LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِMarch 25/2011

Biblical Event Of The Day
Isaiah 5/20-24: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! 5:22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink; 5:23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent! 5:24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Canada Issues Statement Recognizing the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, Raei/March 24/11
Beirut has not yet paid STL dues for 2011/By Michael Bluhm/March 24/11 
Bahrain won’t split Syria and Iran/By: Tony Badran/March 24/11
The bomb blast in central Jerusalem was the work of terrorist pros/DEBKAfile/March 24/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for March 24/11
Lieberman: West should deal with Iran and Syria like Libya/Reuters
Canadian CF-18s bomb Libyan ammunition depot in first attack of campaign/Canadian Press
Two Grad rockets from Gaza reach deep into Israel/Haaretz
Reports: More than 100 Killed in Daraa/Naharnet
SYRIA - Head of media monitoring centre arrested in Damascus/News Agencies
More Protesters Are Killed in Syrian Crackdown/New York Times
At least 25 Syrian protesters killed, hospital says/Reuters
15 killed in clashes between protesters, security forces in Syria/CNN
7 European bicyclists reported missing in Lebanon/CNN
Condemning violence against protesters in Syria, Ban calls for probe into killings/UN News Centre
Syrian protesters chant anti Hezbollah and Iran slogans/Ya Libnan
U.S. working behind scenes at tribunal?/UPI
Estonian tourists kidnapped after biking from Syria to Lebanon/AHH
Coalition Air Raid on Gadhafi Stronghold Sebha /Naharnet
Dubai Police: Bid to Ship 16,000 Guns to Yemen Foiled /Naharnet
French Defense Minister: Gadhafi Forces Wavering /Naharnet
Military Rivals Clash in South Yemen /Naharnet
Blasts Rattle Tripoli, Libya Air Force 'Destroyed' /Naharnet
Al-Seyassah: Gulf to Deport Hizbullah, Iran Guards Agents /Naharnet
Assad, Jumblat Discuss Lebanese Cabinet Formation Process /Naharnet
Report: Hariri May Postpone Bekaa Visit /Naharnet
WikiLeaks: Rifi Questioned Loyalty of Security Officials Charged with Monitoring Shipments to Lebanon /Naharnet
WikiLeaks: Assad Said that Syria Would Enter War if Israel Invades Lebanon /Naharnet
WikiLeaks: Murr Said Berri was Praying to Liberate Himself from Hizbullah /Naharnet
WikiLeaks: Jumblat Said Israel Strengthened Hizbullah and Weakened the State /Naharnet
Najjar Says No Information on Indictment Release Date /Naharnet
Palestinian Refugees Force Closure of U.N. Offices /Naharnet
MP Qassem Hashem: March 14 disgraces itself/Now Lebanon


Reports: More than 100 Killed in Daraa
Naharnet/Some 20,000 people gathered Thursday in the Syrian city of Daraa for the burial of victims killed by police gunfire the day before, chanting support for a rising anti-regime movement there, rights activists said. One activist in Daraa, contacted by telephone, said the mourners made their way from the Omari mosque, where protesters have been holed up for a week, to the burial grounds under pouring rain, chanting: "With our souls, with our blood, we are loyal to our martyrs."
Syrian authorities Thursday told reporters 10 people died in the security forces crackdown on Daraa, a town of 75,000 people that has become a hub for anti-regime protests since March 18. But rights activists have said at least 100 people were killed by gunfire on Wednesday alone in Daraa, a tribal town at Syria's border with Jordan that has been the focal point of protests demanding the end of the country's ruling regime. "There are definitely more than 100 dead and the city will need a week to bury its martyrs," said human rights activist Ayman al-Asswad in Daraa, reached by telephone from Nicosia.(AFP) Beirut, 24 Mar 11, 14:20

Al-Seyassah: Gulf to Deport Hizbullah, Iran Guards Agents
Naharnet/Arab states in the Gulf plan to deport thousands of Lebanese Shiites over their alleged links to Hizbullah and Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard force, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Thursday. Al-Seyassah, quoting London-based Arab diplomatic sources, said the measure was being considered because of intelligence reports that Lebanese Shiite activists had been involved in protests in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Based on the assessments by the United States, France and Bahrain, alleged Hizbullah and Revolutionary Guard agents were leading the protests along with local Shiite clerics in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, it said. It said Bahrain's decision to suspend flights to Iran, Iraq and Lebanon and its condemnation of remarks by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had "paved the way for the deportation of thousands of Lebanese Shiites from the Gulf." "No Lebanese Shiite linked to or suspected of being associated with Hizbullah and the Revolutionary Guards will remain in the Gulf," the diplomatic sources said, citing high-ranking Bahraini officials. Bahrain is preparing to deport 90 Lebanese Shiites, most of them arrested during the Shiite-led, pro-democracy in the kingdom, and is examining the status of 4,000 Shiite families living in the Gulf kingdom, the sources said. Last week, Bahraini authorities carried out a bloody crackdown on the protesters who have been demanding political reforms since February 14 in the tiny Shiite-majority, Sunni-ruled kingdom. The crackdown came hours after a Saudi-led joint Gulf force rolled into Bahrain to back up the regime, a move condemned by Shiite Iran and the head of Hizbullah who has offered to help the demonstrators.(AFP) Beirut, 24 Mar 11, 11:24

Ambiguity Over Kidnapping of 7 Estonians Amid Fears of Resumption of Civil War Abductions
Naharnet/The kidnapping of seven Estonians brought back fears about the resumption of abductions that were common during the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war amid reports that the men could have been snatched to be used as a bargaining chip for a Palestinian recently arrested in Ukraine. The Estonian tourists cycling in the eastern Bekaa Valley were kidnapped on Wednesday by armed men. They had crossed legally into Lebanon from Syria and were intercepted at about 5:30 pm by two white vans and a dark Mercedes with no license plates in the industrial part of the city of Zahle. "They were forced at gunpoint into the vans which headed toward the eastern Bekaa village of Kfarzabad near where there is a post for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC)," a security official told Agence France Presse. Although the PFLP-GC denied its involvement in the incident, high-ranking security sources told al-Liwaa daily in remarks published Thursday that a Palestinian group could have kidnapped the Estonians to swap them with a PFLP-GC member who was arrested last month in Kiev. The sources did not rule out the possibility of abducting the European men to create a tumult in Lebanon which has recently witnessed a stable security situation despite a deadlock on the formation of the new cabinet. Official sources expressed fear that the incident could also be linked to events in Libya, saying a Palestinian organization which still receives support from the Gadhafi regime might be behind the kidnapping. They said the abduction could be the first repercussion of Libyan leader Moammer Gadhafi's threat to harm European interests in the world in response to the coalition offensive. Though there was still no official confirmation whether the kidnappings were politically motivated, like the rash of abductions during the bitter civil war, An Nahar daily warned that the incident could affect Lebanon's diplomatic and economic ties with the West.
At least 88 foreigners were taken hostage between 1984 and 1990, including 17 Americans, by the various factions during the 1975-90 conflict.
Estonia's foreign ministry said Thursday it was working to win the release of the seven. "We have been in touch with the relatives of all seven persons kidnapped in Lebanon," the ministry said in a statement but did not revealing their identities. "The crisis commission of the government gathered late Wednesday. Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet has been in touch with Lebanese authorities, who have promised to do all they can to any help resolve the situation," it said.(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 24 Mar 11, 08:14

The bomb blast in central Jerusalem was the work of terrorist pros
DEBKAfile Special Report March 23, 2011
The bomb which exploded Wednesday afternoon, March 23, near the No. 74 bus stop opposite Binyanei Haooma at Jerusalem's main northern entrance was detonated by remote control. It killed a female tourist and injured 30-40 passers-by and passengers, several seriously plus at least 20 shock victims who later sought hospital treatment.
debkafile's counter-terror sources report that the attack was professionally executed by a team of three to five with local aid from East Jerusalem Palestinians. While the authorities have reassured the city that it was a one-off attack, intelligence and terror experts are certain a terrorist organization activated trained bombers and may do so again.
The 1-2 kilogram device planted in a suitcase was detonated at one of the busiest corners of Jerusalem, where taxis wait to pick up out-of-town arrivals and two buses take on passengers. The site of attack must have been picked in advance, with the bomber waiting in a getaway car nearby to detonate the device as one of the buses was pulling away and drive off to Arab Jerusalem or the West Bank before the police arrived. This method is familiar from the 2003-2006 Palestinian war of terror. The police initially set up road blocks on the highway to Tel Aviv before realizing too late that the bombers had headed east.
That same morning, two Iran-supplied Grad missiles were fired from Gaza and exploded in Beersheba, a town of 200,000, injuring five people and damaging a house, followed by seven mortar shells exploding in the Eshkol farm region closer to the border, an area (of 200,000) still jittery from the 50 mortars fired in a single barrage Saturday. Some were found to contain phosphorus to magnify the burn wounds.
Overnight, two Grad missiles were aimed at the important port towns of Ashkelon (170,000 inhabitants) and Ashdod (200,000).
Wednesday night, after taking 20 assorted missiles and mortar shells during the day, three quarters of a million civilians were advised to stay close to their bomb-proof shelters and safe rooms.
For the earlier debkafile report on Gaza violence click here
Terrorist incidents have occurred in recent weeks in other places too. Earlier this month two Palestinians murdered five members of an Israeli family in their sleep at Itamar on the West Bank. They still have not been apprehended. An explosive device was defused in time in a rubbish bag on a Jerusalem high street.
Beersheba and Ashdod have shut down all schools until the end of the week. Their leaders are demanding action to put an end to the constant assaults on the population, backed by several cabinet ministers who are pushing for a major campaign against Hamas.
Widening circles of criticism are directed against Defense Minister Ehud Barak's sangfroid ("Hamas doesn't want a real escalation any more than we do.") and his influence on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who delayed his trip to Moscow by a few hours for consultations on the Jerusalem bombing.
The attack reminded Jerusalemites of the years of deadly Palestinian terror which struck down hundreds of civilians on buses, cafes, streets, schools, markets, stores and at festive events in every corner of the city. The last two years have been relatively free of these attacks. The last major Palestinian outrage in Jerusalem was the massacre at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva seminary on March 6, 2008. Later, for a while, Palestinians tried using tractors for rampages on city routes.


Assad, Jumblat Discuss Lebanese Cabinet Formation Process
Naharnet/Syrian President Bashar Assad held talks with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat in Damascus on Thursday, Syria's state-run news agency, SANA, reported.
SANA said that Assad and Jumblat discussed "the developments in Lebanon and efforts to form the government." The agency added that the talks also tackled the latest developments in the region. Jumblat visited Damascus last week along with Caretaker Minister Gazi Aridi, where he met with the assistant of the Syrian president's deputy. Beirut, 24 Mar 11, 11:50

Report: Hariri May Postpone Bekaa Visit
Naharnet/Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri may postpone his visit to the Bekaa Valley due to prior engagements, according to sources in al-Mustaqbal movement. Al-Akhbar newspaper on Thursday pointed out that al-Mustaqbal had already prepared for his trip to the Bekaa and had booked Park Hotel in Chtaura for three days. Sources from the movement also mentioned that the date of Hariri's visit to the valley is not yet set, and that he may visit the region on Friday or Saturday or on a date that will be announced later. The sources added that the long schedule which was enlisted on Hariri's agenda one month ago, was prepared by the caretaker premier himself and his consultants to interact more effectively with al-Mustaqbal supporters in the Bekaa and to listen to their opinions and demands. Hariri was scheduled to visit the Bekaa last week but had to postpone the trip. He has already made a three-day visit to Tripoli as part of his campaign against Hizbullah's arms. Beirut, 24 Mar 11, 08:45

Lebanese Officials Turn to Syria for Help in Cabinet Formation
Naharnet/The latest visits of Lebanese officials to Damascus to discuss the draft government lineup with the Assad regime will most likely help in the formation of the cabinet soon.
Syrian President Bashar Assad held talks with Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh on Wednesday. The Syrian leader also met with Premier-designate Najib Miqati's brother Taha on Monday. Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and Speaker Nabih Berri's political assistant MP Ali Hassan Khalil were among the visitors to Damascus.
Jumblat traveled to the Syrian capital on Wednesday night and held talks with Assad on Thursday. The Daily Star quoted political sources as saying that the wide-ranging contacts that took place over the last 48 hours between Miqati, the March 8 alliance and Syrian officials indicated that the new government was expected to "see the light very soon," later this week or beginning next week. Sources following up the consultations on the formation of the government unveiled to An Nahar newspaper that "something will happen soon" but ruled out the announcement of a lineup on Thursday. Other informed sources told As Safir daily that the Syrian meddling is mainly aimed at urging Lebanese officials to speed up the cabinet formation process and refute rumors that Damascus was rejecting a quick solution to the government deadlock. Beirut, 24 Mar 11, 09:53

