LEBANON: ISF'S GENERAL RIFI SEES SYRIA BEHIND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 000733

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/MARCHESE/HARDING

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/23/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER LE SY
SUBJECT: LEBANON: ISF'S GENERAL RIFI SEES SYRIA BEHIND
FATAH AL-ISLAM

Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey D. Feltman for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d
).

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


1. (C) In a meeting with the Ambassador on May 23, Director
General of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF)
General Ashraf Rifi added his voice to the chorus of those
who assume a Syrian role in the recent violence in Lebanon.
Rifi supports immediate action to eliminate Fatah al-Islam
from the Nahr al-Barid camp, either through internal
Palestinian efforts or by military force. The General
expressed sincere gratitude for U.S. political and military
assistance to the ISF and to Lebanon. End Summary.

U.S. SUPPLIES KEY IN THE NORTH
--------------


2. (C) On May 23, the Ambassador, Embassy Regional Security
Officers (RSO's),and poloff visited ISF Director General
Ashraf Rifi to convey U.S. support for the ISF and its
efforts in the north. Director of the ISF Information Bureau
Colonel Wissam Hassan also participated in the meeting.
General Rifi opened his comments by extending gratitude for
U.S. assistance to the ISF and to Lebanon. He said U.S.
supplies have been vital for current ISF operations in the
north.

FIGHTING FATAH AL-ISLAM
--------------


3. (C) Rifi stressed the need to put an end to the violence
at the Nahr al-Barid camp and eliminate Fatah al-Islam's
presence there. He proposed two options: the Palestinians
resolve the situation among themselves, or the military uses
force to "solve" the issue on its own. Rifi claimed Fatah
al-Islam initially consisted of about 200 fighters, and that
many of the group's major figures have been killed either in
the camp or in the in-town Tripoli raids. Rifi supports
evacuating Palestinian civilians to the Karami exhibition
center near Tripoli -- where he believed that ISF and
Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) troops would provide security --
but admits this would only provide a temporary remedy. When
asked by the Ambassador about the ISF's "Black Panther" unit
that had deployed to the north, Rifi explained the unit
consisted of only about 80 soldiers. He commended the
group's professionalism and motivation. The General
described plans to establish a similar force that would work
closely with ISF intelligence elements.

TIES TO SYRIA IN TV COVERAGE, TRAVEL,
AND BOMB METHODS
--------------


4. (C) General Rifi and Colonel Hassan both bemoaned footage
from Al-Jazeera network and "New TV" that highlighted the
civilian casualties in Nahr al-Barad. Hassan theorized that
Damascus was urging such coverage to put pressure on LAF
General Sleiman and deter continued action against the camp.
Hassan assessed that Syria needs Fatah al-Islam in Nahr
al-Barid to maintain an on-call destabilizing force in
Lebanon; he and Rifi believe the group had been planning a
larger operation when the ISF stormed its Tripoli safehouse.
According to Hassan, media focus on civilian casualties also
served to demoralize LAF and ISF forces.


5. (C) Hassan stated that Fatah al-Islam arrived in Lebanon
with the aid of Syrian intelligence. He pointed to
information the ISF recently obtained from a detained Fatah
al-Islam member as evidence of a Syrian link. His
informant's brother had recently traveled with an explosives
expert named Hassan al-Turki from Lebanon through Syria to
Iraq -- and back -- in one day; Hassan described this as
impossible without Syrian complicity. Hassan shared
information on eight Fatah al-Islam members captured by the
ISF; six were Lebanese and two were Syrian. However, only
one of the 11 bodies of fighters recovered was Lebanese; the
other ten included Saudi Arabians, Tunisians, and Syrians.
Additionally, Hassan pointed out that several leading Fatah
al-Islam members had spent time in Syrian jails.


6. (C) General Rifi also saw a link to Syria in the recent
car bombing in the affluent Christian Beirut neighborhood of
Achrafieh. He claimed that the car used in the Achrafieh
explosion was purchased in the same month using the same

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methods as the cars involved in the attacks against Deputy
Prime Minister and Defense Minister Murr and deceased
An-Nahar journalist Gibran Tueini. The three cars were
purchased a month before the Syrians were forced to leave
Lebanon and were paid for using false names and false phone
numbers. Rifi did not include the recent bombing in Verdun
in his assessment since the bomb used in Verdun was placed
underneath a civilian's car, as opposed to wired within the
car like the others.

COMMENT
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7. (C) Rifi only hinted in passing at the storm of
controversy now swirling around the ISF, and engulfing Rifi
and Hassan in particular. The ISF is being accused of having
recklessly endangered the lives of LAF soldiers when the ISF
in the wee hours of Sunday morning arrested bank robbers
associated with Fatah al-Islam. This seemed to be the action
that sparked the Fatah al-Islam attacks on LAF and ISF
security positions, with 17 LAF soldiers taken unawares and
killed execution style as the fight began. Rifi commented
that the ISF, by going after bank robbers, had foiled what
probably was a much larger plan by Fatah al-Islam, given the
large amounts of weaponry and ammunition stored in the
Tripoli safehouses. Even if serious and tragic mistakes were
made, Rifi is probably right, that Fatah al-Islam planned
something more spectacular.


8. (C) Moreover, what the March 8-Aounist opposition would
have us believe -- that the ISF intentionally provoked the
death of the LAF soldiers -- is an outrageous distortion of
the facts. Because Hizballah and its allies do not have the
same presence in the Sunni-allied ISF as in the LAF, the
pro-Syrians and Michel Aoun seize all opportunities to
discredit the ISF as a Sunni militia belonging to Saad
Hariri, a simplistic view at best but one with great
resonance among Aoun and Hizballah supporters. What drives
Michel Aoun and Hizballah nuts is that the ISF is
unambiguously loyal to the GOL. Had the ISF failed to go
after the bank robbers, we are sure that Aoun and Hizballah
would have accused the ISF of coddling Sunni criminals.
FELTMAN