LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJUNE 25/2011

Bible Quotation for today
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 3:13-17. No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.  And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources 
US indulging in fantasy/By: Tony Badran/June 24/11
Will Syria's fires singe Lebanon?/By Nicholas Blanford/June 24/11
New minister, new mindset in telecoms/By: Matt Nash/June 24/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 24/11
EU Sanctions Head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, 2 Others to Pressure Syria/Naharnet
Report: Indictment Possibly Issued before Policy Statement, Vote of Confidence /Naharnet
Israel: Lebanon Defined as Open border for Smuggled Arms/Naharnet
NLP: Cabinet’s goal is to support Syria, cover for Hezbollah’s arms/Now Lebanon
Hezbollah blasts Bahrain for sentencing Shiite opposition leaders/ M & C
Hizbullah Slams World 'Silence' on Bahrain Activists Life Terms /Naharnet
Cease repression in Syria – Turkey tells Bashar al-Assad/The Guardian
Economic crisis looms as political unrest continues in Syria/Xinhua
Syrian troops said to mass on border with Turkey/Los Angeles Times
More than 1500 refugees flee Syria in one day/AP
Iran And Syria Allied In Brutality/VOA
Syria, Libya and Middle East unrest - live updates/The Guardian
Lebanon's Arabic press digest - June 24, 2011/The Daily Star
France grants eight armored vehicles to LAF/Now Lebanon
New Opinion: Stand-up tragedy/Lebanon Now/24 June/11
In Damascus, calm at the eye of the storm/Reuters
Latest developments in Arab world's unrest/AP
UN sets example with law on domestic workers/The Daily Star
March 14 express explicit desire to topple new government/The Daily Star
Reports of Syrian accounts at Beirut Central Bank overrated: lenders/The Daily Star
How will March 14 approach opposition status/The Daily Star
Lebanese Cabinet statement embroiled in politics/The Daily Star
Report: STL Clause to Be Settled Only after Miqati-Nasrallah Meeting /Naharnet
Beirut/Bomb Scare at Baabda Justice Palace/Naharnet
Miqati Meets Suleiman, Urges Assad to Speed Up Reforms/Naharnet
7 People Charged with Killing Soldier, Civilians in Tripoli Gunfight/Naharnet
March 14 Rolls up Sleeves to ‘Topple’ Miqati's Cabinet/Naharnet
Advanced Stage as President Invites MP to Amsheet/Naharnet

Report: Indictment Possibly Issued before Policy Statement, Vote of Confidence
Naharnet /The indictment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will be issued before the Lebanese cabinet’s policy statement is announced or prior to the parliament’s vote of confidence, sources told al-Liwaa newspaper on Friday. “The release of the indictment is just a matter of time, and might take the government by surprise,” the sources said. In May, the prosecutor of the STL, Daniel Bellemare, filed an amended indictment based on further evidence in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination. The new amended indictment "replaces the indictment of 11 March 2011, to include substantive new elements unavailable until recently," the office of the prosecutor said. The indictment, which is being kept confidential, has to be examined by Belgian judge Daniel Fransen, who has the responsibility of confirming it before arrest warrants or summonses are issued. The tribunal was set up in The Hague in 2009 by the United Nations after a massive car bomb attack killed Hariri and 22 others in Beirut.

EU names Iran Revolutionary Guard commanders in Syria sanctions
Haaretz/The European Union published extended sanctions on Syria on Friday, including the names of three commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard accused of supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad's suppression of dissent. The list, published in the European Union's Official Journal, also included a Syrian property firm, an investment fund and two other enterprises accused of funding Assad's government. According to the Official Journal, the Iranians were Major-General Qasem Soleimani and Brigadier Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari of the Revolutionary Guard, and the Guard's deputy commander for intelligence, Hossein Taeb. Four Syrian officials were also added to the list. The Iranian commanders were accused of providing equipment and support to help suppression of dissent in Syria, in which rights groups say 1,300 civilians have been killed. The Syrian business entities named were Bena Properties, the Al Mashreq Investment Fund, the Hamsho International Group and the Military Housing Establishment. In May, the European Union added Assad and other senior officials to a list of Syrians banned from travelling to the EU and subject to asset freezes. The new list brings the number of individuals and entities targeted to 34.  The move follows a speech by Assad in which he promised reforms to address a wave of protests against his rule, but which opponents said did not meet popular demands for sweeping political change and the European Union called "disappointing". EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Friday were to endorse a statement on Syria condemning "in the strongest possible terms the ongoing repression and unacceptable and shocking violence the Syrian regime continues to apply against its own citizens". Their statement also said the bloc fully supported efforts to ensure an adequate response in the United Nations, where Britain, France, Germany and Portugal have drafted a resolution  which condemns Assad's government, but does not impose sanctions or authorize military action. Russia and China have opposed this, but without saying if they would use their vetoes in the Council to block it. While Western countries have used strong rhetoric to criticize Assad, their practical response has so far been limited to targeted economic sanctions, a far cry from the military intervention deployed against Muammar Gadhafi's forces in Libya to halt his attacks on civilians. On Wednesday, Syria scorned the EU dismissal of Assad's reform promises, saying it showed Europe wanted to sow chaos in the country. It threatened to turn to other regions for trade and support

NLP: Cabinet’s goal is to support Syria, cover for Hezbollah’s arms
Now Lebanon/June 24, 2011
The National Liberal Party’s higher council met on Friday, after which it issued a statement that the newly-formed cabinet’s goal is to support the Syrian regime and to cover for the arms of Hezbollah. The cabinet also aims to “bully” the ministers of the previous cabinet of Saad Hariri, the statement added. The party slammed President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati for approving “such a cabinet, [especially] after making speeches about national principles, compromise and moderation.” The NLP called on the Lebanese people, March 14 supporters in particular, to prepare to confront “March 8’s coup.” The new Lebanese cabinet—headed by Mikati—was formed last week after almost five months of deliberations between the March 8 parties. The Syrian government is engaged in a deadly crackdown on protesters who since March have been demanding the end of 48 years of rule by the Baath Party, which is controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.-NOW Lebanon

