LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJUNE
03/2011
Biblical Event Of The
Day
The Letter from James: "4:13 Come
now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city, and spend a year
there, trade, and make a profit.” 4:14 Whereas you don’t know what your life
will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears
for a little time, and then vanishes away. 4:15 For you ought to say, “If the
Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.” 4:16 But now you glory in
your boasting. All such boasting is evil. 4:17 To him therefore who knows to do
good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin."
Latest
analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases
from
miscellaneous
sources
Will Outrage at the Torture of a
13-Year-Old Help Syrians Overcome Their Fear of the Regime/TIME/June
03/11
No such thing as the better
devil/By
ZALMAN SHOVAL/June
03/11
The reform ploy/Tony
Badran/June 03/11
Latest News Reports From
Miscellaneous Sources for June 03/11
Security forces kill 15 in Syria’s
Rastan, activist says/Now Lebanon
Syrian Opposition Drafting
Declaration amid Pro-Regime Supporters Protest/Naharnet/AFP
Assad Forms Dialogue Committee as
Hundreds of Political Prisoners Freed/Naharnet
Cairo shuts Gaza's Rafah crossing
to free passage at US insistence/DEBKAfile
WikiLeaks: Syria Most Probably
behind Gebran Tueni’s Assassination/Naharnet
Maronite Meeting Forms Committee to
Follow up on its Decisions/Naharnet
Williams: UNIFIL Attack Highlights
Urgent Need to Form Cabinet/Naharnet
Geagea not fearful for Christians’
future in Lebanon/Now Lebanon
Syrian activists call for
“Children's Friday” protests/Now Lebanon
Nasrallah Calls for Improving
Political System, Ending Debate on Amending Taef/Naharnet
Group calls for rally to liberate
Shebaa Farms/Daily Star
Lebanon Cabinet formation efforts
resumed: Nasrallah/Daily Star
Lebanese worried about national
security/UPI
National Bloc slams Aoun, his
bloc's
ministers/Now Lebanon
Ambassador Connelly Meets Speaker
of Parliament Nabih Berri/iloubnan.info
Jumblat, Miqati and his Tripoli
Allies Deal Blow to June 8 Session/Naharnet
U.S. Reportedly ‘Vetoes’ Bid to
Give 4 Ministries to Hizbullah, Embassy Denies/Naharnet
Lebanese Army Declares Southern
Border ‘Closed Military Zone’/Naharnet
Ban Urges Italy to Maintain Current
Presence in Lebanon/Naharnet
Syrian
Opposition Drafting Declaration amid Pro-Regime Supporters Protest
Naharnet Newsdesk /Syrian opposition groups meeting in Turkey were drafting a
joint declaration Thursday on how to support the revolt against President Bashar
Assad's regime, organizers said. The declaration was expected to be issued
Thursday evening or Friday morning at the Mediterranean resort of Antalya, where
the dissidents have been meeting since Wednesday. Some 300 Syrian activists,
mostly exiles, representing a broad spectrum of political forces opposed to
Assad's regime, are attending the talks, the largest gathering of the opposition
so far. Organizers have said their purpose is to draw up a "roadmap" for a
peaceful and democratic transition in Syria. They have set up several committees
to coordinate anti-regime action, notably to explore ways of supporting
protesters in Syria, both in financial and logistic terms, in areas such as
legal assistance and strengthening Internet media backing the revolt. The
participants, among them members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, have snubbed
a general amnesty for political prisoners, decreed by Assad Tuesday, as a
belated and inadequate move. About 50 regime supporters demonstrated near the
conference venue Thursday, brandishing posters of the Syrian president and
chanting in English "We love Bashar."
"These are people on the payroll of the United States and Israel, they have no
right to represent the Syrian people," one of the demonstrators, Nidal Said,
said of the opposition activists.
Turkish riot police, deployed in numbers in the area, kept the demonstrators
away from the hotel where the conference was held. More than 1,100 civilians
have been killed and at least 10,000 arrested in a brutal crackdown on almost
daily anti-regime demonstrations in Syria since March 15, rights organizations
say.
Security
forces kill 15 in Syria’s Rastan, activist says
June 2, 2011 /Security forces armed with heavy machine-guns shot and killed 15
civilians in Rastan on Thursday, a human rights activist said, adding to a toll
of at least 43 killed in towns of the flashpoint Homs region since Sunday. A
witness, Talal al-Tillawi, meanwhile, said gunfire was also heard in Talbisa,
another town in the same region.
"Security agents in army uniform are carrying out searches. They're smashing up
everything they see, refrigerators, televisions, cars" in Talbisa, which like
Rastan the army has encircled since Sunday, he said. Clashes also occurred in
the Daraa area, a hotbed in southern Syria, where according to Rami Abdel Rahman
of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights four people were killed during raids
on Wednesday night in the town of Hirak. More than 1,100 civilians have been
killed and at least 10,000 arrested in a brutal crackdown across the country,
according to rights organizations.-AFP/NOW Lebanon
Maronite Meeting Forms Committee to Follow up on its Decisions
Naharnet Newsdesk
The Maronite meeting at Bkirki stressed on Thursday the need to hold future
meetings to continue discussions over how to “maintain Lebanon as an example for
democracy and freedom.”
An agreement was reached to form a follow up committee to monitor the
cooperation between them, announced Bishop Samir Mazloum who read the summit’s
closing statement.
The meeting stressed the commitment to partnership and cooperation to build the
state and develop society, adding that Lebanon’s diversity and identity should
be maintained, he stated.
“Balance should also be restored to public administrations through the
Christians’ service in the state,” the statement continued. The Maronite
meeting, headed by Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, brought together around 34
Maronite MPs as well as the country’s top Maronite political leaders meeting at
the seat of the patriarchate in Bkirki. He said after the meeting: “There is no
longer division among them.” Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea
described the Bkirki meeting as “positive and helpful”.
He said: “Our presence together in one room is a step forward.” “There is no
doubt that some issues need to tackled, but the Christians in Lebanon are not in
any danger and they still play an effective role in the country,” he concluded.
Al-Rahi stressed during his opening speech at the meeting the need for
Christians to improve their conditions in Lebanon, urging the Maronite leaders
to seek unity through commitment to the Bible’s teachings. He called for the
separation of religion from the state and politics on the condition of holding
onto the national principles and the public welfare. “As Christians, we’re
committed to the Bible’s principles and the church’s teachings while practicing
our political and economic activities,” he said.
“Unity among Christians won’t be settled without this commitment,” al-Rahi
added. He said participation in state institutions and preservation of the land
guarantee the effective presence of Christians in the country. The gathering was
aimed at bridging the gap among Lebanon’s rival Christian parties. In
Thursday’s meeting, Maronite lawmakers joined the country’s four key Christian
leaders in a follow-up conference under the sponsorship of al-Rahi. The first
icebreaker gathering was held in April between Free Patriotic Movement leader MP
Michel Aoun, Marada Movement head MP Suleiman Franjieh, Phalange Party chief
Amin Gemayel, and LF leader Geagea
No such thing as the better devil
By ZALMAN SHOVAL /J.Post
06/01/2011 23:45
Syria is and will remain a dangerous, unstable country, regardless of who
succeeds Assad.
Swiss bankers usually have a good sense for where the wind is blowing. So
Syria’s Bashar Assad has every reason to be worried by the announcement that
Swiss banks might freeze his personal accounts. Is this the beginning of the end
of the 41-year Assad family regime in Syria? We may not know the answer for some
time, but indications are that it will never be the same. So is that good or bad
– and does it make a difference? More or less everything in the Middle East has
in recent months revolved around the so-called “Arab Spring” and the supposedly
dichotomic changes in the Arab world.
Some, especially in America, view this as a great popular movement in the spirit
of Jefferson and Madison, inspired by the teachings of Locke and Voltaire –
while others, more realistic, like political scientist Robert Kaplan, have
warned that in the Middle East, as central authority dissolves, the issue is not
democracy but the threat of anarchy, and one might add autocracy or theocracy –
and any or all of those developments are conceivable – certainly in Syria.
Though it is a unified state, it isn’t a unified people; tribal and
denominational differences far outweigh any joined identity (just as the
Palestinians are basically a tribal society, boding ill for possible statehood).
One cannot, of course, discuss Syria without mentioning its central role as an
agent of terror. In the US there are voices which hold that with the elimination
of Osama bin Laden, the war on terror is over. This would mean, at least
implicitly, that there are different sorts of terrorists, and that the criteria
applied to al-Qaida or its Pakistani host do not necessarily fit Hamas or
Hezbollah and their protector, Syria (there is justified anger in the US at the
fact that bin Laden’s headquarters was located only a few miles from Pakistan’s
capital Islamabad – but what about Hamas’s and Hezbollah’s headquarters, plumb
in the middle of Damascus?) US administrations, both Democrat and Republican,
have had a largely unfocused view about relations with Syria, as did quite a few
Israelis – with the result that American policy was to engage rather than
confront. There was a brief moment after the demise of Saddam Hussein when this
could have been changed, but the Bush administration didn’t pursue it. The Obama
administration naively tried to open a new chapter with Damascus – to no avail,
misinterpreting the real priorities of the Assad dictatorship.
Sometimes détente works; it worked in Europe and it worked with Egypt after the
Yom Kippur war – president Sadat wanted to rid himself of the Soviet Union and
cast his lot with America. The eventual Egyptian-Israel peace treaty was part of
that. But are there any convincing reasons to believe that Syria wants to sever
its ties with Iran and cast its lot with America? Syria, which murders its
citizens? Syria, which (with the help of North Korea) tried to build a nuclear
reactor? Syria, which has amassed the largest missile arsenal in the world, many
with chemical warheads? Syria, which refuses to loosen its stranglehold on
Lebanon, and which, with Iran, is one of the world’s biggest founts of
terrorism? BUT WHAT about Israel, or more to the point, the chances for peace
between Syria and Israel? Conventional wisdom, which in the Middle East is often
more conventional than wise, maintained that as the Assads’ regime had kept the
Golan border quiet, why risk toppling it? True, it has kept it quiet – and why
wouldn’t it, with the IDF sitting more or less on top of Damascus? But was the
Syrian-Israeli border quiet until 1967, when the Golan was Syrian? It was
nothing of the kind – in fact, it was Israel’s most dangerous border, with
civilians in the north almost continuously under attack. Neither before 1967 nor
after did Syria’s rulers have a real interest in peace with Israel, among other
things because the state of war served as an excuse for maintaining their brutal
military hold. Four Israeli prime ministers – Rabin, Netanyahu, Barak and Olmert
– explored the possibility of peace with Syria, only to be disabused by Syria’s
disingenuousness, including its insolent demand to keep the eastern shore of the
Kinneret and the Hamat-Gader region, a part of mandatory Palestine which it had
grabbed by force after the establishment of the State of Israel.
Turkey’s real or sham efforts to broker a deal between Damascus and Jerusalem
look somewhat suspect in light of its behavior since then. Those who over the
years urged Israel to renounce helter-skelter its claim to the Golan –
supposedly in order to come to an arrangement with the Assad regime (“everyone
knows what the price for peace is”) now look pretty foolish.
Syria is indeed a dangerous place, more than Libya even.
Nothing positive can be said about its present regime, but nor is there any
certainty about who could or would replace it. Another army general? Extreme
Sunni Muslims? Nobody knows. As for Israel, contrary to the state of affairs
with Egypt, about which the concern is that a reasonably stable situation might
unravel – with regards to Syria, an already bad situation can only become worse.
So this is not a case of “better the devil you know” – but rather that one of
the candidates – Assad or those who might replace him – might be a dangerous and
questionable lot.
**The writer is the former Israel Ambassador to the US and currently heads the
Prime Minister's forum of US-Israel Relations.
The reform ploy
Tony Badran,
Now Lebanon
June 2, 2011
Syrian opposition activists walk past a poster showing a dead man reportedly
killed by the Assad regime during the opening session of a three-day meeting in
Antalya to discuss democratic change and voice support for the revolt. (AFP
photo/Adem Altan)
As hundreds of Syrian dissidents and opponents of the regime of Bashar al-Assad
gathered in the Turkish city of Antalya for the Conference for Change in Syria,
the regime was running its own parallel sideshow, announcing measures that
purportedly address demands of the Syrian protest movement. However, given
previous such measures, there is every reason to suspect that this is yet
another tactical ruse by Assad, aimed primarily at foreign actors. In the end,
these announcements are not harbingers of change in the regime’s attitude. The
Assad regime always was and remains incapable of reform.
