LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJUNE 01/2011

Biblical Event Of The Day
James 4/1-10: " Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members? 4:2 You lust, and don’t have. You kill, covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask. 4:3 You ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it for your pleasures. 4:4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”? 4:6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”* 4:7 Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 4:9 Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you."

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Syria to Become Iranian Vassal or Saudi Ally/By Robert Rabil and Walid Phares/May 31/11
Iran sees threat to its clout amid Arab Spring/By Scott Peterson,/
May 31/11
Tempest over telecoms/Matt Nash/May 31/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for May 31/11
Israel/IDF chief: Israel faces growing range of threats, from knife to nuclear/Haaretz
UN blasts Syria crackdown as death toll rises/Daily Star
Estonian Muslims urge release of abducted cyclists/Daily Star
Storm brews over telecoms controversy/Daily Star
Syria's Assad issues amnesty: state TV/Reuters
Video of Tortured Boy's Corpse Deepens Anger in Syria/NYT
Syria's crackdown/IT
Syrian refugees begin to trickle back across the border/Daily Star
UNIFIL undeterred by attack: Asarta/Daily Star
Lebanon freezes assets of Tunisia's former first lady/Daily Star
Berri: The Cedar Revolution took Lebanon 60 years back/Ya Libnan
Riyadi beat holders Mahram at the thrilla in Manila/Daily Star
Lebanese fear further attacks on UNIFIL troops/Daily Star
Lebanon's trade deficit up by 8 pct in first four months of 2011/Daily Star
Telecoms incident political par excellence: Fatfat/Daily Star
Key hydro-agricultural project announced/Daily Star
Hamas-Gaza's missile stock passes 10,000 - and going up/DEBKAfile
Geagea Calls for Ending Campaign against Rifi: Cedar Revolution Set Berri, his Allies Back 60 Years /Naharnet
March 14 Warns Against Attempts to Put STL on Parliament Session Agenda /Naharnet
Aoun: Dispute between Security Forces, Nahhas Has Taken Legal Course /Naharnet
Gemayel Meets Berri: Developments in Lebanon are Suicide /Naharnet
Maqdah Says Palestinians to 'Peacefully' March on Israel Borders Sunday /Naharnet
Rifi: Suleiman Was Not Fully Informed of What Happened at Telecom Ministry Building /Naharnet
Jumblat Says he ‘Gave Up,’ Hints Aoun Behind Cabinet Delay /Naharnet


Geagea Calls for Ending Campaign against Rifi: Cedar Revolution Set Berri, his Allies Back 60 Years
Naharnet Newsdesk 8 hours agoLebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea praised on Tuesday Internal Security Forces chief Major General Ashraf Rifi, saying that the ongoing campaign against him “is targeting the last free position in the Lebanese state.”He demanded during a press conference an end to the campaign against him, noting: “His tenure at the Interior Ministry contributed to the international investigations for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and uncovered tens of Israeli spy networks.”“Do they want to put Rifi on trial? Do they want to try him for increasing the percentage of Christians at the ministry from 30 to 40 percent? Or do they want to try him because the security forces don’t follow Syria’s orders?” he asked. “Is ISF chief Rifi, who is the most ethical officer, the only person to be blamed for the illegal construction, al-Sharawneh clashes in Baalbeck, and Estonians’ kidnapping?” the LF leader wondered. Commenting on the incident at the Telecom Ministry building at al-Adliyeh on Thursday, Geagea said: “We don’t understand the ministerial uproar regarding last week’s events. We would have understood it had it been over the Nakba Day clashes or during a natural disaster.”He added: “It seems that several people have forgotten that the current government is a caretaking one. Some sides now want to perform actions that they didn’t carry out before Cabinet’s resignation.”Addressing Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s statements that he does not oppose amending the Taif Accord, the LF leader remarked: “Lebanon’s system is under constant study and discussion, but now is not the time to tackle the Taif Accord.” “We have more immediate issues at hand, such as forming a government,” he continued. On Speaker Nabih Berri’s comment that the Cedar Revolution has set Lebanon back 60 years, Geagea responded: “The Cedar Revolution set Berri and his allies back 60 years, but it sent the Lebanese 60 years forward in freedom and democracy.”