EU Sanctions Head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, 2 Others to Pressure Syria
Naharnet /The European Union piled pressure on the Syrian regime on Friday, warning that its legitimacy was undermined by a brutal crackdown and imposing sanctions on three of its Iranian military allies. EU leaders holding a summit in Brussels were to adopt a declaration condemning the "unacceptable and shocking violence the Syrian regime continues to apply on its own citizen," according to a draft obtained by Agence France Presse. "By choosing a path of repression instead of fulfilling its own promises on broad reforms, the regime is calling its legitimacy into question," says the draft. "Those responsible for crimes and violence against civilians shall be held accountable," it says amid a crackdown which Syrian rights groups say has left more than 1,300 people dead while 10,000 have been arrested. The Facebook group Syrian Revolution 2011, one of the motors of the protests, has called on Syrians to stage more rallies after the main Friday Muslim prayers. The theme for the protests, it said, is "Bashar is no longer my president and his government no longer represents me."
Such protests are regularly crushed by the security forces, with dozens killed most Fridays. The violence rocking the country took a dramatic twist on Thursday when troops backed by tanks entered a border zone, sending hundreds of people fleeing into Turkey and prompting U.S. warnings of risks for the region.
Seeking a global condemnation of the violence, the EU declaration calls for the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution slamming the crackdown launched by President Bashar Assad against pro-democracy protests which first erupted on March 15, a move opposed by veto-wielding member Russia.
The declaration "lends its full support to diplomatic efforts aimed at ensuring that the U.N. Security Council can assume its responsibility and give adequate response to the situation in Syria."
The text also welcomes the adoption of new sanctions against Syria, adding three commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard along with four Syrians and four businesses to a list of people hit by an assets freeze and EU travel ban. The EU has already imposed sanctions on 23 Syrians, including Assad and his closest associates.
Brigadier Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, was added to the new list published in the EU Official Journal on Friday, along with Major General Qasem Soleimani, commander of the guards' Qods unit, and Hossein Taeb, deputy commander for intelligence. They were all accused of "providing equipment and support to help the Syria regime suppress protests in Syria," the Journal said. Syria has reacted angrily to the EU sanctions, with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem saying this week they were "equivalent to war" and denying receiving assistance from Iran or Hizbullah in putting down the protests. The United States voiced concerns of potential consequences for the region after Syrian troops stormed the border village of Khirbet al-Joz, where many of the displaced had massed, an activist at the scene told AFP. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the troop build-up was "worrisome" as it could increase the chances of a border clash and spell fresh misery for refugees fleeing a crackdown following pro-democracy protests. A resident of Guvecci in Turkey said he saw soldiers crossing a hill on the Syrian side less than a kilometer from the border after dawn. About 600 people broke through barbed wire marking the frontier to seek haven in Turkey, advancing on a road a few kilometers from the village of Guvecci.
Several hundred more people were seen down the road and the authorities brought in minibuses to ferry the refugees to tent cities set up by the Turkish Red Crescent in Hatay border province. "We are very concerned by the reports that the Syrian military has surrounded and targeted the village of Khirbet al-Joz, which is located roughly 500 meters from the Turkish border," Clinton told reporters in Washington. "If true, that aggressive action will only exacerbate the already unstable refugee situation in Syria," she said, calling it a "very worrisome development." Source Agence France Presse

Bomb Scare at Baabda Justice Palace
Naharnet /The Justice Palace in Baabda was evacuated on Friday after a bomb threat that turned out to be a hoax, media reports said. The National News Agency said that a call was made on Friday morning threatening to blow up the building while Judge Faisal Haidar was holding judicial hearings. Security forces took extra measures and began searching for the alleged bomb. But Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3) said later that the threat turned out to be a hoax after police found no bomb at the Justice Palace.

Suleiman, Aoun Rapprochement Reaches Advanced Stage as President Invites MP to Amsheet
Naharnet /President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun have narrowed their differences and would meet at dinner in Amsheet next month during a ceremony sponsored by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, An Nahar daily reported Friday. FPM sources denied that the rapprochement was mediated by foreign parties, saying “Suleiman made the initiative to restore relations (with Aoun) after he felt a regress in the capabilities of the March 14 forces.” The sources told An Nahar that Suleiman most probably wanted to meet the request of al-Rahi to consolidate inter-Christian ties and confront the upcoming challenges. The newspaper said that the efforts to bring Suleiman and Aoun closer “reached an advanced stage” after the president telephoned the FPM chief several days ago to discuss the issue of the Internal Security Forces General-Directorate. Suleiman invited the lawmaker to his hometown of Amsheet on July 16 to attend the ceremony sponsored by the patriarch and later meet at a dinner banquet.  Suleiman and Aoun would attend a concert at the Jounieh festival on Saturday and another concert in Jbeil later, An Nahar said. Both officials could also attend a concert in Batroun unlike last year when each went on separate days, the daily added. Relations between Suleiman and Aoun had reached an all-time low over the interior ministry post. But ties began to improve gradually when both sides agreed on naming Marwan Charbel to the post.