On Tuesday, Assad issued a typically ambiguous decree, wrongly reported in the
media as a “general amnesty,” reducing sentences for certain crimes and
releasing an unspecified number, and category, of prisoners. Also, official
Syrian sources leaked that Assad would be making a speech “in the next couple of
days” (his first public address in two months) in which he would announce the
establishment of a committee to prepare for a conference for “national
dialogue.”
Dissidents have been understandably skeptical, given that the announcements came
as the regime’s tanks were shelling cities such as Homs and surrounding villages
like al-Rastan and Talbiseh, and the gathering in Antalya quickly dismissed
Assad’s moves.
There are, of course, plenty of other reasons for skepticism and suspicion.
Syrian activists view Assad’s latest ploy in the same light as his previous
“concessions” of supposedly lifting the emergency law (while proceeding with the
brutal crackdown as usual) and extending an ambiguous offer of citizenship to an
unspecified number of “stateless Kurds” (a move that aimed to neutralize the
Kurds and split them off from the opposition).
On the one hand, no one really knows who is actually included in the decree – an
opaqueness exacerbated by the deliberately convoluted legal jargon, the numerous
exceptions it lists, as well as by the discrepancy between the actual content of
the decree and the way the official Syrian Arab News Agency reported it. On the
other hand, as several rights activists have asked, are prisoners of conscience
to be treated as common criminals? If so, will their sentences merely be
reduced? And will their “crimes” even fall under the listed exceptions? (One
such exception, for instance, would exclude the detained blogger Tall al-Malouhi.)
None of this is clear.
The ambiguity, of course, is intentional, and is the standard modus operandi of
the Assad dictatorship. The net result is to make all rights utterly arbitrary,
dependent on the whims of Bashar al-Assad. In addition, the regime’s move aims
at forcing Syrians to accept its categories and its classification of dissent as
a crime.
Meanwhile, the announcement on the “national dialogue” is another marvel of
Baathist theater. The committee tasked with preparing the national dialogue
conference, which Assad will supposedly unveil in his upcoming speech, will be
headed by that beacon of reform, Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa, and it will
include “independents” such as regime publicist Ibrahim Daraji, alongside
lackeys of the Baath.
As for whom the regime will invite to this dialogue, anonymous Syrian sources
told AKI that it will likely be “neutral” and “independent” figures, who would
be invited in a personal capacity, and not as representatives of any opposition
group. The Baath Party, and the sham parties of the allied National Progressive
Front, will also participate. However, it has been explicitly announced already
that Article 8 of the constitution, which stipulates that the Baath is the sole
“leader of the state and society,” will not be discussed, thereby removing all
prospects for political pluralism and participation from the agenda.
In addition, the regime has specified that its “dialogue” will be limited by
“the ceiling of the nation” – code, according to some dissidents, that allows
the regime to classify and handpick interlocutors, and to set the parameters of
the dialogue.
Assad had tried all of these tactics on a provincial level, attempting to avoid
elevating the matter to a national level (also one reason why he has made no
national address since March). However, now that the opposition is beginning to
gain a more visible profile on the international scene, possibly emerging as a
credible interlocutor in Western capitals, Assad wants to make sure to prolong
the indulgence he has so far enjoyed.
In fact, according to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat's sources, the recent surprise visit to
Iraq by the Syrian foreign minister was in order to relay a message to the US,
through the Iraqis, that “the Syrian leadership is intent on actualizing the
required reforms as quickly as possible.” Also, Assad was likely trying to
placate the Turks, who have expressed increasing impatience with his lack of
responsiveness to their advice.
However, as evident from the initial American (and, to some extent, even
Turkish) reactions, it does not seem that anyone is impressed by Assad’s ploy.
Nevertheless, the Syrian dictator’s maneuver only highlights the absurdity of
the West’s, particularly the US’s, call on Assad to “lead the transition.”
This policy was always doomed to fail miserably. As activist Razan Zaytouneh put
it yesterday, the Assad regime’s “repressive mindset is incapable of change.”
Washington needs to finally acknowledge this fact publicly and proceed with
crafting a new policy for a post-Assad Syria.
*Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Geagea not fearful for Christians’ future in Lebanon
June 2, 2011 /Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said on Thursday that he does
not fear the fate of the Christians in Lebanon.
“No danger faces the Christians’ [future] in Lebanon; they have all the elements
needed to survive and interact in Lebanon and the Middle East,” he said while
leaving the Maronite gathering that took place in Bkirki. The LF leader also
said that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s point of view on
developing the Lebanese system is not far from his stance on the issue. “We
should always develop where there are gaps, […] and for the [system’s]
development to take place we need a compromise among all the Lebanese
[parties].”
A meeting between Maronite top leaders, MPs and ministers was held earlier on
Thursday in Bkirki under the supervision of Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros
al-Rai.
Nasrallah said on Wednesday that the Lebanese parties should review the
country’s political system.-NOW Lebanon
Syrian activists call for “Children's Friday” protests
June 2, 2011
Anti-regime activists in Syria have called for fresh demonstrations under the
banner of "Children's Friday," snubbing government concessions which the
opposition says have come too late.
The protests are to honor the children killed in the uprising, such as
13-year-old Hamza al-Khatib whom activists say was tortured to death, a charge
denied by the authorities.
The UN children's agency UNICEF says at least 30 children have been shot dead in
the revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's autocratic rule which
erupted mid-March.
"The people want the fall of the regime. Tomorrow, it's 'Children's Friday' of
rising up against injustice, like the adults," the activists announced on their
Facebook page Syrian Revolution 2011, an engine of the revolt.More than 1,100
civilians have been killed and at least 10,000 arrested in a brutal crackdown on
almost daily anti-regime demonstrations in Syria, rights organizations say. -AFP/NOW
Lebanon
Will Outrage at the Torture of a 13-Year-Old Help Syrians Overcome Their Fear of
the Regime?
