LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِAugust
17/2011
Bible Quotation for today.
Matthew 24/03-13: "As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him
privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your
coming, and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered them, “Be careful that no one
leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the
Christ,’ and will lead many astray. You will hear of wars and rumors of
wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not
yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and
there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places. But all
these things are the beginning of birth pains. 9 Then they will deliver you up
to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my
name’s sake. Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and
will hate one another. Many false prophets will arise, and will lead many
astray. Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow
cold. But he who endures to the end, the same will be saved
Latest
analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases
from
miscellaneous
sources
Khamenei won't support Assad to the
end/By:
Meir Javedanfar/August
16/11
Attack Against Kirkuk's (Iraq) St
Ephraim Syrian Orthodox Church/August
16/11
Assad’s Devious, Cruel Plan to Stay
in Power By Dividing Syria and Why It’s Working/By: Oliver Holmes/August
16/11
Latest News
Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for August 16/11
Iran Slams ‘Illegitimate’
Allegations of Involvement in Hariri Murder
Syrian Port Latakia under Heavy
Machine-Gun Fire
Syrian tanks shell Latakia,
death toll reaches 34
Pro-Syrian group deploys
rocket launchers in Druze area: source
PSP, Hizbullah Deny Military
Deployment in Mount Lebanon
Lebanese Border Towns Packed with
Syrian Refugees as Crackdown Intensifies
Explosion Rocks Shiyyah as Vehicle
Goes on Fire
7 Injured in Fighting Over Front
Seat in Southern Town
Rebels say Tripoli encircled,
U.S. says Scud fired
N.Korea Warns of War as U.S.-S.Korea
Exercise Begins
Iran: Foreign Meddling in Syria’s
Affairs Creates Many Problems
Future MPs hit back at
Hezbollah: we're no militia
Lebanon"s FM, Mansour:
Palestinian state a priority for Lebanon at U.N.
Egypt's 5,000 troops take on 2,000
al Qaeda in Sinai. Three officers kidnapped
PLO Strongly Condemns Syrian
Assault on Latakia Refugee Camp
Syrian tanks shell Latakia, 31
killed in assault
360 Casualties in 17 Cities in
Iraq's Bloodiest Day This Year
Syria “will be better off” without
Assad, US says
White House: Obama Has No Doubt
Syria 'Will Be Better Off' without Assad
Jordan Tells Syria to Stop Violence
'Immediately'
Turkey gives final warning to Assad
to end violence
Hezbollah labels Future Movement as
a "militia"
Lebanon will vote to recognize
Palestinian state in UN
President
Gemayel: We Cannot Maintain Lebanon
through Lies and Mistrust
Mansour: Lebanon Has Not Agreed to
Discuss Maritime Border with Israel
Qassem: Resistance Will Pursue its
Project, Ignoring Protests against it
Officials Say Prison Break Probe
Ongoing, Accomplices Will be Punished
Pro, Anti-Assad Protesters Rally in
Riad Solh, Disperse Peacefully
Group of Syrian Expats in Lebanon
to Ban: We Hold Onto Assad’s Leadership
Abbas renews rejection of
Palestinian arms in Lebanon
Iran
Slams ‘Illegitimate’ Allegations of Involvement in Hariri Murder
Naharnet /The Iranian foreign ministry slammed on Tuesday as “illegitimate”
allegations about Tehran’s involvement in former Premier Rafik Hariri’s
assassination.
"We believe that reports on Rafik Hariri and his tribunal are in line with the
international smear campaign and seek particular political goals,” Foreign
Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said. He accused the West of seeking to
“show Iran had been involved in the issue.” The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is
investigating Iran’s possible involvement in the Feb. 2005 bombing that killed
Hariri and 22 others, the German Der Spiegel magazine reported on Monday. The
report said there is evidence that links Iran with the murder of Hariri.
The STL that functions based on political objectives has no legal value,
Mehmanparast said.
7 Injured in Fighting Over Front Seat in Southern Town
Naharnet /Seven people were injured after a wealthy businessman’s prestige
prevented him from accepting that a person from a lower social status sit at a
front row during a condolences prayer in the south, the National News Agency
reported. NNA quoted several witnesses in the town of Buyout al-Siyyad in Tyre
as saying on Monday that businessman A.Z. viewed a decision by another man to
sit at a row in front of him as a challenge. While prayers were taking place on
the soul of the deceased, his supporters entered the hall and began firing in
the air and attacking people with knives and sticks. Seven people received knife
wounds and bruises and one of them suffered injuries from a stray bullet.
