LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِMay 03/2011

Biblical Event Of The Day
The Good News According to Matthew 28/16-20: "But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them. 28:17 When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted. 28:18 Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 28:19 Go,* and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 28:20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen".

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Obama: US operation killed al-Qaida head bin Laden; US in possession of body/AP & CP/May 02/11
After finishing Ben Laden, Still much to do/Now Lebanon/May 02/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for May 02/11
Osama bin Laden Killed in U.S. Raid, Obama Says 'Justice Has been Done/Naharnet
World Leaders Praise the Death of Qaida Chief: War Against Terrorism Must Continue/Naharnet
Osama bin Laden buried at sea. His last haven was a Pakistani military town/DEBKAfile
EU security chief urges vigilance after bin Laden’s death/Now Lebanon
Hamas slams killing of 'holy warrior' Osama bin Laden/Reuters/Haaretz
France Says Syrian Regime Will Fall if Repression Continues/Naharnet
Syria protesters given surrender ultimatum/Daily Star
Mass Arrests in Daraa, Douma as Syria Protesters Plan Week 'to Break the Siege'/Naharnet
10 killed 499 arrested in Syria/VOA
McCain: No Military Role for U.S. in Syria Despite Bloodshed/Fox News
In Syria's rebel city 'they will shoot anything that moves/The Guardian
Refugees recount brutal crackdown in western Syria/CSM
Hundreds Reported Arrested In Syria/Fox News
'Doomsday scenario' if Syria fails/Washington Post
Egypt frees Hezbollah cell members to Gaza/UPI
Serbia to send member of Kurdish Hezbollah to Turkey/B92
Israeli PM: I doubt world has learned its lesson/Ynetnews
Internal Security Forces attacked in South Lebanon/iloubnan.info
Suleiman Clings to His Role in Naming Interior Minister as New Majority Urged to Adopt Lenient Approach/Naharnet
ISF Patrol Intercepted as it was Attempting to Thwart Construction Violation in Tyre/Naharnet


France Says Syrian Regime Will Fall if Repression Continues
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Monday that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime will fall if it continues its bloody repression of demonstrations.
"If the regime perseveres down this path (of repression), it will fall, one day or another, but it will fall," Juppe told Europe 1 radio.
"Today there is this great hope for freedom and democracy. You must take this into account and putting it down by firing live rounds into crowds is unacceptable whichever country does it," he said. Rights groups say that government forces killed dozens of Syrian protesters over the weekend, bringing the overall death toll from unprecedented demonstrations against Assad's regime that erupted on March 15 to over 580.(AFP) Beirut, 02 May 11, 10:16

Israel Prepares for Any Possible Development on Lebanese Border after Bin Laden's Death
Naharnet/The Israeli army set off warning sirens in the Shebaa Farms and along the Lebanese border at around 10:00 am on Monday.
The sirens were heard for several minutes, reported the National News Agency.  Security information confirmed that the sirens are the beginning of a wide mobilization along the Lebanese border as announced by the Israeli army, explaining that it is anticipating "any possible military developments after the death of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden." U.S. President Barack Obama said in a dramatic televised address that al-Qaida leader had been killed in an operation near Islamabad, Pakistan. The United States has been hunting bin Laden for years, an effort that was redoubled following the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon, which killed 3,000 people in 2001. Beirut, 02 May 11, 12:41