Connelly Meets Lebanon Bankers, Says LCB Action Not Targeted Against Lebanese Banking Sector
Naharnet/U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly on Wednesday held talks with the board of directors of the Association of Bankers in Lebanon (ABL). Connelly reiterated to the ABL members that "the recent action taken by the U.S. Treasury to designate the Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB) as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern under Section 311 of the Patriot Act came as a result of a long-term criminal investigation," the U.S. Embassy said. She assured the ABL that action taken by the U.S. Treasury was not targeted against the Lebanese banking sector but was instead "part of the U.S. Treasury's global effort to protect the U.S. financial sector from illicit activities linked to international terrorism, narcotics trafficking and money laundering." Connelly noted that the Treasury Department is working with the Lebanese Central Bank and other relevant Lebanese authorities to "address the concerns brought up by the LCB case." Beirut, 23 Mar 11, 17:28

Najjar Says No Information on Indictment Release Date
Naharnet/Caretaker Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar said on Thursday that threats about the prosecution of some March 14 officials over WikiLeaks cables had political rather than legal dimensions. "No one is taking the minutes (of the alleged meetings), there are no accurate dates, the content isn't precise, and the translation" isn't checked, Najjar told al-Mustaqbal newspaper in remarks published Thursday. Najjar stressed that there was no new information on the release of the Lebanese prisoners held in Syria. "We are all concerned about the Lebanese that went missing," Najjar stated. Asked about the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Najjar responded that there is no information at this period. "I have no data regarding the indictment's release date," he said. Beirut, 24 Mar 11, 10:49

Jumblat: Contacts with Hariri Completely Severed, Impossible Demands Hindering Cabinet Formation
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stated that contacts between him and caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri are completely severed, saying that he will not agree to an individual reconciliation with him. He said in an interview in Al-Afkar magazine that will be published on Friday: "I support Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati and if Hariri believes that Miqati betrayed him, then he should explain his statement or retract it. It is best if he reconsiders his position." Addressing the government formation process, he said: "Some U.S. pressure is delaying the formation, but some Lebanese' impossible demands also stand as obstacles." He denied however that the delay was connected to the various developments in the Arab world. Regarding the anti-sectarian youth demonstrations recently held in Lebanon, Jumblat said: "It's time that a new political camp arrive in Lebanon because the Lebanese have grown tired of the severe vertical divide between the March 8 and 14 camps." Turning to the issue of Hizbullah's arms and the dispute over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the MP said: "I hope Hariri is keen on national unity and inter-Islamic ties, because several leaks targeting national unity have emerged from the tribunal."
"The issue of the arms was never resolved even when I was a military official in the 1970s," he remarked. "Disputes cannot be resolved through slogans, but through dialogue and our proposal of gradually incorporating the Resistance's arms in the Lebanese army," he noted. "We must emphasize dialogue because during the most difficult moments of the civil war, we resorted to dialogue, but today dialogue has stopped," Jumblat said. "Incitement against the weapons will not lead to any results, but the incitement should not continue because ultimately all disputes are settled through dialogue," he stressed. Beirut, 24 Mar 11, 14:38

WikiLeaks: Jumblat Said Israel Strengthened Hizbullah and Weakened the State
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat reportedly said immediately after the end of the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah that if the Jewish state pulled out from occupied Lebanese territories, it would abolish an essential pressure point off the Shiite group. Israel "is speeding up the withdrawal," Jumblat said during a meeting dated August 15, 2006, according to a WikiLeaks cable published by al-Akhbar newspaper on Thursday. The Druze leader criticized Israel's policies during the war for allegedly strengthening Hizbullah, weakening the Lebanese state and transforming former Premier Fouad Saniora into another "Abu Mazen," in reference to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Jumblat also stressed that speeches made by officials in Iran, Syria and Hizbullah hinted that March 14 politicians had instigated Israel into bombing southern Lebanon during the war to consolidate themselves against their foes, according to the cable. He said Christians, Sunnis and Druze should be united to weaken Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah but lamented that Christian politician Michel Aoun was providing a cover for the Shiite party. Beirut, 24 Mar 11, 10:27

WikiLeaks: Assad Said that Syria Would Enter War if Israel Invades Lebanon
Naharnet/A leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar on Thursday reported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as saying that Syria would enter a war with Israel should it invade Lebanon. Assad informed his biographer American journalist David Lesch that the image of the invincible Israeli army was destroyed during the July 2006 war, said the WikiLeaks cable dated July 25, 2006. Lesch quoted the Syrian leader as saying that if he were able to liberate the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, then he would be viewed as a hero before the Syrian people. Beirut, 24 Mar 11, 11:26

WikiLeaks: Rifi Questioned Loyalty of Security Officials Charged with Monitoring Shipments to Lebanon
Naharnet/Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi questioned the loyalty of the security officials charged with monitoring shipments into Lebanon, saying that ten Shiite officers should be replaced, revealed a leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar on Thursday. Rifi made his statements during a meeting with then U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffery Feltman, which took place after he met with then Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and then acting Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat over changes needed at Beirut's international airport.
According to the WikiLeaks cable, Feltman and Rifi discussed at length the new security appointments at the airport aimed at preventing the smuggling of arms.
The ISF chief said that then head of airport security Wafiq Shqeir did not object to his marginalized role at airport "because the security forces know everything about him" regarding his alcoholism and past smuggling activity. Rifi also demanded that the security forces be provided with 10,000 Kalashnikov rifles, noting that the only problem he has with recruiting Lebanese youths lies in the insufficient number of Christian recruits. Beirut, 24 Mar 11, 11:57

WikiLeaks: Murr Said Berri was Praying to Liberate Himself from Hizbullah
Naharnet/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. Beirut, 24 Mar 11, 11:03

