CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A002900010001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 18, 2003
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 15, 1956
• Content Type: REPORT

......Top.
15 December 1956
Copy No. 110
CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO. . -_
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
1 I DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CFIANG.3ED TO: TS S C
NEXT R'EVii'W DAt E: _.-
AU T H~j HHR 70-2
DATE REViEA,ER;
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
STATE, NAVY reviews comp e e .
TOP SECRET
2003/04/17: CIA-RDP79T=,,,K ~IZ~~KZZZ//XX/
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CONTENTS
1. BRITISH MAY HALT SUE TROOP WITHDRAWAL OVER
SALVAGE ISSUE
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3. ISHIBASHI TO BECOME JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER
25X1A
6. EGYPT AND SYRIAN LEFTISTS STEP UP PRESSURE FOR
NEW SYRIAN CABINET
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15 Dec 56 Current Intelligence Bulletin
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1. BRITISH MAY HALT SUEZ TROOP WITHDRAWAL OVER
SALVAGE ISSUE
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A British Admiralty officer has said-that
Britain may halt withdrawal of its forces
from Port Said as a result of the UN's re-
fusal to accept Britain's terms for the
use of its 40 salvage vessels and per-
sonnel. The officer remarked that Secre-
tary General Hammarskj old apparently is
siding with Nasr 100 percent.
The Admiralty is reportedly "stunned and
bitterly disappointed," and believes that Lt. Gen. Wheeler's
instructions for the use of only six of the British salvage ves-
sels without British crews were in fact drafted before his de-
parture from New York, and were never subject to negotia-
tion. Government leader Butler stated in London on 12 De-
cember that "there can be no question of our ships being used
without their crews"
Comment Refusal by Britain to withdraw its remain-
ing troops from the Suez Canal zone would
prevent the start of UN operations to clear the canal and give
Egypt an opportunity to raise new equivocations on the issue
and step up harassment of the British in Port Said.
Completion of the withdrawal of British
and French forces is believed planned for 18 December. So
far, an estimated 6,300 troops have departed for Cyprus and
the United Kingdom, leaving approximately 7,000 in Egypt.
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3. ISHIBASHI TO BECOME JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER
Comment on:
The election of Tanzan Ishibashi as presi-
dent of Japan's ruling Liberal-Democratic
Party virtually assures his early approval
by the Diet as prime minister. His narrow
258-251 victory over party secretary gen-
eral Nobusuke Kishi suggests, however, that his government
will be weakened by continued conservative factionalism.
Ishibashi stated on 30 November that Japan's
major foreign policy question for 1957 would be normalization
of relations with Peiping. He acknowledged that formal diplo-
matic relations might not be possible at this time but believes
increased trade is the means by which this will ultimately be
brought about and therefore favors a reduction of the China
embargo
Ishibashi has a realistic appreciation of the
value to Japan of continued co-operation with the United States,
but has called for more "equality" in US-Japan relationships
and favors a revision of the US-Japan Security Treaty. He
supports defensive rearmament for Japan.
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NOW,
6. EGYPT AND SYRIAN LEFTISTS STEP UP PRESSURE FOR
NEW SYRIAN CABINET
25X1 A Comment on:
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Syrian leftists, working closely with the
Egyptian embassy in Damascus, are step-
ping uppressure for a cabinet change in
Syria. The new device is a parliamentary
"pledge" now being circulated for signa-
ture among the 142 deputies. The pledge
calls for a "sound and harmonious" regime
to defend Syria's independence, increase
its. military strength, repress "imperialist plots," and resist
the "divisive" Baghdad pact. It is sponsored by leader of the
Arab Socialist Resurrection Party Akram Hawrani, former
prime minister Khalid al-Azm, a left-wing Nationalist Party
politician, and other pro-Egyptian politicians. Syrian army
strong man Colonel ?Sarraj presumably is among the support-
ers of this move. Some 50 to 60 deputies have reportedly
signed. When the signatures of a majority of the deputies
have been obtained, President Quwatli presumably will be pre-
sented with a "popular" demand for a new government. A pro-
Western cabinet minister on 12 December predicted an early
demise of the present Asali cabinet, saying that it is irrec-
oncilably divided. on several issues.
q o 25X1 A Egyptian officials in Damascus have in-
rmed the American embassy that the pledge is aimed at a
"homogeneous attitude in the Syrian government;' particularly
as regards policy toward Iraq. They have admitted that it is
designed to force the resignation of three pro-Iraqi ministers--
two representatives of the Populist Party and one of the. Nation-
alist Party. A Populist attempt to obtain Egyptian approval for
an alternate proposal was rejected.
A new cabinet might retain Asali as prime
minister and include Khalid al-Azm as foreign minister and
Hawrani as minister of defense. The other proposed minis-
ters are leftist and pro-Egyptian despite their party labels.
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