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.