(UNTITLED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00287R001300370001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: January 12, 2017
• Document Release Date: August 10, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 23, 1984
• Content Type: REPORT

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Iq
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Middle East Situation Report #20
(as of'1100 EST, 23 January 1984)
LEBANON/SYRIA
e security situation in Beirut was relatively calm.
TARPS missions continue to be flown--one over the weekend
and another is scheduled for today--but they remain in a
stand-off mode and have not drawn hostile fire.
Fighting at the usual confrontation points continued over
the weekend. The Lebanese Army fought Shia militiamen in the
southern suburbs of Beirut for the first time in nearly a
month. Druze fighters engaged the Lebanese Army in the mountains
-- Druze forces shelled the presidential palace at Baabda,
apparently in retaliation for Lebanese Army shelling of
Druze leader Walid Junblatt's home in Mukhtarah.
Junblatt's mother is in residence there, and he told
Ambassador Paganelli in Damascus that if any harm came to
her, the entire Gemayel family would suffer the
consequences.
A Junblatt confidant gave the US Embassy in Damascus a
communique outlining the National Salvation Front (NSF) version
of recent efforts to achieve a security agreement, and accused
Gemayel of bringing Lebanon to a new impasse. The communique
reaffirms NSF determination to reestablish Lebanese unity, but
warned that unless the atmosphere improved, the security
agreement would be finished. He noted that mutual shelling, once
restricted to front line areas, has become widespread.
-- He also noted that the Druze were aware of Gemayel's
preparation of two Army brigades to move into the
mountains
In a meeting with the US Embassy in Damascus, a Druze
representative reaffirmed that they stood by the security
agreement if their two conditions--back wages and promotions for
Druze officers--were met. Despite this reassurance, Junblatt
over the weekend escalated his vituperative comments against
Gemayel, calling on Gemayel and his government to resign. In a
NESA M 84-10042C
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press interview Junblatt also denounced the MNF as hostile to a
broad section of the Lebanese people, and rejected its
replacement by UN forces.
-- According to the US Embassy in Beirut, this is the first
time Junblatt has rejected the idea of a UN presence in
Beirut.
PERSIAN GULF
King Fahd is likely to stall US initiatives for expanded
contingency planning in the Persian Gulf
-- The Saudi military is receptive to discreet US efforts to 25X1
improve Saudi deficiencies but is anxious to avoid more
direct US military involvement in the absence of Iranian
attempts to close the Strait of Hormuz. 25X1
The Kuwait Embassy believes Kuwait and possibly other member
states of the Gulf Cooperation Council would respond favorably to
a US offer of anti-terrorist training and coordination in the
wake of recent bombings in Kuwait by Iranian-backed Dawa Party.
The Embassy suggests that an offer to the GCC might make the
offer easier for Kuwait to accept.
THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR
Iraqi aircraft over the weekend struck unidentified targets
near the border in northern Iran. Tehran claims to have downed
one aircraft.
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Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Nakijima completed his
visit to Tehran Sunday. Iranian Foreign Minister Velayati has
accepted an invitation to visit Tokyo, a key Japanese objective
of the trip.
-- The initial report makes no mention of Japan's mediation
efforts to secure a partial ceasefire that would protect
Iran's Japanese-built petrochemical plant and Iraq's oil
export facilities to the Persian Gulf.
Iraq and Saudi Arabia have informed the US of reports that 25X1
unidentified European middlemen are selling--with US approval--
US-made weapons to Iran. Iraq called in the US Charge Sunday and
alleged that Israel was in the process of supplying Iran 60 US-
manufactured tanks. The Israelis would seek US approval, which
allegedly has support in "some quarters of the State Department
and the CIA" as a means of preventing closer Iranian ties to the 25X1
USSR. The Saudi foreign ministry passed on a report Saturday
that Iran had recently received US-made air-to-surface missiles
for use on F-14 aircraft.
-- We doubt the accuracy of these reports and suspect Iraqi
motives for passing them. The timing and similarity of
the two reports suggest that the reports are not
coincidental. Iraq may see such reports as means of
spurring greater US efforts to curb arms sales to Iran
The Soviets would also value such reports as a way to
derail improving US-Iraqi ties.
US inspection at Port Said, Egypt, yesterday (Sunday) of the
Cypriot ship bound for Iran appeared to confirm Egyptian claims
that the 155-mm howitzer ammunition aboard was of US origin.
Cairo is, all but certain not to release this cargo for onward
travel.
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SUBJECT: Middle East Situation Report #20
(As of 1100 EST, 23 Jan 84)
DISTRIBUTION:
Cy 1 - DCI
C
2
y
- DDCI
Cy 3 - DCI/SA/IA
Cy 4 - DDI
Cy 5 - DDO/NE
Cy 6 - DDO/NE
C
7
y
- C/PES
Cy 8 - NIO/NESA
Cy 9,10,11,12 - CPAS/IMD/CB
Cy 13 - CPAS/PDB
Cy 14 - CPAS/PDB-WATCH OFFICE
Cy 15 - D/NESA
Cy 16,17 - NESA/PPS
Cy 18 - NESA/AI
Cy 19,20 - NESA/AI/L
Cy 21 - NESA/PG
Cy 22 - NESA/PG/I
DDI/NESA/AI&PG (23Jan84)
-4-
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