LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِAugust 14/2011

Bible Quotation for today.
Matthew 23/1-12/Humality
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples,  saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses’ seat.  All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do.  For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.  But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries (phylacteries (tefillin in Hebrew) are small leather pouches that some Jewish men wear on their forehead and arm in prayer. They are used to carry a small scroll with some Scripture in it. See Deuteronomy 6:8). broad, enlarge the fringes or, tassels of their garments,  and love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,  the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’ by men.  But don’t you be called ‘Rabbi,’ for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.  Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.  Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ.  But he who is greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Obama and Erdogan grant Assad 15 days to finish uprising. Call-up in Turkey/DEBKAfile/August 13/11
Syria’s Pharaoh/By Tariq Alhomayed/August 13/11
Syria: Perceptions of the fall of the regime/By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/August 13/11
Syria: The cost of Assad’s borrowed time/By Amir Taheri/August 13/11
Syria must complete reform within next two weeks - Turkish presidential adviser/By Tha'ir Abbas/August 13/11
It’s not always political/By: Matt Nash/August 13/11
Zvi Bar'el/Syria uprising may lead to regional war/August 13/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for August 13/11
Obama, Cameron, Saudi king urge Syria to end violence immediately
Turkey threatens to join international military action in Syria
Egypt security forces plan crackdown on Israel gas pipeline saboteurs
'Hamas, U.S. reach agreement on Gaza humanitarian aid'
Syrian troops storm port city, three dead
Islamist militants break out of Lebanon prison
Sami Gemayel against “giving lessons to Syrian people
Parts of STL indictment in Murr, Hamadeh cases out shortly
Indictments in Cases Linked to Hariri’s Murder to Be Released Wednesday
Obama, World Leaders Want Syria violence to End Now
France Tells Citizens to Leave Syria
Syrian forces kill 3, tanks enter coastal city
Five Inmates Break out of Roumieh Prison, Among them Fath al-Islam Radicals
Syrian Troops Storm Latakia, Three Dead
Antelias ‘Bomb’ Links Case to International Terrorism Laws
Charbel: My Statements on Antelias Blast Preliminary, Judiciary has the Final Say
Four Hand Grenades Found in Beirut River
Sheikh before Miqati during Friday Sermon: Some Sides Fear Losing Power over Positions on Syria
Nasrallah Holds Talks with Aridi on Local, Regional Developments
Gunmen Kidnap U.S. Citizen in Pakistan
Karami Slams Aoun’s Threat to Withdraw from Cabinet
Fresh debate over fate of Lebanon’s peg
Ramadan in flux for Syrian refugees in north

Obama and Erdogan grant Assad 15 days to finish uprising. Call-up in Turkey
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 13, 2011, Thursday night, Aug. 11, US President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan agreed to set Syrian President Bashar Assad the deadline of Aug. 27 for extinguishing the popular uprising against his rule and starting to implement genuine democratic reforms. This decision followed Erdogan's report to Obama on the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's six-hour conversation with Assad Tuesday, Aug. 9.
debkafile reports that Assad apparently convinced his Turkish guest that, with a free hand, he would finish off the revolt in 10 to 15 days and then get down to introducing political reforms including free elections with full opposition participation. If he went back on his word, then Obama and Erdogan would talk again about a possible US-Turkish military operation in Syria. They decided to trust Assad "one last time" regardless of his broken promises in the past.
Our Washington sources report exclusively that Davutoglu covered six main points in his talk with Assad:
1. The Syrian ruler asserted with complete confidence that the protest would be over in 10-15 days;
2. He has no illusions about the uprising disappearing for good and expects further outbreakst at least until the end of next year.
3. He promised to forestall fresh flare-up by instituting genuine reforms.
4. After their advisers left the room, Assad showed the Turkish foreign minister intelligence materials with documents and photos as evidence that the rebels fighting his regime were Islamic extremists, members of the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda. He said that if they carried the day in Syria they would move on to Turkey. He therefore asked Ankara for more patience to allow him to subdue these forces.
This was a reference to Erdogan's statement last Saturday, Aug. 6, that Turkey's patience with Syrian brutality was "running thin."
5. The Syrian ruler asked for an assurance that Ankara "would not to use Syria for a Turkish (and therefore NATO) campaign against Iran."
In the background of this demand was a comment Russia's NATO ambassador Dmitry Rogozin made on Aug. 5 that NATO was 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."
6. Turning to soft soap, Assad said earnestly that he would rather see Turkish than Iranian influence in Iraq and offered to work with Ankara (and through Turkey the US) to achieve this end.
This was a transparent attempt to con Washington into believing he was willing to drive the Iranians out of Iraq by pandering to its long-held illusion that if the Americans tried hard enough, they could separate him from his foremost ally and prop.
After Obama and Erdogan agreed on their next Syrian steps, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a CBS interviewer Thursday that US policy now hinges on "building the chorus of international condemnation" to make things clear to Assad. Even then, she did tell him to go – only, "Well, I think we've been very clear in what we have said about his loss of legitimacy."
The Secretary of State mentioned China, Brazil and India in the context of her "international chorus." Our Washington sources report she was basing her remark on Erdogan's undertaking to bring the three powers on board for UN Security Council authorization of NATO intervention in Syria if the US goes along with his plan for a two-week respite for Assad to finish the job and he breaks his word on reforms.
Surely the president had not forgotten that Erdogan tried this stunt less than a year ago when he failed to harness the same trio for useful intercession in the Iranian nuclear crisis.
debkafile notes: The Syrian ruler has finagled a free hand for intensifying his crackdown on dissent with an unabashed ferocity few tyrants can match. He is trusted to keep his side of a bargain despite an exceptionally bad record in keeping his word and truth-telling. No one is yet prepared to cut down this world sponsor of terrorists, some of whom were let loose to kill Americans in Iraq year after year. Today, he is trampling his opposition into the dust along with every universal value.
Washington would still rather believe he is a reformer than force him out of power.
A minor incident this week showed how easily he pulls the wool over the eyes of his willing dupes.
Tuesday, Assad invited the Turkish minister and reporters (no foreign correspondents wanted in Syria) to see for themselves that he was pulling his tanks out of Hama (after their guns had brutalized protesters for weeks). None were allowed to leave the official vehicles (lest they see whole sections of a major city reduced to rubble).
As soon as Davutoglu flew out,the tanks rolled back into the city. On the ground meanwhile, Turkish papers reported Friday Aug. 12 that Ankara had called up reserves and transferred them to the Syrian border to deal with a new and heavy influx of Syrian refugees. "An animal quarantine center has also been set up," said one report, "as Turkey expects not only people but also animals to cross the border in case of a NATO strike on Syria."

