US embassy cable - 05CAIRO6913

S E C R E T CAIRO 006913 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/06/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, ECON, PTER, EG, SY, LE, UNSC, UNGA 
SUBJECT: ISOLATING SYRIA AT THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY:  EGYPT 
AND ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY GENERAL 
 
REF: A. STATE 159137 (NOTAL) 
 
     B. STATE 163365 (NOTAL) 
 
Classified by ECPO Minister Counselor Michael Corbin for 
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (S) During their September 4 introductory meeting, the 
Ambassador and Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit touched on Syria. 
 The Ambassador sought Egyptian support to press Damascus and 
Lebanon to follow through with UNSCR 1559 implementation, 
removing all Syrian operatives from Lebanon, ending Syria's 
economic blockade of Lebanon, and disarming Lebanon's 
militias.  Responding, Aboul Gheit cautioned the U.S. to 
"keep working on Syria:  keep the pressure on, but don't 
break (the regime)."  Should Syria collapse, he warned, the 
problems in the Fertile Crescent will "torment you for 
eternity."  The Minister asked rhetorically "do you want to 
create a third crisis point for yourselves;  with all your 
problems in Iraq and the ongoing process in Israel, do you 
really want a third point of difficulty in the Levant?"  The 
Ambassador replied that a crisis would be avoided if Syria 
took the simple steps outlined by the international community. 
 
2.  (S) During a September 6 introductory call on Arab League 
Secretary General Moussa, the Ambassador again raised Syria, 
 
SIPDIS 
per reftel demarches, and requested Moussa to press Syria to 
be more cooperative on Iraq, Lebanon, and elsewhere in the 
region.  Moussa called on the USG to work privately to open 
channels with Asad, and recognize the powerful constraining 
forces within in his regime.  Moussa offered his assistance 
in mediating any such effort, suggesting that the U.S. open 
private discussions with Damascus on "four or five files" of 
critical importance with Syria's power brokers ("people of 
weight"). 
 
3.  (S) Poloff delivered ref A demarche September 1 to MFA 
Cabinet staff member Amr Sherbiny (protect), and on September 
5 to Arab League Chief of Cabinet Hesham Youssef.  Both 
welcomed the clarifications of U.S. policy, commenting that 
Washington was taking a "very tough" approach toward Syria at 
the coming UN General Assembly.  Promising to share the USG 
message within the GOE bureaucracy, Sherbiny offered his 
personal assessment that seeking to undermine Asad in such a 
public manner in New York could be "counterproductive." 
Nevertheless, Egypt understood the need to maintain 
diplomatic pressure on the SARG over Lebanon, Iraq, and the 
Israel-Palestinian conflict.  Egypt, he said, had so far 
refused to agree to a SARG request to hold a "bi-national 
committee" meeting.  This committee is an approximately 
bi-annual exercise where the two countries seek to strengthen 
bilateral relations.  Sherbiny said that Egypt had responded 
to Syria that it was "considering" hosting such an event, but 
that the GOE had no intention of actually doing so at the 
present time. 
 
 
Visit Embassy Cairo's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/cairo 
 
You can also access this site through the 
State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. 
 
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