WikiLeaks: Murr Said Berri was Praying to Liberate Himself from Hizbullah

Caretaker Defense Minister Elias Murr said in a WikiLeaks cable published by al-Akhbar daily on Thursday that Speaker Nabih Berri was eagerly waiting to break his political alliance with Hizbullah.

Berri “is praying to liberate himself politically from Hizbullah,” the cable quoted Murr as saying during a meeting with a U.S. diplomat on August 10, 2006.

He said that the deployment of 15,000 soldiers in southern Lebanon following Israel’s pullout could take place within 8 hours.

As soon as Lebanese army brigades deploy in the south, they would receive military equipment from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, Murr said, according to the WikiLeaks cable.