LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 11/10
Bible Of the
Day
Luke 12/56-59: "
He said to the multitudes also “When you see a cloud rising from the west,
immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it happens. 12:55 When a south
wind blows, you say, ‘There will be a scorching heat,’ and it happens. 12:56 You
hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky,
but how is it that you don’t interpret this time? 12:57 Why don’t you judge for
yourselves what is right? 12:58 For when you are going with your adversary
before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest
perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and
the officer throw you into prison. 12:59 I tell you, you will by no means get
out of there, until you have paid the very last penny.”
Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special
Reports
Violence Against Christians
Continues in Egypt After Christmas Eve Shootings/ANA/January 10/10
Defending Lebanon Or
Israel?/By:
David Schenker/January
10/10
Mugged in Lebanon/By: Ana Maria
Luca/Now Lebanon/January 10,10
Latest News Reports From
Miscellaneous Sources for January 10/10
Senators Say Iran Government May Be on the Ropes/New
York Times
Barak: Israel must make every effort for peace/Ynetnews
PSP/ Hezbollah reconciliation meeting in Choueifat/Ya
Libnan
Jumblat from Shweifat: Returning to
Pre-May 7 Circumstances Helps Only in Inciting Hatred/Naharnet
Der
Spiegel: Hizbullah Moving Cocaine Trade Profits Via Frankfurt Airport/Naharnet
Sfeir: More Christians Need to Join
Army to Keep Balance/Naharnet
Sakr calls to disarm militias/Now
Lebanon
Hariri:
Damascus Visit Beneficial to Country, My Duty is to Bring Stability to Lebanon/Naharnet
Hamas:
Haret Hreik Blast was Package Sent from Abroad
/Naharnet
Israel's ex-president testifies in rape trial/AFP
Report: Hezbollah funded by drug trade in Europe/Haaretz
Lebanon asks U.S. to reverse ban on Hezbollah TV channel/DPA
Assad
to Meshal: Syria stands by Hamas/Haaretz
Al-Anbaa reports Wahhab travelled
to Syria to discuss Jumblatt’s visit/Now Lebanon
Berri: Lebanon respects 1701
whereas Israel violates it continuously /Now Lebanon
Violence
Against Christians Continues in Egypt After Christmas Eve Shootings
GMT 1-10-2010 17:32:1
Assyrian International News Agency
To unsubscribe or set email news digest options, visit http://www.aina.org/mailinglist.html
Egypt (AINA) -- Violence broke out in the evening of January 8, 2010, in the
southern Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi, in the main market and 'Bein el Mehatat'
area, spreading as well to the neighbouring town of Bahgoura. Muslim mobs used
swords, butane gas cylinders for explosions and Molotov cocktails to loot and
torch Coptic-owned homes, shops and cars (video).
Mary Om Boktor Kyrollos, a Coptic widow from Bahgoura, died of fumes after her
home was torched yesterday by Muslims while she was indoors. She was buried in
the early hours of January 09, 2010.Reverend Misaeel, pastor of the church in
Bahgoura told Coptic News that violence started on Friday at 20:00. In Bahgoura,
3 kilometers from Nag Hammadi, where most of the violence took place,
inhabitants confirmed that water and electricity were disconnected in the
evening, during the fires. "Fire brigades arrive 90 minutes late, and the
vehicles which arrived had empty tanks."Eyewitnesses said the perpetrators were
chanting "Allah is Great" and "No God except Allah" while destroying, looting
and torching Coptic property.
"When the State Security forces are not present, the Muslims come to loot and
burn, and when the forces return to the area, the Muslims disappear. They simply
do not arrest them, they just tell them to go away," an eye witnesses told
Coptic News Bulletin in an interview. "State Security is only present in front
of the Coptic Diocese."
Complete absence of security forces was confirmed by another eyewitness. "All
Copts are terrified and are staying indoors," he said.
According to Free Copts, Muslims mobs were led by elements loyal to the first
defendant in the Christmas Eve Massacre on January 6, 2010, when the Christian
congregation was sprayed with bullets as they came out of church after
celebrating the Coptic Christmas Eve mass. 8 were killed and 15 wounded (AINA
1-7-2010).