Indictments in Cases Linked to Hariri’s Murder to Be Released Wednesday
Naharnet Indictments in the assassination of former Lebanese Communist Party leader George Hawi and attempted assassinations of former ministers Elias Murr and Marwan Hamadeh will likely be released on Wednesday, revealed widely informed sources to Al-Liwaa daily in remarks published on Saturday. The indictment in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri meanwhile may be released at the end of August, they added. This announcement was made in light of recent revelations that the cases of Hawi, Murr, and Hamadeh are linked to Hariri’s. A delegation from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon had held a meeting on Friday with Hawi’s widow Sossy, and daughter, Naya, at the Justice Palace to inform them that Hawi’s case is connected to Hariri’s, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Saturday. Hamadeh and Murr were delivered the same information during separate meetings with the delegation on Thursday, it added. The delegation also later held talks on Friday with the families of victims who were killed during Murr and Hamadeh’s assassination attempts, it said.
It explained that new findings in the investigations in Hariri, Murr, Hamadeh, and Hawi’s cases led to the conclusion that the four accused in Hariri’s murder are involved in the other three crimes. These three files will immediately be removed from the Lebanese judiciary and handed to the STL, al-Hayat said. The indictment in Hariri’s assassination was handed to the Lebanese judiciary in late June and it was accompanied by arrest warrants against four members of Hizbullah suspected of being involved in the crime.

Obama, World Leaders Want Syria Vviolence to End Now
Naharnet /U.S. President Barack Obama joined key British and Saudi allies Saturday in demanding that the Syrian regime "immediately" halt its brutal crackdown on protesters.
During a telephone conversation, Obama and Saudi King Abdullah expressed their "shared, deep concerns about the Syrian government's use of violence against its citizens," the White House said in a statement. "They agreed that the Syrian regime's brutal campaign of violence against the Syrian people must end immediately."
The call came after Saudi Arabia, which had remained silent on the five-month revolt, added the Sunni Muslim regional heavyweight's voice to a chorus of criticism against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime and recalled its ambassador from Damascus.
Kuwait and Bahrain followed suit this week, while the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League condemned the violence that has left more than 2,150 people dead, including more than 400 members of the security forces, according to rights activists.
Turkey, which shares a border with Syria and has a large Sunni population, has also expressed growing impatience with Assad's scorched earth policy, as has Russia.
Washington has steadily ratcheted up the pressure on Damascus, imposing new sanctions and saying Assad has lost all legitimacy, but the U.S. government has so far stopped short of openly calling for Assad to step down. In a separate phone call, Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron also agreed on the need for an "immediate" end to the bloodshed.
They reiterated "their deep concern about the Syrian government's use of violence against civilians and their belief that the Syrian people's legitimate demands for a transition to democracy should be met." Obama vowed to remain in close contact with the British and Saudi leaders over developments in Syria, where Assad's security forces have engaged in a weeks-long campaign of violence, using automatic gunfire on civilians protesting against the regime. Soldiers and police have been trying to crush dissent city by city and town by town since pro-democracy protests erupted into a full-scale uprising in mid-March. Organization of Islamic Cooperation chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu meanwhile urged Syrian leaders to "exercise utmost restraint through immediate cessation of the use of force to suppress people's demonstrations," an OIC statement said. The U.N. Security Council is due to hold a special meeting next Thursday to discuss human rights and the humanitarian emergency in Syria.*Source Agence France Presse
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Four Hand Grenades Found in Beirut River
Naharnet /Four hand grenades that were not set to detonate were found in the Beirut River – Jisr al-Wati on Saturday. Soon after the discovery, security forces hurried to the scene where they cordoned off the area as explosives experts from the Internal Security Forces sought to inspect the devices discovering that they were not set to explode. A military expert transported the grenades to a military barracks. The incident came soon after a blast roc ked the town of Antelias on Thursday. Two people, Hassan Nassar and Ihasn Diya, were killed in a parking lot in the area when an explosive device in their possession detonated. The victims are suspected of having been planning to plant the bomb in the car of a third individual, while the Military Tribunal on Friday pressed charges against two unknown individuals suspected of having had cooperated with Nassar and Diya. Investigations in the matter are still underway

Charbel: My Statements on Antelias Blast Preliminary, Judiciary has the Final Say
Naharnet /Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said on Saturday that his statements on Antelias blast were according to “preliminary security information”, stressing that the relevant judicial authority has the final decision in determining the truth. Charbel’s press office issued a statement saying “what he (Charbel) mentioned relied on preliminary information built on preliminary security data, facts and testimonies obtained at the moment of the incident.” Two men were killed in a parking lot in Antelias on Thursday when explosives they were handling detonated.
“Minister Charbel noted that the final decision in determining the truth goes back to the relevant judicial authority,” it said.Military Tribunal Judge Saqr Saqr pressed charges on Friday against unknown individuals suspected of being involved in the blast. The suspects are charged with taking part with the victims, Hassan Nassar and Ihsan Diya, in preparing a bomb and detonating it in a parking lot in Antelias. The press office stressed that “the interior minister’s statements that the explosion was a result of a personal disputes were based on (the information obtained), that the two victims arrived to the scene in a car that has legal papers seen on surveillance cameras, holding legitimate identification cards and a credit card that belongs to one of them.”“In addition, one of the victim’s friends, who is a car dealer, testified that there are financial and personal disputes.”The statement added: “the deformation of the two victims reveals that they were standing close, but the fragments from the dozens of small iron balls (wrapped around the explosive) that were found on the ground shows that the grenade was prepared to act as bomb.”