By A Correspondent in Syria /Wednesday, June 01, 2011
TIME/To the untrained ear, Syrian President Bashar Assad's Tuesday offer of
amnesty for "all members of political movements" may sound resoundingly
generous. But his opponents know that anything sugarcoated offered by the Syrian
regime has had a violent and bitter follow-through. Indeed, a look at the fine
print makes Assad's beneficence vanish. The new law does not pardon all
political prisoners, it only reduces their sentences — replacing death with a
life sentence of hard labor, for example. Furthermore, since the vast majority
of the 10,000 or so protesters who have been arrested have not been convicted,
the amnesty will not apply to them.
The Syrian government believes it knows better than to go soft. Its manipulation
of fear and apathy has prevented the protests from gaining the momentum needed
for a popular revolt. For every young person taking to the streets around the
country, there are hundreds of men and women who stay home in trepidation. The
threat of arrest, torture and death is tangible there, and the methodological
use of violence propels horror stories to keep people at home.
(See photos of the protests in Syria.)
"People who have been in prison say the guards make you feel like s--- but you
can't do anything. They use bad words to break your honor and they beat you,"
says an activist, whose brother and friends have spent time in prison for
attending protests. "They hurt your soul and your body," she says. "A friend of
mine said that because he felt so helpless when he was in prison, when he was
released he stayed at home for five days. He couldn't leave." She adds, "One of
my friends was so badly beaten that his back looked like it was painted with
strokes of a brush, black and blue." The prisoners say they are forced to chant
proregime chants. One chant goes: "My soul, my blood, we give it to you, Bashar."
Over the past few days, a harrowing story of the alleged torture and killing
spread among activists. The body of Hamza al-Khatib, a 13-year-old boy who was
arrested a month ago in the Dara'a region, was returned to his family last
Wednesday. "A doctor who examined the body found that that before the boy had
died, he had been beaten with sticks and shoes. He was shot many times and his
face was unrecognizable from swelling," one activist said. "They cut off his
penis before he died."
Such tales, as horrific as they seem, are not surprising to most Syrians. Men
who have spent time in jail wonder why foreigners are interested in the methods
used by the security forces; few understand how abhorrent and shocking it is to
people out of the country. But could al-Khatib's story make the difference? A
picture of the teen's body, his face swollen and a hole in his chest, was posted
on the Syrian Revolution 2011 page on Facebook. Activists are hoping the
regime's fear strategy will finally backfire and that anger at stories like al-Khatib's
will compel Syria's silent dissidents to take to the streets.
Overcoming fear will not be easy because the repression is ubiquitous.
Human-rights groups there report that over 10,000 people have been detained
across the country. Prisoners are often not held for more than a few days, but
observers say there are "rolling detentions" whereby protesters are arrested,
tortured and released before more suspected dissidents are arrested. "Beatings
are normal in Syria. We expect it," says an activist who asked to be called
Ahmed and is from a town on the Mediterranean coast. He says that security
forces and plainclothes cops went to his suburb and rounded up all the males
ages 15 to 75. They broke into houses and said they were "looking for guns," but
stole "money, gold and jewelry. Even small things like cigarette lighters."
"[The security forces] took us to the main square and beat us with sticks. When
they are beating you, you feel nothing. The only thing that is going through
your mind is life or death," Ahmed says. He and his neighbors were told to lie
on the floor. "The men walked over our bodies, telling us we are animals and
making us praise the President." When asked if he complied, Ahmed laughs and
says, "Of course. If you don't, you're dead." "They held us for hours there," he
says. "Some older men fell into comas from the beatings," he adds, as his voice
cracks and his eyes fill with tears.
The plainclothes mukhabarat are Syria's ubiquitous secret police. An omnipresent
force, it's a disjointed group that has grown over four decades of Baathist rule
— freelancers who often work only loosely with Syria's official security
services. "If you get mistakenly arrested by the mukhabarat, it doesn't matter
how important you are," a Syrian journalist says. "It'll take about three days
for news of your arrest to get to officials and you won't enjoy those three days
at all." Looking closely at YouTube videos of police beating protesters, they
are the plainclothes men kicking the downed demonstrators and beating them with
sticks.
Even if fear is overcome, the demonstrators still have to persuade people that
life would be better without Assad. Many Syrians are choosing to ignore the
unrest — in absolute terms, people there have become richer since Assad took
power in 2000. Many there are frustrated with government brutality and
corruption, but they have a reasonable standard of life and are willing to
compromise on democratic rights. "I would say 20% of people here are with Bashar
and 15% are against. The other 65% just don't want trouble or violence," a
senior Western diplomat says. It is now accepted as fact, even among activists,
that some antigovernment protesters are using guns to fight security forces.
This plays in to the regime's argument that sectarian strife will boil over if
Assad is overthrown. "If you don't allow people to protest peacefully, pushing
them underground, they resort to violence. It's the fault of the regime," the
diplomat says.
Equally, with 65% of all Syrians under the age of 26, there is a whole
generation of people there who have grown up without any substantial political
discourse — reading state newspapers and watching state TV. "The Assad family
has ruled for 40 years. There is so much indoctrination in schools; a diet of
regime propaganda that people take as a given. It's not North Korea, but it's up
there," the diplomat says. Protests remain isolated and are dispersed quickly,
so most Syrians have not seen the unrest firsthand.
Nevertheless, the protests, as disparate as they may be, are unrelenting and
growing in number and frequency if not size. Disjointed smaller demonstrations
are now occurring throughout the week — not just on Fridays after people gather
for prayers — and disorder in the suburbs of Damascus is encroaching closer to
the city center.
(See why there's a pretense of calm in Syria's capital.)
Observers say the government may be effective at stopping people taking to the
streets, but it is only a short-term solution. "There may be order, but
something has changed and Syria won't go back to how it was," a Syrian
journalist says. "Because the government has now accepted that the country is in
turmoil, people are able to speak about the unrest," he adds. Open criticism of
the regime is taboo there, but now that anchors are speaking openly on state TV
about a contingent of Syrians who want to depose Assad — albeit "criminals and
terrorists" — it has opened up a debate. People can, at the very least, now talk
about dissent. And by doing so, provide subtle hints about where their
sympathies lie.
Cairo shuts Gaza's Rafah crossing to free passage at US insistence
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report June 2, 2011, Just four days after the much-heralded
opening of the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Sinai to free passage,
Cairo virtually shut it down Tuesday, May 31, by a series of tight bureaucratic
restrictions on Palestinian exit and entry.
debkafile's military and Washington sources disclose that Military Council
Chairman Field Marshal Mohammed Tantawi personally signed the new orders in
response to an insistent US demand based on the information that since the Rafah
crossing opened to free passage Saturday, May 28, Palestinian and al Qaeda
terrorists had swarmed through and were roaming at large across Sinai and laying
the Suez Canal and its coastal cities open to attack. Washington warned him that
terrorists still unlisted by Western or Egyptian counter-terror agencies would
be free to reach Egypt, carry out attacks and return to the Gaza Strip
unhindered unless careful restrictions were imposed to weed them out.
Tuesday, May 31, Tantawi informed Washington that new restrictions virtually
shutting down the Rafah crossing were in place. Egypt then acceded to a US
request to receive an Israeli defense official and discuss security coordination
between Cairo and Jerusalem around their borders.
Amos Gilad, political adviser at the Israeli Defense Ministry, arrived in Cairo
Wednesday and held talks with Egyptian officials, including intelligence
minister Murad Muwafi, who briefed him on the new security measures at the Rafah
border crossing, as first revealed here by debkafile's military sources:
1. Egypt has handed the Hamas government a blacklist of 5,000 Palestinians
barred from access to the Rafah border post and entry to Egypt. It covers the
entire operations levels of the military arms of Hamas, Jihad Islami, the
Palestinian "Fronts" and other extremist organizations based in the Gaza Strip.
2. Daily passage is limited to a quota of 400 – compared with 1,000-2,000
Palestinians who accessed the crossing in its first three days.
3. Palestinians seeking to travel for medical treatment will first be examined
by an Egyptian medical panel which must approve their applications.
4. Cairo wants the list of 400 candidates for passage submitted in advance and
does not promise permits for them all.
When informed of the new restrictions, Hamas leaders hit the ceiling and
threatened Egypt's military rulers with painful payback. Mahmoud a-Zahar, a top
Hamas official in Gaza, was especially aggrieved. The news reached him in
Damascus where he had boasted of Hamas-Gaza's success in achieving free passage
between the Palestinian enclave and Egypt. Its leaders are now threatening,
among other punitive measures, to have its troops shut down the Rafah crossing
hermetically and show the world "the real face" of the military rulers of Egypt
towards the Palestinians.
Williams: UNIFIL Attack Highlights Urgent Need to Form Cabinet
Naharnet Newsdesk
U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams stressed on Thursday the
urgent need to form a cabinet that can address challenges at the security level.
“Incidents such as the attack on UNIFIL highlight the urgent need for a
government in Lebanon that can address challenges at the security level,”
Williams said about the roadside bomb that targeted U.N. peacekeepers in the
south last Friday. “I believe quite strongly that the formation of a new
government will help alleviate security concerns as well as the social and
economic issues,” he said after talks with Premier-designate Najib Miqati.
Williams said he thanked Miqati for strongly condemning the attack on the
Italian troops and “for his strong and continued support for UNIFIL.” The
diplomat welcomed Miqati’s renewed expression of commitment to Security Council
resolution 1701, which he said must be accompanied by additional efforts with
regards to the remaining parts of the resolution. All parties should
respect the U.N.-drawn Blue Line at this volatile time, Williams said.
Nasrallah Calls
for Improving Political System, Ending Debate on ‘Amending Taef’
Naharnet Newsdesk /Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on
Wednesday called for “acknowledging the flaws” in the Lebanese constitution and
ending the years-old debate in the country over amending the Taef Accord, which
ended the 1975-1990 civil war. Nasrallah called instead for working on improving
the Lebanese political system through dialogue and away from sectarian
considerations. “We all want the rise of the State in Lebanon … and in principle
none of the Lebanese rejects the rise of the State,” Nasrallah added in a
televised speech on the 22nd anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, the founder of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. “We believe in a
strong and unified state,” said Nasrallah, noting that “the situation in the
country is too complicated to introduce a new constitution.” “The government can
appoint individuals to develop the political system in a manner that can
accommodate the changes in Lebanon and appease all sides,” Hizbullah number one
suggested. Addressing the current cabinet formation impasse, Nasrallah said
Lebanon has always encountered government formation crises. “We want to aid the
Prime Minister-designate (Najib Miqati) and we will not present a proposal that
can harm his efforts” to form a new cabinet, said Nasrallah. “Efforts are
underway and we will not stop until we reach a result,” he vowed, during a
ceremony organized by the Iranian embassy in Beirut to commemorate Khomeini.
“Some political leaders must realize that Lebanon is not an isolated island in
the region,” Nasrallah said. “We shouldn’t ignore the developments concerning
the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and we must preserve the State and its unity
and institutions, especially the army,” he added. On a separate note, Nasrallah
called on the Lebanese to “stand by the Palestinian people, regardless of our
religious affiliations.”
WikiLeaks: Syria Most Probably behind Gebran Tueni’s Assassination
Naharnet Newsdesk /Syria was likely behind the assassination of MP Gebran Tueni
in 2005, which was aimed at silencing his caustic remarks against the regime of
President Bashar Assad, stated a leaked U.S. Embassy cable dated December 19,
2005, published exclusively in al-Jumhuriya newspaper on Wednesday. The
WikiLeaks cable added that the assassination was also a message to the Lebanese
opposition that “no one can protect them.” Syrian sources said that the murder
was also a blow to the “intellectual leadership” within the camp, adding:
“Contrary to the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri, Tueni’s
murder was not a mistake and Syria will pay the price for it for some 40 days.”
“The assassination will have long-term repercussions on the Lebanese opposition
because Tueni acted as its intellectual force,” they said. On the regional
scene, his killing will not have the same affect as Hariri’s murder because the
Saudis didn’t view the MP as an ally and he wasn’t a Sunni figure either, they
continued. Meanwhile, an expert on foreign relations stated that Syria wanted to
tell the Lebanese opposition that “despite all the pressures it was under, it is
still here and can target it. None of your new friends can protect you.”
