LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِMay 01/2011

Biblical Event Of The Day
The Good News According to Matthew 5/38-41: “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’* 5:39 But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. 5:40 If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. 5:41 Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 5:42 Give to him who asks you, and don’t turn away him who desires to borrow from you"

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Pro-Iranian officers in Syria's ruling clique plot coup against Assad/DEBKAfile/April 30/11
Inside Syria's torture chambers: 'This regime is brutal but also stupid/guardian/April 30/11
The Syrian uprising’s refugees/By: Ana Maria Luca and Nadine Elali/April 30/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for April 30/11
Egypt warns Israel: Don't interfere with opening of Gaza border crossing/Haaretz
Syria tanks enter Daraa, residents report heavy shooting/Reuters/Haaretz
Frattini: UNIFIL's Mission Should Change if Hizbullah Became Hostile over Syria's Weakness/Naharnet
Top Military Officer: Gulf Belongs to Iran/Naharnet
Experts: Syria Unrest Could Spill into Lebanon/Naharnet
Syria troops, snipers kill six in Daraa, activists say/Now Lebanon
Grenade Shakes Tripoli, 2 Others Found in Hermel
/Naharnet
Obama Extends National Emergency on Syria over Lebanon Meddling
/Naharnet
Syrian forces kill 62, US tightens sanctions/Reuters
Israel's 'Syria option' was never one/The Guardian
UN council issues tepid rebuke of Syria. Does it want to avoid another Libya?/Christian Science Monitor
US Imposes New Sanctions Against Syria Over Crackdown/VOA
Witnesses: 26 die in clashes in Syria/CNN
Israel Watches Events in Syria Carefully/VOA
Escaping Assad: Syrians Bring Tales of Gunfire and Defiance/Time
Life in Syria's psychological prison of fear/The Guardian
EU member states reach preliminary agreement to impose arms embargo on Syria/Haaretz
Biggs Looking for 'Regime Change' in Syria Before Investing/Bloomberg
Aoun, Hezbollah reveal conditions for cabinet formation/Ya Libnan
Report: Hamas leadership to relocate from Syria to Qatar/Haaretz
'Hamas denies reports it plans to relocate leadership from Syria to Qatar'/Haaretz
Lebanon's foreign policy cast adrift in a sea of change/Zawya
Syrian Families Seek Refuge in Wadi Khaled/Naharnet
ISF, Army Put End to Construction Violations around Airport Fence
/Naharnet
Geagea Opens 2-Day Congress: LF Not Party of Single Person
/Naharnet
Al-Rahi Heads to the Vatican: Cabinet Formation Should be Speeded Up
/Naharnet
Like Rats, Inmates Languish in Roumieh Prison
/Naharnet
Baroud Confirms Illegal Construction on Public Property will Lead to Demolition/Naharnet
Wahhab Apologizes Over Checks Scandal: We Were Hoaxed/Naharnet
Suleiman Holds onto Interior Ministry Amid Sign that Appointments Are Among Cabinet Obstacles/Naharnet
Grenade Shakes Tripoli, 2 Others Found in Hermel/Naharnet

