Documents / FOIA release

Weekly Summary

Central Intelligence Agency · 1970-05-08 · 78 pages · text from the file's own layer

The CIA's Directorate of Intelligence issued this Weekly Summary, No. 0369/70, on 8 May 1970. It covers events through noon on 7 May. The Far East section deals with the allied operations into Cambodia, Hanoi's cautious response and the government in exile Sihanouk formed in Peking. Other items cover Soviet military aid, the Sino-Soviet talks, Jordan, Dahomey, Guatemala and Brazil, and a special report looks at Cuban support for subversion in Latin America. Many pages are withheld, and the summary contains no UFO material.

  • p. 27 …Egyptian President l\lasir’s May Day speech included an appeal to the US to force…
Approved for Release: 2023/03/28 C03154550
ARMY-FEDAYEEN CLASHES IN JORDAN WEAKEN KING'S POSITION
The clash last weekend be-
tween Jordanian troops and com-
mando elements, coming on the
heels of fedayeen charges that
Jordan is plotting to kill com-
mando leaders, has further eroded
King Husayn's position.
L\‘\J Saturday's incident was
touched off when a small Fatah
unit began lobbing shells across
the Jordan River near the section
of the East Ghor Canal that is
now under repair. After the Is-
raelis returned fire, Jordanian
Army units moved against the
fedayeen in an effort to impose
a cease-fire. Two Jordanian sol-
diers and one commando were re-
ported killed. Elements of at
least three fedayeen organizations
in the area then attacked the Jor-
danian troops; in the ensuing
fighting, the commandos‘ camps
were destroyed and their arms
and provisions seized.
The Palestine Armed Strug-
gle Command (PASC), coordinating
body for five of the major fed-
ayeen organizations, immediately
cited the army's action as fur-
ther proof that army leaders are
plotting to crush the fedayeen
movement. Earlier, one of the
commando groups had announced that
it had foiled a plot by Sharif Na-
sir, the head of the army, to assas-
sinate Fatah's Yasir Arafat and
George Habbash, leader of the
Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine. The PASC called
on Jordanian soldiers to resist
their commanders and prevent the
army from being turned into a
"force for the protection of
enemy settlements and installa-
tions." According to press re-
ports, however, commando leaders
subsequently held an all—night
session with army commanders in
an attempt to stave off any new
flare—ups.
Nevertheless, the incident
seems to have confirmed growing
suspicions among the fedayeen
and their supporters that the
regime has been cooperating with
the Israelis to keep the cease-
fire lines quiet and to extermi-
nate the commandos. Much caustic
criticism of the King and of
Sharif Nasir is apparently be—
ginning to circulate throughout
the country, and the more radical
commando groups are distributing
broadsides playing up Sharif Na-
sir's assassination plot. <
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Page 24 WEEKLY SUMMARY 8 May 70
Approved for Release: 2023/03/28 C03154550
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 78 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.