Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BEIRUT487
2006-02-17 16:14:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Beirut
Cable title:  

MGLE01: TRIPOLI ACADEMIC AND MAYOR PLACE BLAME ON

Tags:  KISL LE PGOV SOCI SY 
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PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHLB #0487/01 0481614
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 171614Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2077
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 000487 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WERNER/SINGH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2016
TAGS: KISL LE PGOV SOCI SY
SUBJECT: MGLE01: TRIPOLI ACADEMIC AND MAYOR PLACE BLAME ON
HARIRI FOR FEB. 5 RIOT

REF: 05 BEIRUT 3479

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

SUMMARY
--------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 000487

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WERNER/SINGH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2016
TAGS: KISL LE PGOV SOCI SY
SUBJECT: MGLE01: TRIPOLI ACADEMIC AND MAYOR PLACE BLAME ON
HARIRI FOR FEB. 5 RIOT

REF: 05 BEIRUT 3479

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

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


1. (C) Sunni professor from Tripoli Nawwaf Kabbarah told
econoff February 15 that MP Saad Hariri had enlisted the help
of the Jamiyeh Islamiyya (Muslim Brotherhood) in recruiting
protesters from Tripoli's poor neighborhoods for the February
5 protest at the Danish consulate. The result of this
bargain was well-organized violence that Hariri should have
anticipated, according to Kabbarah. He said that most
Tripolitans reacted critically to the ensuing riot and form a
"silent majority" against radical Islam. Kabbarah said that
the Hariri family's and central government's neglect of
Tripoli since the end of the civil war helped create ample
recruiting grounds for young thugs. Separately, Mayor of
Tripoli Rachid Jamali also said that Hariri has failed to
deliver GOL help for his city. Jamali said that young thugs
can be recruited to participate in demonstrations for twenty
dollars a day. On a related issue, Kabbarah dismissed rumors
that Hariri was building a militia in the north. He
confirmed that Chritian politician and former minister
Suleiman Franjiyah maintained some form of a militia, but
said it was directed against his Christian rivals, the
Lebanese Forces, and not against Tripoli's Sunnis. End
summary.

HARIRI'S DEAL WITH
JAMIYEH ISLAMIYYA
--------------


2. (C) On February 15, econoff met with Dr. Nawwaf
Kabbarah, a Sunni professor and an unsuccessful parliamentary
candidate from Tripoli (Kabbarah was defeated by the Hariri
alliance). Kabbarah said that it was believed in Tripoli
that MP Saad Hariri should have anticipated that the
demonstrators he helped fund for February 5 demonstration in
front of the Danish consulate, could have turned to violence.
Jamiyeh Islamiyya (the Muslim Brotherhood) provided the
manpower from Tripoli for Hariri, according to Kabbarah. He
explained that the Brotherhood decided to link itself to
Hariri once the Syrian occupation ended, and in doing so had

dropped its alliance with northern, pro-Syrian, Sunni big-wig
Omar Karami's clan before last year's elections.


3. (C) Kabbarah explained that the Brotherhood is
well-organized in the poor Tripoli neighborhoods of Bab
al-Tibbaneh and Abu Sabra. Abu Sabra is slightly more
prosperous than Bab al-Tibbaneh, but the lower middle class
residents are traditionally conservative Islamists. In
addition, Abu Sabra has seen a rise in immigration from
Ad-Dinniyeh in northern Lebanon, an area notorious for
radical Sunni Islamists. In Kabbarah's analysis, it was
clear that violence was the Brotherhood's objective in the
Feb. 5 demonstration. He said that Hariri should have known
that a Sunni Islamist demonstration in the Christian
neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh would be perceived by the rest of
Lebanon as an "invasion."


