US embassy cable - 05ROME2456

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 002456 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/21/2015 
TAGS: EG, JO, PGOV, PREL, ECON, ETRD, SY, IT 
SUBJECT: ITALY CONDEMNS SYRIAN-LEBANESE BORDER BLOCKAGE 
 
REF: A. STATE 135904 
     B. ROME 1023 
     C. ROME 1732 
 
Classified By: A/DCM Scott Kilner for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (C) Summary.  MFA officials agree that Syria's continuing 
blockage of its borders with Lebanon constitutes economic 
harassment, but they prefer to abide by a recent EU statement 
condemning such actions rather than make a separate public 
declaration.  The officials also expressed Italy's 
disappointment at being excluded from the Core Group on 
Lebanon (Ref C) and asked the US to engage Italy more in 
discussions on Syria/Lebanon.  End summary. 
 
2. (C) Acting Pol-Mil Counselor delivered Ref A demarche to 
Luca Ferrari, MFA Office Director for the Middle East, and 
Giorgia De Parolis, MFA Desk Officer for Syria, on July 22. 
Agreeing that the Syrian government's continuing blockage of 
its border with Lebanon constitutes economic harassment, 
Ferrari opined that Syria is "flexing its muscles" toward the 
incoming Lebanese government, but, because its actions were 
far more detrimental to its own economy than to Lebanon's, 
Syria would not be able to continue this harassment much 
longer.  Ferrari said the Italian government is unlikely to 
issue any public statement condemning the Syrian actions, but 
would send "discreet" messages to the Syrian government. 
Referencing the conclusions of the July 18 GAERC (in which 
the EU called on Syria to, among other things, allow for the 
smooth circulation of goods between the two countries), 
Ferrari explained that Italy prefers to let the EU make 
public declarations on this issue. 
 
3. (C) Ferrari took advantage of the meeting to voice Italy's 
disappointment with its exclusion from the Core Group.  Italy 
had complied with US requests to cancel high-level meetings 
with Syrian government officials (Ref C), he said, which left 
Italy in a weaker position to tell the Syrians anything.  In 
return, Italy had expected the US to include Italy in its 
discussions on Lebanon, at the same level as France and the 
UK.  Ferrari said the US was making a mistake in letting 
France "get the upper hand" and delaying the international 
conference on Lebanon until this fall.  Meanwhile, he 
continued, Lebanon is forming a new, pro-Syrian government 
that includes members of Hizbollah (to whom he said Italy 
would refrain from sending a "welcome note"). 
 
4. (C) Ferrari also noted that he and others in the MFA's 
Middle East Bureau had just met with representatives from the 
Arab League countries the day before, but that discussions 
focused on the new bomb scares in London and the kidnapping 
of two Algerian diplomats in Baghdad.  He said that Italy 
would, however, raise the border issue in future discussions 
with Arab League members. 
 
5. (C) Comment.  The MFA is clearly unhappy with Italy's 
exclusion from the Core Group despite Rome's efforts to 
support US policy on Syria.  As Ferrari put it, "we will pass 
your message on Syria to our Arab friends, but please tell 
your European friends (i.e. France) that we need to be 
included in discussions on Lebanon."  At US request, Italy 
has twice canceled planned visits of FM Shara'a despite 
Rome's preference for engagement, has actively pushed for the 
EU to designate Hizbollah as a terrorist organization, and 
was the only EU country to press for the inclusion of the 
disarmament of Hizbollah (in addition to Syrian withdrawal) 
in an EU Council declaration on Lebanon earlier this year. 
In our interlocutors' view, Italy has been a stronger ally 
than France, and yet it is with Paris that we are discussing 
the way forward on Lebanon.  Engaging Italy more actively on 
Syria/Lebanon would help ensure Rome's continuing strong 
support, especially on the key issue of isolating Syria. 
 
 
SEMBLER 
 
 
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	2005ROME02456 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL