Wikileaks:Feltman: We need to help the ISF because "it is reliable with connections to Saad Hariri & is heavily Sunni ..."

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 002680 [August 17, 2006]

SUBJECT: ISF COMMANDER ON AIRPORT SECURITY, NEEDS FOR WEAPONS

1. (C/NF) In a 8/16 meeting with Ambassador and emboff, Internal Security Forces Commander Ashraf Rifi expressed confidence that the removal of an LAF unit from the Beirut airport and its replacement by the ISF (with its Sunni command hostile to Hizballah) has vastly improved the security of passenger travel.... The ISF -- with its Su粑ni command and its close relationship with the Hariri bloc -- has now replaced that LAF unit. With a one-for-one replacement, the ISF now has 120 people at the passenger terminal and will increase that number to 400. If the LAF (with officers at the airport supposedly linked to President Emile Lahoud) sympathizers in their ranks, they are now gone from the passenger area. 4. (C/NF) More important, Rifi argued, BIA security director General Wafiq Shuqair -- who nominally reports to 

the Acting Minister of Interior but is known to have 

connections both to President Emile Lahoud and Hizballah -- 

remains in place but has been sidelined. A new airport 

security committee, composed of 12 ISF offices, now reports to Shuqair's deputy, ISF General Yassir Mahmoud, a Jumblatt 

loyalist. (In separate conversations with the Ambassador, 

both Jumblatt and Marwan Hamadeh described Mahmoud as good........ 6. (C/NF) Rifi asked for USG support in acquiring 10,000 AK-47s or equivalent for the expanding ISF. He noted that he had just recruited 3,000 new police officers, increasing the size of his force to 21,700 (with 28,000 his goal, the level粑 authorized by the cabinet). His only recruitment problem, he 

said, was getting sufficient Christians to sign up. But  he

has no weapons, he lamented. So while the ISF is taking over some internal positions in Lebanon previously occupied by the LAF, the ISF has insufficient weapons for its mandate. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have both promised such weapons, Rifi said, but they need to be pushed in order to come through with them. Rifi expressed hope that the USG would send a message asking the UAE and Saudi Arabia to provide the guns and to work to make sure that the weapons were permitted to pass through the blockade. [COMMENT:] 7. (C/NF) We hope that we can help Rifi with his desire to get weapons to the ISF. In general, because of the ISF's 

connections to Saad Hariri and its heavily Sunni (i.e., 

essentially anti-Hizballah) officer ranks, the ISF is, in 

fact, relatively (albeit not 100 percent) reliable in terms 

of its basic outlook. But, especially in light of the ISF's 

failure to prevent the attack on UN House, there is a question as to how effective the ISF is on the ground. Certainly, the ISF needs weapons. In general, we see as positive the changes in terms of passenger processing at the airport. (Given institutional rivalries, we are sure that some LAF officers will decry the addition of the ISF to a traditional LAF stronghold.) We will continue to push for an international element and will continue these discussions with Minister of Public Works and Transport Safadi and Minister of Finance Azour (who oversees customs) today.