LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِAugust
31/2011
Bible Quotation for today.
Proverbs 24/19-25: "Don’t fret yourself
because of evildoers; neither be envious of the wicked: for there will be no
reward to the evil man; and the lamp of the wicked shall be snuffed out. My son,
fear Yahweh and the king. Don’t join those who are rebellious: for their
calamity will rise suddenly; the destruction from them both—who knows? These
also are sayings of the wise. To show partiality in judgment is not good. He who
says to the wicked, “You are righteous”; peoples shall curse him, and nations
shall abhor him but it will go well with those
who convict the guilty, and a rich blessing will come on them."
Latest
analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases
from
miscellaneous
sources
Will Hezbollah desert Assad
before the end/By:
Tom Rogan/August
30/11
The same approach/By:
Hazem Saghiyeh/August 30/11
No one owns Libya, or owes it/By:
Hussein Ibish/August 30/11
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources
for August 30/11
Assad may opt for war to escape
Russian, Arab, European ultimatums
Gadhafi Son Khamis 'Killed' as
Wife, 3 Children Flee to Algeria
Libya rebels fume, Algeria
defends shelter for Gadhafis
Gadhafi left Tripoli for Sabha
Friday: bodyguard
The International Organization for
Migration Evacuates 850, including Lebanese, from Tripoli
Video: Pro-Assad supporters attack
U.S. envoy in Damascus
EU agrees on Syrian oil ban
EU Urges Assad to Stop Crackdown,
Slams 'Barbarism'
7 Killed as Syrian Security Forces
Disperse Thousands of Demonstrators
6 People, Including Child, Killed
in Shooting over Property Ownership in Bekaa
Qabbani in Eid Sermon: No
Compromises on Taef, Tribunal, Justice
Former prime minister Saad Hariri
Saudi King Abdullah Meet in Mecca
Former prime minister Saad Hariri
Expresses 'Full Solidarity' with Syrian People
Lebanon: Intelligence Branch
Arrests 2 Suspects in Kidnapping of Syrians
Jumblat Rejects Electricity Dispute
as Hizbullah, Amal Mediate to Bridge Differences
Lebanese Cabinet short on time
to solve electricity issue
Devil in the details of Lebanon’s
electricity plan
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP
Michel Aoun: Targeting Army is an Attack against the Nation
Mikati performs Fitr prayers in
Tripoli
NNA - 30/08/2011 - Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, attended today morning
(Tuesday) Eid prayers in Grand Mansouri Mosque in Tripoli with Finance Minister,
Mohammad Safadi, State Minister, Ahmad Karami, Deputies Samir Jisr and Mohammad
Kabbara, Internal Security Forces Chief, Brigadier Ashraf Rifi, in addition to
political, religious, military and social dignitaries and public delegations
from Tripoli and the North.
Mufti Tripoli and the North, Sheikh Malek Shaar, presented the Eid speech in
which he said that the Eid would not be complete except when all the Lebanese
get together, forgive each other and live peacefully. He called upon all
political parties to put away their personal and political disputes stressing
that the state's unity is much more important than any political or personal
dispute. Shaar added that Lebanon's strength is in
preserving civil peace, pointing out that the strong ones are those who put the
state's interest, security and stability above their political and factional
affiliations. "Freedom does not mean violating people's dignities, democracy
does not mean demolishing or belittling the other (party)," Shaar said.
"Lebanon's security and stability won't be achieved except in being fair in
rights and duties as mentioned in the constitution and in administrative
appointments which is your duty Prime Minister," Shaar added, "...not being fair
only in number, but also in the kind of position and job... because any flaw in
balance would subject Lebanon's security and stability to danger."
"Justice and equality should abolish the feeling of minority, we are all
citizens, we are all equal and this is the real security and stability that we
all demand for the sake of Lebanon," he said.
"Our happiness won't be fulfilled except if you adopted discovering the truth
and achieving justice as you (PM Mikati) promised, the Special Tribunal for
Lebanon (STL) which all the Lebanese agreed on at the dialogue table cannot be
of Israeli origin... this Tribunal awaits funding as you promised to do..."
Shaar added; stressing that such promises cannot be done except by courageous
people.
After receiving well-wishers at the Mosque's park, Mikati visited Mufti Shaar at
his residence in Tripoli congratulating him on Fitr Day. Then, he moved to Dar
Fatwa in Beirut where he presented congratulations on Eid Fitr to Lebanese
Republic Mufti, Mohammad Rachid Qabbani.
Sheikh Hassan, dialogue is solution
NNA - 30/08/2011 Sheikh Akl Druze, Naiim Hassan, promoted Tuesday during Eid
Fitr prayers in Abey dialogue as a key to solving problems and adopting choices
that make Lebanon strong in the face of aggressors."We need to fortify our
domestic scene through the language of accord," said Hassan, "to consolidate
freedom and democracy, to preserve the dignity of all and dispel hatred,
resentment and discord, before it is too late ".