US indulging in fantasy
Tony Badran, June 24, 2011
Now Lebanon
As the Syrian uprising enters its fourth month, the Obama administration has yet to clearly articulate what outcome it wishes to see transpire in Damascus, let alone formulate a coherent strategy for getting there. Instead, it has issued a succession of vague public statements calling on Bashar al-Assad to “lead the transition” to democracy in Syria and engage in “real dialogue” with the opposition. Notwithstanding Assad’s escalating campaign of brutal repression, the administration remains hesitant to declare that Assad has forfeited the right to govern Syria. In the view of the White House, Assad’s legitimacy has only been “nearly” spent by all the murder and mayhem. In fact, it appears that the Obama administration, through its ambassador in Damascus, may be urging some in the opposition to enter into dialogue with Assad.
Assad's characterization of Syrian dissidents as terrorists and criminals in his speech on Monday, even as he urged dialogue, did little to alter the administration's position. Hours later, a White House readout of President Obama’s phone call with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan noted that the two leaders had agreed that the Syrian government needs to “end the use of violence now and promptly enact meaningful reforms that respect the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people.”
Remarkably, the administration's recess-appointed ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, scaled back this demand still further in a comment to Al-Arabiya, stating that the US supports "dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition inside [Syria], in order to formulate a political framework that paves the way to ending the crisis in the country.”
The Obama administration’s dogged pursuit of “behavior change” on the part of Assad is not merely restricted to rhetoric. It seems that the administration is pursuing this policy on the ground in Syria. Sources in close contact with the Syrian opposition claim that Ford has been urging some opposition figures (who have no claim of leadership over the protest movement) to engage in dialogue with the regime and suggesting that they lower the ceiling of their demands to accept “reforms” rather than Assad’s toppling.
If this is true, and Ford’s comments to Al-Arabiya suggest it is, it would be a rather troublesome development. Thus far, the Syrian opposition has rejected dialogue with the regime, especially as Assad persists in his vicious assault on protesters. Those few who have been approached by certain regime figures have already declared that this so-called “dialogue” has already failed.
Assad's goal in offering "dialogue," the opposition maintains, is to handpick interlocutors, set the parameters of the talks, and – most importantly – ensure that the negotiations are held without a stop to the ongoing crackdown. For Assad, it's not necessary (perhaps not even desirable) that the entire opposition accept his offer – just enough to weaken its cohesion and take the wind out of the protests. For similar reasons, Assad has attempted to engage in talks with Kurdish groups (which declined the invitation, under pressure from the street, and in solidarity with the broader protest movement). “We control events and are not controlled by them,” he declared on Monday.
Apparently reflecting administration chatter, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius wrote on Tuesday that “it makes sense to test [Assad’s] offer [of dialogue]… If the dialogue fails, the Syrian demonstrations will be all the more potent, and Assad’s hold weaker.”
This hypothesis is entirely detached from reality. For starters, Ignatius’ description of Assad’s “offer” was factually erroneous. Contrary to what he wrote, Assad did not propose a dialogue “in which the democratic opposition would select 100 participants to meet with government representatives — and plan elections and a new constitution.” In fact, in line with his plan to define his interlocutors, Assad said that his sham “dialogue committee” would select these 100 representatives. And nowhere did Assad say that these "representatives," let alone the opposition, would have any say in crafting a new constitution – or if he even agreed to have a new constitution written.
For these reasons, and a host of others, the opposition has made public its rejection of dialogue with the murderous Assad and has made toppling him its core demand. The Syrian people have no faith that Assad can or will reform, seeing his call for “dialogue” as a ruse aimed at defusing popular anger and at dividing the opposition. They understand full well that accepting the regime’s conditions and suspending the protests will surrender their only leverage.
In advocating a policy of dialogue with Assad and calling on him to “lead the transition,” the Obama administration is unwittingly reinforcing the regime’s tactics and effectively undercutting the opposition. Aside from its moral bankruptcy, this policy won't "end the crisis," as Ambassador Ford hopes.
Worse still, with this policy, the Obama administration – which has justified its weak position on Syria on the ground as that it lacks leverage – would be effectively ceding leverage to Assad.
As French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe intimated after Assad’s speech, those who still harbor the belief that the Syrian dictator will preside over a process that ends his family’s grip on power are indulging in fantasy. This is one instance where the US would do well to heed France’s counsel.
**Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He tweets @AcrossTheBay.

Lebanon's Arabic press digest - June 24, 2011
June 24, 2011 /The Daily Star
Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Friday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.
Al-Joumhouria: Policy statement pushed forward till Monday pending [agreement on] STL
Amid internal and regional political and security developments, the government on Thursday pushed forward the drafting of the policy statement until the beginning of next week, pending Prime Minister Najib Mikati putting together the article related to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which will be the last item on the draft policy statement up for discussion.
The ministerial committee tasked with drafting the statement will convene a fifth meeting on Monday amid renewed speculation it may be the last session.
Al-Joumhouria learned that Mikati has promised the committee during Thursday’s meeting that the proposed blueprint document regarding the STL will be ready on Monday.
Al-Akhbar: Policy statement: Differences on economy, STL postponed
The ministerial committee resumed debate Thursday on the policy statement without being able to finalize the article dealing with the STL.
While the committee approved other articles on the draft policy statement, the STL remained a point of discussion between Mikati and committee members.
Meanwhile, a Cabinet minister said committee members differed on several economy issues. The minister, however, insisted that these differences did not turn into dispute.
“They just differed in their opinions with each presenting his own outlook,” the minister told Al-Akhbar.
Ad-Diyar: Majority warns against France’s efforts to speed up indictment to pressure Syria
With developments in Syria spilling onto the Lebanese arena, directly and indirectly, talk about an imminent indictment into the 2005 assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri returned to the spotlight.
Sources from the majority [the Hezbollah-led march 8 coalition] believe the indictment will be issued in July.
Based on European diplomatic information, the sources said issuance of the indictment will put further pressure on Syria, particularly if the road map for reforms pledged by Syrian President Bashar Assad appears to be taking effect inside Syria.
The sources confirmed that the indictment will incite anger, particularly if it included names of senior Syrians.
Al-Mustaqbal: Baabda denies Sleiman wants to reinstate a Maronite as General Security Director, STL article delays policy statement
While the storm of reactions – triggered by the Rabieh general, Michel Aoun, Gen. – did not settle, the ministerial committee resumed Thursday a fourth session under PM Najib Mikati with the article dealing with the STL still causing pressure on the government.
Committee members were split between those who favor a more flexibly worded policy statement in dealing with issues related to international resolutions, and others – the team represented by the duo Hezbollah and Amal as well as Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement -- who see a need to boycott these resolutions.
Meanwhile, Baabda Palace denied reports that President Michel Sleiman sought to reinstate a Maronite as the director for the General Security.
“The president is keen to nominate someone who unites the Lebanese and not be a cause of dispute,” a source at Baabda Palace told Al-Mustaqbal.
As-Safir: Key policy statement contents: avoiding STL, respecting commitments and the "truth"
The ministerial committee was three quarters of the way through its policy statement Thursday before arriving at the critical article that deals with the STL.
The STL article, however, entered a break in search for an "acceptable phrase" that is expected to be approved by the Committee during a meeting scheduled for Monday.
In the meantime, Hezbollah secretary general Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah will give a televised speech at 8:30 p.m. [local time] to speak about the latest internal and regional developments. The speech coincides with the end of a military maneuver carried out by the Israeli army on the border with Lebanon.
An-Nahar: Article on STL awaits majority’s agreement
The ministerial committee, which convened a fourth session Thursday to draft a policy statement, appeared to need more time to reach an agreement between the parties on the thorny issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
The STL is believed to be the major obstacle facing the policy statement. Information Minister Walid Daouk has hinted at the possibility of holding another two or three meetings starting from Monday, a sign that the committee is unlikely to finalize the policy statement blueprint before the end of June. Ministerial sources confirmed that the committee had not addressed the STL issue yet, saying the matter will most likely be discussed on Monday. The sources revealed that March 8 Cabinet ministers are clearly seeking to ignore the STL in the policy statement, but, nevertheless, they will leave the matter to Mikati. The sources said Mikati, in turn, is seeking a balanced blueprint that is acceptable to Cabinet members and one that will not trigger any confrontation with the international community.

