LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِAugust 22/2011

Bible Quotation for today.
Wisdom Book 05/98-14/We, then, have strayed from the way of truth, and the light of justice did not shine for us, and the sun did not rise for us. We had our fill of the ways of mischief and of ruin; we journeyed through impassable deserts, but the way of the LORD we knew not. What did our pride avail us? What have wealth and its boastfulness afforded us? All of them passed like a shadow and like a fleeting rumor; Like a ship traversing the heaving water, of which, when it has passed, no trace can be found, no path of its keel in the waves. Or like a bird flying through the air; no evidence of its course is to be found - But the fluid air, lashed by the beat of pinions, and cleft by the rushing force Of speeding wings, is traversed: and afterward no mark of passage can be found in it. Or as, when an arrow has been shot at a mark, the parted air straightway flows together again so that none discerns the way it went through - Even so we, once born, abruptly came to nought and held no sign of virtue to display, but were consumed in our wickedness." Yes, the hope of the wicked is like thistledown borne on the wind, and like fine, tempest-driven foam; Like smoke scattered by the wind, and like the passing memory of the nomad camping for a single day.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Tehran pulls strings of Gaza missile war, proxy Jihad Islami leads offensive/DEBKAfile/August 21/11
The Dervish Dance is over/By Mshari Al-Zaydi/August 21/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for August 21/11
Report: Libya rebels capture Gadhafi's son; presidential guard surrenders
Ghadafi seeks talks, calls for ceasefire - govt
Libya Rebels Seize Tripoli Districts, Say Capital's Fall within Hours
NATO: Qaddafi regime 'crumbling'
Qaddafi unlikely to survive, defected former Libyan PM says
Libya's Defected Former PM Jalloud is in Italy
Gaza militants fire Grad rockets, Qassam into Israel despite reports of cease-fire
Victims of south Israel terror attacks laid to rest
Jerusalem police raises alert level after warnings of terror attack
Turkey wants to delay publication of UN report on Gaza flotilla
U.S. 'Deeply Disappointed over Iran Hikers' Sentence
Russia in Talks to Build More Nuclear Plants in Iran
Spanish Police Arrest Qaida Suspect 'Plotted to Poison Water'
Assad: Military Action Repercussions Bigger Than Their Ability to Endure
U.N. Humanitarian Team Begins Mission in Syria
Red Cross Hopes to Visit Syria Prisoners 'Soon'
Arab League Slams Israel Raids on Gaza, Urges U.N. Action
STL 'Has No Comment at the Moment' on TIME Interview
Lebanese Army reportedly prevents Hizb ut-Tahrir�s protest against Syrian regime
Hizbullah Criticizes Hariri�s Statement on Time Interview
Hizbullah Says Time Magazine Interview �Fabricated� by STL
TIME's Blanford: Lebanese Authorities to Hear My Testimony Soon
Hussein Oneissi Exposes Govt. Negligence towards STL
Security Dangers Loom ahead in Lebanon after West�s Call for Assad to Step Down
Storm Lashes Pope, Pilgrims at Youth Festival
Lebanese Cabinet May Approve Electricity Draft Law in Upcoming Session
UNIFIL: No indication of French peacekeeper reduction
Sit-In held in Tripoli in solidarity with Syrian protesters
US, "hikers" lawyer to fight Iran spy sentence

Tehran pulls strings of Gaza missile war, proxy Jihad Islami leads offensive
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 21, 2011,
http://www.debka.com/article/21228/
The role of Iran and Hizballah in manipulating the ongoing Palestinian war on Israel from Gaza is manifest, debkafile's military sources report. They planned, orchestrated and funded the coordinated attacks on the Eilat Highway Thursday, Aug. 18 - in which gunmen shot dead eight Israelis and injured 40 - and its sequel: volleys of 90 missiles launched day and night from Gaza against a million Israeli civilians since then.
Yossi Shoshan, 38, from Ofakim, was killed by one of the dozen Grad missiles hitting Beersheba and his home town Saturday night. More than a dozen people were injured, at least one critically. The prime mover in the missile blitz is Tehran's Palestinian arm, the Jihad Islami, which is responsible for 90 percent of the launches. Hamas is left on the sidelines, cut off for the first time from top levels of authority in Tehran and Damascus.
The IDF is held back from substantive action to snuff out the Iran-backed offensive by the indecision at the policy-making level of the Israeli government, which is still feeling its way toward determining the dimensions and potential thrust of the military crisis landing on Israel out of the blue.
Under Egyptian, Israeli and US noses, Tehran managed to transfer to its Palestinian arm in Gaza, the Jihad Islami, more than 10,000 missiles well in advance of the violence launched three days ago. Most of them are heavy Grads bringing Beersheba, capital of the Negev and Israel's 7th largest town (pop. 200,000), within their 30-kilometer range for a sustained, massive missile offensive.
Tehran has now launched the hardware smuggled into the Gaza Strip ready for a Middle East war offensive for five objectives:
1. To leave Syrian President Bashar Assad free to continue brutalizing his population and ignoring President Barack Obama's demand backed by Europe that he step down.
2. To manufacture a direct military threat on the Jewish state, whose destruction is a fundamental of the Islamic Republic of Iran's ideology.
3. To thwart the Egyptian military junta's operation last week for regaining control of the lawless Sinai Peninsula and destroying the vast weapons smuggling network serving Iran in its capacity as the leading international sponsor of terror.
4. To render the Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his bid for UN recognition of an independent state on Sept. 20 irrelevant. His isolation was brought home to him last Thursday by the coordinated Palestinian terrorist attacks near Eilat last Thursday.
5. To plant ticking bombs around Israel for potential detonation and explosion into a full-blown regional war.
debkafile's Washington sources disclose that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outlined this peril to Egypt's military ruler, Field Marshall Muhammad Tantawi, Saturday night, Aug. 20, to dissuade him from recalling the Egyptian ambassador to Israel over the deaths of three or five Egyptian police in the melee over the Palestinian terror attack near the Sinai border.
This danger was on the table of Israel's inner cabinet of eight ministers when they met early Sunday to decide on IDF action for terminating the Palestinian missile war.
However, just as Cairo discovered that its operation for eradicating al Qaeda and other Islamist radical groups' grip on Sinai would give Iran the pretext for aggression, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the IDF high command found themselves at a loss to determine whom to attack.
Up until now, Israel declared the Hamas rulers of Gaza accountable for all attacks originating in the enclave.
That formula is no longer valid. The Eilat Highway attacks were planned and executed behind Hamas's back and so was the missile offensive - until Saturday night, when Hamas decided to try and step in. Both Hamas and Cairo are in fact out of the picture.
Israel's leaders are stuck for solutions because no one in Washington, Jerusalem or Cairo can be sure of the outcome of any military steps they might take. They can't be sure whether they will douse the violence or just play into the hands of Hizballah and Tehran who may have more shockers in their quivers ready to loose.
Only three facts stand out from the fog of uncertainty:
First, the security crisis besetting Israel has the dangerous potential for dragging the Middle East into a regional war.
Second, America and Israel are paying in full the price of their quiescence in the face of Iranian, Hizballah and extremist Palestinian belligerence and active preparations for war, including the stockpiling of thousands of increasingly sophisticated weaponry on Israel's borders.
Third, the first step an Israeli soldier or tank takes into the Gaza Strip to silence Jihad Islami's missile fire is more likely than not to precipitate a second Iranian-orchestrated assault on another of Israel's borders.Sunday morning, no one in any of the capitals concerned was ready to risk guesstimating how far Tehran was ready to go in its current offensive and what orders Hizballah and its Palestinian puppets had received.

Security Dangers Loom ahead in Lebanon after West�s Call for Assad to Step Down
Naharnet/Syrian President Bashar Assad may seek to create unrest in Lebanon after the West called on the president to step down, western diplomatic sources told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper in remarks published on Sunday. They explained that Assad has now lost his �most important strategic card�, which is the regional, Arab, and international support.
This will therefore force him to launch a confrontation with the international community, they continued. Syria is now facing several crises, starting with the �legitimacy of the regime given the protests against it�, they added. �Assad will therefore attempt to avoid the crises through creating unrest in Lebanon, which remains Syria�s only open ground to confront the international community,� said the sources.

U.N. Humanitarian Team Begins Mission in Syria
Naharnet /A United Nations humanitarian team visited Syria on Sunday, as the International Committee of the Red Cross expressed hopes its delegates would soon visit Syrians jailed since the start of the protests. The U.N. mission began its first full day in Damascus on Sunday, arriving the previous evening to assess humanitarian needs in the wake of the crackdown which have left more than 2,000 people dead. The team, led by the head of the Geneva bureau of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Rashid Khalikov, began its mission and will stay until August 25, said OCHA spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs. Speaking on the telephone from Geneva, she said the mission's objectives were "to see how the U.N. can support public services and how it can respond to possible humanitarian needs," such as electricity, drinking water, communications and health. The visit comes after 34 anti-regime protesters were killed on Friday by security forces as anti-regime rallies gripped the country after weekly Muslim prayers, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said about half of the deaths were in Homs province, where tanks rumbled into the central city of the same name on Saturday. Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross expressed hopes its delegates would soon visit Syrians jailed since the start of the protests. "There have been discussions with the authorities and we are confident that we will be able to start the visits very soon," Red Cross spokesman Saleh Dabbakeh told Agence France Presse in the Syrian capital without elaborating. Rights groups say that more than 10,000 people are behind bars in Syria, which has been gripped by almost daily anti-regime protests since mid-March. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said Friday that there was now "evidence" of "crimes against humanity" committed in Syria, calling on the Security Council to seize the international justice.**Source Agence France Presse
.
Assad: Military Action Repercussions Bigger Than Their Ability to Endure
Naharnet /Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday brushed aside Western calls for his ouster as "worthless," saying they come from "countries that are committing massacres," in an interview with state television. "While withholding comment, we tell them that their words are worthless," Assad said. �Such remarks should not be made about a president who was chosen by the Syrian people and who was not put in office by the West, a president who was not made in the United States, "he added. The Syrian leader warned that �any military action against Syria will have repercussions that will be much bigger� than the West�s �ability to endure.� �They expected that Syria would fall within weeks, but the Syrian people safeguarded Syria. Gunmen have intensified their operations, especially throughout last week, but I�m not worried about the security situation,� Assad said. �Security authorities must confront any security problems in the country and this is the state�s duty,� he stressed.
Assad's television appearance is the first since June 20, and only his fourth since the start of pro-democracy demonstrations in mid-March. More than 2,000 people have been killed in the crackdown against protesters, activists and U.N. figures show. The Syrian regime insists the violence is the work of "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Islamists and foreign agitators. "We have started to register some success on the security front and can say that the situation is now more reassuring," he said. "A political solution cannot be put in place if security is not preserved." He said local elections would be held in December, to be followed by parliamentary polls in February after a new law on political parties comes into effect this week.
He also ruled out bowing to Western demands. "When they speak of reforms, Western colonialist countries mean that we must give them everything they want, that we abandon resistance, that we abandon our rights ... They shouldn't even dream of it ... We will not bow." U.S. President Barack Obama called on Thursday for Assad to stand down, a demand quickly echoed by the leaders of Britain, France and Germany and Spain. �We have made use of dialogue in order to understand what the Syrian street wants and we will then move to the phase of discussing the constitution,� said Assad. �Article 8 (of the constitution) is the core of the political system, and it wouldn�t be rational to amend only a certain article as tackling any article would require the tackling of the other articles, that�s why we must revise the constitution as a whole,� said Assad of Article 8, which stipulates that the Baath party is the sole "leader of state and society," giving it a monopoly on power.
�They tried to undermine Syria�s sovereignty following the (2005) assassination of (Lebanon�s former premier Rafik) Hariri, but they failed,� Assad noted. �We enjoy self-sufficiency and the economic situation has improved and any embargo on Syria will be an embargo on all the countries of the region due to its geographic location, that�s why we will not be hit by hunger and we won�t worry because the alternatives are available and the international arena is not locked,� he added. Addressing the relation with neighboring Turkey, Assad said: �We won�t allow any nearby or distant country to interfere in Syria�s domestic affairs, even if it was Turkey. We don�t know the intentions of Turkey, so we can�t have a stance.��I won�t tell the Syrian people that they will emerge stronger because they already know that. We are talking about 5,000 years of civilization. I am reassured and not worried � and I reassure all of those who are worried,� the Syrian leader said at the end of the interview.