Funeral services for the victims of the Christmas shootings took place on
Thursday, led by Bishop Kyrillos of the Nag Hammadi Diocese, and was attended by
several thousand Copts. (video of funeral). It was reported that Muslims pelted
the funeral procession with stones.
By Mary Abdelmassih
Copyright (C) 2010, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Use
Report: Hezbollah funded by drug trade in Europe
By Assaf Uni, /Haaretz Correspondent
German police suspect the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, of using drug
trafficking in Europe to fund part of its activities, German magazine Der
Spiegel reported on Saturday.
According to the report published on the magazine's website, German police
arrested two Lebanese citizens living in Germany last October after they
transferred large sums of money to a family in Lebanon with connections to
Hezbollah's leadership, including the Shiite group's Secretary General, Hassan
Nasrallah. Suspicion was first raised in May 2008, when police found 8.7 million
Euros in the bags of four Lebanese men at the airport in Frankfurt. Police
searched the men's apartment in Speyer, Germany, and found an additional half a
million Euros. According to the report, police suspected the men were selling
cocaine in Europe and sending the profits back to Lebanon. The report added that
the two suspects went through training at a Hezbollah camp. The suspects deny
the charges against them. Israel has in recent years accused Hezbollah of drug
trafficking along the Lebanon-Israel border. However, Nasrallah has denied
Israel's charge of "narcoterrorism." In a speech last November, he accused
Israel of trying to put a political spin on what in his view is simply a drug
operation run by Lebanese drug dealers in collusion with Israeli border guards.
Israeli police say that based on evidence gathered from interrogating busted
traffickers, nothing happens on the Lebanon-Israel border without Hezbollah's
consent.
Attack on
Canada, U.S. is attack on Muslims: imams Module body
Sat Jan 9, MONTREAL (CBC) - A group of Canadian and U.S. Islamic leaders on
Friday issued a fatwa, or religious edict, declaring that an attack by
extremists on the two countries would constitute an attack on the 10 million
Muslims living in North America. The 20 imams associated with the Islamic
Supreme Council of Canada said this marked the first fatwa by the Muslim clergy
declaring attacks on Canada and the U.S. to be attacks on Muslims. "In our view,
these attacks are evil, and Islam requires Muslims to stand up against this
evil," the imams said in their fatwa. Calgary Imam Syed Soharwardy, founder of
the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, said attacks on Canadian or U.S. soil are
essentially attacks on Muslims.
"We are part of this society," he said. "This is my home, and if anybody attacks
on Canada, in fact, attacks on my home." The imams said it is a duty of every
Muslim in Canada and the U.S. to safeguard the two countries. "They must expose
any person, Muslim or non-Muslim, who would cause harm to fellow Canadians or
Americans," they said.
"It is religious obligation upon Muslims, based upon the Qur'anic teachings,
that we have to be loyal to the country where we live," said Soharwardy. "We
have no problems in Canada; we can practise our religion freely." In Montreal,
one of the signatories of the edict, Imam Nasir Qadri of the Anwar Musallah
Mosque, said he spoke to his followers at his mosque about the issue Friday.
Most of them call Canada home and feel personally threatened by the attempted
attacks, he said. The 20 imams who signed the fatwa come from British Columbia,
Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Houston. The fatwa comes just weeks after an
attempted bombing on Christmas Day of a U.S. jet bound for Detroit from
Amsterdam.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian man, has been indicted on six
charges, which include attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and
attempted murder.
Lebanon asks U.S. to reverse ban on Hezbollah TV channel
By DPA /Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman has urged the United States to
reverse a decision to ban the Hezbollah-run television channel, al-Manar,
Lebanese media reported Saturday.
Suleiman made the request during his talks with visiting U.S. Senator John
McCain on Friday night, according to the reports. "President Suleiman asked that
Washington backtrack on its decision to ban certain television channels,
including al-Manar," the reports added. The U.S. House of Representatives passed
a bill in December calling for punitive measures against Middle East television
networks, including al-Manar, seen to be fueling anti-American sentiment. The
U.S. lists the Shiite Hezbollah group that leads Lebanon's political opposition
as a terrorist organization. McCain and his delegation arrived in Lebanon Friday
for talks with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. The meetings included talks on U.S. assistance for
security, economic growth, development and reform in Lebanon, the U.S. embassy
said in a statement Saturday. McCain's trip to Beirut comes ahead of a visit to
the region by U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell scheduled for later this
month.