Expect European attacks after bin Laden’s death, Omar Bakri says
May 2, 2011 /The radical Islamist cleric Omar Bakri said on Monday that with the death of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, the Arab world had "lost a leader," adding that he expected "revenge" attacks in Europe. "The news of the death of Sheikh Osama has saddened and delighted us at the same time. It saddened us because we lost a leader in the Arab region and it is welcomed because he fell a martyr as he wanted," Bakri told AFP in Lebanon. "Undoubtedly the martyrdom of bin Laden will infuse new life into the next generation as jihad will not stop. We expect reactions from this generation in Europe... their operations will take revenge for Sheikh Osama." Bakri, a Sunni radical, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a military court for inciting murder, but was freed on bail in November pending a new trial. He lives in the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli. Originally from Syria but holding a Lebanese passport, Bakri denies having any direct link with Al-Qaeda and had called the trained September 11 suicide bombers "magnificent." He settled in Britain in 1986 where he became a leading figure among Islamist circles until the authorities tightened the screws after the 2005 bombings in London. Since then he has been banned from Britain. Bin Laden was killed overnight on Monday in an operation by US special forces in Pakistan.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Egypt frees Hezbollah cell members to Gaza
Published: May 1, 2011 /GAZA, May 1 (UPI) -- Two Palestinian members of a Hezbollah cell arrived in Gaza this weekend following their release by Egyptian authorities.
Mohammed Ramadan, 17, and Nidal Fathi Juda, 23, were arrested three years ago along with other cell members for terror activities. The two completed their jail sentences and applied to the Egyptian Higher Military Council for their freedom, Ramadan told al-Arabiya. Ramadan said Egypt's attorney general agreed to the release after the two waged a one-week hunger strike. They were then moved to a prison in Sinai for two months before their release. "After a decision was made to release us, we were held temporarily at al-Qanatir prison for two months waiting for the situation in northern Sinai to settle down. Three days ago, we were moved to the Rafah crossing and were asked to choose whether we prefer to go to Gaza or to Malaysia to avoid Israeli threats. We decided to go to Gaza so we can die in our homeland," Ramadan told al-Arabiya. He said four other cell members -- Nasser Jibreel, Adel Abu Amra, Nasser Abu Amra and Nimir Taweel -- are serving sentences of 10 to 15 years and Egyptian lawyers were trying to secure their release. During the anti-government demonstrations in Egypt earlier this year and the toppling of former President Hosni Mubarak and his government, several cell members were among hundreds of inmates who escaped from Egyptian prisons, including Sami Shihab, the leader of the Hezbollah cell, the network said.

Serbia to send member of Kurdish Hezbollah to Turkey
Source: Tanjug /BELGRADE -- Interior Minister Ivica Dačić says a member of the Kurdish Hezbollah, arrested yesterday, will be sent to Turkey if that country requests his extradition.
Serbian MUP officers are seen with Tamak after his arrest (Tanjug)Ajdan Tamak was arrested while he was hiding in a truck at the Horgoš border crossing between Serbia and Hungary. He is currently held by the border police, it was revealed. Dačić said that the Turkish Interpol stated that Tamak was sentenced to life in prison "for committing several terrorist acts", and that he was wanted on charges of being a member of "the terrorist group (known as) Turkish or Kurdish Hezbollah". The Serbian police arrested Tamak and another person as they were trying to illegally cross the border and leave Serbia early on Friday. According to reports, Interpol offices in Serbia and Turkey collaborated in this case

Benjamin Netanyahu: I doubt world has learned Shoah lesson
Yair Altman/Ynetnews/Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday compared between the Holocaust and current threats on Israel from Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah during a ceremony at the Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem which launched Holocaust Remembrance Day events.
"We must not bury our heads in the sand and dismiss the threat with words of mockery," he said. "Has the world learned this lesson? I doubt it. Have we? I believe we have."
Addressing Israel's enemies, Netanyahu said: "The world should know that when the people of Israel and the Israel Defense Forces say never again - we mean every word."
Netanyahu addressed the Iranian threat throughout his speech. "It seems the world finds it easier to talk of lessons of the past rather than project them on the present day and future. But we, members of the Jewish people, must not ignore the lessons of the Holocaust on days such as these. New enemies continue to emerge and as they deny the Holocaust and call for the annihilation of our people, Iran and its cohorts Hezbollah and Hamas openly call for the destruction of the Jewish state.
"All the world's cultured people, all those who say they have learned the lessons of the Holocaust, must unequivocally condemn those who call for the annihilation of the Jewish state. Iran is arming itself to fulfill this very end and the world has yet to stop it. The threat on our existence cannot be swept aside, it is facing us as well as mankind and must be stopped."
'Israel committed to being anti-racist'
President Shimon Peres said during the ceremony that Israel is committed to being the most anti-racist country in the world.
"We, members of the Jewish people, were victims of racism, persecution and discrimination but we never abandoned the obligation to honor every person, we were not blinded by darkness," he said. "Even in a dark world, we have aspired and continue to aspire to be a light unto the nations.
"We were alone, with no state of our own. The allied forces' bomber planes that flew over Auschwitz did not drop a single bomb on the mass murder facilities," he said.
"The Holocaust determined there is no replacement for a home of our own. There is no replacement for the Israel Defense Forces. Today we have an excellent army which the world has learned to respect. We have a democratic regime which knows how to defend itself and spread peace. That is our answer to the enemy, to any enemy."
Peres added: "Even after the Holocaust there remains a regime whose leaders are public Holocaust deniers and inciters. This should arouse horror with any person and shock any conscience."Iran's fanatic high echelon is a danger to the entire world, not just a threat on Israel. It poses a real danger to the fate of mankind. The world's nations have declared they will not tolerate a nuclear Iran. They are now being tested." Six Holocaust survivors lighted torches at Yad Vashem as part of a ceremony under the banner "The Faces behind the documents, artifacts and photographs."