MP Qassem Hashem : March 14 disgraces itself
March 24, 2011 /Now Lebanon
“When March [14] says there is no justification for the weapons of the Resistance to remain, it disgraces its role and its policy as if it had made the decision to abandon part of Lebanese territories,” Development and Liberation bloc MP Qassem Hashem said on Thursday. “What sovereignty are they talking about, while the attacks and violations practiced by the Zionist enemy against Lebanon recur daily?” he asked in response to the alliance’s Wednesday statement. “Sovereignty for [March 14] stops when its interest in maintaining a hold on power intersects with the interest of those behind the aggressive project,” he added. Hezbollah has claimed some March 14 figures welcomed the 2006 July war with Israel as a way to weaken the party. March 14 has not acknowledged that the Shebaa Farms and Kfar Shouba hills are Lebanese because the alliance’s “basic concern is to return to power, even at the expense of sovereignty,” Hashem also said. The March 14 General Secretariat issued a statement on Wednesday accusing Hezbollah of attempting to link Lebanon to an “Iranian agenda that threatens Beirut’s relations with Arab countries.” Tens of thousands of people rallied in Beirut’s Martyrs Square on March 13 to protest against non-state weapons in Lebanon.
Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati was appointed in January with the March 8 coalition’s backing, and March 14 figures have repeatedly said that intimidation from Hezbollah’s weapons helped secure the parliamentary majority for his nomination.-NOW Lebanon

Bahrain won’t split Syria and Iran
Tony Badran, March 24, 2011 /Now Lebanon
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem described the GCC intervention in Bahrain as legal. (AFP photo)
This past Sunday, Syria’s foreign minister, Walid Mouallem, offered his government’s first official statement on the situation in Bahrain, in which he described the intervention by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) forces as legal, and not an occupation. Many have rushed to the conclusion that this statement signals a break between Syria and Iran over Bahrain, as Tehran has come out strongly against the intervention. This reading, however, misses the mark entirely and fails to understand the context of Mouallem’s words.
The crisis in Bahrain has become a de facto proxy battle between Iran and Saudi Arabia. For Iran, Bahrain is a strategic target, both in operational as well as propaganda terms. For one, the prospect of the downfall of yet another pro-American Arab ruler offers Iran a valuable addition to its narrative of a declining American order in the region, in contrast with the inevitable rise of Iran and its allies.
Already, Iranian propagandists are gloating about what the potential fallout in Manama would supposedly mean for Iran, from limiting the activity of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet to causing the GCC states to defer further to Iran.
Beyond propaganda, however, the Saudis recognize that Iran has the two main Arab allies of the US – Egypt and Saudi Arabia – in its sights. Already the Iranians are aggressively seeking to shape post-Mubarak Egypt’s orientation through the Gaza flashpoint. Similarly, the ultimate target beyond Bahrain is Saudi Arabia itself.
Hence, the Saudis see an attempt by Iran to pressure the Kingdom, especially its eastern province, by manipulating the crisis in Bahrain, just as it had done in Yemen. The Saudi-led intervention in Bahrain was, therefore, Riyadh’s way of cutting off the road for Tehran, which decried and condemned the move.
According to one report in the Lebanese daily al-Jumhuriya, Saudi Arabia dispatched a message to the Iranians with Mouallem, who headed to Tehran for an official visit last week, warning Iran on three counts: First, that the Kingdom viewed Bahrain as a red line, as it directly affects Saudi national security. Second, Saudi Arabia rejects any attempt for another Hezbollah in Bahrain. And third, Riyadh does not wish to see a response by Hezbollah in Lebanon to the developments in Bahrain.
But did Mouallem actually break with Iran during his visit? Hardly. After his meeting with his Iranian counterpart, a joint statement was issued tackling the situation in Bahrain. A close reading of that statement, and of the Syrian foreign minister’s other comments in Tehran, puts the lie to the notion that Syria has split with Iran over Bahrain.
The joint statement, in fact, was entirely tailored to fit Iran’s interests, hitting all the points that served Tehran’s purposes, painting it as an interlocutor over Bahrain and presenting it as being directly concerned with Bahrain’s “security and stability” as well as its “sovereignty and independence,” in a direct jab at the Saudi intervention.
Then, aside from emphasizing Syria’s strategic relationship with Iran, Mouallem lauded the Islamic Republic’s “great role in aiding the peoples of the region” and, puffing up his own country’s importance, asserted that regional stability was based on “cooperation between Tehran and Damascus.”
Then, a couple of days later, and in an exceedingly transparent move, Mouallem gave his exclusive interview to the Saudi Al-Sharq Al-Awsat in which he declared that the GCC move was not an illegal occupation. Mouallem also tried to spin the relaying of a Saudi message as somehow constituting a Syrian mediatory role with Iran – an old Syrian sales pitch that no longer has any value. In fact, the only reason Riyadh chose to communicate indirectly with Tehran was because it did not wish to grant the Iranians the acknowledgment that they were legitimate interlocutors over Bahraini affairs. There was no meaningful Syrian “role” here at all.
Moreover, Mouallem’s obvious acrobatics highlight the fact that Syria’s had very little margin for maneuver. Having already signed off on a statement de facto favoring Iran’s position, the Syrians could hardly come out explicitly on their own against the GCC intervention.
For one, their Qatari friends were partaking in the GCC force. Second, the Syrians have an interest in accepting the rationale for intervention in a strategic backyard under the cover of security treaties, as that has been the Syrian public rationale for their own military intervention in Lebanon. After all, their 29-year “presence” in Lebanon was always justified as having been “at the invitation of the Lebanese government.” Third, in a possibly menacing Saudi reminder, a recent column by Al-Sharq Al-Awsat’s editor noted that, as the Assad regime itself was a minority regime ruling over a Sunni majority, it had no credibility to opine on the state of affairs in Bahrain.
In the end, Mouallem’s comment is essentially meaningless rhetoric that doesn’t have any real impact on either Riyadh or Tehran. And given how the reported Saudi demand that Hezbollah not interject itself into the Bahrain debate was thoroughly ignored by the party’s secretary general, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Syria to maintain even the pretense of relevance, let alone the ability to chart an independent course from Tehran – not just in Bahrain, but even in Lebanon.
*Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

