LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِAugust 18/2011

Bible Quotation for today.
Malachi Chapter 4/1-6: '1 “For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall. 3 You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,” says Yahweh of Armies. 4 “Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Where is Shibli al-Ayssami?/By: Mona Alami/August 17/11
With Syria out of the picture, Iran looking to Iraq as its new strategic ally/By Zvi Bar'el /Haaretz/August 17/11
Time for truth, and painful reconciliation in Lebanon/By: Charles Glass/August 17/11
Syria's City of Graves: Hama and Its History of Massacres/By Rania Abouzeid/August 17/11
But why?/By: But why?/Hazem Saghiyeh/August 17/11
Do the Egyptians trust the Muslim Brotherhood/By Tariq Alhomayed/August 17/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for August 17/11
Indictment Released: Ayyash Coordinated, Badreddine Controlled while Oneissi, Sabra Conspired
Details of STL Arrest Warrants
Identity of Mitsubishi Van Bomber Unknown
Bellemare: Full Story Will Only Unfold in Courtroom
Lebanon court: There is enough evidence for a Hariri trial/J.Post
March 14: Rejecting Justice is Strife in Itself
Russia Maintains Arms Supplies to Syria
Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Aug. 17, 2011/Daily Star
Bodies of Couple Found 1 Month After Disappearance
Jumblat: Circumstances aren’t Suitable to Adopt Proportional Representation
Report: Syria Intimidating Expats Abroad
PLO slams Syrian 'crimes against humanity'
HRW Urges EU to Freeze Assets of Syria State Institutes
Clinton Suggests Ankara, Riyadh Urge Assad to Step Down
Turkey Opposes Foreign Intervention, Killing of Civilians in Syria
Syrian Army Leaves Deir Ezzor after 10-Day Operation
Defiant Syria escalates its assault
Sleiman tells Abbas Lebanon will back Palestinian statehood
Abbas to Suleiman: We Don't Need Arms, Lebanon Can Protect Us
Britain Says Assad 'Losing Last Shreds of Legitimacy'
Hariri: Iran’s Position on STL Aimed at Preventing Justice
Iran Slams ‘Illegitimate’ Allegations of Involvement in Hariri Murder
Aoun to his Allies: We Won’t Remain in Govt. that Lacks an Agenda
Mustaqbal Slams Qassem Remarks as 'Desperate, Futile'
Democratic Renewal Movement: We Will Not Remain Neutral over Current Challenges
Lebanon: Security situation stable so far: authorities
Lebanon: Plan to improve prison conditions outlined
Lebanese continue to support Syria uprising
Hamas chief's visit to Cairo could signal imminent decision on Shalit deal
Libyan rebel "gains" smokescreen for talks in Tunisia to end war

Bellemare: Full Story Will Only Unfold in Courtroom
Naharnet /Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare welcomed on Wednesday the recent order of Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen to unseal the indictment in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.Bellmare said: “This Order will finally inform the public and the victims about the facts alleged in the indictment regarding the commission of the crime that led to charging the four accused.”He stressed that “the unsealing of the indictment answers many questions about the 14 February 2005 attack.”
He added: “The full story will however only unfold in the courtroom, where an open, public, fair and transparent trial will render a final verdict.”
The investigations of the Office of the Prosecutor are ongoing and preparations for trial continue, Bellemare said.
Fransen on Wednesday ordered that his decision confirming the indictment, as well as the indictment itself, be made public.
Last month, Fransen ordered confidentiality be partially dropped around the names and charges against Salim Ayyash, 47, Mustafa Badreddine, 50, Hussein Oneissi, 37 and Assad Sabra, 34.Ayyash and Badreddine face among others, charges of "committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device" and homicide including Hariri's death, while Oneissi and Sabra faced charges of conspiring to commit the same acts.

Indictment Released: Ayyash Coordinated, Badreddine Controlled while Oneissi, Sabra Conspired
Naharnet /Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen ordered on Wednesday that his decision confirming the indictment related to the February 14, 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, as well as the indictment itself, be made public, said the STL in a press release.
“In his decision confirming the indictment, the Pre-Trial Judge found that the Prosecution has presented sufficient evidence on a prima facie basis to proceed to trial,” it stated.
“This does not imply that the individuals are guilty, but merely establishes that there is enough material for them to be tried,” it stressed.
“The Prosecution will have to prove at trial that the accused are guilty ‘beyond reasonable doubt’,” it explained.
“The Pre-Trial Judge found that the indictment meets the requirements with regard to the specific facts and grounds as required under international case law, the Statute and the Rules (of Procedure and Evidence),” said the STL.
“In the ruling the Pre-Trial Judge first established his jurisdiction to rule on the indictment. He also clarified the law applicable to the charges against the accused and then determined if the indictment meets the requirements to proceed to trial,” it continued.
“In the decision, the Pre-Trial Judge also explained why, until now, the indictment was confidential, which is to ‘ensure the integrity of the judicial procedure and, in particular, ensure that the search and, where appropriate, apprehension of the accused are carried out effectively’,” said the statement.
There are small parts of the decision and the indictment, as well as sections of its annexes, which remain confidential, it added.
They relate to matters that could affect the ongoing Prosecution investigation, as well as the privacy and security of victims and witnesses, it stated.
For the convenience of the public, the Office of the Prosecutor has prepared the following brief overview of the indictment:
The indictment alone is the authoritative charging instrument.
The Indictment charges the four following accused persons for their individual criminal responsibility in the attack against Rafik Hariri:
-Salim Jamil Ayyash
-Mustafa Amine Badreddine (aka Sami Issa, Mustafa Youssef Badreddine, Elias Fouad Saab)
-Hussein Hassan Oneissi (aka Hussein Hassan Issa)
-Assad Hassan Sabra.
The evidence filed with the indictment (known as supporting material and comprising more than 20,000 pages) corroborates the following factual allegations and charges included in the indictment.
On the morning of February 14, 2005, Rafik Hariri, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, departed his residence at Qoraitem Palace in Beirut to attend a session of parliament. As usual, he travelled in a convoy. An assassination team consisting of Ayyash and others positioned themselves in several locations where they were able to track and observe Hariri’s convoy. They had done such tracking of Hariri on previous days in preparation for the attack.
Before 11:00 am that day, Hariri arrived at parliament. Shortly before 12:00 pm, Hariri left parliament to go to Café Place de l’Étoile, located nearby, where he stayed for approximately 45 minutes, before leaving to go back to his residence. At 12:49 pm, Hariri entered his vehicle accompanied by MP Bassel Fuleihan and the convoy then departed the Place de l’Étoile. Hariri and his security detail in a six-vehicle convoy started to drive back to Qoraitem Palace via a coastal route, including Rue Minet al-Hosn. At 12:52 pm, a Mitsubishi Canter van moved very slowly towards the St. Georges Hotel, located on Rue Minet el Hosn. Approximately two minutes ahead of the convoy, the Mitsubishi Canter van moved towards its final position on Rue Minet al-Hosn. At 12:55 pm, as Hariri’s convoy passed the St. Georges Hotel, a male suicide bomber detonated a large quantity of explosives concealed in the cargo area of the Mitsubishi Canter van, killing Hariri and 21 other victims and injuring 231 persons.
Shortly after the explosion, Oneissi and Sabra, acting together, called Reuters and Al-Jazeera in Beirut. Then Sabra called Al-Jazeera again and gave information on where to find a videotape that had been placed in a tree at ESCWA Square in Beirut. The videotape was recovered together with a letter. In the video, which was later broadcast on television, a man named Ahmed Abu Adass falsely claimed to be the suicide bomber on behalf of a fictitious fundamentalist group using the name “Victory and Jihad in Greater Syria”.
As a result of the investigation which followed this attack, a significant amount of evidence was gathered, including witness statements, documentary evidence and electronic evidence (such as closed circuit television and telephone call data records). The evidence has led to the identification of some of the persons responsible for the attack on Hariri. Analysis of the call data records, for example, has revealed the users of a number of interconnected mobile phone networks involved in the assassination of Hariri. Each network consisted of a group of phones, usually registered under false names, whose users had a high frequency of contact with each other.
The Indictment charges all four accused with Conspiracy aimed at committing a Terrorist Act, as co-perpetrators (Count 1). Ayyash and Badreddine are charged (in Counts 2 to 5) with Committing a Terrorist Act by means of an explosive device, Intentional Homicide (of Hariri and the 21 other victims) with premeditation by using explosive materials, and Attempted Intentional Homicide (of those that survived but were injured) with premeditation by using explosive materials. Oneissi and Sabra are charged as being accomplices to the commission of the others’ offences (Counts 6 to 9). All charges in the Indictment are crimes under Lebanese criminal law.
The roles that the accused played in the attack were as follows. Badreddine served as the overall controller of the attack. Ayyash coordinated the assassination team that was responsible for the physical perpetration of the attack. Oneissi and Sabra, in addition to being conspirators, prepared and delivered the false claim of responsibility video, which sought to blame the wrong people, in order to shield the conspirators from justice.
It will be for the Trial Chamber to reach its own verdict after considering all the evidence at trial.