EU security chief urges vigilance after bin Laden’s death
May 2, 2011 /The European Union's counter-terrorism coordinator on Monday urged the world to remain vigilant after Osama bin Laden's death, saying he would likely continue to serve as a symbol to some. Welcoming the operation by US special forces, Gilles de Kerchove said it was "a significant additional step in our collective efforts to prevent the spread of terrorism."
"Based on the available information, the circumstances of this difficult operation made it impossible to capture Osama Bin Laden alive," he added in a statement. His death furthered weakened Al-Qaeda core, whose operational capabilities had been seriously degraded in recent years, de Kerchove also said. "The impact of Osama Bin Laden as a symbol will most likely keep inspiring affiliated groups and individuals for some time, so we should remain vigilant.” "The EU and the US, together with our friends in the Muslim world, will continue our joint effort to prevent and fight against terrorism." Bin Laden was killed overnight on Monday in an operation by US special forces in Pakistan.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Still much to do
May 2, 2011/Now Lebanon
News that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden had been killed in an American-led operation in the mountains of Pakistan will have come as a huge relief to many millions of Americans who were both scarred by the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 and who have had to live with the so-called War on Terror for nearly a decade.
In the wake of those era-defining attacks on New York and Washington, the US adopted a zero-tolerance-with-its-enemies policy. It found out that in Iraq it was easier to topple a dictator like Saddam Hussein than to nation-build, and yet despite the violence that followed Saddam’s downfall, Iraq is today a better place. Its people are free and have a say in who governs them. In Afghanistan it faced, and still faces, similar challenges, but the medieval Taliban that gave aid and sanctuary to Bin Laden no longer holds the reins of power.
It is symbolic that Bin Laden’s death came at a time when many Middle East countries are shaking off the chains of autocracy, rejecting the regimes that gave succor and support to the likes of Al Qaeda as well as the radical Palestinian groups that peddle murder and mayhem in the name of revolution and a warped sense of justice.
Bin Laden’s legacy is a throwback to a different Middle East. The revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, and those taking place on the streets of towns and cities in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria, are movements for good. The people do not appear to want to unleash apocalyptic attacks on the forces of imperialism. They want freedom of speech, they want transparency, they want democracy, they want jobs, and they want prosperity. In short, they want to take their place among the community of nations.
Now that Bin Laden is dead, the US must resist the urge to think that its role in the Middle East might be nearing its end. Now is not the time to begin the process of isolationism. Osama Bin Laden’s fiendish career might be over, but his influence lives on in a Middle East that still throws up a myriad of challenges.
The US and its allies must put their full weight behind supporting a region that serves both the interests of its people and the interest of the wider international community. It is unacceptable, for example, that they adopt a different position on Syria than Libya just for the sake of regional interests. The double standards are just too glaring to be ignored. Innocent civilians are being gunned down in the streets of towns and cities of both countries, and yet while the international community has moved to protect the civilian population in Libya, it drags its heels in Syria, a country that has undermined democracy in Iraq and Lebanon and which is a key ally of Iran. What is so stabilizing about that?
In 2005, the Bush administration supported the democratic aspirations of the Lebanese people. There was no deployment of troops, no use of aerial firepower and no installation of a puppet regime in the wake of the Syrian withdrawal; just a steely message to the region that the Lebanese deserved to determine their own future using the tried-and-tested tools of democracy. The example of Lebanon 2005 is being set across the Middle East. Now that Bin Laden is dead, the message should not be “job done”; there is still much to do.