Explosion Rocks Shiyyah as Vehicle Goes on Fire
Naharnet /A loud blast shook the neighborhood of Shiyyah in Beirut’s southern
suburbs at dawn Monday, which the National News Agency said was the result of
the explosion of a vehicle that suffered a technical malfunction. Hizbullah and
Amal members threw a security dragnet at the blast scene shortly after the
explosion was heard at around 2:20 a.m., NNA said.
The agency said the explosion was the result of fire from a malfunction in the
vehicle which it said was a 2003 model Mercedes-Benz license plate W283655.
No injuries were reported in the incident. The car owner was identified as
Mohammad Jamil Jawad. He owns a car spare parts shop, NNA said.
Pro-Syrian group deploys rocket launchers in Druze area: source
August 16, 2011 The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Security sources Tuesday confirmed that a pro-Syrian Palestinian faction
had briefly deployed rocket launch pads with Hezbollah’s help on a strategic
hilltop overlooking the predominantly Druze town of Aley. The sources told The
Daily Star Tuesday that members from Ahmed Jibril’s Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP-GC) had set up “six” rocket launch pads on the 888
hilltop which were transported in cars belonging to Hezbollah from east
Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, a stronghold of the party.
Military sources, speaking to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity, noted
that the Katyusha-type rockets have a range of 11 kilometers, not far enough to
reach any external targets, but meant for local targets. On Monday, the local
newspaper Al-Joumhouria reported that a meeting between Public Works Minister
Ghazi Aridi, who is close to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt,
and Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah came in the wake of strained ties
between the two groups. Al-Joumhouria also said that Jumblatt was upset after he
learnt that Hezbollah had deployed rocket launchers and rocket launch pads on
the strategic hilltop overlooking Aley, southeast of Beirut. It said when
Jumblatt sent an urgent message to Hezbollah to pull out the rocket pads, he was
told that they belonged to “undisciplined members” of Jibril’s faction. Security
sources confirmed that the PFLP-GC had removed the launch pads. Hezbollah and
the PSP Tuesday denied Al-Joumhouria’s report that Hezbollah had deployed
militarily in the Aley area of Mount Lebanon and that relations between the two
have become strained. The reports have been interpreted as a message to Jumblatt
after recent comments calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to implement
reforms and implicitly criticizing the violent crackdown there and urging reform
in Syria. In their joint statement Tuesday, Hezbollah and the PSP said they
“categorically deny any [military] activity of this kind and affirm that
relations between the two [groups] are good and normal.”
PSP, Hizbullah Deny Military Deployment in Mount Lebanon
Naharnet/Hizbullah and the Progressive Socialist Party denied on Tuesday local
and Arab media reports that the latter had deployed security and military units
in some areas of Mount Lebanon aimed at destabilizing the ties between the two
parties. They said in a statement: “The relations between the two sides are well
and they are seeking to bolster them through constant consultation and
coordination.” “They are also seeking to tackle political issues responsibly out
of their keenness on Lebanon’s stability,” it added. Media reports stated on
Tuesday that clashes broke out between the PSP and Hizbullah in the Choueifat,
Deir Qoubel, and Aramoun areas. The clashes were provoked by Hizbullah after it
allegedly deployed rocket launchers in the predominantly Druze area of Aley,
said the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper on Tuesday. It was later revealed that the
launchers belonged to Palestinian factions affiliated with Syria.
These alleged clashes were brought up during a meeting between Hizbullah chief
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi
over the weekend, it reported.
Syrian Port Latakia under Heavy Machine-Gun Fire
Naharnet/Heavy machine-gun fire reverberated Tuesday across the Syrian
Mediterranean port of Latakia, which is engulfed by a major military offensive,
activists said.
"The heavy machine gun-fire and bullets were intense in areas of Latakia, Ramel,
Masbah al-Shaab and Ain Tamra for more than three hours," said the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights. Since Sunday, 30 civilians have been killed in
Latakia in an offensive that has seen use of gunboats by Syrian security forces
for the first time since the start of pro-democracy revolts in mid-March. Syrian
official news agency SANA has denied any maritime operation. U.N. Relief and
Works Agency (UNRWA), the agency for Palestinian refugees, reported that more
than 5,000 refugees had fled the Ramel camp in southern Latakia under fire. The
Syrian daily al-Watan said Tuesday Latakia was "under control" of the army.
"The situation (in Latakia) is under control, especially after the army arrested
dozens of armed men during a complicated operation," it said.
"Armed men had set up barricades for laying mines to prevent the army from
advancing," which "has led to residents fleeing the neighborhoods," the daily
added.
Late Monday, a demonstrator was killed and 10 others wounded in the central city
of Homs as security forces opened fire on the crowd, activists said.
In the nearby town of Qusayr, around 7,000 people called for the ouster of
President Bashar Assad's regime as they marched despite heavy presence of
security forces, activists said.