“Tueni’s murder was not a strong enough message and so Druze leader MP Walid
Jumblat or his ally Marwan Hamadeh may be the next targets,” he said.
“The opposition now believes that oppression and arrests in Lebanon will
increase after Tueni’s assassination,” he noted. The murder also served as a
message to the United States and France, and that is: “The Syrian government
considers Lebanon to be of great strategic interest and it is prepared to take
great risks and wage a dirty game in order to protect it.”
The foreign relations expert added: “It’s as if Syria is trying to say that it
is behind the MP’s murder, but it can also escape its punishment.”
“If it was behind the assassinations, then it demonstrates that the Syrian
regime, with its long history of political assassinations on the internal and
regional scenes, is incapable of change or implementing any actual political
reform,” he said. The expert added however that Assad may not have been
necessarily the one who ordered the assassination “as he does not have absolute
control over the regime.” Furthermore, a source monitoring the situation in the
region added that the entire Syrian government was not behind the assassination,
but members within the government and military intelligence were possibly
responsible. They are seeking to spoil Assad’s efforts to positively cooperate
with Detlev Mehils, then head of the investigation into Hariri’s assassination,
by destabilizing Lebanon, it remarked.
Jumblat, Miqati and his Tripoli Allies Deal Blow to June 8 Session
Naharnet Newsdesk /Head of the National Struggle Front bloc Walid Jumblat
reportedly opposes a planned parliamentary session aimed at renewing the mandate
of the Central Bank governor and might boycott the meeting on June 8. Jumblat’s
sources told As Safir daily on Thursday that the Druze leader prefers to resort
to a “mobile draft-law” to renew Riyad Salameh’s mandate rather than holding a
session amid the absence of a government. According to al-Liwaa newspaper,
Jumblat is setting the stage for “leaving his new position within the March 8
forces and form a coalition with President (Michel Suleiman) and (PM-designate
Najib) Miqati.” The leader of the Progressive Socialist Party might boycott the
session along with Miqati. An Nahar daily also said that members of Jumblat’s
bloc, Miqati and his allies in Tripoli Mohammed Safadi and Ahmed Karami have
decided not to attend the June 8 session over fears that it would increase the
divide among the different parties. Such a move would be a blow to Berri’s
efforts and won’t guarantee a quorum. But the speaker has insisted that he would
keep calling for sessions until quorum is achieved. According to An Nahar, March
8 and 14 leaders were seeking to resort to a centrist approach rather than
holding a parliamentary session or adopting the so-called mobile draft-law which
lies on referring the decree to several ministers for signature. The approach
would be based on a decision by Berri to task the caretaker cabinet to take the
necessary measures to renew Salameh’s mandate. But both sides failed to reach a
deal on the issue, An Nahar said.
Assad Forms Dialogue Committee as Hundreds of Political Prisoners Freed
Naharnet Newsdesk /Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Wednesday launched a
"national dialogue" while freeing hundreds of political prisoners in an amnesty
opposition groups and Washington say does not go far enough. State television
said Assad had set up a committee and charged it with "formulating general
principles of dialogue that will open the way for the creation of an appropriate
climate in which the different elements can express themselves and present their
proposals."
The committee will include Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa, senior
members of the ruling Baath Party and the National Progressive Front (NPF, a
coalition of parties led by Baath), as well as one author and one teacher. "All
parties should contribute to widening participation (in the political process),
to the development of an electoral law and to a law on political parties," Assad
said. The opposition has previously dismissed calls for dialogue, saying that
this can take place only once the violence ends, political prisoners are freed
and reforms adopted.
The demand that prisoners be freed was partially met on Wednesday when,
according to a rights activist, hundreds of detainees were released from prisons
across the country under an amnesty declared by Assad on Tuesday. "Hundreds of
people have been released," said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the London-based
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"Fifty of them are from Banias, including the 76-year-old poet Ali Derbak," he
added, but "thousands of political prisoners remain in jail and are to be
released at any time."
Leaders of the communist Labor Party were unable to benefit from the amnesty as
the decree excluded people convicted of joining "an organization to change the
social and economic status of the state," said Rahman, reached by telephone. He
also claimed that a civilian was killed Wednesday in Rastan, near Homs, where 20
corpses had been taken to hospital.
More than 1,100 civilians have been killed and at least 10,000 arrested since
protests against Assad's autocratic government erupted in mid-March, human
rights organizations say.
Washington, which has been upping the pressure by slapping sanctions on key
regime members, said the release of "100 or so political prisoners does not go
far enough."
"We need to see all political prisoners released. We need to see meaningful
movement toward reform," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told
reporters.
Syrian opposition groups meeting in Turkey on Wednesday to plan for Assad's
demise too snubbed the amnesty offer.
The three-day gathering -- titled "Conference for Change in Syria" -- opened
with the Syrian national anthem and a minute of silence for "the martyrs" killed
in bloody crackdowns on street protests simmering in Syria. "The Syrian people
are calling for the fall of the regime," said Melhem al-Durubi, the head of the
Muslim Brotherhood delegation in the coastal resort of Antalya.
"He should simply leave," he said, adding that Assad "should be tried for his
crimes."
Speakers said Assad's amnesty offer did not go far enough and came too late.
"We demanded this amnesty several years ago," said Abdul Razak Eid, an activist
from the Damascus Declaration, a reformist group launched in 2005 to demand
democratic change, "but it's late in coming." Other international response to
Tuesday's presidential decree was tepid at best. French Foreign Minister Alain
Juppe demanded "more ambitious and bolder" action from Syria. "I fear that it
might already be too late," he told France Culture radio. Turkey, while not
dismissing the decree outright, also asked for deeper change.
Meanwhile, in Aleppo's central prison, a mutiny by its 7,000 inmates was quashed
by security forces and the army Wednesday morning, according to Germany-based
rights group Syrian Center for the Defense of Prisoners of Conscience. And Syria
denied that a boy aged 13, whom opposition activists say died under torture, had
been abused by security forces, labeling the accusations as lies. A medical
report published by Syrian official media said three bullets killed teenager
Hamza al-Khatib and that other apparent wounds on his body were due to
decomposition, not security force brutality.
