Memorandum from Acting Secretary of State Joseph Grew to President Harry S. Truman, Current Foreign Developments

SOPOUCRET E.O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or (E) DECLASSIFIED of State letter, Aug. 10, 1972 Dept. By WITH MARS Date 6.26.75 May 11, 1945 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT Subject: Current Foreim Developments PROBLEM MAY REACH HIGHEST LEVEL IN SYRIA AND LEBANON. Secretary Stettinius will probably be presented in San Francisco with a Syrian protest against current reinforcement of French troops in the Levant states. In the meantime, there has been laid before Churchill the question of whether the British military and naval author- ities should take appropriate action "to maintain over- all Middle East security.' A second French cruiserload of troops left Toulon for Oran and Beirut on Tuesday. If the British want American support, they are to be di- rected to ask it from London on a high level. The Lebanese authorities say "a clash" with the French is inevitable if the latter bring in new troops without withdrawing an TRIKAN equal number. the BRITISH PLANS FOR ITALY. The British Foreign Office has asked British JCS to draft military clauses for the peace settlement with Italy on the basic assumption that Italy must yield all her oversess possessions. The Plan- ning Section of the British War Office proposes that a.s Italy lies across British communications she must not again come under a hostile power's control. Strategic interests require she rimmin on friendly terms with U.K. and be en- couraged to look to Western Europe for support. But ahe must not