Fadlallah calls for dialogue to save Lebanon from abyss
NNA - 30/08/2011 On Fitr occasion, Scholar Sayyed Ali Fadlallah, invited
Lebanese during his Eid sermon, at the mosque of Imam Hussein in Haret Hreik, to
return to objective dialogue in order to save the country from falling into the
unknown. In his speech, the scholar discussed recent developments in the region,
praising "The revolutions that emanate from injustice and humiliation suffered
by the Arab people," nevertheless, he kept instigating these people against
"thieves who want to take advantage of these revolutions for their own financial
and political considerations." Fadlallah spoke extensively of the Palestinian
cause, stating that it must not be marginalized, while the Zionist machine
violated the sacred land on daily basis.
He also addressed the parallel crisis in Somalia. "Nothing justifies our lack of
responsibility towards the country that has long suffered from disasters and
famine," he said, calling on Muslims to deal with this case responsibility to
help the country and alleviate the suffering off Somalis.
Sleiman congratulates Lebanese on Fitr holy day
NNA - 30/08/2011 President of the Republic Michel Sleiman addressed Lebanese
with heartfelt felicitations on Eid Fitr.He hoped for prosperity and stability
upon Lebanon, as he congratulated Islamic spiritual authorities on this holy
day.Sleiman reportedly contacted a number of kings and Arab presidents for the
occasion.
Hariri, Saudi King perform Eid prayers together
NNA - 30/08/2011 - Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Saudi King, Abdallah
Bin Abdul Aziz, attended today (Tuesday) morning Fitr prayers together in Mecca
in presence of a number of princes and senior Saudi officials. Separately,
Hariri made a series of phone calls with a number of Arab and Muslim presidents
and officials among them Qatari Prince, Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Kuwaiti
Prince, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Turkish President, Abdallah Gul,
Qatari Prime Minister, Hamad Bin Jaber Al-Thani, Turkish Foreign Affairs
Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, Libyan National Transitional Council Executive Head,
Mahmoud Gebril, and Arab League Secretary General, Nabil Al-Arabi.
Assad may opt for war to escape Russian, Arab, European
ultimatums
DEBKAfile Special Report August 30, 2011, Monday night and Tuesday, Aug-29-30,
three international heavyweights - Russia, the European Union and key Muslim
nations – gave Syrian President Bashar Assad tough ultimatums for ending his
ferocious crackdown on protest. Nevertheless, on Monday, his troops shot dead 17
people in Syrian cities - even as he received Russian Deputy Foreign Minister
Mikhail Bogdanov who arrived in Damascus with a last warning from President
Dmitry Medvedev: Recall you soldiers to their bases immediately and implement
changes or Moscow will endorse UN Security Council sanctions stiff enough to
stifle the Syrian economy.
Those sanctions are only a step away from a resolution authorizing NATO,
together with Muslim and Arab nations, to intervene militarily in the Syrian
crisis.
debkafile's military and intelligence sources disclose that Turkey, as a NATO
member, and Saudi Arabia, on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council, have been
in discussions this past week on the form this intervention would take:
1. The long-considered Turkish plan to send troops into northern Syria and carve
out a military pocket from which Syria's rebels would be supplied with military,
logistic and medical aid.
2. Ankara and Riyadh will provide the anti-Assad movements with large quantities
of weapons and funds to be smuggled in from outside Syria.
3. The Turkish military incursion would be matched by Saudi troops entering
southern Syria at the head of GCC contingents. They would move in via Jordan and
establish a second military enclave under GCC auspices.
The third option came up in Tehran last Thursday, Aug. 25, when Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad heard some straight talk from the visiting Emir of
Qatar Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
debkafile's exclusive Iranian sources reveal that the Qatari ruler slapped down
a blunt warning: Assad was finished, he said, and advised Iran to face up to
this. For the sake of even minimal relations with the Arab world, Iran must
ditch the Assad regime in Damascus or face the real danger of the Syrian crisis
deteriorating into a regional conflict – whether against Syria or by Syria, he
did not explain.
Ahmadinejad turned the emir down flat, according to our sources. He said Iran
would never renege on its pact with Assad.
Two days later, our military sources report, Syria deployed 25 anti-air missile
batteries along its Turkish border.
In Brussels, Monday, the 27-member European Union bowed to Washington's demand
and finally decided to corner Assad by clamping down an embargo on imported
Syrian crude. Europe is the biggest buyer of Syrian oil, importing $4.5 billion
worth a year. This provides Syria with its main source of foreign currency
revenue and the primary funding for Assad's military operations against
dissidents.
Once this source dries up, the Syrian ruler will be forced to cut down on those
operations unless Iran is willing to make up the difference.
Assad is sure to appreciate that the coalition lining up against him of the US,
Europe, Turkey, the Gulf Arab nations and Russia, are almost identical to the
alignment (barring Moscow) which has just overthrown Muammar Qaddafi's regime in
Tripoli. He and his advisers have no doubt discussed the possibility of being at
the receiving end of the same treatment.
Their ruler's growing isolation and the real prospect of international punitive
measures have given the opposition new heart after nearly six months of standing
up to a deadly crackdown: Saturday, Aug. 27 Assad saw his own capital rallying
against him with big demonstrations in central Damascus. The pressure from the
street continued to build up through Sunday and Monday, some of the protesters
venturing to hoist the old Syrian Republican flag instead of the Baathist
version introduced by the Assads.
Aleppo is now the only Syrian city which has not so far come out against the
regime. Tuesday morning, while Assad attended an Eid al-Fitr worship at a
Damascus mosque, his soldiers sprayed demonstrators in the eastern town of Deir
al-Zour with bullets.