Sfeir:
More Christians Need to Join Army to Keep Balance
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir said Sunday that more Christians
need to join the Lebanese army in order to maintian a good balance. "It is the
duty of all Lebanese to defend their homeland," Sfeir said during his Sunday
sermon. "If you don't defend your country, not one will defend it," he
cautioned. Beirut, 10 Jan 10, 10:43
Jumblat
from Shweifat: Returning to Pre-May 7 Circumstances Helps Only in Inciting
Hatred
Naharnet/A reconciliatory gathering took place Sunday in Shweifat with the
participation of Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, Lebanese
Democratic Party leader MP Talal Arslan, Hizbullah's representative MP Mohammed
Raad, and AMAL's representative MP Ali Hassan Khalil. "The return to the
circumstances that preceded May 7 (2008 incidents) is useless except for
stirring feelings by those who are dominated by their uptight vision," said
Jumblat. The Druze leader addressed the people of Mount Lebanon, Dahiyeh, and
Beirut by saying that coexistence and common struggle are their destiny. Jumblat
said that the Shweifat reconciliation closed a "painful wound" which almost
managed to destroy the historical ties bonding Mount Lebanon, Beirut, and
Dahiyeh. He also hailed the efforts of the Lebanese Army and "the families of
the martyrs" who managed to "rise above their pain."
Earlier, Jumblat had described reconciliation in Shweifat as a "huge turning
point," following his meeting with U.S. Republican Senator and former
presidential candidate John McCain.
On his part, the representative of AMAL and Speaker Nabih Berri, MP Ali Hassan
Khalil said: "Today, we gather to restore the unity of stances and the painful
chapters have been turned through the sacrifices of everyone."Hizbullah
Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was represented by MP Mohammed Raad
who said: "We will stay consolidated and we will defend our land. Our solidarity
deep-rooted the choice of resistance against every aggression, and together we
will support the Palestinian cause.""We stress upon our unified constants and no
sound is higher than the sound of national reconciliation. Let's embrace the
resistance because it is the only guarantee to protect Lebanon," said MP Talal
Arslan, the sponsor of the reconciliation and the key player in the pacification
period that followed the May 7 deadly clashes in Lebanon. Shweifat's gathering
crowns reconciliation efforts which were launched after the deadly clashes
between Lebanon's political majority and minority blocs, the worst since the
country's 1975-1990 civil war. The fighting, which took place in the capital and
other parts of Lebanon, pitted Hizbullah and its allies against supporters of
current Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party.
Around 100 people were killed in a week. Since August, Jumblat has gradually
distanced himself from the parliamentary majority in Lebanon. Beirut, 10 Jan 10,
18:35
Assad to Meshal: Syria stands by Hamas
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday told Hamas politburo chief Khaled
Meshal that Damascus stands by Hamas and will do everything in its power to help
Palestinians reclaim their rights and face challenges ahead, Channel 10 news
reported. The Syrian leader also called Israel's blockade of Gaza inhumane on
Saturday, during a meeting in Damascus with Meshal, according to media reports.
Assad assailed Israel for what he described as its siege on Gaza and said it is
causing great harm to the Palestinian people. Assad called the current situation
in Gaza "tragic," referring to the violence that erupted between pro-Gaza
activists and Egyptian security when Egypt refused to allow part of an aid
convoy into Gaza. The Sana News Agency reported that the two leaders also
discussed reconciliation between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas. Last
week, Fatah turned down a reconciliation proposal by Hamas, Arab diplomatic
sources said. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said senior Hamas
officials had informed him that the group was willing to sign a reconciliation
deal based on the Egyptian proposal presented to the two sides in October. Abbas
did not give further details, but Arab diplomatic sources said Hamas had planned
for the agreement to be signed in Damascus. The request by Hamas is an effort to
undermine the status of Egypt, with whom Hamas has been sparring, while
crediting Syria and indirectly Iran, both rivals of the Egyptians.