Iran And Syria Allied In Brutality
VOA/The Iranian regime is supporting its ally Syria's "vicious assaults on peaceful protesters and military actions against its own cities."
In this photo taken during a government-organized visit for media, Syrian army soldiers ride on their military trucks as they enter the villages near the town of Jisr al-Shughour, north of Damascus, June 10, 2011."Let us renew our resolve to stand with citizens ... who yearn to be free and to exercise their universal rights." -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton It's been two years since the Iranian people took to the streets by the millions, insisting that their votes be counted and their voices, demanding their fundamental human rights, be heard.
But as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement marking that two year anniversary, "The authorities in Tehran had no interest in the will of the people. When the people reached for their aspirations, the government responded with brutal repression. Two years later, that repression continues."
The truth of Secretary Clinton's assertion is clear from recent events in Iran. To name just a few: the death of women's rights activist and Islamic scholar Haleh Sahebi, after she was attacked by security forces at the funeral of her father; the arrest and detention in Tehran of dozens of demonstrators who dared this month to march again, peacefully and silently, to protest the 2009 election and the mass arrests that followed; the confirmation by an Iranian appeals court of the 19 year prison sentence for Iranian blogger, Hossein Derakhshan.
Secretary of State Clinton noted that the Iranian regime is also currently supporting its ally Syria's "vicious assaults on peaceful protesters and military actions against its own cities." She compared the images of a 13 year old Syrian boy, Hamza Ali al-Khateeb, who was tortured and mutilated by Syrian security forces, to the images of Neda Agha Soltan, the young Iranian woman shot to death in a Tehran street during the 2009 protests. "As we remember the terror and tragedy that accompanied Iran's crackdown, and as we work with the international community to increase the pressure on [Syrian President Bashar] Asad and his regime," said Secretary of State Clinton, "let us renew our resolve to stand with citizens – including the citizens of Syria and Iran – who yearn to be free and to exercise their universal rights."

More than 1,500 refugees flee Syria in one day
By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press
BEIRUT (AP) — More than 1,500 Syrian refugees streamed across the border to safe havens in Turkey in one day as Syria's 3-month-old pro-democracy movement braced for another day of mass protests Friday.
The refugees crossed into Turkey on Thursday as Syrian troops backed by tanks pushed to the border in their sweep against the anti-government protests, which have posed the gravest challenge to President Bashar Assad's rule. More than 11,700 Syrians are now housed or seeking shelter in Turkish refugee camps, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Friday.
The Syrian opposition says 1,400 people have been killed in a relentless government crackdown on dissent. More demonstrations were planned for Friday after noon prayers.
International condemnation on Damascus was mounting steadily. The European Union announced Thursday it was slapping new sanctions on the Syrian regime and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Damascus to pull its troops back from the Turkish border.
Syrian soldiers patrolled in military vehicles and on foot around the border village of Khirbet al-Jouz, according to Associated Press journalists who watched their movements from the Turkish side. The Local Coordinating Committees, which track the Syrian protest movement, said residents reported tanks had entered the village and snipers were spotted on rooftops Thursday.
Syria has banned all but a few foreign journalists and restricted local media, making it nearly impossible to independently confirm the accounts.
On Thursday, a stream of refugees poured across the border — some of them glancing behind them as they crossed into Turkey, as though fearful of being chased. The refugees came in a convoy of about 20 minibuses and some rushed on foot across the border, to be met by Turkish soldiers and escorted to nearby camps.
The Syrian army's operation was the closest Syrian troops had come to Turkey since the military crackdown in the area began two weeks ago as Assad's forces tried to snuff out the opposition's chances of gaining a territorial foothold for a wider rebellion. The army's main thrust came against the town of Jisr al-Shughour, where armed anti-government resistance flared in early June.
In Brussels, the EU said it had expanded its anti-Syrian sanctions list, targeting seven more individuals and four companies, bringing to 34 the number of people and entities faced with an asset freeze and travel ban, including Assad.
The EU also has an embargo on sales of arms and equipment that can be used to suppress demonstrations.
The Syrian regime blames foreign conspirators and thugs for the unrest, but the protesters deny any foreign influence in their movement, during which they say authorities have detained 10,000 people.
On Wednesday, Syria's foreign minister, Walid Moallem, lashed out at European governments for threatening the new round of sanctions and accused the West of trying to sow chaos and conflict in the Arab nation.
In the government's latest bid to blunt the demonstrations, Moallem also reiterated Assad's call for national dialogue and spoke of democracy within months — a bold assertion after more than four decades of authoritarian rule by the Assad family and months of bloody reprisals.
A skeptical opposition rejected the overture while the Syrian military is occupying towns and shooting protesters.
Associated Press writer Mehmet Guzel contributed to this report from Guvecci, Turkey.


