LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِMay
16/2011
Biblical Event Of The
Day
The Good News According to John
14/1-7: “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
14:2 In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told
you. I am going to prepare a place for you. 14:3 If I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may
be there also. 14:4 Where I go, you know, and you know the way.” 14:5 Thomas
said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father, except through me. 14:7 If you had known me, you would have known my
Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him.”
Latest
analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases
from
miscellaneous
sources
Border incidents took IDF by
surprise and may take heat off Assad/By
Anshel Pfeffer/Haaretz/May 15/11
Pope Shenouda III asks Egyptian
Christians to end protests after mob attack/
Associated Press/May
15/11
Muslims Attack Christian Protesters
in Egypt, 1 Killed, Over 100 Injured/By Mary Abdelmassih/AINA/May
15/11
Muslim 'Inferiority Complex'
Kills Christians/By: Raymond Ibrahim/May
15/11
U.S. Presses Nuclear
Case Against Syria/By
Jay Solomon/Wall Street Journal/May
15/11
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for May
15/11
Pope Calls For End of Violence
in Libya, Syria/VOA
10 Dead, 112 Hurt by Israeli
Gunfire against Protesters Marking Palestine Nakba Day on Lebanon Border/Naharnet
1 Dead, 5 Hurt, Including Lebanese
Soldier, in Firing from Syria into Lebanon as Pope Calls for End to Bloodshed/Naharnet
Ten Palestinians killed in south
Lebanon on "Nakba Day"Monsters & Critics
Heavy gunfire heard in Syrian
protest town/Reuters
Analysis: 'Nakba Day' just the
beginning/Ynetnews
U.S. Presses Nuclear Case
Against Syria/WSJ
Al-Rahi ahead of Traveling to Rome:
We Will Not Back Down from What Was Agreed/Naharnet
Miqati's Brother Visits Damascus:
It is Distancing Itself from Meddling in Government Formation/Naharnet
Suleiman: I Haven't Demanded
Anything and Others Should be Questioned over Delay in Cabinet
Formation/Naharnet
Aoun: Suleiman has No Right to
Demand Any Portfolio/Naharnet
U.N. calls for calm at
Lebanon-Israel Reuters BEIRUT/Reuters
Berri: Government Formation Has
Become More Complicated/Naharnet
More Syrians Cross into Northern
Lebanon, 1 Dies at Hospital/Naharnet
Jumblat Criticizes Cabinet
Delay: Majority is Retarded/Naharnet
Deadly clashes on Israel's borders
with Syria, Lebanon/Ymetnews
Palestinians, Syrians, Hizballah
smash through three Israeli borders/DEBKAfile
Eight said killed as Israeli Army
fires on infiltrators from Syria and Lebanon/Haaretz
Israeli Army: Unrest along Israel's
northern borders bears Iran's 'fingerprints'/Haaretz/AP
1 killed, 16 hurt as truck plows
into cars, pedestrians in suspected Tel Aviv terror attack/Haaretz
2 killed, more wounded on
Lebanon-Syria border/Daily Star
Egyptian court imposes gag order on trial of local man accused of spying for
Israel/WP
Syrian Troops Assault Border Town, Sending Hundreds Fleeing Into
Lebanon/NYT
Syria unrest: 'New violence' near Homs amid talks call/BBC
Iran, Syria, Libya, Turkey Stage Palestine PR Event Nakba in Israel/INA
Israel's neighboring Arab states prepare to mark Nakba Day/Haaretz
Aoun launches another attack against Lebanon president/Ya Libnan
Andraous: Time for the 'Party of God' ( Hezbollah) to fear God/Ya Libnan
Jumblatt says the new majority is 'retarded'/Ya Libnan
LEBANON – VATICAN John Paul II and the right of nations
to be themselves/Spero News
Aoun:
The resistance's
weapons comes from the UN Charter/Iloubnan
Hezbollah stands by Mikati:
Mousawi/Daily Star
Al-Rahi ahead
of Traveling to Rome: We Will Not Back Down from What Was Agreed upon at Bkirki
Summit
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stressed on Sunday that Christians
and Muslims in Lebanon share the same fate, "they either survive together or die
together."
He said before his trip to Rome where he will participate in the Middle East
Synod: "We will not back down from what was agreed upon at the Bkirki summit."
Last week, a Christian-Islamic summit that brought together Lebanon's religious
and spiritual leaders and representatives was held at Bkirki to assert national
principles.
"The summit wanted to demonstrate to that Lebanese that Lebanon is a civil
state, not a religious one, meaning that the country separates religion from the
state," he stated.
Addressing the Higher Islamic Shiite Council's objections to some of points in
the summit's closing statements, al-Rahi said: "We were in complete agreement
during the summit and the announcement of the statement." "As for what happened
afterwards, I have no idea what changed," he remarked. The patriarch also called
for speeding up the government formation process, saying: "We don't understand
the delay, but we know it will only increase the chaos and the citizens'
suffering." The Higher Islamic Shiite Council objected to the summit's closing
statement's demand that the "Lebanese state liberate land occupied by Israel."
It also objected to its position on the conflict with Israel, in that it called
it a "Palestinian-Israeli" conflict instead of "Arab-Israeli" conflict. Beirut,
15 May 11, 10:44
10 Dead, 112 Hurt by Israeli Gunfire against Protesters Marking Palestine Nakba
Day on Lebanon Border
Naharnet/Israeli gunfire killed 10 people and wounded 112 others in the Lebanese
border town of Maroun al-Ras during a Palestinian refugee protest on Sunday to
mark "Nakba Day," the Lebanese army said in a statement. The United Nations
Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) called for "maximum restraint on all sides in
order to prevent any further casualties" and for "immediate concrete security
steps on the ground." Lebanon's military said the Israeli army opened fire on
protesters who gathered in the border town of Maroun al-Ras.
"The Israeli enemy's forces opened fire on the crowds, leading to the martyrdom
of 10 people while 112 suffered various injuries, some of them critical," it
said.
"The casualties were hit in the face, stomach and heart," a medical source at
Bint Jbeil hospital told Agence France Presse, adding that the casualties had
been identified.
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned the Israeli shootings as
"flagrant and unacceptable aggression," while Syria warned that the Jewish state
would bear full responsibility for its "criminal" actions. In Israel, the army
said "several rioters attempted to breach the border fence and to infiltrate
Israeli territory" from the Lebanese side. Israeli soldiers responded "by firing
warning shots" to prevent damage to property or security forces, it added. The
Israeli army said it held "the governments of Syria and Lebanon responsible for
any violence or provocation towards Israel that emanates from their respective
territories." The incidents erupted as dozens of young demonstrators crossed a
Lebanese army cordon to approach the barbed-wire fence marking the border and
started to hurl rocks at Israeli soldiers on the other side. The troops
responded with gunfire, security officials said. Dozens of busses were used to
ferry men, women and children from around Lebanon, which is estimated to host
between 300,000 and 400,000 Palestinians, most of them in 12 crowded and heavily
armed refugee camps, to the border area. An Israeli army spokesman said
several dozen young demonstrators had massed near the border, shouting: "By our
soul, our blood, we sacrifice ourselves for you, Palestine."
Shortly beforehand, the Lebanese army tried to disperse the crowd by firing into
the air. The aim of the protest was "to remind younger generations born outside
the homeland that the land of their parents and grandparents was stolen by the
Jews," said Ayad Abu al-Aynayn, one of the rally's organizers. The area around
the Israeli side of the border is a closed military zone out of bounds to
civilians, according to Israeli authorities. The organizers of the rally told
AFP that Hizbullah had financed the event. The rally was to mourn the
anniversary of the 1948 creation of the Jewish state which the Palestinians term
the "Nakba," or catastrophe.(AFP) Beirut, 15 May 11, 18:17
1 Dead, 5 Hurt, Including Lebanese Soldier, in Firing from Syria into Lebanon as
Pope Calls for End to Bloodshed
Naharnet/The deadly unrest in Syria spilled over into Lebanon where a woman was
killed at a border crossing as protests against President Bashar al-Assad's
regime entered a third month on Sunday. Gunfire from Syria raked a crowd at al-Boqaia
crossing near the town of Wadi Khaled, killing the Syrian woman and wounding
five people including a Lebanese soldier, a Lebanese security official and an
AFP correspondent said. The shooting came as hundreds of Syrians fled violence
in their homeland on foot into Lebanon.
At one point, an armed man in plainclothes waded towards al-Boqaia across the
river which marks the border but was turned back by Lebanese civilians and fled
firing shots into the air.
The area around al-Boqaia was later deserted apart from Lebanese soldiers, a Red
Cross team and several reporters, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.
The latest incidents came as Pope Benedict XVI called for an end to the
bloodshed in Syria and urged authorities and citizens to strive for a "future of
peace and stability."
"I ask God that there be no further bloodshed in (Syria), this country of great
religions and civilizations," the pope said after his weekly Angelus prayer in
Rome's St Peter's Square.
Since Saturday, residents of the western Syrian town of Tall Kalakh, which is
encircled by the Syrian army, have fled in their hundreds into nearby northern
Lebanon.
According to a witness and a hospital worker in Tall Kalakh, security forces
shot dead at least four people and wounded several others Saturday as thousands
held a second day of anti-regime protests. A witness in Tall Kalakh told AFP
that residents had been treating the wounded in a small clinic rather than the
town hospital to prevent the casualties from being arrested or "finished off."
Security forces on Saturday fired at a funeral convoy at an entrance to the
town, killing the mother and wounding three family members of a victim of the
clashes, according to the Tall Kalakh resident. Al-Watan newspaper, which is
close to the regime, said on Sunday that armed men had fled the cities of Banias
and Homs and sought refuge in Tall Kalakh, while "fighters" from Lebanon had
entered Syria.
Tall Kalakh was the scene of "heavy fighting" on Saturday night between the
Syrian army and armed groups, the daily said. The mayor of the Lebanese town of
Moqaibleh, Rami Khazaal, estimated that almost 1,000 refugees had fled across
the border into northern Lebanon on Saturday. At least five were hospitalized
with gunshot wounds, one of whom died, said a source at Qobbayyateh hospital
said. The latest bloodshed cast a pall over the government's pledges to forge
ahead with reforms in Syria, where the first pro-reform protests broke out on
March 15, and have triggered fresh condemnation from Western governments.
At least five people were killed in protests on Friday in the central city of
Homs and a Damascus suburb, activists said, despite an order from Assad for
security forces not to open fire.
Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud announced later the same day that a "national
dialogue" would be launched as soldiers withdrew from flashpoint cities and
towns such as Banias on the Mediterranean coast and Daraa in southern Syria. An
activist in Banias, meanwhile, said tanks had been withdrawn from the town
center but security forces were still deployed on Sunday. Up to 850 people have
been killed and at least 8,000 arrested since the protests started in mid-March,
human rights groups say. The regime has blamed the deadly violence on "armed
terrorist gangs" and kept out the foreign media. An editorial headlined "Game
Over" in the government newspaper Tishrin commented on Sunday that it was clear
the revolt was losing steam. "The game is over and those betting on destroying
Syria from within have failed without finding a way to sow discord," it said,
dismissing the protesters as "suicidal" and "unconscious".(AFP) Beirut, 15 May
11, 11:25
Suleiman: I Haven't Demanded Anything and Others Should be Questioned over Delay
in Cabinet Formation
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman stressed that there are no more disagreements
over the government formation now that the dispute over the Interior Ministry
has been resolved, adding that other sides are responsible for creating
obstacles. He said: "Some sides believe that they are entitled to the Defense,
Health, and Education portfolios that they will demand ten ministries, including
nine portfolios." Informed sources over Suleiman's position told An Nahar in
remarks published on Sunday that the obstacle of the Interior Ministry "that was
linked to the President no longer exists" as an agreement was reached between
him and FPM leader MP Michel Aoun to appoint retired general Marwan Charbel to
the position.
"The constitution does not speak of shares, but mechanisms," they continued. "A
president has never demanded a share. All he asked was for a neutral figure to
take over the Interior Ministry due to the critical role its plays," they added.
Beirut, 15 May 11, 09:39
U.N. calls for calm at Lebanon-Israel
Reuters BEIRUT: U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) urged the parties
involved in a shooting incident on Sunday at the Lebanese-Israeli border to show
"maximum restraint" to prevent casualties. Spokesman Andrea Tenenti said UNIFIL
was in contact with the Lebanese army and the Israeli military. Security sources
said four people had been killed after Israeli forces fired in the air to repel
Palestinians demonstrating at the border.
Palestinians, Syrians, Hizballah smash through three Israeli borders
DEBKAfile Special Report May 15, 2011,
Israeli forces on high alert for Nakba Day, Sunday, May 15, failed to seal three
national borders on the Golan, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip against large-scale
incursions. Dozens of Syrians and Hizballah invaders were able to overrun the
Israeli Golan village of Majd al Shams and hoist Syrian and Palestinian flags in
the main square; Hizballah-sponsored Palestinian demonstrators breached the
Lebanese-Israeli border and damaged IDF installations; and hundreds of
Palestinians battered the Erez crossing from the Gaza Strip.
The interlopers sustained dozens of casualties including fatalities from Israeli
fire these events in which Israelis too were injured. In the Gaza sector 40-50
casualties are reported. Lebanon reports five demonstrators killed. On the
Syrian border, Israeli snipers and helicopters belatedly opened fire to halt the
thousands attempting to cross the border, but dozens got through to Majd al
Shams. Some were killed or injured by Israeli fire. Three Israel civilians were
wounded. Israeli tanks were speeded to the Syrian border to halt the incident.
debkafile reports that despite the high IDF border alert for Nakba Day invasions
from neighboring Arab countries, Israeli forces were not deployed in sufficient
strength on the Golan border, even though debkafile reported Saturday, May 14
that Damascus planned trouble on the border with Israel as a diversion from the
rebellion against the Assad regime.
We also quoted Bashar Assad's cousin Ramy Makhlouf as threatening Tuesday, May
10, that if the Americans and Europeans did not stop backing the Syrian
anti-regime uprising, Damascus would go to war on Israel and/or arm West Bank
Palestinians and Israeli Arabs for action against Israel.
While attempting to block demonstrators at Ras a-Maroun from reaching Israel,
the Lebanese army is also on high alert on the Syrian border. Fighting between
Syrian forces and anti-regime protesters has escalated in Syrian border
villages, centering on Tall Kalakh near Homs.
Eight said killed as IDF fires on infiltrators from Syria and Lebanon
Four people reported killed on Syrian border and four reported killed on Lebanon
border as thousands of protesters try breach the frontiers; dozens of
Palestinian refugees enter Israel from Syria.
By Jack Khoury, Anshel Pfeffer and Haaretz Service
Four people were reportedly shot dead by Israel Defense Forces troops Sunday as
they opened fire on large numbers of infiltrators trying to breach Syria's
southern border with Israel. Another four people were said to have been killed
on the Lebanese side of its shared frontier with Israel, as Palestinian protests
for the annual Nakba Day. which mourns the creation of the State of Israel, took
hold across the region. In Majdal Shams, which runs along the Israel-Syria
border, scores of Palestinian refugees from Syria spilled into the town. The
Magen David Adom rescue service said about a dozen others had been wounded. The
Israel Defense Forces confirmed opening fire on infiltrators.
Palestinian protesters breaking through Syria's border with Israel, May 15,
2011. About 70 people, most of them Palestinian refugees, managed to cross the
border, according to local residents. Initial reports had put the number of
infiltrators into the hundreds. "The way it was reported to me, they broke
through the fence," Dolan Abu Salah, the mayor of Majdal Shams, told Army
Radio.Thousands of people gathered in the Lebanese town of Maroun a-Ras, where
Palestinian protesters tried to push their way across the border, local media
reports said, citing eyewitnesses. Four protesters were killed and 11 wounded in
a shooting incident at the border where Palestinians were demonstrating,
Lebanese security sources said.
Carrying Palestinian flags and chanting "we want our land back," thousands of
Palestinians tried to approach the electric fence that separates Lebanon from
Israel, but Lebanese army troops fired in the air and ordered the crowd to
return to where the rally was held. Television still captures hundreds
reportedly infiltrating Israel from Syria on May 15, 2011
The demonstrators pelted the Lebanese troops with stones as they struggled to
hold them back from the fence. But around 50 protesters managed to reach the
fence and started throwing stones at the Israeli soldiers on the other side of
the fence, prompting the IDF troops to fire bullets and tear gas at the
protesters.
A Palestinian throwing a stone at Israeli security forces during clashes at
Qalandiya checkpoint, near the West Bank city of Ramallah on Nakba Day, May 15,
2011.Reuters1/7Speakers representing the various Palestinian factions called
through loudspeakers on the Palestinian youths to stop throwing stones at the
Israeli troops, but their calls were ignored.
IDF Spokesman Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai said troops opened fire at a
large crowd of Lebanese protesters who approached the border with Israel.
He said soldiers fired at the crowd when the demonstrators reached the border
and began vandalizing the fence, and that the army was aware of casualties on
the other side.
IDF: Unrest along Israel's northern borders bears Iran's 'fingerprints'
At least eight people were reportedly killed on Israel's borders with Lebanon
and Syria, after IDF troops opened fire on masses of protesters attempting to
infiltrate.
By The Associated Press The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday accused Iran
of orchestrating two waves of fighting along its northern borders, as
Palestinian protesters tried to infiltrate from Syria and Lebanon during
demonstrations to mark Nakba Day, which commemorates the "catastrophe" of the
creation of the State of Israel.
At least eight people were reportedly killed on the two frontiers, when IDF
troops opened fire on masses of protesters attempting to infiltrate into Israel.
The protests, IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai said, bore Iran's
"fingerprints."
Hezbollah fighters parade during the inauguration of a cemetery for fighters who
died while fighting Israel, in southern Beirut on Nov. 12, 2010.
"We are seeing here an Iranian provocation, on both the Syrian and the Lebanese
frontiers, to try to exploit the Nakba day commemorations," he said.
The IDF confirmed opening fire as scores of Palestinian refugees spilled into
the town of Majdal Shams, which runs along Israel's border with Syria. At least
four people, apparently Palestinian refugees, were killedt.
Mordechai also confirmed that the IDF fired at a crowd of Lebanese protesters
who approached the border with Israel and began vandalizing the fence. The
spokesman had no details on the number of casualties, but Lebanese sources said
there had been four fatalities.
Syria is home to 470,000 Palestinian refugees and its leadership, now facing
fierce internal unrest, had in previous years prevented protesters from reaching
the frontier fence.
"This appears to be a cynical and transparent act by the Syrian leadership to
deliberately create a crisis on the border so as to distract attention from the
very real problems that
regime is facing at home," said a senior Israeli government official who
declined to be named.
Border incidents took IDF by surprise and may take heat off Assad
By Anshel Pfeffer/Haaretz
IDF intelligence officials believed that there was a chance that Syrian
President Bashar Assad would attempt to divert attention to Israel from the
pro-democracy protests in his country and his regime's bloody suppression of
those protests. But the protests in Syria have gone on for two months, creating
the sense that those events are irrelevant to Israel, which dulled the level of
alertness in the border region on the Golan Heights.
All of the IDF's attention over the past few days was given to preparing for
Nakba Day events, including intelligence resources, the deployment of battalions
in the West Bank and the distribution of means to disperse protests.
Demonstrators on the border in the Golan Heights, May 15, 2011.
Although there is a high level of IDF forces on the Golan Heights, the number of
soldiers along the border is relatively light. During routine times, relatively
few soldiers operate in the area and most effort is invested in means of
intelligence gathering on the hills along the border.
It is not clear how many soldiers were in the position above Majdal Shams, which
overlooks the "Shouting Hill" in front of the town, but usually there are only a
few soldiers under the command of a sergeant or platoon leader. This force is
usually equipped only with personal weapons and live ammunition and not less
lethal crowd dispersal weapons. If the soldiers had the crowd dispersal means,
it is possible they could have chased back demonstrators before the
demonstrators broke through the border fence.
According to initial reports, the demonstrators that broke through the border
fence were not Syrians or Druze, but rather Palestinian refugees who reside in
camps around Damascus. It is difficult to imagine that these refugees could have
reached the border area without the knowledge, approval and perhaps even
encouragement of the central government in the Syrian capital.
While attention was given over the weekend to the West Bank and East Jerusalem,
the events that transpired on Nakba Day on the Golan Heights surprised the IDF
and perhaps even gave Assad what he has been searching for over many weeks – an
event that will reduce international pressure on him over the suppression of
demonstrations in Syrian cities.
1 killed, 16 hurt as truck plows into cars, pedestrians in suspected Tel Aviv
terror attack
By Haaretz Service /One person was killed and at least 16 others hurt when a
truck plowed down a busy street in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning, crashing into a
bus, several cars, a motorcycle and a number of pedestrians, in what security
forces believe was a terrorist attack. The incident occurred at about 9:35 A.M.
on Barlev Street, at the southern entrance to Tel Aviv. It comes amid heightened
tensions as Palestinians mark Nakba Day, an annual day of Palestinian protest
marking the creation of the State of Israel.
Pope Shenouda III asks Egyptian Christians to end protests after mob attack
By The Associated Press
Egypt's top Christian leader called on his followers Sunday to end a weeklong
sit-in in front of a government building on the Nile after a mob attacked the
Christian protesters and their supporters, injuring at least 67.
The head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda III, said in a
statement that outsiders have infiltrated the group of largely Christian
demonstrators, making the situation even more explosive. "This has exceeded the
mere expression of opinion," the statement said, "harming Egypt's reputation and
your reputation." He warned that Egypt's interim military rulers were losing
patience with the protesters and that they will be the losers if this sit-in
continues. It was not immediately clear if the protesters - many of whom have
been camping out on the riverbank in front of the state TV building - would heed
his call. The protesters have been trying to draw attention to the plight of
Christians, who have been the target of several attacks in recent weeks.
Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population, have felt
increasingly insecure since the popular uprising brought down Egyptian president
Hosni Mubarak, who led the country for nearly 30 years until he was forced to
resign on February 11. The Christians, many of whom are Coptic, have complained
that the interim government and its security forces have failed to protect them
and have allowed fundamentalist Islamic groups to attack with impunity.
Earlier this month, mobs of Muslims, apparently urged on by the
ultra-conservative Salafi sect of Islam, stormed the Virgin Mary Church in the
Cairo neighborhood of Imbaba, destroying pews, smashing windows and tearing up
religious pictures.
The mobs then set the church on fire. The attack was sparked by a rumor that a
Christian woman planned to marry a Muslim, which some religious purists consider
to be forbidden.
A short distance away, the mob tried to storm another Church, but were held back
by Christians who formed a human shield around the church and fought for hours.
Fifteen people were killed and more than 200 were injured in the melee. Several
weeks before the attacks on the churches, Egyptians led by hard-line Islamists
repeatedly rallied and marched to protest the appointment of a Coptic Christian
governor in the southern Egyptian province of Qena.
Violence against the sit-in in Cairo erupted late Saturday night, when a mob of
more than 100 people lobbed rocks and firebombs and charged dozens of people
sleeping in the area. Vehicles were also set on fire. Armored military vehicles
later blocked cars and pedestrians from going to the state TV building.
Some of the Christian protesters fled, but others said they would continue their
sit-in. Girgis Atef, who was injured in the melee, blamed the attack on thugs
and complained that it took three hours for Egyptian security forces to respond.
The violence didn't end until early Sunday morning. "What is behind this
military reluctance? Is it semi-collaboration?" he asked.
A security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to speak to the media, said the attackers had returned to avenge an
earlier scuffle with the protesters who prevented a motorist from going through
the area. A fight ensued, and the motorists fired blank rounds. The protesters
chased the motorist and beat him badly.
Just hours before the Cairo violence, several suspected Islamic extremists
bombed the tomb of a Muslim saint in the northern Sinai town of Sheikh Zweid,
said a security official, also declining to be identified because he wasn't
authorized to release the information. The official said the eight or nine
attackers fled the area.
Muslim radicals have blown up at least five other Muslim shrines, because they
believe the veneration of saints as a violation of Islam.
Israeli troops kills 5 protesters along Lebanon border
May 15, 2011/ The Daily Star
MAROUN AL-RASS, Lebanon: Israeli forces fired on pro-Palestinian protesters on
the border with Lebanon Sunday, killing at least five and wounding dozens,
security sources told The Daily Star online. The Lebanese Army went on high
alert in the south as a result, as the United Nations called for calm between
parties along the border.
Witnesses who were attending a gathering in Ras al-Maroun commemorating the
“Nakba” – Israel’s foundation in 1948 – said a group of between 25-50 men,
mostly from Palestinian refugee camps, had descended to the border with Israel
and began hurling rocks over the fence separating the two countries.
Israeli troops, who were not in sight when the group had descended, began firing
on the protesters, witnesses said, adding that a tank mounted with a machine gun
was also used by the Israeli military. “One of the fatalities, a teenager who
could not have been older than 15, was transported on a stretcher back to the
gathering point,” said one witness at the rally point, located about a kilometer
from the border. Another witness said that one of the protesters had died as a
result of a gunshot to the head.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has urged parties to show “maximum
restraint” along the Lebanese-Israeli border to prevent casualties, Reuters
agency reported.
Spokesman Andrea Tenenti said the U.N. peacekeepers were in contact with both
the Lebanese Army and the Israeli military.
Tensions between Lebanon and Israel last flared up on the southern border in
August 2010, when the Israeli and Lebanese armies traded fire at the border
village of Adeysseh. Two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist, as well as a senior
Israeli officer, were killed in the exchange of fire.
Hezbollah stands by Mikati: Mousawi
May 15/11/Daily Star
BEIRUT: Hezbollah stands by Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati to form the
new government, the group’s MP Nawaf Mousawi said Sunday. “We will continue to
remove the hurdles blocking the formation of the government and we realize that
there are those who are counting on pushing the prime minister-designate to
stepping down,” Mousawi said. “We are insisting that Prime Minister Najib Mikati
forms the next government and we realize that there are those who are betting
that if he was pushed to step down then it would be possible to turn the clock
backward and for us to try what we have already tried,” he added. Mikati’s
four-month-old efforts to form a Cabinet have yet to succeed despite some
progress over the past week. The main hurdle remains Christian representation in
the government. Hezbollah and its March 8 allies toppled the government of Prime
Minister Saad Hariri Jan. 12 after a dispute over the U.N.-backed Special
Tribunal for Lebanon which is looking into the 2005 assassination of statesman
Rafik Hariri and subsequent political killings. “We will stand firmly against
any attempts to return to way things were…,” Mousawi said.
2 killed, more wounded on Lebanon-Syria border
Antoine Amrieh The Daily Star
WADI KHALED, Lebanon: A Syrian soldier and a civilian died Sunday in Lebanese
hospitals after wounds they sustained while fleeing to Lebanon. A second soldier
remains in critical condition at Kobayat Hospital near the Syrian border. A
woman shot in Syria died of her injuries in Lebanon after she was evacuated
across the north Bqayaa border crossing, as fighting raged in the village of
Tall Kalakh on the Syrian side of the border, Lebanese security sources told The
Daily Star online Sunday. Sources also said that five other people had been
wounded, including a Lebanese Army soldier.Fatimah Ouz Qassim, around 65 years
old, died of her injuries at Peace Hospital in Akkar, a police source said. Her
friend, Amman Hammoud al-Yousef, 67, was also wounded and is being treated in
Rahal Hospital in the same region. Two children were also wounded, Alla Jihad
Omar, 6, and Mahmoud Hassan al-Azhout, 5. The two children were being treated at
Youssef Hospital in Akkar. Traffic at the north Lebanon border crossing of
Bqayaa ground to a halt and border security prevented journalists from
approaching the crossing, citing safety concerns. Syrian refugees have been
crossing into Lebanon since April when Syrian authorities began a violent
crackdown on protesters it described as being part of a conspiracy against the
regime. Some 800 Syrian families have crossed into the Lebanon in the last 48
hours.
One man died of gunshot wounds after crossing the border from Syria and three
others were admitted to Lebanese hospitals for treatment Saturday, following a
security crackdown on the Syrian town of Tall Kalakh. Protests in Syria have
been taking place since March 15 as demonstrators demand reform in the tightly
controlled Arab state.
Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Salim Sayegh visited the north Sunday and said
he would oversee the distribution of aid to Syrians who fled into the country.
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri Saturday instructed authorities to
coordinate in the assistance of refugees from Syria.
Muslims Attack
Christian Protesters in Egypt, 1 Killed, Over 100 Injured
15-2011 9:12:20
http://www.aina.org/news/20110515041214.htm
By Mary Abdelmassih/Assyrian International
News Agency
(AINA) -- Muslims attacked Coptic Christian protesters at Maspero thrice on
Saturday, killing one and injuring over 100. The first attack occurred near
midnight when two bearded Muslims wearing Salafist attire attempted to enter the
rally via an entrance that was not guarded by security but by the Christian
youth who were checking all persons at the entrance. One or both of the Muslims
opened fire with guns. One escaped and the other was apprehended by the
Christian youth and subsequently handed over to the police. His identity papers
showed that he was called Ramadan Abdallah, graduate of al-Azhar high school. At
the same time another Muslim group was attacking the protesters from the bridge
overlooking the site where the sit-in is staged. According to eyewitness Emad
Abdelmalak from Assuit, who was also injured, a minibus stopped at the bridge
overlooking the sit-in site, a dozen men came out of it carrying Molotov
cocktails and stones. He said the Salafis were very organized, they came in
minibus, attacked and disappeared.
Five Christians were shot, one seriously in the eye, in these two attacks, said
Father Mettias Nasr, one of the Rally organizers, to Al Ahram newspaper.
The third attack occurred at nearly 1 AM when the Muslims of Boulak, a poor area
near Maspero, came with guns and Molotov cocktails. They surrounded the
Christians on all sides and fired guns and threw Molotov cocktails at them.
Scores of Christians were severely injured and taken away to the Coptic
Hospital. A boat in the Nile belonging to the TV authorities was completely
torched (video). A Copt identified as Ramy Fakhry was killed. Hannan, a Copt who
was working at the rally canteen, told Coptic activist Mariam Ragy "We were
shocked when we heard shots, and Molotov cocktails, empty bottles and stones
were hurled at the crowds." Samuel Sobhy, one of the rally organizers, said he
was attacked by a man with a knife, who injured his leg and hand. The Muslim
attacker was caught and turned over to the police. Sobhy said that Muslims came
to disrupt the protest, but as soon as Copts heard of the attacks, they started
to flock to Maspero .Fearing that protesters may be killed, Father Filopateer
Gameel read the absolution of sins for all Christians present.
Father Botros from Moqattam Church called Way TV, a US based television network,
saying the same thing happened during the Muslim attack on them. "These are not
thugs, they are criminals hired by Security authorities and the army to break up
the Coptic sit-in. The army and the security should be held accountable. We have
rights and we will take them." He said that his church as well as other churches
will go to Maspero tomorrow after mass to join in the protest. Father Filopateer
Gameel said that he had received a threat last night from a number of Muslims
that they will attack the protesters and subsequently informed the security
authorities, who told him they could not do anything and he should call the
army. He held the Interior Minister el-Essawy responsible for what happened and
for failing to perform his duty. He said the minister said on TV that this
sit-in has to end by any means, and therefore, he gave the "green light" to the
Muslims to carry out their threat. The Copts have held an open-ended sit-in in
Maspero, in front of the State TV building, since May 7, demanding the release
of seventeen Christians unjustly detained and sentenced by a military court for
3-years on March 16, as well as over 400 others detained unjustly. They are also
demanding the Muslim perpetrators who torched the church in Soul, Moqattam, Abu
Qorqas, Embaba and Alexandria on New Year's Eve be brought to justice. Copts
have called for a million-man rally on Sunday, May 15.
Muslim 'Inferiority Complex' Kills Christians
by Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPageMagazine.com
May 14, 2011
http://www.meforum.org/2902/muslim-inferiority-complex-kills-christians
Days ago in Egypt, throngs of Muslims (henceforth, "Islamists"), estimated at
3,000, fired guns and rifles and hurled Molotov cocktails at Coptic churches,
homes, and businesses in the Imbaba region near Cairo: twelve Christians were
killed—some shot by snipers atop rooftops—232 injured; three churches were set
aflame to cries of "Allahu Akbar," while Coptic homes were looted and torched.
As usual, Egyptian leadership did little to stop this latest rampage. According
to eyewitnesses, though the mob opened fire around 5:30 p.m., the military did
not arrive till 10 p.m., providing ample time to terrorize the Copts. One priest
said "I called everyone, but no one bothered to come. I mourn all those young
people who died," naively adding "We now must ask for international protection."
Noting that this attack is unprecedented in scope, Muslim liberal writer Nabil
Sharaf el Din said "The army is either incapable [of stopping anti-Christian
violence] or is an accomplice to the Salafis [Islamists]."
So what triggered this latest bit of Salafi savagery—or, as the MSM calls it,
"sectarian strife"? Islamists claim that a Christian girl converted to Islam and
the Coptic Church responded by abducting her and torturing her into renouncing
Islam. Hence, the wild rampage was part of a "rescue" effort.
This issue of Christian women supposedly converting to Islam only to be
kidnapped by the Coptic Church is the Islamists' latest excuse to make Coptic
life a living hell (especially ironic since the well-documented reality in Egypt
is the opposite: Islamists regularly kidnap and force Christian women to convert
to Islam). Indeed, days before this rampage, thousands of Islamists marched in
front of St. Mark Cathedral, Coptic Pope Shenouda's residence, demanding the
"release" of other Christian women—two wives of clergy, whom Muslims insist also
converted to Islam only to be abducted and tormented by the Coptic Church to
return to Christianity.
(The notion of torturing people into returning to their original religion
obviously comports well with Muslim logic: aside from the other Sharia schools
which recommend outright execution of apostates, the "liberal" Hanafi school,
which is dominant in Egypt, maintains that apostate women should merely be
imprisoned and beaten till they come to their senses and return to Islam.)
That these Coptic women have publicly insisted that they never converted to
Islam does not seem to matter much; one of them, Camelia Shehata appeared on
video months ago proclaiming that she will "live and die as a Christian"; she
appeared again last week with her priest husband and young child, emphatically
denying that she ever converted to Islam, imploring Muslims to leave them in
peace.
Undeterred, Copts congregate the next day in burned Imbaba church for Sunday
mass
This supposedly "chivalrous" behavior—"rescuing" damsel converts to Islam even
when they insist on never converting—highlights the Islamic world's obsession
with the issue of conversion: while it is known that those who convert out, the
apostates, should be put to death, few people are aware that those who convert
in—against their will or not, based on false rumors or not—are a great source of
validation for Islam, and thus must be secured.
Even the West has been dragged into this obsession—such as the persistent rumor
that the late Jacque Cousteau embraced Islam, prompting the Cousteau foundation
to issue a letter verifying its founder never converted, and lived and died as a
Catholic Christian.
Indeed, a new Arabic book, Al-Quran Yaqum Wahdu—which consists of 33 anecdotes
of Western intellectuals converting to Islam after supposedly being bowled over
by the truths of the Koran—lists Cousteau and Islam critic Henryk Broder as its
very first two examples, despite the fact that, back in the real world, everyone
knows they never converted. One is left wondering how many, if any, of the other
31 anecdotes are true.
In an insightful Arabic op-ed—see my complete translation here—Muslim
intellectual Khaled Montaser elaborates on why Muslims are obsessed with
converts:
We Muslims have an inferiority complex…feeling that our Islamic religion needs
constant, practically daily, confirmation by way of Europeans and Americans
converting to Islam. What rapturous joy takes us when a European or American
announces their [conversion to] Islam—proof that we are in a constant state of
fear, alarm, and chronic anticipation for Western validation or American
confirmation that our religion is "okay."
