Untitled report on Soviet interests in Syria

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Beirut, Jul 25, 1949

Number 145/ I met today at 8:00 AM with Vladimir Ivanov, director of the Soviet News Agency, and found that he is interested in looking into a number of items he mentioned to me as follows:

First – The time of King Abdulla’s travel itinerary and any information about Amman-Baghdad-Tehran axis and what will come out of it.

Second – The American position in Syria and what we know about it, especially their influence on Al-Zaim and the military aid they are providing him.

Third – I learned that large amounts of military ammunitions had been shipped to Damascus on Sat Jul 23^rd.  So what ship did these come on and who sent them?

Fourth – The extent of the Turkish military delegation that came to Damascus and the possibility of knowing the basis of their agreement with Syria. Whether there is any idea or information about signing a military agreement between Syria and Turkey and whether [page 4] Lebanon will be party in this agreement.

Fifth – The new plan reached by both Syria and Lebanon to fight communism and Russian allies in the coming weeks, and whether I had any information about new activities to fight them.

I gave no answers to these questions and promised him to look into it.