VZCZCXYZ0007
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLB #0187/01 0561630
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 251630Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6625
INFO RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS IMMEDIATE 3926
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV IMMEDIATE 1579

S E C R E T BEIRUT 000187 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2020 
TAGS: PTER PREL PBTS MASS MOPS IS LE TU SY
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE ON SYRIAN TRANSFERS OF ARMS TO HIZBALLAH 
 
REF: A. LAWSON-SISON E-MAIL DATED 2/25/2010 
     ¶B. TEL AVIV 404 
     ¶C. STATE 17307 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 
1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (S) SUMMARY:  In response to the Ambassador's February 25 
demarche on the danger of Syrian transfers of increasingly 
sophisticated weaponry to Hizballah, Prime Minister Saad 
Hariri acknowledged the urgency and serious nature of the 
message and said he had feared that Hizballah had "new 
technology."  He suggested that Turkey might play a helpful 
role in influencing the Syrians and assessed that Syria would 
only move closer to Iran in the event of a conflict.  Speaker 
of Parliament Nabih Berri dismissed the message as "Israeli 
propaganda" and called for a regional solution to the issue. 
Berri nonetheless accepted that the situation was "not good" 
and promised to "do what I can."  UN Special Coordinator for 
Lebanon Michael Williams reported his concern over 
detrimental "political drift" inside Lebanon and complained 
that Syria was "playing its old game."  Meanwhile, Israeli 
aircraft conducted overflights over extensive areas of 
Lebanon on February 24 and 25.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (S) As requested in Ref A, on February 25 the Ambassador 
delivered to Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Speaker of 
Parliament Nabih Berri, and UN Special Coordinator for 
Lebanon (UNSCOL) Michael Williams demarche points on Syrian 
efforts to provide arms to Hizballah, including transfers of 
increasingly sophisticated weaponry.  President Michel 
Sleiman is in Russia on an official visit through the evening 
of February 26; PM Hariri's diplomatic advisor undertook to 
pass the points to Sleiman's traveling party immediately. 
 
HARIRI CALLS FOR REGIONAL SOLUTION 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (S) PM Hariri listened to the demarche attentively, then 
remarked that he had been concerned that Hizballah had "new 
technology."  He asked the Ambassador whether the demarche 
was related to Iranian President Ahmadinejad's concurrent 
visit to Damascus.  The Ambassador underscored that there was 
no connection between Ahmadinejad's visit and the timing of 
the demarche, noting that U/S Burns had conveyed U.S. 
concerns about cross-border weapons smuggling into Lebanon 
destined for Hizballah during his February 17 meeting in 
Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Asad.  Hariri's 
diplomatic advisor Mohamad Chatah, who had been watching the 
televised joint press conference of Ahmadinejad and al-Asad, 
reported that while al-Asad and Ahmadinejad agreed on support 
for the "resistance" (i.e. Hizballah), al-Asad had taken a 
more moderate tone and commented positively on Turkey's role 
in the region during the press conference. 
 
¶4. (S) Hariri opined that the only way to avoid conflict in 
the region was to keep open the "two windows" of the Syrian 
and Palestinian peace tracks with Israel.  Doing so, he said 
"would freeze Syrian thinking on weapons transfers," but 
should both windows close simultaneously, Syria would stand 
by Iran in a war.  If there were peace, he assessed, Syria 
would move toward Turkey.  Hariri recommended that Secretary 
Clinton telephone Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu to seek his 
intervention with Syria on the issue of weapons smuggling. 
Chatah added that exchanges of bellicose rhetoric from all 
sides were a "boomeranging crescendo" that increased the 
danger of conflict.  Chatah undertook to call President 
Sleiman's diplomatic advisor Naji Abi Assi, who accompanied 
Sleiman to Russia, to inform him of our message. 
 
BERRI DISMISSES "ISRAELI PROPAGANDA" 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (S) For his part, Speaker Berri asked the Ambassador if 
the U.S. message was related to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud 
Barak's visit to Washington.  He stated that the message was 
"not new."  Israel received weapons from the U.S., and 
Hizballah received weapons from Iran, Berri declared flatly. 
"All this propaganda" reflected "Israeli concern about the 
Iranian nuclear issue," he believed.  Berri then underscored 
his concern for his constituents in south Lebanon.  The 
Ambassador replied that the message was a reflection of U.S. 
concern and not connected to any visits to Washington or in 
the region.  She underscored that the full implementation of 
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, including the arms 
embargo and weapons-free zone, remained a top priority for 
the United States.  She urged Berri to heed the message in 
the interest of regional peace and stability. 
 
