ITALY ON SYRIA AND LEBANON

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 001732 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2015 TAGS: PREL SY LE IZ IT EUN SUBJECT: ITALY ON SYRIA AND LEBANON REF: STATE 92750 Classified By: Pol MC Tom Countryman for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraph 3. ¶2. (C) Pol MC spoke with Luca Ferrari, MFA Office Director for the Middle East, on May 19 regarding the upcoming PrepCom for the US-EU conference on Iraq. Ferrari said that FM Shara'a had asked Italy whether he could visit Rome May 24-26. The Italian response was that next week was not good, nor was the whole month of June. On Syrian participation in the conference, Ferrari said that it was not possible to squeeze Syria out of everything, to which Pol MC replied that in this case it was the Iraqis themselves who were asking that Syria be excluded. ¶3. (C) Ferrari also mentioned the Friends of Lebanon group and related donors' conference being discussed in Washington and Paris. He said it is imperative that Italy, as Lebanon's number one trading partner and number one provider of economic aid (exceeding France on both counts),be included in the core group. Given Italy's efforts -- against, they tell us, its own natural proclivities -- to support us by minimizing contact with Syria, and its close relationship with Lebanon, Post strongly supports this request. Including Italy in this initiative would encourage the Italians to be even tougher on Syria, if only because they would view it as recognition of the important role they can play in the region. Conversely, exclusion from the Lebanon core group would cause Italy to question or even challenge the US effort to isolate Syria. Action requested: Post requests that Department include Italy in the core group for the International Conference on Lebanon. Baghdad Minimize Considered SEMBLER NNNN 2005ROME01732 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL