LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِAugust 10/2011

Bible Quotation for today
Matthew Chapter 5/1-12: "Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.(Isaiah 57:15; 66:2)  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (Isaiah 61:2; 66:10,13) Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. (land. Psalm 37:11)   Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.  Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.  “Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Syria...The Shabiha regime/By Tariq Alhomayed/August 09/11
Aline Sara/Now Lebanon: INTERPOL and the STL ,Talking to INTERPOL’s General Counsel Joël Sollier/August 09/11
Evil must not triumph/Now Lebanon/ August 09/11
Assad toughs it out against US-Turkish ultimatum to halt military crackdown/DEBKAfile/August 09/11
World in crisis: Markets dive. Mobs burn London/DEBKAfile/August 9/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for August 09/11
Lebanon Informs STL of its Failure to Detain Any of the Four Suspects
Lebanon fails to detain Hezbollah suspects: STL
Maronite patriarch calls on all Lebanese to hold on to their land/The Daily Star
Report: Hizbullah Gunmen Intercept ATVers on al-Yammouneh Mountains
81 USA congressmen to visit Israel
Lebanon: Hundreds Rally in Martyrs Square in Solidarity with Syrian People
Al-Azhar Calls Syria Violence an 'Arab, Islamic Tragedy'
Turkey's Foreign Minister Arrives in Damascus
Report: Lebanese Truck Seized in Syria was Smuggling Rifles to Iraq
Italy Says Syrian Reform Announcements 'Lack Credibility'

Syria’s diplomatic isolation grows
Arabi Urges Dialogue in Syria, Says League Can't Take 'Drastic Measures'
Hariri: Latest Arab Positions on Syria Must Motivate Govt. to Realize Seriousness of the Moment
Syrian Navy Fires on Lebanese Fishermen
Afghan Official: U.S. Chopper Shot Down in Taliban Trap
Assad Names New Defense Minister as Army 'Starts Leaving Hama'
Gold Strikes Record High Above $1,700
Jumblat: Mubarak Trial Proves History is Unforgiving, Everyone Must Derive Lessons from it
Qaouq: March 14 Camp Ready to Weaken Lebanon on Condition it Returns to Power
Miqati: Lebanon’s Steady Position is Based on Refraining from Meddling in Syria’s Internal Affairs
Arab unrest will not be easy for Lebanon:
Lebanon's Interior Minister

Government Tasks Security, Judicial Authorities with Preventing Arms Smuggling to Syria
Mikati calls for Lebanese unity in light of Arab Spring
Israel takes measures to protect gas fields against Hezbollah: report
Markets panic as Obama, others try to restore confidence
Daily Star: Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Aug. 9, 2011
Jumblat Pessimistic over Developments in Syria
Report: Syria Hasn’t Sent Arrest Warrants Against 33 Figures in Hariri Probe

Lebanon fails to detain Hezbollah suspects: STL
August 09, 2011/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Lebanon has failed to detain four Hezbollah suspects indicted in the 2005 assassination of former statesman Rafik Hariri, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon said Tuesday.
“The Lebanese authorities reported to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on the measures that they have taken to search for, arrest and transfer those accused in the 14th February 2005 attack,” said a statement released by the court. It said Lebanese Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza submitted his report to the STL Tuesday. In the report, Mirza stated that “so far none of the four people who are accused has been detained,” the statement said. STL President Antonio Cassese will now “carefully consider” the report and will in due course make a determination on the next steps, the STL statement added. Lebanon’s obligation under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1757 is to arrest, detain and transfer the accused continues.

Report: Hizbullah Gunmen Intercept ATVers on al-Yammouneh Mountains
Naharnet /Hizbullah gunmen have intercepted a group of Lebanese youths and expatriates who arrived at the barren mountains of the Bekaa town of al-Yammouneh on an ATV trip that started in Ouyoun al-Siman and passed through the Cedar Mountains and Ouyoun Orghosh, Akhbar al-Yawm news agency reported Monday.
“We took the Deir al-Ahmar-al-Yammouneh road … and we were surprised to see three khaki-clad gunmen in full combat gear standing in the middle of the road, near a guard post fortified with sand barriers,” one of the voyagers told Akhbar al-Yawm. “You are in a Hizbullah military zone; go back to where you came from,” the voyager quoted the Hizbullah members as saying. “On the way back, the voyagers encountered a truck driver and asked him about another road that can lead to Ouyoun al-Siman other than the relatively long road they initially took. They also asked him about what’s going on in the area and he told them that ‘Hizbullah members block this road every now and then’, without elaborating,” the news agency said.