Syria has repeatedly said it is battling "armed gangs" -- a claim denied by
rights groups who say the crackdown has killed 1,827 civilians since mid-March,
while 416 security forces also died. The first two weeks of August, since the
beginning of Ramadan, 260 people, including 14 women and 31 children have been
counted dead by coordinating committees of demonstrators. *Source Agence France
Press
Egypt's 5,000
troops take on 2,000 al Qaeda in Sinai. Three officers kidnapped
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 15, 2011
Egyptian forces descended on the Sinai Peninsula Sunday, Aug. 14, for their
first post-Mubarak operation to retake control of the territory from lawless and
terrorist elements rampant there since the Egyptian revolution and responsible
for sabotaging the Egyptian gas pipeline to Israel, Jordan and Syria.
Monday, three Egyptian army brigades of 1,700 men backed by tanks, an equal
number of special policemen and 3,400 security personnel drove into the northern
towns of El Arish, Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, which is divided between Egypt and
the Gaza Strip. In their first clashes with Islamic Liberation Army gunmen, they
killed one and detained 11, four of them Palestinians, he Egyptian military
communiqué reported.
debkafile's military sources add that three Egyptian officers were kidnapped in
the clash – whether they were killed or held as hostages is unknown.
For two years, debkafile's counter-terror sources have been reporting on the
burgeoning concentration of al Qaeda cells and affiliates in Sinai and the
Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The 2,200 Egyptian troops maintained there after Feb. 14
to maintain order and guard the Egyptian natural gas pipeline to Israel, Jordan
and Syria were easily overpowered The facility was sabotaged five times and
supplies remain cut off. Restoring a semblance of law and order to northern
Sinai will be the easy part of the Egyptian military mission – for which Cairo
obtained prior Israeli permission as mandated under their peace accord The hard
part is ahead when in the coming weeks the units head south to flush out the
Islamist invaders holed up in the central Sinai mountains to which they withdrew
last week after being tipped off that large-scale Egyptian forces were coming.
On the narrow mountain trails, the soldiers will have their work cut out to
contend with 2,000 well-organized and heavily armed Islamist gunmen.
The forbidding central Sinai range of precipitous peaks, from 1,000 to 2,642
meters tall, covers 21,000 square kilometers. The terrain has deep wadis, dense
shrubbery, abundant natural water and plenty of animals for food.
Judged in terms of the war in Afghanistan, a Taliban force this size in control
of a region twice the area of the Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan would
pose a prohibitive challenge even to a full-scale NATO army.
Egyptian forces have fought for control of these mountains several times but
failed, ending up with accommodations of sorts with the 350,000 Bedouin tribes
sheltering the Islamists and sharing in their smuggling trade. The tribes always
came out of these deals in control of the region.
Our military sources therefore expect this first wave of Egyptian armored forces
into Sinai to be followed by more - if Cairo's rulers seriously intend to
recapture the strategic peninsula and expunge the al Qaeda presence.
There is no way this can be accomplished, according to our military experts,
without air might. The terrorists' hideouts will have to be bombed from the air
and combat helicopters provide cover for armored units moving along the isolated
Sinai trails; drones will be needed to gather intelligence on enemy movements.
Cairo will have to apply to Jerusalem for permission to deploy air might in
Sinai for the first time since the territory was demilitarized under their peace
accord.
debkafile's military sources report that the Islamic Liberation Army - which has
declared its objective as the seizure of all of Sinai and its transformation
into a Muslim Caliphate - is a conglomerate of five terrorist groups:
1. Indigenous Bedouin tribes who have a score to settle with the Egyptian army;
2. Palestinians from the Gaza Strip drawn into extremist Salafi sects which are
integral parts of al Qaeda.
3. Hundreds of adherents of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the murderous Jamaa
al-Islamiya who escaped Egyptian prisons on January 29 at the peak of the
popular revolution which overthrew Hosni Mubarak. The former jailbirds made a
beeline for Sinai and today constitute the hard operational core of the
movement.
4. Al Qaeda adherents, who made their way to Sinai after violent careers in
Afghanistan and Pakistan in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
5. Followers of various Egyptian Sufi and dervish orders.
Turkey
issues "final word" to Syria over civilian deaths
August 15, 2011/Daily Star/ANKARA: Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on
Monday told Bashar al-Assad military operations against civilians must end
immediately and unconditionally, warning the Syrian president that these were
Ankara's "final words". "This is our final word to the Syrian authorities, our
first expectation is that these operations stop immediately and
unconditionally," Davutoglu told a news conference. "If these operations do not
stop there will be nothing left to say about the steps that would be taken," he
said, without elaborating. Turkish leaders, who once backed Assad, have
repeatedly urged him to end violence and make reforms after street protests
against his 11 years in power erupted five months ago.