Well-informed military sources warn that Assad will not be cowed by the
international, military and economic noose tightening around his neck. He is far
more likely to try and loosen it by lashing out against his enemies, starting
with Israel. Iran will certainly be a willing supporter of such belligerence,
starting a war which could spread like wildfire across the region.
EU agrees on Syrian oil ban
The European Union reached an agreement in principle Monday to ban oil imports
from Syria to punish the regime for its brutal crackdown on protesters,
diplomats said.
"There is a political consensus on a European embargo of imports of Syrian
petroleum products," a diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. The new
sanctions were backed by all representatives at a meeting of experts from the
27-nation bloc in Brussels, another diplomat said. Individual EU governments are
expected to give their final approval by the end of the week, the diplomat said.
The EU buys 95 percent of the oil Syria exports, representing nearly one-third
of government receipts, according to diplomats.
EU governments are still debating whether to add a ban on investments in the
Syrian oil sector, diplomats said.The EU has already imposed a set of assets
freezes and travel bans against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his regime.
Iran's elite Al-Quds force, accused of providing support to Syria's repressive
machine, five Syrian generals and the military intelligence network in Damascus
were added to the blacklist last week.The list covered by EU asset freezes and
travel bans now runs to 50 people and nine entities.-AFP/NOW Lebanon
EU Urges Assad to Stop Crackdown, Slams 'Barbarism'
Naharnet /European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad's regime on Tuesday to stop its violent crackdown on
protesters and release those arrested. Ashton "expresses her continued deep
concern about the violence perpetrated by the Syrian regime against peaceful
demonstrators, human rights activists, and the Syrian people at large," her
spokesman said in a statement. "She renews her unequivocal condemnation of the
brutal repression," the spokesman said, one day after EU states agreed in
principle to ban oil imports from Syria, a measure that is expected to be
formally adopted this week. In Syria on Tuesday, activists said security forces
killed seven people when they opened fire in several towns to disperse
protesters who emerged from mosques on the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr
feast. Ashton's statement did not mention the latest incident but she condemned
an attack last week against Syria's leading political cartoonist, Ali Ferzat,
who said he was beaten by four men. "Many other activists, independent minds and
human rights defenders have been subject to similar acts of barbarism and
disregard for human rights, including alleged instances of torture," Ashton's
spokesman said. Thousands remain in detention without charges, the EU statement
said. An attack against the Rifai mosque in Damascus's western quarter of Kafar
Susseh on Saturday was "yet another illustration of the reckless and
indiscriminate violence by the Syrian security," he said. "All such attacks and
the broad repression must immediately stop, detained protesters be released and
a way opened toward the fulfillment of the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian
people," the spokesman said.**Source Agence France Presse
.Qabbani in Eid Sermon: No Compromises on Taef, Tribunal,
Justice
Naharnet /Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani stressed in his Eid al-Fitr
sermon on Tuesday that there would be no compromises on the Taef accord and the
international tribunal.
“Our national and Islamic stances have never changed and we don’t make
compromises on our principles,” Qabbani said at Mohammed al-Amin mosque in
downtown Beirut.
He stressed on the need to have a united nation and a capable and fair state.
“We won’t make compromises on the Taef agreement that laid the foundations of
the Lebanese state on the basis of participation.”He also rejected “the road of
infighting and the wars of strife.”Turning to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
that is probing ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination, Qabbbani
said: “We won’t make compromises on the achievement of justice and the
international tribunal.”Justice should also be achieved for all the Lebanese in
their rights to have a balanced representation in state institutions, he
said.Qabbani also rejected the naturalization of Palestinians in Lebanon, saying
it “is an Israeli objective aimed at withering Palestinians outside their
nation.”
Hariri, Saudi King Abdullah Meet in Mecca
Naharnet /Former Premier Saad Hariri held talks with Saudi King Abdullah in
Mecca on Tuesday morning to extend his Eid al-Fitr greetings to him, the Saudi
Press Agency reported.
SPA said that the two men met at al-Safa palace after attending prayers at the
Holy Mosque.On Monday, Hariri extended his greetings to the Syrian people on the
occasion of Eid al-Fitr, expressing his “full solidarity” with them against
their regime’s violent crackdown on protestors.Hariri also extended his
greetings to the Lebanese people in general and Muslims in particular.
Hariri’s press office said in a statement later in the day that the former
premier held telephone conversations with several Arab and Muslim heads of state
and officials on the occasion of the Eid.