Der
Spiegel: Hizbullah Moving Cocaine Trade Profits Via Frankfurt Airport
Naharnet/German investigators are probing Hizbullah's alleged cocaine smuggling
in Europe and the transfer of the profits to Lebanon via Frankfurt airport, a
German magazine said.
A report in Der Spiegel magazine on Saturday said initial suspicion that
Hizbullah was raising funds by smuggling cocaine was raised in May 2008 when
around 8.7 million euros in cash were found in the luggage of four Lebanese men
at Frankfurt airport. A further 500,000 euros were found in the apartment of one
of the suspects in the Rhineland Pfalz town of Speyer.
Two Lebanese men were arrested in October 2009 when customs officers and federal
criminal police agents raided a house in Speyer, the magazine said. According to
Der Spiegel, suspicion is that family members have been regularly moving
millions of euros raised in the European cocaine trade, via Frankfurt to Beirut.
Those receiving the money in Lebanon are said to be members of a family with
contacts with the highest levels of the Hizbullah command, including leader
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. A close relative of the suspects has rejected all the
allegations, the magazine said. Beirut, 09 Jan 10, 15:44
Sakr calls to disarm militias
January 10, 2010/Now Lebanon
Lebanon First bloc MP Okab Sakr said during an interview with Future News
television on Sunday that a “real reconciliation” would not take place before
completely removing the weapons of those involved in the May 7, 2008 events. He
said the state should begin by disarming militias, not the Resistance.
According to Sakr, the Army Commander is willing to act on the “willingness to
disarm all militias.” He added that Hezbollah and Progressive Socialist Party
leader MP Walid Jumblatt are not capable of fully guaranteeing the safety of the
Lebanese. Sakr said Jumblatt’s reconciliation with Hezbollah is “normal” given
recent fears of a Druze-Shia conflict. He also said there is no need for a
meeting between Lebanese Forces and Free Patriotic Movement leaders given there
are no worries of a clash between them.
“Jumblatt and Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s relationship is strategic,” he said,
adding that they have no major disagreements and concur on national unity and
protection of the Druze.
Sakr said that UN Security Council resolutions should be properly implemented to
avoid giving Israel an advantage. He also said Syria has implemented Resolution
1559.
He added that finding a defense strategy and dealing with the Resistance’s
weapons will be priorities in the National Dialogue’s agenda. -NOW Lebanon
Al-Anbaa reports Wahhab travelled to Syria to discuss Jumblatt’s visit
January 10, 2010 /Al-Anbaa kuwaiti newspaper reported on Sunday that according
to a well-informed source in Syria, Tawhid Movement leader Wiam Wahhab spent
five days in Damascus last week. The source also said that Wahhab met with
several Syrian political figures and discussed arrangements for Progressive
Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt’s visit to Syria. -NOW Lebanon
Berri: Lebanon respects 1701 whereas Israel violates it continuously
January 10, 2010
Now Lebanon/According to An-Nahar Sunday’s edition, Speaker Nabih Berri said
during his meeting with US Senator John McCain on Saturday that Lebanon respects
UN Security Council Resolution 1701. He added that the cabinet and Internal
Security Forces (ISF) work hard to implement the resolution.
Berri said that even if Lebanon violated Resolution 1701, it would not be
comparable to the number of daily violations committed by Israel.
He added that Israel’s occupation takes place in a “different form,” giving the
example of the 2.4 million cluster bombs that were made in the US and deposited
in the South throughout the years. When asked by a member of McCain’s delegation
about weapons provided by Iran to Hezbollah through Syria, he said “what about
the type of weapons US provides to Israel?” Berri added that in lieu of
providing Israel with such an extensive weaponry supply, “the US should supply
Lebanon with a fraction of the Jewish State’s military equipment.”
Berri said that US policies are “stuck on fighting terrorism in the Torah Bora
mountains,” however the real battle, he said, consists of giving certain nations
the right to decide on their domestic policy and of respecting their choice. In
a reference to US leaders, Berri also said that demonstrating “intentions of
peace” without helping Palestinians fight for their right is “not enough.”
-NOW Lebanon
Mugged in Lebanon
Ana Maria Luca, January 10, 2010
Now Lebanon/Beirut has been voted one of 2010’s “best destinations in the world”
and one of the most vibrant cities to spend your vacation in by international
tourism experts.