Hezbollah denies role in Antelias
bomb, labels Future Movement a militia
August 15, 2011 /The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Hezbollah denied over the weekend having played any role in last week’s
explosion in the north Beirut suburb of Antelias and launched a vehement attack
on the Future Movement and its allies in the March 14 coalition, describing the
former as a “militia.”“The Antelias incident was an ordinary incident that has
nothing to do with Hezbollah,” Naim Qassem, the party’s deputy secretary-general
said Sunday, referring to the explosion in the north Beirut suburb Thursday that
claimed the lives of two and left two others wounded.
The two men who died in the Antelias blast had been in possession of an
explosive device at the time of its detonation.
Speaking at an iftar dinner in Baalbek Sunday, Qassem slammed the March 14
movement for spreading rumors implicating the resistance group in the Antelias
incident.
“They moved heaven and earth with the aim of saying Hezbollah had entered
Christian areas to hit stability at a time when evidence confirmed it was an
individual incident,” Qassem said.
Military Judge Saqr Saqr Friday pressed charges against unidentified individuals
for being accomplices to the preparation and detonation of the explosive device
which went off in Antelias.
The charges laid out by Saqr, confirmation for the first time that the attack
had been premeditated and involved several actors, fueled speculation that the
explosion was an act of terrorism and not, as Interior Minister Marwan Charbel
claimed Thursday, the result of a personal dispute.
Over the weekend, Charbel distanced himself from his earlier statements on the
incident, stressing Saturday that his assessment had been purely preliminary.
A security source told The Daily Star Sunday that the device had been designed
to cause heavy damage.
Qassem Sunday described the Future Movement, headed by former Prime Minister
Saad Hariri, as both a “party,” and a “militia.”
“The Future Movement today is a militia in every sense of the word,” Qassem
said. “What does a militia lack? A militia carries arms and takes to the streets
just as it did in Tripoli, Beirut, Tarik Jedideh and other areas. A militia
causes destruction when decisions taken by the state are not up to its
expectations and seeks to use its power and impose control over the government
in violation of laws. And they did that.”
“This is a militia,” he added. In January, Hariri’s Cabinet collapsed following
the resignation of ministers from the Hezbollah-backed March 8 coalition. Prime
Minister Najib Mikati, Hariri’s successor, formed his Cabinet on June 13. The
March 14 movement accuses the current government, which is dominated by the
March 8 alliance, of being under the control of Hezbollah and its ally Syria.
Qassem said Hariri’s Future Movement had sought to hold on the post of the prime
minister, which by Lebanese tradition is reserved for a Sunni Muslim. The two
other top posts, the presidency and post of house speaker, are reserved for a
Christian and Shiite Muslim respectively.
“The Future party believes the post of prime minister is exclusively theirs and
that the executive power is their right,” Qassem said. “Even though the
executive management in the country is headed by a Sunni, it does not
necessarily have to be a member from the Future party.” He also repeated an
accusation made previously by other members of the March 8 coalition that the
Future Movement is using what he dubbed the “Solidere port” in Beirut to smuggle
arms to Syrian protesters against the regime, a claim the Future Movement
strongly denies.
Solidere is a Lebanese company responsible for the reconstruction and
development of the city center, including the waterfront, founded by Saad
Hariri’s father and former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
Lebanon will
vote to recognize Palestinian state in UN
August 15, 2011 /Foreign Affairs Minister Adnan Mansour said on Monday that
Lebanon will vote in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state in the UN Security
Council.
He told Al-Manar television that the Lebanese cabinet passed a decree to start
diplomatic relations with Palestine according to mechanism to be specified
later.
“Yesterday the cabinet approved raising Lebanon’s diplomatic representation with
Palestine to the level of ambassador,” Mansour added.
The Palestinians will present their bid for membership in the United Nations on
September on September 20, when Lebanon will be chairing the UN Security
Council.
-NOW Lebanon
PLO Strongly Condemns Syrian
Assault on Latakia Refugee Camp
Naharnet /A senior Palestinian official on Monday strongly condemned Syria
over violence that forced thousands of Palestinian refugees to flee a camp in
the port city of Latakia.
"We strongly condemn the operations of the Syrian forces in raiding and shelling
the Palestinian Ramel Camp in Latakia and the displacement of the population,"
said Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation
Organization. Abed Rabbo made the comments to Agence France Presse shortly after
the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which assists Palestinian refugees,
said it believed more than 5,000 had fled the Ramel camp as troops fired at
Latakia from both land and sea. "We consider these actions to be part of the
crimes against humanity that have been directed at the Palestinian people and
their Syrian brothers who are also the victims of this ongoing bloody campaign,"
he said. UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness told AFP that more than 5,000 people had
fled the informal refugee camp in Latakia a day after activists said that Syrian
troops began firing at the city from gunships out at sea. He said the agency was
calling for immediate access to the area, but had received no response so far
from the Syrian government.