FORGOTTEN TRIPOLI PROVIDES EASY
RECRUITING GROUND FOR THUGS
--------------


4. (C) The vast majority of Tripolitans reacted with anger
against the riot their fellow citizens took part in,
according to Kabbarah. Outside of Bab al-Tibbaneh and Abu
Sabra, most Sunni Muslims in Tripoli reject radical Islam and
prefer moderation and modernization. Kabbarah had seen very
little reaction in Tripoli to the cartoons depicting the
Prophet Mohammed. It is just not seen as a big deal.
Kabbarah explained that most Tripolitans formed a "silent
majority" that usually chooses Hariri's candidates in
elections. Their voice is heard on election day, but the
rest of the time most Tripolitans are reluctant to confront
the radical Sunni elements in their city. The Muslim
Brotherhood's Political Office Chief Assad Harmuch gave a
conciliatory speech at Hariri's February 14 rally in Beirut
in part to reassure the "silent majority" in Tripoli,
according to Kabbarah.


5. (C) Kabbarah said that Tripoli's poor neighborhoods
provide ample recruiting ground for thugs and rabble rousers
for demonstrations. Unemployment, poverty, and a high crime

BEIRUT 00000487 002 OF 002


rate make hundreds of angry young men available for radical
Islamic protests (reftel). Hariri was stupid to think that
he could allow the Brotherhood to recruit this element
without the demonstration resulting in violence, commented
Kabbarah. The Muslim Brotherhood is the same group that
organized a protest that drove an Italian silent theater
group out of Tripoli last year (reftel). He added that the
violence was a natural product of the late Rafiq Hariri's
negligence of Tripoli. Rafiq Hariri involved himself in
Tripoli's affairs only during elections, a practice continued
by Saad Hariri. Tripolitans note the amount of money
invested in downtown Beirut and, at the same time, the dearth
of GOL development funding in Lebanon's second largest city.
The Hariris have long catered to the Sunni middle class but
have forgotten the Sunni poor, concluded Kabbarah.


6. (C) Separately, Mayor of Tripoli Rachid Jamali told
polstaff that the Hariri family's neglect of Tripoli was to
blame for the Feb. 5 riots. "Where are the government
projects for Tripoli?", asked Jamali rhetorically. It is
natural then, that such a violent element could be so easily
recruited to wreak havoc in a predominantly Christian
neighborhood. According to Jamali, the going rate to hire a
local young thug for protests was twenty dollars a day plus
transportation and food. It is very easy to recruit local
youths off the streets, said Jamali.

RUMORS OF MILITIAS IN THE NORTH
--------------


7. (C) Switching to a related topic, Kabbarah dismissed
rumors that Hariri was training his own militia in the north.
He explained that the Hariri family has never operated a
militia before, and Hariri's constituents are not fighters.
Hariri has never needed a militia because he can throw money
and his impressive propaganda machine at any problem. The
only Sunni Muslims with arms are the pro-Syrian Islamist
factions in the north. They are small, fractured, and only
lightly armed, said Kabbarah.


8. (C) Kabbarah knows northern Christian feudal lord
Sulieman Franjiyah well (he ran with him on Michel Aoun's
list in last year's parliamentary elections) and he believes
that Franjiyah started the rumors that Hariri was raising a
militia. Kabbarah met with Franjiyah last week and found
that Franjiyah felt slighted by Hariri. Franjiyah said that
when he visits Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, Asad greets
him at the front of his house in a sign of respect. However,
Hariri waits for visitors to enter his house and lets them
wait, a gesture Franjiyah perceived as arrogant and
disrespectful. Kabbarah said that Franjiyah does have some
form of a militia in the Zghorta area, but did not see it as
an inter-confessional problem, but rather an
intra-confessional one. Sunnis in nearby Tripoli do not see
Franjiyah's Marada militia as a threat to them. Rather,
Kabbarah explained, Franjiyah maintains the Marada militia
with the threat of Samir Ja'ja''s Lebanese Forces in mind.
Ja'Ja''s main powerbase in the mountains is not far from
Franjiyah's stronghold.


FELTMAN