Hamas slams killing of 'holy warrior' Osama bin Laden
By Jack Khoury and Reuters /Haaretz
The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Monday condemned the killing by U.S. forces of Osama bin Laden and mourned him as an "Arab holy warrior." "We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood," Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, told reporters. Though he noted doctrinal differences between bin Laden's al-Qaida and Hamas, Haniyeh said: "We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs." Haniyeh's reported comments came following an earlier remark by a Palestinian Authority spokesman who said Monday the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces was "good for the cause of peace," "Getting rid of Bin Laden is good for the cause of peace worldwide but what counts is to overcome the discourse and the methods -- the violent methods -- that were created and encouraged by Bin Laden and others in the world," PA spokesman Ghassan Khatib said. The PA's comments came following an announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama late Sunday, saying that bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader who masterminded the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States is dead and the U.S. had recovered his body, Representatives from Hamas and Fatah announced last week their intention to reconcile, after a four-year-long bitter and at times violent rift, which saw Hamas administering the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the control of the Fatah dominated Palestinian Authority. Palestinian officials said on Friday that Egypt has invited Palestinian leaders to Cairo for the signing of the reconciliation agreement which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

Osama bin Laden buried at sea. His last haven was a Pakistani military town
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report /May 2, 2011,
US sources report that Osama bin Laden was buried at sea to avoid creating a permanent shrine on land for jihadist terrorists to visit. Saudi Arabia was first asked to take the body and refused. US military and intelligence sources disclose that Abbottabad, where al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was shot dead Sunday night, May 2, by a squadron of US Seals, is a Pakistani garrison town where a large military base is located. His villa was just 100 meters away from Pakistan's military academy and 120 kilometers from the capital, Islamabad and Pakistani intelligence headquarters. Far from being holed up in a remote mountain cave, he lived in comfort in a million-dollar three-storey villa with his close family around him in a semi-urban area. These disclosures indicate that the Pakistani military and its intelligence must have known who was living in the exceptionally large, heavily guarded villa in their midst and in plain sight and kept the knowledge from the Americans.The villa compound was encircled by 12-15 meter high walls topped by 7 foot privacy wall and barbed wire accessed through two steel, electrically-operated security gates. The Pakistanis could not have missed it when it was built in 2005 and more buildings were added later.
It is also emerging that the town of Abbottabad came to the notice of US intelligence four months ago: It was there that Indonesian al-Qaida's Umar Patek was arrested in Jan. 2011. He was on the run from a $1 million US bounty on his head, for helping mastermind the 2002 suicide bombings of nightclubs in Bali that killed 202 people. It would therefore seem that Abbottabad in Pakistan's North West Frontier region provided sanctuary not only for bin Laden but also for some of his high-profile Al Qaeda operations officers.
In his announcement of the al Qaeda leader's death, President Barack Obama glossed over Pakistan's complicity in keeping him hidden because - quite simply, the Afghanistan War may have lost its main target but it is far from over and the United States needs Islamabad to bring it to a conclusion. Taliban, which denies bin Laden was killed, will do its utmost to prove it is fully capable of fighting on without him and going on to defeat the Americans, NATO and Afghan President Hamid Karzai's army.
What effect the passing of the jihadist terrorist mastermind will have on future Pakistani cooperation with the US in the Afghanistan war is still moot. Islamabad may decide to go with the Taliban rather than the United States because of its overriding fear of Indian expansion and interest in using Afghanistan to gain strategic depth by means of a controlling influence in Kabul. To this end, Pakistani leaders may throw their support behind the Taliban rather than the Americans who will eventually leave. This would confront the US-led coalition forces fight' in Afghanistan with an escalated military challenge henceforth.