Syria...The Shabiha regime
08/08/2011
By Tariq Alhomayed/ Asharq Al-Awsat
There have been three positions in Syria within 24 hours that confirm that there is no state regime in Syria but rather a Shabiha [thug] regime whether in the media, political or military sector.
An “analyst” affiliated to the Syrian regime, or rather the Shabiha's media as described by some Syrian members of the opposition, told Al Arabiya television channel on the evening that the Gulf states condemned the state violence in Syria in a statement that: “The Gulf states do not have the right to condemn Syria.” Then he said, threateningly, “the Syrian president could have supported the Shia of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait against the Gulf regimes but it was Assad's Arabism and patriotism that prevented him from doing so!” This means that the Shabiha of the Syrian media are saying that some of the Shia of the Gulf to be bought and sold and this in itself is an insult to the Shia, never mind that it is a clear threat from the Syrians to the Gulf States! The response to the media branch of the Syrian Shabiha is very simple; was it not the Syrian regime that supported Hezbollah and Amal in Lebanon at the expense of the rest of the Lebanese? Was it not the Syrian regime that threw itself into the arms of Iran at the expense of Arabism and the Arabs? Is it not the Syrian regime that has supported Al Qaeda in Iraq since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime? Today we must pay attention to the recent threat made by the Iraqi Hezbollah against a Kuwaiti port, as it seems that sleeper cells have begun to stir in our region, especially as the threats are now explicit and for all the world to see!
This is what concerns the Shabiha of the media; however politically we have Syrian Presidential Adviser Bouthaina Shaaban threatening Turkey and threatening its Foreign Minister if he visits Damascus. It was announced that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is going to Syria to convey “a decisive message” from Turkey, however Bouthaina Shaaban responded by saying Syria was ready to deliver an “even more decisive one.” Worst of all, Shaaban rebuked Turkey for failing to condemn the “brutal killing and crimes committed by the armed terrorist groups against the civilians, military and police members until now.” Imagine that! This is what is being said to Turkey that has taken in thousands of Syrian refugees to its country who fled to Turkey after the wave of repression and violence was committed against them by the security of the Syrian regime and the Shabiha. Is there anything more slanderous than this?
The third position is attributed to a Syrian military official who said not a single tank has entered Deir Ezzor to date despite that the number of unarmed citizens killed (at the time of publication) exceeded forty civilians according to international news agencies, as a result of the military operations carried out by forces of the Syrian regime in Deir Ezzor!
Therefore we have three models affiliated to the Syrian regime with regards to the media and the political and military fields, all of which are making threats implicitly and explicitly and distorting words in order to convey matters in the way that they see them rather than in the way things are happening on the ground. After all that how can anyone trust a regime whose affiliates, on all levels, act as if they are members of the Shabiha who betray unarmed Syrians? It really is the Shabiha regime.

Assad Names New Defense Minister as Army 'Starts Leaving Hama'
Naharnet/ Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday appointed a new defense minister, state television reported, amid mounting Arab condemnation of nearly five months of deadly crackdown on dissent. "President Assad has signed a decree naming General Daoud Rajha as the head of the defense ministry," the television report said.
The 64-year-old Rajha, who was the army's chief of staff, replaces General Ali Habib who had been defense minister since 2009. State television said Assad had decided to remove Habib and replace him with Rajha in line with decisions he took after meetings residents of protest cities to make changes in top state positions. But the report also said that Habib "has been ill for some time and his condition has deteriorated." In April, less than a month after the start of pro-democracy protests in Syria, Assad ordered the formation of a new government after former premier Mohammed Naji Otri resigned on March 29. Meanwhile, Syria’s state-run news agency SANA reported that “army units tasked with restoring security and stability to the city of Hama began leaving it after completing their mission of protecting civilians and tracking down the armed terrorist groups which had been wreaking havoc” in the city.
The agency quoted an official military source as saying that “the army units confronted the terrorists, showing high precision and professionalism and arresting a number of them to bring them to justice.” The military source added that “normal life began to return gradually to the city.”
Hama and the eastern oil hub of Deir Ezzor have been rallying points for pro-democracy protests since mid-March.
Activists say more than 200 civilians have been killed in the central city of Hama since the army launched a violent crackdown on July 31.
In 1982, an estimated 20,000 people were killed in Hama when the army put down an Islamist revolt against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad's late father, Hafez.
The president replaced the governor of Hama after a record 500,000 protesters rallied in the opposition bastion on July 1 calling for the fall of the regime.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Monday that seven people were killed, including a mother and her two children shot dead as they were fleeing a military assault on Deir Ezzor.
Later a sniper shot dead an 18-year-old woman in the city, the largest in eastern Syria, and an elderly woman was killed in the al-Joura district, the Observatory said, quoting local residents.
It also reported that security forces shot dead three people in the southern protest hub of Deraa as they took part in the funeral of a man who died on Sunday.
It identified one of the victims as Maan Awadat, brother of prominent dissident Haitham Manaa. "He was hit in the head, it was an assassination," said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory.
Witnesses and activists on Monday reported tanks and troops entering Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province bordering Turkey and carrying out "a large number of arrests," while tanks also deployed outside the town of Saraqeb.