Pro-Iranian officers in Syria's ruling clique plot coup against Assad
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 30, 2011
US President Barack Obama signed an executive order Friday April 29 imposing sanctions on members of the Assad family for brutality against civilian protesters after learning that pro-Iranian officers and intelligence chiefs within the ruling family and top military command were conspiring to overthrow President Bashar Assad.
They accuse him of being too slow and too soft (sic) in suppressing the popular uprising and are pushing for more direct Iranian intervention before it develops into a full-blown armed rebellion. The conspirators targeted by the new American sanctions are the president's brother Maher Assad, commander of the Republican Guard and the Army's 4th Division, which is responsible for the ongoing massacre in Daraa; Bashar's cousin Atif Najib, head of the Political Security Directorate for Daraa Province; and Gen. Ali Mamluk, director of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate. The sanctions order also named the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) for aiding the Syrian crackdown.
Mahar Assad claims his brother should have rooted out the uprising against the regime much earlier on by swifter and harsher physical action before its ringleaders had a chance to turn to armed rebellion, debkafile's intelligence sources report. He has warned the president that the level of suppression pursued in the last six weeks has left the dissidents able to set up armed cells in Syrian cities and bring their defiance of the authorities to a standoff. Before long, he says, armed resistance will take hold in Damascus too.
Already Friday, protesters took on troops in at least two places, debkafile's military sources report. In Daraa, which is still fighting after weeks of brutal repression, protesters were able to kill at least six officers and troops and take two hostage; in Homs in the north, three Syrian police officers went down under demonstrators' bullets.
Those centers of unrest also felt the hard edge of the military savagery which Friday left at least 62 demonstrators dead and hundreds injured in more than 50 cities across the country.
But the conspirators insist it is not enough: They want Assad to crack down harder with the help of intensified Iranian intelligence and logistical intervention. The opposition is already receiving a constant flow of weapons organized by Saudi intelligence and smuggled in from Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon. The quantities are beyond control of Syrian army and security forces. More direct help from Iran is essential.
debkafile sources report that until now Assad has restricted incoming Iranian aid to ammunition and anti-riot equipment – fresh supplies of which Iranian military aircraft landed in Damascus in the last 24 hours. But he denied landing permission to another Iranian flight which carried 200 members of Revolutionary Guard special units trained to break up demonstrations in urban areas. That plane returned to Tehran. According to our Washington sources, Atif Najib, the former Horon Baath party's security chief whom Assad named to suppress the Daraa-centered uprising, and Ali Mamluk, back Maher in pushing hard for tougher action against the uprising. They are clamoring for direct Revolutionary Guards intervention and are in direct communications with IRGC officers over the president's head. debkafile's Iranian sources name their Iranian contact as Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, who has set up a secret operational base close to the Syrian border – either in Iraq or Lebanon – to keep Iran's hand on developments in Syria and watch out for a military coup in Damascus.
These events prompted the US president to link Syrian and Iranian intelligence for the first time in a single executive order. Administration officials in Washington admitted that the new sanctions were symbolic more than practical since none of the officers named have bank accounts, property or business ties in the US. It was a signal, they said, to Tehran and the plotters in Damascus that the US was onto the schemes taking shape in the hidden corners of the Syrian regime and keeping a close watch on events

Egypt warns Israel: Don't interfere with opening of Gaza border crossing

Haaretz/Rafah's opening would be a violation of an agreement reached in 2005 between the U.S., Israel, Egypt, and the EU; Israel official tells the Wall Street Journal developments in Egypt could affect Israel's national security.
By Haaretz Service /Tags: Israel news Gaza Egypt Middle East peace
Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces General Sami Anan warned Israel against interfering with Egypt's plan to open the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on a permanent basis, saying it was not a matter of Israel's concern, Army Radio reported on Saturday. Egypt announced this week that it intended to permanently open the border crossing with Gaza within the next few days. The announcement indicates a significant change in the policy on Gaza, which before Egypt's uprising, was operated in conjunction with Israel. The opening of Rafah will allow the flow of people and goods in and out of Gaza without Israeli permission or supervision, which has not been the case up until now.
An Israeli official on Friday told The Wall Street Journal that Israel was troubled by the recent developments in Egypt saying they could affect Israel's national security at a strategic level.
Israel's blockade on Gaza has been a policy used in conjunction with Egyptian police to weaken Hamas, which has ruled over the strip since 2007.
Rafah's opening would be a violation of an agreement reached in 2005 between the United States, Israel, Egypt, and the European Union, which gives EU monitors access to the crossing. The monitors were to reassure Israel that weapons and militants wouldn't get into Gaza after its pullout from the territory in the fall of 2005.
Before Egypt's uprising and ousting of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak, the border between Egypt and Gaza had been sealed. It has occasionally opened the passage for limited periods.