Antelias ‘Bomb’ Links Case to International Terrorism Laws
Naharnet /The blast that rocked the town of Antelias was most likely caused by a bomb and not a hand grenade, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday. Investigations revealed that the bomb was composed of explosives and metal balls, it added. The investigations are now focusing on the telephone calls conducted by the two blast victims on their mobile phones.
Military Tribunal Judge Saqr Saqr pressed charges on Friday against unknown individuals suspected of being involved in the blast that took place in Antelias on Thursday.
Two peopled in possession of an explosive device were killed in the blast. The suspects are charged with taking part with the victims, Hassan Nassar and Ihsan Diya, in preparing a bomb and detonating it in a parking lot in Antelias. Legal sources told An Nahar Saturday that these charges are based on Lebanon’s terrorism law that therefore links the case to international terrorism laws that Lebanon follows. This means that once a formal accusation is reached in the Antelias bombing case, the Lebanese authorities will be obligated to inform international sides of their findings. Interior Minister Marwan Charbel meanwhile told cabinet that the explosion was a result of a financial and personal dispute between several people, including some car dealers. Security forces are searching for a third person who is involved in the financial dispute, he said.
"Our investigation so far does not point to an act of sabotage," he told reporters. Charbel told Voice of Lebanon radio station 100.5 on Friday that the victims most probably tried to plant the explosives device in the vehicle of a third person who owes them money. The minister told LBC that a hand grenade weighing 150 grams and filled with metal balls caused the explosion.

Sheikh before Miqati during Friday Sermon: Some Sides Fear Losing Power over Positions on Syria
Naharnet /Prime Minister Najib Miqati conducted Friday Muslim prayers at the Munthir Mosque in downtown Beirut where mosque Sheikh Abdul Qader Akkari conducted the sermon, calling for supporting the Syrian people in their plight against a regime crackdown against their protests, reported the daily Al-Liwaa reported on Saturday.
Akkari pointed out that “certain sides’ fear over losing their wealth and position in power is forcing them to take cautious measures over the developments in Syria.”
He said: “This stand harms the Syrian people.”Earlier in August, Lebanon “disassociated” itself from a United Nations Security Council statement condemning the Syrian regime’s crackdown against protestors. Miqati justified the decision by saying that Lebanon’s position is firm in rejecting meddling in the affairs of other countries, especially Arab states. Just as Lebanon refuses intervention in its affairs, it also opposes meddling in the affairs of others, he stressed.

Bassil: Electricity Draft Law Must Be Approved Otherwise Govt. Would Be a Failure
Naharnet /Energy Minister Jebran Bassil criticized the failure to approve the electricity draft law, which he said will reflect negatively on the government because of its inability to resolve a matter that is as important as electricity.He told As Safir newspaper in remarks published on Saturday: “What kind of message are we delivering to our opponents and the people? … I don’t think the country can persist like this.”“The upcoming cabinet and parliamentary sessions will be decisive in settling this matter,” he stated. “Let them study the draft law. Either we approve it as it has been prepared or the government will be toppled,” the minister stressed. “We are making these statements out of our keenness on the government and the success of our allies,” Bassil added. “We were not only concerned with overthrowing former Premier Saad Hariri, but we want to find solutions to problems that previous governments failed to reach,” he remarked. Earlier this week, parliament failed to approve an electricity draft law proposed by FPM leader MP Michel Aoun that allows Bassil to receive $1,200,000,000 to implement a project on producing 700 Megawatts of electricity. The March 14-led opposition says that the draft law gives the minister the freedom to use the amount of money without referring to the cabinet or without any monitoring by the Audit Bureau. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s circles questioned the uproar over the draft law seeing as cabinet agreed to tackle the issue on Thursday, adding that some amendments may be introduced to it to ensure that funding in the project would take place according to the norms, reported the daily Al-Liwaa on Saturday. According to Al-Liwaa on Friday, Miqati and Bassil quarreled over the draft law and its funding during cabinet’s session on Thursday. Parliamentary sources told the daily that despite all of Bassil and Aoun’s outrage, it would be impossible to approve their financial demands because that would deepen Lebanon’s debt. The solution to the electricity file lies in resorting to old methods, adopted by former Premier Fouad Saniora’s government, of deriving funds through loans and donations.

Hariri’s 'Preemptive' Position Aimed at Ending Debate on STL
Naharnet /Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s recent statement on Lebanese affairs is aimed at “preempting developments” in order to prevent further debate over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a leading official in the March 14 camp told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Saturday. He justified this position by saying that the tribunal is no longer up for discussion as it was approved based on United Nations Security Council resolution 1757 and an agreement at the national dialogue in 2006. Addressing the national dialogue, he stated: “No new topic can possibly be added to the talks unless the pending issue of Hizbullah’s possession of arms is resolved.” On Friday, Hariri snapped back at President Michel Suleiman saying the only way to hold national dialogue is through finding a solution to Hizbullah’s weapons. “The only door for dialogue opens by solving the issue of illegitimate arms and not by making renewed overt attempts to lure the issue of the international tribunal to the dialogue table,” he said in statement issued by his press office. Suleiman had urged on Thursday for dialogue to confront the repercussions of the events in the Arab world and the state of anticipation over the STL, which are spreading concern among citizens. Hariri has previously voiced skepticism about Suleiman’s invitation for all-party talks, insisting that Hizbullah’s arms should be the only topic for discussion, or else the March 14-led opposition would not attend the dialogue session. Hariri said in his statement that developments in the Arab world and the anticipation over the course of the international tribunal “should not be a reason of concern among the Lebanese.” “Most Lebanese find the Arab popular movement as an occasion to spread democracy in Arab political life,” the former prime minister added. Meanwhile, sources close to Suleiman told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published on Saturday that ties between him and Hariri “still stand, even if they are not communicating directly with each other because of Hariri’s presence abroad.” Mustaqbal parliamentary sources reiterated these statements, saying that ties between president and former premier have not been severed. They stressed that Hariri’s recent statement was aimed at “emphasizing the need for dialogue and asserting that the STL is not the cause of instability in Lebanon.”