Al-Azhar Calls Syria Violence an 'Arab, Islamic Tragedy'
Naharnet/The top Sunni Muslim authority on Monday called on Syrian authorities to immediately end" the bloodshed, saying that the crackdown on protesters is a "tragedy" that has gone too far. "Al-Azhar was patient for a long time and avoided talking about the situation in Syria because of its sensitive nature ... but the situation has gone too far and there is no other solution but to put an end to this Arab and Islamic tragedy," the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, said in a statement.
Al-Azhar "asks Syrian leaders to work immediately to end the bloodshed and to respond favorably to the legitimate demands of the Syrian masses," said the statement carried by the official Egyptian news agency MENA. "The vast repression, the use of the highest levels of violence, arrests and intimidation represent an unacceptable human tragedy," the statement added.
The criticism from the Cairo-based Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's top center of religious learning, came as Arab heavyweight Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Syria for consultations, a move emulated by Kuwait and Bahrain. On Sunday the Egypt-based Arab League issued its first official statement on Syria, urging the government to immediately stop its deadly crackdown of nearly five months of pro-democracy protests. Growing Arab concerns over the unrest comes on top of mounting international condemnation of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has defended his crackdown on "outlaws." "To deal with outlaws who cut off roads, seal towns and terrorize residents is a duty of the state which must defend security and protect the lives of civilians," state news agency SANA quoted Assad as saying on Sunday.
Kuwait and Bahrain on Monday recalled their ambassadors from Damascus for consultations, following the example of Arab heavyweight Saudi Arabia.
"Bahrain is recalling its ambassador in Damascus for consultation, and has called for a resort to reason," Bahrain's Foreign Minister, Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, said in a brief statement on Twitter. Earlier on Monday, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed al-Sabah told reporters: "We have decided to recall our ambassador from Syria for consultations."
"No one can accept the bloodshed in Syria ... The military option must be halted," said Sheikh Mohammed.
He also announced that the foreign ministers of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states will meet shortly to discuss developments in Syria.
"There will be a meeting for the GCC foreign ministers soon and a joint GCC move to discuss the issues related to Syria," he said.
Saudi King Abdullah late on Sunday strongly condemned the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Syria and recalled Riyadh's ambassador from Damascus.
Meanwhile the European Union was mulling new sanctions against Syrian individuals and businesses linked to the crackdown, EU diplomats said.
EU sanctions involving asset freezes and visa bans already target 38 people and businesses, and new measures would include an embargo on arms and equipment used for internal repression. The United States has also imposed sanctions on Syria.
Last week the U.N. Security Council adopted a non-binding statement condemning the violence.
**Source Agence France Presse

Hariri: Latest Arab Positions on Syria Must Motivate Govt. to Realize Seriousness of the Moment
Naharnet/Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri praised on Monday Saudi King Abdullah’s position on the developments in Syria, saying that it will pave the way for a new approach in the developments in the Arab country. He said in a statement: “The latest statements from the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League should motivate the Lebanese government to realize the seriousness of this historic moment.” It should also reconsider its policies of linking Lebanon’s fate to Syria’s, he added. “These policies don’t reflect the principles of fraternity and historic ties between the two countries that have long been discussed in speeches and statements of special ties with Syria,” Hariri noted. “The basics of fraternal and special relations with Syria demand that the Lebanese express their solidarity with the Syrian people given the ordeal they are enduring,” the former premier stated. “Lebanon cannot disassociate itself from the open massacre being committed in its closest fraternal country,” he added. “Lebanon’s president, government, and institutions should instead disassociate themselves from adopting policies of oppression that the Syrian people are enduring,” he demanded. “It should not become part of a political, media, diplomatic, and security system that announces its loyalty to a side that is waging a war against its people, and which has been condemned by the Arabs and the whole world,” Hariri stressed. “The Syrian people and vast portions of the Lebanese population cannot understand the Lebanese government’s insistence on disassociating itself from Arab positions. It is instead heading towards isolation, which makes Lebanon a partner with all that contradicts its democratic history,” he said. “Lebanon should stand by Syria … It is not a political, diplomatic, and security operative for any regional regime,” he declared.
“Lebanon is a country with a message and its solidarity with the Syrian people is at the heart of this message,” he concluded.