But vibrant doesn’t necessarily mean safe. If you’re a tourist in Lebanon and
you want to try the famous pay-per-passenger “service taxis” that are seemingly
everywhere in the country, think again. The danger is not that you might be
charged a few dollars extra for being a foreigner; Lebanese police and foreign
embassies in the country are saying that expats and tourists have become the
main target of armed robbers holding up passengers of services in and around
Beirut.
The story is the same for almost all victims: He or she is picked up by a
service that already contains two people, the driver and a male passenger, who
is usually sitting in the front seat. The driver then takes the victim to a
fairly isolated area or to a freeway, while the other "passenger" points a gun
at the victim and takes all his or her money and valuable objects.
The police, or Gendarmes, are aware of only 13 cases since June 2009, but they
say many more incidents are bound to have taken place without having been
reported. A police source who wished not to be named told NOW that the victims
are usually foreign, and that most of them were picked up in Dora, Tayounneh,
Choueifat, or the Beirut neighborhoods of Hamra and Achrafieh.
One of those victims was Lisa, a foreigner living in Lebanon who asked that her
real name and nationality not be printed as she is still pursuing her case with
the police. She was robbed two and a half weeks ago after boarding a service in
Hamra. The man in the front seat pointed a gun at her head and demanded all her
money and cell phone. She was then dumped in Dahiyeh, where she had never been
before. She told NOW she feels very lucky, as most of her money was not in her
wallet but in her pockets, which the robber did not search.
One of the Lebanese victims was Georges, who also asked that his real name not
be used because his case has not yet been solved. Georges, a professional DJ,
was robbed at the beginning of December in Jeita. “I was going home after a day
of work in the studio and I grabbed a cab passing by,” he told NOW. “It was late
at night – nobody was on the streets. They immediately pointed a gun at my head
and asked for all my money and my cell phone. It went really bad. I tried to
jump out of the car, so they hit me. They took my wallet with $700 in it and my
phone,” he said.
A month later, Georges is still following up with the police. “Of course they
didn’t catch anybody. I’m not expecting them to do anything. But at least I am
warning other people about what happened by telling the story,” he said.
Lisa also says that she suffered with police incompetence after she was robbed.
"I went to the police station the next day in my neighborhood, but I was told to
go to the police station in the neighborhood in Dahiyeh where I was left by the
men who robbed me,” she said. “I almost didn't make it, because I was told I had
to file the report within 24 hours.”
Though the police told Lisa they are investigating, they have taken no visible
action to find the men who robbed her. “They could have set up checkpoints where
repeated robberies took place, and the police could have established a profile
of the men and their car,” she said.
The police claim to investigate every robbery and say they have caught some of
the thieves operating out of services, though NOW’s police source could not
specify how many, as records only show the number of criminals arrested, not the
crimes they committed.
A source in the Internal Security Forces, who wished not to be named as he is
not authorized to talk to the press, told NOW that they didn’t receive any
orders to erect checkpoints or to look for individuals described by the victims.
He said the explanation might be that the Gendarmes, the body responsible for
gathering evidence and investigating robberies, is headed by Brigadier General
Antoine Chakkour, who fell out with ISF head Major General Ashraf Rifi last
November. Since then, the two institutions do not share intelligence, much to
the detriment of the public in Lebanon.
“It is very unfortunate that the ISF and Gendarmes aren't sharing information
and reports with each other,” as they could have prevented more robberies, Lisa
said.
The only institutions that have issued warnings on the robberies are the
American and British embassies. “Carry the number of a reputable taxi company
with you in case of emergencies. If you do choose to use a service car, make
sure that it has the red government plate. If you notice anything unusual or the
car seems to be taking a different route than you expected, ask to stop the car
and exit the vehicle immediately,” reads the US Embassy’s warden message, sent
to American citizens in Lebanon late last month.
Defending Lebanon or Israel?
