Hizbullah Engaged in Direct Contacts with CIA, Pentagon

The U.S. Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) are engaged in direct and indirect contacts with Hizbullah, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Friday.

According to the report, the talks focus on several aspects and include the Islamist movement Hamas.

However, information received by LBCI ruled out the report, saying it was not true.

In November, the U.S. embassy in Lebanon denied a report by the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper saying that U.S. officials have been involved in talks with Hizbullah.

"No official at the embassy has or is engaged in discussion with members of the terrorist organization Hizbullah,” the Embassy clarified to Naharnet in a statement.

The newspaper had said in a report that indirect and secret contacts are ongoing between Hizbullah and the U.S. embassy in Lebanon.

The daily quoted a March 14 MP as saying that the “relations between the Hizbullah and the U.S. are developing positively.”

The MP also noted that U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale informed various Lebanese leaders that “a cabinet can not be formed without Hizbullah participation.”

However, the embassy's statement also denied this claim, stressing that the makeup of the new Lebanese cabinet is to be decided by the Lebanese people only.

"We will judge the government not by its numbers, but by its composition, mandate and actions,” it remarked.

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/109751-report-hizbullah-engaged-in-direct-contacts-with-cia-pentagon