INTERPOL and the STL
Talking to INTERPOL’s General Counsel Joël Sollier
Aline Sara, August 8, 2011
INTERPOL’s Joël Sollier discusses the role of INTERPOL in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. (Image courtesy of Joël Sollier)
On June 30, Lebanese authorities confirmed receiving the indictments by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the court set up to try the perpetrators of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
A month later, on July 29, Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen ordered that the identities of the indicted individuals be made known, and the names Salim Jamil Ayyash, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra were made public.
This Thursday, August 11 marks the deadline by which Lebanese authorities are to report on carrying out the arrest warrants. As some are speculating that the four indicted men are outside Lebanese borders, INTERPOL, the world’s largest international police organization, has the right to step in to help apprehend them.
NOW Lebanon spoke to INTERPOL’s general counsel, Joël Sollier, about the international police force’s work and his outlook on the STL.
In what capacity does INTERPOL cooperate with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon?
Joël Sollier: Cooperation has taken place in two phases.
Firstly, we collaborated with the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) under the Saad Hariri government, helping with the initial investigations. INTERPOL provided the UNIIIC with information in a classic police collaboration manner.
Secondly, in 2009 INTERPOL and the STL finalized a cooperation agreement, which gave the STL direct access to INTERPOL’s databases and information systems.
Historically speaking, it is worth noting that INTERPOL has signed a number of agreements with previously-established UNSC tribunals, essentially the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
How does INTERPOL assist in the arrest process?
Sollier: The STL has issued four arrest warrants, containing the pictures and other personal identifiers of the wanted individuals. Our role is to circulate these arrest warrants internationally to INTERPOL’s 188 member countries so that police around the world have the capacity to identify and arrest the four wanted individuals should they enter their territory.
The names are also registered in automated detection systems. For example, in several countries, an INTERPOL detection system installed at borders, in airports or elsewhere, will warn local authorities that the traveler is wanted by INTERPOL. In short, the four indicted by the STL can hardly travel without alerting the police.
National authorities are committed through their membership in INTERPOL to implement Red Notices in accordance with their national legislation. Moreover, as United Nations members, states have an even greater obligation to comply with the tribunal because it was created on the basis of a United Nations Security Council decision, under Chapter VII of the UN Charter—the highest possible form of international legal decision making.
What is the degree of cooperation between INTERPOL and both the Syrian and Iranian governments? How likely are they to cooperate should those accused be hiding within their borders?
Sollier: INTERPOL enjoys solid cooperation with both Syria and Iran in several areas such as drug trafficking and others.
In the framework of its cooperation with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, INTERPOL is assisting the tribunal in fulfilling its mandate. The level of cooperation of these countries is therefore a matter of these countries fulfilling their international obligations with regard to the United Nations and with the tribunal, which acts under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
Are you optimistic about the tribunal’s future?
Sollier: Yes. On the one hand, since its creation, the tribunal has consistently shown its independence and professionalism, despite several attacks by the tribunal’s adversaries. In this regard, the pressures exerted on some of the judges are against all principles of justice.
On the other hand, one can witness the progress of international justice globally, a progress of which the STL is part. In this respect, INTERPOL is proud to be a partner of the international tribunals.
What is the importance of the Lebanese government in this case?
Sollier: I feel that many forgot about how the STL started. We often speak about the Hariri assassination, but there were a number of other assassinations that took place during the same period and that the tribunal is also responsible for prosecuting.
Today, a number of people keep alluding to a supposed “international involvement/intrusion” in Lebanon’s internal affairs. But it was the Lebanese government that asked the international community, and in particular the UNSC, to intervene to prosecute those who committed these crimes. So the tribunal is the result of the will of the Lebanese authorities and people.
What do you think of people who contest the STL?
Sollier: Justice today benefits from modern tools that lead to evidence that is very difficult to contest. I am confident that the Prosecutor’s Office will only present proofs of the highest authority for the tribunal to base its judgment upon. Ultimately, the tribunal will be judged on this, not on ad hominem arguments that target the ones who push for justice rather than the proofs of crime.
If the men are not arrested and a trial in absentia takes place, will the facts of the case be compromised?
Sollier: No, not at all. The trial in absentia will take place with a defense, which is represented by a very experienced and professional chief of defense. The tribunal’s criminal procedure is adversarial and preserves a balance between the rights of the parties, which is the best strategy to uncover the truth.
Whatever may be uncovered during this first trial should not impede the tribunal’s ability to initiate other trials, and INTERPOL would continue to assist the tribunal in implementing its mandate.


Evil must not triumph

August 8, 2011
Tonight at 9 p.m. in Martyr’s Square Lebanese are encouraged to do what their leaders have so far failed to achieve: To protest the continued butchery of pro-democracy demonstrators by the Syrian regime. The killings, in apparent full view of the international community, not to mention the Arab nations, have been going on for five months and have left more than 2,000 people dead, although many have put the real figure at over 3,000.
Only yesterday did the wider Arab community wake up. Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador, ostensibly for “consultations,” but the message was clear that Riyadh has had enough of the brutality, while the Arab League finally broke its craven silence by issuing a statement in which it called for an immediate end “to acts of violence and campaigns by the security forces against civilians.”
Lebanon’s position has been shameful, cloaked as it has been in the mantle of realpolitik. “Whatever affects Lebanon, affects Syria, whatever affects Syria will also affect Lebanon,” was the insulting message from Lebanon’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Caroline Ziade, last week after Lebanon abstained from voting on the Security Council presidential statement pertaining to the crisis.
If that were not bad enough, Lebanon’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adnan Mansour, fresh from a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, told Voice of Lebanon radio on Sunday that Lebanon’s decision to abstain was an appropriate step. He said that Lebanon could not take a decision that opposes Syria, adding that the move “did not harm any of the countries.”
We hate to break this to his Excellency, but the move has certainly harmed Lebanon. It has exposed the country as once again being a lackey to its more powerful neighbor. To add to our shame, the majority March 8 bloc that makes up our current government has actively supported the regime’s clampdown by buying into—and in some cases, parroting—President Assad’s absurd claim that Syria “is steadily pursuing the path of reform,” and that any internal trouble is the work of “outlaws.”
Not that March 14 has done much to be proud of over the past five months. Only last week did former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, probably with the blessing of an increasingly impatient Saudi Arabia, speak out against the bloodshed. Yes, Lebanon’s leaders—even those who have spoken vehemently about defending a nation’s right to democracy, freedom and sovereignty—have done little to mobilize against the slaughter.
All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing. These words, attributed to 18th century philosopher Edmund Burke, could have been written for the misery that is being wrought upon a large segment of the Syrian people. Men (whether they are good is debatable) are standing by, and so once again it falls upon the men and women of Lebanon to take up the mantle of justice and morality by taking an independent stand on a matter in which there should be no debate.
The Lebanese people will not remain silent. They will not follow the path of least resistance and all the while convince themselves it is the sensible move. They must abandon the belief that there are realities we can ignore, that the uprising is a fiendish foreign plot that will see a tsunami of Sunni militants wash across the region.
For if they did, and thousands of people died in vain, it would be a stain upon a society that will no longer be able to claim it is one founded on basic human values and compassion. We must make the effort to go to Martyr’s Square tonight. There is someone alive today who might be dead tomorrow if we don’t.


