Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BEIRUT3913
2006-12-29 14:36:00
SECRET
Embassy Beirut
Cable title:  

LEBANON: HIZBALLAH HINTS AT HAJJ VIOLENCE; BERRI

Tags:  PGOV PREL PTER LE 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6684
PP RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHLB #3913 3631436
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 291436Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7013
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 0685
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)

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