Syria tanks enter Daraa, residents report heavy shooting
By Reuters /The Syrian government ordered more tanks into Daraa on Saturday and heavy gunfire was heard in the city as security forces tried to crush a revolt against President Bashar Assad, residents said. Syrian troops and tanks first swept into Daraa on Monday to quell pro-democracy protests against Assad that have spread across the country of 20 million, posing the biggest challenge to his rule and prompting Western powers to impose sanctions. Syrian anti-government protesters holding banners calling for an end to a military siege in Nawa near the southern town of Daraa, on April 28, 2011.Daraa, a southern city of 120,000 people, is the cradle of a six-week-old uprising which started with demands for more freedom and an end to corruption. It developed into a movement to overthrow Assad following a violent crackdown by authorities.
Residents said they could hear heavy gunfire, mostly from Daraa's old quarter, which is situated on a hill near the Jordanian border and is mostly residential.
"Since dawn, we've been hearing a heavy exchange of gunfire that is echoing across the city and you do not know what's happening," Abu Tareq, a resident, told Reuters by phone.
"I saw more than 15 tanks that had entered from the Damascus highway heading in the direction of the Old City."
It was not immediately clear whether tanks and mounted armored carriers were shelling the city or agricultural land near the border.
Another resident, Abu Ahmad, told Reuters he had heard tanks had stormed areas in the old city, where the Omari Mosque, which has been a focal point for protests, is located.
"It looks like they (security forces) want to finish their campaign today. From the new tank deployments, it looks as though they are intensifying their operations today."
Despite the heavy military deployments and mass arrests, demonstrators again took to the streets calling for Assad's overthrow on Friday.
Soldiers in Daraa killed 19 people on Friday when they fired on protesters who were trying to enter the city from nearby villages in a show of solidarity, a medical source said.
Syrian rights groups put Friday's death toll at 62, pushing the number of deaths since an uprising that has posed the biggest challenge to the Assad dynasty's four decades in power, to more than 500. The crackdown prompted Western powers to take their first concrete steps in punishing Syria for the bloodshed. Washington imposed new sanctions on government figures, including Assad's brother, who commands the army division which stormed Daraa on Monday.
Assad's cousin, Atif Najib, was also targeted as was Ali Mamluk, director of general intelligence and Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, accused of helping the Syrian crackdown.
Syria has denied Iran was helping it quell protests. European Union diplomats said they had reached preliminary agreement to impose an arms embargo on Syria and would urgently consider further measures.
Syria blames armed terrorist groups
More demonstrations flared on Friday in the central cities of Homs and Hama, Banias on the Mediterranean coast, Qamishly in the east, Harasta, a Damascus suburb, and the capital itself.
Syrian rights group Sawasiah said this week at least 500 civilians had been killed since the unrest broke out. Authorities dispute that, saying 78 security forces and 70 civilians died in violence they blame on armed groups. State news agency SANA said on Friday "armed terrorist groups" had killed eight soldiers near Daraa. It said groups had opened fire on the homes of soldiers in two towns near Daraa and were repelled by guards. But a witness in Daraa said Syrian forces fired live rounds at thousands of villagers who descended on the besieged city.
A rights campaigner in Daraa said on Friday makeshift morgues in the city contained the bodies of 85 people he said had been killed since the army stormed the city on Monday. Residents say a humanitarian crisis is growing. The repression has brought condemnation from Western powers which for several years had sought to engage Damascus and loosen its anti-Israel alliances with Iran and the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.


Top Military Officer: Gulf Belongs to Iran
Naharnet/A top Iranian military officer on Saturday denounced what he called an "Arab dictatorial front" and claimed that the "Persian Gulf has belonged to Iran forever", media reports said.
"The Arab dictatorial regimes in the Persian Gulf are unable to contain the popular uprisings," General Hassan Firouzabadi, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, was widely quoted as saying by Iranian media on Saturday. "Instead of trying and failing to open an unworkable front against Iran, these dictators should relinquish power, end their savage crimes and let the people determine their own future," Firouzabadi said. He also denounced "plots" by the Gulf Arab petro-monarchies to "carve out an identity for themselves by rejecting the identity of others," referring to Iran. "The Persian Gulf has always, is and shall always belong to Iran," the general said. Firouzabadi, speaking on the annual "National Day of the Persian Gulf", also condemned the regional Arab monarchies for refusing to call the waterway between Iran and its Arab neighbors by its "historical name." "With the arrival of the British and later the Americans in the region, plots were hatched to try and change the name with fake identities... to distort the history and identity of the Persian Gulf," Firouzabadi said. Relations between Iran and its Gulf Arab neighbors have deteriorated sharply, with the latter accusing Tehran of seeking to destabilize Arab regimes in favor of popular unrest that has erupted in many Arab countries. Iran has strongly criticized Saudi Arabia's military intervention in Bahrain aimed to help crack down on a Shiite-led uprising there. Iran says it gives "moral support" to Bahrainis but is not involved in the protests there. Bahrain and Kuwait have in turn expelled Iranian diplomats, accusing them of espionage. Iran has in the past claimed Bahrain as part of its territory, and it controls three islands in the southern Gulf that are also claimed by the United Arab Emirates.(AFP) Beirut, 30 Apr 11, 12:11

