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P 110853Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2705
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2721
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 2977
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BEIRUT 001173 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA 
ALSO FOR IO ACTING A/S HOOK AND PDAS WARLICK 
USUN FOR KHALILZAD/WOLFF/SCHEDLBAUER 
NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/YERGER/MCDERMOTT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/10/2018 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR AI UNSC SY LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON:  TIME IS RIGHT FOR ACTION ON DETAINEES IN 
SYRIA 
 
REF: A. BEIRUT 1168 
     ¶B. BEIRUT 1139 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. William Grant for reasons 1.4 (b) 
 and (d). 
 
SUMMARY 
-------- 
 
¶1. (C) Following Israel's July 16 release of Lebanese 
prisoners including Samir Kantar, the issue of Lebanese 
detainees (also referred to as "enforced disappearances") in 
Syria has risen to the forefront in Lebanon.  President 
Sleiman told visiting MNF-I Commander General David Petraeus 
on August 6 that it is one of his three priorities for his 
August 13 meeting with Syrian President Bashar Asad, though 
he doubted there were many detainees still alive (Ref A). 
Ghazi Aad, head of the NGO known as "Support of Lebanese in 
Detention and Exile," believes that the time is right to 
resolve the issue of the 600 or more Lebanese citizens 
detained by the Syrians since the 1975-1990 civil war days, 
as a precursor to normalizing relations with Syria.  In a 
July 21 visit to Beirut, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid 
Moallem was confronted by a sit-in organized by the 
detainees' families.  Moallem further angered the families by 
his clumsy declaration to the media, "He who waited for more 
than thirty years can wait a few weeks." 
 
¶2. (C) According to Aad, Hizballah and Free Patriotic 
Movement leader Michel Aoun have been the most supportive 
Lebanese political figures in responding to his pleas for a 
resolution, with Aoun recently calling for a minister of 
state to take on the issue, but they have been unable to 
influence Syrian thinking to date.  Aad noted that several 
Lebanese political figures are reticent to express support 
because they, too, are culpable for disappearances taking 
place during the civil war. 
 
¶3. (C) Independent MP and Aoun ally Ghassan Moukheiber 
succeeded in his efforts to include the detainee issue in the 
cabinet statement approved by the cabinet on August 4. 
Calling past attempts to resolve the issue failures, a 
lobbying group of detainees' family members is requesting an 
international inquiry commission, a DNA database, and a truth 
and reconciliation commission to resolve internal resistance 
to addressing the issue.  Aad and Moukheiber suggested the 
U.S. elevate the issue by urging France, Qatar, and key 
political figures to raise the issue with Syria.  The U.S. 
could also push for an international commission, as well as 
provide technical assistance and funding, they said.  End 
summary. 
 
OVER 600 BELIEVED 
TO BE DETAINED 
----------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Following the July 16 release by Israel of Lebanese 
prisoners including Samir Kantar, the issue of Lebanese 
detainees in Syria has risen to the forefront in Lebanon.  In 
an August 1 meeting with PolOff, Ghazi Aad, head of the NGO 
"Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile" (Solide), 
estimated that there are over 600 Lebanese detained in Syria. 
 There could be more than 600, Aad suggested, because some 
cases have gone unreported due to fear, immigration, and 
deaths of family members.  Aad made a distinction between 
Lebanese who committed criminal acts and are imprisoned in 
Syria and "enforced disappearances," people who were 
allegedly arrested by the Syrians and held without formal 
charges or on trumped up charges.  He is afraid that Syria 
will release the real criminals and not the others and 
declare the file closed. 
 
RELIGION ASIDE, DETAINEES 
HELD PRIMARILY FOR 
POLITICAL REASONS 
------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Aad explained that Syria passed an emergency law in 
1963 which declared that anyone can be subjected to 
detention, and in 1976 started applying this law to persons 
in Lebanon.  Aad alleged that Syria used this law 
 
BEIRUT 00001173  002 OF 004 
 
 
politically, arresting Sunni Lebanese militia men allied with 
the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1976, 
Christian militia in 1978, and so forth -- ultimately 
detaining people of all confessions. 
 
