Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BEIRUT2814
2006-08-30 14:53:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Beirut
Cable title:  

LEBANON: LAF CHIEF CLAIMS ARMY IS IN CONTROL OF

Tags:  PREL MOPS PTER LE SY 
pdf how-to read a cable
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIRUT 002814 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MARCHESE/HARDING

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/30/2016
TAGS: PREL MOPS PTER LE SY
SUBJECT: LEBANON: LAF CHIEF CLAIMS ARMY IS IN CONTROL OF
BORDER

Classified By: Jeffrey D. Feltman, Ambassador. Reason 1.4(b) and (d).

SUMMARY
--------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIRUT 002814

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MARCHESE/HARDING

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/30/2016
TAGS: PREL MOPS PTER LE SY
SUBJECT: LEBANON: LAF CHIEF CLAIMS ARMY IS IN CONTROL OF
BORDER

Classified By: Jeffrey D. Feltman, Ambassador. Reason 1.4(b) and (d).

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


1. (C) During an August 30 meeting with the Ambassador,
DATT, and poloff, a very defensive and somewhat brusque
Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) commander General Michel Sleiman,
maintaining a straight face, gave the preposterous claim that
the LAF has established a "watertight" cordon along the
border with Syria. He said that the Lebanese require
technical support along the border, as well as UN naval
support along the coastline. Pressed by the Ambassador on
the arms smuggling issue, Sleiman said the LAF has clear
orders to interdict all smuggling, but that they have not
publicized their successes out of sensitivity to local
political concerns. Sleiman complained that the LAF is being
falsely criticized in the Lebanese press for allowing
Hizballah arms shipments to pass through LAF checkpoints.
The Ambassador urged Sleiman and his staff to brief military
attaches on measures taken to date as well as success stories
with arms interdictions, and asked how the U.S. should share
information on potential arms shipments, if such information
were available. END SUMMARY.

CLAIMS THE LAF IS CAPABLE
--------------


2. (C) The Ambassador opened the meeting by asking for
information on arms smuggling and LAF coordination with the
international community on border security and security
assistance. Sleiman, ignoring these specific queries,
launched into a diatribe on why the LAF is capable of
stopping arms smuggling on its own, with minimal
international support. To begin with, he said the LAF has 60
positions at smaller ports along the Lebanese coastline,
adding that they have five working radars for the coast, and
need an additional ten. Sleiman claims that the LAF would be
responsible for a band stretching 8-10 miles off the coast,
while UNIFIL naval forces would patrol beyond this (and
forewarn the Lebanese of any suspect vessels). Queried by
the Ambassador, Sleiman confirmed that he supported UNIFIL

maritime assets.


3. (C) Pulling out a pile of maps, which he presumably
thought would help verify his claims, Sleiman assured the
Ambassador that 8600 LAF troops have deployed along the
380-kilometer Lebanese-Syrian border, and that "watertight"
measures are in place to stop arms smuggling. "The border
has checkpoints and intelligence," trumpeted Sleiman,
pointing out little dots on the maps to indicate the
checkpoints, "Who can do better than this?" Sleiman said
that, in deploying to the border, the LAF had been forced to
leave most of the Bekaa Valley and parts of northern Lebanon
bare of troops. He claimed that Internal Security Forces
commander Ashraf Rifi had promised to move 1000 troops into
this zone, but has not yet done so.


4. (C) Sleiman noted that many of the 8600 troops on the
border could redeploy to this bare zone once the LAF receives
"technical support" -- presumably from Germany -- for
monitoring the border. The Ambassador asked how the USG
might share any information we might come across on suspected
arms smuggling, in order for the LAF to take action. Not
overly-enthusiastic, Sleiman agreed that this would be a
useful arrangement for the LAF.

NEEDS FULL IDF WITHDRAWAL SOON
--------------


5. (C) Sleiman said that the LAF would deploy up to the
Blue Line on 8/30 in the area of Sheba'a village. Claiming
that it is his understanding that the IDF intends to remain
in Lebanese territory until November, Sleiman urged that the
full IDF withdrawal take place as soon as the first
significant UNIFIL augmentation contingent -- Sleiman
mentioned 3000 additional troops -- is in place in the South.
The longer the Israeli withdrawal takes, according to
Sleiman, the more chance there is that the LAF deployment
will lose its momentum and Hizballah's commitment to playing
a constructive role will weaken.

