890D.01/2–2245: Telegram

The Ambassador in France (Caffery) to the Secretary of State

827. My 805, February 21, 7 p.m. Bidault says that the draft proposals they will soon put forward to Syria and Lebanon for treaties [Page 1050] imply for France the same position as the British have in Egypt and Iraq.54 They include permanent rights in naval and air bases and the turning over of the Troupes Spéciales at the end of the war.55

Sent Department 827, repeated London 102, Beirut 5.

Caffery
  1. The British position in Egypt was defined in the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of friendship and alliance, signed at London, August 26, 1936, League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. clxxiii, p. 401; the British position in Iraq was defined in the Anglo-Iraqi treaty of alliance, signed at Baghdad, June 30, 1930, ibid., vol. cxxxii, p. 363.
  2. In telegram 1791, April 11, 1945, noon, the Ambassador in France reported French demands as airfields in Syria and Lebanon, a recognized position for French cultural and educational institutions, a position of preeminence for French diplomatic representatives, roughly similar to the British position in Egypt, and a hand in the organization and control of the gendarmerie (890D.01/4–1145).