MGLE01: A WEEKEND OF VIOLENCE IN SOUTHERN LEBANON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIRUT 001690

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WERNER/SINGH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/30/2016
TAGS: IS KPAL KPKO LE MOPS PTER
SUBJECT: MGLE01: A WEEKEND OF VIOLENCE IN SOUTHERN LEBANON

REF: BEIRUT 1671

Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey D. Feltman. Reason: Section 1.4 (d).

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) The weekend of May 26-28 saw some of the most intense
violence in southern Lebanon since the Israeli withdrawal
from southern Lebanon in 2000. On May 26, a car bomb in
Sidon killed Islamic Jihad official Abu Hamzeh and his
brother. Islamic Jihad blamed Israel and then retracted its
statement. Throughout the weekend, however, there was a
widespread belief in Lebanon that Israel had been responsible
for the car bombing. During the early morning of May 28,
several probable Katyusha rockets were fired from southern
Lebanon at an Israeli base near Safed, wounding one Israeli
soldier. Between 1000 and 1100 hrs. local, Israeli aircraft
struck PFLP-GC positions in Sultan Yaccoub and Naameh. While
Sheba'a Farms remained quiet, fighting erupted all along the
Israeli-Lebanese (vice Golan) portion of the Blue Line in
mid-afternoon after an unidentified sniper shot and wounded
and Israeli soldier. UNIFIL secured a cease-fire, but only
after Israel had conducted heavy bombing. According to press
reports, a Hizballah fighter and Palestinian militant were
killed in the fighting, two Israeli soldiers were wounded,
and two Lebanese civilians were wounded. Rumors persist that
Hizballah casualties were higher. UNIFIL Senior Adviser
Milos Strugar told econoff that Hizballah sustained serious
damage to its new positions along the Blue Line and that the
Israeli air operation was more robust than usual. End
summary.

CAR BOMB IN SIDON
--------------


2. (U) Southern Lebanon's weekend of violence began at
approximately 1030 hrs. local on May 26 when a car bomb in
Sidon killed Islamic Jihad official Mahmoud al-Majzoub (aka
Abu Hamzeh) and his brother Nidal (reftel). Following the
bombing, Islamic Jihad representative in Lebanon Abu Imad
Rifai issued a statement blaming Israel and vowing revenge.
Islamic Jihad later retracted that statement. Minister of
Information Ghazi al-Aridi told the press following a cabinet
meeting that the Siniora cabinet "denounces the crime and
believes that it carries the fingerprints of the Israeli
occupation."


3. (C) Mohammad Salam, a journalist based in Sidon, told
econoff on May 26 that, following the car bombing, Hizballah
security agents sealed off the area and started an
investigation. Salam explained that it is rare for Hizballah
security personnel to operate so openly in Sidon. The last
time this occurred was five years ago when a Hizballah
official was killed by an alleged Israeli bomb. Salam
reported further that Islamic Jihad had been stepping up
recruitment in Sidon lately, offering a monthly salary of USD

300. Islamic Jihad also has been openly working with
Hizballah, he said. Most people in Sidon are assuming that
Israel is behind the car bombing and had used a plane
overhead to detonate the device, according to Salam.
(Embassy DAO note: A source in the Lebanese Armed Forces
denied that Hizballah security agents were at the bomb site
in Sidon. End note.)

ROCKET ATTACK ON ISRAEL
LEADS TO ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES
--------------


4. (C) UNIFIL Senior Adviser Milos Strugar briefed econoff
on the fighting on May 28. According to Strugar, several
rockets (most likely Katyushas) were launched from southern
Lebanon into northern Israel at approximately 0430 hrs. local
striking an Israeli military base at Mount Meron eight
kilometers south of the Blue Line near the Israeli town of
Safed. An Israeli soldier was wounded in that early morning
rocket barrage. Hizballah and Islamic Jihad denied firing
the rockets, although the apparent launch site was in the
area of Rmaich, an area known to be under the control of
Hizballah. Later that morning, between 1000 and 1100 hrs.
local, Israeli aircraft bombed PFLP-GC military bases at
Sultan Yaccoub (in the Biqa Valley) and at Naameh (south of
Beirut). Strugar said that unconfirmed reports indicate that
one PFLP-GC fighter was killed and six were wounded by the
Israeli airstrikes.


5. (C) At 1115 hrs. local, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora

BEIRUT 00001690 002 OF 003


asked the Charge to use U.S. contacts to urge restraint by
the Israelis. He said he had been in indirect contact with
Hizballah which had reported that "Hizballah will not attack
Israel if Hizballah itself is not attacked." Charge conveyed
this message to the Department and Embassy Tel Aviv by
phonecon.


6. (C) Fighting spread all along the Blue Line in the
mid-afternoon of May 28, according to Strugar. The spark was
a sniper shot across the Blue Line that seriously wounded an
Israeli soldier near Al Manara village. Both Hizballah and
Islamic Jihad denied that the sniper was one of their
fighters, but a Defense Attache source reported that
Hizballah abandoned its fixed positions prior to the sniper
attack, suggesting that Hizballah had foreknowledge if not
direct involvement. In response, Israeli aircraft and
artillery pounded Hizballah positions along the
Israeli-Lebanese section of the Blue Line, killing a
Hizballah fighter. (The Blue Line between Lebanon and the
occupied Golan Heights, inculding in the Sheba'a Farms area,
remained quiet, according to our contacts.)