"The report closes the door on the lies and allegations and shows the truth,"
said the official news agency SANA. The activists said the boy had disappeared
since taking part in a demonstration in the southern region of Daraa on April
29, which he decided to join after police killed his cousin. The U.N. Children's
Fund (UNICEF) has said that at least 30 children have been killed by gunfire
since the revolt began. The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch meanwhile prepared to
release a report detailing a raft of abuses in Daraa.
HRW said its report showed abuses in the flashpoint region were "not only
systematic but implemented as part of a state policy" and likely to "qualify as
crimes against humanity."
The government insists the unrest is the work of "armed terrorist gangs" backed
by Islamists and foreign agitators. *Source Agence France Presse
U.S. Reportedly ‘Vetoes’ Bid to Give 4 Ministries to Hizbullah, Embassy Denies
Naharnet Newsdesk/The United States has informed parties involved in the
formation of the government that it had “vetoed” giving Hizbullah and its allies
four main portfolios, al-Liwaa daily reported Thursday. The newspaper said that
the vetoed ministries include the interior, defense, justice and
telecommunications portfolios. According to the report, the four ministries
“should not be granted to personalities from the new (parliamentary) majority”
or those with close ties to it. However, the U.S. embassy denied the report.
Embassy Spokesman Ryan Gliha told Naharnet that “the U.S. considers the makeup
of Lebanon’s government to be strictly a Lebanese decision.” “We call on all
parties in Lebanon to protect the government formation process from any external
interference,” he said. “The U.S. believes that the international community will
assess its relationship with any new government of Lebanon based on the makeup
of the next cabinet, its ministerial statement and the action it takes in regard
to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and Lebanon’s other international
obligations,” Gliha added.
Lebanese Army Declares Southern
Border ‘Closed Military Zone’
Naharnet Newsdesk /The Lebanese army has declared Fatima Gate and the
barbed-wire fence along the southern border with Israel as a closed military
zone.
A rally is expected to be staged on Sunday in commemoration of the Naksa Day to
mark the anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war, in which Israel captured the West
Bank, Gaza Strip, east Jerusalem and Golan Heights. According to information
obtained by As Safir newspaper on Thursday, contacts are ongoing with the
Palestinian factions to select the area where protesters are to kick off their
rally. “We’re seeking a point that can preserve the protesters’ security and
that can achieve our goals. Al-Khiam detention center might be the place of
rally,” the daily said. As Safir reported that military attaches of the
countries participating in UNIFIL and the five permanent members of the Security
Council held a meeting late Wednesday with high-ranking officers in the Lebanese
army intelligence. The conferees discussed the issue of the southern and
northern borders. The Lebanese officers stressed “the continuous cooperation
with UNIFIL under resolution 1701.” They also vowed to continue with the probe
into the attack on the Italian contingent in Sidon last week, the newspaper
said.
Ban Urges Italy to Maintain Current Presence in Lebanon
Naharnet Newsdesk /U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon has voiced hope that Italy will
not draw down its peacekeeping force in Lebanon in the wake of the recent attack
on its contingent in the south. "I hope that Italy will maintain the current
levels of its Lebanon contingent, in spite of the tragic attack on the Italian
UNIFIL convoy," Ban told ANSA news agency on Wednesday.
A roadside bomb struck a UNIFIL logistics convoy on the main highway near the
southern port city of Sidon last Friday, wounding six Italian peacekeepers, one
of them critically, and two Lebanese civilians. Italy's defense minister Ignazio
La Russa has said that his nation's contingent might be sharply reduced. La
Russa told La Repubblica newspaper that Italy is considering cutting its
contingent from the 1,700 soldiers now to some 1,100 troops. "As we are no
longer in command of the mission, then we should reduce our contribution as soon
as possible," he noted. Italy has "no intention of abandoning Lebanon
unilaterally," but it has "too many" soldiers deployed there, the minister
added.
The blast came as fears of security breaches are mounting in Lebanon, which has
entered its fifth month without a government. There are also fears the unrest in
neighboring Syria could spill over into the country. The Italian contingent is
the largest of the 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force. Over 250 UNIFIL
personnel have been killed since the force first deployed to southern Lebanon in
1978. "Italy is a peace-loving country, and as such fully shares the U.N.'s
objectives," said Ban, adding that he will speak about it personally with the
Italian premier, Silvio Berlusconi. The Secretary-General is among 80 foreign
delegations now in Rome to celebrate Italy's 150th anniversary on June 2. UNIFIL
was initially set up to monitor Lebanon's border with Israel but expanded after
the devastating 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah. The force has been the
target of three other unclaimed attacks, the latest in January 2008 when two
Irish officers were wounded by a roadside bomb. In the deadliest attack, three
Spanish and three Colombian peacekeepers were killed in June of 2007 when a
booby-trapped car exploded as their patrol vehicle drove by.
France Says Ready to Host Mideast Peace Conference
Naharnet Newsdesk /France is ready to host a Middle East peace conference before
the end of July to help re-launch stalled negotiations, France's Foreign
Minister Alain Juppe said on Thursday. Speaking in Ramallah, Juppe warned that
the current stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians was "untenable" and
said France was willing to transform a July meeting of international donors into
a broader peace conference. "We would be prepared, on the basis of a request by
the (Mideast) Quartet, to organize in Paris..., before the end of July, a
conference that would not be simply for the donors but a broader political
conference involving the negotiation process," he said.
Juppe is holding meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials during a
three-day trip, at a time that talks between the two sides are deadlocked over
the issue of Jewish settlement construction. In the absence of negotiations, the
Palestinians have pledged to seek recognition and membership at the United
Nations in September, a move criticized by Israel and the United States. France
has called for the urgent resumption of negotiations, which came to a halt
shortly after they began in September 2010 when a partial freeze on Israeli
settlement construction expired. Israel refused to renew the freeze and the
Palestinians insist they will not hold talks while settlements are being built
on land they want for their future state.
"We are convinced that if nothing happens here by September, the situation will
be very difficult for the whole world when the United Nations General Assembly
meets," Juppe said.
"We must get back around the negotiating table," he added. "Only negotiations
will allow us to envisage an effective and lasting solution for peace."