Former prime minister Saad Hariri Expresses 'Full Solidarity' with Syrian People
Naharnet /Former prime minister Saad Hariri on Monday extended his greetings to
the Syrian people on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, expressing his “full
solidarity” with the Syrians in the face of their regime’s violent crackdown on
the protest movement.Hariri also extended Eid al-Fitr greetings to “the Lebanese
people in general and the Muslims in particular.”“On this special occasion, he
(Hariri) pays tribute to the Syrian people, and expresses once again his full
solidarity with them in the face of the difficult ordeal they are enduring,
hoping that before the next Eid the Arab peoples and the Syrian people in
particular would manage to overcome the difficult circumstances they are going
through,” Hariri’s press office said in a statement. Hariri also hoped the
Syrians and Arabs will “achieve their aspirations for regimes that meet their
ambitions.” “He also wishes the Lebanese many happy returns, and to see their
State-building project prevail and bring security and stability to Lebanon, and
strengthen the bonds of national unity and solidarity among all Lebanese, in
their quest to uncover the truth and achieve justice, as a guarantee for
security for Lebanon and all the Lebanese,” Hariri’s press office added.*Source
Agence France Presse
7 Killed as Syrian Security Forces Disperse Thousands of
Demonstrators
Naharnet /Syrian security forces opened fire Tuesday, killing seven people as
they tried to disperse thousands of protesters rallying against the regime on
the first day of the three-day Muslim holiday that marks the end of the fasting
month of Ramadan, activists said. The activists said security forces fired at
protesters in the southern province of Daraa, in the central city of Homs and in
the Damascus suburbs following morning prayers marking Eid al-Fitr. The Local
Coordination Committees activist network said six protesters were killed in
Daraa and one in Homs. An activist in Daraa confirmed the six deaths in Daraa
province, saying four were killed in the village of al-Harra and two others in
Inkhil. The LCC said the deaths in al-Harra included a 13-year-old boy. Pious
Muslims traditionally visit cemeteries to pray for the dead on the first day of
the Eid, and children get new clothes, shoes, haircuts and toys for the holiday.
On Tuesday, many in Syria visited graves of loved ones who have been killed in
the five-month uprising against President Bashar Assad.
Human rights groups say Assad's forces have killed more than 2,000 civilians
since the uprising erupted in March, touched off by the wave of revolutions
sweeping the Arab world.
The government crackdown escalated dramatically at the start of Ramadan, a time
of introspection and piety characterized by a dawn-to-dusk fast. Muslims
typically gather in mosques during the month for special nightly prayers after
breaking the fast, and the Assad government used deadly force to prevent such
large gatherings from turning into more anti-government protests. The LCC
activist network said Syrians were keeping their Eid celebrations to a minimum
this year in solidarity with the Syrians who have died and the families of
detainees.
"There will be no happiness while the martyrs' blood is still warm," it said in
a statement Tuesday. The Syrian government has placed severe restrictions on the
media and expelled foreign reporters, making it nearly impossible to
independently verify witness accounts.**Source Associated PressAgence France
Presse
6 People, Including Child, Killed in Shooting over Property Ownership in Bekaa
Naharnet /Six people, including a child, were killed on Tuesday in a shooting
over property ownership between the Kanaan and Issa families in the eastern
Bekaa valley, the Army command and media reports said. A member of the Issa
family and five Kanaan family members were killed in the shooting during the
traditional visit of cemeteries on the first day of Eid al-Fitr in the Baalbek
town of al-Khraibeh, the National News Agency said. Voice of Lebanon radio
station identified the shooter as Fayez Jaafar Issa. It said the man killed his
sister, her husband and their children over an old dispute on land ownership.
The Internal Security Forces and the Army have carried out several raids in the
area to arrest those involved in the incident, NNA said.
The army command said that the military threw a tight security dragnet around
the scene of the incident.
Jumblat Rejects Electricity Dispute as Hizbullah, Amal Mediate to Bridge
Differences
Naharnet /Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has reiterated that
his insistence to form a technical committee to oversee the spending of $1.2
billion on an electricity project has no political motive.In remarks to As Safir
daily published Tuesday, Jumblat said: “The electricity issue is not at all
political. It is purely a technical and legal issue.” Jumblat and ministers
loyal to him have expressed reservations on a draft law proposed by Free
Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun calling for the allocation of $1.2 billion
to Energy Minister Jebran Bassil to generate 700 Megawatts of electricity. They
have called for the formation of the committee to oversee along with Bassil the
spending on the four-stage electricity project. But the ministers loyal to Aoun,
including Bassil, have rejected such a proposal. “From the start, I didn’t
interfere in the political debate initiated by some,” Jumblat said, accusing the
FPM of making “strange interpretations” of the PSP chief’s stance. “I don’t want
to bicker with anyone,” he added. His comments to As Safir came after a meeting
he held with the advisor of the Hizbullah leader, Hussein Khalil, and the
Speaker’s political assistant Minister Ali Hassan Khalil. Hizbullah official
Wafiq Safa and Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour, who is loyal to Jumblat,
also attended the talks that were held at Jumblat’s residence in Clemenceau on
Monday. The sources of the conferees told As Safir that the delegation that
visited Jumblat described the meeting as “serious, positive, friendly and
productive.” Abou Faour adopted the same point of view of the PSP chief, telling
An Nahar newspaper that his party does not have any political motive behind its
insistence to form a technical committee. “New suggestions have been
made,” he said, adding they would help them overcome several controversial
issues. The minister refused to give more details. Informed sources told An
Nahar, however, that the new mediation launched by Speaker Nabih Berri and
Hizbullah has a political aspect in the efforts to bridge differences between
the cabinet members and preserve the government cohesion.
Gadhafi Son Khamis 'Killed' as
Wife, 3 Children Flee to Algeria
Naharnet /Moammar Gadhafi's youngest son, Khamis, has been killed in a clash
with rebel fighters in southern Libya, Al-Arabiya television quoted the rebels
as saying on Monday.