The End of Ben Laden, hopefully all his likes will be face the same fate
Obama: US operation killed al-Qaida head bin Laden; US in possession of body/AP & CP/May 02/11
Obama: US operation killed al-Qaida head bin Laden; US in possession of body
By Julie Pace,Matt Apuzzo, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press
WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden, the world's most-wanted man and the elusive mastermind behind the devastating Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, was slain in his luxury hideout in Pakistan in a firefight with U.S. forces, President Barack Obama said Sunday.
Bin Laden's death at a compound in Pakistan ended a manhunt that spanned a frustrating decade, and jubilant crowds gathered outside the White House and at ground zero in New York, where the twin towers were brought down by bin Laden's hijackers 10 years ago.
"Justice has been done," Obama said.
A small team of Americans killed bin Laden early Monday local time in the town of Abbottabad, about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of the capital Islamabad, U.S. and Pakistani officials said. The team took custody of his remains and an American official said bin Laden had been buried at sea.
Three adult males were also killed in the raid, including one of bin Laden's sons, whom officials did not name. One of bin Laden's sons, Hamza, is a senior member of al-Qaida. U.S. officials also said one woman was killed when she was used as a shield by a male combatant, and two other women were injured.
U.S. officials said the CIA tracked bin Laden to his location, then elite troops from Navy SEAL Team Six, a top military counterterrorism unit, flew to the hideout in four helicopters. Bin Laden was shot in the head in an ensuing firefight, these officials said, adding that he and his guards had resisted his attackers. U.S. personnel identified him by facial recognition, the official said, declining to say whether DNA analysis had also been used.
Obama said neither Americans nor civilians were harmed in the operation.
The death of the world's most-wanted man came just months before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Centers and Pentagon, orchestrated by bin Laden's al-Qaida organization, that killed more than 3,000 people. The United States attacked Afghanistan within months, pursuing al-Qaida, and an invasion of Iraq followed.
The success of the raid marks a psychological triumph in a long struggle that began with the 2001 attacks, and seems certain to give Obama a political lift. But its ultimate impact on al-Qaida is less clear.
The greatest terrorist threat to the West is now considered to be the al-Qaida franchise in Yemen, far from al-Qaida's core in Pakistan. The Yemen branch almost took down a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas 2009 and nearly detonated explosives aboard two U.S. cargo planes last fall. Those operations were carried out without any direct involvement from bin Laden.
Obama provided few details of the operation beyond to say that he had personally ordered it be carried out. Other officials said it was so secretive that no foreign officials were informed in advance, and only a small circle inside the administration was aware of what was unfolding half a world away.
But within hours of the announcement, Pakistani officials and a witness said bin Laden's guards had opened fire from the roof of the building, and one of the choppers crashed. The sound of at least two explosions rocked the small northwestern town of Abbottabad, where the al-Qaida chief made his last stand.
Flames were visible after the attack on the building, about 100 yards (meters) from the gates of a Pakistani military academy — certain to raise questions about al-Qaida's ability to build a custom-made hideout in such close proximity.
Abbottabad, surrounded by hills and with mountains in the distance, is less than half a day's drive from the border region with Afghanistan, where most intelligence assessments believed bin Laden was holed up.
The White House said Obama convened at least nine meetings with top national security officials in the lead-up to the raid.
The president spent part of the day on the golf course, but cut his round short to return to the White House for a meeting where he and top national security aides reviewed final preparations for the raid.
Two hours later, Obama was told that bin Laden had been tentatively identified.
CIA director Leon Panetta was directly in charge of the military team during the operation, according to one official, and when he and his aides received word at agency headquarters that bin Laden had been killed, cheers broke out around the conference room table.
Halfway around the world, in Abbottabad, one witness described a military raid carried out under darkness.
"I heard a thundering sound, followed by heavy firing. Then firing suddenly stopped. Then more thundering, then a big blast," said Mohammad Haroon Rasheed. "In the morning when we went out to see what happened, some helicopter wreckage was lying in an open field."
A Pakistani official in the town said fighters on the roof opened fire on the choppers with rocket-propelled grenades. Another official said the four helicopters took off from the Ghazi air base in northwest Pakistan.
Bin Laden was buried at sea because Islamic practice and tradition calls for speedy burial, a U.S. official said, but did not say where. Finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world's most wanted terrorist would have been difficult, the official added.
The U.S. and Pakistani officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
Former President George W. Bush, who was in office on the day of the attacks, issued a written statement hailing bin Laden's death as a momentous achievement. "The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done," Bush said.
Obama said he ordered the operation after receiving undisclosed intelligence information. Senior administration officials said the terrorist mastermind was found inside a custom-built compound with two security gates. They said it appeared to have been constructed to harbour one high-value target and that for undisclosed reasons, officials became clear the hideout was bin Laden's.
Based on statements given by U.S. detainees, intelligence officials have known for years that bin Laden trusted one al-Qaida courier in particular and they believed he might be living with him in hiding. In November, intelligence officials found out he was living in the huge fortified compound. It was surrounded by walls as high as 18 feet (5.5 metres), topped with barbed wire. There were two security gates and no phone or Internet running into the house.
Intelligence officials believed the $1 million home was custom-built to harbour a major terrorist. CIA experts analyzed whether it could be anyone else, but time and again, they decided it was almost certainly bin Laden.
Officials also said they believe the death puts al-Qaida on a path of decline that will be difficult to reverse, but there was no word on the whereabouts of bin Laden's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri.
The attacks in the U.S. a decade ago seemed to come out of nowhere, even though al-Qaida had previously damaged American targets overseas.
The terrorists hijacked planes, flew one of them into one of Manhattan's Twin Towers — and, moments later, into the other one. Both buildings collapsed, trapping thousands inside and claiming the lives of firefighters and others who had rushed to help them.
A third plane slammed into the Pentagon, defacing the symbol of America's military might. A fourth crashed in rural Pennsylvania after passengers overpowered the hijackers and forced the craft from the air — before it could hit its intended target in Washington.
Obama spoke with Bush and former President Bill Clinton on Sunday night to inform them of the developments.
Obama struck a less than boastful tone in his brief announcement, although he said the death of bin Laden was "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al-Qaida."His death does not mark the end of our effort. There's no doubt that al-Qaida will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must and we will remain vigilant," he added.
Moments after Obama spoke, the State Department put U.S. embassies on alert and warned of the heightened possibility for anti-American violence. In a worldwide travel alert, the department said there was an "enhanced potential for anti-American violence given recent counterterrorism activity in Pakistan."