Identity of Mitsubishi Van Bomber Unknown
Naharnet /The identity of the suicide bomber, who detonated a large quantity of explosives concealed in a Mitsubishi van, killing ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and 22 others, remains unknown, the indictment released by the international tribunal said Wednesday. “On 14 February 2005, at about 12:52, closed-circuit TV footage shows the Mitsubishi Canter van move slowly towards the St. Georges Hotel,” the indictment said. At about 12:55, the male suicide bomber detonated the explosives concealed in the cargo area of the Mitsubishi Canter van
with engine block number 4D33-JO 1926. “Forensic examination has established the quantity of explosives was approximately 2500 kilograms of TNT (trinitrotoluene) equivalent,” the indictment said. “Fragments of the suicide bomber were recovered at the scene and forensic examination has established both that the remains were: (a) of a male, and (b) not of ABU ADASS,” it added. Shortly after the explosion, two of the suspects named in the indictment Hussein Oneissi, 37 and Assad Sabra, 34, acting together, called Reuters and Al-Jazeera TV network in Beirut. Then Sabra called Al-Jazeera again and gave information on where to find a videotape that had been placed in a tree at ESCWA Square in Beirut. The videotape was recovered together with a letter. In the video, which was later broadcast on television, a man named Ahmad Abu Adass falsely claimed to be the suicide bomber on behalf of a fictitious fundamentalist group using the name “Victory and Jihad in Greater Syria.”

March 14: Rejecting Justice is Strife in Itself
Naharnet /The March 14 General Secretariat lauded on Wednesday the publication of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon indictment in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, considering it an “exceptional development” that may lead to the truth in the crime. It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The publication is a victory of a principle that we have long supported.” It renewed its commitment to the tribunal and justice, calling on the Lebanese to “once again adhere to the principles of law, justice, dignity, freedom, and democracy seeing as they are the basis of civil peace and the rise of the state.” “Hizbullah is required, now more than ever, to hand over to international justice the four suspects accused of being involved in the assassination,” it stressed. “The government is also required to assume its responsibilities in cooperating with the STL,” it added. The indictment accused four Hizbullah members of being involved in the Hariri assassination. The party has repeatedly said that it will not cooperate with the tribunal, deeming it an American and Israeli product.
“Justice is aimed at apprehending criminals and incriminating a sect. Justice must be achieved as rejecting it will lead to strife,” the March 14 General Secretariat noted.
On the security situation in Lebanon, it condemned the Antelias and al-Rouweis blasts and Roumieh prison break, which it said are all aimed at targeting Lebanon’s stability and security.
A blast shook al-Rouweis neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs a few weeks ago. Hizbullah said that the explosion was caused by a gas canister.Last week, an explosion took place in the town of Antelias. It was caused by an explosive device that was being handled by two people who were killed in the blast.
The March 14 General Secretariat statement rejected Hizbullah’s account of the explosions “that were later adopted by the government.” “We oppose the party’s transformation of the explosion sites into closed security zones,” it added.“It also condemns its political campaign aimed at covering up these incidents,” it continued. It therefore renewed its commitment to Lebanon’s stability and security, holding Hizbullah responsible for any unrest and the government and security forces accountable for protecting Lebanon.
On the developments in Syria, the statement called on the Arab League to hold an emergency meeting to condemn the “crimes being committed by the Syria regime.”

Missing Couple Found Dead: Man Shot Wife, Self
Naharnet /The bodies of a Lebanese couple were found near their home in the town of al-Kharbeh in Jbeil district a month after their disappearance, state-run National News Agency reported Wednesday. According to preliminary investigations, Charles Ghaleb murdered his wife Mariam Akl Khadra with two shots from his hunting rifle before killing himself, NNA said.
The killings happened around one month ago – around the same time Ghaleb and his wife were reported missing, according to NNA.
The Internal Security Forces found the bodies of the couple in a valley near their house. A hunting rifle belonging to Ghaleb, a scissors and a flashlight were found near the bodies, NNA said.The couple disappeared from their house on July 18 between 9:30 pm and 10:00pm.

