WikiLeaks diplomatic cables on the July 2006 war published this week have embarrassed US-backed Lebanese officials and further deepened divisions, Lucy Fielder reports Lebanon's Al-Akhbar daily released WikiLeaks US embassy cables this week that bolstered accusations that the pro-Western faction in Lebanon colluded with the United States and Israel during the war on Lebanon in 2006. They document diplomats' conversations with US-backed Lebanese officials, many of whom appear to urge prolonging the war in order to weaken Shia Hizbullah guerrillas, who were fighting Israel in the south. The cables are likely to further deepen divisions in Lebanon, which has been polarised since the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri into two camps, one backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia and dominated by Al-Hariri's son Saad's Future Movement, the other dominated by Iranian- backed Hizbullah. Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said over the weekend that the cables raised the possibility of legal action against any politicians found to have conspired against what's known locally as "the resistance". Al-Akhbar, which is independent but supports Hizbullah's alliance and fiercely criticises Israel, published the documents as part of its exclusive release of thousands of cables that began late last year. These were the most controversial yet, showing the closeness of the pro-Western camp's relationship with the United States at the peak of the division, and as US ally Israel was subjecting Lebanon to fierce bombardment. The "14 March" faction, so named after a vast demonstration on that date in 2005 that called on the Syrians to leave Lebanon, has intensified calls in the last few weeks for Hizbullah to lay down the weapons it maintains to fight Israel. About 1,200 people, mainly Lebanese civilians, were killed during the July War, which was sparked by Hizbullah's capture of Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. Roughly a million Lebanese were displaced from the south, seen as a Hizbullah stronghold because of its mainly Shia population, and many villages and stretches of the southern suburbs of Beirut were razed to rubble. Among the most striking cables were those in which Lebanese officials were quoted as encouraging an Israeli ground incursion. Walid Jumblatt, a hawkish leading figure in 14 March until he defected in 2008, bemoaned the fact that Israeli bombardment had destroyed Lebanese infrastructure but not Hizbullah's military. "He explained that although 14 March must call for a ceasefire in public, it is hoping that Israel continues its military operations until it destroys Hizbullah's military capabilities," the cable reported. Another said: "Jumblatt finally said what he meant; Israel will have to invade southern Lebanon. Israel must be careful to avoid massacres, but it should clear Hizbullah out of southern Lebanon." Jumblatt has admitted that he made such comments at the time as a key 14 March figure and said they were a "black spot" on his political path. Fouad Al-Siniora, who was prime minister at the time, is quoted in the cables as describing the Israeli bombardment as "disproportionate" and "unhelpful". "Siniora argued that Israel's response plays in to ?the hands of Hizbullah and Damascus and is paving the way for ?a Syrian reoccupation of Lebanon," the document reads. A statement by Al-Siniora's office denounced the "misinterpretation" of the cables and "biased headlines". Christian MP Boutros Harb was reported as saying that if Israel could "finish the job", it could be allowed a few more weeks, while Phalange leader Amin Gemayel told US diplomats that a Hizbullah victory would be a "disaster" for Lebanon, leading to the party's takeover. Several memos embarrassed two figures from Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, a key Christian ally of Hizbullah. MP Ibrahim Kanaan is reported as describing the alliance between the parties as a "mistake". He has said the cable reflected the author's views rather than his own. Al-Akhbar Justice Editor Omar Nashabe said the cables showed the extent to which politicians from the camp involved foreign diplomats in Lebanon's internal affairs. "Some of these figures actually asked the United States to prolong the war on Lebanon as their own people were being slaughtered, hospitals bombed, ambulances bombed. That's a crime," Nashabe said. Hizbullah's camp has long alleged collaboration by the "14 March" pro-Western faction led by caretaker Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri's Future Movement. "I think in the past, many saw these accusations as conspiracy theories," Nashabe said. "Now there's proof." But in divided Lebanon, reaction to the revelations was muted from the opposite camp. Many Lebanese support their leaders for sectarian reasons, which effectively immunises the country's politicians from united national action or outrage. Nashabe said that the WikiLeaks documents could pave the way for legal action by the families of those killed during the period after Lebanese politicians allegedly lobbied for the extension of the war. But he conceded that could be a difficult task. "A criminal case could be brought against these people; justice should not be selective," he said, in an apparent reference to 14 March backing of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is tasked with charging suspects in the killing of former prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri in 2005. "But it may be impossible. It's fully expected that those same Western powers who backed justice for Hariri will block justice for thousands of ordinary Lebanese, because this is Israel we're talking about."