SYRIA - Head of media monitoring centre arrested in Damascus
Reporters Without Borders is very worried about Mazen Darwish, the head of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, who was summoned for questioning by intelligence officials at 11 a.m. yesterday in Damascus and has not been heard of since. He has almost certainly been arrested. Darwish was detained for four hours on the evening of 22 March after responding to a summons to report for questioning. He was previously held for several hours on 16 March after being arrested while attending a peaceful sit-in outside the interior ministry headquarters in Damascus as an observer. His centre, the only NGO monitoring the media and Internet in Syria, has been closed by the authorities twice, in 2005 and 2009. The Syrian authorities began on 15 March to crack down hard on journalists and media covering the anti-government demonstrations taking place in various cities, especial the southern city of Deraa, which is located near the Jordanian border. Darwish’s arrest brings the number of journalists arrested since the start of these protests to three.
Journalist, writer and activist Louay Hussein was arrested on 22 March in Damascus while journalist, poet and novelist Mohammed Dibo was arrested on the night of 18 March at his home in Al-Annazah, in the northwestern city of Baniyas. Dibo writes for various newspapers including Jordan’s Al-Dustour and many news websites such as Al-Waan (run by the Association of Rational Arabs), Bab el Moutawasset (Mediterranean Gate), Lamp Of Freedom and Shukumaku. These three join the already long list of journalists and cyber-dissidents imprisoned in Syria. Reporters Without Borders has meanwhile learned that a photographer and a freelance video reporter working for Agence France-Presse and an Associated Press photographer were briefly held and roughed up while covering the demonstrations in Deraa on 22 March. Their equipment was seized and was handed back a few hours later.
When the AFP journalists tried to return to Deraa yesterday, their equipment was again seized. They have not yet been able to recover it.

Canadian CF-18s bomb Libyan ammunition depot in first attack of campaign
By Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press – Wed, 23 Mar, 2011
OTTAWA - Canadian fighter jets took part in coalition air assaults Wednesday that helped drive tanks loyal to dictator Moammar Gadhafi out of Libya's third-largest city.
Coalition aircraft conducted a series of raids on two major centres. The Canadian air force says four of its CF-18 jet fighters, supported by two air-to-air refuelling aircraft, conducted two separate bombing missions, one overnight and the second later in the day. The first attack took place at Misrata, east of Tripoli on the Mediterranean coast, the scene of heavy fighting between rebels and Gadhafi forces. Reports emerging last week from the city of 500,000 said innocent civilians were being shot in the streets as the dictator's soldiers tried to reassert control. The Canadian raid reportedly destroyed an ammunition depot.
Four laser-guided, 226-kilogram bombs were dropped during the raid, said Maj.-Gen. Tom Lawson, deputy chief of air staff.
"From all indications, it was a solid military target," Lawson told a briefing in Ottawa.
There were no reports of civilian casualties, but Lawson hastened to add that "couldn't be assured until there was a full battle damage assessment." The air force released aerial video footage of the target being destroyed. "Every indication was that the attack was very successful and there was no collateral damage," he added.
Lawson had no information on where the second bombing took place, or the damage.
But a doctor in Misrata told the Associated Press that air strikes forced Gadhafi's tanks to withdraw, giving the city a respite more than a week after the columns arrived for bloody street-to-street fighting. The witness said one of the bombs hit a local aviation academy and the second plowed into a vacant lot outside the central hospital. It was unclear whether Canadian aircraft dropped them, but coalition air operations have been aimed a beating down Libyan military capabilities. U.S. Rear Adm. Gerard Hueber, one of the senior coalition commanders, was quoted Wednesday saying the coalition was targeting Gadhafi's tanks, artillery, mobile missile sites as well as ammunition depots and other military supplies in Misrata and Ajdabiya.
They're the first attacks by Canadian aircraft in the UN-sponsored campaign to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya. Until this point, the fighters had flown combat air patrols in defence of other allied aircraft and ships, or missions aimed at forcing the Libyan air force to keep its head down. The Harper government dispatched six CF-18s to help enforce the no-fly zone, as well as the frigate HMCS Charlottetown to aid in the blockade of the Libyan coast and enforce the UN-mandated armed embargo.
NATO officials said Wednesday they've received intelligence reports that indicate Gadhafi is trying to smuggle mercenaries and weapons into the country.
Commodore John Newton, a senior officer with the Canadian navy, said the crew of the frigate is prepared to conduct boarding operations and has been training for search and rescue of downed pilots. A U.S. F-15 crashed earlier this week after apparently suffering a mechanical failure. The pilots ejected high in the air and landed separately in rebel-controlled areas.
The Canadian frigate has a Sea King helicopter aboard, which Newton said could be employed in rescue operations at sea. There's a question about whether the nearly 50-year-old helicopter would be allowed to carry out land rescues of downed pilots. Lawson didn't rule it out. "A risk assessment would be made as to whether it would be allowed to fly over land," he said. Libya has an extensive anti-aircraft defences, which coalition commanders have said have been almost destroyed. In the event a CF-18 goes down, Lawson said, other nations have combat search and rescue capabilities and can assist. Debate over whether NATO would take command of the operation adjourned in stalemate Wednesday. Ambassadors belonging to the 28-nation alliance have been meeting in Brussels trying to hammer out an agreement that would let control pass out of U.S. hands. Talks resume Thursday. But Turkey is reportedly concerned the air strikes have already exceeded the UN mandate. Canada's defence minister, Peter MacKay, speaking in Halifax, acknowledged that negotiations have been tough, but he remained confident. "They're part way there," he said. "The United States is leading the coalition and there's hope that other countries will come around ... and that the coalition's leadership will morph into NATO leadership, which is an international body specifically tasked to carry out military missions such as this."
...
Beirut has not yet paid STL dues for 2011 /Naharnet
‘We look forward to receiving the money, which the state is obliged to pay under Chapter 7’
By Michael Bluhm /Daily Star staff
Thursday, March 24, 2011
BEIRUT: Lebanon has not yet paid its roughly $32-million share of the 2011 budget of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), while the potential ascension to power of a March 8-led government could throw the country’s funding for the court into question. “The STL has not received a contribution from the government of Lebanon in 2011,” tribunal spokesman Crispin Thorold told The Daily Star Wednesday. Because of the numerous layers of bureaucracy in moving the court’s budget through various U.N. bodies, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent the request for this year’s funding last month, Thorold added. The tribunal’s management committee approved this year’s $65.7-million budget in mid-November last year.
The Finance Ministry did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the matter. Lebanon has agreed to pay 49 percent of the tribunal’s costs for the first three years of its operations, but differences over support for the STL largely led to the toppling of caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s government in January. Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati was nominated by politicians siding with the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance, and Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said the court is part of a U.S. and Israeli conspiracy to weaken the group, and he called on all Lebanese to boycott any cooperation with the tribunal.
The STL, meanwhile, has taken the position that Lebanon must continue cooperating with the tribunal because the court was founded by the U.N. Security Council with the authority of Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter; this provision mandates that all U.N. member states must provide “assistance” in carrying out the decisions of the Security Council.
Concerning Lebanon’s 2011 share of the STL budget, tribunal spokesman Thorold said: “We look forward to receiving the money, which the Lebanese state is obliged to pay under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter.”
Should Lebanon fail to comply with the court’s requests for cooperation, the Security Council would have the authority to slap sanctions on Lebanon.
A spokesman for MP Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement outlined the March 8 bloc’s opposition to the tribunal, saying he doubted the court’s neutrality and credibility, although he stopped short of stating that the party would not allow Lebanon to continue financing the U.N.-backed court. “The tribunal has to prove some more objectivity,” said Wassim Hnoud, head of the party’s department of internal communication. “We don’t see much neutrality coming from the tribunal. It has lost a lot of credibility.” Hnoud said the court’s legitimacy was undercut because its cooperation agreement with Lebanon was signed when the rival March 14 camp alone controlled Lebanon’s government. “It was not founded in a consensual way,” he said.
In addition, the FPM representative said the court’s work had paralyzed Lebanon; the squabbling political camps were never able to resolve their differences over the issue of how to pursue the so-called false witnesses – those who gave testimony to U.N. or Lebanese investigators that was later judged to be unsubstantiated.
Hnoud also said the STL had lost credibility by holding for years and then freeing without charges four generals who headed Lebanon’s security services when former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in February 2005. Hnoud added that the tribunal was, in the end, unnecessary and hypocritical, after the international community was not roused to take any similar action during or after Lebanon’s 1975-90 Civil War. The creation of the STL “was absolutely not warranted under any circumstances,” he added. “This also adds to us doubting the credibility of the tribunal.” Retired Gen. Elias Hanna, who teaches political science at various universities, said that any government formed by Mikati would have to cut off Lebanon’s cooperation with the tribunal, including the funding, because of Hezbollah’s leading role in changing the country’s cabinets.
“Would Hezbollah accept being in the government and financing [the tribunal]?” Hanna asked. “It’s not doable. How can [Mikati] finance it – in order to indict Hezbollah? It’s not logical.”
Should Lebanon not provide its share of the tribunal’s budget, the international community could without much strain gather an extra $32 million for the STL, Hanna said.
Court spokesman Thorold said donors had been giving “very positive” reactions to requests for funding.