Obama Extends National Emergency on Syria over Lebanon Meddling

Naharnet/U.S. President Barack Obama has extended the national emergency with respect to the actions of the Syrian government, saying that its support for Hizbullah and Hamas and meddling in Lebanon makes it a threat to national security. Syria's ongoing pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, support for anti-Israel groups and interference in Lebanon make it a "continuing unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," said a White House statement. The emergency, which was declared in 2004, was to have expired on May 11. Friday's announcement, in addition to financial penalties against three top Syrian officials, Syria's intelligence agency and Iran's Revolutionary Guard, came as Syrian security forces opened fire on demonstrators trying to break an army blockade on Daraa, while thousands across the country defied a protest ban and denounced Assad.(AP-Naharnet) Beirut, 30 Apr 11, 09:30

Syria troops, snipers kill six in Daraa, activists say

April 30, 2011
Syrian troops and snipers shot dead six people Saturday in the flashpoint southern town of Daraa, a rights activist told AFP in a telephone interview. "There are six dead" in Daraa, an activist said, quoting witnesses in the town, the epicenter of nationwide protests that erupted in mid-March against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. "They were killed as the army began pounding the town at dawn and snipers opened fire," said the activist. The army has besieged Daraa since Monday, preventing anyone from entering or leaving the town where there are huge shortages of water, food and medicine, activists said. Snipers positioned on rooftops were targeting anyone leaving their homes, the sources said. "The town is besieged. Food, water and medicine are running out," one activist said quoting a witness. Residents have also said troops were "defecting" in protest at a deadly crackdown on protests in Daraa.
"Some [soldiers] refuse to obey orders to fire and are breaking ranks and seeking refuge with residents," the activist said, citing reports from Daraa. According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 66 people were killed by security forces during massive protests across Syria on Friday, including 33 who died in Daraa alone. The death toll from six weeks of a security crackdown against protests that erupted March 15 now stands at 539, according to the Observatory, while the Martyrs of the 15 March Revolution say a total of 582 people died.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Inside Syria's torture chambers: 'This regime is brutal but also stupid'

guardian.co.uk, April 29, 2011 /Adnan was arrested last Friday in Moudamiyeh, a town near Damascus, after protests in which he did not take part. "We saw about a thousand protesters come out of the mosque and then more people came to join them. The mosque was surrounded by riot police and troops, but it was peaceful until the protesters tried to start marching, chanting "God, Syria, Freedom, that's all!". Some protesters threw stones, then we saw the security forces open fire. One seemed to target the protest leader; they shot him in the head.
We were trying to leave the town when someone shouted "Stop!" and ordered us to kneel down. It was troops from the Fourth Division [the elite unit commanded by President Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher, which has been involved in suppressing protests in Deraa, the south-western town that has become a focus for unrest].
We have always regarded the security forces with fear, but not the army. They are conscripts – even in the lower ranks of the Fourth Division. They pulled our tops over our heads so we couldn't see clearly and pinned our arms behind our backs. Then they hit us on the back and head, sometimes with the butts of their guns. They accused us of being foreign agents, and of trying to film protests to send to the media.
We were thrown in the back of an army truck and taken to the base on the outskirts of Damascus. We were put in a room and beaten from 4pm to 4am. Can you imagine? For 12 hours without sleep. It would stop for 15 minutes and then someone else would come in and start. They accused us of working for [former Lebanese prime minister] Saad al-Hariri and the Saudi prince Bandar bin Sultan. There was no point in arguing – they would only beat us more.
In the morning we were taken to the Air Force Intelligence. We were put in a 15 metre square cell with more than 50 people. There were 15-year-old boys and 80-year-old men. We could only stand up; there was no space to sleep. I thought, why are they locking these people up? This is why protests first started. None of them had been at protests. Some were arrested just because they were from Deraa. Many were fathers and sons. People were covered in blood: they had bad bruising and cuts on their bodies or bashed in faces.
I tried to lift the spirits of the young people by talking to them. One 15-year-old boy asked me why we were there if the president had lifted the emergency law. I didn't know what to say: this country doesn't run on law. A man my age was crying. I asked him why. He told me he had heard his elderly father being beaten and he had begged them to beat him instead. 'He is old, he can't take it like I can,' he said. 'But they ignored me'. Another man with cancer asked if he could go home. They replied: 'We don't care about your illness. If you die, we will dig a grave for you here.'
The whole experience is built around humiliation. We were blindfolded. We were shouted at. We were only allowed to the toilet once a day, for three seconds. We had to strip down to our underwear and someone would stand outside the door counting. If you didn't finish within three seconds you were beaten. I often didn't go; I was too worried. We were given water and food, but you don't want to drink when you can't go to the toilet.
We were taken out of the cell to be beaten and I was interrogated several times. One time they took us to a room with an electric chair. I said no, this is too much, not this. They didn't use it but they have one – I saw it with my own eyes. They accused me of working for foreign gangs. They were angry about videos of the protests being leaked and they searched everyone's phones. They finally decided to let me go in the early hours of the morning, exhausted and bruised and battered. It was a horrible experience. This regime is brutal but also stupid. Everyone in there said they were angrier, not more afraid. You cannot forgive a regime that does this to you."
*Adnan's name has been changed to protect his identity.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/29/inside-bashar-al-assad-torture-chambers?INTCMP=SRCH

