LEBANON: HIZBALLAH HINTS AT HAJJ VIOLENCE; BERRI

S E C R E T BEIRUT 003913 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MARCHESE/HARDING STATE FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/FO:ATACHCO E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/29/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER LE SUBJECT: LEBANON: HIZBALLAH HINTS AT HAJJ VIOLENCE; BERRI PROPOSAL LEAKED, DENOUNCED Classified By: Jeffrey D. Feltman, Ambassador. Reason: 1.4 (d) ¶1. (C) Walid Jumblatt hosted the Ambassador and Polchief for lunch at his Beirut residence in the neighborhood of Clemenceau December 29. As is often the case when Jumblatt meets with us in Beirut, Druze Communications Minister Marwan Hamadeh joined the meeting. Unusually, however, the Information Minister, fellow Druze and Progressive Socialist Party MP Ghazi Aridi attended. Noting Aridi's frequent communication with Hizballah, the Ambassador asked him whether the group really believed that Lebanon was being run by a "Feltman Government" as their propaganda had frequently accused. Aridi replied unequivocally that Hizballah leaders and members, including Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, indeed believe Lebanon's government is controlled out of the US Embassy. Aridi blamed Nasrallah's intelligence apparatus, from which he derives most of his knowledge of the world, for deceiving the Hizballah leader. Nasrallah will give a speech on December 31, he added. ¶2. (S) Aridi recounted for us the readout he had received from Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Abdelaziz Khoja of the just-concluded visit to Saudi Arabia of Hizballah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qasim and (resigned) Hizballah SIPDIS Minister of the Environment Mohammed Fneish. Apparently, Saudi authorities were so concerned over the possibility of a Hizballah or otherwise Iranian-inspired attack during the ongoing Hajj that they granted Qasim and Fneish's request for a meeting with King Abdullah only on the prior condition that SYG Hassan Nasrallah issue a statement calling for a peaceful Hajj. That done, the two were granted an audience with Abdullah and security chief Prince Mukram at which Ambassador Khoja was present. (Note: Khoja was in KSA to perform the Hajj, which he left early to return to Lebanon shortly after their meeting. The Ambassador will followup with Khoja as soon as possible. End Note.) Reportedly, the Hizballah leaders were discomfited at Khoja's presence. Nevertheless, they hinted that they possessed information regarding some planned incident at the Hajj, without going into further details. Abdullah asked them whether Hizballah had any specific problems with the text and provisions of the Hariri tribunal, and they replied in the negative. The King then told the two to return to Lebanon and conclude a deal on the tribunal with Mustaqbal Party leader Saad Hariri and with the Siniora government. At this point the two claimed they had met several times with March 14 leaders and complained that they had broken all agreements they had made with Hizballah. ¶3. (C) Speaker Nabih Berri's latest initiative concept to solve Lebanon's political crisis, which we reported in Beirut 3908, had leaked the night before our meeting at Jumblatt's residence and details of the proposal had appeared in the pro-Hizballah newspaper Al-Akhbar and, in a rare scoop, in the English-language Daily Star. (Berri told the Ambassador the night of the leak that he intended to announce the initiative on December 31.) Hamadeh, a key March 14 political strategist, told us the bloc would not react to the leaked initiative unless and until Berri officially announces it. The proposal, which would reduce the sitting GOL to a "caretaker government" until its replacement with only three out of ten ministers (the opposition would also have three and four ministers would be "neutral"),would then be dead on arrival in March 14's eyes. Although the Ambassador and Polchief suggested March 14 should do more than say "no" to avoid playing into the opposition's hands, Hamadeh said the governing bloc would "do more than reject it; we will denounce it." FELTMAN