Five Inmates Break out of Roumieh Prison, Among them Fath al-Islam Radicals
Naharnet /Five inmates have escaped from Ward “D” in the Roumeih prison on Saturday, however, two have been detained. Internal Security Forces said a sixth inmate attempting to flee had been caught inside prison grounds and was under interrogation. Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) that he issued a warrant to punish all Roumieh prison officials. Preliminary information said that four Fath al-Islam inmates that fought deadly battles with the Lebanese army in 2007 escaped Roumieh prison. LBC reported that the Fath al-Islam convicts are Abdullah Saad al-Shukri, Abdel-Aziz al-Masri, Mohammed al-Dusri and Abdel-Nasser Sanger. The security forces have launched wide search operations by air and land, and troops had surrounded the notorious prison as helicopters flew overhead, the National News Agency said. Al-Jadeed television reported that the search operations are focusing on 800 meters around the prison because “they haven’t left this perimeter.” MTV reported that inmate Midhat Khalil escaped the prison from its main entrance by getting aboard the visitors Van then took a taxi to Beirut. "The Van driver is being interrogated in presence of Mount Lebanon ISF commander," the television channel said. MTV said that the four Fath al-Islam prisoners broke out wearing security forces clothes. According to a statement issued by the Internal Security forces: “between 11:00 am and 12:00 pm on Saturday five inmates’ escaped Roumieh prison Ward “D”.”“The five prisoners had sawed through a fence inside the prison, used sheets to rappel from their ward and then mingled with visitors in civilian clothing and escaped,” the statement said. The ISF said in its statement that the five prisoners are Midhat Hasan Khalil, a Mauritanian born 1963; Abdullah Saad el-Dine al-Shukri, a Syrian born 1984; Abdel-Aziz Ahmed al-Masri, a Syrian born 1985; Mohammed Abdel-Nasser Abdel-Dusri, a Kuwaiti born 1973 and Abdel-Nasser Said Sanger, a Lebanese born 1980.
The statement added that a sixth prisoner, Walid Issam Lababidi, a Lebanese born 1980, was caught while trying to escape with the other five inmates.
“An investigation by relevant agencies is ongoing in order to take the necessary measures against those who were neglectful,” the statement added.
Earlier, the NNA reported that one of the escaped inmates was a Sudanese national. Roumieh, the oldest and largest of Lebanon's overcrowded prisons, has witnessed sporadic prison breaks in recent years and escalating riots over the past months as inmates living in dire conditions demand fairer treatment and even general amnesty.
In the summer of 2007, al-Qaida inspired Fatah Al-Islam group led an uprising in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared two years ago. The fighting killed some 400 people, including 168 soldiers, and deadly clashes also broke out in the nearby northern port city of Tripoli but some of the Islamist leaders escaped despite a 15-week siege by the army at the camp. The militant group is also accused of being behind twin bus bombings in a Christian suburb northeast of Beirut which left three dead and close to 20 wounded in 2007.

Syrian Troops Storm Latakia, Three Dead
Naharnet /Syrian troops killed at least three people as they pounded Latakia and raided other towns on Saturday, activists said, as Washington and Riyadh demanded that Damascus "immediately" halt its crackdown. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two people were killed and 15 wounded, four of them critically, during a military operation in the southern Latakia area of Ramleh, a nerve centre of anti-regime protests. One of the casualties was a 17-year-old man, the Observatory said. The watchdog said earlier that military vehicles, including tanks and armoured personnel carriers, converged on Ramleh during a "large demonstration calling for the fall of (President Bashar al-) Assad's regime. The Observatory said the deployment of troops sparked an exodus of residents, especially women and children. Security forces raided the Asaliba district, also in the Mediterranean city, arresting "more than 70 people" in a door-to-door crackdown, it said, adding that women who resisted the arrest of their children were harassed and beaten. "There was heavy gunfire and explosions," in Asaliba, the Observatory said. An activist in the Homs region of central Syria said troops backed by two tanks also entered the village of Jussiyeh which borders Lebanon, triggering a stampede across the frontier and to neighbouring areas. Military vehicles, meanwhile, swooped on the town of Qusayr, also in Homs province, where security and intelligence services carried out arrests and killed one person, the Observatory said. "Ten military trucks, seven security vehicles and 15 buses full of pro-regime militiamen entered these villages," said security services.
In the town of Huleh, also in Homs province, families received the corpses of four relatives who had been arrested in the past few days, the Observatory said. Security forces backed by tanks have been trying to crush dissent city by city and town by town since pro-democracy protests erupted in mid-March. The Observatory says 2,150 people have been confirmed dead since then -- 1,744 civilians and 406 members of the security forces. Activists said at least 20 people were killed on Friday when security forces opened fire on thousands of anti-regime protesters who rallied in flashpoint cities after Muslim weekly prayers, updating earlier tolls. State television, meanwhile, said "two security agents were shot dead by armed men in Douma," a suburb of the capital.
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on Saturday urged "the Syrian leadership to exercise utmost restraint through immediate cessation of the use of force to suppress people's demonstrations." Ihsanoglu "expressed the readiness of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to play a role in this regard, as he believes that dialogue is the only secure option through which this devastating crisis could be contained." The U.N. Security Council is to hold a special meeting next Thursday to discuss human rights and the humanitarian emergency in Syria, diplomats at the United Nations said. In a Twitter statement, France's U.N. mission said U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay and U.N. undersecretary for humanitarian affairs Valerie Amos were to brief the meeting. As the West grapples with ways to pressure Damascus into ending the bloodshed, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged countries to stop trading with Syria. "We urge those countries still buying Syrian oil and gas, those countries still sending Assad weapons... to get on the right side of history," Clinton told reporters.France on Saturday followed the example of the United States in advising its citizens in Syria to leave the country.
**Source Agence France Presse

Karami Slams Aoun’s Threat to Withdraw from Cabinet
Naharnet /State Minister Ahmed Karami slammed reports saying that there is a team that wants electricity and another that doesn’t, noting that it’s not acceptable from MP Michel Aoun to warn the cabinet of withdrawing from it if it didn’t approve what he wants. “Everyone agreed on giving Aoun the amount of money he requested, but the discussions are around how to provide the money and its distribution and the mechanism of organizing it,” Karami told Akhbar al-Yawm News Agency on Saturday. He slammed statements hinting that Free Patriotic Movement ministers will withdraw from the cabinet if the electricity bill wasn’t approved. “We respect General Aoun but if he’s threatening to withdraw from the cabinet if we didn’t approve what he wants, then this is unacceptable… We refuse to sort things this way,” Karami said.  Aoun had called on the Lebanese to occupy the parliament if they want electricity after his draft law was blocked at the parliament.He also didn’t attend Wednesday’s presidential Iftar banquet in Baabda palace because he refuses to sit at the same table with “some thieves and public money squanderers.” Karami remarked “the issue was postponed until the next session (to be discussed again).”Concerning the pro-Syrian people and anti-regime protests in Lebanon, Karami said: “I am against both kinds of protests.” He told the news agency “I am against killing people by the regime, and I urge it to launch reforms.”
“However, we are not able to interfere with the Syrian internal affairs,” he added.