David Schenker
Forbes.com
January 7, 2010
In December, the Lebanese Web site Qifa Nabki featured a satirical "news story"
discussing U.S. arms transfers to Lebanon. According to the article, the U.S.
gifted "cutting edge" military material to the Lebanese Armed Forces that
included camouflage-print bandages and, more menacingly, the USS Tadpole, a
decommissioned World War II vessel that "until recently had been used for target
practice by U.S. Navy gunners in Norfolk."
Humor aside, the article highlights a serious and increasingly prevalent
critique of U.S. military assistance. Since the 2005 Cedar Revolution and the
balloting that brought to power the only pro-West democratically elected
government in the Arab world, Lebanon received nearly $500 million worth of
military material from Washington. Yet many in Lebanon are concerned that U.S.
weaponry enables the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to defend the state neither
from Israel nor from local al-Qaida affiliates.
This line of thinking has some prominent and diverse proponents. In 2008, leader
of the Shiite militia Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah complained that U.S. support
for Israel prevented the transfer of sophisticated weapons to the LAF; in 2009,
Minister of Defense Elias Murr implicitly criticized Washington for not
providing fighter jets. "If we had aircraft," during the 2007 fighting against
Islamist militants, "we would not have lost one martyr from the army," he said.
This past December, from the White House podium, Lebanese President Michel
Suleiman asked for increases in U.S. military assistance to finally enable the
LAF to "defend Lebanon from enemy attacks and confront terrorism."
U.S. officials deny Lebanon is being given short shrift, but the perception
articulated by Nasrallah and Sulieman is partly correct and stems from a
fundamental Lebanese misreading of U.S. policy priorities: While U.S. taxpayer
generosity, currently slated at over $100 million this year, will enhance LAF
domestic counterterrorism capabilities, it is not meant -- and will never be
meant -- to help Lebanon deter or defend against Israeli strikes.
For Washington, Hezbollah -- which controls south Lebanon -- not Israel's
violations of Lebanese sovereignty, is the problem. Because Hezbollah receives
virtually all of its armaments via Syria, Washington has also been far more
concerned about the lack of security on the Lebanese-Syrian frontier than about
the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Today, both Israel and Lebanon are violating U.N. Security Council Resolutions.
Israel's ubiquitous over-flights violate Lebanese sovereignty, while the
Government of Lebanon fails to take sufficient steps to prevent the movement of
arms to Hezbollah. More problematically, the new, if deeply divided,
pro-West/pro-Iran government seemed to repudiate the core element of UNSCRs 1559
and 1701 when it explicitly legitimized Hezbollah's weapons in its Ministerial
Statement. Given these violations, Washington may see Israel's ability to
surveil Lebanon as the best way to prevent another war.
U.S. military planners, then, reached a consensus back in 2005 with their
Lebanese counterparts to prioritize a domestic counterterrorism mission for the
LAF, i.e. fighting al-Qaida affiliates and Syrian-backed militants at home
rather than confronting external threats. Even so, the arms transfers made
available to the LAF for this more limited mission provide plenty of fodder for
detractors of the U.S. assistance program.
Consider the close-combat air support "Armed Caravan," a particular target of
Lebanese derision. This Cessna turbo prop plane is capable of deploying hellfire
missiles and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance assets in urban
environments. At a cost of $10 million each -- including ISR, missiles and
contractor logistical support -- the plane is a bargain, especially considering
the $30 million to $40 million price tag for a comparable F-16 package.
Given that the only other fixed wing aircraft in the Lebanese arsenal are four
1950s-era British Hawker Hunters -- flown by only one other country, Zimbabwe --
the easily maintained, cost-effective Cessna would seem a perfect fit for
Lebanon. But no. Its low prestige value and, in particular, the comical images
conjured up when imagining dogfights between this plane and Israeli fighter jets
over Shebaa Farms, have made the Caravan a subject of ridicule in Lebanon and an
example of the U.S.'s lack of seriousness. The fact that the overnight shipper
Fedex is the leading company in the world using the airplanes, albeit without
the Hellfires, hasn't helped.
The Caravan's lack of firepower and cachet has led some Lebanese to suggest that
the LAF should get its weapons elsewhere. In December, just prior to President
Suleiman's Washington visit, Adnan Hussein, a Hezbollah-sympathetic cabinet
member close to Suleiman articulated what others were no doubt thinking: "If we
don't get our weapons from the U.S.," he said, "we will get them from another
country." There are signs this already has been happening. Earlier this year,
Russia gifted 10 MiG-29 aircraft to Lebanon. Iran, too, has offered to provide
the LAF with aircraft and missiles. In May 2009, Nasrallah touted unconditional
Iranian military support as a campaign promise.