March 14 Warns Against Attempts to Put STL on Parliament Session Agenda Naharnet Newsdesk

March 14 lawmakers have accused Speaker Nabih Berri of putting the speakership in confrontation of not only the March 14 forces but also the Cedar Revolution after he said it took Lebanon back 60 years on the democratic level. In remarks to An Nahar daily on Tuesday, the sources warned that Berri was making attempts to put on the agenda of a parliamentary session on June 8 the issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and Lebanon’s commitment to it. Berri called for the session next week to vote on important issues such as the renewal of Central Bank governor Riyad Salameh’s mandate. The March 14 forces are rejecting such a move for fears that the speaker would give parliament executive authorities amid the absence of a cabinet. If Berri’s move on the tribunal was proved, then this means his group is continuing to carry out its “coup against the national unity government and pushing Lebanon towards a dangerous unknown.” The March 14 coalition accused the Hizbullah-led alliance of carrying out a coup against Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri in January by nominating Premier-designate Najib Miqati. The March 14 MPs told An Nahar that they will decide on their next move when parliament’s bureau committee meets to decide on the items that would be put on the session’s agenda.Al-Liwaa daily said, however, that centrists are seeking to clinch a deal between the March 8 and 14 forces to limit the session’s agenda to the renewal of Salameh’s mandate without discussing other draft-laws.

Gemayel Meets Berri: Developments in Lebanon are Suicide

Naharnet Newsdesk 6 hours agoPhalange Party leader Amin Gemayel condemned on Tuesday last week’s incident at a Telecommunications Ministry building at al-Adliyeh, describing it as “unacceptable.” He stressed after holding talks with Speaker Nabih Berri: “Blame in this issue cannot be made based on media reports.” “We are more concerned with the vacuum in Lebanon … and there are other issues in Lebanon, such as economic and social ones, that are not being addressed,” he stated. “There is a scary and destructive vacuum and the developments in Lebanon are suicide,” he stressed. “The president’s role has been obstructed because the government’s functioning has been obstructed, while parliament cannot assume Cabinet’s role,” he continued. “All state apparatuses are in a state of confusion in this governmental vacuum,” the Phalange leader said. A government should be formed as soon as possible, because once it is established, all pending issues can be addressed, Gemayel noted. Commenting on Berri’s statement that the March 14 camp has set the country back 60 years, he said: “If only we could go back 60 years, at least back then, decisions in the country were taken through state institutions and not from across the border.”

Jumblat Says he ‘Gave Up,’ Hints Aoun Behind Cabinet Delay
Naharnet Newsdesk /Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat denied that his latest stance from Hizbullah was aimed at requesting a “political asylum back to the March 14 forces,” As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday. “I am frustrated and depressed. I gave up,” Jumblat said. He stressed that his last cry didn’t lead to any result. The newspaper quoted him as saying that “I won’t repeat it, I can’t and I don’t want to disagree with them, I refuse to do anything.” Jumblat was referring to his remarks about Hizbullah’s rejection to form the new cabinet. He told al-Akhbar daily last week that the Shiite party was putting Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun at the forefront of the government formation problems.
The PSP leader noted that the cabinet formation obstacle is local and “Hizbullah can sort it out especially with Michel Aoun.” Hinting that Aoun was behind the delay in the cabinet formation, he said: “It’s wrong to say that (PM-designate) Najib Miqati is the obstacle. He seems to be giving up just like me, and he is frustrated.”
“He already answered to all Aoun’s terms what more can he do?” Jumblat wondered. He rejected accusations that his meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman during his last visit to Beirut was a “conspiracy.”“Feltman came to Lebanon to try putting some pressure on Syria,” he stressed, refusing to reveal the details of his closed-door meeting with the U.S. official. The MP told the newspaper that “some parties are busy with their personal wars, while the administration, army, and security are handicapped.” He hoped that Saad Hariri would carry out his duties as caretaker PM. When asked about the repercussions of the indictment that will be issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, he said that “even if the indictment was issued nothing will change. It’ll be forgotten after a while.”As Safir reported that the PSP leader came back from Doha overnight, feeling more concerned after he saw a decisive Qatari decision refusing to resume the dialogue and contacts with the Syrian leadership. Jumblat held a meeting with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who held the Syrian president responsible for abolishing the Doha agreement.