7. (C) Strugar described the Israeli air attack as heavier
than the Israeli response on November 21 to a Hizballah raid
into Ghajar. Hizballah sustained severe damage to its fixed
positions, Strugar said. He also characterized the fighting
as more one-sided than in November, with Hizballah -- after
initial provocations, if they were Hizballah-initiated --
playing a largely passive, defensive role in the fighting
while Israeli operations were more intense. According to
UNIFIL observations, Israel fired 462 artillery and mortar
rounds to 54 rounds from the Lebanese side. UNIFIL observed
nine rockets and three antiaircraft rounds fired from
Lebanese armed elements while Israel dropped 64 aerial bombs
on Lebanon.


8. (C) At approximately 4:00 p.m. the office of UNSYG
Personal Representative to Lebanon Geir Pederson called the
Embassy to request immediate assistance in securing a
cease-fire. Charge reported to Pederson that we were, at
this time, engaged in conversations with both the Prime
Minister's office and with the Department to urge that both
sides cease the violence. At one point, a UN official said
the Lebanese side had agreed to a cease-fire, but Israeli
forces continued their ro}+t bombing campainn \eS%Ne UN
pleas. We also had the sense at this time, about 1630 hrs.
local, that the Lebanese Government was anxious for an end to
the fighting, and asked that this urgent plea be conveyed to
the other parties. A cease-fire was secured at approximately
5:00 p.m.

LEBANESE CLEAN UP AMID
ISRAELI OVERFLIGHTS
--------------


9. (C) UNIFIL observed eight Israeli overflights over
southern Lebanon on May 29, according to Strugar. UNIFIL
also observed Hizballah fighters returning to their heavily
damaged positions to assess the damage and begin clean-up.
Strugar said that the Israeli airstrikes appeared to have
focused on the new Hizballah hardened positions built in the
last six months. The purpose of the new positions is
unknown, but Israeli liaison had told Strugar that it
believed the positions were used for surveillance and for
launching attacks. Strugar added that the UN office would be
meeting with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on May 30 to
protest the rocket attacks. He emphasized that, pursuant to
UN resolutions, the UN holds the GOL responsible for any
firing from its territory regardless of which militant group
did it.


10. (C) According to press reports, several Lebanese border
villages sustained broken glass as a result of the Israeli
bombardment. Also, two Lebanese civilians were reportedly
wounded. In the village of Sohmor, thousands turned out for
a Hizballah funeral for its fighter killed on May 28. Press
identified the dead Hizballah fighter as Youssef Mohammad
Alaeddine, aged 36. At Alaeddine's funeral, senior Hizballah
official Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek declared that Hizballah would
continue to attack Israel and would never disarm. Rumors
persist that more than one Hizballah fighter was killed.
Minister of Telecommnications Marwan Hamadeh told the
Ambassador that he had information indicating that eight were
killed, and many Lebanese are citing Israeli press reports of
up to ten killed.

OBSERVERS SEE LIKELY

BEIRUT 00001690 003 OF 003


HIZBALLAH INVOLVEMENT
--------------


11. (C) Former UNIFIL spokesman Timur Goksel on May 28 told
econoff that he did not think it was possible that any
militant group could fire six to eight Katyushas from
southern Lebanon without the knowledge or even participation
of Hizballah. Goksel believed that Hizballah had intended
one final, major attack along the Blue Line before the summer
tourist season in Lebanon began. Hizballah could demonstrate
that it is still fighting Israel without damaging much needed
tourism revenues that some of its constituents depend on.
The car bombing in Sidon provided the perfect pretext, in
Goksel's analysis.


12. (C) Separately, a Lebanese Armed Forces officer gave
the Defense Attache the same assessment as Goksel to the
effect that only Hizballah itself, or perhaps the
Palestinians with a great deal of cooperation and assistance
from Hizballah, could have launched the May 28 morning rocket
attacks against the Israeli Air Force base at Safd. Given
Hizballah's tight control over territory in the south of
Lebanon, it is unlikely that Palestinians could have fired
rockets in revenge for the Majzoub brothers' assassinations,
without at least Hizballah complicity. The question of who
fired the rockets at dawn on May 28 raises a second question
of how the Israelis decided to target their retaliation-in
this case against Palestinian bases (PFLP-GC) rather than
Hizballah.

COMMENT
--------------


13. (C) Another set of ambiguous questions centers around
Hizballah's indirect assurance to Prime Minister Siniora that
Hizballah would not attack unless is was attacked itself.
Charge discussed this assurance with UNSYG Personal
Representative Geir Pederson, who had heard the same
assurance. Both agreed that either Hizballah broke its word
to Siniora (when the mid-afternoon sniping began),or
Hizballah was not in control of "its" territory in such a way
as to prevent Palestinian or other combatants from sniping
across the Blue Line, or, thirdly, Hizballah knew of but
willfully turned a blind eye to the activities of
non-Hizballah fighters along the Blue Line. In any event,
the near certainty of Hizballah involvement in the dawn
rocket shootings into Israel discredits the indirect
assurance that Hizballah had given to PM Siniora, and in fact
served to undermine his credibility. We hope that the March
14 bloc and General Aoun can use Sunday's events to help
discredit Hizballah when the National Dialogue resumes on
March 8. In his meeting with the Ambassador today (5/30),
Marwan Hamadeh vowed to do just that. End comment.
FELTMAN