Discussing how the Arab world exulted when it erroneously thought that the
German writer Henryk Broder had accepted Islam—based on sarcastic remarks he had
made—Montaser wrote "but we are a people incapable of comprehending sarcasm,
since it requires a bit of thinking and intellectualizing. And we read with
great speed and a hopeful eye, not an eye for truth or reality. Some of us are
struck with blindness when we read things that go against our hopes."
And there it is: just as Islamists refuse to face reality concerning so-called
Western converts, so do they refuse to face reality concerning so-called Coptic
converts to Islam. The only difference, of course, is that Copts live under
Islamic authority—hence, all the death and destruction visited upon Egypt's
indigenous Christians whenever Islam's inferiority complex flares up.
**Raymond Ibrahim is associate director of the Middle East Forum
U.S. Presses Nuclear Case Against Syria
5-15-2011
By Jay Solomon/Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON--The U.S. and its European allies, seeking to pressure Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad to end his violent crackdown on protesters, are
lobbying the United Nations nuclear watchdog to formally accuse Damascus of
covertly building a nuclear reactor.
Such a declaration by Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic
Energy Agency, could lead the U.N. Security Council to censure and perhaps
penalize Syria in the coming months if it fails to provide information on its
alleged nuclear activities, including at a suspected reactor site bombed by
Israel in 2007, said U.S. and European officials.
"It is our longstanding view that the Syrian facility...was a nuclear reactor
configured for plutonium production," said a senior U.S. official involved in
the discussions.
The U.S. and European Union have been seeking ways to further isolate Damascus
in the wake of a brutal offensive by Mr. Assad's security forces. Both
Washington and Brussels have announced unilateral economic sanctions on senior
Syrian officials in recent weeks, although not on Mr. Assad himself.
But the Obama administration and its allies have so far been stymied in their
attempts to pressure Mr. Assad through the Security Council, according to
diplomats involved in the discussions. Russia, in particular, has resisted U.N.
action to punish Syria, a decades-long ally of Moscow. The IAEA is viewed as a
separate channel through which to put pressure on Damascus, said these
officials.
"We're looking to increasingly isolate Assad," said a European official briefed
on the talks. "The IAEA is one of the routes."
Syria's ally, Iran, has been hit with four rounds of U.N. economic sanctions
since 2006 as a result of Tehran's own standoff with the IAEA.
For more than three years, the IAEA has been seeking access to at least four
Syrian sites the U.N. agency suspects of being part of a covert nuclear program.
The facility in eastern Syria destroyed in late 2007 by Israeli fighter jets,
Dair Alzour, was a nearly operational nuclear reactor built in collaboration
with North Korea, U.S. intelligence agencies believe.
Damascus has repeatedly denied the charges. It has refused to allow IAEA
inspectors to visit the suspect sites after an initial mission went to Dair
Alzour.
Mr. Amano in recent months has publicly talked about the possibility of
utilizing a special power of his office to demand immediate access to Syria. But
IAEA officials worry privately that Syria could again refuse to comply, making
Mr. Amano's office look weak.
The U.S. and Europe, subsequently, have advised the IAEA to declare in its
quarterly report on Syria, due out next month, that its inspectors have
concluded that the bombed facility was a reactor. Such a move could lead the
IAEA's 35-member board to issue a resolution declaring Damascus in noncompliance
with its commitments to the agency. Syria's case could then be referred to the
U.N. Security Council.
Mr. Amano, in a speech earlier this month, suggested he might go this route. In
Paris, he told a conference that "the facility that was ... destroyed by Israel
was a nuclear reactor under construction," his most definitive comment to date
on the nature of the Syrian facility. Mr. Amano's representative in Vienna,
however, subsequently stated that the IAEA hadn't reached a firm conclusion on
the Syria case and wouldn't comment on what action the agency might take.
Syria is proving an increasingly complex diplomatic challenge for the Obama
administration and its allies as Damascus continues its crackdown on protesters.
Upon taking office in 2009, President Barack Obama sought to engage Mr. Assad in
a bid to stabilize the Middle East and promote a broader Arab-Israeli peace
process. The U.S. has taken a more cautious response to the Syrian political
rebellion than it has to similar uprisings in Egypt and Libya, refusing so far
to call for Mr. Assad to step down or to formally question his legitimacy.
Human-rights groups and U.S. lawmakers have pressed the administration to call
on Mr. Assad to step down. U.S. officials, in private, fear Mr. Assad's
overthrow could lead to widescale sectarian violence similar to the bloodletting
that consumed Iraq after Saddam Hussein's fall.
Still, the scale of the violence inside Syria is forcing Washington to take an
increasingly hard line. On Friday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said:
"Absent significant change in the Syrian government's current approach, the U.S.
and its international partners will take additional steps to make clear our
strong opposition to the Syrian government's treatment of its people."Both U.S.
and European officials have said Mr. Assad himself could be a target for future
sanction measures. And some European officials have said it is possible their
governments could change tack and formally announce that they think Mr. Assad
should stand down in the coming weeks. One growing fear in Washington and
Brussels is that Mr. Assad might survive, but so weakened that he could even
further strengthen his military alliance with Iran.
"We used to think we could break Syria's relationship with Iran through
diplomacy," said a European official. "Now we'll need to do so through
pressure."