Meanwhile, Gadhafi's wife and three children fled to Algeria on Monday as rebels
closed in on his hometown of Sirte and said the strongman still posed a danger
to Libya and the world.
Gadhafi himself and two other children -- sons Saadi and Seif al-Islam -- were
in the town of Bani Walid, south of the capital Tripoli, Italian news agency
ANSA reported, citing "authoritative Libyan diplomatic sources". Algiers
announced that Gadhafi's wife Safiya, two sons and a daughter had crossed the
border into Algeria.
"The wife of Moammar Gadhafi, Safiya, his daughter Aisha, and sons Hannibal and
Mohammed, accompanied by their children, entered Algeria at 8:45 am (0745 GMT)
through the Algeria-Libyan border," the foreign ministry said in a statement
carried by the state APS news agency, giving no information on the whereabouts
of Gadhafi himself.
The ministry said that U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, the Security Council and senior
Libyan rebel leader Mahmoud Jibril had been informed.
So far Algeria has not recognized the rebels' administration and has adopted a
stance of strict neutrality on the conflict in its neighbor, leading some among
the rebels to accuse it of supporting the Gadhafi regime. The rebels' National
Transitional Council (NTC) immediately said they wanted the Gadhafi family
members back.
"We will ask Algeria to give them back," said Mohammed al-Allagy, who handles
judicial affairs. For its part, Italy's ANSA news agency said that Gadhafi’s son
Khamis had "almost certainly" been killed as he tried to make the 100 kilometer
journey from Tripoli to Bani Walid to join his father and brothers Saadi and
Seif al-Islam.
The rebels had said previously that they had captured Seif al-Islam as they
overran Tripoli but that claim was holed when he surfaced in the capital and met
journalists.
Mohammed Gadhafi is the eldest son and the more discreet of the leader's
offspring. An influential man in his father's regime, he was head of the Libyan
Olympic Committee and also the chairman of Libya's General Post and
Telecommunications Company. Aisha was born seven years later, in 1977. Her style
and blonde hair earned her the nickname of "Libya's Claudia Schiffer".She runs a
charity and has acted in various negotiations on her father's behalf.
Hannibal, who was born in 1978, is the family's bad boy. He single-handedly
strained Libya's relations with Switzerland after causing chaos in a hotel and
received a four-month sentence in France for beating his pregnant girlfriend.
Dubbed the "captain," Hannibal spent time in the military and was in charge of
the National Shipping Company.
Also on Monday, Rebel chief Mustafa Abdul Jalil called for no let-up in
international action against the embattled strongman.
"Gadhafi’s defiance of the coalition forces still poses a danger, not only for
Libya but for the world. That is why we are calling for the coalition to
continue its support," Abdul Jalil said at a meeting in Doha of chiefs of staff
of countries taking part in military action in Libya.
The international coalition launched Operation Unified Protector on March 19
under a U.N. mandate which authorized air strikes to protect civilians.
Since March 31, the air strikes have been carried out under NATO command. The
coalition military chiefs said in a joint statement that the war in Libya "is
yet to end" and that "there is a need to continue the joint action until the
Libyan people achieve their goal by eliminating the remnants of Gadhafi."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to visit Paris on Thursday for an
international Contact Group meeting on Libya in a bid to boost financial and
economic support for the rebels, the State Department said.
"Libya's transition to democracy is and should be Libyan-led, with close
coordination and support between the (NTC) and its international partners," said
spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
"The United States stands with the Libyan people as they continue their journey
toward genuine democracy," she added.
There has been speculation that Gadhafi was holed up among tribal supporters in
his hometown Sirte, 360 kilometers east of Tripoli.
Rebels moved to within 30 kilometers of Sirte from the west and captured Bin
Jawad 100 kilometers to the east, the rebel commander in Misrata, Mohammed al-Fortiya,
told Agence France Presse on Sunday. "We are negotiating with the tribes for
Sirte's peaceful surrender," Fortiya said, adding only tribal leaders were
involved, and that to his knowledge no direct contact had been made with Gadhafi.
General Suleyman Mahmoud, deputy commander in chief of the rebel forces,
confirmed on Monday that talks were being held for a peaceful solution.
"There are still negotiations with elders and representatives of the city of
Sirte. We are trying not to engage anyone in fighting except with those who are
with the tyrant Gadhafi. But the outcome of the negotiations is still not
clear," he told reporters in Tripoli.
The rebels have offered a $1.7 million dollar reward for Gadhafi’s capture, dead
or alive.
Fierce fighting also raged in the west as rebels trying to wrest control of the
region from Gadhafi’s forces said they were ambushed southwest of Zuwarah.
Some 70 percent of homes in central Tripoli still have no running water because
of damage to the mains supply, but potable water is being distributed from
mosques, giving priority to the elderly and medical facilities, NTC officials
said.
Faysal Gargab, a member of the capital's stabilization team, said engineers who
traveled to a "remote area" to connect wells back to the water grid were
prevented from doing so by Gadhafi’s forces.
"The security of the area deteriorated ... The engineers had to flee because
Gadhafi forces were disturbing the (sites)," he said without specifying when
water would flow again or where the wells were located.
Rubbish trucks returned to work in the capital on Monday for the first time
since it fell to the rebels.