Tempest over telecoms

Matt Nash, /May 31, 2011
(NOW Lebanon)
A turf battle over the use of mobile phone network equipment is exploding into a fierce national debate that prompted a caretaker minister to resign and seemingly could cost the head of the Internal Security Forces his job. On one level the argument is yet another dispute between the Ministry of Telecommunications and Ogero, a state-owned company, but it has become one of the most talked-about topics in the country, as politicians have seized on it to level accusations of illegal conduct against one another.
This third mobile network, under Ogero’s control, was built in 2007. March 14 says caretaker Telecom Minister Charbel Nahhas secretly wants to hand the network to Hezbollah, despite the fact that he says he wants it as part of an upgraded network managed by MTC Touch. Syria’s Sham press, which is close to the regime, has accused March 14 of letting protesters use the network to communicate within Syria. Nahhas has accused Ogero of operating the network with the ISF Information Branch, hinting, but not directly saying, they are up to no good.
It is no secret that Nahhas does not get along with Ogero’s director general, Abdel Monem Youssef, who also serves as the director general of operations and maintenance within the ministry, something Nahhas says is both illegal and a conflict of interests.
Ogero is a state-owned company that former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri gave the power, through cabinet decrees, to rebuild and upgrade Lebanon’s fixed line telephone network after the civil war – power taken from the Ministry of Telecom. The company and its high-level employees are seen as loyal to Hariri and the political allies who survived him.
Today Ogero controls the fixed-line phone network, offers Internet services and sells bandwidth to private Internet and data services providers, though the ministry has to approve those sales. Speaking earlier this month before the Youth Shadow Government, Nahhas argued that Ogero has no legal right to exist or operate in the telecom sector. He also said that during his tenure as minister, Ogero employees broke into a ministry building in the middle of the night and took fiber optic cables that Nahhas said belonged to the ministry.
In this context, last week Nahhas tried to enter a Ministry of Telecom building in Beirut’s Adlieh neighborhood to take mobile phone network equipment Ogero says it rightfully owns. Under a never-fully-implemented law from 2002, the telecom sector, now entirely in state hands, is supposed to be privatized.
Part of the law calls for Ogero to become a private company called Liban Telecom that will run the fixed line network and operate a third mobile phone network. In 2007, the Chinese government donated equipment to Lebanon made by the Chinese company Huawei that could be used to build a small, 3G mobile phone network.
At the time, the cabinet issued decrees accepting the gift and allowing Ogero to use the equipment to build a test network capable of serving 50,000 customers in preparation for the eventual creation of Liban Telecom. The idea behind this was to give Ogero employees – who, it is assumed, will likely stay on as employees of Liban Telecom when it is created – experience operating and maintaining a mobile network, said Riad Bahsoun, vice chairman of the board of directors of the IT industry group SAMENA Telecommunications Council.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in 2008 authorized Ogero, on a temporary and non-commercial basis, to use radio frequencies necessary to operate the network and gave Ogero 1,000 phone numbers for their test network.
“The network itself is not a secret, but the operation of it is,” Bahsoun said.
Because the network is 3G, it is more difficult to spy on than Lebanon’s current, older mobile phone networks, as 3G networks have higher levels of encryption than their predecessors. One conspiracy theory NOW Lebanon has heard is that some March 14 politicians are using it as their own private, secure phone network.
An Ogero employee, speaking anonymously as he is not authorized to talk to the press, told NOW Lebanon that the network covers almost the entire country. But, he said, only 15 subscribers were ever allowed to access the network for testing purposes and denied any illegal use of it.
Ogero says it is no longer being used, and Nahhas wants to give the equipment to MTC Touch, which operates and manages one of the two state-owned mobile networks. The MTC Touch network is being upgraded to a 3.5G network by Huawei, which provided the equipment for the Ogero network.
Nahhas argues the equipment belongs to the ministry, and therefore he should be able to take it, while Ogero says it belongs to the company. The Ogero employee said that the company’s problem is that the minister cannot unilaterally tell Ogero what to do. Ogero can only act based on commands from the entire cabinet.
“It’s our equipment,” the employee said. “We can’t just give it to the minister. There needs to be a Council of Ministers [cabinet] decision.”
On May 20, when Ogero director Youssef went on vacation, he asked the ISF to protect the equipment because, the employee said, “It was clear Nahhas was going to try to take it.”
A press release from Nahhas confirms that as of May 20, the equipment was being guarded by the Information Branch of the ISF, which is the force’s intelligence-gathering body. When asked why the Information Branch took the task, the Ogero employee said that decision was made by ISF Director General Ashraf Rifi, likely because it is the ISF unit closest and most loyal to him. Rifi could not be reached for comment.
On May 26, with a television crew in tow, Nahhas went to the building to dismantle the network and take the equipment only to be stopped by the Information Branch. Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, Rifi’s boss with whom he has publically clashed before, ordered Rifi to remove the Information Branch officers. Rifi did not, so Baroud resigned. Rifi has subsequently said he did not get the order before Baroud’s resignation.
President Michel Sleiman has called for judicial action to be taken against Rifi, and the army is now in control of the building in Adlieh. A parliamentary committee, meanwhile, is supposed to appoint a team to investigate how the network is being used. The committee meeting ended Monday in acrimony over a dispute concerning who – Nahhas or Orgero’s Youssef – should appoint Ogero’s representative on the investigation team

