AUSTRIANS POSITIVE ON NEED FOR SYRIAN WITHDRAWAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 000719 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ELA, EUR/ERA AND EUR/AGS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/07/2015 TAGS: PREL SY LE AU SUBJECT: AUSTRIANS POSITIVE ON NEED FOR SYRIAN WITHDRAWAL FROM LEBANON REF: A. (A) STATE 39018 ¶B. (B) VIENNA 654 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Ambassador W.L. Lyons Brown. Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Ambassador presented reftel demarche on March 7 to MFA Secretary General (deputy minister equivalent) Johannes Kyrle. Ambassador stressed that what Syrian President Bashar al-Asad had said in his March 5 was not enough: compliance with UNSCR 1559 means a full and immediate withdrawal. The Ambassador said it was important that the withdrawal include intelligence and security forces, which Asad had not mentioned in his speech. The timing is important, the Ambassador said: Syrian troops and intelligence forces had to be out by the time of Lebanon's scheduled April elections in order for those elections to be free. The Ambassador said we are also calling on the Government of Lebanon to permit international election observers and to fully cooperate with the UN enquiry into the assassination of former Prime Minister Hariri. ¶2. (C) The Ambassador particularly encouraged Kyrle to make a public statement to this effect, and to deliver this message through the Austrian mission in Damascus. ¶3. (C) Kyrle agreed with all of our points. He undertook to look into the matter of a public statement, but said Austria would be supportive. Brown