Nasrallah Holds Talks with Aridi on Local, Regional Developments
Naharnet /Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah held talks on Saturday with Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi on local and regional political developments. On Wednesday, the minister had accompanied Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat to Damascus where they met with Mohammed Nassif, the assistant to the Syrian Vice President. A statement issued by the PSP media department said that the meeting was marked by “friendliness and frankness.” “It was an occasion to exchange opinions on the latest political developments,” it added. The daily Al-Liwaa had reported a prominent political source as saying that ties between Jumblat and between Syria and Hizbullah “have reached a standstill.” They explained that talks came to a stop after the PSP leader took positions to protect the Druze sect from the ongoing unrest in Syria.

France Tells Citizens to Leave Syria
Naharnet /France advised its citizens in Syria Saturday to leave the country as security forces continue to clamp down on pro-democracy protests. "We advise French citizens who are still in Syria to leave the country by commercial transport," the foreign ministry said in the travel advice section of its website. "Considering the escalation of tensions in Syria, it is strongly advised to abandon any plans to visit the country," it added. Security forces backed by tanks have been trying to crush dissent city by city and town by town since pro-democracy protests erupted in mid-March. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 2,192 people have been confirmed dead since then -- 1,782 civilians and 410 members of the security forces.
France already at the beginning of May counseled its citizens to delay non-essential travel to Syria. The United States last week also advised its citizens to depart Syria immediately.
*Source Agence France Presse

Sami Gemayel against “giving lessons to Syrian people”
August 13, 2011 /“Some parties should stop giving lessons to the Syrian people… These people should be left to decide their own destiny,” Kataeb bloc MP Sami Gemayel said on Saturday. He told OTV that no one can remain indifferent regarding the situation in Syria. “A suppression is taking place in Syria, and we faced a similar situation [in Lebanon].”
Gemayel also said that his party will always support the presidency, regardless “whether we agree with [the president himself] or not.”Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s troops have cracked down on protests against almost five decades of Baath Party rule which broke out mid-March, killing over 2,000 people and triggering a torrent of international condemnation.
-NOW Lebanon

France tells citizens to leave Syria
August 13, 2011 /France advised its citizens on Saturday to leave Syria as security forces continue to clamp down on pro-democracy protests. "We advise French citizens who are still in Syria to leave the country by commercial transport," the foreign ministry said in the travel advice section of its website. "Considering the escalation of tensions in Syria, it is strongly advised to abandon any plans to visit the country," it added. Security forces backed by tanks have been trying to crush dissent city by city and town by town since pro-democracy protests erupted in mid-March. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 2,192 people have been confirmed dead since then - 1,782 civilians and 410 members of the security forces.
At the beginning of May, France counseled its citizens to delay non-essential travel to Syria. The United States last week also advised its citizens to depart Syria immediately.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon

It’s not always political
Matt Nash, Now Lebanon
August 13, 2011
“Allahu akhbar! Allahu ahkbar!” a crowd of around 400 people shouted Friday afternoon in the southern port city of Saida, many waving religious flags and sporting the long beard and short mustache common among Salafist Muslims. They assembled to demonstrate in solidarity with the Syrian people, many of whom have been protesting against their government for nearly five months, and express outrage at the violent crackdown Bashar al-Assad’s government launched in response.
“We’re here to shout to our brothers in Syria that we support them,” Walid Loutfi, 40, told NOW Lebanon. “We’re all Muslims.”
The demonstration was organized by al-Jamaa al-Islamieh, Lebanon’s branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, the group’s leader in the South, Bassam Hammoud, told NOW Lebanon. It was the first such protest in Saida, he said, though there have been several similar demonstrations in both Tripoli and Beirut.
In Beirut, the protests have been organized by activists and journalists, some of whom are supporters of the March 14 coalition, while others were organized by people who “[work] against the March 14-March 8 political schism that has polarized Lebanon for over six years now,” according to one account of a protest that ended in violence earlier this month. In Tripoli, however, the protests were also organized by Islamist groups, including al-Jamaa al-Islamieh, Hammoud said.
Unrest in Syria has divided Lebanon’s political class, with the March 8 coalition largely echoing the official Syrian position that problems there are being caused by “terrorists” and “armed gangs.”
March 14 politicians, meanwhile, remained largely silent on the events unfolding in Syria until a late-July push by Syrian security forces against the city of Hama which killed scores of people. Following that, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned the military action as a “massacre” in a press release on July 27, and his political allies, both from the Future Movement and other parties, began upping their rhetoric against Assad’s violent response to protests.
March 14 parties have not, however, called for mass street protests (on August 5 an-Nahar reported that March 14 would announce plans for action on August 7, but nothing happened).
Fares Soueid, general director of the March 14 coalition, could not be reached for comment, but told NOW Lebanon on August 3 that the group would not call for street protests, as it wanted to focus on politics and hammering Najib Mikati’s government for not condemning the violence.
Future Movement media coordinator Ayman Jezzini told NOW Lebanon that the protests in Lebanon supporting the Syrian people were “spontaneous” and that the party played no role in helping organize them. The protests in Saida and Tripoli were organized by allies of the Future Movement, Hammoud said, but added that the party did not play a role in helping gather demonstrators. When asked why the Future Movement sat these protests out, Jezzini said he had no comment. Hammoud demurred when asked if he wanted more involvement from Future and the other March 14 parties. “The more you have more people demonstrating peacefully, of course it’s better,” he said.
The Saida demonstration was surrounded by both the police and the army to keep the peace. Hammoud said al-Jamaa al-Islamieh called them to oversee security for the event. He said that at first, the security officials tried to discourage the protest because “they were afraid of an attack or clash.” Indeed, in June six people were killed in Tripoli during a protest in support of Syrian demonstrators, though that was staged in a very sensitive area. At that time, Sunnis from the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood rallied, drawing the ire of residents in next-door Jabal Mohsen, an almost exclusively Alawite enclave very close to Assad. Several people were also injured when regime supporters attacked protestors in Beirut’s Hamra neighborhood in early August. In Saida, however, the demonstration proceeded for nearly two hours without incident.
Mohammad Ghorabi, 34, offered an interesting insight as to why he thought Islamists were organizing the protests in Tripoli and Saida as opposed to politicians.
Because those protestors are gathering based on their religious, and not political, identification, any attack against them would “incite sectarian strife,” he said.
Nadine Elali contributed reporting to this article