Russia Maintains Arms Supplies to Syria
Naharnet /Russia is continuing to supply weapons to Syria despite international pressure to cease trading, the head of the arms export agency told journalists on Wednesday.
"While no sanctions are announced, while there are no orders or directions from the government, we are obliged to fulfil our contractual obligations, which we are now doing," Rosoboronexport chief Anatoly Isaikin said. Speaking at the MAKS international airshow outside Moscow, he said that Russia supplied Syria with Yak-130 jet trainers and military hardware. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week urged Russia to stop selling arms to Damascus in order to step up pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end his government's brutal crackdown on protests. In an interview with CBS News, Clinton suggested that China and India impose energy sanctions on Syria and that Russia should cease selling weapons to its long-term trading partner. "We want to see Russia cease selling arms to the Assad regime," Clinton said.
Russia this month backed a UN Security Council statement condemning "the widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities," although it refused to support firmer sanctions. Russia has kept close ties with Syria for decades and remains one of its most important arms suppliers.
**Source Agence France Press

Jumblat: Circumstances aren’t Suitable to Adopt Proportional Representation
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat believes that adopting proportional representation for the parliamentary elections will be employed politically by the rival political camps given the sharp divide in the country, prominent parliamentary sources told the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat Wednesday. They stressed that the MP supports reforming the electoral law. They explained however that this representation will enable one side to “overpower the other therefore stripping it of its reform qualities.”“Jumblat is not like some sides who employ slogans of reforming the electoral law in order to intimidate others,” the sources added. “The PSP leader is apprehensive of the timing of the adoption of proportional representation because some sides view it as the easiest way to filter the people on the sectarian level,” they stated. They therefore predicted that the MP would support the current electoral law until the circumstances in the country allow for proportional representation to be adopted. “The adoption of the law cannot be possible without resuming dialogue, especially between Shiites and Sunnis,” the sources said.

HRW Urges EU to Freeze Assets of Syria State Institutes
Naharnet /Advocacy group Human Rights Watch on Tuesday said it had urged the European Union to freeze the assets of the Syrian National Oil Company, Syrian National Gas Company, and the Central Bank of Syria until Damascus "ends gross human rights abuses against its citizens." "Syria’s authorities are still killing their own people despite multiple efforts by other countries, including former allies, to make them stop," said Lotte Leicht, EU director at the New York-based HRW. "It’s time to show the government that Europeans won’t help to fund its repression." 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 have also died.**Source Agence France Presse

Clinton Suggests Ankara, Riyadh Urge Assad to Step Down
Naharnet /U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other governments should call on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, but declined to make that call herself. "It's not going to be any news if the United States says Assad needs to go," Clinton said, suggesting the world's reaction to such a move would be, "Ok, fine. What's next?" "If Turkey says it, if King Abdullah (of Saudi Arabia) says it, if other people say it, there's no way the Assad regime can ignore it," Clinton said during an appearance with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the U.S. National Defense University. U.S. officials said privately last week that the United States was preparing to explicitly urge Assad to quit power over his regime's deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protests, but Clinton made clear Washington was now not ready to do so.
Indicating the Turks, Saudis and other regional powers have more influence on Syria, Clinton said "we don't have very much going on with Syria because of the long history of challenging problems with that." When pressed on whether President Barack Obama's administration should demand that Assad step down, Clinton replied: "I am a big believer in results over rhetoric."
She said the U.S. diplomatic approach toward Syria amounts to "smart power," noting such an approach is an alternative to using brute force and unilateralism.
"It's being smart enough to say, 'you know what, we want a bunch of people singing out of the same hymn book.'" The Obama administration has been working with the international community to ratchet up pressure on Assad, who has been deaf to growing calls to stop a crackdown that human rights groups say has killed more than 2,000 people since mid-March.
Clinton sought to deflect suggestions that the United States was taking a back seat to other countries."We are leading, but part of leading is making sure you get other people on the field," she said.**Source Agence France Presse

Turkey Opposes Foreign Intervention, Killing of Civilians in Syria
Naharnet /Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday that Turkey is opposed to any foreign intervention in Syria, where the regime's violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests has drawn international condemnation. "We do not want foreign intervention in Syria," Davutoglu said after a Ramadan fast breaking dinner in Ankara.
"We will not accept operations against civilians in the month of Ramadan. We took every measure to prevent this," Davutoglu said, without elaborating.
Turkey's top diplomat held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for more than six hours during a visit to Damascus a week ago, urging him to end the bloodshed and open the path to political reforms. Recently, media reports said Turkey has weighed creating a buffer zone on its border with Syria to prevent the influx of refugees into the country as the Syrian regime's violent repression of protests grows worse. However, Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said Tuesday Turkey does not have such plans. Davutoglu also said he had spoken with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon by phone Tuesday about Syria, without elaborating about their conversation. Ankara, whose ties with Damascus have flourished in recent years, has repeatedly called on Assad to initiate reforms but has stopped short of calling for his departure. The Syrian regime has sought to crush weeks of protests with brutal force, killing more than 1,600 civilians and arresting at least 12,000 of dissenters, rights activists say. **Source Agence France Presse

Syrian Army Leaves Deir Ezzor after 10-Day Operation
Naharnet /Dozens of Syrian army vehicles left the eastern protest hub of Deir Ezzor on Tuesday after a 10-day operation in which activists say up to 30 people were killed, an Agence France Presse journalist on a government tour of the city reported. "The army conducted a quick and sensible operation in Deir Ezzor in order to restore stability and calm at the request of residents," who complained of "armed groups," an officer told reporters. 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 have also died. In the first two weeks of August, since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, 260 people, including 14 women and 31 children, have been killed, according to a count by the protest coordinating committees. **Source Agence France Presse

