NON-PAPER ON UNSCR 1747 DELIVERED

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 000446 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MARCHESE/HARDING E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/27/2027 TAGS: PREL PTER PARM LE IR SY SUBJECT: NON-PAPER ON UNSCR 1747 DELIVERED REF: STATE 37801 Classified By: Jeffrey Feltman, Ambassador, per 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On 3/26, the Ambassador met Mohamed Chatah, Senior Advisor to PM Fouad Siniora, to discuss UNSCR 1747 and deliver reftel's non-paper on the importance of the resolution. Chatah, who acknowledged that neither he nor Siniora had as yet read the resolution's text, was intrigued by the language in OP5 brought to his attention by the Ambassador regarding the ban on Iranian arms exports. Chatah agreed that this was an important tool to use in combatting arms smuggling across the Syrian border into Lebanon. ¶2. (C) The Ambassador emphasized to Chatah that, per OP8 of the resolution, Lebanon will be expected to report by May 24 what it is doing to facilitate compliance with the resolution. Given the certainty that Hizballah continues to smuggle arms from Iran via Syria, there will be lots of attention, the Ambassador cautioned, to Lebanon's OP8-mandated report. Chatah promised to raise the issue with PM Siniora immediately to plot a strategy. ¶3. (C) Comment: While UNSCR 1747 has received plenty of straight news coverage in Lebanon as a regional issue, the fact that there is direct relevance to Lebanon has been missed by all the major media here. In our view, the arms embargo part of UNSCR 1747 -- taken under legally-binding Chapter VII authority -- should be highlighted here as a locally relevant issue. We are talking with a wide variety of Lebanese political figures in order to provoke a discussion of 1747 locally. And we also suggested to UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Geir Pedersen that UNSYG Ban Ki-Moon, when he meets with Lebanese here on Friday, raise UNSCR 1747 as an important resolution for Lebanon, consistent with the goals of UNSCRs 1559 and 1701. End comment. FELTMAN