SPAIN ON SYRIAN-LEBANESE BORDER BLOCKAGE

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 002746 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2015 TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON ETRD SP SUBJECT: SPAIN ON SYRIAN-LEBANESE BORDER BLOCKAGE REF: STATE 135904 Classified By: Poloff Ricardo Zuniga; reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) (C) Poloff conveyed reftel points on July 22 to MFA Office Director for the Middle East Alberto Moreno. Moreno said that Syrian officials had recently briefed EU diplomats in Damascus regarding the disposition of Syrian forces on the border with Iraq, during which meeting they also discussed the issue of the blockage of the Lebanese border. Moreno said that Syrian officials had indicated that the blockage of the border would not be a long-lasting measure. He ventured that the Syrian government had not yet reconciled itself with the new state of affairs in Lebanon and said it was likely that well-placed Syrian businessmen or officials were also smarting from their loss of control over cross-border trade with Lebanon. Moreno suggested that the border blockage could be one symptom of Syrian pique. We will follow up and report any feedback gathered by the GOS regarding this issue. AGUIRRE