CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/08/19

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03193802
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: August 19, 1956

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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
19 August 1956
Copy No. 1 0 5
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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NSW.
CONTENTS
1. ARAB REPORTS ON SOVIET VIEWS OF LONDON CONFER-
ENCE (page 3).
2. BLOC TECHNICIANS REPORTED ASSISTING EGYPTr
�p DEFENSE PREPARATIONSage 4).
3. KING SAUD THREATENS TO RESUME PR7SURE ON
BRITISH OVER BURAIMI (page 5).
4. ARAB MINORITY OPPOSITION TO NASR
(page 6).
5. EGYPTIAN-JORDANIAN MILITARY PLANNING INDICATED
(page 7).
6. GROWING POLITICAL TENSION IN HONDURAS
(page 8).
7. POSSIBLE COUP IN COLOMBIA
19 Aug 56
* * * *
(page 9).
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 10)
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1. ARAB REPORTS ON SOVIET VIEWS OF
LONDON CONFERENCE
Comment on:
Shepilov's formal support of Egypt's 12
August proposal for an enlarged Suez
conference indicates that Moscow, at
such a conference, would support a limited form of "inter-
national supervision" for the canal if it met the conditions of
the Egyptian proposal. Moscow apparently looks to the conclu-
sion of an international agreement which would include a pledge
by Egypt to continue the operation of the canal in keeping with
the provisions of the 1888 Convention, and which would be de-
posited with the United Nations.
19 Aug 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 3
P-SEC
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2. BLOC TECHNICIANS REPORTED ASSISTING EGYPTIAN
DEFENSE PREPARATIONS
Comment on:
Soviet and Czech technicians have directed
the placement of antiaircraft guns for de-
fense of Cairo, Alexandria and the Canal
Zone,
Such assistance would be in line with as-
cirra rt pQ vian
Df limited,
indirect aid in the Suez crisis.
Other Egyptian defense preparations in-
clude the virtual completion of the defense
� -stimated brigade-size unit centering on the
main road junction west of Cairo. Regular army troops have
taken over from the national guard and reserve troops. The
piers of the Nile River bridge leading from Cairo to this
perimeter have been prepared for demolition. Another de-
fense position is under preparation east of Cairo in the vicin-
ity of Almaza airfield and the international airport.
gyptian forces
in the Canal Zone include units equal to possibly one and a
half infantry divisions, plus a tank battalion, large paramilitary
reserve forces and permanent coastal defense.
the emphasis thus far has been on improvising t e aetense o
the Canal Zone and the delta from the military resources exist-
ing there, plus mobilization of a paramilitary reserve. Signif-
fticant redeployment from the Israeli front is not believed to have
occurred.
19 Aug 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 4
TORSEGRE-74
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3. KING SAUD THREATENS TO RESUME PRESSURE ON
BRITISH OVER BURAIMI
Comment
� Saud probably feels that chances for a
compromise favorable to him on Buraimi
� are improved by Britain's preoccupation with the Suez issue.
On 10 August, Saud requested Washington to advise London
that it must recognize the right of the Saudi g in Buraimi.
Saud'g desire to attempt to exploit British difficulties may
have been increased by a report from his representative in
Lebanon that Britain had recently sent arms and explosives
into Saudi Arabia to promote unrest.
19 Aug 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 5
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4. ARAB MINORITY OPPOSITION TO NASR
Charles Malik, former Lebanese am-
bassador to Washington, expressed
opposition to Nasr's tactics in a conver-
sation with the American counselor of
embassy in Beirut on 14 August. Malik
insisted that Nasr does not represent
all Arabs and must not be permitted to
succeed. There were, he said, both
n n anti-Western Arabs and the West should
not be deluded by the seeming unanimity of the current
Arab clamor in favor of Nasr.
In Damascus, Kikran Jirajian, an Arme-
nian member of the Syrian parliament, voiced similar opinions
to an American embassy officer, He said Nasr was leading the
Arabs to ruin and made a plea for Western solidarity. Syrians
as a whole, he maintained, do not wish union with Egypt.
Comment Malik as a Christian and Jirajian as an
Armenian have expressed sentiments
which are probably shared by some independent elements through-
out the Arab world. These elements lack leadership, and may
be expected to remain acquiescent while anti-Westernism domi-
nates the scene. The mass of the population, inspired by Arab
nationalism, is strongly behind Nasr.