¶6. (C) According to Aad, many of these detainees were picked 
up by the Syrians operating in Lebanon, transported to Syria, 
and held in interrogation centers.  Several family members of 
those missing reported that they used to visit the detainees 
in Syrian prisons but at some point the detainees were moved 
or the family members were prevented from visiting, and they 
subsequently lost track of their whereabouts.  Further, the 
family members claim that in some instances the Syrian 
authorities revoked their access permits, and therefore they 
lack proof that they had ever made these trips to Syria. 
 
SYRIAN, LEBANESE 
GOVERNMENTS DENY 
THERE IS A PROBLEM 
------------------ 
 
¶7. (C) In the past, the Syrian government has refused to 
acknowledge the existence of Lebanese detainees.  In 1990, 
the Lebanese government publicly denied that there were 
Lebanese citizens detained in Syria, and maintained this 
position until 2005, despite intense lobbying efforts by 
family groups. 
 
¶8. (C) Despite its denials, Aad noted that Syria has publicly 
released Lebanese detainees on four occasions between 1976 
and 2005, all for political reasons.  For example, 54 
Lebanese were released in 2000 as a show of support for 
then-President Emile Lahoud.  Additionally, there have been 
secret releases, as recently as March 2008 when Milad Barakat 
was returned to Lebanon after 16 years of detention, the last 
seven of which his family had no information regarding his 
status. 
 
UNSUCCESSFUL COMMITTEES 
----------------------- 
 
¶9. (C) Former PM Salim Hoss formed a ministerial committee in 
1998 to investigate the situation and concluded that those 
missing should be considered dead.  The families rejected 
this decision, and in 2005 another committee headed by MP 
Fouad Saad was formed.  After composing a list of 91 missing 
citizens, Saad traveled to Syria to present the list to the 
late Interior Minister Ghazi Kenaan and Lebanon's former 
Syrian intelligence head Rustom Ghazaleh, and reported 
afterwards they had promised to reply but he had never 
received an answer. 
 
¶10. (C) A joint Lebanese-Syrian commission was established in 
2005 under PM Najib Mikati, which Aad assessed has been 
unsuccessful.  Aad explained that the Lebanese members have 
submitted names of missing individuals to their counterparts, 
only to receive denials that these people are in Syria, or 
falsified documents on their status. 
 
FAMILIES LOBBY FOR RESULTS 
-------------------------- 
 
¶11. (C) Prior to the Syrian withdrawal in 2005, some of the 
detainees' families began a sit-in, which continues today, in 
front of the UN ESCWA building in downtown Beirut.  On July 
21, coinciding with Syrian FM Walid Moallem's visit to 
Beirut, the families demonstrated at the Presidential Palace. 
 They submitted a memo to President Sleiman calling for a 
resolution to the detainee issue.  Aad subsequently met with 
President Sleiman, who informed him that he will refer this 
case to the government. 
 
¶12. (C) In response to the July 21 protests, Moallem 
acknowledged the problem when he stated to the press, "He who 
waited for more than thirty years can wait a few weeks."  Aad 
relayed that Moallem also said, "I should have brought Syrian 
families with me to protest."  (Note:  In what Aad dubbed a 
"tit for tat," Syria alleged in 2005 that there are 800 
Syrians missing in Lebanon.  End note.) 
 
GAINING POLITICAL SUPPORT 
 
BEIRUT 00001173  003 OF 004 
 
 
------------------------- 
 
¶13. (C) On the same day, July 21, Free Patriotic Movement 
leader Michel Aoun publicly called for a minister of state to 
take on the detainee issue, which Aad said was in response to 
his prodding.  Aoun also has called for the establishment of 
a DNA database, another Solide demand, to identify the 
remains of the missing Lebanese. 
 
¶14. (C) Aad relayed that he also had approached Hizballah 
Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, who reportedly agreed to 
raise the issue in Syria.  Nasrallah responded to Aad that 
his Syrian interlocutors told him to hold off on this issue 
until diplomatic relations are being discussed.  Aad 
concluded that the time is now right to address the detainee 
issue, but fears that Syria will dictate the terms in an 
unfair manner. 
 