BEIRUT 00002814 002 OF 003




6. (C) Sleiman added that the Lebanese expect Israel to
withdraw from areas he claimed to be within Lebanon proper --
Jabal Sammak and Ruus Peak near the Blue Line above Sheba'a
Farms and the northern part of the town of Ghajar. Israel
occupied the first two sites well before the recent
hostilities, but the occupation of the northern part of
Ghajar was more recent and included earthen berms and
concrete barriers (connecting the northern part of the town,
inside Lebanon, with the main part of town in the
Israeli-occupied Golan Heights). UNIFIL Commander Alain
Pelligrini apparently told Sleiman that the first two (sites
of Israeli radar stations) fall within the disputed Sheba'a
Farms area, though Pelligrini suggested that UNIFIL could
deploy in the northern half of Ghajar. (Comment: While we
did not pursue this topic with Sleiman, he made a revealing
comment. He referred to the Blue Line in the Shebaa Farms
areas as "the old Syrian-Lebanese border," suggesting that,
in his interpretation, Shebaa Farms was, as the UN argued,
Syrian territory. But he also argued that the two IDF bases
were inside Lebanon, not part of Shebaa Farms, suggesting
that he did not consider the Blue Line drawn in May 2000 by
the UN to conform with the old Syrian-Lebanese border. End
comment.)

BEMOANS MEDIA SMEAR CAMPAIGN
--------------


7. (C) The Ambassador recommended Sleiman set up a briefing
for interested foreign military attaches to hear about
progress in the LAF deployment as well as purported successes
in blocking arms supply. Without concrete information,
suggested the Ambassador, there is the Israelis can be
convinced to lift the blockade on Lebanon. Without
comprehensive formal briefings, foreign embassies are guided
only by publicly available information in the Lebanese press,
which, as Sleiman himself had noted, is often inaccurate.
The Ambassador criticized Sleiman's recent "order of the day"
directing the LAF to deploy "side-by-side with the
resistance" in the South, saying that it is exactly this kind
of statement which leaves the international community --
particularly Israel -- with little confidence in the LAF's
seriousness and commitment to its mission.


8. (C) Sleiman defended his statement feebly, saying it was
intended for his Shi'a troops to "feel that they can deploy
near their families in the South without hostility." Sleiman
claimed that he is the subject of a media smear campaign
against him. He mentioned for instance a recent story, which
he said was concocted, that the LAF had knowingly ignored a
truck full of weapons destined for Hizballah. "I have forty
years of service in the LAF," said Sleiman, "I am not going
to start lying in my last year of service."


9. (C) Sleiman assured the Ambassador that the LAF had in
fact stopped several illicit arms shipments, mostly being
transported from point to point within the country and not
from Syria - "I do not think the Syrians are sending weapons
now." All the more reason, pressed the Ambassador, for the
LAF to quietly brief embassies on its accomplishments, to
ensure they have correct information and aren't relying
solely on -- supposedly -- false information in the public
domain. With this information, shared privately, perhaps the
USG could advocate more on the GOL's behalf in order to get
the blockade lifted. Sleiman did not seem to appreciate the
logic of this, nor indeed how deeply damaging his "order of
the day" had been to the prospects of the blockade ending
soon.

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


10. (C) Sleiman has overseen a truly historic process --
the deployment of the LAF to the south after an absence of
nearly 40 years. Yet, today, Sleiman offered a distinctly
lacklustre and slapdash performance that fell far short of
giving us any credible assurances that the LAF is fully in
control of the border with Syria. Coming across as blustery
and overly-sensitive, Sleiman seemed often on the verge of
outright accusing us of orchestrating the media campaign
against him. He does not seem to appreciate the impact of

BEIRUT 00002814 003 OF 003


his public comments on the Israeli willingness to lift the
blockade, nor the usefulness of privately sharing with us the
LAF's successes in inderdicting weapons shipments.
Unfortunately, Sleiman serves at the pleasure of the Lebanese
President, and until such time as that larger issue is
resolved, we will have to suffer him. END COMMENT
FELTMAN