Syria decrees general amnesty, opposition says “too little”

Now Lebanon/May 31, 2011
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Tuesday decreed a general amnesty for members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood and for political prisoners, but the opposition swiftly dismissed the measure as "too little too late.""President Assad has by decree issued an amnesty on all [political] crimes committed before May 31, 2011," the official SANA news agency reported.
"The amnesty applies to all political prisoners as well as to the Muslim Brotherhood." The announcement, which comes after two months of deadly anti-regime protests, was shrugged off by Syrian opposition activists gathered in Turkey to discuss democratic change and voice support for the revolt. "This measure is insufficient: we demanded this amnesty several years ago, but it's late in coming," said Abdel Razak Eid, an activist from the "Damascus Declaration," a reformist group launched in 2005 to demand democratic change. The release of political prisoners has been a central demand of protesters who, inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, have since March 15 been staging almost daily demonstrations against Assad's autocratic government. The announcement of the amnesty came soon after a senior official in Syria's ruling Baath party reportedly said that a committee for national dialogue in the troubled country would be set up within 48 hours. Al-Watan daily, which is close to the government, quoted party number two Mohammed Said Bkhetan as telling a Baath party meeting that the committee's members would be wide-ranging. "The committee for dialogue is composed of all political currents, and people from political and economic life and society in general will take part," it quoted him as saying. The opposition has previously dismissed calls for dialogue, saying that this can take place once only the violence ends, political prisoners are freed and reforms adopted. More than 1,100 civilians have been killed and at least 10,000 arrested in a brutal crackdown by the regime on the protests, human rights organizations say.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Berlin Summons Iran Envoy for Closing Airspace to Merkel Plane

Naharnet Newsdesk/Iran briefly closed its airspace to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's plane as she flew for a visit to India on Tuesday, delaying her arrival and sparking a diplomatic row. Merkel was held up as she flew overnight on Monday-Tuesday for a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi.
"Hindering the German chancellor's passage over Iran is absolutely unacceptable. It shows a lack of respect towards Germany that we will not accept," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement. He summoned the Iranian ambassador in Berlin to "make it very plain that such a breach of international conventions will in no way be tolerated by Germany."
The reasons for the delay were not immediately known and a second plane with four of Merkel's ministers and other delegation members was not held up.
Merkel, speaking at a news conference with Singh, declined to go into detail about the inconvenience, which saw her plane circle for two hours over Turkey before receiving permission to cross Iran, according to reports. "I am very glad I arrived safely here," she said. "Everything has turned out excellently. We got to hold the Indo-German consultation. That is the most important thing." Her troubled arrival overshadowed the meeting with Singh, during which the two leaders agreed to strengthen economic ties between Europe's biggest economy and one of the world's fastest-growing markets.
They also discussed regional security and Afghanistan, where Germany has been reported to be helping mediate secret, direct talks between the United States and the Taliban.
Merkel stressed that Germany would host the next Afghanistan conference at the end of the year and was seeking reconciliation of all forces in the country "if those forces fulfill all conditions such as renouncing the use of force." The German leader also pressed the case for the Euro fighter Typhoon fighter jet, made jointly by a European consortium including Germany, which is competing for a $12 billion deal up for grabs in India. "We are convinced that we have the best product on offer compared with others," she told reporters.
The Euro fighter is up against the France-made Rafale produced by defense contractor Dassault.
Germany is India's biggest trading partner in Europe, with bilateral trade at 15.4 billion Euros ($21 billion) in 2010. Indian officials forecast that this figure will grow to 20 billion Euros by 2012. The meeting came a day after Germany announced it would phase out its atomic plants by 2022, a global first by a major country in the wake of the disaster in March at Japan's Fukushima plant. India, meanwhile, has announced plans to dramatically increase its nuclear power capacity and has been in talks with Russian, French, Japanese and US groups to build new plants across the country. At present, three percent of India's electricity comes from nuclear power but the government wants to increase that to six percent by the end of the decade and 13 percent by 2030.Source Agence France Presse