Sleiman, Rai attend dinner held in honor of Rai

August 8, 2011
Saida and Deir al-Qamar Bishop Elias Nassar held a dinner in Beiteddine in honor of Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai, the National News Agency reported on Monday, adding that President Michel Sleiman attended the dinner.
Representatives of Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati as well as political, religious and social figures also attended, the report added.
-NOW Lebanon

Berri: ‘Disarming Zionism’ is ‘urgent’ national goal
August 8, 2011
Speaker Nabih Berri said on Monday evening that “Israeli ambitions and wars against Lebanon represent real danger,” adding that “removing the the arms of Zionism and not those of the Resistance should be considered an urgent national goal.”
During all its wars against Lebanon, Israel “targeted civilians [and attempted] to create a rift between the state and the Resistance,” Berri said during an Iftar at Biel in downtown Beirut.
On the national level, some did not derive lessons from Israeli wars, but instead called for disarming the Resistance, he also said, in reference to the western-backed March 14 parties’ calls to disarm Hezbollah.
The speaker also called for finalizing the decrees pertaining to the oil exploration bill which the parliament approved in August 2010.
Berri said that Lebanon’s decision to abstain from voting on the UN Security Council presidential statement pertaining to the crisis in Syria, “[aimed at] distancing” Lebanon and facilitated issuing “a balanced statement that calls for reform and the halt of dissension in Syria.”
“The region is being formed all over again, and Lebanon is not far from that.”
The UN Security Council on Wednesday condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's deadly crackdown on protests and called for those responsible for violence to be held "accountable." Lebanon did not block the adoption, but disavowed the document. At least 2,000 civilians and 369 members of the army and security forces have been killed since mid-March in Syria, according to a Syrian Observatory toll. -NOW Lebanon

Assad toughs it out against US-Turkish ultimatum to halt military crackdown

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report/August 8, 2011/As his tanks and artillery stormed the eastern Syrian town of Deir al-Zour, killing 100 civilians in one day, the US and Turkey Sunday night, Aug. 7 began to turn the screw on President Bashar Assad: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asked Turkey's foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu to press Syria to "return its military to the barracks," during his visit to Syria Tuesday.
debkafile: Behind the demand was an ultimatum that if Assad continued on his present bloody path, NATO member Turkey would intervene militarily in the crisis.
However, the Syrian ruler with backing from Tehran spurned the ultimatum even before the Turkish minister reached Damascus. "He will be given an even tougher message to take home," said one of Assad's top advisers.
debkafile's Iranian sources report that in the last few days, Tehran has repeatedly warned Ankara that Iran will not stand aside for a military operation against Syria and would come to the aid of the Assad regime. It was indicated that Turkish attacks on Syrian military targets would bring forth Iranian attacks on the Turkish army and American bases in Turkey.
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah recalled his ambassador to Damascus Monday, demanding an end to the bloodshed. "What is happening in Syria is not acceptable for Saudi Arabia," he said in a written statement read out on Al Arabiya satellite television.
Our military sources report that Assad was not deterred from pushing on Monday with his assault on the oil town of Deir al-Zour for the second day. For the first time in the five-month crackdown on protesters, the Syrian military are using self-propelled heavy artillery against rebel targets in a wide radius around the town to prevent the approach of rebel reinforcements.
Although he knew the US-Turkish ultimatum was coming, he embarked on his Deir el-Zour operation Sunday in order to present Washington and Ankara with a fait accompli.
Sunday, Aug. 7, disclosed that Ankara's threat of military intervention was back in play.
After capturing the northern town of Hama in a bloody military assault, Syrian President Bashar Assad Sunday, Aug. 7, sent a whole division of 200 tanks and dozens of armored vehicles to blast their way into another rebellious city, Syria's oil center of Deir el-Zour in the Euphrates Valley, a town of half a million inhabitants. At least 70 people were reported dead in one day.
debkafile's military sources report that while Hama is a Muslim Brotherhood stronghold, Deir el-Zour is the urban center of some 2.1 million members of assorted nomadic Bedouin tribes. They too are Sunni Muslims though of different sects. The Baqqara tribal federation is the largest, numbering 1.2 million, followed by the Fadan Walad and the Fadan Kharsa of the Euphrates Valley and the al Shammar Karsah of Deir al Zour and its environs.
Unlike the protesters of Hama, these tribesmen lack anti-tank weapons for battling Syrian armor and so their town may not hold out against the Syrian onslaught beyond two or three days. The tribesmen have meanwhile run for cover to the dense papyrus groves of the river bank and the narrow wadis of the Iraqi al Anbar province just across the border. From these hiding places, our military sources expect them refugees to organize protracted guerrilla warfare against the Assad regime and Syrian army.
debkafile recalls that these are the very tribes which from 2003 to 2006 joined al Qaeda in bloody warfare on US forces in central Iraq, preventing Anbar and the central Iraqi towns of Falujja and Ramadi ever being completely subdued and constantly convulsed by suicide attacks.
It was only when President George W. Bush agreed to implement the Awakening Councils plan put forward by Gen. David Petraeus, the current CIA Director, which involved substantial monthly payments to the tribal chiefs for warfare against al Qaeda that, Al Anbar was pacified.
Aware of the menace posed by these tribes, Syrian security services last week – ahead of the Deir el-Zour offensive – captured the Baqqara tribal chief Sheikh Nawaf al-Bashir as hostage against the tribes joining the uprising against the regime. Syrian military intelligence will find him a tough nut to crack – even for a heavy bribe.
The upshot may well be that although the Syrian army finally subjugates Deir al-Zour and Abu Kemal on the Iraqi border its forces will be cornered by Sunni tribes which control the road networks around the two eastern towns and prey to their raids.
Assad's offensive against the two towns also places at risk Syria's small oil fields and pipeline system. Their daily product of $8-10 million is his primary source of revenue for sustaining his war on the uprising and they will certainly become a prime strategic target for the resistance.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan decided to send his foreign minister Ahmed Davutoglu to Damascus Tuesday, Aug. 9, after declaring Saturday that Turkey's patience with its neighbor "was running thin and his country could not remain a bystander to the violence… but must do what is necessary."
Davutoglu will "deliver our message in a more determined way," said Erdogan. "…a new process will take shape according to their response and actions."
"We do not see Syria as a foreign problem, Syria is our domestic problem because we have a 850-kilometer border with this country, we have historical and cultural ties, we have kinship," Erdogan said.
This was the last warning from Ankara – and therefore NATO – that Turkey was about to intervene militarily in Syria, after maintain army units on the Syrian border for weeks.
Friday, Aug. 5, Russia's NATO ambassador Dmitry Rogozin accused NATO, of which Turkey is a member, of planning a military campaign against Syria to help overthrow the Assad regime "with the long-reaching goal of preparing a beachhead for an attack on Iran." Click here for debkafile report
http://www.debka.com/article/21183