Canada Issues Statement Recognizing the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 23, 2011) - The Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, congratulates Maronite Catholics in Canada on the election of their new Patriarch. "Last week, at Bkerke in Lebanon, the synod of the Maronite Catholic Church elected Monsignor Beshara Rai, the Bishop of Jbeil, as the 77th Patriarch of Antioch and All the East of the Maronites. "I would like to congratulate Maronite Canadians on the occasion of this successful conclave. Maronites are rightly proud of their ancient rite, in which they have always maintained an unbroken Communion with the Holy See."I would also like to recognize Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, who made a pastoral visit to Canada in 2001, and who offered his resignation to the Pope last month, for his twenty-five years of faithful service as Patriarch. I had the honour of meeting His Beatitude on two occasions at Bkerke and attending the Divine Liturgy at which he presided. He is a man of great wisdom and dedication to his people.
"As Patriarch Rai begins his new service to Christians of the Maronite tradition and to the Lebanese people, this is an opportunity to reflect on the importance of tradition and of religious freedom. Many people around the world crave those blessings which Canadians have always enjoyed in peace and security.
"Being one of the Eastern Catholic Rites, the Maronite Church is also a concordant reminder of the beauty of unity in diversity, which is a proud feature of Canada's multi-faceted culture. Canada has always been home to French and English Roman Catholics and, in bringing their treasured religious patrimony with them, many Canadians of Lebanese background have enriched an old Canadian religious milieu with the addition of a distinct ritual culture.
"Once again, I congratulate Lebanese Canadians of the Maronite Church. May the Patriarchate's new leadership bring them continued blessings."

Bombing near Jerusalem bus stop kills woman, wounds 30
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=126402#axzz1HIskj7J0
Thursday, March 24, 2011 /Daily Star/JERUSALEM: A bomb planted in a bag exploded near a bus stop in a Jewish district of occupied Jerusalem Wednesday, killing a woman and wounding at least 30 people, a day after an Israeli airstrike killed nine Palestinians, including three children. No one claimed responsibility for the blast, which coincided with an upsurge of violence on the Gaza border that has led to fears of a new war between Israel and Hamas, after months of relative quiet.Medics said three people were seriously hurt by the explosion, which hit one of the main routes into central Jerusalem in the afternoon, shattering the windows of a bus. The dead woman was in her 60s and died in hospital. Police said it was a “terrorist attack” – Israel’s term for a Palestinian strike. It was the first time occupied Jerusalem had been hit by such a bomb since 2004. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that anyone who attacks Israel will learn that the state has an “iron will” to defend itself. “We shall act decisively and responsibly to preserve the calm and the security that reigned here for the past two years.” In the Gaza, a Hamas spokesman said the group was seeking to reverse the recent rise in violence and “to protect stability and to work in order to restore the conditions on ground.” World leaders condemned the bombing, as well as a barrage of rockets and mortars fired from Gaza in recent days.
“The United States calls on the groups responsible to end these attacks at once and we underscore that Israel, like all nations, has a right to self-defense,” U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement. Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank also denounced the attack. “I condemn this terrorist operation in the strongest possible terms, regardless of who was behind it,” Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said in a statement. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on a visit to Cairo, denounced what he called “a horrific terrorist attack” but said he did not think the situation in Israel was deteriorating. Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Araby “asked Israel to exercise self restraint and warned it against rushing into a military operation in Gaza.” He also warned others against giving Israel any excuse to use violence. Russia condemned the attack as a “barbaric act of terror” that must not be allowed to destabilize the Middle East peace process.  Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said the bomb weighed about one or two kilos (2 or 4 lb). “It exploded in a small suitcase on the sidewalk next to the bus stop,” he told Israel’s Channel 2 television. Netanyahu delayed his departure on a trip to Russia by several hours Wednesday to consult with security officials, but declined to cancel the trip altogether. Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed four Palestinian civilians Tuesday, including three children playing football, and five fighters, medical officials said.
Earlier Wednesday, two Grad rockets slammed into the Israeli city of Beersheva. The Al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, claimed responsibility for both attacks. The army said seven mortars had also landed in Israel. – Agencies

