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Viewing cable 06BEIRUT2838, LEBANON: CUSTOMS PLANS A COMPLICATED FIGHT AGAINST

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06BEIRUT2838 2006-09-01 08:51 2011-08-30 01:44 SECRET Embassy Beirut
VZCZCXRO2475
PP RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK
DE RUEHLB #2838/01 2440851
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 010851Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5380
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 0221
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 002838 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MARCHESE/HARDING 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2016 
TAGS: PREL PTER PGOV ECON EFIN LE SY IR IS
SUBJECT: LEBANON: CUSTOMS PLANS A COMPLICATED FIGHT AGAINST 
ARMS SMUGGLING 
 
 
Classified By: Jeffrey D. Feltman, Ambassador.  Reason: 1.4 (d) 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (S) Although our GOL senior and political interlocutors 
have spoken with less than a unified voice on arms smuggling 
into Lebanon, we have heard about both success stories and 
chronic problems about this issue from Lebanon's customs 
services.  While positive developments have been hard to 
confirm, it seems that at some level Lebanon is trying to 
come to grips with the smuggling issue.  Nevertheless, the 
task of securing Lebanon's border with Syria is complicated 
by both politics and geography.  Long-standing smuggling 
routes abound, and they are important to some Lebanese as the 
cross-border economic, political, and confessional ties 
between Syrians and Leanonese often bypass the official 
boundary lines.  End Summary. 
 
Customs and Arms Smuggling 
-------------------------- 
 
2. (C) The head of the Lebanese Customs Brigade Major Ayman 
Ibrahim shared with Pol/Econ Chief and FSNs the GOL's recent 
efforts to control the border and stop arms smuggling. 
Ibrahim expressed optimism that PM Siniora's new directives 
will help contain possible arms smuggling via hundreds of 
illegal land crossings. 
 
3. (C) Ibrahim noted efforts to crack down on smuggling, 
including the PM's formation of a special interagency 
committee the third week of August to examine and implement 
ways to monitor land, maritime and air borders.  Ibrahim 
noted that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) deployment of 
8,600 soldiers last week along the land border in the north 
and Bekaa region should help to control arms smuggling.  The 
LAF's role will be to monitor illegal crossings in a variety 
of terrain, and to bolster customs brigade personnel at 
official crossing points.  Customs teams are visiting the 
four official land crossings at Arida, Abboudieh, Kaa, and 
Masnaa this week to examine the implementation of control 
measures on the ground, Ibrahim told us. 
 
4. (C) It is doubtful that smugglers would attempt to pass 
weapons via these official crossings, Ibrahim said.  It is 
far more likely that smugglers would use, or are using, 
illegal crossing points including unofficial, unpaved roads 
and paths that crisscross the border, as well as the numerous 
villages that lie astride the border.  These factors, as well 
as political and militia interference from at least the time 
of the Lebanese Civil War on, have made the border extremely 
porous.  Further complicating the situation is the fact, 
Ibrahim asserted, that, because of the mountainous 
topography, travel between many Lebanese villages requires 
the use of roads and routes that pass through Syrian 
territory.  All in all, the task of shutting down the weapons 
flow is complex and difficult. 
 
5. (C) Ibrahim showed us several heavily-penciled maps 
showing dozens of known or suspected clandestine entry 
routes.  Many of these appeared to be close enough to 
official crossings, highways and towns that they would be 
obvious to a careful observer on the ground.  The German 
technical assistance to Lebanese customs enforcement will not 
solve this problem, Ibrahim explained.  The equipment and 
training the Customs Brigade expects to receive is planned at 
seven sites only -- the four official land crossings, the 
Ports of Beirut and Tripoli, and the Beirut International 
Airport. 
 
Syria's Legacy 
-------------- 
 
6. (C) Illegal crossings in the areas of Hermel, Baalbek and 
Rachaya are most prone to arms smuggling, according to 
Ibrahim, because of the local inhabitants' strong ties to the 
Syrian regime.  He explained that those three areas have 
remained uncontrolled and open from the Syrian side of the 
border even after the pullout of Syrian troops in spring 
2005.  By comparison, Syrian forces had constructed sand 
berms in Ersal and Anjar -- Lebanese territory according to 
Ibrahim -- for fear of weapons smuggling in the opposite 
direction; i.e., from Lebanon to Syria to support factions 
 
BEIRUT 00002838  002 OF 002 
 
 
opposed to the regime in Damascus.  To deal with these 
complex issues, a joint Lebanese-Syrian committee had been 
formed and was looking into improving border control and 
addressing irregularities in Syrian procedures when 
hostilities broke out between Israel and Lebanon in July. 
 
7. (C) Lebanese Customs' 600 anti-smuggling personnel have 
seized no weapons before or since the withdrawal of the 
Syrian army, Ibrahim offered.  "Weapons were never smuggled 
into Lebanon, but rather came through official crossings, 
mainly the military road," he said.  This military road, 
which is situated near the Masnaa crossing, was at no point 
under the control of Lebanese Customs.  The Syrian army 
controlled the road until its withdrawal from Lebanon, at 
which point the LAF took control.  The road was reportdly 
shut completely in December 2005 following the assassination 
of Lebanese MP Gibran Tueni. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
8.  (S) A mid-level career official, Major Ibrahim appeared 
to offer us a candid and unvarnished view of the practical 
problems facing the GOL as it seeks to cut off Hizballah's 
arms shipments, and he seemed to be grappling seriously with 
his difficult task.  Furthermore, he understood the 
difference between economic smuggling and arms smuggling and 
grasped the importance of the latter.  It was refreshing to 
hear a pragmatic point of view on the subject, given that 
most of our senior interlocutors in the period since the 
cessation of hostilities have appeared unwilling to address 
the issue head-on.  Our discussions with quite a few 
political leaders have been marked by their excuses, pleading 
for more time or technical assistance, indulgence in 
conspiracy theories, and rhetorical comparisons to USG 
authorities' inability to control the Mexico border. 
 
9.  (S) Yet, even though choking the arms shipments will 
ultimately require a feat of political will at the top 
levels, there may be signs that the LAF and Customs Brigade 
will fight smuggling squarely on the local and operational 
level.  Assuming some level of discipline, the LAF's mere 
presence may make arms smuggling a more costly and difficult 
affair at least, and sensitizing Customs to the importance of 
arms smuggling can only help.  In addition, where they are 
stationed, UNIFIL and other foreign observers, technicians 
and trainers might deter some smuggling.  There have been a 
few unconfirmed "success stories" in recent days which have 
reached us from the press or from contacts.  In short, asking 
politicians to take on Hezballah's arms smuggling has been 
like asking them to take on Hizballah itself, but Lebanon's 
embattled security institutions may yet produce enough 
progress on this issue to create some confidence in the 
international community. 
 
10.  (C)  This Embassy has provided USG-sponsored customs 
training to GOL officials in the past, including programs 
that were carried out in Jordan and Kuwait, and we plan to 
continue to do so in the future.  On a different subject, 
customs officials have been among our best GOL contacts in 
trying to crack down on IPR violations.  We hope that they 
will apply the same diligence they used in reducing the 
import of pirated products to combatting arms smuggling.  End 
Comment. 
FELTMAN