SARG REMAINS SILENT ON IAEA VISIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 000452 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/GAVITO LONDON FOR TSOU, PARIS FOR JORDAN E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/24/2018 TAGS: MNUC PARM PREL SY SUBJECT: SARG REMAINS SILENT ON IAEA VISIT REF: DAMASCUS 445 Classified By: CDA Michael Corbin, American Embassy Damascus, Reasons 1 .4 b and d. (C) Embassy efforts to get a readout on the June 22-25 IAEA visit have garnered little information despite outreach to military attach, media, diplomatic, and other sources. As previewed by reftel, press contacts confirmed again today that the Syrian government has effectively suppressed press coverage, and more than a few diplomatic colleagues at other embassies claim their Syrian sources, like our own, have remained purposefully silent. As of COB local June 25, official Syrian news agency SANA has not reported on the IAEA delegation's visit to Syria. Even al-Hayat,s usually well connected Bureau Chief Ibrahim Hamidi drew silent responses from &sources who usually deliver.8 Two June 24 foreign press articles (one from the Christian Science Monitor and the other from AFP) quoted a "diplomat" who confirmed the IAEA team had visited the al-Kabir site in Dayr Az-Zour. We have seen no other information indicating how cooperative Syrian officials were, whether there were any procedural or substantive disagreements concerning the IAEA team's access, and what (if any) agreement the IAEA reached with Syria on follow-up steps. CORBIN