President Reagan is sending former Undersecretary of State Philip Habib to the Middle East in an effort to calm the explosive situation in Lebanon, the White House announced today. In making the announcement, the White House said Habib would visit Israel, Syria and Lebanon and that the leaders of all three countries have agreed to see him.
Habib will leave sometime this week, after meeting with Secretary of State Alexander Haig who returns late tonight from a NATO meeting in Rome. The State Department said Habib is prepared to spend some time in Lebanon and did not rule out a “shuttle” between the three countries.
Sources at the State Department said the trip is a Presidential, not a State Department effort, to emphasize the seriousness with which the U.S. views the situation. State Department spokesman David Passage said Habib will “explore ways of defusing the tension.”
But, Passage stressed that Habib will not advance either his own ideas or those of the U.S. but will listen to the views of the leaders of the countries he is visiting. Passage re-stated the State Department’s public position that the U.S. has no specific course of action which it wants the parties to take but has only “objectives” and “goals” aimed at ending the week-long crisis in the area.
The State Department spokesman would not comment on whether the U.S. is asking Syria to remove the SAM-6 anti-aircraft missiles it has placed in the Beka valley in eastern Lebanon nor would he say whether the U.S. has been asking Israel not to bomb the missiles. However, he noted pointedly an April 3 White House statement deploring violence in south Lebanon which said that the U.S. “never authorized the policy of pre-emptive intervention by Israel or anyone else.”
Passage also declined to comment on whether the U.S. has asked the parties involved to refrain from any action during Habib’s mission. “The U.S. welcomes the restraint which has been shown by all parties to the present crisis,” he said. “We hope that the restraint will continue.”
CITES OBJECTIVES, NOT DEADLINES
Reagan, in a letter to Israeli Premier Menachem Begin yesterday, reportedly urged Israel to exercise restraint. Passage again refused to say today whether Israel had given Syria an ultimatum to remove the missiles. “This government has objectives, not deadlines,” he said. He declined to be specific as to what the U.S. has asked the Soviet Union to do in the present crisis. Moscow reportedly has been asked by the U.S. to use its influence with Syria to have the missiles removed.
Habib, who served as Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs from 1976-78, is a career diplomat with wide experience in the Middle East. Passage said that he is expected to meet with many people beyond the official level during his upcoming mission. He stressed, however, that he is not expected to speak to the Palestinians but would undoubtedly speak with parties that are in contact with the Palestinians.
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