The Syrian uprising’s refugees

Ana Maria Luca and Nadine Elali, April 30, 2011
Syrians cross on foot through an unofficial border between Syria and Lebanon on April 29, 2011. (AFP photo /Anwar Amro)
The tall woman in her 40s says she is from Tal Kalakh, a Syrian town three kilometers away from the northern Lebanese border. She tells us to call her Nawal and that she is too scared to disclose her real name. One of the other women carefully closes the door of the bedroom where their relatives in the northern Lebanese village of Mkaybleh have sheltered them, before sitting down on the mattress and sipping from a glass of tea.
“We have to bring down the regime, or else. We’re either dead now or we die later,” Nawal says after faltering for a while. “We started demonstrating a month ago because of the hunger. We’re poor people. We want to have our rights, our freedom. We want them to release our men from prison. We can’t stop [demonstrating] now. If they stay in power, they’re going to kill us all,” she adds.
Nawal and her two daughters are among the Syrians from Tal Kalakh who left their houses and crossed Nahr al-Kabir, the river that separates Akkar in North Lebanon from the district of Homs in Syria. The people started showing up at the small crossing in Wadi Khaled on Thursday morning. Many women and children were in their slippers and carrying blankets, seeking shelter with their Lebanese relatives and friends.
According to Mohammad Ahmad Ahmad, mayor of Mkaybleh, approximately 1,000 Syrians crossed the border and took refuge in Lebanese villages in recent days. He says he is hosting two families in his own house, while every family in the village has taken in 10 to 12 refugees. “The village is overcrowded. We can’t host people anymore. But there are still people coming through the border, and we’re sending them to Tripoli,” he tells us.
Nawal eventually decides to talk about what happened in Tal Kalakh and why they had to flee. Other refugee women gather around her and sip from their tea and puff from a rose-flavored arguileh. “Yesterday they gave us one hour to evacuate the town. They said they were going to raid the town in an hour,” she says.
Tal Kalakh was to be raided by troops from the Forth Brigade, what the Syrians call the “moukhabarat al-jawiyeh” or the “air intelligence agents,” whom the refugee women say are a constant menace to the townspeople. “They always show up in the middle of the night out of nowhere with their helicopters and their tanks. They storm the town, go inside people’s houses at 4 a.m. looking for smuggled guns, although they know nobody would dare smuggle weapons into Syria, and they take the money and the gold,” a young woman bursts out. “They arrested the men in the town, they killed many of them. Half of our cemetery is young men’s graves. They put them in prison, and when they come home they’re not human beings anymore,” she shouts. Nawal and the young woman say they have many relatives who were taken for alleged weapons smuggling by the Fourth Brigade, which is under the command of Maher al-Assad, the Syrian president’s brother. “We are Sunnis there, they are all Allawites. The fear is implanted in our hearts,” Nawal says. “I saw once with my own eyes, about a year ago, how they chased a young man, hit him with a rifle and asked him to pick a charge for himself. We never saw him again. His wife went looking for him, and they told her to forget about him.”
A young man comes in and sits with the women. He is Lebanese, but he says he has relatives and friends in Tal Kalakh. “We made a video with all the young men who were killed in Tal Kalakh over the past two years,” he says while playing us a short movie on his mobile phone. “I had a friend whom they hanged. They were looking for his brother for smuggling merchandise over the border, but they couldn’t find him. So they killed his brother instead. Look, this is him.” He shows us footage of a man in his 20s dancing at a party.
“So we took to the streets about a month ago when we heard about Daraa,” he says, referring to the town where the Syrian uprisings started.
“The young men of the town talked about [demonstrating] at the mosque, because there they are only Sunnis, no Allawites to tell on them. They started protesting, asking for their rights and in support of the people in Daraa,” the young woman next to Nawal says. She adds that since Monday their town has been under attack by snipers. “We had to sit on the floors with the lights off so they wouldn’t see us. They were shooting at us like we were pigeons! To them we are not humans.”
Most of the men in town refused to leave; they sent their wives and children to Lebanon on Thursday while they stayed behind for what they called the “Friday of blood.” Two of the women refugees tried calling their brothers in Tal Kalakh several times after the Friday prayer, but their calls did not get through.
They have no idea what the police’s response was to the demonstrations, but at least nine people were killed Friday in the district of Homs.

