LEBANON: STILL TO DECIDE ON SUPPORT FOR VENEZUELA

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 003292 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MARCHESE/SINGH STATE FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/FO:ATACHCO E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/11/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER LE SUBJECT: LEBANON: STILL TO DECIDE ON SUPPORT FOR VENEZUELA FOR UNSC SEAT REF: A. STATE 169226 ¶B. STATE 168341 Classified By: Christopher W. Murray, Charge d'Affaires. Reason: 1.4 ( d). ¶1. (C) On October 12, Charge delivered ref (b) demarche to Boutros Assaker, acting Secretary-General of the Foreign Ministry, and to Rola Noureddine, foreign policy advisor to PM Siniora. In addition, polchief delivered the demarche to working-level contacts at the MFA. ¶2. (C) SecGen Assakr anticipated the intensity of our support for Guatemala's election to the Security Council. He described the current decision-making process on this issue within the GOL as "very complicated" and stated that, "I don't know our final decision." He implied that Shia Foreign Minister and Hizballah sympathizer Fawzi Salloukh was in the lead, but also asked if we were weighing in with the Prime Minister's office. Charge contacted Noureddine of the PM's office, who also was well aware of our views. She assured us that she would convey our message to the Prime Minister. In both conversations, Charge reported that we understood that many other Arab countries are supporting Guatemala. MURRAY