THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 4 OCTOBER 1976

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006466862
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: October 4, 1976

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A0003000100-03-1
The President's Daily Brief
October 4, 1976
2
Top S cret 25X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
Exempt from general
declassification scheduk of E 0 11652
exemption category 5B(1),(2),C3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
October 4, 1976
Table of Contents
West Germany: Chancellor Schmidt's Social Democrats apparently
will renew their coalition government with the Free Demo-
crats following yesterday's parliamentary election, al-
though Christian Democratic leader Helmut Kohl still hopes
to entice the Free Democrats to join him in a government.
(Page 1)
Lebanon: Christian forces temporarily halted their offensive on
Friday night and have limited their attack since then to
occasional shelling.
I (Page 2)
Notes: USSR-Somalia; Greece-Turkey; USSR-Egypt (Pages 5 and 6)
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
25X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
WEST GERMANY: Chancel-
lor Helmut Schmidt's
Social Democrats and
Foreign Minister Gen-
scher's Free Democrats
apparently intend to
renew their coalition
government following
yesterday's national
parliamentary election.
Christian Democratic
leader Helmut Kohl,
however, has not yet
conceded defeat and
still hopes to entice
the Free Democrats to
join him in a govern-
ment.
How stable a Social
Democratic - Free Demo-
cratic coalition govern-
ment will be and whether
it will last a full term
until 1980 is uncertain.
Unofficial results of yesterday's
balloting indicate that the Social
Democrats and Free Democrats to-
gether polled just over 50 percent
of the vote and will receive 252
votes in the Bundesteg--a majority
of only eight seats. Compared with
the 1972 election, the Social Demo-
crats lost considerable ground and
the Free Democrats also lost votes.
The Christian Democrats--as ex-
pected--again became the plurality
party in West Germany. They and
their ally, the Christian Social
Union in Bavaria, won 48.6 percent
of the vote and 244 Bundestag seats.
The Christian Democratic showing
was the second best any party has
ever made in a national election.
Genscher, the Free Democrats' chair-
man, yesterday publicly repeated
the pledge made last May that the
Free Democrats would renew the
coalition with Schmidt's party.
Kohl, buoyed by his Christian Demo-
crats' showing at the polls, said
he will formally propose coalition
talks with the Free Democrats on
the ground that a six-to-ten seat
majority is not enough to guarantee
a stable government.
Maintaining the ironclad discipline
that will be necessary to hold the
coalition together for the next
four years will probably prove a
formidable task for the leaders of
both the Social Democrats and the
Free Democrats.
1
--continued
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
MEDITERRANEAN
SEA
r,
Chrlitian
--controlled
Tyre
Tripoli
SYR IA
CONTESTED
?AREA
1ocka a e7-k_ESTED B
AREA
Predonv antly
Mus m
Pop ated
ANO
BEI licll_
\
pr
Internatiogal
Beirut t Alaylimdun 4,00
Airport CONTESTED AREA
Sido Oullt .ed 1 '
Si
Muslim Area
/ Palestinian/
redomin : ntly
o
o
Aik,____/.. '7 ' . ' ' '
Nif ---/
/
I
I
I
I
I
rj--- fdi
IS RA E L
Go/
Heig
Syrian
Controlled
DAMASCUS
IA
MILES
20
0 KILOMETERS 20
0205.00 10-76
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
25X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Enacting legislation may also
prove more difficult than it has
been during the past four years.
Schmidt apparently was alluding to
such possible difficulties when he
stated yesterday that he hoped the
opposition will not embark on a
course of "confrontation" in the
Bundestag or a course of "obstruc-
tion" in the upper house of Parlia-
ment, which the opposition controls
1972
WEST GERMAN
Percentage
ELECTION RESULTS
Seats
1976*
1976*
1972
SDP
45.8
42.6
230
213
FDP
8.4
7.9
41
39
54.2
TO-.7
271
252
CDU/CSU
44.9
48.6
225
244
*UnofficiaZ
LEBANON: Christian
forces advancing on
Alayh, one of the last
PaZestinian-Zeftist
strongholds on the
Beirut-Damascus highway,
temporarily halted their
offensive on Friday
night and have limited
their attack since then
to occasional shelling.
