LEBANON: UPDATE ON THE ASSASSINATION OF FORMER AMBASSADOR FRANCIS E. MELOY

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 05835654
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: October 23, 2023
• Document Release Date: September 25, 2023
• Case Number: F-2019-02115
• Publication Date: June 26, 1986

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SUBJECT: Update on the Assassination of Former Ambassador Francis E. Meloy
Distribution:
1 - DO/NE
1 - D/NESA
1 - DD/NESA
1 - C/NESA/AI
2 - NESA/AI/L
DDI/NESA/AI/L
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26 June 1986 (b)(3)
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Talking Points
26 June 1986
Lebanon: Update on the Assassination of Former
Ambassador Francis E. Meloy
Summary
The assassination of former Ambassador Francis Meloy, his economic officer,
Robert Waring, and his personal driver Zuhayr Moghrabi on June 16, 1976 in a
contested section of West Beirut remains unsolved, but good evidence indicates
that an extreme Lebanese leftist militia connected with George Habash's Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine was directly responsible for the murders.
Moghrabi's Role
The Ambassador was likely set up by his own driver as he was crossing over
into East Beirut to meet President elect Elias Sarkis.
--The driver Moghrabi, was allegedly abducted by armed militias a year
earlier and was taken to the Sabra refugee Camp for interrogation. He
was later released. Some reporting indicate that he may have gone to
Sabra voluntarily. The US Embassy in Beirut originally reported that
Moghrabi's kidnapping in May 1975 was carried out by pro-Syrian
Palestinian elements of Al Saiqa.
--The No. 2 man in Yassir Arafat's al Fatah guerrilla organization,
Salah Khalaf (Abu Iyad) who led an investigation into the Ambassador's
death said his driver Moghrabi was indeed involved in the operation,
but was slain to insure his silence. The PLO took immediate interest
in the assassination arresting and charging five individuals with the
murders. Two were immediately released for lack of sufficient
evidence. Two others who implicated the PFLP were handed over by
Khalaf to PFLP security for "further interrogation." The PFLP
subsequently announced that the two, believed to be brothers, Fawzi
and Walid Qubbani, were executed. No bodies were ever produced. The
US Embassy in Beirut reported that Qubbani's father was active in
George Hawi's branch of the Lebanese Communist Party. Both Fatah and
the PFLP were tactical allies against Syria during that period, and
may have cooperated in the transfer of the accused prisoners to avoid
jeopardizing their military alliance. The last of the five accused,
Bassam Ferkh, was quietly released by the PFLP where he made his way
to Canada. He was later deported from Canada as an undesirable alien,
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and was in the custody of Lebanese security officers until! his release
in 1981 for insufficient evidence.
Motivations
The organization(s) behind the murder of Ambassador Meloy and his two other
companions, had attacked US installations and personnel in Beirut and Damascus
in the past. They operated outside the control and often against the interests
of the major Palestinian and leftist Lebanese organizations. In 1976, these
Palestinian and leftist organizations were opponents of Syria and the US, both
in Lebanon and on wider Middle East issues. They were also at odds with
moderate Palestinian and Lebanese elements willing to negotiate a settlement of
the Lebanese crisis. The extremists were therefore eager to derail any progress
or plan for ending the civil war in Lebanon. Press reports during the
assassination period indicate that the real motive behind the assassination of
the newly appointed US Ambassador was to create obstacles in an Arab imposed
settlement in Lebanon. The Syrian troop entry into Lebanon later in 1976--which
was facilitated by US negotiations with Israel--took place despite strong
leftist and Palestinian opposition.
--We conclude that the principal motive for the assassination of Meloy
and Waring was directly related to anti-American attitudes and was
designed to induce a state of tension and chaos in Lebanon; blocking
Syrian efforts to end the civil war.
The Group Responsible
The organization probably directly reponsible for planning and executing the
assassination was the Socialist Revolutionary Organization, whose leader was
Murshed Shibbu.
--Another version of the organization's name is the Organization of
Arab Socialist Action. Shibbu's group was responsible for the
kidnapping of US Army Col. Morgan in July 1975, and took part in the
major Bank of America robbery in 1973. Shibbu personally participated
in the attack on an El Al plane in Athens in 1970 Shibbu was
arrested for his El Al attack
--Shibbu's group were inextricably linked to the Arab Communist
Party--outlawed in most Arab countries for its extremist and
anarchistic doctrine. On occasions, Shibbu's organization was known
as the Secret Revolutionary Organization, and was linked to two other
small extremist groups, the Communist Workers' Organization, and the
Organization of the Young Arabs.
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