Syria: Unrest Could Spill into Lebanon

Naharnet/Unrest in Syria could spread to neighboring Lebanon at any moment in light of charges by Damascus that the March 14 forces are backing anti-regime protesters, analysts say.
"Merely stating that Lebanese parties are interfering in Syrian affairs is equivalent to threatening to destabilize Lebanon, irrespective of whether charges of funding and arming the protesters are accurate," said Ghassan el-Ezzi, professor of political science at the Lebanese University.
"This could well be an attempt to transfer the crisis from one country to another," Ezzi told Agence France Presse.
Damascus and Beirut have a turbulent history. Syria first sent its troops into Lebanon at the height of the country's 1975-1990 civil war, where they remained for 29 years.
Syria withdrew its forces from Lebanon in April 2005, following the assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri, father of the current acting Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
The two countries formally established diplomatic ties for the first time in October 2008, and along with Iran Syria continues to back Hizbullah.
Syria has accused Saad Hariri's alliance, which has the support of the United States and Saudi Arabia, of backing Syrian protesters who have taken to the streets since March in increasingly angry rallies demanding an end to 48 years of Baath party rule.
Experts say the charge may be an early sign that Lebanon could suffer the consequences of unrest in Syria. "Undermining stability in Lebanon is an easy matter: any dispute here will turn into sectarian strife in which Arab states, Iran, Turkey and Western countries, such as France and the United States, get involved," Ezzi said. State-run Syrian television aired alleged confessions by three members of a "terrorist group" who said they had received funds and arms from Lebanese MP Jamal Jarrah, to rise up against the regime of President Bashar Assad. Damascus's ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdelkarim Ali, has called for a local investigation into the case.
Al-Manar television also reported that Syrian authorities confiscated drugs, money and arms on seven boats that had been heading from northern Lebanon to the Syrian port city of Latakia.
Syria "suspected the boats were tied to the Future Movement," Al-Manar said. Some analysts say there is no smoke without fire. "While there is no concrete evidence, I do not think it is a totally far-fetched notion that there are arms and cash smuggling from Lebanon to Syria with the help of Saudi Arabia," said Karim Makdisi, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut. But, Makdisi said, whatever aid made it across the border could not be significant enough to play a crucial role in the current events in Syria.
"These are exaggerated scenarios, and more likely part of the ongoing dance between Hizbullah and Hariri," he told AFP.
Hundreds of Syrians have also fled on foot across the border into northern Lebanon, after violence broke out in the Syrian town of Tall Kalakh, a majority Sunni area notorious for cross-border smuggling. Lebanon has also been the scene of rallies both against and in support of Assad, with security forces dispersing two opposing gatherings in Beirut on Tuesday night.
Around 300 supporters of pan-Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir also rallied last week in Tripoli after Friday Muslim prayers to show support for protesters in Syria.
As the Syria uprising shows no sign of fading, members of Hariri's alliance fear developments in their northern neighbor could harm an already tense situation in Lebanon.
"Syria should first and foremost stop the bloodshed within its borders, rather than broadcast fabricated lies that only serve to tarnish what is left of its government's image," MP Oqab Saqr told AFP. "And Hizbullah's participation in these lies only serves to further divide Lebanon politically."(AFP) Beirut, 30 Apr 11, 14:16

Baroud Confirms Illegal Construction on Public Property will Lead to Demolition
Naharnet/Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud has said that the government is taking responsibility for removing all illegal construction on state property. "The state institutions did their duties. This issue isn't targeting the residents, but it is against those who are violating the public right," Baroud told As Safir newspaper. Violating state property will not result in issuing a "settlement law later on," but in bringing down the illegal constructions, he said. The minister stressed that this process was a necessary decision taken by all parties to end illegal construction and remove any violation. "This is part of a plan that will be continued by the army and ISF… Knowing that no one declared he is covering up these violations," Baroud remarked.
Meanwhile, security forces managed to put an end to construction violations around Beirut airport fence in Ouzai area with the support of Hizbullah and AMAL officials after clashes with some of the residents. Three officers were reportedly wounded and three citizens suffered minor injuries. An Nahar daily said that the construction violations reached Burj al-Barajneh camp where the construction work neared the old airport road near the refugee camp entrance, the newspaper reported. While in the south, Internal Security Forces gave a grace period of one week to more than 150 violators to avoid judicial prosecution, the newspaper added. Beirut, 30 Apr 11, 09:55