Cabinet statement embroiled in politics
June 24, 2011 /By Hussein Dakroub, Hassan Lakkis The Daily Star
BEIRUT: If a ministerial committee tasked with drafting the government’s policy statement fails to reach agreement soon on a U.N.-backed court investigating the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik Hariri, the issue will be referred to the Cabinet to decide on it, ministerial sources said Thursday.
The 12-member committee, meeting under Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail Thursday, held another round of talks on a draft policy statement presented by the prime minister. It was the fourth meeting by the committee since Mikati unveiled a 30-member Cabinet on June 13 dominated by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies.
Information Minister Walid Daouk told reporters following the meeting that the committee did not discuss the thorny issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).
“We have not yet reached this article,” he said. Daouk said that several issues other than the STL have not yet been discussed by the committee. “We are working on economic and financial issues,” he said. Daouk said the committee’s deliberations were taking place in a positive atmosphere and with “normal cooperation” among ministers. The committee will resume its discussions Monday, he said. Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah is expected to outline the party’s position on the government’s policy statement, the STL, reports some Hezbollah members were working for Israel, and the unrest in Syria during an interview with the party’s Al-Manar television Friday night.
Although the committee has not yet approached the STL, backstage contacts have been launched in a bid to narrow differences between Mikati and Hezbollah over the tribunal, which has sharply divided the Lebanese into two rival camps: The Hezbollah-led March 8 camp, which opposes the tribunal, and the March 14 camp, which supports it.
Ministerial sources participating in the committee’s talks said proposals and counter-proposals made by Mikati, Speaker Nabih Berri, Hezbollah and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt have so far failed to bridge the gap over the STL.
Mikati, backed by Jumblatt, is ready to approve any formula that spells out Lebanon’s respect for U.N. resolutions and mentions by name the STL, a ministerial source told The Daily Star.
Hezbollah sources see no need for mentioning U.N. resolutions or the STL, aside from Resolution 1701, in the policy statement, the source said.
Ahead of the committee’s Monday meeting, the source expected the two key mediators, Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, a political adviser to Berri, and Hussein Khalil, a political aide to Nasrallah, to resume contacts with all the parties in an attempt to reach a satisfactory solution for the STL issue.
Mikati is open to all proposals which avoid provoking the international community and maintain civil peace, the source said.
If the committee fails to reach agreement on the tribunal, this article will be referred to the Cabinet which can then take the decision it deems appropriate, the source added.
According to the source, the committee has already discussed a new election law, the issue of resettling Palestinians, the case of Shiite leader Imam Musa Sadr who has been missing in Libya since 1978, economic issues and other matters pertaining to ministries.
If an agreement is reached on the STL, Monday’s session could be the last or penultimate meeting after which the Cabinet would be convened to debate and approve the policy statement on whose basis the government would seek Parliament’s vote of confidence, the source said.Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi, from MP Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, told the Voice of Lebanon radio station that the tribunal issue is important. “All statements on this issue are speculation,” he said.
Minister of State Salim Karam, from Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh’s parliamentary bloc, called on the Lebanese not to make judgments before the STL has issued its indictment. “Several years have passed since the tribunal was set up, and nothing has come out of it,” Karam told the Voice of Lebanon.
Hezbollah and its March 8 allies have called for an end to Lebanon’s cooperation with the tribunal, which they dismissed as “an American-Israeli project” designed to incite sectarian strife.
Mikati is coming under heavy pressure from March 14, the U.S. and other Western countries to uphold the STL as the only means to uncover Hariri’s killers.
Mikati reiterated Wednesday Lebanon’s commitment to respecting U.N. resolutions and implementing Resolution 1701. He also said Lebanon is committed to having the “best relations” with the international community.

How will March 14 approach opposition status?
June 24, 2011 /By Mirella Hodeib The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The March 14 alliance must adopt a more strategic discourse and carefully observe developments in the region if it is to succeed in its mission as Lebanon’s new opposition, a number of analysts argued this week.
Following a series of extensive meetings in Lebanon and abroad to discuss their strategy as the country’s new opposition, the General Secretariat of the March 14 forces announced Wednesday that it will confront what it dubbed “the government of the Syrian regime and Hezbollah in Lebanon” through “political, popular, democratic and peaceful” means.
The General Secretariat’s Coordinator MP Fares Soueid told The Daily Star that the new March 8-heavy Cabinet was an “unconventional” one that mustn’t be confronted through ordinary means.
For the March 14 alliance, traditional opposition strategies such as forming a shadow government are insufficient.
“We will employ big and effective means to ensure that this government collapses,” Soueid said.
Echoing the General Secretariat, one of the pillars of the March 14 coalition, Lebanese Forces head Samir Geagea said the alliance will employ “all democratic means to rid the country of this government.”
But International Crisis Group analyst Sahar Atrache is critical of the recent performance of the March 14 coalition and argued it was far from constituting a strategic approach.
“They are sticking to an old mentality and have yet to take into consideration all the rapid changes happening around them in the region,” Atrache said.
“For example, they failed to exploit the feeling of weakness that the Syrian regime or Hezbollah might be experiencing,” she added.
According to Atrache, the discourse of the anti-Syria alliance is short-sighted and mainly based on personal and narrow interests.
“All the lobbying undertaken to convince the international community to cut ties and aid to the new Cabinet is not clever, and definitely not in the interest of Lebanon,” said the ICG analyst. “After all, it is Lebanon and the Lebanese people who will become even more weakened, rather than the new Cabinet.”
But Soueid disagrees, saying the Lebanese will sooner or later grow restless with the Cabinet, headed by Tripoli MP and telecom tycoon Najib Mikati.
“The people are already under pressure and if they feel that their interests are threatened they will turn against this Cabinet,” he said.
The former Jbeil lawmaker also believes that further lobbying ought to be undertaken on the regional and international scenes to discredit the new Cabinet, announced only last week following almost five months of heated deliberations.
Analysts and Soueid agree that the events in Syria will determine the overall situation in Lebanon and the position of the March 14 grouping in particular.
“The March 14 coalition is awaiting regional developments more than anything else to be able to come up with a concrete strategy for the future,” said Imad Salamey, assistant professor of political science at the Lebanese American University.
He explained that the coalition’s components were closely following up on the situation in Syria. “Let’s be very clear, the coalition is seriously hoping that events in Syria will lead to the weakening of their rivals in Lebanon.”
The March 14 coordinator argued that his grouping was not placing any bets concerning Syria but he also seemed confident that the Syrian government will not survive the wave of popular protests that erupted in mid-March. “We are not placing any bets,” Soueid said, “Everybody is watching and observing.”
Atrache said the March 14 coalition ought to be particularly vigilant about the reaction of Hezbollah should its ally President Bashar Assad is ousted.
“One cannot expect Hezbollah’s reaction in case the regime in Syria collapses, it might decide to tighten its grip over Lebanon even more,” she said. “Whether we like it or not, Syria was playing the role of regulator on the Lebanese scene with regards to Hezbollah,” Atrache added.
According to Soueid, dealing with a possible collapse of Syria’s government and the indictment in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri were currently subject to intense debate among the various groups making up the March 14 alliance.
Soueid said raising the public’s awareness about the dangers of a Hezbollah-dominated Cabinet, making use of the media, and organizing popular protests were all legitimate means to counter the new government.
He added that deliberations in Parliament to discuss the government’s policy statement and the issuing of the STL indictment were two events to watch, as these will be the first tests to the performance of the March 14 opposition.
Salamey said the coalition, which was surprised by the formation of a new government, is expected to launch battles on three main fronts.
“The coalition will pursue its calls to disarm Hezbollah, will press for the respect of international resolutions, especially those related to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and will step up their campaign to discredit the Mikati government,” he added.
Salamey said the Cabinet lineup was even more surprising to the March 14 alliance. “They were under the impression that President Michel Sleiman, Mikati and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt would play a more balancing role inside the new Cabinet but they were surprised that all key portfolios fell in the hands of the March 8 coalition,” he added.
According to Salamey, the stance adopted by the president was the most disappointing to March 14. “They see that Sleiman, whose election they had endorsed, did not play a neutral and balanced role.”
Atrache, for her part, said the new opposition would also seek to delegitimize the Sunni component of the new Cabinet by promoting the argument that these were not the true representatives of the Sunni community.
“The Future Movement in particular is very much worried about a new Sunni bloc, made up of Mikati, [Economy and Trade Minister Mohammad] Safadi and [former Prime Minister Omar] Karami, emerging,” she added.
Soueid and Atrache also downplayed claims that Saad Hariri’s stay outside Lebanon would affect the performance of the March 14.
“Such talk is nonsense,” said Soueid, “[Yasser] Arafat led a revolution from his plane.”
According to Atrache, while Hariri is away for security reasons, there were other leaders in the March 14 capable of leading the opposition against the Mikati Cabinet.
“[Former Prime Minister Fouad] Siniora for example was always considered as a decision-maker more than Hariri,” said the analyst.
“Of course, Hariri has to be in Beirut for a more effective performance of his group but him staying away will harm the image of the March 14 more than its performance.”