Juppe proposed that new talks should proceed in two stages, with the first
discussing security and borders, based on the 1967 lines, on the assumption that
a final accord would include mutually-agreed land swaps. The second stage of the
talks, which he said should be completed within a year from its start, would
discuss Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, he said.
France has expressed frustration with the stalled talks, and has hinted that it
may recognize a Palestinian state if negotiations do not resume soon.
"If the peace process is still dead in September, France will face up to its
responsibilities on the central question of recognition of a Palestinian state,"
French President Nicolas Sarkozy told L'Express magazine in May. "The idea that
there is still plenty of time is dangerous. Things have to be brought to a
conclusion" before September, he warned.
Juppe arrived in Israel on Wednesday evening, shortly after meeting with
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Rome, and held talks in Jerusalem with his
Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman. On Wednesday morning, he met with
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and talked with Palestinian youth
activists in the West Bank before heading to Jerusalem for discussions with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Source Agence France Presse
The
slaughter in Syria
June 1/Washington Post
SYRIAN DICTATOR Bashar al-Assad has benefited substantially from the difficulty
the world’s media have had in reporting on the protest movement in Syria and the
regime’s brutal suppression of it. Foreign journalists are banned from Syria and
anyone attempting to film or otherwise report on events since mid-March has been
subject to arrest and torture by security forces. But Mr. Assad does not live in
the world of his father, whose massacre of tens of thousands of people in the
city of Hama in 1982 was not fully reported to the outside world for months.
Today brave Syrians have managed to post hundreds of cellphone videos to the
Internet, documenting the regime’s practice of assaulting unarmed civilians with
tanks, artillery and automatic weapons. One showing the mutilated body of
13-year-old Hamza Ali al-Khatib, who was arrested and murdered by security
forces, has horrified the world and inspired more protests across Syria.
On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch made an important contribution to knowledge
about the events in Daraa, a town and its surrounding province in southwestern
Syria where mass protests first erupted on March 18. Based on interviews with
more than 50 residents and a review of dozens of videos, the group concluded
that at least 418 people have been killed there over the course of 10 weeks and
that the regime’s “abuses qualify as crimes against humanity.” The report is
stomach-turning in its account of what was inflicted on the community of 80,000
and its suburbs. The trouble began, it says, when 15 young boys, aged 10 to 15,
were arrested for anti-regime graffiti; when they were finally released, they
were “bruised and bloodied after what they described as severe torture in
detention.” As mass protests swelled, “security forces deliberately targeted
protesters,” who bared their chests and carried olive branches to show their
peaceful intentions. A mosque where many took refuge was assaulted on March 23,
leading to the deaths of 30.
On April 25, an 11-day siege of the city began, during which anyone taking to
the streets — including children seeking food or medicine — was fired on by
troops or rooftop snipers. When thousands of people marched on the town April 29
in an effort to break the siege, troops again opened fire, killing at least 62,
according to the report.
Two of the witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch were among thousands
detained in Daraa’s soccer stadium on May 1 when, they said, security forces
arbitrarily selected a group of more than 20 young men, lined them up and gunned
them down. Other witnesses described an incident in which several soldiers who
refused to shoot at protesters were themselves shot and killed. Partly due to
the limited information, the world is reacting slowly to these atrocities. The
State Department called the case of Hamza Ali al-Khatib “horrifying” and
“appalling,” but U.S. policy, restated by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton on Tuesday, remains a “hope” that “the Syrian government will end the
brutality and begin a transition to real democracy.” Ms. Clinton ought to read
the Human Rights Watch report. No one who does so could propose such an outcome
with a straight face. Perhaps the United States cannot intervene to save Daraa,
as it did the Libyan city of Benghazi. But the focus of its policy should be
holding Mr. Assad accountable for these crimes — and not pretending that he can
become a legitimate ruler
SYRIA: 15 killed as government troops continue to pound central town
June 2, 2011 /Los Angels Times
At least 15 people were killed early Thursday as government troops continued to
shell the central Syrian town of Rastan, bringing to 57 the total number who
have died there from the bombardment since it began Tuesday, according to a
Damascus-based human rights lawyer. The lawyer told Babylon & Beyond that the
death toll included women and children. Two women were among those killed
Thursday, according to the lawyer. Syrian activist reports say a 4-year-old girl
died in Rastan on Wednesday as a result of the violent crackdown. An eyewitness
in Rastan who gave his name as Abu Nimr told Babylon & Beyond that troops began
shelling the town heavily at around 9 p.m. Wednesday and that the bombardment
lasted until about 4 a.m. Thursday. Mosques and the town's main bakery were
among the buildings hit, he said. He added that planes were circling above
Rastan and surrounding areas Thursday afternoon to monitor activity there.
Private homes were also targeted in Thursday's renewed bombardment, according to
the activist group Local Coordination Committees of Syria, including the homes
of Lt. Zyad Madani and Abdulmoin Fayyad. The families of both were killed,
according to a statement from the group.
The group also asserted that authorities are not allowing food and medicine to
enter Rastan. Syrian troops started their clampdown on Rastan and nearby towns
and areas in the central province of Homs over the weekend. Syrian
government-controlled media, meanwhile, said army units and security forces
arrested members of so-called armed terrorist groups in Rastan on Wednesday.
Syrian authorities have insisted since the outbreak of the pro-democracy
protests that they're fighting armed gangs and terrorists.
Human rights groups say more than 1,100 people have been killed since mid-March
in the government crackdown on foes of President Bashar Assad's regime.
A report released Wednesday by the New York-based group Human Rights Watch said
the Syrian regime's brutal crackdown could "qualify as crimes against humanity."
The group made the allegations in the report titled "We've Never Seen Such
Horror: Crimes Against Humanity in Dara," which is based on more than 50
interviews with victims of abuse and witnesses in and near the besieged southern
town of Dara, the epicenter of anti-government protests. As the crackdown
continues, hundreds of members of Syrian opposition groups from across the
political spectrum have gathered in neighboring Turkey to discuss ways of
changing the regime. The three-day gathering, titled "Conference for Change in
Syria," is expected to end Friday. Media reports said Thursday that the group
was drafting a joint declaration on how to back the uprising. The statement was
expected to be issued later Thursday or Friday morning.--Alexandra Sandels in
Beirut