Advocacy group Human Rights Watch said evidence indicated that retreating
Gadhafi forces had massacred dozens of detainees, after AFP counted at least 50
human skulls in a makeshift jail. HRW said it had inspected about 45 skeletons
and two other bodies at the detention center in Tripoli's Salaheddine
neighborhood.
"Sadly this is not the first gruesome report of what appears to be the summary
execution of detainees in the final days of the Gadhafi government’s control of
Tripoli," HRW's Middle East and North Africa director, Sarah Leah Whitson, said.
*Source Agence France Presse
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun: Targeting
Army is an Attack against the Nation
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun slammed on Monday
campaigns against the Lebanese army, saying that attacking it is an assault
against the country.
He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “Parliament should
assume its responsibilities because one of its members crossed his limits when
he targeted the army.”
He made his statements in reference to MP Khaled al-Daher who last week accused
some members of the security forces of adopting the same repressive approach as
the Syrian security forces in their crackdown against anti-regime protestors.
Aoun added: “Such a matter harms the nation. He crossed his limits by attacking
the army and we demand legal measures be taken against him.”
Addressing the disappearance of Imam Moussa al-Sadr, the MP said: “This matter
belongs to the whole of Lebanon and not just the Shiites.”
“This issue goes beyond our borders. It is a major humanitarian issue and Arab
countries must take it upon themselves to resolve the matter of his
disappearance,” he continued.
Furthermore, he revealed that the Justice Minister had, in April, been handed a
proposal on settling the matter of kidnapped individuals, but he has yet to take
any action.
On the dispute over the electricity file in Lebanon, Aoun accused the Mustaqbal
movement of being behind parliament’s failure to adopt the electricity draft
law, adding that it is depriving the Lebanese of power. “The law was presented
scientifically and there is nothing wrong with it,” stressed the FPM leader. “If
they want to settle the electricity crisis, they would approve the law,” he
added. A few weeks ago, 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.
The March 14-led opposition says that the draft law gives the minister the
freedom to use the amount of money without referring to the cabinet or without
any monitoring by the Audit Bureau. Opposition and National Struggle Front MPs
have objected to the law. “I fear that the campaign against us is aimed at
covering up the theft of state funds. We have financial files on major officials
who are criticizing us,” Aoun said.
Report: Intelligence Branch Arrests 2 Suspects in Kidnapping of Syrians
Naharnet /The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch arrested two suspects
in the kidnapping of two Syrian nationals in the Bekaa valley area of Bar Elias
last Friday, official security sources said. Three gunmen kidnapped Mohammad
Ayman Ammar, 49 and Nour Jamil Qadoura, 30, after they intercepted their Jaguar
upon entering Lebanon from Syria.
However, the vehicle’s driver, a Lebanese named Khalil Saleh al-Agha, wasn’t
abducted. The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published Tuesday that the
two suspects were arrested after the intelligence branch followed the movements
of the abductees’ and the driver’s mobile phones. Investigators believe that the
kidnapping was carried out for money extortion purposes and are now seeking to
find the link between the two arrested men and other suspects that are believed
to be involved in the killing of four Lebanese soldiers in the Bekaa town of
Riaq on April 13, 2009.
The International Organization for Migration Evacuates 850,
including Lebanese, from Tripoli
Naharnet /The International Organization for Migration said Monday that it has
evacuated 850 more stranded foreign workers, including Lebanese, from the Libyan
capital Tripoli aboard a chartered ferry. The Geneva-based organization said the
foreigners include women and children and are headed to the eastern port city of
Benghazi, from where they will be taken to Egypt and then to their home
countries. IOM said the migrants are from Egypt, the Philippines, Lebanon,
Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Jordan, Iraq and Ukraine. An earlier IOM
evacuation brought 263 stranded migrants out of Tripoli to escape the violence
and widespread shortages of fuel, food, water and medical supplies. The
organization said hundreds more migrants, especially from sub-Saharan Africa,
fear they cannot safely reach embassies or the port area. *Source Associated
Press
No one owns Libya, or owes it
Hussein Ibish, /In the aftermath of the downfall of Libyan leader Moammar
Qaddafi, a preposterous debate has been raging in policy circles about the
extent to which the West “owns” the future of Libya and what it “owes” the
Libyan people. The whole point of the limited military engagement was precisely
to avoid this kind of responsibility, and that was both a Libyan and a Western
desire. The Libyan rebels made it clear that they wanted military assistance
from the air and in terms of weapons, intelligence and training, but not direct
outside intervention on the ground. They wished to remain masters of their own
fate, and so they are. Similarly there was little appetite among Western publics
and elite in favor of a ground intervention in Libya. Even the limited
engagement lacked widespread support.
The current debate about who “owns” Libya is wrongheaded. Former Secretary of
State Colin Powell’s “Pottery Barn” rule—namely “if you break it, you own
it”—coined in the context of the buildup to the invasion of Iraq, does not apply
here. The Iraq war was an unsolicited outside intervention for regime change
almost entirely disconnected from events inside Iraq or any kind of Iraqi
agency. In Libya, the rebellion and the civil war happened spontaneously,
without much outside guidance or interference.