"Thousands of the refugees have fled the camp. There are 10,000 refugees there
and more than half of them have fled," he said.
"Some were told to leave by the Syrian security forces, others have gone on
their own. We don't know where these people are, how many of them are sick, are
dying, are wounded."
Gunness said reports from a "broad range of sources" described attacks on the
city both from sea and land.
"The signals that we get on the ground are not encouraging, you have gunboats
firing into refugee camps, you have firing from the land into the refugee
camps," he said.
Syrian activists said that gunboats began an assault on the city with heavy
machine-fire on Sunday, the first time the forces of President Bashar al-Assad
have attacked from the sea since the anti-regime revolt erupted on March 15.
Dozens of civilians were said to have been killed since the assault began, but
the Syrian state news agency SANA denied that naval vessels had opened fire on
Latakia, saying troops had fought a ground battle with gunmen in the port city
at a cost of two dead and more than 40 wounded in their ranks.
Source Agence France Presse
Syria “will be better off” without Assad, US says
August 15, 2011 /Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has lost his legitimacy and
his people "will be better off without him," the White House said Monday after
deadly weekend violence.
US President Barack Obama "has no doubt the Syrian people will be better off
without him," White House spokesperson Jay Carney told reporters, reiterating
that the Syrian leader had "lost his legitimacy" in a bloody five-month
crackdown. His comments came as Syrian forces killed three people on Monday a
day after gunboats pounded the port city of Latakia, forcing thousands of
Palestinians to flee a refugee camp located there, activists and a UN agency
said. The Palestinians condemned Syria over the violence as the UN Relief and
Works Agency reported that more than 5,000 refugees had fled Ramel camp in
southern Latakia under fire and demanded immediate access to the site. Palestine
Liberation Organization secretary general Yasser Abed Rabbo denounced the attack
on the Ramel camp and said such violence was "part of the crimes against
humanity" targeting Palestinians and Syrians alike.Jordan, adding its voice to a
recent chorus of Arab condemnation of the Syrian crackdown on dissent, urged
Damascus to "immediately" stop the violence and "listen to reason," state-run
Petra news agency reported. -AFP/NOW Lebanon
360
Casualties in 17 Cities in Iraq's Bloodiest Day This Year
Naharnet /Attacks in more than a dozen cities across Iraq killed 67 people on
Monday, including 40 in twin blasts blamed on al-Qaida in the southern city of
Kut, in the country's bloodiest day in more than a year.The surge of violence
raises questions over the capabilities of Iraq's forces after its leaders agreed
to open talks with the United States over a military training mission to last
beyond a projected year-end American withdrawal. The attacks, which took place
in 17 cities and also wounded more than 300 people, were quickly condemned by
Iraqi leaders, with parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi blaming security leaders
for unspecified "violations."
In the worst attack, a roadside bomb in the center of Kut, 160 kilometers south
of Baghdad, at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) was followed minutes later by a nearby car
bomb, medical and security officials said. "I was on my way to my shop in the
market and suddenly I felt myself being thrown to the ground," said 26-year-old
Saadoun Muftin, speaking from the city's Karama hospital. "After that I found
myself in the hospital with wounds all over my body."Another shopkeeper,
Mohammed Jassem, described "smoke everywhere" in the square where the blasts
took place. Ghalid Rashid Khazaa, health spokesman for Wasit province, of which
Kut is the capital, put the toll at 40 dead and 65 wounded, with both figures
including women and children. The attack was the worst single incidence of
violence in Iraq since March 29, when al-Qaida commandos staged a massive
assault on provincial government offices in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit,
eventually killing 58 people. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned Monday's
attacks, and said those who carried them out "won't get away with these crimes."
"The security forces should not let these killers breathe. ... Any respite means
that we are putting Iraqi blood at risk."
The violence, the deadliest since May 2010, shattered a relative calm in Iraq
during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began at the start of
August. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. "Today's attacks were
not a surprise," said Baghdad security spokesman Major General Qassem Atta, who
said several other attacks planned for Monday had been disrupted. "Every three
or four months, al-Qaida carries out operations in order to prove they are still
here." U.S. and Iraqi commanders say that while al-Qaida and other insurgent
groups are markedly weaker compared to the peak of Iraq's sectarian war in 2006
and 2007, they are still capable of carrying out massive attacks.
"Until when will this negligence continue? Until when will these terrorists
attack freely?" asked Ali Bashir al-Najafi, spokesman for Grand Ayatollah Bashir
al-Najaf, one of Iraq's most senior clerics. "These are important questions, and
officials must give clear answers."