IDF chief: Israel faces growing range of threats, from 'knife to nuclear'

By Jonathan Lis /Haaretz/The Israel Defense Forces will ask the state to increase its defense budget significantly to contend with the growing terror threats in the region, Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said on Tuesday. "The spectrum of threats in light of the changes in the Middle East is growing," Gantz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "These threats range from knife to nuclear – from the knife used in a single terror attack to a nuclear Iran." "The threats of the past are still in force, but new threats are developing that require the ability to operate in a number of different theaters with strength and determination," Gantz said, adding that this "new spectrum of threats requires a new and broader budget framework for the defense establishment." One such threat was the upcoming aid flotilla bound from Turkey to the Gaza Strip, one year after the deadly Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara ship. "The flotilla organizers are working to inflame hatred and provocation against Israel and not out of desire to help the population in Gaza."
"There is no humanitarian crisis" in Gaza, Gantz declared. "Every day, hundreds of trucks enter filled with food and materials. The IDF will work to stop any attempt to break through the naval blockade." The international community has recognized the validity of this blockade, said Gantz, adding that even United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon recently defended its legality while blasting the illegality of the aid flotillas.

Syria to Become Iranian Vassal or Saudi Ally
By Robert Rabil and Walid Phares
American Thinker
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/syria_to_become_iranian_vassal.html
The Arab popular movements clamoring for reform in the Middle East have not only reached the shore of Syria, but have also spread throughout the country. The initial attitude of the regime, as expressed by Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, that Damascus is immune to Arab protests sweeping the region, has been turned on its head. The Syrian regime is deeply concerned about the growing protests in the country, which have been gradually but steadily breaking new taboos. The unheard of call for the removal of the regime has become a rallying cry for protesters, who have been smashing statues of the Asad family.
The gravity of the unfolding situation is symbolized by the reach of the protests to the heart of Damascus, the Maydan, despite attempts by the Syrian security forces to check the expansion of the protests to urban areas, especially Damascus. The Maydan in Damascus symbolizes the pillar upon which the power of the regime rests. It is where the Alawi military-Sunni merchant complex thrives as a ballast for the Asad regime. After all, it was the Damascene merchant class in the early 1980s that saved the regime of late Syrian president Hafez al-Asad from the rebellious Muslim Brotherhood. Since then, this alliance between Sunnis and Alawis has grown in intermarriages, wealth, but also in corruption. It is this hybrid class that supported the regime's erratic, and in most cases, insignificant reforms, for the sake of stability.
But this time around, the protest movement has grown beyond the grasp of the Syrian bureaucracy and the country's fearsome security services. It has taken a multi-dimensional character hardly possible for the regime to subdue, but also difficult for the opposition to mold into a singular leadership. No longer can the regime successfully single out, clamp down on, or divide the leadership of the opposition, as it had done since President Asad assumed power in 2000.
Thanks to social media, the leadership of the opposition has become a collective one. Opposition members, such as Ammar abd al-Hammid, have interfaced and mobilized Syrian youth from the diaspora through Facebook. They have also helped create in Syria a multitude of leadership groups guided by seasoned activists from diverse backgrounds. Conversely, as a consequence of both the regime's superficial policies and harsh actions the opposition has become linked to a broad societal group that cuts across sects, gender, and class.
By firing at protesters, even as they mourn the loss of their loved ones, the regime has not only created a cycle of revanchism, but also a crucible of common grievances shared by inter- and intra-communal groups and sects. The expansion of the protests throughout Syria, in spite of the regime's concessions of repealing emergency rule and abolishing security courts, is undoubtedly both a product and a growth of common grievances and the collectiveness of the opposition's leadership. Simply put, the regime has de-legitimized itself by its brutal actions. But this does not mean that the Syrian regime will not fight for its survival or the opposition will not create the critical mass needed to overpower the regime. Arguably, inasmuch as the protest movement grows bolder, the regime may use indiscriminate and brutal power to fight for its survival. True, the regime may have prevailed over the Alawi community by convincing it that its survival is linked to that of its own; yet it has not irreversibly secured the critical allegiance of the merchant class, especially in Damascus and Aleppo. Reportedly, this merchant class has become nervous about the regime's growing recourse to violence and de-legitimization on the domestic and international levels. As one pre-eminent Damascene reformer told me: Syrian authorities are acting as outlaws and are being perceived as outlaws.