Abbas to Suleiman: We Don't Need Arms, Lebanon Can Protect Us
Naharnet /Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed Tuesday that “the Palestinians are under the Lebanese law and we don’t need all the weapons, as we are under the protection of the Lebanese people, president, government and parliament.” Abbas arrived Tuesday in Beirut for a 2-day visit during which he will hold talks with top Lebanese officials, inspect the living conditions of Palestinian refugees and seek Lebanon’s support for the Palestinian bid for U.N. membership. His trip to Lebanon is essential for his cause given that Beirut assumes the presidency of the Security Council in September. “We believe that Lebanon enjoys sovereignty over its entire territory,” Abbas added, during an Iftar banquet thrown in his honor by President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda palace.
“Let no one think that we are considering naturalization” in Lebanon, the Palestinian leader went on to say. For his part, Suleiman asked for Abbas’ “continued cooperation on the issue of creating the suitable circumstances for the disarmament (of Palestinian factions) inside and outside (refugee) camps.” “We should give great importance to the status of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, as Lebanon’s security is interlinked with the camps’ security and its sovereignty lies in extending the rule of law over its entire territories,” Suleiman said in a speech during the Iftar banquet. “We assure you that Lebanon will stand by Palestine in its U.N. statehood bid,” Suleiman added, addressing the Palestinian leader.
Earlier on Tuesday, Abbas and Suleiman held closed-door talks at the presidential palace in Baabda. They were later joined by the members of the Palestinian delegation and a number of Lebanese officials. Abbas was welcomed at the airport by Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, the heads of the airport’s security and civil authorities, Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon Abdullah Abdullah and the embassy’s employees, and representatives of the Palestinian political parties.
The Palestinian delegation accompanying Abbas comprises Fatah Movement Central Committee member Azzam al-Ahmed, Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee member Saeb Erakat, Palestinian Presidency official spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina, Abbas’ diplomatic advisor Majdi al-Khaledi and General Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Majed Faraj.
Before he headed to the Baabda palace, Abbas held separate talks at the airport’s VIP lounge with FM Mansour and a number of representatives of Palestinian factions.
Abbas is expecting that the Palestinian bid for United Nations recognition will receive a boost from Lebanon, which will assume the rotating presidency of the the U.N. Security Council in September. In an interview with al-Liwaa daily published Monday, Abbas hoped that Lebanon would play an effective role in his bid for U.N. membership on September 20, despite Israeli opposition. He said that he rejects the presence of Palestinian arms in Lebanon “because they don’t have any value on Lebanese territories.”
“We reiterated that we will hand over the arms at the time that Lebanese authorities see appropriate,” he told the newspaper. “We are responsible for arms inside the camps but the weapons that are outside our responsibility, belong to other organizations that carry them for personal reasons.”
Abbas hoped that some political parties in Lebanon would understand that giving rights to Palestinian people does not mean naturalizing them in the country.
Diplomatic sources told An Nahar daily that Abbas’ two day visit will be aimed at discussing with Lebanese officials the issue of Palestinian camps, armed bases outside the shantytowns and the improvement of the humanitarian conditions of refugees.
During his visit, Abbas will also inaugurate the Palestinian embassy and hoist the flag after the Lebanese cabinet officially recognized the state of Palestine and approved to raise the level of diplomatic representation with it. The Palestinian president is also scheduled to meet with Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Lebanon’s envoy to the U.N. Nawwaf Salam. Following the collapse of direct peace talks with Israel in September last year, the Palestinians adopted a diplomatic strategy aimed at securing U.N. recognition for a state within the frontiers that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War.
Lebanon, which remains technically in a state of war with Israel, approved the recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders in November 2008 but the decision was never implemented. Miqati's cabinet, in which Hizbullah and its allies hold majority, last week agreed to apply the decision, making Lebanon the last Arab country to recognize a Palestinian state.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) estimates that some 425,000 Palestinian refugees reside in Lebanon, a country with a population of four million. Other estimates however put the number at some 250,000. By long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the country's 12 refugee camps, leaving security inside the destitute camps to the Palestinians.*Source Agence France Presse

Britain Says Assad 'Losing Last Shreds of Legitimacy'
Naharnet /Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is "fast losing the last shreds of his legitimacy," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Tuesday as the regime escalated its crackdown on pro-democracy protests. As Syrian forces raked the revolt-hit Mediterranean port city of Latakia with machine-gun fire that has already killed dozens, Hague said he was "appalled by the ongoing repression of civilians by the Syrian government". "The regime's violence continues despite widespread condemnation by the international community. The calls for the violence to stop, including from Syria's neighbors, have not been heeded," Hague said in a statement. Hague said Syrian forces had besieged towns and cities across the country and used anti-aircraft guns against civilians, "a disproportionate and unacceptable response to peaceful demonstrations." "President Assad has so far failed to call back his troops. As long as the killing and detentions continue, his proposed reform package is irrelevant: there is nothing to discuss," it added. "The Syrian people are calling for peaceful change; the international community is calling for an immediate end to the violence. Now is the time for President Assad to act in response to these calls. "He is fast losing the last shreds of his legitimacy. He must stop the violence immediately." The statement was the strongest yet by Britain against the Syrian leader. It comes three days after U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Saudi King Abdullah jointly expressed "shared, deep concerns" about the regime's use of violence towards its citizens.
**Source Agence France Presse

Hariri: Iran’s Position on STL Aimed at Preventing Justice
Naharnet /Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned on Tuesday Iran’s position on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, noting that it is “exactly” like Hizbullah’s. He said in a statement: “The Iranian position is an integral part of a policy aimed at limiting the STL’s work and preventing justice from being achieved.” “Iran’s position falls in line with political and media accusations directed against it that it is covering up assassinations,” he stressed. “Everyone in the world knows that there are no limits to the cooperation between Hizbullah and Iran and the latter’s position on the STL presents a new example of the complete integration between the two sides,” Hariri remarked. “Despite all this, we hope that Iran would not go so far as to harbor suspects wanted by international justice,” he added. Earlier on Tuesday, the Iranian foreign ministry slammed as “illegitimate” allegations about Tehran’s involvement in former Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination. The STL that functions based on political objectives has no legal value, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.
The tribunal 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.

Mustaqbal Slams Qassem Remarks as 'Desperate, Futile'
Naharnet /The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday described the latest remarks by Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem as “a desperate, futile attempt at accusing others of” his party’s own deeds. Qassem accused Sunday the Mustaqbal movement of being a “militia,” saying that it does not want to recognize Lebanon as a country of diverse sects.
“It is a militia in every sense of the word. It possesses arms and they used them in Tripoli, Beirut and other areas. It turned to violence when the government’s decisions did not please it,” Qassem said. In a statement issued after its weekly meeting, the Mustaqbal bloc described Hizbullah number two’s remarks as “false accusations.”  “These false accusations represent a barefaced attempt by the ‘party of weapons’, which believes that they might lead to reducing the level of media and political pressure on the party, which has been (recently) indicted” by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri. On a separate note, the bloc wondered whether “the incorrect information voiced by the interior minister (Marwan Charbel) concerning the Antelias blast were the result of a personal analysis or an attempt to provide a cover-up for the culprits.”

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.

Aoun to his Allies: We Won’t Remain in Govt. that Lacks an Agenda
Naharnet /Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stressed on Tuesday that he is committed to serving Lebanon, but “we will not remain in a government that lacks an agenda.”
He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “They can make do without us as we have other issues, such as the Resistance, that we are committed to.”
“We want to save the electricity file … and our plan will save it from complete collapse,” he stated. Last week, parliament failed to approve an electricity draft law proposed by Aoun that allows Energy Minister Jebran Bassil to receive $1,200,000,000 to implement a project on producing 700 Megawatts of electricity. Opposition and National Struggle Front MPs rejected the law. “Whoever does not know the details of the draft law should not comment on it,” Aoun said. “Whoever detected a technical impediment to its implementation should reveal it as we don’t have time to listen to generalities,” the MP declared. On the security situation in Lebanon, the FPM leader remarked: “Since August 13, 2009, six prison breaks have taken place in Lebanon, five of which were linked to the Fatah al-Islam group.”“The reoccurrence of this matter at the same location is a deliberate crime, which is being protected, and it should not be repeated,” he stated. The president, prime minister, speaker, and security officials are responsible for the ongoing negligence in this matter, Aoun stressed. “The repetition of errors has reached the political class and it seems that the new officials have inherited their predecessors’ flaws,” he noted in reference to former Interior Minister Ziad Baroud and current Interior Minister Marwan Charbel. “Divine intervention won’t rectify the security situation in Lebanon given the current individuals tackling this issue,” he stated. On Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat’s rejection of proportional representation in parliamentary elections, Aoun said: “He has long accused the Christians of opposing the law. I approve of it, but will he accept the elimination of sectarianism in Lebanon?”