Lebanese arrested for allegdly spying for Israel May 02, 2011 11:37
Daily Star SIDON, Lebanon: Lebanese intelligence servicemen have arrested a Lebanese man on suspicion of spying for Israel, a security source told The Daily Star Monday. The source said Andrea A. R., who hails from the southern village of Qlaiaa, was arrested in south Lebanon Saturday, adding that the suspect was taken to the Lebanese Army barracks in the southern port city of Sidon for interrogation. Lebanon launched in 2009 a nationwide crackdown on people suspected of collaborating with Israel. More than 150 individuals were rounded up in the campaign

Syria protesters given surrender ultimatum May 02, 2011
Agence France Press DAMASCUS: The authorities in Syria on Monday set a deadline of 15 days for people who had committed "unlawful acts" to give themselves up, as a wave of arrests was reported across the country. The ultimatum came as activists planned fresh anti-government demonstrations following the deaths of dozens of people in weekend protests.
In a statement, the interior ministry told "citizens who have participated in or committed unlawful acts such as bearing arms, attacking security or spreading lies to surrender by May 15 and hand their weapons in to the competent authorities."
It also called on Syrians to "supply information about saboteurs, terrorists and arms caches... they will be spared any subsequent legal consequences."
A military spokesman on Monday announced the arrest of 499 people in the southern flashpoint town of Daraa, a week after thousands of troops backed by tanks swooped on the town to crush protests.
The spokesman also announced the deaths of two members of the security forces "as well as 10 terrorists." Eight soldiers were wounded and five gunmen waiting in ambush were arrested, the military added. According to the opposition Syrian Revolution 2011 website, security forces on Monday at dawn also entered the Kafar Nubbol area, 320 kilometres (200 miles) north of Damascus, and took over houses and arrested 26 people. The site urged Syrians across the country to mobilise every day at noon in solidarity with Daraa and all "besieged towns."
"We say to this regime: 'The court of the people will judge you'," it said.
Hundreds of dissidents were arrested on Sunday, including in Daraa and the besieged Damascus suburb of Douma, after dozens of people were killed in weekend protests, activists said.
Human rights groups say the civilian death toll from unprecedented demonstrations that erupted on March 15 has topped 580.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Monday that President Bashar al-Assad's regime will fall if it continues its bloody crackdown.
"If the regime perseveres down this path, it will fall, one day or another, but it will fall," Juppe told Europe 1 radio.
"Today there is this great hope for freedom and democracy. You must take this into account and putting it down by firing live rounds into crowds is unacceptable whichever country does it," he said. British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday denounced the "disgraceful" crackdown and urged more global pressure against Damascus, although Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned against foreign military intervention.
The United States has blocked assets of Assad's brother Maher, who commands the feared Fourth Armoured Division, as well as top officials and Syria's intelligence services.
The European Union is also preparing a raft of sanctions, including an arms embargo.
"At least 356 people were arrested today (Sunday) across Syria, including in Daraa, Douma, Latakia and Qamishli," an activist told AFP by telephone.
He said demonstrations took place in the central city of Homs. A protest was also held in the coastal city of Latakia and a candlelit vigil in Banias.
Troops in tanks backed by other armoured vehicles on Sunday cruised Daraa streets, shooting to keep residents indoors and arresting men aged 15 and over, an activist from the town told AFP. "Since early morning the army and security forces have been combing neighbourhoods one by one and making sweeping arrests. Hundreds have been arrested since Friday," activist Abdullah Abizad said by telephone. In Douma, "the army has tightened the siege and has a list of 200 names of people it wants to arrest," another activist said.
Activists said many people in Douma and Daraa live off the land and have been relying on what they grow.
In Daraa, "nothing is coming in. People there grow a lot of tomatoes and zucchini and they are making do with what they have. The situation is critical but there is no famine."
The Syrian Revolution 2011, the driving force behind the protests, vowed in a Facebook statement that "we will only kneel before God," and gave a daily schedule of protests for the week in solidarity with Daraa and Douma.The army said it entered Daraa on April 25 at the request of residents to rid them of "terrorist gangs" responsible for a spate of killings and vandalism."
The Committee of the Martyrs of the 15 March Revolution, which has been keeping a tally of the dead, put the toll since the start of protests at 582 civilians.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 86 army and security forces personnel have also been killed.
The arrests are taking place despite the lifting on April 21 of almost five decades of emergency rule and the abolition of the repressive state security court.

