On January 27th, 1976, AP carried a story in which it said: "The US Department of State confirmed that it was receiving messages from Israel, regarding the situation in South Lebanon, and the...spokesman told reporters that "we are in touch with the governments of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, and we are monitoring the situation closely"...and Israel newspapers reported that...Syria confirmed to US officials that its troops in the South are intended against the [Palestinian] resistance and Lebanese leftists." (cited in (an underground Marxist organization in Syria), Hafidh Al-Asad wa-l-Muqawamah Al-Filastiniyyah Wa-t-Taswiyah (undated and unplaced), p. 116.