Zvi Bar'el / Syria uprising may lead to regional war
By Zvi Bar'el /Haaretz
The brutal crackdown in Syria continues unabated, and is likely to become the stage for a regional conflict involving Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the rest of the Gulf.
Thousands of Egyptians have already signed a petition circulating on Facebook that calls for the expulsion of the Syrian ambassador from their country. For once, it is not an Israeli ambassador who receives such attention. The initiators of the petition hope to have over one million Egyptians sign the appeal, which may push the current Egyptian military government to publicly condemn Syrian President Bashar Assad.
New Syrian Facebook pages have decided to use humor to recruit people to the opposition, ironically describing the recent events in Syria as if they happened in Britain. Turkey, however, does not find the situation in Syria so funny.
In recent days, the Turkish army summoned hundreds of officers for reserve duty, placing them in bases near the border with Syria. Turkish sources report that the military has been on high alert along the border to prepare for a massive flight of Syrian refugees into the country, as well as for the possibility of NATO strikes in Syria. Only hours after Turkey's foreign minister visited Damascus did the government understand that Prime Minister Erdrogan's ultimatum to Assad fell on deaf ears, after news broke that the city of Homs was being battered by Syrian security forces.
The protests and the bloodshed continued on Friday, when human rights organizers claim 13 protesters were shot to death by Syrian security forces. According to reports, live fire was shot at thousands of worshippers on their way home from Friday prayers in the town of Dir al-Zur. Crowds went out into the streets across the country calling for Assad to step down.
While Turkey prepares for the worst, Iran refuses to print any news on the uprising in its state-run newspapers, while the government has warned that Syria may become the center of an international war. Iran has also transferred approximately five billion dollars to Syria in recent weeks, and according to Iraqi sources, Iran has demanded that Iraq transfer ten billion dollars to the Syrian government.
The involvement of Iran, Turkey, Saudia Arabia, and other gulf states has turned the Syrian uprising from an internal event - resulting from mass poverty, oppression, and a lack of economic and political future - into a potential regional war. Syria, whose regional strategic importance is based less on oil and natural resources, and more on its strong relationship with Iran and ability to intervene in Iraqi affairs, has been able to prevent the establishment of a military front against it. As opposed to the immediate international consensus that allowed for a military offensive in Libya, there has been no initiative to promote a similar UN Security Council in regards to Syria.
In contrast with Libya, where armed resistance could potentially serve as an alternative political power, there is no telling where Syria is headed. Will it end up as chaotic as Iraq, which suffered a difficult period of civil strife after the fall of Saddam? Will a new Syrian regime look toward Iran or the West for support? Will Turkey be able to rely on a new regime with an unchanged military to block the Kurdish PKK party from gaining power? Does the Saudi monarchy prefer a despised, yet well-known leader with whom it could negotiate for hefty sums of money? Such questions also preoccupy the West, which has not yet called for Assad to leave his castle.
In the absence of any outside military pressure, and while Syria can lean on Iran's power of deterrence, it is difficult to determine whether Assad's days are numbered. The military has implemented a strategy of separating the country into isolated cities, giving each one its own special "treatment" that the government hopes will serve as a lesson for others. This is the tale of cities such as Dara, Dir al-Zur, Idlib, Hama, and others that have essentially turned into ghost cities, or areas that where leading a normal life has become quite difficult.
This strategy, which presumes that the uprising could last for quite some time, has developed steadily over the last five months. Assad himself has even said that the rebellion may last up to two years. And despite the number of defectors (approximately 2,000), the president is able to preserve unity within his military's ranks. For now, at least, it seems as though Assad is here to stay.

Syria must complete reform within next two weeks - Turkish presidential adviser
By Tha'ir Abbas
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat – Turkish diplomatic sources have expressed their hope that the events that are taking place close to their border with Syria do not represent “a Syrian response to the advice issued by Turkey” earlier this week. Senior Turkish presidential adviser Ersat Hurmuzlu informed Asharq Al-Awsat that Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s letter to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – delivered by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu during his latest visit to Damascus – informed Damascus that Ankara “does not want to see anybody in the Syrian administration regretting what happened after it is too late.”
Turkish diplomatic sources also informed Asharq Al-Awsat that Ankara is closely monitoring the situation in Syria, including the ongoing Syrian security operation, particularly after the Syrian security apparatus most recently stormed the town of Bdama, close to the Turkish border. The sources stressed that “if this is the Syrian response, then the forthcoming days will be extremely difficult.” However the Turkish diplomatic source refused to “anticipate events, because the Syrians promised to take certain steps, and we are waiting to see this.”
Turkish presidential adviser Ersat Hurmuzlu also denied that Ankara had given Damascus a “time limit of 15 days” to implement reform adding that “Turkey expects Syria to take action within the next few days, if they are sincere in their intentions, for reform must be completed within the next two weeks.”
Hurmuzlu also told Asharq Al-Awsat that “a letter [by Turkish President Abdullah Gul] addressed to al-Assad and delivered by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu stressed the necessity of Syria putting an end to the bloodshed, releasing all the detainees, and immediately implementing reform that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people.”
The Turkish presidential adviser added that Turkish President Abdullah Gul – in this letter – stressed that “he does not want to see anybody in the Syrian administration regretting what happened after it is too late.” Hurmuzlu added that the Turkish Foreign Minister also informed al-Assad of the viewpoint of Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan, expressing “his clear message regarding the necessity of Syria immediately putting an end to the bloodshed, and not utilizing violence to suppress the peaceful protests.”
Hurmuzlu added the Syrians “listened to the Turkish advice, and they expressed an understanding of the necessity of withdrawing their military forces and apparatus from [Syrian] cities, and allowing Turkish press correspondents to enter the afore-mentioned cities.” He also revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that a group of Turkish journalists had visited the effected Syrian areas, adding that “Turkey wants this [Turkish media presence] to become a permanent state of affairs, not merely part of an organized visit.” Hurmuzlu stressed that Ankara wants to ensure that Turkish journalists are allowed access to Syrian cities in order to provide the world with accurate information regarding what is happening on the ground in Syria.
In response to questions about the “two week time limit” that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spoke of, Hurmuzlu stressed that Ankara expects “Syrian movement [towards reform] in days rather than weeks; if they are sincere in their intentions to implement reforms then this must be implemented before the end of Ramadan.” He added that Turkey hopes that these reforms will represent “a shock” and include “a change in the form and image of the regime which meets the demands of the Syrian people.”
In the event of Syria failing to respond to the Turkish calls and implement reform, and continuing its policy of violence and suppression, Hurmuzlu stressed that Turkey “would expect what it warned against previously to take place, namely Syria finding itself confronting the international community, with strong international resolutions being issued against Damascus, as well as foreign intervention in Syria.”
Hurmuzlu stated that when the situation reaches the extent of a UN resolution being issued against Syria, then “all countries, including Turkey, will be obliged to implement this.” The Turkish presidential adviser also denied any scenario that would see “Turkish military intervention [in Syria] and the establishment of a buffer zone.”