NATO: Qaddafi regime 'crumbling'
August 21, 2011 /Moammar Qaddafi's 42-year rule in Libya is "crumbling," the NATO military alliance said late Sunday as rebels launched a fierce street battle for Tripoli in a final push for victory. "What we're seeing tonight is the regime crumbling," chief NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu told AFP. "The sooner Qaddafi realizes there is no way he can win, the better for everyone." "What you are seeing tonight is the cumulative effect, over time, of the eroded capabilities of the regime," Lungescu said, citing more than 4,000 military targets damaged or destroyed in the last four months. "Clearly we're into the last stage of the regime - the writing is on the wall," she added. "We're seeing people packing their bags - three top people defecting in the last couple of days, and Qaddafi-controlled territory shrinking before our eyes." After rebels claimed "coordinated" action during the capture of a key forest staging post on the road to Tripoli, Lungescu insisted NATO was not actively providing "cover fire" for the rebels - but forces were being scrambled to leap to their defense during resistance. "We are not taking part in any formal coordination on the ground," she maintained. "That's not the mandate - we're not there to provide immediate assistance, or cover, if you like.�"Obviously, though, we do track what's happening on the ground - and if we see tanks or other equipment going out to attack, we fire," she said of the rebels' aerial umbrella.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Qaddafi unlikely to survive, defected former Libyan PM says
August 21, 2011 /Libya's defected ex-Prime Minister Abdessalam Jalloud said Sunday he believed it was too late for his former ally Moammar Qaddafi to strike a deal to leave power and he would likely be killed. "I believe the regime has a week left, 10 days at most. And maybe even less," Jalloud said in an interview with Italian news program TG3 after fleeing Tripoli and escaping first to Tunisia and then Italy in recent days. "He has no way of leaving Tripoli. All the roads are blocked. He can only leave with an international agreement and I think that door is closed," said Jalloud, a former regime stalwart who helped Qaddafi win power in a 1969 coup. "I think it would be difficult for Qaddafi to give himself up. And he is not like Hitler who had the courage to kill himself...I don't think the evolution of the situation in Tripoli will allow him to survive," he added. Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa earlier on Sunday confirmed reports about Jalloud's presence in Italy. "Qaddafi�s former number two is indeed in Italy," La Russa told reporters. Jalloud was Qaddafi�s right-hand man in the 1970s and 1980s but had been increasingly distanced from politics starting in the 1990s following a reported fallout with his childhood friend. In a video statement aired earlier Sunday on Al-Jazeera news channel, Jalloud urged Qaddafi's tribe to disown the embattled "tyrant" and called on the population of Tripoli to rise up in rebellion. "Disown this tyrant because he will go and you will end up inheriting his legacy," he said. "The people of Tripoli, who account for a quarter of Libya's inhabitants, should rise massively. It is time to act...overcome fear," he added.
Libya's state-run JANA news agency on Saturday downplayed Jalloud's escape, saying he had remained out of politics for some time. -AFP/NOW Lebanon