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.

Democratic Renewal Movement: We Will Not Remain Neutral over Current Challenges
Naharnet /The head of the Democratic Renewal Movement form MP Nassib Lahoud stressed on Tuesday the movement’s objectivity towards various political powers in Lebanon, saying that it will not take sides with the March 8 or 14 camps. He added however that it will “not maintain a neutral position on the current challenges” facing Lebanon.
He made his statements while heading the movement’s weekly meeting, the first he has headed since returning from abroad.
“We will defend the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is aimed at achieving justice and putting an end to political assassinations,” Lahoud said.
He also stressed the need to implement United Nations Security Council resolution 1701 to prevent future Israeli attacks against Lebanon.
“The movement is committed to reform, freedom, developing the democratic system, and achieving economic and social development,” Lahoud said.
“We are committed to the Arabs’ right to freedom and human dignity, especially in Syria,” he continued.
The former MP also voiced the movement’s support for the Palestinian people and their right to establish their own state.

With Syria out of the picture, Iran looking to Iraq as its new strategic ally
By Zvi Bar'el /Haaretz
It's hot in Baghdad. This week the thermometer hit 46 degrees Celsius, but that was a big relief from the 51 degrees recorded last week. It's also hot in the political arena. The country had 46 ministers until parliament decided to cancel 17 barely functioning portfolios.
The biggest disagreement is about the authority of the national policy council, to be headed by Ayad Allawi. Its expected to erode the power of the prime minister.
Not that the citizens of Iraq are all that interested when they have to live without electricity during the hottest hours of the day. Their air conditioners stop working and the food in their refrigerators slowly cooks.
While the government is extending financial aid to the owners of private generators, on condition they supply 12 hours of electricity a day, the money has not yet arrived and it's not clear when it will. New power stations have been delayed. The agreements that Electricity Minister Ra'ad Shalal signed with two companies, one German and one Canadian, were canceled by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who fired the minister. It appears the companies existed only on paper.
Iraq, which dropped from the international media radar because of the uprisings in Arab countries, is likely to become the hot spot of regional politics - and soon. While Bashar Assad's regime fights for its life in Syria, Iran will probably seek a strategic alternative in the country that the United States is to exit by the end of the year. "The occupation of Iraq by the U.S. did only good things for Iran," said Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi this week. "Iran became more influential than it ever dreamed."
Iraq is Iran's third largest trading partner after China and the United Arab Emirates, some $8 billion a year and growing. Last month, Iran signed a contract for the construction of a 2,500 kilometer long gas pipeline, which will cross Iraq and connect Iran to Syria. Iran has diplomatic representatives in Iraq's largest cities and funds civilian projects around the country, political involvement aside.
"Iraq is a sovereign country and will not be subordinated to any other state," Al-Hashemi has said, but he admits that Iran has a terrific amount of influence on Iraqi policy. For example, since March, Iranian pressure has prevented Iraq from condemning the brutal suppression of Syrian demonstrations. It's making do with a request that Syria "reach a dialogue with the opposition," and just last week called on the two sides - the Syrian government and the "armed gangs" (as the Syrian regime calls the opposition ) - to refrain from spilling blood. In contrast, Iraqi Shi'ites, with Iranian encouragement, set out to demonstrate against Saudi Arabia's military involvement in Bahrain.
Pipeline interests
Iraq is held in a pincer grip between dependence on Iran and its desire to be part of the Arab world. The future gas pipeline is an offer Iraq couldn't refuse, even though it is likely to complicate matters with its Sunni citizens, who are worried about Iran's excessive influence. Sunni representatives from the areas the pipeline will cross have told foreign journalists they will not allow the project to be carried out, and that the pipeline will be sabotaged. Such terror attacks, Iraq fears, are likely to cause Iran to demand placing its own security forces there and thus make an Iranian military presence in Iraq a fact on the ground.
Iraq, worried about the trickle effect the Syrian battle could have on its territory, has dug a three meter deep, 45 kilometer long trench to stop people and vehicles from Syria crossing into Iraq. It isn't afraid of refugees, but other factors likely to cross into Iraq if and when the Syrian regime collapses, or the Syrian army stops patrolling the border.
Right now, only about 7,500 soldiers are policing the 1,100 kilometer long border. At the same time, Iran is demanding that Iraq aide the Syrian regime financially, so as to prevent its economic collapse.
Iran has a powerful economic rival in Turkey, whose trade with Iraq amounts to $11 billion a year. Competition for the Iraqi market gave both countries a good reason to sign agreements between themselves and with Iraq. Just last month the three agreed jointly to establish a bank with an investment of $200 million, and Iran and Turkey announced their intention to increase trade between themselves by $30 billion over the next five years.
When this agreement was signed, Turkey was still sure it would succeed in persuading Assad to implement reforms and bring quiet to the country. Meanwhile, relations between Turkey and Syria have deteriorated, and Turkey has begun to distance itself from Assad and upped the anti-Tehran tone in its voice, while Iran accuses it of being "an American subcontractor."
The economic interests of Turkey in Iran are too strong to destroy their relations, but the arena of their struggle is likely to move to Iraq, which depends on both of them. Turkey has made a tactical decision to oppose Assad; the question is what Iran will do. Will its political and economic interests in Iraq force it to abandon Assad and increase its control over Iraq, while maintaining good relations with Turkey, or will ideology and concern for Hezbollah grow?