March 14 express explicit desire to topple new government
June 24, 2011
By Hussein Dakroub The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The March 14 coalition has signaled its determination to bring down the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati less than two weeks after its formation, setting the stage for a fierce confrontation between the March 8 and March 14 camps. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Thursday that the opposition, or the March 14 parties, are adamant about toppling what they called a government dominated by Syria and Hezbollah by employing all democratic means, including street protests.
“The opposition’s road map with the new government has been clear since the first moment [of its formation], especially since its nature and identity are clear. It [the government] will work to isolate [Lebanon] at the Arab and international levels, thus posing a danger to Lebanon,” Geagea told the Voice of Lebanon radio station.
He stressed that the opposition’s basic plan against the government will be founded on “a democratic basis with the aim of getting rid of this government and bringing it down as soon as possible.”“This position stems from the government’s composition. It is a government of Syria and Hezbollah. It is Syria’s government because it was formed to serve as a defense line for the Syrian regime [to help it] face its circumstances [anti-regime uprising]. It is Hezbollah’s government because it was formed to face the indictment and the [Special Tribunal for Lebanon],” Geagea said. Hezbollah and its March 8 allies have called for Lebanon to end its cooperation with the tribunal, investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, dismissing it as “an American-Israeli project” designed to incite sectarian strife.
Geagea accused Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun of inciting sectarian strife with his recent remarks on opening prisons to the opposition and a one-way ticket out of the country for former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Aoun’s remarks “do not express his opinion only, but the opinion of the parties that formed this government. They point to the goal for which the government has been formed,” Geagea said. “[Aoun’s] remarks on Hariri are unproductive and they lead to inflaming strife and targeting a prominent leader in the Sunni community.”
A war of words has been raging since last week between Aoun on the one hand, and the March 14 parties and Hariri’s Future Movement on the other. The exchange of rhetoric began last Saturday when Aoun said Hariri has been issued a “one-way ticket out of Lebanon and the government,” adding that the Future Movement leader’s “era of paralyzing state institutions in a bid to control the country” was over.
Responding to Aoun, Hariri stressed that only the killers of his slain father and their protectors will be sent to jail. Hariri also vowed to stand against anyone who targets any of his Future Movement loyalists, in a clear allusion to Aoun who has threatened to send Future officials to jail. The March 14 Secretariat General Wednesday slammed Aoun, calling on President Michel Sleiman and Mikati to deal with what they termed the “sick Aoun phenomenon.” Tripoli MP Samir Jisr said Thursday the toppling of the Mikati government was one of the opposition’s goals.“Any opposition can bring down a government. This is the core of the opposition’s work. If we succeed in bringing it down, why not?” Jisr said in an interview with LBCI television.
He said the March 14 parties’ decision not to join the government was due to “our desire not to give legitimacy to the coup.”The March 14 parties and the Future Movement have accused Hezbollah and its March 8 allies of staging a coup that led to the toppling of Hariri’s Cabinet on Jan. 12 following the resignation of March 8 ministers in a long-running dispute over the STL.