In Tikrit on Monday, meanwhile, three policemen were killed and at least seven
were wounded when two suicide bombers detonated their explosives-packed vests
inside the city's anti-terror headquarters. The attackers were wearing police
uniforms and sought, unsuccessfully, to free al-Qaida fighters being held in a
jail in the office.
In the restive province of Diyala, north of Baghdad, eight people, including
four soldiers, were killed and 35 wounded in a series of attacks in provincial
capital Baquba and five other cities, Diyala health department spokesman Faris
al-Azzawi said. Two car bombs, the second of which was set off by a suicide
attacker, blew up in the holy Shiite city of Najaf, provincial police chief
General Abdul Karim Mustafa said. A provincial health spokesman said seven
people were killed and 60 wounded. A car bomb east of Karbala, another holy city
in Iraq's south, killed three people and wounded 63 others, provincial health
director Nidhal Mehdi said. Separate explosions in the disputed northern city of
Kirkuk killed one and wounded 14, while twin blasts in the western city of
Ramadi left one dead and injured seven others. Two car bombs and three roadside
bombs killed two people and wounded 30 in Baghdad, and bomb attacks in Taji and
Balad, just north of the capital, killed one and injured 14. Twin blasts in the
northern city of Mosul also left one dead and three wounded, police said, and an
explosion in the town of Iskandiriyah, south of Baghdad, injured four. The
attacks come after Iraqi leaders said on August 3 they would hold talks with the
U.S. over a security training mission to last beyond 2011, when all 47,000
American soldiers must withdraw under the terms of a 2008 bilateral security
pact.
*Source Agence France Presse
Assad’s Devious, Cruel Plan to Stay
in Power By Dividing Syria—And Why It’s Working
Oliver Holmes , The New Republic,
August 15, 2011
“I’m full of anger and sadness when I think of Egypt,” emails a protester from
Syria’s capital of Damascus, who asked to be referred to as Rana to protect her
identity. Months earlier, when I met her during my stay in Damascus, Rana was
full of vigor and excitement when talking about how the budding Syrian
revolution could mirror Egypt’s. “The protests are growing. Everyone, no matter
if they are Muslim or Christian, Sunni or Shi’ite, is uniting to topple this
killer system peacefully,” she said at the time.
But, as a bloody summer draws out, Rana is worried that President Bashar Al
Assad’s brutal tactics are fueling an increasingly disturbing sectarian spin on
the current unrest. “There is now sectarian resentment in the coastal towns
where different sects live together, some with the regime and some against it,”
Rana wrote in her latest email to me. Indeed, by labeling the opposition
movement a Sunni-led terrorist revolt and allowing members of his own sect to
loot and pillage Sunni towns, Assad is fanning the flames of sectarian
hatred—and some protesters, despite their initially peaceful, pluralistic
intentions, are starting to buy in as well.
AS AN ALAWITE, a minority group and offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, Assad has ruled
Syria’s Sunni majority and smaller numbers of Druze, Christians, and Kurds using
a secular Soviet-era political system he inherited from his father, Hafez Al
Assad, who was Syria’s president for three decades. Supporters of the
45-year-old president have long maintained that Assad is the only man who can
keep Syria’s diverse sects from turning on each other, using examples of
sectarian strife in neighboring Lebanon and Iraq to warn of the potential
dangers if the president were to be toppled. But when the anti-regime protests
broke out in February, Assad’s first tactic was a sectarian move: to discredit
any peaceful popular revolt—which started in poor, rural, Sunni regions—as a
terrorist conspiracy led by Sunni religious extremists.
As demonstrations grew around the country in March and April, state television
channels started reporting on how “terrorists” were killing civilians and
policemen. The reports ignored the fact that any nonviolent demonstrations were
occurring. Instead, the state news agency, SANA, reported that police had
discovered large weapon caches in towns such as Dera’a, where the international
media was reporting mass pro-democracy protests.
Assad’s ministers adopted the same, divisive tactics. “The latest developments
in several Syrian provinces … are all armed mutinies led by Salafi armed
groups,” the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement, referring to Sunni
Muslim fundamentalists. “Those groups aim to create chaos and terrify the Syrian
people, exploiting the reform and freedom process launched within a
comprehensive program according to specific timetables announced by President
Bashar Al Assad.”
Assad hoped, a western diplomat in Damascus explained to me, that this rhetoric
would scare Syrians into believing that he was the only man who could hold the
delicate balance of Syria’s competing sects intact, and he hinted repeatedly
that his opponents were serving a foreign conspiracy to spread sectarian strife.
His plan was to solidify his support among minority groups, such as Christians
and Druze, by creating the specter of a Sunni extremist uprising. “But, in fact,
the rhetoric only served to alienate moderate Sunni Muslims, by labeling them as
terrorists, into thinking along sectarian lines,” the diplomat explained.