Where is Shibli al-Ayssami?
Mona Alami, /Now Lebanon
August 16, 2011
Syrian Baath Party member Shibli Ayssami, who was kidnapped while visiting Lebanon in May, in a photo taken before he was exiled from Syria. (Photo courtesy of Rajaa Charafedine)
A long, narrow road winds up from the central square in the city of Aley to the hilltop quarter of Ras al-Jabal. Leaning on a cane, with a small plastic bag in his hand, an elderly man walks in the shade of the poplar trees lining the street. Suddenly, three four-wheel-drive vehicles with tinted windows appear from nowhere and stop behind the man, cutting off the street. Two men jump out, grab the elderly man under the arm and pull him into one of the vehicles.
The elderly man is Shibli al-Ayssami, a Syrian political figure and one of the founders of the Syrian Baath Party. The kidnapping occurred on May 24, two months after the breakout of widespread anti-regime protests in Syria and the government’s violent crackdown. And while the case initially caused an outcry among Lebanese supporters of the Syrian uprising, until recently little came out about the investigation and any leads the police may have.
Born in the Druze region of Sweidah, the former Baathist held several official positions in the Syrian government in the 1950s and 60s, including as minister of Education, Agriculture and Culture as well as vice president.
But Ayssami was imprisoned and sentenced to death in 1966, in the wake of the political coup of Hafez al-Assad, the father of the current Syrian president. Ayssami managed to escape to Lebanon, though, and two years later moved his family to Iraq, where he co-founded Iraqi Baath Party. Ayssami retired from politics in 1992 and moved in 2003 to Egypt, before leaving for the US in 2008. He was in Lebanon to see his family when he was kidnapped.
“My father is an honest and caring man,” Ayssami’s daughter, Rajaa Charafedine, told NOW Lebanon. “He did not make a dime during his political life and was supported financially by his children. He was the type of person who would walk around an ant to avoid stepping on it. I can’t understand how something like this could happen to him.”
Residents of the area told NOW Lebanon that they had not been contacted by the police about the abduction. “One officer came the first day after Ayssami’s kidnapping inquiring if we had seen anything unusual, but that was it,” said one resident who asked that his name not be printed for fear of retribution.
A high-ranking Internal Security Forces officer who spoke to NOW Lebanon on condition of anonymity as he is not allowed to talk about the case, admitted that the investigation might not have been conducted properly for political reasons, as many Lebanese security officers are close to the Syrian regime. But, he noted, the ISF’s intelligence branch conducted their own inquiry into the disappearance and gathered valuable information. “We are 90 percent sure that Ayssami was taken by members of a major political party now in government, known for its Syrian ties,” said the officer.
This information was backed up by a report released earlier this month by the Syrian Committee for Human Rights (SCHR), which accused a member of the Lebanese security apparatus of kidnapping Ayssami.
“The officer is known to be close to a local party that is currently aligned to Syria. We have information about the license plate of the car that transferred Ayssami to Syria,” said Walid Saffour, president of the SCHR, in a phone conversation with NOW Lebanon. “Ayssami is currently being held prisoner in a military intelligence building in Damascus.”
The case resembles that of the Jassem brothers, three Syrians who were arrested by the Lebanese security services in early February for distributing flyers calling for democratic change in Syria. They vanished after their release. A Lebanese security services officer who was in charge of security at the Syrian Embassy in Beirut was rumored to be behind the kidnapping. While the Syrian Embassy denied that anyone who worked for it was involved in the case, the officer was stripped of his responsibilities.
Such disappearances highlight the state’s failure to protect people in the country as well as the lack of judicial oversight in investigating possible cases of police corruption and collusion with the Syrian regime. “A culture of impunity prevails currently in Lebanon,” said Nadim Houry, head researcher at Human Rights Watch in Beirut. “Because the people who have disappeared are Syrians, no one seems to care.”
“Lebanon under the current regime is not a country that is safe for Syrian dissidents,” the SCHR report noted.

Time for truth, and painful reconciliation in Lebanon
Charles Glass /Aug 16, 2011 /The National
Lebanon survived 15 years of civil war. It endured military occupation by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (forced on it by Egypt and Syria), by Syria (at the request of Lebanon’s president and with the approval of then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger) and by Israel (blessed by then-President Ronald Regan).
And for a long time, the country struggled with anarchy, extortion, kidnapping, torture and the expulsion of communities from their homes that would later be called, courtesy of the subsequent war in Yugoslavia, "ethnic cleansing."
Thirty-six years after the war officially erupted in April 1975, no one has been held accountable for anything.
There have been no trials, no parliamentary inquiries and no South Africa-style Truth and Reconciliation process. The early culprits - Yasser Arafat, Pierre Gemayel, Camille Chamoun, Kamal Jumblatt, Hafez Al Assad and Menachem Begin - are dead. They cannot answer for their parts in delivering the country to mass violence. And yet many others in Lebanon today - both in and out of public office - can.
After the Taif Accords that led to the end of war in 1991, Lebanon embraced collective amnesia rather than truth and justice. The princes of the merchant republic, best exemplified by entrepreneur-turned-politician Rafiq Hariri, settled on physical and financial reconstruction rather than moral redress.
The best way, they decided, to escape the past was to ignore it. This was bad psychiatry and it turned out to be bad politics.
Hariri's assassination on February 14, 2005, proved that the war's causes had not disappeared. When Hariri died, following his resistance to Syria's scheme to subvert the Lebanese constitution, most Lebanese grasped that the country was too weak to investigate on its own.
So its government turned to the United Nations, which established the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The Tribunal, having originally arrested senior Lebanese military officers believed to have collaborated with Syria, indicted four Hizbollah members on June 30 this year.
Hizbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, stated that he would not permit the men to be arrested. Lebanon's government security forces have not served the indictments, and they are not likely to. Understandably, they cannot risk an armed confrontation with Hizbollah.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon has now broadened its investigation by linking Hariri's assassination to the killings or attempted killings of other prominent Lebanese critical of Syrian machinations in their country.
These victims include Marwan Hamadeh, a close associate of the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who survived a car bomb attack in October 2004 (his injuries were so severe that he has undergone surgery on 14 occasions); Elias Murr, then defence minister, who survived a similar attempt in July 2005; and George Hawi, head of the Lebanese Communist Party, who had turned against his Syrian benefactors and was murdered on June 21, 2005.
Most Lebanese already suspected that those who killed Hariri had also killed Hawi and attempted to kill Mr Hamadeh and Mr Murr. Another person who contested Syria's role in Lebanon at the time was the courageous journalist May Chidiac, who lost a leg and an arm in a car bombing in September 2005.
Others have not been as lucky: Walid Eido, Antoine Ghanem, the journalists Samir Kassir and Gebran Tueini and Phalangist politician Pierre Gemayel all died at the hands of assassins. Gemayel's father, former president Amin Gemayel, accused Syria of killing his son.
The Special Tribunal is confining its inquiry to political assassinations that occurred between 1 October 2004 and 12 December 2005. That remit seems either too wide or too narrow. In theory, the Tribunal should concentrate on Hariri's assassination, as the Lebanese public has demanded.
Or it should broaden the search to include all the cases of political assassination that the state itself cannot cope with? Although some of these crimes are years old, there is no statute of limitations for murder.
A wider brief would deprive Hizbollah, which is still the most powerful actor on the Lebanese stage, of its complaint of victimisation by an American-Israeli conspiracy. It would reduce risk that Hizbollah would tear the state apart to protect itself from an international court.
Lebanon has been the scene of many political assassinations for which no one was called to account. I was living in Beirut in April 1973, when an Israeli commando squad led by future prime minister Ehud Barak shot dead three PLO officials in their beds. Israel later assassinated the PLO security chief, Abu Hassan Salameh, and the Hizbollah leader Abbas Musawi. It does not deny any of these "hits" in Lebanon.
And Syria undoubtedly assassinated Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt in 1977, as well as Lebanese President-elect Bashir Gemayel in 1982. There are other murders in which Syrian or Israeli fingerprints were clear long before Hizbollah came into being. Even the CIA allegedly made an attempt to kill Shiite cleric Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah in 1985.
In limiting its period of inquiry the Special Tribunal is restricting itself to investigating Syria and its allies. With everyone else off the hook, Hizbollah will not cooperate. The Tribunal should make it clear that if political assassination is wrong, it is wrong whoever does it.
Tribunal President Antonio Cassese stated, "Our exclusive aim is to find the truth about the assassination of 14 February 2005 and other possibly connected criminal cases, while upholding the highest international standards of criminal law."
In Lebanon, all the killings are connected. That is why the Lebanese themselves should instigate a commission at which all injured parties may testify. As in South Africa, those who caused the harm should be made to come clean or face prosecution. Too much blood has been spilled in Lebanon for the country to ignore it forever.
**Charles Glass is the author of several books on the Middle East, including Tribes with Flags and The Northern Front: An Iraq War Diary. He is also a publisher under the London imprint Charles Glass Books