Hezbollah blasts Bahrain for sentencing Shiite opposition leaders
Jun 23, 2011 /Beirut - The Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah lashed out against Bahraini courts Thursday, for a verdict the day before sentencing Shiite opposition leaders to life imprisonment. 'The Bahraini government, with such decisions against the peaceful opposition in the country, is targeting the rights of the people of Bahrain,' read a statement released in Beirut by the group. Bahrain's military tribunal on Wednesday sentenced eight Shiite Muslim political figures to life imprisonment. The harsh sentences, on charges of plotting to overthrow the regime and exchanging intelligence information with a terrorist organization, has sparked protests in Shiite majority villages.
'Our movement strongly condemn such measures ... and calls on the international community to stop being silent regarding the human rights' violations committed against the people of Bahrain,' the Hezbollah statement added. Bahrain is one of several Arab countries to have experienced pro-democracy demonstrations as part of the Arab Spring. But, unlike Tunisia and Egypt, where the protesters threw out long-entrenched rulers, Bahrain's rulers have clamped down harder. Bahrain has accused Hezbollah and its backer, Iran, of actively plotting with the Shiite opposition to overthrow the country's Muslim-Sunni ruling family by organizing protests in February. Both Iran and Hezbollah have previously denied involvement in the protests, which engulfed Bahrain in the late winter and spring. The Bahraini government has launched a violent crackdown against the protesters. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have deployed troops to Bahrain to support the regime. The majority Shiite population in Bahrain have long said they are discriminated against when it comes to housing and government jobs. They have also been calling for greater political rights from the Sunni royal family.

Syrian troops said to mass on border with Turkey
By Alexandra Sandels, Los Angeles Times
June 24, 2011
Reporting from Beirut— Syrian army units massed near the border with Turkey on Thursday, according to Syrian pro-democracy activists and media accounts, with some troops, backed by tanks, rolling into a village close to makeshift refugee camps housing civilians who fled villages in northwest Syria.
The expanded troop presence in the border zone could further aggravate already strained relations with Turkey, which has been critical of the ongoing Syrian crackdown on antigovernment protests
An activist group, the Local Coordination Committees in Syria, said 40 tanks had been deployed in the border village of Khirbet Jouz and that snipers had taken positions on rooftops.
Syria has imposed severe restrictions on news coverage, making it difficult to independently verify activists' accounts of the ongoing uprising against President Bashar Assad and his family's decades-long regime.
Video aired by the Al Jazeera news channel showed Syrian military activity in full view of the Turkish border, including tanks with Syrian flags on a nearby hill and troops atop a tall building.
The Turkish Red Crescent said another 600 refugees had arrived in Turkey in response to the latest Syrian military move, joining the more than 10,000 who have fled in recent weeks.
The Associated Press reported that Turkish troops in the border area moved their positions back several hundred feet in an apparent bid to avoid a confrontation with the Syrian forces.
One analyst said the Syrian advance probably was more a case of asserting control of its territory than a deliberate provocation of its increasingly critical neighbor. The Syrian and Turkish foreign ministers discussed the border situation in a telephone conversation, Turkey's semi-official Anatolian news agency reported.
For weeks, the Syrian army has attempted to root out opposition to Assad in northwestern cities and villages. Syrian state media has said that the army and security forces are hunting "armed terrorists" in the rugged mountainous areas near Turkey, an allegation that human rights activists deny.
In Brussels, the European Union said it had expanded its sanctions list against the Syrian regime, targeting seven more individuals and four companies, AP reported. That brings to 34 the number of people and entities, including Assad, faced with an asset freeze and travel ban. The EU also has an embargo on sales of arms and equipment that can be used to suppress demonstrations.
On Wednesday, Syria's foreign minister, Walid Moallem, assailed European governments for the sanctions and said the West was fomenting unrest and instability in the Arab nation.
Despite the government crackdown, Syrian protesters called for new demonstrations.
Activists on the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page — which has become an important force behind the protest movement — called Thursday for a nationwide general strike and urged fresh protests Friday.
The Syrian opposition estimates that 1,400 people have been killed since the protests began three months ago and that about 10,000 have been detained.
**Sandels is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Patrick J. McDonnell in Tunis, Tunisia, contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times

Turkey tells Bashar al-Assad to cease Syria repression
Recep Tayyip Erdogan asks president to sack brother and military mastermind as more refugees cross the border
Ian Black, Middle East editor guardian.co.uk, Thursday 23 June 2011 Tension between Turkey and Syria is worsening as thousands of refugees from repression by president Bashar al-Assad flee across the border
Officials in Ankara were watching closely as Syrian forces deployed in a village close to the border, Khirbet al-Jouz, after Turkey had flatly rejected an appeal from Damascus to moderate its increasingly angry public comments about the crisis.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, has attacked the repression as "savagery" and urged Assad to sack its military mastermind, his brother Maher, and implement genuine reforms in the spirit of the "Arab spring".
But Erdogan has so far failed to demand that the Syrian president stand down – as he did with Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi.
Still, officials, diplomats and analysts say that a bilateral relationship that has flourished politically and economically in recent years is now badly, perhaps irreparably, damaged.
"The rapprochement between Erdogan and Assad has pretty much broken down," said Fadi Hakura of the Chatham House thinktank in London. "Turkey is becoming ever more strident and direct, and this is causing deep unease in Damascus."
On Wednesday the Syrian foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, publicly urged Turkey to reconsider its hostile stand, but the Turkish ambassador immediately dismissed the call.
"The relationship has become very frosty," said Hugh Pope, Istanbul director for the International Crisis Group. Erdogan had been urging Assad to make domestic changes since before the uprising began in March.
Ahead of Assad's speech on Monday, Ersat Hurmuzlu, an adviser to president Abdullah Gul, said Assad had a week in which to act – but Turkish officials were left disappointed by Assad's lacklustre performance.
"We had high expectations that the Syrian president would deliver," said a senior Turkish official. "But we were disappointed."
The Turkish-Syrian honeymoon began when Erdogan came to power in 2003, and cooled Turkey's once close relations with Israel while making overtures to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
Following his re-election this month he vowed to reach out to the Middle East and beyond to promote "justice, the rule of law ... freedom and democracy", distancing himself from the traditional stabile friendships with Arab dictators.
"When Turkey has to make a choice between regimes and people," the senior offiical said, "it will always be on the side of the people."
British officials describe a "meeting of minds" when David Cameron spoke to Erdogan last week. The US and Britain say that they hope a policy rethink in Ankara will also include a distancing from Iran and its alleged nuclear ambitions.
"The Turks are increasingly unhappy with what is happening in Syria," said a western diplomat. Another consequence has been a renewed warming of relations with Israel after the row over the Gaza aid flotilla last year, when a Turkish ship was boarded on the open seas by Israeli commandos and nine activists killed.
Syria was furious last month when Turkey hosted a high-profile conference of Syrian opposition activists in Antalya.
Turkish officials deny any plan to create a "security zone" on the border – a sensitive step given memories of Ottoman days (and the Turkish border province of Hatay, which Syria continues to claim as unjustly ceded in a plebiscite), and especially without an international mandate.
Turks recognise the change that has taken place. "Turkey's close rapport with the US regarding ... Syrian politics shows Turkey has completely parted company with Assad," commented Nihat Ali Özcan in the Hurriyet daily.
"Erdogan doesn't want another diplomatic crisis in the context of Syria, like the one instigated by the nuclear issue with Iran. We can say that he is ideologically much closer to the Muslim Brotherhood than Assad."
The US has praised Turkey for its "big heart" in helping refugees. "But clearly, Turkish patience appears to be wearing thin, and we share all of their humanitarian and political concerns," said a US state department spokesman.
"Erdogan is in a very challenging position," Hakura added. "He is trying to react to facts on the ground in Syria, but at the same time he hasn't called on Assad to step down. The more violence escalates, the more difficult his position will be."