Libya Rebels Seize Tripoli Districts, Say Capital's Fall within Hours
Naharnet /Libyan rebels entered the capital on Sunday and were greeted by residents who ran alongside their convoy, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.
The welcome followed gunbattles with fighters loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. On their way into Tripoli from the west, the rebels advanced in a convoy of around 100 vehicles as onlookers fired celebratory gunfire into the air, the correspondent said. Earlier on Sunday, rebels snuck into Tripoli by sea to launch the first salvos in the fight for the capital.
A regime spokesman acknowledged a small band of insurgents had penetrated the capital but insisted that Tripoli was well-defended by "thousands" of troops.
The dawn assault by the advance party, who were joined by Tripoli rebels, marked the start of what the opposition has dubbed "Operation Mermaid" and which it vows will end only when the veteran strongman surrenders or departs. Rebel spokesman Abdullah Melitan said the covert operation, more than six months after an uprising turned into civil war, was launched from their western enclave of Misrata, 200 kilometers from Tripoli. An advance party "from Misrata reached Tripoli this dawn by sea and joined Tripoli rebels. They are now fighting alongside them," spokesman Abdullah Melitan told Agence France Presse in Misrata. A separate rebel party seized control of an army barracks at a western entrance to Tripoli, raiding missiles and other ammunition, AFP correspondents at the scene said.
They also released dozens of prisoners held in Maya, 25 kilometers west of Tripoli, they said.
And the eastern Tripoli suburb of Tajoura also fell to rebels, according to a witness. He said forces loyal to Gadhafi were shelling the suburb since its capture by rebels. "Between now and tomorrow we expect it (Tripoli) to fall in our hands," said rebel commander Abdel Hakim Belhaj.
Intermittent gunfire crackled in Tripoli shortly after four strong blasts were heard at around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) as NATO warplanes flew overhead, an AFP journalist said. This was followed by more gunfire and further blasts. The targets were not immediately identifiable but witnesses reported clashes in several districts between insurgents and Gadhafi supporters, especially the eastern suburbs of Soug Jomaa, Arada and Tajoura. Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said on state television there had been "small clashes" that lasted 30 minutes and the "situation is under control." Ibrahim later told reporters "thousands" of professional and volunteer soldiers were defending the capital against rebels, whom he accused of carrying out "34 executions" and raping women in the western coastal town of Sorman.
Gadhafi himself earlier Sunday aired a message urging supporters to "march by the millions" to liberate cities held by "traitors and rats." "These scum enter mosques to cry 'God is great.' They are dirty. They are defiling the mosques," the embattled strongman said in an audio message carried on state television. Rebel spokesman Ahmed Jibril said "Operation Mermaid" was a joint effort between the Benghazi-based rebel National Transitional Council (NTC), insurgents fighting in and around Tripoli and NATO forces. In Dubai, rebel envoy Aref Ali Nayad said the National Transitional Council had urged NATO to join the final battle with Apache assault helicopters.
Rebel fighters told an AFP correspondent that they were battling Gadhafi loyalists in the Gadayem forest some 24 kilometers west of Tripoli which they hoped to reach later Sunday.
"We want to go to Tripoli today," one of the fighters, Bassam, said, adding that NATO forces had been attacking the forest all night. Another rebel, Mohammed, later said: "We have taken the forest."
Fighting was later centered on a strategic bridge, a rebel fighter, Tareq Gazel, told AFP. "We are fighting the Khamis brigade (named after and headed by Gadhafi's son Khamis) on the bridge 27," he said. "We are fighting for control of the bridge. We have had some injuries but no deaths."
The rebels have been moving from the center of Zawiyah, one of three strategic towns on the road to Tripoli which insurgents claim to have captured last week. The other two are Brega and Zliten. In his eastern stronghold of Benghazi, rebel chief Mustafa Abdul Jalil claimed that victory was within reach, six months after the insurgency was launched.
"We have contacts with people from the inner circle of Gadhafi," the chairman of the NTC said. "All evidence (shows) that the end is very near, with God's grace."
His words prompted celebrations in rebel-held towns, including Sabratha, 50 kilometers west of Tripoli, and in Benghazi, where people crowded in front of television sets to follow the news, AFP correspondents said. "Goodbye Gadhafi," they chanted in the rebel-capital, Benghazi.
The White House, too, predicted Gadhafi's day was nearing the end of the road. "We believe that Gadhafi's days are numbered," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
Another sign of the regime's frailty came as fighters said former premier Abdessalam Jalloud, a popular figure who fell out of favor with the Libyan strongman in the mid-1990s, had defected and joined their ranks. Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa confirmed the reports. Jalloud piled the pressure on Gadhafi in statements broadcast Sunday on Al-Jazeera news, calling on his tribe to disown him, saying the "tyrant" Gadhafi will go. "The noose has tightened around him." Striking another blow to Gadhafi's regime, Tunisia, Libya's neighbor to the west, on Sunday decided to recognize the NTC as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people, the news agency TAP reported. A rebel spokesman in Benghazi, Fathi Baja, said Tunisia's recognition of the NTC was a clear message to Gadhafi that his end was near. In Warsaw, Polish ministry spokeswoman Paulina Kapuscinska told AFP that the Maltese boat MV Triva 1 which was due to evacuate foreign nationals from Libya was unable to enter the port of Tripoli on Sunday morning."It was swept by gunfire and it returned to its anchorage," she said.
**Source Agence France Presse

Army reportedly prevents Hizb ut-Tahrir�s protest against Syrian regime
August 21, 2011 /NOWLebanon�s correspondent reported on Sunday that the Lebanese army prevented Hizb ut-Tahrir supporters from heading to the Masnaa border crossing with Syria to protest in support of the Syrian people and against the Syrian regime, adding that the supporters were stopped in Deir Zannoun. Hizb ut-Tahrir supporters had to protest in the middle of the road and blocked it in both directions, the correspondent also said. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad�s troops have cracked down on protests against almost five decades of Baath Party rule which broke out in mid-March, killing over 2,000 people and triggering a torrent of international condemnation.-NOW Lebanon

Hizbullah Says Time Magazine Interview �Fabricated� by STL
Naharnet /Hizbullah denied on Saturday that the Time magazine had interviewed one of the suspects named in the indictment issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon probing the assassination of ex-Premier Rafiq Hariri. Hizbullah�s media department issued a statement saying �the Time magazine reporter claimed that he met a high-ranking source from Hizbullah, then found himself introduced to the suspect.��No official from Hizbullah met with the Time magazine reporter� the report is completely false,� the statement added. It stressed that the report is �fabricated by the STL.� Time magazine published on Friday an interview with one of the four Hizbullah members accused of involvement in Hariri�s assassination.
The suspect said that the Lebanese authorities would have arrested him if they wanted to. Four Hizbullah members have been indicted in the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri by the U.N.-backed STL. Prosecutors have indicted Salim Ayyash, 47, Mustafa Badreddine, 50, Hussein Anaissi, 37 and Assad Sabra, 34, for the murder. However, the whereabouts of the four are currently unknown.