Certainly the United States and its NATO allies, along with Qatar and the United
Arab Emirates, played an important role in influencing what happened in Libya,
but the outcome was ultimately determined by Libyans.
The intervention was not humanitarian, being shaped by obvious and rational
interests. However, it served a laudable purpose of helping overthrow a foul
dictator. No doubt the Libyan opposition is and should be grateful, but no one
outside Libya “owns” the country or the long-term outcome of its revolution. The
interest in post-conflict stabilization in Libya is clear, but the powers that
helped overthrow Qaddafi do not “owe” the Libyans anything further. It would be
extremely unwise not to provide aid and support, particularly in terms of
building political institutions and other key aspects of reconstruction.
However, this needs to be done according to the means available to donor
countries and pursuant to specific requests from the new Libyan leadership. The
impulse to rush to send huge numbers of aid workers and security consultants to
Libya before the challenges have been properly assessed, and before a new
government has determined its priorities, is a holdover from other conflicts and
indeed other eras.
There’s a real element of hubris in the present debate. It might be true that
without Western air power and Qatari money the Libyan rebels might not have
triumphed, at least so quickly. But on the ground they were the ones who took
the risks and accomplished the goal.
Libya is not a particularly poor, underdeveloped or war-ravaged country. It has
a relatively small population with limited social divisions, and a ready source
of income. The biggest challenge ahead is political, not development or
reconstruction. Libya lacks political institutions and traditions, and will in
short order require functioning new security forces. In these contexts in
particular, outside help could be extremely useful.
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden, an unnamed British official cited by The
Economist and numerous others have claimed the West, in particular the United
States, owns the future of Libya. By contrast, Joshua Foust has asked a series
of very pointed questions about how much aid and intervention would be
forthcoming, and how it would be defined and even justified. A sensible
approach, surely, strikes a middle ground. Because it helped the Libyan people
overthrow their dictator, the West neither owns Libya nor the outcome of its
revolution, nor does it owe its people a package of limitless assistance.
However, the countries that intervened have a stake in helping the Libyans
develop a successful transition. That means carefully targeted support, in close
coordination with the new authorities, but not the kind of nation-building
program that was required in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The limited military engagement was designed to produce limited military
results. It was a recognition of both the limitations of Western power and the
need to allow the Libyans to largely determine their own fate.
Post-conflict stabilization assistance should follow the same model: limited
efforts designed to produce limited results, leaving Libyans in charge of their
own destiny. Skeptics like Foust will ask for a clearly defined and detailed
post-conflict strategy for Libyan reconstruction and stabilization. Their desire
for clarity is understandable but at this stage unrealistic.
Western countries and Qatar can and should play a helpful but limited role. The
post-conflict stabilization process, like the revolution, should be driven by
Libyans for their own country.
Hussein Ibish is a senior research fellow at the American Task Force on
Palestine and blogs at www.Ibishblog.com.
Will Hezbollah desert Assad before the end?
By: Tom Rogan/guardian.co.uk,
External pressure is building on President Bashar al-Assad. Along with the EU
and US, key regional actors including Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have taken
steps to distance themselves from the faltering Syrian regime. Further, as Meir
Javedanfar argues on this site, the Iranian clerical leadership will only
support Assad to the degree that this support serves their ongoing Islamic
revolution.
These states are calibrating their policies towards Syria with an eye on Assad's
potential fall from power and the consequences likely to follow. Hezbollah's
approach under leader Hassan Nasrallah is no different. As David Hirst notes,
Nasrallah has made Hezbollah "the most influential political player in Lebanon
and probably the most proficient guerrilla organisation in the world". Nasrallah
does not risk jeopardising these successes lightly.
Clearly, because of the major forms of support that Assad provides, Hezbollah
has a vested interest in his political survival. This Syrian support includes
the provision of material supplies and a relatively safe haven for Hezbollah
leaders. Syria also acts as a reliable ally through which supplies of money and
weapons can transit from Iran to Lebanon. And, as Randa Slim explains, Assad's
regime provides a legitimating and supportive Arab state to balance Iran. This
complements Hezbollah's intended appearance as a cross-sectarian liberation
force, a force struggling not just for Shia Islam but for the subjugated
"oppressed" in general.
However, as important as Assad's support is to Hezbollah, the survival of his
regime does not take precedence over Hezbollah's objectives: the defeat of
Israel, the marginalisation of American influence and the creation of a regional
arc of Shia theocracies.
Accordingly, Hezbollah's support for Assad is predicated on its perception of
his political survival as both realistically possible and compatible with
Hezbollah's objectives. Hezbollah thus must consider the impact of its stance
regarding Assad in the context of political environments in Syria, Lebanon and
beyond.
Hezbollah knows that if Assad's regime collapses, Syria will face a power
struggle between factions of Alawites and Sunnis in which the outcome would be
far from certain. As one example of potential situations that Hezbollah fears,
the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, long abused by the Assad dynasty in such acts as
the massacre by Hafez-al Assad at Hama in 1982, would be highly reluctant to
accept the continued Iranian patronage and guidance that characterises the
current Assad-Iran relationship.
If Nasrallah believes it necessary, he will quietly move to put Hezbollah's
support behind a successor to Assad. This individual will be the person that
Hezbollah believes can best provide relative continuity of the Assad-Hezbollah
relationship and marginalise the risk of a Syrian civil war.