Syria: The cost of Assad’s borrowed time
By Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat
Talk about Syria to officials in Washington, London or Moscow and you are likely to hear predictions of an even bigger bloodbath before the Assad regime is toppled.
One Obama administration official tells me that President Bashar al-Assad is “living on borrowed time.” Presumably, the borrowing of time has been made at the cost of daily massacres across Syria.
“ We give Assad between three months and two years, “ the American official tells me. “ However, stronger international action could shorten that period and reduce the cost in human lives.”The question is: why doesn’t the international community take that “ stronger action” that Washington says is necessary?
The Syrian regime has already killed more people than its Libyan counterpart had done when the United Nations decided to sanction military intervention against Col. Muammar Gaddafi.
When the United Nations moved on Libya, Gaddafi had arrested a few dozen opponents. His fellow despot in Syria has jailed some 10,000 people, with many others classified as "missing."
And the crisis in Syria is more of a threat to regional peace than the conflict that started in Libya last spring.
Syrian refugees are pouring into Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Cyprus, affecting the security of those countries. Inside Syria, an estimated 150,000 people have been driven out of their homes while scores of Kurdish villages, with an estimated population of half a million, are sealed off by security forces.
Assad has moved army units to the edge of the Turkish border in the disputed area known as Iskenderun, raising the risk of border clashes. With Iran also getting involved in support of Assad, both directly and through its Hezbollah agents in Lebanon, the crisis is assuming an even larger regional dimension.
So, why hasn’t the Security Council moved beyond a presidential statement condemning the massacres but promising no concrete action to stop them?
The answer I get from American and other Western officials is that Russia and China would veto any resolution committing the international community to action against the Assad regime. .
This amounts to what one might call the pre-emptive veto -- we veto our own action on Syria for fear of being vetoed by Russia and/or China. By not raising the issue, Western democracies assume the responsibility for inaction. It's odd logic and bad diplomacy.
First, we can't know whether Russia or China would veto. Serious diplomacy can't be built on mere guesses about intentions. Last week, I contacted the Russians with a question about the veto threat.“ We cannot veto a text that has not even been written,” a senior Russian official, retorted. “ We remain open to whatever action that would help end the bloodshed in Syria.”
He then referred me to a strong statement by President Dmirty Medvedev in which the Russian leader predicts “ a sad fate” for the Syrian despot.
In other words, we don’t know for sure that Moscow would use its veto to help Assad continue killing the Syrian people.
In any case, the Security Council was never meant as merely a voting chamber: Its chief function is as the highest forum for raising and debating issues affecting regional and international peace.  Throughout much of the Cold War, Western democracies used the council to focus world attention on human rights and the Soviet regime's oppression of nations in central and Eastern Europe. Yes, the USSR used its veto 123 times, an all-time record. But each veto underlined Moscow's failure to secure a majority, leaving it exposed and isolated.
Western democracies should take the Syria issue to the Security Council by offering a draft resolution in support of the Syrian people's struggle for freedom. Once the draft is submitted and debated, Russia and China would have to choose to side with the Syrian people or back an obnoxious and increasingly isolated regime.
It's not certain that Russia (and even less China) would use a veto to prop up Assad. But even if they did so, they couldn't save a moribund regime.
Russia knows that by siding with Assad it would be siding with the Arab world's losers. A veto on Syria could stir anti-Russian feelings from Marrakech to Muscat. Similar considerations persuaded Russia and China to abstain in the vote over Libya.
China would be even more reluctant to veto. To please its Pakistani ally, in 1972 China vetoed the admission of Bangladesh as a UN member. Beijing is still living with the consequences of that veto, one of only seven it has ever cast, as Bangladesh remembers that hostile act.
Another excuse used to justify lack of concrete action to stop Assad’s killing machine was the supposed “ Arab indifference”. Anyone skimming through the Arab media would immediately know that there is no indifference. Arab opinion in all its shades is solidly behind the Syrian people and adamantly opposed to the continuation of the Assad regime in any firm or shape. Apart from Hezbollah, an organ of the Iranian government in Lebanon, I know of no other Arab group that would justify the daily killings in Syria. The latest statement by the Gulf Cooperation Council nations is yet another indication that Arab opinion is not indifferent to the tragedy in Syria. In fact, only three of the 22 member states of the Arab League continue to maintain full ambassadorial relations with the Assad regime.
Even the Islamic Republic in Iran is beginning to have doubts about further investing in Assad’s shaky regime. For the first time, the official news agency IRNA is reporting moves by Turkey and other countries to stop the carnage in Syria along with statements critical of the Syrian regime.
The US and its allies lost a great deal of time over the illusory prospect of a reformist group emerging from within the Assad regime. Obama administration officials tell me that that illusion is now gone. “The Assad regime cannot be reformed,” an Obama administration official tells me. “It must be replaced with a regime chosen by the Syrian people.”
Well, if that is the case, it is urgent to ensure UN support for a mix of diplomatic, economic and military action to bring change to Syria.
Western democracies should take the lead and call on the Security Council to protect the Syrian people against the Assad killing machine. Such la move would be a moral booster for Syrian freedom fighters and yet another reminder to the Assads that their days are numbered.