TIME's Blanford: Lebanese Authorities to Hear My Testimony Soon
Naharnet /TIME magazine reporter Nicholas Blanford, the author of an article titled �Why Hizbullah Accused Are Untroubled by Indictment for Hariri Murder�, has said that he did not �personally� conduct an interview with one of the Hariri murder suspects, noting that the magazine had informed him that the interview would be added to an article he had already written on the indictment and Hizbullah�s position. In an interview with MTV, Blanford, who has been TIME�s correspondent in Beirut since 1994, said: �I did not personally conduct the interview, but I received a phone call from the magazine�s editorial board in New York on Thursday and I was informed that an interview was made with one of the suspects in the Hariri murder and that it would be added to the report I had written on the indictment and Hizbullah�s stance.� In an article published on TIME�s website on August 18 and signed �Nicholas Blanford and a TIME reporter / Beirut�, one of the supposed suspects says: �I don't care about the indictments. Let them come to arrest me.� And in a separate interview on the website titled �Accused Hizbullah Man Speaks� and attributed to �a TIME reporter�, the alleged suspect says: �The Lebanese authorities know where I live, and if they wanted to arrest me they would have done it a long time ago. Simply, they cannot.� �I am confident that the meeting with the suspect had taken place, else the editorial board would have not agreed to publishing it,� Blanford told MTV.
Asked whether he was denying he had conducted the interview out of fear of the possible consequences or whether he had received any threats, Blanford replied: �I�m not afraid, because I have nothing to do with the interview � I haven�t been threatened and I haven�t received any call from Hizbullah.� �The Lebanese authorities have contacted me and I will meet with security officials within the next few hours to give my testimony,� Blanford announced. Hizbullah has denied the existence of such an interview, deeming it as a �fabrication� by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

STL 'Has No Comment at the Moment' on TIME Interview
Naharnet /The Special Tribunal for Lebanon has no comment at the moment on the alleged interview with one of the Hariri murder suspects recently published by the TIME magazine, STL official spokesman Marten Youssef said Sunday. "The Lebanese authorities know where I live, and if they wanted to arrest me they would have done it a long time ago," the suspect, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Time magazine. "Simply, they cannot." But the man, who presented himself as a member of Hizbullah, denied all responsibility for the 2005 killing of former premier Rafik Hariri, saying, "I am innocent of all charges against me." Hizbullah denied the existence of such an interview, deeming it as a �fabrication� by the STL.
The magazine reported that the interview was conducted by one of its reporters, without identifying him. The location of the interview was also not mentioned.

Hussein Oneissi Exposes Govt. Negligence towards STL
Naharnet Hussein Oneissi, one of the suspects accused by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon of being involved in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, was likely the suspect interviewed by TIME Magazine, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday. Sources told the daily that the meeting probably took place last Tuesday or Wednesday in the presence of a non-Lebanese Arabic interpreter. Oneissi is one of four Hizbullah members accused by the STL of being involved in the Hariri assassination. The sources questioned Hizbullah�s delayed denial of the interview, which it deemed a fabrication by the tribunal, until after former Prime Minister Saad Hariri issued a statement over the article. �The party�s media department is almost in a constant state of alert to instantly deal with any development,� they added. Furthermore, they noted that Nicholas Blanford, who conducted the interview with the suspect, is known for his solid ties in Lebanon and �it is therefore hard to believe that he would have made up his interview.� In a related development, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Sunday that the concerned security forces have launched an investigation in the affair to determine the identity of the suspect in the interview. Based on the investigations, Blanford may be summoned for a statement, it said. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Najib Miqati held talks on Saturday with Speaker Nabih Berri on the interview and the ensuing confusion that took place in Lebanon.
An Nahar reported that the premier requested from Berri to ask Hizbullah to issue a denial of the interview, �which demonstrated that the Lebanese authorities are unable to fulfill their duties towards the STL.� One of the four Hizbullah members accused of involvement in Hariri�s assassination has said that the Lebanese authorities would have arrested him if they wanted to.
"I don't care about the indictments. Let them come to arrest me," the man told TIME in an exclusive interview, which he gave on condition of anonymity despite having been publicly named by the STL among the four suspects.