Question: "What does it mean to be one flesh in a marriage?"
GotQuestions.org
Answer: The term “one flesh” comes from the Genesis account of the creation of Eve. Genesis 2:21-24 describes the process by which God created Eve from a rib taken from Adam’s side as he slept. Adam recognized that Eve was part of him—they were in fact “one flesh.” The term “one flesh” means that just as our bodies are one whole entity and cannot be divided into pieces and still be a whole, so God intended it to be with the marriage relationship. There are no longer two entities (two individuals), but now there is one entity (a married couple). There are a number of aspects to this new union.
As far as emotional attachments are concerned, the new unit takes precedence over all previous and future relationships (Genesis 2:24). Some marriage partners continue to place greater weight upon ties with parents than with the new partner. This is a recipe for disaster in the marriage and is a perversion of God’s original intention of “leaving and cleaving.” A similar problem can develop when a spouse begins to draw closer to a child to meet emotional needs rather than to his or her partner.
Emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, financially, and in every other way, the couple is to become one. Even as one part of the body cares for the other body parts (the stomach digests food for the body, the brain directs the body for the good of the whole, the hands work for the sake of the body, etc.), so each partner in the marriage is to care for the other. Each partner is no longer to see money earned as “my” money; but rather as “our” money. Ephesians 5:22-33 and Proverbs 31:10-31 give the application of this “oneness” to the role of the husband and to the wife, respectively.
Physically, they become one flesh, and the result of that one flesh is found in the children that their union produces; these children now possess a special genetic makeup, specific to their union. Even in the sexual aspect of their relationship, a husband and wife are not to consider their bodies as their own but as belonging to their partner (1 Corinthians 7:3-5). Nor are they to focus on their own pleasure but rather the giving of pleasure to their spouse.
This oneness and desire to benefit each other is not automatic, especially after mankind’s fall into sin. The man, in Genesis 2:24 (KJV), is told to “cleave” to his wife. This word has two ideas behind it. One is to be “glued” to his wife, a picture of how tight the marriage bond is to be. The other aspect is to “pursue hard after” the wife. This “pursuing hard after” is to go beyond the courtship leading to marriage, and is to continue throughout the marriage. The fleshly tendency is to “do what feels good to me” rather than to consider what will benefit the spouse. And this self-centeredness is the rut that marriages commonly fall into once the “honeymoon is over.” Instead of each spouse dwelling upon how his or her own needs are not being met, he or she is to remain focused on meeting the needs of the spouse.
As nice as it may be for two people to live together meeting each other’s needs, God has a higher calling for the marriage. Even as they were to be serving Christ with their lives before marriage (Romans 12:1-2), now they are to serve Christ together as a unit and raise their children to serve God (1 Corinthians 7:29-34; Malachi 2:15; Ephesians 6:4). Priscilla and Aquila, in Acts 18, would be good examples of this. As a couple pursues serving Christ together, the joy which the Spirit gives will fill their marriage (Galatians 5:22-23). In the Garden of Eden, there were three present (Adam, Eve, and God), and there was joy. So, if God is central in a marriage today, there also will be joy. Without God, a true and full oneness is not possible.