Canada Condemns Bombing in Jerusalem/March 24/11
http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2011/119.aspx
Canada Condemns Bombing in Jerusalem
(No. 119 - March 23, 2011 - 5:40 p.m. ET) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement on the bomb explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem: “Canada strongly condemns this criminal act of terror against the Israeli people. Terrorism must be rejected as a means of achieving political ends. A comprehensive, just and lasting peace can only be reached through negotiations.
“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families, and with the people of Israel. These heinous acts of terror must not be tolerated. Those behind this criminal act must be held accountable. “We urge Israelis and Palestinians to return to peace negotiations as quickly as possible to stop the escalation of violence and bring hope to their peoples. If asked, Canada stands ready to assist the parties in any way they would find helpful.”

Syria cracks down on dissent, at least 15 dead
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=126400#axzz1HIskj7J0
Thursday, March 24, 2011
DARAA, Syria: Syrian police launched a relentless assault Wednesday on a neighborhood sheltering anti-government protesters, fatally shooting at least 15 in an operation that lasted nearly 24 hours, witnesses said. At least six were killed in a predawn attack on Al-Omari mosque in the southern agricultural city of Daraa, where protesters have taken to the streets in calls for reforms and political freedoms, witnesses told the Associated Press. An activist in contact with people in Daraa said police shot another three people protesting in its Roman-era city center after dusk. Six more bodies were found later in the day, the activist said.
The uprising in Daraa and at least four nearby villages has become the biggest domestic challenge since the 1970s to the Syrian government. Security forces have responded with water cannon, tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition. The total death toll now stands at 22. As the casualties mounted, people from the nearby villages of Inkhil, Jasim, Khirbet Ghazaleh and Al-Harrah tried to march on Daraa Wednesday night but security forces opened fire as they approached, the activist said. It was not immediately clear if there were more deaths or injuries.
Democracy activists used social-networking sites to call for massive demonstrations across the country Friday, a day they dubbed “Dignity Friday.” Heavy shooting rattled Daraa throughout the day, and an Associated Press reporter in the city heard bursts of semi-automatic gunfire echoing in its old center in the early afternoon.
State TV said that an “armed gang” had attacked an ambulance in the
city and security forces killed four attackers and wounded others and was chasing others who fled. It denied that security forces had stormed the mosque, but also showed footage of guns, AK-47s, hand grenades, ammunition and money that it claimed had been seized from inside. A video posted on Facebook by activists showed what it said was an empty street near Al-Omari Mosque, with the rattle of shooting in the background as a voice shouts: “My brother, does anyone kill his people? You are our brothers.” The authenticity of the footage could not be independently verified. Mobile phone connections to Daraa were cut and checkpoints throughout the city were manned by soldiers and plainclothes security agents with rifles.
An ambulance was parked on the side of a road leading to the old city, its windshield smashed. The witness said hundreds of anti-terrorism police had surrounded Al-Omari mosque.
The activist in Damascus said six had been killed in the raid on the mosque, which began after midnight and lasted for about three hours. A witness in Daraa told the AP that five people had been killed, including a woman who looked out of her window to see what was happening.
The activist said witnesses saw the body of a 12-year-old girl near the mosque late Wednesday afternoon. Another man was shot dead by police after a funeral for one of the victims, and four more bodies were seen lying near the offices of a security agency but no one dared to come and pick them up, the activist said. France urged Damascus to carry out political reforms without delay and respect its commitment to human rights. The United States voiced “alarm” at the crackdown and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon called for an inquiry into the deaths. Authorities arrested a leading campaigner who had supported the protesters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday. It said Loay Hussein, a political prisoner from 1984 to 1991, was taken from his home near Damascus. In Damascus, authorities released six female protesters Wednesday who took part in a silent demonstration last week supporting the release of political prisoners, lawyers said. – AP, AFP

