Wikileaks: Aoun says Hezbollah fears prison if disarmed

Al-Mustaqbal daily quoted wikileaks cable 690 issued by the U.S. Embassy to Lebanon on May 17, 2005 as saying that although the Head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) MP Michel Aoun backed the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), he was keen on crippling the Parliament’s work because his MPs were bound to vote in favor of the STL if the Parliament resumed its work.

On May 16, 2007 during his meeting with Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch and then-U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman, Aoun put forth solutions in line with the goals and efforts of the U.S. administration to disarm Hezbollah and to establish peace in the region, the cable said.

“Aoun’s plan starts with the inclusion of Hezbollah in the Lebanese political authority”, the cable added. According to the cable, one of the solutions presented by Aoun is to grant Hezbollah’s senior officials immunity to guarantee that they will not be incarcerated if they are disarmed.

“If Hezbollah does not cooperate it will face isolation”, the cable quoted Aoun. The cable noted that Aoun emphasized the importance of establishing diplomatic ties with Syria so that Lebanon could better control weapons smuggling operations and terrorists crossing the borders. 

“Aoun voiced his readiness to compromise on the issue of controlling Hezbollah’s weapons under the condition that the issue of Shebaa farms is settled”, the cable said.