Suleiman Holds onto Interior Ministry Amid Sign that Appointments Are Among Cabinet Obstacles

Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman reportedly is still holding onto the interior ministry portfolio as part of his share in the new government but could agree that a personality other than Ziad Baroud heads the ministry, media reports said Saturday. An Nahar daily said that Suleiman won't give up the portfolio "at all" but might not hold onto Baroud who headed the ministry in Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri's cabinet. Sources involved in the government formation efforts said the new development could push for progress in Premier-designate Najib Miqati's mission particularly after the aides of the speaker and the Hizbullah leader respectively MP Ali Hassan Khalil and Hussein Khalil met with Suleiman and then held talks with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun. MP Khalil told As Safir daily that the meeting with the president was aimed at bridging the gap between him and Aoun who is also asking for the portfolio as part of his share. According to pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, Suleiman informed the envoys of Speaker Nabih Berri and Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that he would nominate three candidates for the interior ministry portfolio and allow Miqati, the FPM leader and other major parties to choose the person they see most fit for the post.
The president also told MP Khalil and Hussein Khalil that Baroud could be tasked with heading a ministry other than the interior ministry, al-Liwaa newspaper said. He suggested former Brig. Gen. Paul Matar or retired Brig. Gen. Nabil Ghafri to replace Baroud. Meanwhile, An Nahar quoted March 8 officials as saying that appointments of employees to top government posts that are pending for years are one of the reasons behind the cabinet deadlock. They said the FPM, backed by Hizbullah, is pressuring Miqati into striking a deal on the appointments before forming the government. The alleged agreement consists of giving Aoun's party the right to name the Christian candidates for the post. Beirut, 30 Apr 11, 10:41

Wahhab Apologizes Over Checks Scandal: We Were Hoaxed
Naharnet/Tawhid movement leader Wiam Wahhab has apologized for the checks scandal that he raised two weeks ago and said he had the guts to say it out loud. Those "who don't have the guts to take a stance, don't have the guts to apologize, and I have both," Wahhab told Voice of Lebanon radio station (100.5) on Saturday. Wahhab revealed on April 16 photos of checks addressed to MP Jamal al-Jarrah and former minister Abdul Hamid Baydoun signed by Saudi Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz. He also uncovered similar checks addressed to Jamal Khaddam, the son of former Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam. He said the Saudi money was aimed at funding anti-Assad regime protestors.  Wahhab's press office said Friday that the Tawhid movement leader was hoaxed by a man called Ibrahim Baydoun who handed the copies of the checks to him. Baydoun, who used to work at one of the offices of the Saudi Prince, had reportedly replaced the names endorsed on the checks by the names of al-Jarrah, Abdul Hamid Baydoun and Khaddam. We have the courage today to say that "this young man hoaxed us, for reasons we do not know," the Tawhid movement said. "So we apologize to the people whose names appeared on the fake checks," the statement added.
Former minister Baydoun, whose name was revealed on one of the checks, thanked Wahhab for expressing regret. "I thank Wiam Wahhab for apologizing and I accept it," he told VDL (100.5). Beirut, 30 Apr 11, 14:19

Grenade Shakes Tripoli, 2 Others Found in Hermel

Naharnet/A hand grenade shook the Boulevard area of the northern port city of Tripoli at dawn Saturday, causing no material damage, the state-run National News Agency reported.
NNA said that the grenade was tossed by unknown assailants near al-Baba building at 2:00 am. The blast did not cause any injuries or material damage, it added. Grenade attacks are becoming frequent in Tripoli. In another incident, two hand grenades were found near the house of Hassan Allam in Hermel. An army bomb disposal expert disposed of one of them and took the other to another nearby military base, NNA said. Also Friday night, an unknown assailant threw a Molotov cocktail on a tent belonging to anti-confessional regime protestors in Dahr el-Wahesh after a dispute between Wael Jaber and several activists. A man called Shebli al-Khaleq fired gunshots in the air to end the clash. No injuries were reported, NNA said. Beirut, 30 Apr 11, 12:26