Shield Lebanon from the Arab upheavals
By Michael Young /Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=126397#axzz1HIskj7J0
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Two developments in the past 24 hours, one inside Lebanon, the other in neighboring Syria, have the potential to exacerbate communal relations between Sunnis and Shiites in the coming months. It would be irresponsible for Lebanese officials, on both sides of the country’s growing political divide, do nothing about this. The first is news that the prime minister-elect, Najib Mikati, has shown President Michel Sleiman the first draft of his Cabinet lineup. If a government is formed soon, all the indications are that it will harden dissension in Beirut. Hezbollah and Michel Aoun will use the government to advance agendas that March 14 views as anathema. At the same time, the departing prime minister, Saad Hariri, has made public censure of Hezbollah and its weapons a cornerstone of his political strategy, and this will extend to the new Cabinet. The predictable result of all this is a widening of the Sunni-Shiite rift.
The second development comes from Syria, where the news on Wednesday was that the security forces had stormed a mosque in Daraa, killing at least six people. It’s unclear where the situation is going, but things are more likely to get worse than better in the foreseeable future. The great danger is that Syrian instability will eventually take on a sectarian coloring. And what happens in Syria could have daunting sectarian repercussions in Beirut.
Lebanese politicians have rarely appeared so at odds with one another, and never have they allowed their disagreements to be expressed as much, explicitly or implicitly, in sectarian terms. Indeed, they have come to rely inordinately on sectarian symbolism, solidarities, and animosities to rally support. Complicating matters, the politicians have linked these actions to similar impulses regionally.
It is perfectly understandable for Hariri to condemn Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah when the Hezbollah leader chooses to immerse himself in the affairs of Bahrain, where Sunnis and Shiites are fighting over the kingdom’s future. Lebanon, given its complex sectarian makeup, has no interest in taking a stand on Bahrain, let alone playing along with Nasrallah’s ambition to bolster other Arab upheavals (though Hezbollah has been dead silent on repression in Iran and Syria).
However, Hariri has also shown little hesitation in pushing the sectarian envelope, albeit more subtly. His foreign allegiances were all too clear on March 13, when a large portrait of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was unfurled above Martyrs Square. And by focusing on Hezbollah’s arms without offering a political quid pro quo as an incentive to the Shiite community, all the caretaker prime minister and March 14 are doing is strengthening a perception among Shiites that disarmament is a byword for their marginalization.
As implausible as this may sound, now is the time for Hariri and Nasrallah to establish mechanisms to cushion the ominous impact of regional turmoil on Lebanese affairs. Regardless of the profound personal tensions between the two men, the incompatibility between Hariri’s vision of Lebanon and Hezbollah’s, their divergences over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and much else, the benchmark they should adopt is a simple one: a Sunni-Shiite conflict in Lebanon would be devastating for all; it would be just as fatal to Hezbollah as it would to the political and social system that Hariri seeks to promote.
The safety nets that Lebanon once enjoyed to contain its problems have all precariously eroded in recent years. Arab diplomacy, always on hand to intercede and lessen friction in Beirut, is in disarray because of Arab disarray. Constitutional institutions, which were created to manage political and inter-communal interaction, have been seriously undermined by a succession of events. They were ransacked during the time of Syrian tutelage; and during the post-2005 period, when Hezbollah and its allies faced off against March 14, the constitution was repeatedly undermined for political convenience.
What can Nasrallah and Hariri do to avert the worse? A good starting point is to greatly calm their rhetoric and that of their allies and partisans, and grasp, as much as possible, that everything they say is being fed by the Lebanese into a template of regional confrontation. Such advice may sound nonsensical when both sides have embarked on a systematic effort to delegitimize the other – Hariri by challenging Hezbollah’s arms, Hezbollah by accusing March 14 of siding with Israel during the summer 2006 war. However, neither side will eliminate the other. Hezbollah will not succeed in imposing its writ on Lebanon, and March 14 is living under an illusion if it imagines that the weapons quarrel, or even an indictment issued by the special tribunal naming Hezbollah members, will mean the party’s downfall.
Beyond the rhetoric, Hariri and Nasrallah must set up a group whose role would be to act as a regular channel between the two leaders, its main purpose to identify and neutralize looming sectarian flashpoints. This team could include both men’s closest advisers, but the most important thing is that it remain secret and continue to meet regardless of the public stances taken by the leaders. Over and above this, Hariri and Nasrallah should urge Michel Sleiman to resume the national dialogue sessions, the principal item of discussion being the shielding of Lebanon from regional tremors. While that forum may become a futile talk shop, it would also bring in all communal leaders and reassure the Lebanese that conciliatory exchanges are always possible. This would help reduce the pressures in the street.
Of course, such an approach would only scratch the surface in absorbing the force of sectarian strains. But Lebanon’s leaders, for once, must transcend their narrow, parochial calculations and accept that the country invariably distils what happens in the Middle East, and often the very worst of what happens in the Middle East. Whichever instrument or medium they adopt, Hariri and Nasrallah must stay in contact, even through the toughest of times.
*Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR and author of “The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle” (Simon & Schuster).

Lieberman: West should deal with Iran and Syria like Libya
By Reuters/Haaretz
After meeting French counterpart, Alain Juppe, FM also says recent upsurge of violence on the Gaza border and Wednesday's bomb attack in Jerusalem are 'incitement' by the Palestinians.
Iran and Syria pose a greater security threat than Libya and the West should treat those countries in the same way as it has Muammar Gadhafi's government, Israel's foreign minister said on Thursday.
In a brief interview with Reuters after meeting his French counterpart, Alain Juppe, Avigdor Lieberman also said a recent upsurge of violence on the Gaza border and Wednesday's bomb attack in Jerusalem were "incitement" by the Palestinians.
Western warplanes hit Libyan tanks during a fifth night of air strikes as they enforced a UN resolution aimed at stopping Gadhafi's counter-offensive against rebels seeking an end to his rule.
Lieberman did not explicitly call for military action against Syria and Iran, but he said: "I think that the same principles, activities the Western world (has taken) in Libya ... I hope to see those regarding the Iranian regime and the Syrian regime."
Syrian security forces fired on hundreds of youth protesters in southern Syria on Wednesday, according to witnesses, in a dramatic escalation of six days of protests in which at least 32 civilians have been killed.
"These two regimes kill more citizens than the Libyan regime does, and the threat from these countries is much more serious than that from Libya," Lieberman said. Iran has also used force to crush pro-democracy street protests in the recent past.
Israeli naval commandos seized a cargo ship in the Mediterranean Sea on March 15 carrying what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said were Iranian-supplied weapons intended for Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
Lieberman heads the right-wing nationalist "Israel Our Home" party which holds 15 pivotal seats in Netanyahu's 74-seat coalition in the 120-member Knesset.
Analysts say that position has given him broad license to tell the United Nations that Middle East peace is a distant dream, whatever Netanyahu may say, and promote a "loyalty oath" for Israeli Arabs to flush out the unpatriotic.
Violence on the Gaza border has spiked in recent days and a bomb attack in Jerusalem that police blamed on Palestinian militants killed one woman and injured 30 people on Wednesday. It was the first such attack in the city since 2004.
Lieberman called the surge in violence a direct result of "incitement" on the Palestinian side.
Peace talks aimed at ending the decades-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians broke down last year after Netanyahu refused to extend a partial freeze on settlement building in the West Bank.
"I see a lot of efforts in the Palestinian Authority for reconciliation with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but I don't see any readiness for direct talks with Israel," he said. "It is totally unacceptable."
Lieberman said Israel was ready for direct talks with the Palestinians despite the current status quo.
"I believe any change in the peace process must be as a result of direct talks and not unilateral steps and not as a unilateral decision even of the international community," he said