¶15. (C) Efforts to address the detainee issue in the 
ministerial statement to parliament (Ref B) proved 
successful, as the cabinet committed to resolve the issue "as 
soon as possible."  The statement called for the disclosure 
of the fate of all of the missing detainees, and committed to 
working towards their release or the return of their bodies 
as part of normalizing relations with Syria, whether through 
the existing joint committee or through "various political 
and judicial means." 
 
¶16. (C) Efforts by independent and Aoun ally MP Ghassan 
Moukheiber, who sits on the Parliamentary Committee on Human 
Rights, were instrumental in including the detainee issue in 
the statement.  Moukheiber affirmed that Hizballah officially 
supported a resolution of the issue, though its hands were 
tied in terms of effecting change.  He clarified that 
relations with Syria should not be contingent on resolution 
of the detainee issue, but that it was a fundamental part of 
normal relations. 
 
¶17. (C) Aad mentioned that he had urged the French to raise 
this issue with Syria, adding that the diplomats had agreed, 
but had refrained from making it a requirement for 
establishing diplomatic relations.  (Note:  PolOff will check 
with French diplomatic contacts in Beirut.  End note.) 
 
¶18. (C) Aad cautioned that not all political figures are 
willing to address the issue because they too are culpable 
for crimes committed and disappeared persons during the 
1975-1990 civil war, citing Lebanese Forces leader Samir 
Geagea, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, and Speaker Nabih 
Berri's Amal Movement in particular.  He said that while they 
may publicly endorse resolving this issue, they will not take 
decisive action to achieve results out of embarrassment and 
for fear of facing reprisal. 
 
HOW THE USG CAN HELP 
-------------------- 
 
¶19. (C) Noting that he had attempted to tack on the detainee 
issue to UNIIIC, the UN committee charged with investigating 
former PM Rafiq Hariri's assassination, Aad pressed for 
first, the establishment of an international inquiry 
commission to investigate the detainee issue.  He said he 
believes the joint Lebanese-Syrian commission has been 
"worthless" during its three years of existence.  Second, he 
is calling for the establishment of a DNA database to 
identify the remains of the missing individuals.  Third, Aad 
stressed the importance of forming a truth and reconciliation 
commission, primarily to resolve the internal resistance to 
addressing the issue. 
 
¶20. (C) Aad suggested the U.S. provide funding and technical 
assistance to form a DNA database.  He expressed his hope 
that the U.S. could push to expand UNIIIC's mandate to 
include the detainee issue, or alternatively, to press for 
the establishment of a new international commission. 
Recognizing that U.S.-Syrian relations are sensitive, Aad 
wondered if the U.S. could encourage the French and the 
Qataris to prod Syria into addressing the issue. 
 
¶21. (C) Aad also suggested that the U.S. influence Lebanese 
political figures to open up to a solution.  He also proposed 
 
BEIRUT 00001173  004 OF 004 
 
 
a Congressional resolution passed by Congress which would 
raise the profile of the issue. 
 
¶22. (C) Echoing all of Aad's suggestions, MP Moukheiber added 
that the U.S. could provide visible support to American NGOs 
and international organizations working on the issue, 
including Amnesty International and the International Center 
for Transitional Justice.  He also inquired whether U.S. 
intelligence could provide information on the missing 
individuals. 
 
¶23. (C) Moukheiber also said President Sleiman may play a 
pivotal role in pressuring Syria to address the issue. 
Sleiman told visiting General David Petraeus on August 6 that 
the detainee issue was one of his three priorities for his 
August 13 meeting with Syrian President Bashar Asad, though 
he doubted there were many detainees still alive (Ref A). 
Aad expressed his fear that Syria will intentionally 
misinterpret "detainee," and agree to move Lebanese jailed in 
Syria for genuine crimes to Lebanese prisons. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶24. (C) Both Aad and Moukheiber, who have worked on this 
issue since 1990, believe the time is right to push this 
issue, in part because Hizballah has been working to close 
its detainee file with Israel, but more importantly, because 
Lebanon appears to be on the brink of establishing relations 
with Syria.  Neither one believes that relations should 
depend upon a resolution of the issue, but that Lebanon 
should capitalize on Syrian outreach to Lebanon to raise the 
stakes of normal relations.  End comment. 
GRANT