¶6. (S) Speaker Berri maintained that the only solution was a 
regional peace initiative along the lines of the Madrid peace 
conference.  Israel was "not ready to give the Palestinians 
anything," he said, "and if Abbas got nothing, no one can." 
Without a strong initiative, the conflict would continue in a 
vicious circle as each side continued arming itself, Berri 
said.  In the absence of a regional solution, "Lebanon can do 
nothing," he stated.  The Ambassador reaffirmed President 
Obama's commitment to comprehensive Middle East peace, and 
she underscored firmly that destabilizing actions such as 
smuggling sophisticated weapons undermine peace efforts. 
Berri promised in response that he "would try to do 
something," without specifying what action he would take. 
"The situation is not good," he admitted. 
 
WILLIAMS VOICES CONCERN OVER REGIONAL TRENDS 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (S) UNSCOL Williams reported that he was "generally 
disturbed" by trends in the region.  While he had considered 
recent tensions to be nothing but a war of words until ten 
days before, on February 18 he had called on presidential 
advisor Abi Assi to ask him to pass to President Sleiman his 
growing concern about Iran and Hizballah's behavior in the 
run-up to an effort to impose new sanctions on Iran in the UN 
Security Council.  One weakness of UN Security Council 
Resolution (UNSCR) 1701 was that it had no mechanism for 
monitoring the Lebanese-Syrian border, Williams complained. 
As a result, he said, he had "no clue" as to the volume of 
arms flowing across the border and found it difficult to 
criticize Syria and Hizballah in his official reports absent 
hard evidence.  While he had always maintained that UNSCR 
1701 guaranteed peace and stability in the region, Williams 
explained, he was becoming increasingly aware that "only one 
mistake" could destroy all gains to date. 
 
¶8. (S) Williams reported that he was troubled by domestic 
"political drift in the wrong direction" as Hariri struggled 
with his new role as head of a national unity government 
containing Hizballah.  While Williams said he understood 
Hariri's quandary, he rhetorically asked, "Why does he need 
to go out of his way?"  Williams expressed concern about 
Hariri's political advisors and wondered aloud why Hariri 
didn't see the wisdom of confining his opposition to Israel 
to the context of UNSCR 1701. 
 
¶9. (S) "We are at a real low point in the Palestinian track, 
and there is no prospect of progress on the Syrian track," 
said Williams, adding that such deadlock increased pressure 
in Lebanon.  Iran was "upping the ante," Williams said, and 
he felt, based on recent discussions, that the French were 
complacent about Syrian misbehavior.  "Syria is playing its 
old game," Williams assessed, and he described a "deliberate 
hardening" from Damascus on Lebanese issues.  The example of 
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who was being forced into an 
"embarrassing" position to gain Syria's good graces, was 
indicative of this trend, Williams said.  He also pointed to 
rumors that Syrian leaders were unhappy with a recent Hariri 
interview with the Italian paper Corriere della Sera because 
he underscored his role as prime minister of all Lebanese and 
his insistence on a state-to-state relationship with Syria 
instead of a personal relationship with al-Asad.  Williams 
also decried Syrian inaction on the issue of border 
delineation with Lebanon. 
 
ISRAELI OVERFLIGHTS 
------------------- 
 
¶10. (S) The Lebanese Armed Forces G-2 intelligence bureau 
reported to Embassy Defense Attache that Israeli aircraft 
conducted "simulated raids" from the evening of February 24 
through the morning of February 25 over the southern towns of 
Nabatieh, Iqlim al-Toufah, Marjayoun, al-Arkoub, and 
al-Kheyam, as well as parts of the central and western 
sectors of the Bekaa Valley.  Later on the morning of 
February 25, Israeli "simulated raids" continued over 
Jezzine, Iqlim al-Toufah, al-Arkoub, Hasbaya, Rashaya, the 
West Bekaa and Mount Lebanon, the G-2 reported. 
 
¶11. (S) COMMENT: Hariri clearly internalized the U.S. 
message.  Speaker Berri, who feigned nonchalance during the 
discussion, made sure nonetheless that his advisors had 
written the talking points on their notepads.  End comment. 
 
SISON