UPDATED GUIDANCE FOR A PRST ON UNSCR 1701

C O N F I D E N T I A L STATE 082744 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/01/2018 TAGS: UNSC PREL LE IS SY SUBJECT: UPDATED GUIDANCE FOR A PRST ON UNSCR 1701 REF: STATE 080665 Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY IO A/S ACTING BRIAN HOOK FOR REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D). ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraphs 3 and ¶4. ¶2. (C) With reference to the draft PRST on UNSC resolution 1701 discussed reftel: The French government continues to express unwillingness to include any mention of Hizballah or Syrian obligations on disarmament and the arms embargo. It does seek references to Israeli overflights of Lebanese airspace and information on the use of cluster munitions. USUN should note that including references by name to all the parties continues to be our preference. USUN should continue to emphasize that based on conversations with March 14 leaders, the Department and Embassy Beirut, strongly believe that as negotiations over the cabinet statement continue and Lebanon prepares to resume national dialogue as prescribed by the Doha agreement, an explicit reference to Hizballah will strengthen voices in Lebanon calling for militia disarmament, in accordance with UNSCRs 1559 and 1701. ¶3. (C) If France continues to oppose this position, USUN is authorized to propose a PRST in which none of the parties is named. Language on the arms embargo and disarmament could remain as the French have proposed, but language on overflights and cluster munitions should be modified to remove any mention of Israel. USUN should underscore that a text which names only Israel remains unacceptable to us not only for inherent imbalance, but also for the potentially negative signal it would send to the Lebanese government -- that by not mentioning Hizballah when others were named, the international community is not really serious about Hizballah disarming and the Lebanese government gaining exclusive control of its own territory. ¶4. (C) USUN should also ensure that the request for the SYG to dispatch a technical team to Beirut, Damascus, and Tel Aviv to discuss the cartographer,s report on the geographic definition of Sheba,a is included. RICE