TIME's Blanford: Lebanese Authorities to Hear My Testimony Soon
Naharnet /TIME magazine reporter Nicholas Blanford, the author of an article titled �Why Hizbullah Accused Are Untroubled by Indictment for Hariri Murder�, has said that he did not �personally� conduct an interview with one of the Hariri murder suspects, noting that the magazine had informed him that the interview would be added to an article he had already written on the indictment and Hizbullah�s position. In an interview with MTV, Blanford, who has been TIME�s correspondent in Beirut since 1994, said: �I did not personally conduct the interview, but I received a phone call from the magazine�s editorial board in New York on Thursday and I was informed that an interview was made with one of the suspects in the Hariri murder and that it would be added to the report I had written on the indictment and Hizbullah�s stance.� In an article published on TIME�s website on August 18 and signed �Nicholas Blanford and a TIME reporter / Beirut�, one of the supposed suspects says: �I don't care about the indictments. Let them come to arrest me.�
And in a separate interview on the website titled �Accused Hizbullah Man Speaks� and attributed to �a TIME reporter�, the alleged suspect says: �The Lebanese authorities know where I live, and if they wanted to arrest me they would have done it a long time ago. Simply, they cannot.� �I am confident that the meeting with the suspect had taken place, else the editorial board would have not agreed to publishing it,� Blanford told MTV. Asked whether he was denying he had conducted the interview out of fear of the possible consequences or whether he had received any threats, Blanford replied: �I�m not afraid, because I have nothing to do with the interview � I haven�t been threatened and I haven�t received any call from Hizbullah.�
�The Lebanese authorities have contacted me and I will meet with security officials within the next few hours to give my testimony,� Blanford announced. Hizbullah has denied the existence of such an interview, deeming it as a �fabrication� by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Security Dangers Loom ahead in Lebanon after West�s Call for Assad to Step Down
Naharnet /Syrian President Bashar Assad may seek to create unrest in Lebanon after the West called on the president to step down, western diplomatic sources told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper in remarks published on Sunday. They explained that Assad has now lost his �most important strategic card�, which is the regional, Arab, and international support. This will therefore force him to launch a confrontation with the international community, they continued. Syria is now facing several crises, starting with the �legitimacy of the regime given the protests against it�, they added. �Assad will therefore attempt to avoid the crises through creating unrest in Lebanon, which remains Syria�s only open ground to confront the international community,� said the sources.

Storm Lashes Pope, Pilgrims at Youth Festival
Naharnet
A violent storm lashed Pope Benedict XVI and around one million pilgrims at an open-air service in Madrid, forcing him to cut short his speech and drenching the faithful who had waited for hours in blistering heat. As the heavens opened during World Youth Day celebrations Saturday night, Benedict's skullcap was swept off and an assistant tried to shelter the 84-year-old pontiff with a large white umbrella. The pope, his white hair blown into disarray, gripped a copy of his sodden speech, the pages and his vestments flapping in the wind.
A sea of pilgrims, by some reports more than a million, tried to take shelter under large white and yellow umbrellas at the vast esplanade -- the size of 48 football fields -- at the Cuatro Vientos (Four Winds) airbase outside Madrid. Others danced in the rain, but the vast majority with no shelter just got wet.
When the rain eased some 20 minutes later, the pope declared to cheers: "Thank you for your joy and endurance. Your strength is greater than the rain.
"The Lord with the rain has given us many blessings. In this too you are an example."
The pope then left the stage to change and returned wearing a golden mitre, draped in a golden cloak and clutching a golden crucifix before resuming his speech.
Firefighters were seen checking the stage for storm damage before the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics returned.
Police prevented pilgrims sheltering under any structures. Six youths were slightly injured but needed no treatment when the wind blew a down a tent, a spokeswoman for the event said.
The pope was seated on a large white throne on a vast white, wave-shaped stage and beneath a giant parasol "tree", made of interwoven golden rods, when the deluge broke.
Also attending the service were Spain's Crown Prince Felipe and his wife Letizia.
The pilgrims are supposed to spend the night in the open air at the base, eight kilometers (five miles) southwest of Madrid, where Benedict is to celebrate the closing mass of the August 16-21 youth festival on Sunday morning. As he bade farewell to the crowds, the pope said: "We have lived through an adventure together. Firm in the faith, you endured the rain.
"Before going I want to say goodnight to you all: May you rest well, with the sacrifice you are making and that I have no doubt you offer generously to the Lord, we will see each other tomorrow, God willing. He then thanked the pilgrims for the "marvelous example" they had given. "Just like tonight, with Christ you can always face the tests of life," the pope said.
In the part of his speech that he was able to deliver he called on young people to "be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your weakness.
"The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment of history so that, by your faith, his name will continue to resound throughout the world."
The deluge brought dramatic relief to pilgrims who had been desperately seeking any shade from the fierce August heat, some crouching behind emergency vehicles or portable toilets.
The sheer scale of the celebrations in Madrid has sparked angry demonstrations at a time of economic hardship, with unemployment for under-25s running at more than 45 percent.
Thousands of protesters marched in central Madrid late Friday to protest the cost and to decry police crackdowns on earlier demonstrations.
But organizers say most of the cost will be covered by a registration fee from the pilgrims, and the celebration will be a massive tourist boost for Spain.
About 100 gays and lesbians protested on Saturday against the papal visit and the Vatican's fierce opposition to same-sex marriages.
*Source Agence France Presse