While Hezbollah gets its weapons primarily from Iran and Syria, however, the LAF
is unlikely to do so any time soon. With an annual budget of less than $800
million -- 80% of which is devoted to salaries -- the LAF has very little
discretionary funding for expensive weapons systems. Even if Lebanon channeled a
significant portion of its scarce resources to its southern border, it would
unlikely deter Israel. Consider that Syria, which devotes an estimated $6
billion per year to military expenditures, could not prevent Israel from
destroying its nuclear facility in 2007 -- or from buzzing the presidential
palace with its F-16s in 2006.
Although Hezbollah is trying to direct Beirut away from Washington and toward
Iran, the Government of Lebanon, for the time being, appears stuck with the
assistance provided by the U.S. and its Arab friends. Of course, the current
arrangement could change. Washington began its robust military assistance
program with Beirut in the aftermath of the Cedar Revolution. Recently, however,
this independence movement, under pressure from Syria and Hezbollah, dropped its
support for certain resolutions designed to strengthen state sovereignty
throughout Lebanese territory.
Washington has never been under any illusions regarding the political will of
Lebanese politicians to employ the LAF in controversial missions, like securing
the border with Syria or disarming Hezbollah, or the LAF's ability to take on
such missions. The aid program was not designed to accomplish these highly
ambitious goals in the near term. Rather, it reflects an attempt to strengthen
one of the few truly national institutions in a divided country, with the
long-term objective of one day helping the democratically elected government to
exercise its sovereignty throughout Lebanon.
If the Government of Lebanon demonstrates a commitment to move toward this goal,
the kind of advanced systems that Washington's critics advocate for the LAF may
someday be on the table. If progress lapses, however, even the hapless Caravan
may be dropped from the American assistance program. In either case, Lebanese
visions of U.S.-made F-16s flying over Tyre with the distinctive Lebanese Cedar
Flag on the tail -- and not the Israeli star of David -- will remain a dream.
**David Schenker is the director of the Program on Arab Politics at the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Canada
welcomes new Saudi trial for arrested Canadian Module body
OTTAWA (AFP) - A Canadian citizen sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia on murder
charges will undergo a new trial, the Canadian government announced.
"Canada is very pleased to confirm that the death sentence against Mohamed
Kohail has been revoked and that a retrial has been ordered," Foreign Minister
Lawrence Cannon said in a statement. "The government of Canada has repeatedly
raised the cases of Sultan and Mohammed Kohail directly with senior Saudi
ministers, and this case remains a priority for our government," he added.
Brothers Mohamed and Sultan Kohail were arrested in Saudi Arabia in early 2007
on charges of killing a fellow Syrian student during a fight.
In contrast to Mohamed who received a death sentence, Sultan Kohail was
sentenced to one year in jail and 200 lashes because he was a minor at the time
of the incident.
Israel's
ex-president testifies in rape trial Module body
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's disgraced ex-president Moshe Katsav testified for the
first time on Sunday in a trial in which he faces several counts of rape and
sexual harassment, Israeli media said. The 64-year-old Iranian-born father of
five arrived at Tel Aviv district court at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) with his lawyers
but did not speak to reporters before entering the closed-door hearing. He is
expected to be questioned by defence lawyers and prosecutors for three
eight-hour sessions per week until the conclusion of the trial, which is
expected to come before the Jewish passover holiday at the end of March. The
trial -- in which at least 56 witnesses have been called to testify -- opened in
May with a 20-minute session during which Katsav pleaded his innocence. The
district court judge then adjourned proceedings until September 1, when Katsav's
alleged victims began testifying.
Katsav has been indicted on two counts of rape, forcible indecent assault and
abuse of power against an employee at his office while he was tourism minister
in the 1990s, according to the justice ministry. He is also accused of sexually
harassing at least one female employee while he was president, and of
obstruction of justice, it said. He was forced to step down over the charges in
June 2007.