LEBANON: PURPORTED LAF DOCUMENTS SUGGEST COUP

S E C R E T BEIRUT 003001 SIPDIS SIPDIS NOFORN STATE NEA/ELA FOR ABERCROMBIE-WINSTANLEY/WILLIAMS/DONICK NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MARCHESE/HARDING E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2026 TAGS: PTER MOPS LE SY SUBJECT: LEBANON: PURPORTED LAF DOCUMENTS SUGGEST COUP D'ETAT; TERRORIST ATTACKS ON UNIFIL Classified By: JEFFREY D. FELTMAN, AMBASSADOR. Reason 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (S/NF) On September 14, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt sent two documents to Ambassador Feltman, claiming that the source of the documents came from within the Lebanese Armed Forces. Both documents are dated 12 September 2006. ¶2. (C) Following is an informal Embassy translation of the documents: Document 1: German intermediaries from the German Christian Democratic Party spoke of a political-security coup d'etat in Beirut -- given the absence of Lebanese army brigades which have deployed to the South -- in favor of the allies of Damascus, similar to that which occurred on 06 February 1984 (Translator's note: When Shi'a and Druze militiamen succeeded in driving the LAF out of much of Beirut and the Shouf Mountains). Specifically, the allies of Damascus will create a constitutional vacuum through the resignation of Amal and Hizballah cabinet ministers as well as President Lahoud, in order to force the Siniora government to resign. If this fails, then they will take to the streets with strikes and protests with the aim of clashing with the security forces and sending Beirut into chaos (lit. "a dark tunnel"). The allies of Damascus have obtained a large amount of a variety of weapons in order to undertake an operation to surround the Parliament building and the homes of MPs from the parliamentary majority. Document 2: Information from inside the "Ain el-Helwah" camp indicates that Saad Osama Bin Laden (son of Najwa),entered Lebanese territory using an Iranian passport under an assumed name in July. He entered "Ain el-Helwa" camp and met with the "'Asbat al-Ansar" group headed by Haytham al-Saadi (Abu Tariq) along with Jamal Suleyman and a number of al-Qaeda people. It was decided at the meeting to instruct and direct their elements to undertake terrorist operations against all of UNIFIL-2, especially the Italians and the French. Saad carried with him a large amount of dollars to spend on the operations. He then left Lebanon and returned to Tehran via Syria. (asterisk on document) This information about al-Qaeda and 'Asbat al-Ansar terrorist operations against UNIFIL reveals that Sunnis are responsible for these, while Hizballah and Iran remain outside of this game. End informal Embassy translation of the documents FELTMAN