US embassy cable - 05DAMASCUS6444

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 006444 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PARIS FOR ZEYA; LONDON FOR TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, SY, LE 
SUBJECT: TUENI ASSASSINATION PROVOKES SHOCK, DENIAL, AND A 
CLAIM OF RESPONSIBILITY IN SYRIA 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Stephen A. Seche, per 1.4 b,d. 
 
 1.  (C) Summary:  SARG officials condemned the December 12 
assassination in Beirut of an-Nahar publisher Gibran Tueni, 
calling it an act of terrorism and insisting that enemies of 
Lebanon and Syria had committed the crime to further 
destabilize Lebanon and to worsen Syria's international 
position just as UNIIIC head Detlev Mehlis is set to release 
his second report.  A SARG proxy speculated that the killing 
is designed to strengthen the arguments inside Lebanon for an 
international tribunal outside the region to try the suspects 
for former PM Hariri's killing.  Human rights activists 
expressed outrage at the killing and seemed convinced that 
the SARG was involved in the assassination.  The Internet 
website Elaph.com published a purported claim of 
responsibility for the Tueni assassination from a previously 
unknown group calling themselves the Strugglers for Greater 
Syria.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (C) OFFICIAL SYRIAN REACTION:  Syrian Minister of 
Information Mahdi Dakhlallah condemned the killing of Gibran 
Tueni as "a terrorist act."  He added that the enemies of 
Lebanon "would not allow it to be stable" and attributed this 
destabilization to "foreign interference."  Christian MP 
George Jabbour called the killing "a hideous crime," and said 
that "Lebanon and the Arabs have lost a brave voice." 
However, he urged Lebanese public opinion not to point 
fingers until there is a thorough investigation.  Other 
official and quasi-official reactions, for example from the 
Syrian Journalists Association, offered similar 
condemnations.  The Syrian news agency SANA also condemned 
the killing and quoted an unnamed official saying that 
enemies of Lebanon and Syria had committed the crime to 
undermine Lebanese stability and "to aggravate the situation 
against Syria" just before the release of the Mehlis report. 
 
3.  (C) Foreign policy analyst Dr. Imad Shueibi, a SARG 
proxy, told Polchief that the SARG was not involved in the 
killing, in his view.  The assassination had been undertaken 
by elements in Lebanon who wanted to harm Syrian interests. 
When asked how the killing would  accomplish that, Shueibi 
insisted that whoever killed Tueni wants to force a change in 
internal Lebanese politics.  The objective is create a 
groundswell of support for a Lebanese government request that 
an international tribunal be formed outside the region to try 
suspects in the assassination of former PM Hariri.  Many in 
the Shia community, and Hizballah, have refused to accept 
this idea, said Shueibi.  That opposition had been strong 
enough until now to prevent any such GOL request.   The 
killing of Tueni is designed to tamp down such opposition. 
Shueibi described the assassination of Tueni as another phase 
in the long campaign to harm Syria that began with the 
killing of Hariri. 
 
4.  (C) ENSURING A TRIBUNAL IS SET IN EUROPE:  Damascus-based 
al Hayat correspondent Ibrahim Hamidi told Polchief he had 
spoken with a range of SARG officials about the killing. 
Most expressed views, echoing Shueibi, that Tueni was killed 
by elements that wanted to entrap Syria in a further 
"internationalizing of the Lebanon issue" to ensure that any 
international tribunal would be formed and would be set in 
Europe (and not under the auspices of Arab League countries). 
 Hamidi predicted that the next target for assassination 
would be Walid Jumblatt.  His killing would be used to 
further "internationalize" and bring pressure to bear on the 
issue of Hizballah disarmament, said Hamidi.   Some SARG 
officials also told Hamidi that Syria's case in the UNSC 
following the release of the second Mehlis report would now 
be weakened, with allies like Russia and Algeria on the 
defensive, said Hamidi.  Repeating exculpatory arguments 
heard after the assassination of Hariri, Hamidi noted that 
Syria more than any other potential party would be harmed by 
this assassination. 
 
5.  (C) TUENI WIDELY HATED IN SYRIA:  Nonetheless, Hamidi 
noted that Tueni was widely hated in Syria, by officials and 
ordinary Syrians.  He recounted an incident at his 
barbershops months ago when fellow Lebanese journalist Samir 
Kassir was killed.  As Tueni was interviewed at the site of 
the bombing, Syrians in the barbershop commented acidly, "It 
was meant for you, Tueni." 
 
6.  (C) CIVIL SOCIETY QUIETLY POINTS FINGER AT SARG:  Initial 
reaction among civil society activists here is one of shock. 
Human rights activist Anwar al-Bunni noted that news of the 
killing had paralyzed him and others emotionally.  Bunni told 
 
poloff he was convinced that the SARG had been involved in 
killing Tueni.  Bunni noted that the killing, in tandem with 
the December 12 interview that President Bashar al-Asad gave 
to Russian TV, is a sign that the Syrian regime is willing to 
do anything to stay in power. 
 
7.  (C) Activists Da'ad Musa and Wissam Tarif were similarly 
shocked and upset by news of the killing.  Tarif, a Lebanese 
national who resides in Syria, told Poloff he was planning to 
visit Lebanon immediately to check on the situation after the 
killing. 
 
8.  (U) A CLAIM OF RESPONSIBILITY:  In the afternoon, the 
Internet website Elaph.com published a purported claim of 
responsibility for the Tueni assassination from a previously 
unknown group calling themselves the Strugglers for Greater 
Syria.  The group is quoted as saying that it finally broke 
the pen of Tueni and "shut his mouth forever" and added that 
it would target any party that degrades those who defend the 
honor of Lebanon.  Elaph said the claim was faxed in and that 
its authenticity could not be verified. 
SECHE