JORDANIAN EMISSARY CARRIES CONFIDENTIAL MESSAGE TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 009329 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2010 TAGS: PREL SY LE JO SUBJECT: JORDANIAN EMISSARY CARRIES CONFIDENTIAL MESSAGE TO ASAD REF: AMMAN 9029 Classified By: Ambassador David Hale, Reasons 1.4 (B) & (D) ¶1. (C) As previewed with us (reftel),Maarouf Bakheet ) then the King's acting National Security Advisor, now the Prime Minister-designate ) made an unpublicized trip to Damascus during the last week of November to carry a sober message to President al-Asad. Bakheet briefed G-8/EU ambassadors gathered for lunch with the King on December 1 on the trip. He said he told Asad the Syrian regime had no choice but to cooperate fully with the Mehlis investigation and to carry through full implementation of all relevant Security Council resolutions. Jordan's King, he pointedly said, personally wanted to know who killed his friend, Rafiq al-Hariri. ¶2. (C) Asad reportedly responded that he wanted to cooperate fully but needed Jordan's help with the "legal procedures," an apparent reference to the then-pending issues related to Mehlis, access to Syrian officials. Bakheet said he gave Asad no opening to believe he could offer anything less than full cooperation, and the secrecy of Bakheet's visit prevented the Syrians from publicly miscasting the trip as a sign of Jordanian support for Syria. HALE