Hezbollah must also consider Lebanese political realities. In Lebanon,
Hezbollah's current power has been won by blending occasional acts of coercive
force with a remarkable cross-sectarian alliance supported by Michel Aoun's Free
Patriotic Movement and once-fierce Shia rivals, Amal.
Through this strategy Nasrallah has successfully developed Hezbollah as a
flexible and tenacious political force – an organisation whose leadership power
in the coalition vis-a-vis both domestic and foreign policy is supplemented by
Amal's corrupt and increasingly ridiculed leadership and Aoun's domestic focus.
At the centre of Hezbollah's domestic power, though, is the popular perception
of the organisation as the victor of the 2006 war with Israel. The translated
political import of this belief has been dramatic. As the Palestinian
commentator Tamim al-Barghouti explains, the war fuelled the notion of Nasrallah
(and by association Hezbollah) as a "de facto caliph, a spiritual and political
leader of Arabs and Muslims across national borders … [By] the ideology of
resistance he symbolises, [Nasrallah] represents an all-powerful example to
Arabs and Muslims who have been longing to regain some of the dignity they lost
at the hands of their leaders."
Through the war, Hezbollah has successfully cultivated the priceless self-image
of a cross-sectarian defender, not just of poor Lebanese Shia (long loyal to the
organisation for its generous welfare provision), but of Lebanese and regional
citizens in general.
Nonetheless, Hezbollah is well aware that its base of domestic support must
constantly be reinforced. Syrian gunboats shelling Palestinian refugee camps and
images of Syrian troops shooting unarmed protesters obviously do not gel with
Hezbollah's carefully constructed organisational narrative – a notion centred on
the organisation's members as the heirs of the battle of Karbala, struggling
against the odds for emancipation, empowerment and Islamic justice for all.
At their core, these realities mean that Hezbollah will not risk continued
support for Assad if the price of that support is a substantial undercutting of
the narrative upon which the organisation's power resides.
While the brutality of the Iranian regime against its internal dissenters is
supported by Hezbollah under the excuse of revolutionary necessity against
"secular infiltration", Assad's situation is different. While Assad provides
highly valuable support towards the pursuit of Hezbollah's objectives, the
survival of his regime is not in itself an imperative Hezbollah objective.
If Assad's actions begin to affect Hezbollah in a powerful way, the organisation
will abandon its useful but not existentially contingent ally. For Hezbollah,
while allies and supply lines can be replaced, the organisation's continued
accumulation and preservation of power is crucial.
The same approach?
Hazem Saghiyeh, August 29, 2011
The Syrian regime was once Hezbollah’s main source of support, but the opposite
now holds true. This is the first remark one derives from Hezbollah Secretary
General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech.
Yet Hezbollah can derive many lessons from the Syrian regime’s experience with
its dwindling strength so that the party’s strength does not dwindle as well.
Damascus revealed its weakness in public for the first time in 2005 when it
withdrew its troops out of Lebanon. The use of “bartering chips” made up for its
isolation and initiated Arab, regional and international openness towards it in
2008. This openness, however, was only short-lived. Its domestic issues soon
blew up against a backdrop of the Arab uprisings, leading to the Daraa
confrontations that widened and spread.
This trend can be comprehended only based on the major discrepancy between the
lack of interest in domestic affairs and an exaggerated interest in foreign
affairs. Following years of neglect going back to 1963, and especially to 1970,
reform promises that came along with the transmission of power to Bashar
al-Assad in 2000 were thwarted, and the lies embodied by promised reforms during
the Baath Party’s national conference in 2005 became all too clear.
Accordingly, the crises of freedom and livelihood were growing deeper in
parallel with foreign schemes to extend control over Lebanon, control
Palestinian decision-making, scare Jordan, smuggle fighters into Iraq and
consolidate the rejectionist alliance with Iran. The lack of domestic “bartering
chips” eventually depleted all foreign “bartering chips.”
Hezbollah is now standing at a turn similar to the one the Syrian regime faced
in 2005: It is preparing to gather foreign “bartering chips” that would serve
the party in its confrontation with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and
consolidate its image as a resistance and liberation movement linked to Iran and
allied with … Venezuela. This goes without mentioning its continuous support to
its Syrian ally. Yet it is losing “one bartering chip after another” on the
domestic level. Hence, Nasrallah’s latest address, which was characterized by a
high-pitched voice and scolding spirit, indicates that the sole remedy lies in
repression, whether from within or outside the cabinet.
In reality, the repercussions on the extremely deteriorated Lebanese meeting are
such as cannot be mitigated by the Memorandum of Understanding with Michel Aoun.
This holds even truer knowing that Aoun may, given the turn of events in Syria,
give precedence to domestic issues over foreign ones based on his usual cheap,
demagogic and populist approach. This goes without mentioning Jumblatt’s
mysterious possibilities, which may undermine the majority and PM Mikati’s
cabinet.
In short, if Hezbollah continues to go down the same path as the Baath party, it
may be leading itself – and us along with it – toward impending doom. Is
Hezbollah ready to reconsider? If such is the case, difficult though it may be
to imagine it, will any of the Lebanese parties be ready to help it to change?
This article is a translation of the original, which appeared on the NOW Arabic
site on Monday August 2