THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 16 SEPTEMBER 1975

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006014903
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: September 16, 1975

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The President's Daily Brief
September 16, 1975
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of E.O. 11652
exemption category,5B(1),(2),(3)
declassified onhl on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
September 16, 1975
Table of Contents
Lebanon: Prime Minister Karami has won the support
of all major Lebanese and Palestinian leaders
for his decision to use the army to contain
violence. (Page 1)
Fedayeen: The terrorists who seized the Egyptian
embassy in Madrid yesterday apparently created
a special group for the operation. (Page 3)
Portugal: Right-wing groups that support former
president Spinola reportedly are planning a
show of strength this weekend in northern
Portugal. (Page 5)
Notes: USSR; Syria; Turkey-Libya; Chile (Pages 6 and 7)
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LEBANON
Prime Minister Rashid Karami has won
the support of all major Lebanese and Pal-
estinian leaders for his decision to use
the army to contain violence. Sporadic
and sometimes intense fighting has con-
tinued during the past few days in Beirut,
Tripoli, and the northern town of Bayt
Millit, but it has not sparked a resump-
tion of widespread clashes between Chris-
tians and Muslims.
The most serious incident occurred early yes-
terday morning, when 12 members of the radical "Oc-
tober 24 Movement" were killed in a firefight at
an army roadblock south of Tripoli. This was the
first time the army had become directly involved
in the fighting.
There are now approximately 2,000 army troops
performing internal security functions in northern
Lebanon. Fatah officials have acceded
to the request of Minister of Interior Shamun that
Palestinian police units that have been assisting
Lebanese internal security forces remain in place
to help newly arrived army units.
Lebanese leftists, who in the past have often
received fedayeen backing, have been hurt by the
decision of the principal commando leaders to back
Karami. Zuhayr Muhsin, chief of Saiqa, has made
the most forceful statement in support of the Prime
Minister, but high-level Fatah officials joined him
late last week in trying to convince Lebanese and
Palestinian leftists to lay down their arms.
Fatah leaders, including Yasir Arafat
are impressed with the performance of both
Karami and Shamun
Leaders of Le anon s
disadvantaged Shia Muslim community, who sometimes
cooperate with the Lebanese leftists, have spoken
out on Karami's behalf. They have been joined by
Muslim and Christian political leaders, by leaders
of the large Sunni Muslim sect, and by the Maronite
Christian patriarch.
(continued)
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This combination of support suggests that Leb-
anese political and security officials are succeed-
ing--for the moment, at least--in their strategy of
gradually transforming the character of the fight-
ing in Lebanon from a Christian-Muslim dispute to
one between moderates and leftists. The government
believes that if it can retain the support or neu-
trality of the major political and religious groups,
it will be able to contain the Lebanese leftists and
the fedayeen rejectionists.
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FEDAYEEN
The fedayeen who seized the Egyptian
embassy in Madrid yesterday apparently
created a special group for this opera-
tion. The unit, named "Martyr Abd aZ-
Qadir al-Husayni" after a Palestinian
hero killed by Israeli forces in 1948,
has not been seen before.
All the fedayeen groups that engage in inter-
national terrorism have followed this practice, but
it has been favored most by terrorists who leave
the major commando groups to operate more or less
independently with Libyan or Iraqi support.
the terrorists
may belong to the Libyan-supported Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command.
Leaders of all the fedayeen groups are angry
with Egypt's President Sadat for agreeing to a
second Egyptian-Israeli interim agreement without
securing any concessions for the Palestinians.
Emboldened by Syria's harsh criticism of the ac-
cord, even the normally moderate Saiqa group--
which is controlled by Damascus--attempted a ter-
rorist operation in the Netherlands early this
month.
Yasir Arafat, chief of the Palestine Libera-
tion Organization and of Fatah, has been careful
not to burn his bridges to Egypt by endorsing
personal attacks on Sadat, despite the political
necessity of his joining in the Palestinian crit-
icism. Arafat was
urgently seeking some opening to negotiations with
the US.
(continued)
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Although it ?is thus unlikely that Arafat is
behind the operation in Madrid, Fatah's terrorist
arm, the Black September Organization, might be
involved without his knowledge.
The Egyptians will not allow this incident
to upset the second Sinai pact or interfere with
future negotiations. The attack on the Egyptian
embassy will, nevertheless, further sour Cairo's
relations with the PLO. Sadat condemned the Pal-
estinians in a speech yesterday; representatives
of several fedayeen groups have in turn denounced
Cairo's indictment of "Arafat, the PLO, and all
Palestinians" as unnecessarily harsh.
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PORTUGAL
Right-wing groups that support
former president Spinola reportedly
are planning a show of strength this
weekend in northern Portugal.
The US defense attache in Madrid has learned
of another plot by several hundred exiles in Spain
who are not supporters of Spinola. The attache's
source claims they have ambitious plans to use force
against the Lisbon government in late September or
early October. Initially the exiles may have in
mind nothing more than cross-border operations.
Should they undertake such action, they might be
able to take advantage of anti-Communist sentiment
in the north and establish an operational base there.
Exiles are suspected of bombing a radio station
in northwestern Portugal on Sunday night and may have
been involved in an attempt to take over a station
near Porto the same evening.
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NOTES
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Syrian President Asad raised the possibility
of unilateral military action to spur negotiations
with Israel during a session with
Newsweek editor Arnaud de Borchgrave.
Asad said Syria's purpose in reopening hostili-
ties would be to provoke an international crisis
and an oil embargo. Asad's remarks to De Borchgrave,
are an obvious effort
to signal Washington that it may be making a serious
miscalculation of Syrian patience if it allows
Israel to drag its feet on negotiations over the
Golan Heights. Previously, Syrian officials have
told the US embassy in Damascus that official criti-
cism of the recent Sinai agreement is as much an ef-
fort to disarm internal and external Arab critics
as an expression of genuine Syrian unhappiness. By
using De Borchgrave to convey his concern, Asad is
aiming at both Washington and Tel Aviv and is attempt-
ing to lend greater urgency to his insistence on
negotiations.
(Continued)
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Turkey has received a gift of seven US-built
F-5 fighters from Libya.
Libya has previously violated contracts cover-
ing sales of US-built military equipment, which call
for US approval of any transfer of the equipment to
another country. The aircraft, apparently piloted
by Turkish crews, arrived at Murted airfield near
Ankara on Friday. They are said to be older models,
which the Turks are likely to cannibalize for badly
needed spare parts. Several weeks ago,
that were not operable because of the
lack of spare parts. The standdown of these ten re-
flected a loss of nearly one third of the base's
operational aircraft.
Chile's military regime celebrated its second
anniversary last week with a mass rally in downtown
Santiago. The turnout, estimated to be as many as
300,000 persons, was larger and more enthusiastic
than regime supporters had anticipated.
The evident sympathy for the government among
middle and lower class citizens implied by the im-
pressive turnout can be expected to encourage Presi-
dent Pinochet's belief that the junta has chosen
the correct path for his country. In an apparent
effort to mollify his critics, however, Pinochet
following the rally ordered a dozen former cabinet
ministers and senior officials of the Allende ad-
ministration released from prison. Five Christian
Democrats, recently arrested for "clandestine polit-
ical activities," also were given their freedom.
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