As the protests have grown, Assad’s second tactic—relying increasingly on his
Alawite power base to crush pro-democracy protests—has naturally caused
sectarian tension to grow still stronger. In addition to filling the top
echelons of the security forces with loyal Alawites, Assad has also employed the
services of the feared “Shabbiha,” a notorious Alawite paramilitary, who are
accused of acting as unofficial enforcers for Assad’s regime.
The Shabbiha “death squads,” as activists in Syria call them, have been blamed
for killing and torturing thousands of protesters. They consider themselves
above the law and it is unclear how much control Assad has over the group, which
grew out of a criminal organization in the 1990s and has always been privileged
and closely tied to the Assad family. But anti-Assad Syrians allege that the
president is now directing the unofficial mercenaries, who can commit atrocities
while providing Assad with a measure of deniability about his role.
*Oliver Holmes is a British journalist who has lived on and off in Damascus
since 2009.
Khamenei won't support Assad to the
end
Meir Javedanfar/guardian.co.uk, August 15, 2011
For President Bashar al-Assad, the situation in Syria is becoming worse every
day. In the middle of the biggest crisis his regime has faced, he has had one
friend on whom he could rely: Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Khamenei has
been Assad's steadfast friend, providing him with political as well as material
support. But as Assad's position worsens, he will need to rely on Khamenei's
regime more, especially since an increasing number of Assad's neighbours are
turning against him.
First was Turkey, which used to be a close ally. Now, the Turkish government is
putting pressure on Assad and warning him to stop killing demonstrators and to
implement reforms as soon as possible. And then the Saudis joined in by telling
Assad to stop "his killing machine" and withdrawing their ambassador. A number
of other Gulf states followed suit.
Assad has good reason to rely on Khamenei. The two regimes have been allies for
many years. They have common interests with regard to Israel, Palestine, and
groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas. In fact Assad would be right to assume that
the Iranian government owes his family. While most of the Middle East backed
Iraq in its eight-year war against Iran, it was Bashar's father, Hafez al-Assad
who stood against the tide.
Despite the closeness between the two leaders and the regimes, Syria's president
should be under no illusion: Ali Khamenei is his friend, but he will not sink
with Assad's ship. The moment the Iranian leader realises that Assad's situation
is not salvageable, he will leave him. This will most probably be done
privately. In public, Khamenei and the rest of the Iranian regime will continue
their support. They may even offer Bashar refuge in Iran. But, behind the
scenes, it would be another story.
The reason is very simple: many have said that the Iranian regime is extremist.
This is true. It is extremist about its own wellbeing. To Khamenei there is
nothing more important and sacred than this. He is ready to sacrifice anything
that would pose a risk to it – including Bashar al-Assad. And one day, if the
political and economic costs of Iran's nuclear programme start threatening the
regime's stability and interests, he would give that up too.
Khamenei will not commit political suicide by staying with Assad until the last
moment. Doing so would be very damaging for the regime's interests. Iran is
becoming more isolated every day. It does not need a new enemy in Damascus in
the event of Assad's fall, especially when this could impact on its ability to
supply weapons to Hezbollah through Syrian territory (not to mention relations
with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which it conducts through its offices in
Damascus). It could also lose access to its economic interests in Syria.
Meir Javedanfar is an Iranian-Israeli Middle East analyst and co-author of The
Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran.
**The above article was published in guardian.co.uk on August 13th, 2011
Turkey gives final warning to Assad
to end violence
August 15, 2011 /Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday called on
Syria to end violence in the country, adding that it is Turkey’s “final word” to
Damascus, Reuters reported. "This is our final word to the Syrian authorities,
our first expectation is that these operations stop immediately and
unconditionally," Reuters quoted the Turkish FM as saying in a press conference.
"If these operations do not stop, there will be nothing left to say about the
steps that would be taken.” "In the context of human rights this cannot be seen
as a domestic issue," he added. Davutoglu traveled to Damascus on Tuesday, where
he held a six hour meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey in
recent days has harshened its rhetoric against the Syrian regime, which has been
conducting a crackdown on protests since mid-March.-NOW Lebanon
Hope for the exploited
Amtissal Aboulissan, August 15, 2011
“The lack of awareness of human trafficking makes it difficult to combat the
issue in Lebanon,” said Rola Abimourched, project coordinator of the
Exploitation and Trafficking Unit at KAFA.Every nation in the world is affected
by human trafficking, whether it is a country of origin, transit or destination
for victims. Lebanon is often a destination country. KAFA, an NGO that works to
end all forms of violence and exploitation against women and children, started
focusing more closely on trafficking in 2010 when it started its own unit within
the organization. It began by identifying two potential target groups for
traffickers: women for the sake of prostitution and women for the sake of
domestic work—though the group notes that men are trafficked through the country
as well.