19 Aug 56
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5. EGYPTIAN-JORDANIAN MILITARY PLANNING INDICATED
Comment
increasing
Egyptian-Jordanian military co-opera-
tion. Although Jordan is not a member of the Egyptian-Syrian:-
Saudi military alliance, recent Syrian-Jordanian agreements
have resulted in the formation of a joint operations staff which
reportedly would function under the over-all direction of the
Arab joint command in Cairo.
19 Aug 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 7
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6. GROWING POLITICAL TENSION IN HONDURAS
US charg�'affaires Pool, following
a 17 August visit with the chief of
state, does not believe Lozano, who
suffered a stroke on 11 August, is
physically capable of providing the
strong government now needed by the
country. The decree under which
Lozano has been ruling makes no pro-
vision for a transfer of power.
Members of the Honduran army's new
� Defense Co-ordinating Command proposed to Colonel Carac-
cioli, chief of the air force, on 14 August that they assume
control of the government, according to
the American army attach�Caraccioh reportedly
had not given his answer by 16 August, but did discuss the
problem with former president Galvez, strongly urging him
to take control himself.
The army is in an excellent position to
assume power, but Galvez, who is now head of the supreme
court, would give the regime at least some semblance of
legality if he headed it and he would probably have the sup-
port of most key officers.
Foreign Minister Mendoza had told
Pool on 17 August that General Abraham Williams, unsuc-
cessful presidential candidate in 1954, is considering a des-
perate attempt to seize the presidency and is spreading a
story that Lozano is leaving the country on 21 August.
19 Aug 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 8
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7. POSSIBLE COUP IN COLOMBIA
Comment on:
Rumors that the president of Colombia's
"Government of the Armed Forces" will
be replaced soon by a military junta con-
tinue to eireillatp in Tkru-rtho
Some
�.�44.L J.141 J. 1.1.11/U1 0 LLCu inweatea rresictent Rojas would merely be
71r-Pil_f7 share power with other military figures,
state Rojas will be removed. General Gabriel Paris,
minister of war, Admiral Ruben Piedrahita, minister of public
works, and either Army Commander Munoz or Armed Forces
Commander Duarte Blum have been reported as prospective
junta members.
Although the numerous opposition forces
are relatively disorganized and there is no evidence of wide-
spread military support for a coup, high Colombian military
officials reportedly refused to deny or explain revolutionary
rumors circulating in early August. Rojas, who took power
with great popular acclaim in a quickly organized bloodless
coup in June 1953, has progressively antagonized important
elements such as the powerful Catholic Church, the two major
political parties, man business ro st labor
union. there
Is a .gr& pupuiaroiieItnaildayiiipresident are num-
bered.
Any junta replacing him at this time would I
probably be friendly to the United States.
19 Aug 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 9
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THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 19 August)
A Jordanian army spokesman said an Israeli
soldier was killed in a border clash when an Israeli patrol pene-
trated about 100 yards inside Jordan in the Tulkarm area. (Press)
The UN secretary general has sent his second
message in two days to the Arab and Israeli governments urging '
precautions against cease-fire violations in unusually strong terms.
At Hammarskjold's request the UN truce organization is preparing
a report on recent border incidents for presentation to the Security
Council
The recenfoutbreak in daza is receiving wite
coverage in Egypt, second only to the Suez issue. Egyptian presp
sources believe that Israel is attempting to take advantage of thel
Suez crisis, but Cairo radio broadcasts in Hebrew charged "foreign
elements" were trying to create new trouble between Israel and the
Arab states and hinted that the British might be involved. (Press)
The American army attach�n Tel Aviv re-
ports that the Israeli radio blames Egypt for the bus ambush on
16 August. According to the American embassy in Tel Aviv, the.
recent incidents suggest that Fedayeen terrorists are operating
from the Jordanian side of the Negev desert and that similar grolips
are laying mines inside Israel from the Egyptian side of the desert.
The embassy reports that Tel Aviv still appears to be reluctant to
resume retaliatory action but that the government may be forced to
take some action owing to the increasing number of casualties.
The former Syrian chief of staff toldvthe Amer-
ican army attach�n Beirut on 14 August that Lebanese commanding
general Chehab was "reaching the end of the rope" over the failure
of the West to supply military equipment and that Chehab might be
forced to purchase Czech arms desniIte his desire to avoid any Soyiet
1 es -11 " el A e.d-.1
19 Aug 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 10'
SEGREZ
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