
Chinese attack on Nationalist ter-
ritory, a judgment Nationalist
officials have also made.
--continued
6
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25X1
620027 7-76 C!A
Soyuz 21
Artist's .concept ofS 21 (smaller vehicle) as it is docking
r''4"114
with Salyut 5, the military space station (large vehicle).
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_ _
Prime Minister AdoZfo
Suarez' address to the
Spanish people last
night may help break
the deadlock in negoti-
ations on a new cabinet
and persuade centrist
oppositionists to join
the cabinet.
25X1
The spacecraft, which has a two-
man crew, probably will dock today
with the Salyut 5 space station
launched on June 22.
25X1
The cosmonauts probably will remain
aboard Salyut 5 for about 90 days.
A manned mission of this duration
would break the record of 84 days
established by the US Skylab 2 in
1974.
Suarez pledged to accelerate the
pace of political reforms and in-
vited the opposition to cooperate
in the struggle to achieve a "mod-
ern democracy." He made no effort
to pander to the far right.
So far, members of Christian and
Social Democratic factions--groups
that have refused to join the oppo-
sition coalition with the Commu-
nists--have turned down cabinet
posts pending further assurances
about the new government's commit-25X1
ment to political liberalization.
King Juan Carlos
seems deter-
mined to have a government that
will not discourage leftist cooper-
ation.
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Top Secret
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