Maronite patriarch calls on all Lebanese to hold on to their land

The Daily Star /
BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai urged both Lebanese Christian and Muslim communities Monday to maintain ownership of their land as a way to preserve Lebanon as a model of coexistence in the East.Speaking during a visit to the coastal area of the Iqlim al-Kharoub district, about 30 km south of Beirut, Rai hailed the region’s residents, who “overcame the miseries of Lebanon’s bloody Civil War to rebuild and develop the district.”“This diverse Lebanese family of Muslims and Christians means a lot to us and gives us the strength to hold onto our mission in Lebanon … we live the challenge of globalization as people remain distant, fighting cultural and religious wars,” Rai said addressing crowds in the front yard of St. Charbel church in Jiyyeh.“I call on all Lebanese, Muslims and Christians to maintain ownership of their land and refrain from selling it even to each other … You must hold onto your land, your history and must not sell your land no matter what the circumstances,” Rai added.The patriarch also praised the “roots of faith” in the Chouf region, which witnessed several wars and significant displacement of Christians at the peak of Lebanon’s Civil War between 1975 and 1990.“Beloved sons of Jiyyeh, you remained with us despite the fact that you left abroad to Australia, America and Europe. I salute you all and we are honored by our diaspora. You will always remain in our hearts and in the mind of the patriarchate,” Rai said to the crowds.
Rai added that each religious community has written its own part of Lebanon’s history. “We are incapable of writing a united history, not because we don’t want to but because each group has written a part of our history, which we call the Lebanese mosaic,” Rai said.Rai kicked off Saturday the first leg of a historic tour in Sidon, 275 years after a head of the Maronite Church last visited the southern coastal city.
Rai traveled Monday to the Chouf mountains where he expressed his hopes that a national dialogue develop into a national conference, laying down a “new social contract between the Lebanese stemming from the National Pact.”

81 congressmen to visit Israel as Hezbollah reject U.S. meddling in Lebanon
August 08, 2011/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Eighty-one members of the U.S. Congress will visit Israel over the next three weeks, with a delegation of 26 Democrats arriving Monday, Jerusalem Post reported Monday.
The paper also said that House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer is heading the Democratic delegation while House Majority Leader Eric Cantor will lead one of the Republican groups, which are comprised of 55 Republicans.
The visit is sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation which is affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
“The delegation will visit both Israel and the West Bank, and is scheduled to meet with President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah,” the paper said.
The newspaper quoted Hoyer as saying in a statement that the visit will help the representatives learn “firsthand about the evolving security situation in the Middle East, the deep challenges facing Israel, and the role the U.S. can play in the region during this time of uncertainty.”
The congressmen’s visit comes as Hezbollah has escalated its campaign against Israel and the U.S., repeatedly accusing them of plotting to divide the region. Hezbollah MP Nawwaf Musawi recently said that the Cabinet would not allow the U.S. to turn Lebanon into a tool to be used for harming Syria.
He also reiterated Hezbollah’s stance that the U.S. and Israel plan to divide the region based on race and religion.
"The days of U.S. influence in Lebanon are over and no longer a U.S. ambassador will be able to dictate the country's policies," Musawi added.
Also Monday, The Israel Project welcomed a group of 18 Washington-based ambassadors from Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America to Israel and Ramallah for a weeklong tour and high-level meetings, Jerusalem Post reported.
The visit coincides with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ efforts to win recognition of a Palestinian state within the borders defined in 1967. The Palestinians plan to ask the U.N. General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state when the world body gathers in September.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee or AIPAC, is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the Congress and Executive Branch of the United States.
The American Israel Education Foundation spent more than $950,000 on congressional travel from January 2000 through mid-2005, virtually all of it on trips to Israel.
The foundation, created in 1988, considers itself a "supporting organization" of AIPAC.


Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Aug. 9, 2011
The Daily Star
Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Tuesday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.
An-Nahar: Government defends its position, pursues arms smuggling
Just like a fever strongly escalated as a result of Arab positions, particularly the Gulf, on bloody developments in Syria, a tense situation prevailed in Lebanon Monday for fear that Syrian unrest could have implications for the internal conflict based on the continuous repercussions over Lebanon’s stance on the presidential Security Council statement on Syria.
As Prime Minister Najib Mikati defended Lebanon’s position [which dissociated itself from the Council statement], former Prime Minister Saad Hariri praised Saudi Arabia King Abdullah’s stance on the unrest, stressing his support for the Syrian people in the face of a “security solution.”
Meanwhile, Cabinet plunged into a debate Monday over Lebanon’s position on the Syrian crisis with Mikati explaining the merits of this stance in the Security Council where Lebanon has “distanced itself” from the presidential statement.
Ministerial sources told An-Nahar that arms smuggling to Syria was a topic discussed at length during Monday’s Cabinet meeting where ministers denounced this issue and warned of its implications on the Lebanese situation. Several Cabinet ministers directed accusations against two [political] sides without naming them.
Cabinet agreed to entrust security and judicial services to launch a fact-finding investigation into the allegations and “hold those involved responsible,” according to the sources.
Separately, sources close to the Future Movement denied knowledge of a possible meeting between Hariri and MP Walid Jumblatt. However, according to some information, Jumblatt is likely to visit Saudi Arabia and meet Hariri.
As-Safir: Mikati committed to government “neutrality” …. Hariri attacks it
The Syrian crisis in its regional and international dimensions dominated the Lebanese arena which in the last few hours was packed with opposing stances regarding what is happening in Syria, reflecting the wide internal divide which has began expanding in light of foreign developments.
The crisis seems to have turned into a controversial Lebanese issue par excellence perhaps in light of what we are witnessing in terms of demonstrations and sit-ins that are moving from one area to another and vary between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.
The most recent sit-in was carried out Monday evening at Martyrs Square by a group of intellectuals and activists as well as some figures from the March 14 coalition amid reports about the likelihood of reviving such activity in that square.
Amid it all, Mikati stressed during Cabinet’s Monday meeting that Lebanon’s position in the Security Council has “neutralized” Lebanon against conflicts and satisfied all parties.
In a significant move, Speaker Nabih Berri launched a vehement attack on March 14 forces without naming them during an iftar Monday evening in which he accused the opposition of being “advocates of the appeasement of the enemy, merciful and humble with the West and rough with the nearest countries [Syria].”
“They [March 14] believed that Lebanon’s position in the Security Council is a disgrace when all they did for us was replace the laurel wreath with shameful wreath in the Security Council,” Berri said.
Al-Mustaqbal: Lebanon cannot dissociate itself from the “open massacres” in the closest sisterly country to it [Syria]
Hariri: Saudi Arabia will not leave Syria and its people [swinging] in the wind
The flaming situation in Syria reflected strongly on the Lebanese scene with a “government” position clearly ambiguous and an opposing point of view of bias toward the Syrian people, expressed by former PM Saad Hariri, who pointed out that Arab positions [on the Syrian unrest] are “a chain of solidarity with the Syrian people and their legitimate right to freedom, reform and change.”
Meanwhile, Cabinet will meet Thursday at the Presidential Palace in Baabda under President Michel Sleiman to discuss an ordinary agenda to be followed by an annual Iftar hosted by Sleiman in honor of political, religious, social and official figures.
Al-Akhbar: “Arms smuggling” … an extraordinary issue on Cabinet table
“Arms smuggling” into Syria was an extraordinary issue discussed during Cabinet’s ordinary meeting Monday at a time when Speaker Nabih Berri launched an attack focused on the opposition, calling them “advocates of the appeasement of the enemy while lying in the wait for the brother [Syria].”
Meanwhile, the opposition, particularly the Future Movement and its leader [Hariri] took strength from a position made by Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz to continue its attack on the Syrian regime.
The harshest remarks came from Berri who addressing March 14 without naming them said: “Ask your masters in the Security Council this time about Lebanon’s position and you will definitely take back your accusations. This propaganda by attacking the government one time and another time attacking the noble position or the head of the government without any justification … the message has come across. The truth is you have lost your temper.”
In softer words, Mikati defended Lebanon’s position in the Security Council and said the reason Lebanon decided to dissociate itself from the Council statement was “because we believe that the approach adopted by the Security Council is not a solution to what is happening in Syria.”
Significantly was the issue of “arms smuggling” into Syria which was discussed outside of the scope of Cabinet’s agenda after ministers Mohammad Fneish and Ali Hasan Khalil highlighted the risks this issue poses.

