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P 101040Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2986
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 2882
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 001327 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA, INL/FO, AND INL/AAE 
NSC FOR ABRAMS/RAMCHAND/YERGER/MCDERMOTT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/09/2018 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR NAS LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON: ISF HEAD: ONE DAY ELECTION IMPOSSIBLE 
FROM SECURITY STANDPOINT 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Michel J. Sison for reason 1.4 
(b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary. The Director General of the Internal Security 
Forces (ISF), Major General Achraf Rifi, has reported to the 
Lebanese Minister of Interior (MOI) that the ISF would be 
unable to provide full security throughout all polling places 
in Lebanon if Spring parliamentary elections were to be held 
in one day.  Calculating that 30,120 ISF troops would be 
required to provide the required security, Rifi told the 
Ambassador and Emboffs that the ISF could free at a maximum 
12,000 of its 23,500 members to provide security at the 
polling places.  Although recognizing that it may be 
preferable politically to hold elections in one day, 
according to Rifi it was an impossibility due to ISF,s 
limited manpower. Rifi, a Tripoli native, also commented on 
the recent Tripoli reconciliation agreement and on the ISF,s 
use of US-funded equipment in that northern city.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) In a meeting on September 9, the Director General of 
the ISF, Major General Rifi, informed the Ambassador and 
accompanying INL officer and RSO, that he had just delivered 
a report to the Minister of Interior that concluded that the 
ISF lacks sufficient manpower to provide the requisite 
security if the GOL were decided to hold the next 
parliamentary elections in just one day.  (Comment: 
Traditionally parliamentary elections in Lebanon have been 
held over four consecutive Sundays. Recent electoral law 
reform proposals have recommended that all voters vote on one 
day to avoid having votes cast in week one influence voters 
who vote during a later week.  The Internal Security Forces 
is responsible for providing physical security of the actual 
ballot boxes and internal security within the polling 
location (generally schools).  The Lebanese Armed Forces 
(LAF) is responsible for providing external security outside 
the polling site. End comment.) 
 
¶3. (C) The study presented to the MOI by Rifi broke down the 
number of ISF required to provide the election security by 
voting district (sufficient police in each polling venue and 
at the vote count site and two police for each ballot box). 
The breakdown, according to Rifi, is as follows: 
 
Beirut: 73 polling places; 780 ballot boxes, 1 vote 
compilation site - total police required: 2,300; 
 
Mount Lebanon: 543 polling places; 1552 ballot boxes, 4 vote 
compilation sites - total police required: 8,574; 
 
North: 488 polling places; 1359 ballot boxes, 6 vote 
compilation sites - total police required: 7,658; 
 
Beqaa:  328 polling places; 947 ballot boxes, 5 vote 
compilation sites - total police required: 5,224; 
 
South: 379 polling places; 1257 ballot boxes, 3 vote 
compilation sites - total police required: 6,364; 
 
Total Police required to provide election security throughout 
Lebanon: 30,120. 
 
¶4. (C) Rifi stressed that the ISF only has 23,500 men in its 
entirety, and therefore, even if they all were assigned to 
the election detail, the ISF would not be able to provide the 
30,120 required policemen.  Rifi noted that police duties do 
not stop during elections, and that the ISF would have to 
retain at least 11,500 men on the streets to accomplish their 
normal policing duties during that election day, such as 
traffic control and crime prevention. Therefore he calculates 
that he has 12,000 police, at a maximum, available for 
election-day security responsibilities. When asked who could 
fill the gap, Rifi replied the LAF would have to do it, since 
the number of personnel assigned to the other Lebanese 
security agencies, such as General and State Security, are 
very small. (Note:  Per reftel, new LAF Commander Kahwagi 
told us earlier this week that while one-day parliamentary 
elections would represent an advancement in political 
efficacy, it would also create a new set of security 
problems.  End note.) 
 
¶5. (C) Rifi and his Chief of Staff, General Joseph Hajal, who 
also attended the meeting, assured the Ambassador that the 
ISF provides training to its police officers manning the 
polling stations and supervising and escorting the ballot 
 
BEIRUT 00001327  002 OF 002 
 
 
boxes.  Specific election duty training is provided 
approximately two weeks before the day of elections.  Hajal 
noted that ISF troops are prepared at least two months in 
advance in how to deal with heightened tensions associated 
with the impending election. 
 
Violence in Tripoli 
------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) The Ambassador,s visit followed by one day the 
signing of the reconciliation agreement between Sunni and 
Alawite leaders in Tripoli to end recent sectarian fighting 
in that northern city.  Rifi, who hails from Tripoli, called 
the truce agreement "a big step".  When asked if the 
well-armed parties would be required to turn over their 
weapons, Rifi characterized that as a political decision. 
"The government cannot ask just the North to turn over their 
weapons, if they are not going to ask the entire country to 
do so", he said.  Rifi mentioned that the ISF Mobile Forces 
were deployed to their maximum capability in Tripoli during 
and before the truce agreement signing, and will remain there 
until the political situation stabilizes. 
 
¶7. (C) Rifi confirmed that the equipment and vehicles 
provided by the U.S. to the ISF under INL programs were used 
throughout the ISF deployment to the North, as well as used 
to protect the dignitaries and  dignatories during their time 
in Tripoli. Rifi also commended the Embassy,s INL and PD 
offices and Lebanon Police Program for organizing the very 
successful press roundtable the day before.  The open 
roundtable discussion of the U.S. Lebanon Police Training and 
Visitor's Program resulted in very positive press, even from 
the opposition newspaper Al Akhbar. 
 
¶8. (C) As the meeting drew to a close, Rifi returned to the 
issue of not having sufficient men to provide nation-wide 
voting protection in one day.  He was adamant that it was 
impossible to have a one-day parliamentary election, even 
while recognizing that it may be a politically preferable 
procedure.  Rifi opined that if Lebanon went ahead with the 
one day voting plan without the requisite security in place, 
Hizbollah and its followers would vote, but many other 
Lebanese would not, because they would be too afraid to do so. 
 
SISON