Cabinet May Approve Electricity Draft Law in Upcoming Session
Naharnet /Cabinet may approve the electricity draft law during its upcoming session on Tuesday, which will be headed by President Michel Suleiman, ministerial sources told the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat in remarks published on Sunday. The law, proposed by Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, calls for increasing electricity production by 700 megawatts at the cost of $1.2 billion.
Monday�s ministerial meeting, called for Prime Minister Najib Miqati, may reach an agreement over the guidelines that need to be followed in the implementation of the law, said the sources.
They added that parliament may approve the law on Wednesday during its legislative session. The March 14-led opposition and the National Struggle Front MPs had opposed the law when it was presented to parliament a few weeks ago. The opposition said that the draft law gives Bassil the freedom to use the amount of money without referring to the cabinet or without any monitoring by the Audit Bureau.

The Dervish Dance is over
By Mshari Al-Zaydi
AsharqAlAwsat
At last, "The final word is out". The final word here has come from America. It has dashed the hopes of the al-Assad regime, namely that the world would think twice before taking any action against it, out of fear and necessity. Expectations and analyses within the ranks of the Syrian revolutionaries concluded that a deal was being struck in secret between the international community led by the US, the regional bloc led by Turkey and major Arab countries, and the autocratic al-Assad regime. Now the truth has come out. The snow has thawed and the fields have bloomed. It has become plain for everyone to see that the regime's hourglass is about to run out of sand, and that the al-Assad ripe crops will be reaped very soon.
Five long months have elapsed since the regime's killing machine started tearing flesh and spilling the blood of the Syrian people. Everyone advised Bashar al-Assad, and exercised great patience with him. Everyone became enraged by his unique obstinacy and his insane persistence, trying to force the entire world to play dumb by believing the incredible exaggerations of his media in Syria or, at an earlier stage, his Lebanese propaganda trumpets which claimed that the regime had been encountering a group of radical armed militias, or something of the sort, which was firmly under control. The regime went to the very extremes of lying when Walid al-Muallem, the Syrian Foreign Minister and something of a "Sheikh" to the relatively young president, said that "The crisis is all water under the bridge now". This attitude evokes the failures of the famous Iraqi diplomat Tariq Aziz, who desperately tried to beautify the ugly face of the Iraqi regime. But not even the beautician could cover what time has marred.
The remaining time left for the al-Assad regime will be full of misery. The President will take his stubborn nature too far and take irrational decisions along the lines of the "all or nothing" approach. Saddam Hussein did that before, and Bashar al-Assad is less powerful than Saddam Hussein in terms of his chemical and oil reserves. More importantly, Saddam was far more popular across the Arab World. Nevertheless, his vociferations went unheeded.
Isolating al-Assad and demanding him to step down will cause a security and media headache in the region. Iran might try and save its ally in Damascus by stoking sectarian or security issues here or there, especially in Gulf countries, which will have to endure this headache for a while. This is the price of getting rid of the chronic political disease inflicted by the al-Assad regime through its inexplicable positions and alliances.
What we are seeing now is the beginning of the surgical process, rather than the end. There is no other way out of this crisis. In fact, Bashar al-Assad and his regime have done a great deal of goodness to the Syrian people and the entire region without being aware of it. On account of al-Assad's obstinacy and arrogance, or lets say his intransigence, everyone had no choice but to walk away from him and his regime, which has the blood of innocent people on its hands. Many feared that Assad would demonstrate a measure of political nous, thereby delaying the decisive moment by executing a maneuver here or there. However, Bashar has lived up to the expectations of analysts, and has continued to walk, like all dogmatic politicians, down a one-way road leading to a bottomless abyss.
Now that all its leaves have fallen out, there is nothing left of al-Assad's autocratic tree, except a carious, dried-up trunk. False illusions of resistance and opposition have been shattered. By virtue of those false illusions, the al-Assad regime in Syria, along with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran, the mistress of the house, deemed everything lawful. The word "resistance" became the magical key to the Ali Baba's cave! Thanks to the magic attached to this word, scores of media personalities and Arab intellectuals have performed the Dervish dance [a ritual in Sufi Islam performed in order to reach religious enlightenment] throughout the past decade.