World in crisis: Markets dive. Mobs burn London
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis August 9, 2011,
An air of crisis descended on the world Tuesday, Aug. 9 as markets continued to tumble steeply and in London, large parts of the city succumbed to uncontrolled violence joined by three major British cities. Far East stocks leveled out at 3 percent, Europe fell 3.5-5 percent Tuesday after Wall Street slid 5-7 percent Monday. More than $70 billion were wiped out in global trading Monday hours after US President Barack Obama said America will always be a Triple A country no matter what some agency may say.
The Bank of America took the worst punishment with a 23 percent decline in its stock. Investors did not miss the warning by a Standard & Poor executive that the US credit rating may be lowered again after its landmark downgrade from AAA to AA+.
Heads of the European Union and national leaders, with no solutions for the debt crises plaguing two major members Italy and Spain, are in a panic over the threat to the Eurozone and euro currency. Their fears are driving droves of investors across the world out of the markets in the hope of safe landings in gold (which shot up to $1.721 the ounce), the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc.
Some government spokesmen and pundits are blaming speculators for the crash, praising investors who take the long view and hold tight. Others lay the blame squarely at the door of various governments for mishandling the 2008 economic crisis and its social fallout – witness the consequences of tight austerity measures in Greece and now the United Kingdom.
Thanks to deft footwork by its economic managers, Israel has so far escaped the worst of the backlash, but may not remain unscathed for much longer. Three alarm bells rang this week:
1. Standard & Poor applied its downgrade of America's credit rating to Israel's $6billion worth of US-backed bonds, lowing their rating from AAA to AA+.
2. The big demonstrations protesting soaring prices for housing and other essentials and demanding economic reforms to bridge the social gap - are now in their third week. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is skating on thin ice between expenditure for satisfying their demands and defusing a movement jeopardizing his government and keeping the economy on an even, stable keel.
Meeting even some of those demands could quickly tip Israel over into the abyss of economically-distressed countries, with attendant mass unemployment and a declining currency.
3. Even in the unlikely event of the government keeping the national purse sealed against social demands, Israel is short of the reserves for weathering the fallout to its economic and export industries from the crises in the US and Europe.
Britain is now facing the sharpest edge of this dilemma with far less options.
The street violence, looting, burning, attacks on police - which erupted in the North London borough of Tottenham Saturday, Aug. 6, when a protest against the shooting by police of a local man got out of hand - has spread since with lightning speed into one London borough after another and, Monday night, to three major cities, Liverpool, Birmingham and Bristol.
Inadequate police and fire services are helpless to halt the looting and torching rampages of hooded teenagers in ethnically mixed and disadvantaged communities - even after 450 arrests. Owners of businesses and homes are forced to watch their properties burn down with no police or firemen in sight. Petrol bombs and knives are out against the police. Tuesday morning, armored vehicles appeared on the streets of Ealing Broadway and Clapham Junction after every second shop was looted. Police drafted in from other places are untrained and unequal to the mob tactics of abruptly moving on to their next target which may be an upend neighborhood.
The crisis caught most of the heads of the UK government away on holiday. As the situation degenerated by the hour, Prime Minister David Cameron flew home Tuesday and called an emergency Cobra committee meeting that day. Official government and police statements until then that the violence "is unacceptable" "pure criminality" and "lawbreakers will face the consequences "have made matters worse.
British authorities are criticized widely for being too soft with the mobs of mostly teenagers.
Cameron faces demands to bring in the army because the police are clearly unequal to the situation. He does not have the option of loosening up on the austerity measures which have reduced the average living standards by 25 percent and responding to real hardship in order to defuse the disturbances. The UK is in the verge of bankruptcy, financial institutions are in flight from the City of London, further deepening the crisis. Riots across the country will further deter investors.
Standard & Poor indicated Monday that some European countries may be headed for debt downgrades after the United States – with Britain in line.

Craftiness …

Hazem Saghiyeh, August 8, 2011
Now Lebanon/The 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of a Lebanese politician named Hussein Ouaini, who attained the premiership more than once and was appointed in several ministries. Ouaini was a Hajji, hence the extension to his name, which became Hajji Hussein. He was also a bank owner, a businessman and a merchant with the Gulf and Saudi Arabia, and thus enjoyed relations that were useful to him in politics. Furthermore, he was not a popular leader; in other words, he seldom ran for elections and was always a consensus choice among politicians. More importantly, he was behind an expression that became iconic in Lebanese political life, which translates as “all and nothing all at once.”
Ouaini was not the only person abiding by the “all and nothing all at once” philosophy, which was described as craftiness and deftness. Charles Helou, who was president between 1964 and 1970, also had his own version of that same philosophy. When he wanted to avoid expressing a clear stance, he had recourse to religious expressions, Bible stories and sometimes specks of European philosophy. He often used these excessively.
There are many politicians in Lebanon’s modern history, knowing that we have trouble remembering any of their positions or famous expressions. Still, they enjoyed a hardly-questionable aura as “great statesmen.”
Needless to say, the fact that the sectarian structure of Lebanese society has mixed with the financial and trade structure dominating Lebanon’s economy leads to this situation, which – ad minima – may be useful as it respects the many sensitivities and seeks to secure indispensable domestic and foreign settlements. However, we are currently experiencing the other extreme of this philosophy with Najib Mikati, and this extreme is – sure enough – a disaster. When domestic contradictions are exacerbated, when our “village-like” decisions are no longer in our hands and become an international decision, and when an uprising the size of the Syrian uprising erupts in our neighborhood, craftiness becomes more like utter stupidity.
This misery is not lessened by the fact that craftiness was “modernized” by entering the era of globalized telecommunications, which are the source of brothers Taha and Najib Mikati’s wealth. Likewise, it is not lessened by the fact that craftiness was “consolidated” through religiousness, its duties and obligations, as Hussein Ouaini and Charles Helou used to do.
There are times where there is no place for craftiness. This happens to be one of them.
This article is a translation of the original, which first appeared on the NOW Arabic site on Monday August 8, 2011