But while many Lebanese have heard of human trafficking, few people actually
know what it means. Human trafficking is, in essence, the recruiting,
transportation and harboring of a person through force for the purpose of
exploiting them. The main reasons traffickers abduct victims is for sexual
exploitation, forced labor, removal of organs, forced military service and
forced marriage. Women and children are the most common victims.
But progress against trafficking is being made in Lebanon. A draft law making
the practice illegal was passed and approved by parliament last week.
The law couldn’t come soon enough. According to the US Department of State’s
annual Trafficking in Persons Report for 2011, Lebanon was placed on Tier 3, the
worst rating, as the country is not fully complying with the minimum standards
for the elimination of human trafficking and not making significant efforts to
prosecute trafficking offenses.
Lebanon’s placement on Tier 3 could make it subject to certain sanctions that
would cause the US government to withhold or withdraw non-humanitarian and
non-trade-related foreign assistance. In addition, countries on Tier 3 may not
receive funding for government employees’ participation in educational and
cultural exchange programs.
“Lebanon is a source and destination country for women and children who are
subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. The country may also be a transit
point for Eastern European women and children destined for sex trafficking in
other Middle Eastern countries,” the report said.
US Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly reiterated the point last month, urging
the Lebanese government to take significant steps to improve the human
trafficking situation here and highlighting the importance of Lebanon’s
obligation to uphold all its international commitments.
With a new law in place, enforcement remains a problem. Abimourched notes that
the lack of awareness of the problem and the inability, especially of
authorities, to spot it, poses major obstacles when trying to curb the practice.
Even though Lebanese government officials have received training on victim
interview techniques through the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
and the NGO Caritas, a previous 2008 UN report shows that only 60 cases are
officially identified every year in Lebanon, although the numbers may have
grown. The lack of research makes it difficult to provide accurate statistics.
NGO workers told NOW Lebanon they hope the new law will lead to better
statistics.
Alix Nasri, program officer at Heartland Alliance, another NGO that works on the
issue, said that while the law “is a useful tool, we also need to work on
prevention. The legislative aspect is not the only factor that can decrease
trafficking. We need to work on some of the root causes like changing the Kafala
system,” used for foreign workers coming to Lebanon.
The Kafala system operates by making foreign workers use a local sponsor. The
Kafala system is widely seen as one of the prime causes of the systematic abuses
against migrant workers in Lebanon. Under the current system workers are tied to
one employer whose job it is to hire workers from abroad, process their
paperwork, and arrange their accommodation and medical insurance. This
sponsorship has led to widespread abuse with employers seeking to cut costs
wherever they can, often to the detriment of workers’ living and pay conditions.
Additionally, employers usually, and illegally, confiscate employees’ passports
so they can’t leave. The system makes them more vulnerable to trafficking and is
one of the main reasons they fall victim.
But Abimourched noted that even with government action, many victims are afraid
to speak out, dreading retribution or stigmatization, and many just do not know
their rights.
“Even if authorities are aware that a person could be a potential victim of
human trafficking, they may still treat them as a criminal,” she added.
Heartland Alliance partners with Caritas and other NGOs in Lebanon to provide
services and support for victims of human trafficking through legal,
psychological, social and educational services. But even with the new law and
offered services, organizations like the Heartland Alliance and KAFA realize
there is still work ahead.
“We have a long way to go, a lot more needs to be done,” said Abimourched.
Attack
Against Kirkuk's St Ephraim Syrian Orthodox Church
8-15-2011 /http://www.aina.org/news/20110815181710.htm
Kirkuk -- A bomb exploded last night near the St Ephraim Syrian Orthodox Church
in Kirkuk, which is just a few hundreds of metres from the Chaldean cathedral,
in central part of the city. The device blew up at 1.30 am and there were no
victims. The damages to the church were however huge. Today's incident is the
latest in a string of attacks against Christians and their places of worship. On
2 August, a car bomb exploded in front of the Holy Family Syrian Catholic
Church, wounding 15 people. The bomb had been placed inside a car, parked near
the building. On the same day, another bomb also placed in a car parked near a
Presbyterian church was defused before it went off. Islamic fundamentalists, who
remain very active, as well as groups involved in local feuds, have targeted
Iraqi Christians. With a population of 900,000, Kirkuk is located in Iraq's most
important oil fields. For years, it has been embroiled in a political fight
among various ethnic groups, most notably Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds. The latter
would like to see Kirkuk's region annexed to Kurdistan, whilst Arabs and Turkmen
would like it to remain directly linked to Iraq's central government.