Syria's City of Graves: Hama and Its History of Massacres
By Rania Abouzeid / Hama /Time
There's a small, grassless public garden in a residential area just off Hama's Street 40, delineated by a modest metal fence and full of olive trees, their leafy branches laden with unripe fruit. There are also nine fresh graves, for locals whom residents say were killed during the Syrian security forces' recent bloody assault on this scarred rebel city. The dead were buried here, they say, because it was difficult to get the bodies to the cemetery, just a few kilometers away. The heavy shelling and tanks in the streets got in the way, the locals explain, and so this garden had to do.
A brother and sister are buried here, side by side, with handwritten pieces of cardboard instead of tombstones. "The martyr Safwan Hassan al-Masry," reads one, where the 20-year-old man was laid to rest. The next heap of earth has a sign that reads, "The martyr Bayan Hassan al-Masry," for his 16-year-old sister. They died on Aug. 3, just a few days after troops stormed this city, which the Assad regime had encircled for about a month. "They were trying to escape the shelling," says a man who emerged from a nearby home and gave his name as Abu Abboud. The siblings were traveling by car, he says, and were shot at a checkpoint. Their bloodied bodies remained untouched in the vehicle for some four hours, until the spray of bullets whizzing through the air thinned enough to enable a few men to retrieve them.
(See pictures of the bloody protests in Syria.)
"There were many bodies in the streets," says another man, Abu Ibrahim, 26, as he reverently walks among the graves, most of which are covered with drying palm fronds and other branches. "We reached the ones we could reach, but the security forces took many bodies."
"We used to sit here at night, smoke narghilehs [hookahs], drink tea, laugh and catch up on gossip," says one young man, standing in the garden. "Now this is a sacred place."
There is one grave in this makeshift cemetery that is better maintained than most. Artificial red roses spring from its center, and the spot is surrounded by leafy potted plants, one placed in an old vegetable-oil tin. This is the final resting place of Milad Gomosh, a young man killed on July 31. His heartbroken mother tends to it every day. It's just across the road from her modest home. "God has fated us to be neighbors, my son," she says as she sits on the dry soil next to the plants. Milad's mother doesn't want her son's body moved to one of the city's official cemeteries. She wants him to stay close to her.
This city of some 800,000 people is deeply familiar with trauma and mass graves. There are many reportedly scattered throughout the city, dating back to 1982, when former Syrian President Hafez Assad (father of the current leader, Bashar Assad) sent his military, including warplanes, into Hama to crush an Islamist insurgency. Perhaps 10,000 people were killed in that bloody period, although the exact figure is impossible to ascertain. Everyone you speak to, it seems, can rattle off a long list of relatives killed during that period. "My home was burned, I lost my brother, four cousins, all in all, 12 members of my family," says a woman who gave her name as Salwa. "My uncle and father," says a young man standing nearby. There are stone homes in Hama's historic quarter that have not been repaired since 1982. Rusted bullet casings still litter their floors of several homes. A dust-covered, moldy red military beret lies on the floor of one. "When we rose up, we knew what this regime can do," says Abu Warde, 26, a butcher.
(See how heavily armed Syrians are fighting Assad's troops.)
Residents say they knew where the bodies were unceremoniously dumped back in 1982 — in the plot under the Meridien Hotel, under the streets of what is now a vegetable market in al-Hamidiyeh neighborhood, in places where residential buildings have since sprung up, in a garden near the Bakr al-Sadiq Mosque in al-Hamidiyeh. They didn't dare pray over them, they say, such was the regime's unrelenting hatred for its foes, even in death.
The garden near the mosque is once again serving as a mass burial site, this time for 13 new victims of Hama's fierce defiance of a regime that will not tolerate dissent. The simple graves, in two neat rows, sit in the shadow of the mosque. Some list names, others don't. "It's so that they don't harm the martyr's families," says Abdel-Halim, 40, who lives a few streets away, explaining the anonymity. "There are people buried here from 1982," he says. "I saw them."
Abdel-Halim was just a young boy when he says he mischievously followed his father and brother-in-law to the mosque, where they intended to pray over and bury his sister's stillborn son. "I saw a lot of dead bodies. Most of them were men, and they were on top of each other," he says. "My father was so angry that I had followed him," he adds, staring at the ground and almost speaking to himself. "I got into so much trouble. He didn't want me to see that, to be scared. I can't forget that image. I can't ever forget that sight." After a few minutes of silence, he continues: "You know, these events now have taken me back 30 years. I remember 1982 very well. All seven of my uncles were killed."
(See pictures of dissent in the shadows of Damascus.)
There are other gardens turned graveyards in this city. There's a vast field in Hama's Hay al-Kusor that looks more like a barren patch of land, with its dry tan-colored soil and scarce vegetation, than a garden, but that's what the residents of the multistory buildings along its perimeter call it. There are three graves there.
"We buried them," says a beefy man, Abu Ali, while cradling his 20-month-old son Ahmed. He points to the graves as a crowd forms. "This is the martyr Yasser al-Nashar, he was about 20 years old. This is a woman from the Dayri family. And we don't know who this is. He was an old man. Why would they kill him?"
"This is my brother's grave," says a voice from the crowd, pointing to the first mound of earth. Abdel-Hadi Nashar, 28, says his brother Yasser was only 21, the youngest of five boys. "He was shot in the heart by a sniper as he walked along the street. The bullet went right through him."
"May he rest in peace," someone says.
"So many young people died," offers another anonymous bystander.
"The shelling was so heavy, we couldn't get him to the cemetery," Abdel-Hadi says. "And besides, if there was a funeral, they would have killed many more people at it. It was too dangerous." He pauses to offer a prayer over his brother's grave. "I just hope that what he wanted, what he died for, will happen," Abdel-Hadi says. "These are difficult days."