But, most ominously for the protest movement in the time being is the emergence of Damascus as the battle grounds for Iran to re-assert its regional authority and policy. Tehran can ill afford the loss of the Syrian regime as a regional ally and a nodal point for its projection of power and deterrence strategy against Israel. Hezb'allah, Iran's proxy militia, can also ill afford a regime change that may put the Islamist party far out on a limb by severing the overland weapons supply from Tehran and denying the party Syria's strategic depth. In his recent speech, Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezb'allah, asserted that "the downfall of the Asad regime is an American and Israeli interest," and added that "we should all be protective of the security and stability of Syria." Consequently, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezb'allah's militants have systematically expanded their operations in Syria in order to protect the regime.
No less significant, Iranian involvement in Syria has been counteracted by Saudi support of Syrian opposition groups. In fact, the Saudis, and by extension the Hariri's Mustaqbal party, had politically supported opposition groups following the murder of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005 up until the beginning of the rapprochement between King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and President Asad in 2009. True, the monarchy does not like to see radical changes in Syria; yet its concern about Iran's regional projection of power partly through mobilizing Arab Shi'a has emboldened some Saudi leaders, including Interior Minister Prince Nayef, who practically runs the daily affairs of the kingdom, to try to frustrate Iranian regional policies and activities. Consequently, certain Saudi leaders associated with the conservative Saudi religious establishment, in conjunction with Islamists and activists from Tripoli in northern Lebanon, have supported religious scholars as a conduit for channeling domestic opposition to the Syrian regime. It is no coincidence that some mosques have emerged as a rallying place for protesters. The Saudis and their allies are apparently trying to shake the merchant-military alliance by putting communal pressure on the Sunni merchant class.
The protest movement in Syria has become inadvertently associated with a grim battle of wills between Iran and its allies on one side, and Saudi Arabia and its allies on the other. This battle may not only decide the future of Syria, but also the future of the region. The international community's approach towards Syria has been thus far cautious and reserved, despite targeting the senior figures of the regime with sanctions. Barring a concerted international effort to support the Syrian opposition and to pressure the Syrian merchant class, there is little chance the regime may change its horrific policies. In fact, the current international policy is only deepening Iranian influence in Syria and turning Damascus into an Iranian vassal state paying tribute to Tehran.

Army may prevent June 5 protesters reaching border fence

Mohammed Zaatari The Daily Star SIDON:
The Lebanese Army may hold back protesters planning to demonstrate on the border with Israel Sunday to mark Naksa for fear of a repeat of the events of Nakba Day, when at least 15 people were killed by Israeli gunfire, security sources said Tuesday. “The army has reservations about allowing protesters to reach the border,” one source told The Daily Star Tuesday.
“We won’t allow a repeat of what happened on Nakba Day in terms of killings of Palestinians,” the source added, in response to Facebook campaigns which have called for Arabs to march to the Israeli border in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza in order to commemorate the Naksa. Eleven people died after being shot by Israeli soldiers while on the Lebanese side of the border during protests on Nakba Day on May 15. The Nakba, or "Catastrophe," refers to establishment of the Jewish state in 1948 which led to the forcible displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland. The source said that protesters might be allowed to demonstrate as close as the southern village of Khiam, about four kilometers from the Israeli border, but not any closer.“From Khiam, they [the protesters] would be able to see Palestine and express their opinion [without getting into trouble],” the source added.
While Palestinian factions in Lebanon have yet to set the location for the protest, the sources told The Daily Star that Syrian-backed Palestinian groups were readying to mobilize for a massive demonstration Sunday. The sources, however, said they learned that Lebanon-based Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization will not take part in demonstrations outside the refugee camps. A Hamas official in Sidon told The Daily Star that Palestinian factions would soon hold a meeting to announce plans for Naksa day commemorations which marks the exodus of some 300,000 Palestinians during the 1967 Mideast war between Israel and Arab countries.