ISF, Army Put End to Construction Violations around Airport Fence

Naharnet/Internal Security Forces and army troops on Friday managed to put an end to construction violations around the Beirut airport which, according to Lebanese ministers, had posed a threat to the safety of civil aviation. "An Internal Security Forces unit, backed up by army troops, has been carrying out a mission since today morning, which has led to curbing construction violations near the fence of the Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport, after clashes with the violators," state-run National News Agency reported.
"Work is underway to demolish and remove these violations in the framework of preserving the safety of civil aviation and passengers and the reputations of Lebanon and its airport," NNA added. Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud was directly in charge of the mission, the news agency reported. "A group of youths and women pelted the ISF members with stones while they were demolishing buildings built next to the airport's fence in a manner that affects the control tower's visibility," NNA reported later Friday.
It identified three ISF officers wounded in the clashes as Lt. Col. Joseph al-Naddaf, Captain Suleiman Zaineddine and Second Lieutenant Nabil Oueidat. They were rushed to Al-Maqassed Hospital for treatment. Meanwhile, another group of youths and women blocked the nearby al-Ouzai highway with rocks and burning tires to protest the crackdown.
An Nahar newspaper reported on Wednesday that violators had built illegally on state property near the new 16th seaside tarmac of the airport and the old number 17 runway, warning that such a move could go all the way towards putting the facility on the international blacklist.
Caretaker Public Works and Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi confirmed to An Nahar that illegal construction was flourishing despite the authorities' recent crackdown.
Caretaker minister Baroud also warned against "the disastrous results of this encroachment on aviation safety." He told An Nahar that the illegal buildings should be "immediately torn down."
"Let those who covered up or turned a blind eye to them take responsibility for what Aridi is warning of," Baroud said.
He blamed years of lax security measures for the boom in illegal construction in the past weeks. Baroud also said that violators are taking advantage of the absence of a government and the political vacuum to carry out more illegal construction work. Beirut, 29 Apr 11, 22:50

Frattini: UNIFIL's Mission Should Change if Hizbullah Became Hostile over Syria's Weakness

Naharnet/Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini revealed on Thursday that his country agreed with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to propose imposing strict sanctions against Syrian military and intelligence officials responsible for the violence against Syrian protestors. He said that the proposal will be made before the European Union. Frattini told il Foglio Italian newspaper that the crisis in Syria may have a major effect on Hizbullah and Hamas' activity. "Hizbullah may become more hostile if it felt that Syria has grown weaker and in that case the United Nation Interim Force in Lebanon's mandate must be changed," he said. "The role Syria is playing with Hizbullah may cost UNIFIL one of the reasons of its existence in southern Lebanon," he continued. Frattini stressed that he will highlight these issues before the European Union's foreign ministry council in mid-May. "UNFIL has played a good role in settling the crisis in Lebanon after 2006 and it can act as a deterrent force in any new conflict in the region," the Italian official stated. Beirut, 28 Apr 11, 18:54

4 Killed as Syrian Troops Take Key Daraa Mosque

Naharnet/Syrian army troops backed by tanks and three helicopters on Saturday took a prominent mosque that had been controlled by residents in a besieged southern city killing four people, a witness said. The operation in the town of Daraa came a day after President Bashar Assad unleashed deadly force to crush a months-old revolt, killing at least 65 people, mostly in the border town. Daraa resident Abdullah Abazeid said the assault on the mosque lasted 90 minutes during which troops used tank shells and heavy machine guns. Three helicopters took part of the operation dropping paratroopers on to the mosque itself, he said. The Omari mosque, in Daraa's Roman-era old town, had been under the control of the residents.
Daraa is the heart of a six-week-old uprising against the government and has been under siege since Monday when the government first sent in tanks to crush the daily demonstrations.
Abazeid said that among the dead was Osama Ahmad, the son of the mosque's imam, Sheik Ahmad Sayasna. The other three were a woman and her two daughters who were killed when a tank shell hit their home near the mosque, he said. In the early hours of the morning, military reinforcements poured into Daraa, including 20 armored personnel carriers, four tanks, and a military ambulance, a resident of the city told The Associated Press. The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said 65 people were killed Friday. with 36 deaths in the Daraa province, 27 in the central Homs region, one in Latakia and another in the Damascus countryside. Total civilian deaths since the uprising began has reached 535, he said.(AP) Beirut, 30 Apr 11, 15:31