Syria: Perceptions of the fall of the regime
13/08/2011
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat
Two months ago, we were hopeful that the Syrian crisis would end with President Bashar al-Assad implementing realistic reform. We were anticipating the Syrian President issuing a last minute speech [offering reforms], particularly after it became clear that the government's policy of suppression had only further aggravated the Syrian uprising, but this did not happen. Over the past two weeks, we have seen violence reach its peak in Syria, and the brutality of the Syrian regime has now destroyed any hopes for reform. This resulted in a country like Saudi Arabia coming out to condemn what is happening in Syria, and call on the Syrian leadership to put an end to the violence, recalling its ambassador from Damascus.
Now we must accept the fact that the Syrian regime has thrown away all chances [to implement reform], and its fate is now unknown. The only thing that is left is for us to imagine how the Syrian uprising – the most important revolution in the Middle East – will end. The following are three possibilities regarding how the Syrian regime might be overthrown:
The first possibility: International interventions with Arab cover following a UN Security Council resolution. This scenario would see Turkey playing a primary role, providing troops to an international task-force that would march on Damascus.
The second possibility: In this scenario the international community would move away from direct military intervention, because of the Russian and Chinese veto, or the West’s reluctance of becoming embroiled in a war similar to Iraq or Afghanistan. In this case, peaceful demonstrations would transform into armed resistance that enjoys international support. The opposition would be able to topple the al-Assad regime, but only after a long and bloody campaign.
The third possibility: A change would emerge from within the al-Assad regime itself, with the current leadership being overthrown from within, which would help to provide an acceptable political solution to end the crisis.
Of course, it is not impossible for the regime to extricate itself from this situation by pursuing this policy of bloodshed, amidst an international inability to put an end to this thanks to Iran providing its Syrian ally with arms and financial aid. However more than likely, Iran will not be able to rescue its Syrian ally due to the al-Assad regime’s brutal suppression of the Syrian people. This regime has not refrained from killing women and children, and even targeting those who were attending funerals. Therefore the majority of the people of Syria are now committed to toppling the Syrian regime. The al-Assad regime’s strategy is one that relies upon intimidation and coercion; these are tactics that the al-Assad regime has utilized to remain in power for more than 40 years, and it is seeking to revive the Hama massacre, where 30,000 Syrian citizens were previously killed [in 1982] following which the regime was able to remain in power. However the world today has changed, and the international landscape is no longer the same as it was during the first Hama massacre. Syria’s policy of killing and intimidation has only served to place the hangman’s noose around the al-Assad regime’s neck, as the regime’s closest allies have finally had enough and are today distancing themselves from the Syrian leadership. The killings that are being committed now will only serve to further incite public opinion, particularly Arab public opinion, which is committed to calling for international intervention in Syria. The news from Syria is heart-breaking, with seven people recently being killed whilst attending a funeral, whilst dozens of corpses of Syrian citizens who were tortured to death have been surrendered to their families. The list of horrifying stories coming out of Syria is endless, and that is why the regime will fall!

Syria’s Pharaoh
13/08/2011
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
Next to my home in Jeddah is a mosque whose imam has a very sweet voice. I was in the process of disembarking from my car and returning home when I heard this imam, leading Tarawih prayers, reciting verses from Surat al-Qasas. The imam recited “Truly Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and broke up its people into sections, oppressing a small group among them: their sons he slew, but he kept alive their women: for he was indeed a maker of mischief.” [Surat al-Qasas, verse 4].
Upon hearing this Quranic verse, I immediately thought of Bashar al-Assad and what he is doing in Syria; al-Assad is oppressing and killing the people of Syria, and even destroying houses of worship. The best example of this is the image of the minaret of the Uthman Bin Affan mosque being shelled in front of the eyes of the world without regard for the sanctity of mosques, or the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. It is therefore clear that we are facing a regime that wants to rule its people, even if this is with fire and iron.
Indeed, Bashar al-Assad is the Pharaoh of Syria, and he is truly one of the worst “maker[s] of mischief” in the world, for he has not just corrupted the lives of the Syrian people, but also the entire region and its stability. The Syrian president has destabilized the region for the past decade through his use of false slogans which do not deceive anybody except those as corrupt as al-Assad himself. Therefore the question that we must ask everybody today, particularly those in Lebanon and Iran who are standing with the Syrian regime, is: is this the regime that you are allying yourself with? Oh you who rant about Islam, dignity, and resistance, are you truly going to ally yourself with the al-Assad regime today?
This next question is addressed to the Shiite intellectuals in our region; is this al-Assad regime truly your ally and agent in our region? When have the Shiites ever come out to deny or reject the al-Assad regime, in the same manner that a number of Sunnis came out to reject Al Qaeda and its terrorist practices, confronting this terrorist organization over the past decade? The Syrian regime’s officials may be lying to their own people out of blind loyalty [to al-Assad] and dependence on abhorrent sectarianism in the same manner as the Syrian representative to the UN who claimed that nobody is as concerned about the people of Syria as Bashar al-Assad himself, but the question that we must ask the Shiite intellectuals here is: what’s your excuse? Why have you remained silent?
The Sunnis rejected Al Qaeda and its terrorist practices; they rejected certain Arab regimes and their oppressive practices, as well as some Arab regime’s reluctance to implement reform. The Sunnis also rejected Hamas no longer pursuing Palestinian interests, as well as the group’s internal division and fragmentation; they rejected the Saddam Hussein regime’s policy of suppression, and there are many other examples in this regard to the point that the Sunnis engage with every event in our region, and with every incident that concerns the Muslim ummah. The question that we are asking here is: where are the Shiite intellectuals in the same regard? Why have they failed to take a position with regards to the malicious practices of Iran, internally and externally? What about the pro-Hezbollah intellectuals in Lebanon? Why do you remain silent? Why have you failed to comment on the corruption and suppression of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria? What about those Shiites who the al-Assad regime said he would support against Gulf regimes such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait? Where are you today? Where are your statements insulting others and accusing them of treason now?
Such talk is not sectarian, for unfortunately I am only describing the reality of the situation on the ground. When Slobodan Milosevic was carrying out his crimes in the heart of Europe, the West, and Europe of course, rushed to end his suppression and rescue the [Bosnian] Muslims he was targeting. Today [US Secretary of State] Hilary Clinton is imploring the world – as well as some countries in our region, unfortunately – to take a firm stand against al-Assad. However there are those, in our region, who remain silent, or are issuing justifications [for al-Assad]. Worse still, there are those who cloak themselves in sectarianism and who have refused to say a word of truth regarding this crisis, or indeed any other in our region, whilst the Syrian Pharaoh Bashar al-Assad is the worst of all!