But why?
Hazem Saghiyeh, August 16, 2011
Does any sane person believe that no Lebanese national hates the Syrian regime and that none wants to protest as a sign of solidarity with the Syrian uprising and its victims?
If that is the case, and so it is, why is every civil protest lighting candles countered by another protest laden with threats and “bone-crushing” confrontations? Why is it not the other way around? In other words, why isn’t there a protest of support for the Syrian regime – which is rightful in every way – that is countered by another one, full of threats and intimidation?
This comparison epitomizes the problem in Lebanon: There is always one side that does not respect democracy, which is supposed to be the very identity of our regime, and that does not refrain from threatening to use violence against a side merely calling for its right to self-expression.
Significantly enough, the violent side, which changes its names as well as the names of its component forces and organizations, remains ultimately the same. It is the one that is most inclined to militarist regimes or most attached to ideologies glorifying power, not to mention its use of treason accusations as a weapon against anyone who disagrees with it. In contrast, whenever the other side has recourse to violence, it does so defensively and as an “option of last resort” in order to preserve its own right to freedom of expression.
What one had better realize – and act upon – today is the fact that the showdown over Syria should be confined to its political scope. In other words, let anyone express whatever position they want to express. While this is an absolute principle, it is true now more than ever before. In fact, it is in no one’s interest to threaten civil peace and foster hatreds within one people for the sake of a situation whose days are counted.
Indeed, the Syrian regime is crumbling and after a while, it will no longer be able to reward those who are turning a blind eye today and lending it their all-out support. This goes without mentioning growing expressions of solidarity with the uprising in Tripoli, Saida, the Bekaa or Beirut.
It is an orientation that cannot be hindered as long as the Lebanese people are politically and emotionally divided, which is only natural and healthy. Why then are we witnessing this dangerous, crude and repeated stupidity, which is trying to fit a river into a cardboard box?
**This article is a translation of the original, which appeared on the NOW Arabic site on August 15, 2011

Do the Egyptians trust the Muslim Brotherhood?
16/08/2011
By Tariq Alhomayed/ Asharq Al-Awsat
What is happening in Egypt today is a state of bickering, not all bad and indeed in some parts good, carried out by Egyptians in general and political groups in particular, especially with regards to calls for a civil state, or at least a state of law, following the Egyptian revolution.
The simplest example of this is the controversy about the declaration of constitutional principles, which the Muslim Brotherhood alongside other Islamic groups oppose, whilst they have been accepted by civil political forces. The declaration of principles does not mean depriving the Muslim Brotherhood, or Islamic groups in general, of access to power, but rather it means ensuring the future of Egypt and its democracy, just as it means that the country will be heading in the right direction towards becoming a state of law, whether it is ruled by the Brotherhood or any other political force. This matter deserves the acceptance of all Egyptians, just as it deserves tremendous political and media effort on the part of civil forces to explain the idea to ordinary Egyptians, to educate the Egyptian public about the importance of declaring the principles of the constitution now, and before the entire political process is completed.
Of course, the Muslim Brotherhood's rejection of the constitutional principles means that they have fallen into the trap they had set for the young people and other civil political forces. The Brotherhood has been extensively preoccupied with minor issues after the fall of Mubarak, rather than the issue of ensuring the future of Egypt, which is the most important. The Brotherhood's mere rejection of the declaration of principles makes Egyptians skeptical of the sincerity of the organization. Is the group, for example, sincere in its talk about democracy, and the transfer of power, or does the Brotherhood intend to secure power, and then change the rules of the game? Declaring the constitutional principles now is like declaring the rules of football, before all Egyptian political forces, of all kinds, take to the political playing field, with elections and so on, according to the rules of the game which are known and agreed in advance, instead of the rules of the game being developed inside the political arena.
The fear of all fears for today and tomorrow – if the constitutional principles are not declared – is that the Muslim Brotherhood will play the game of the "Maghreb goal" after the elections in Egypt. This, for those who do not know, is the way football was often played in the neighborhoods of Saudi Arabia. Usually children would play in the afternoon, and usually before Salaat al-Maghreb the losing team would begin to exert pressure to score one more goal in order to nullify the result. Here, the two teams are playing for the "Maghreb goal", meaning that whoever scores the final goal before the Salaat al-Maghreb is the winner, even if the other team had scored more goals previously. Often, if the losing team's players are physically stronger or more experienced, thus intimidating for the opposition, they would wait until just before Salaat al-Maghreb and then exert all their effort to score. This is a form of trickery, or Taqiyya [Shiite principle whereby true intentions or beliefs may be concealed when an individual is under threat].
Therefore, the Muslim Brotherhood's rejection of the declaration of principles today can be considered a political version of the "Maghreb goal". Following the overthrow of Mubarak, the Brotherhood wants to exclusively rule Egypt, and this is a danger to Egypt as a whole. The Brotherhood's lack of acceptance for the declaration of constitutional principles is an opportunity for all Egyptian civil political forces to explain to the Egyptians the seriousness of their country becoming an extremist state like Iran. Those who want to rule Egypt must offer a political project to serve the people, not Islamic slogans and promises, otherwise the post-Mubarak era will become more dangerous than the reign of Mubarak itself.

PLO slams Syrian 'crimes against humanity'
Reuters Published: 08.16.11, Ynetnews
An assault by Syrian security forces on a Palestinian refugee camp in the coastal city of Latakia amounts to a crime against humanity, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization said. "The shelling is taking place using gunships and tanks on houses built from tin, on people who have no place to run to or even a shelter to hide in," Yasser Abed Rabbo, the PLO secretary general, told Reuters. "This is a crime against humanity." UNRWA, the United Nations agency that cares for Palestinian refugees, said on Monday that between 5,000 and 10,000 people had fled the al-Raml refugee camp in Latakia. Residents of Latakia say Syrian security forces have been targeting areas where demonstrators have been protesting against President Bashar Assad's rule. Meanwhile Syrian tanks opened fire on poor Sunni districts and Palestinian areas in Latakia on Tuesday, residents said, the fourth day of a military assault on the northern port city aimed at crushing protests. "Heavy machinegun fire and explosions were hitting al-Raml al-Filistini (home to Palestinian refugees) and al-Shaab this morning. This subsided and now there is the sound of intermittent tank fire," one of the residents, who lives near the two districts of Latakia, told Reuters by telephone.
The Syrian Revolution Coordinating Union, a grassroots activists' group, said six people, including Ahmad Soufi, 22, were killed in Latakia on Monday, bringing the civilian death toll there to 34, including a two-year-old girl. The crackdown coincided with the Aug. 1 start of the Muslim Ramadan fast, when nightly prayers became the occasion for more protests against over four decades of Baathist party rule.
Syrian forces have already stormed Hama, scene of a 1982 massacre by the military, the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, the southern city of Deraa and several northwestern towns in a province bordering Turkey. "The regime seems intent on breaking the bones of the uprising across the country this week, but the people are not backing down. Demonstrations in Deir al-Zor are regaining momentum," one activist in the city said. The Assads have been repeatedly warned by the United States, European Union and Turkey but the government is signaling to its legion of critics abroad that it will not bow to calls for change that have swept across the Arab world, and to its people that it is prepared to wade through blood to stay in power.