In
addition, several Alayh inhabitants
asked that the offensive cease
while they attempt to persuade the
Palestinians to withdraw peaceably.
Such a voluntary withdrawal is un-
likely. Alayh is of symbolic and
strategic importance to both the
Palestinians and the leftists, and
their defenses
in the town appear adequate to
withstand an attack by Christian
forces fighting without the Syrians.
2
--continued
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Syrian forces have thus
far limited their par-
ticipation to artillery
attacks on AZayh and
neighboring Bhamdun in
support of the Chris-
tians.
The Syrians are encamped just east
of Bhamdun in positions they took
up on Friday.
Fighting elsewhere in Lebanon was
generally at a low level. Syrian
forces have apparently cleaned
out most remaining pockets of
Palestinian resistance in the
mountains just north of the Beirut-
Damascus highway. Farther north,
there are continuing reports that
Christian and Syrian forces are
fortifying their positions around
Tripoli, but action has thus far
been limited to artillery attacks
on the city.
25X1 25X1
Christian leaders are said to have
been considering asking for French
troop involvement. It is highly
unlikely, however, that any Chris-
tian party, much less the Syrians
themselves, would accede to the
Syrians' replacement by French
forces.
--continued
3
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
25X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
*
25X1
*
*
25X1
--continued
4
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
TURKEY
Black Sea
U S.S R.
Tashkent
CaNplan
Sea
CYPRUS
LEBANCA-
SRA EL/:?
JORDAN
SYRIA
AFGHANISTAN
Neutral Zone
KUNA AIT
PAKISTAN
UNITED ARAB
EMIRATES
I N D -I A
R E
S E A
ARAB/AN
NORTH
YEMLN
FR IERR OF THE
AF ? AND ISSAS GULF OF ADEN'
SOU FH
YLMLN
S E A
ETHIOPIA
SOMALIA
MALDIVES
*Mogadiscio
01
500 MILES
500 KILOMETERS
INDIAN OCEAN
620600
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
/USSR/
*
The Greek and Turkish
foreign ministers
agreed in New York last
Friday to a resumption
of negotiations on the
Aegean continental
shelf and control of
Aegean air space.
,
NOTES
25X1
25X1
*
*
Representatives of the two sides
will meet to consider both issues
on November 2, probably in Switzer-
land.
After the meeting Turkish Foreign
Minister Caglayangil expressed
satisfaction that the Greeks were
no longer insisting on discussing
only the legal aspects of the dis-
pute and were now willing to dis-
cuss other points such as the
security requirements of the two
countries.
Despite the positive atmosphere
emerging from the New York meeting,
the approaching Turkish election
campaign and the concern in Athens
about alienating the Greek military
by too conciliatory a policy appear
to preclude any major breakthrough
in the coming months.
5
--continued
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
Malta
Tunisia
Mediterranean Sea
BEIRUT
Lebanot
Tobruk /-Gulf of So//urn
Alexandria.
Sollum
300 Miles
300 Kilometers
620493 10-76
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
The Soviets have in-
creased their naval
presence in the Gulf
of Sollum, probably in
reaction to recent Egyp-
tian activity in the
area.
* * *
Yesterday a Soviet frigate was
rushed to the Soviet anchorage in
the gulf to join a naval tug already
there. The tug arrived back at the
anchorage last week]
25X1
The Egyptians are continuing to
conduct exercises using live ammu-
nition in the gulf despite the
presence of the Soviet ships.
Egypt announced in August that a
large area--including the Soviet
anchorage--in the Gulf of Sollum
would be closed to foreign shipping
for four 10-day periods this fall.
The fourth and final period is
scheduled to begin on October 15.
6
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/12 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000300010003-1