U.N. sets example with law on domestic workers
 June 24, 2011/By Willow Osgood The Daily Star /BEIRUT: The United Nations in Lebanon has adopted a code of conduct for U.N. staff who employ domestic workers, in an effort to “influence” similar legislation at the national level.
“What we are hoping to achieve with the code of conduct for national and international staff is to set an example for Lebanon and other countries in the region which rely very heavily on help from domestic workers,” said Robert Watkins, U.N. resident coordinator for Lebanon, at a news conference Thursday to announce the guidelines. Among the 21 guidelines are requirements that workers be over 18 years old, work no more than 10 hours a day (with breaks), receive a day off each week, and enjoy freedom of movement and an annual leave of at least 15 days. The code of conduct was also distributed in United Nations offices throughout the region. In Lebanon, “we rely on them [domestic workers] without a safety net,” Watkins added. The guidelines are a step toward providing “them a legislative framework to give them the rights they deserve and make clear the relationships between domestic workers and their Lebanese employers.”
There are currently no laws in the country to protect the rights of migrant domestic workers. Former Labor Minister Butros Harb unveiled a draft law to address the situation in February, but would require approval from the new government before it is debated in Parliament, where it is expected to face strong opposition.
The draft law includes some articles similar to the U.N. guidelines, including requiring a day off each week and allowing workers to spend that day outside the home, after first discussing it with their employers. “The U.N. agencies should step up and present a model for what we believe is proper behavior for employers,” Watkins said. “While we cannot impose that legislation in the country, we would like to try to influence it.”Watkins recognized that the U.N. code of conduct, which is limited to U.N. staff and relies on self-monitoring for enforcement, is “not a complete solution but a small symbolic step meant to inspire others,” including private companies and professional associations. Philippine Ambassador Gilberto Asuque, who attended the conference, voiced support for the United Nations initiative, saying it would “to push the envelope for protection of migrant workers in Lebanon.”Filipino nationals were banned by their government from working in Lebanon in 2007. The Labor Ministry has worked closely with its Filipino counterparts on a Memorandum of Understanding that would elaborate migrant worker protections, but the ban remains in place. The ambassador noted that the code of conduct had provisions similar to those in the landmark Convention on Domestic Workers, which was adopted by the International Labor Organization last week. Lebanon’s delegation to the ILO conference endorsed the convention, along with 80 percent of the world’s governments, workers and employers, but the ratification of the convention is expected to face hurdles in the Middle East, which is home to seven million migrant domestic workers.
Asuque said the ILO convention could be an opportunity for Prime Minister Najib Mikati to fulfill the announced policy of complying with international resolutions.
Meanwhile, as the draft law remains on the sidelines, local groups and the U.N. are taking the initiative and will “provide parameters for the Parliament moving forward, protecting rights and promoting the welfare of the domestic workers,” said the ambassador. One such local measure, mentioned by Maurizio Bussi, deputy regional director of the ILO, has been adopted by the American University of Beirut, which has also set down guidelines for the fair treatment of domestic migrant workers on campus. But the United Nations along with local initiatives aren’t a substitute for national legislation. “We hope that the draft law will find its way to become a law,” said Asuque. By providing legislation we are sending “the message that household service work is a decent profession.”

Will Syria's fires singe Lebanon?
By Nicholas Blanford, Correspondent / June 23, 2011
Tripoli, Lebanon /
Christian Science Monitor
A recent bout of deadly sectarian clashes in this northern Lebanese city has stirred fears that the turmoil of Syria's uprising is beginning to spill over the border into Lebanon.
Lebanon long has lived under the shadow of its powerful Syrian neighbor and many Lebanese say that it will be hard for this tiny Mediterranean country to escape unsinged as Syria burns.
“We are going to have a few security problems in the future based on the behavior of Damascus of the last few days and weeks,” says Sateh Noureddine, a columnist with Lebanon’s As Safir daily newspaper. “We are heading toward some trouble in the south [along the border with Israel] and more trouble in Tripoli and maybe some small bombings of the kind we have grown used to in the past.”
Since Syrian opposition protesters took to the streets in mid-March, Lebanon has suffered a spate of security incidents. Most recently, six were killed in June 17 clashes between Tripoli's Sunnis and Alawites, a splinter sect of Shiite Islam which also forms the backbone of the Syrian regime.
In addition, the mysterious abduction of seven Estonians on a cycling holiday through Syria and Lebanon, as well as a roadside bomb attack against United Nations peacekeepers (the first in more than three years), have sparked speculation that Syria may be using some of its allies in Lebanon to stir up trouble. Such allegations remain unconfirmed – the perpetrators and motives of both acts are still unknown. But the speculation indicates the level of unease and suspicion here.
But while the security breaches have helped create a climate of uncertainty and more are expected in the short term, some Lebanese analysts are confident that Syria's unrest will not be detrimental in the long term. “The Syrian regime is 48 years old and Lebanon is 150 years old and therefore definitely much more immune, more resilient, and able to survive,” says Ousama Safa, a Beirut-based political analyst.
'The Sunnis want a war'
The most consistent and volatile flash point in Lebanon is probably the front line between Tripoli's Sunni-populated Bab Tebbaneh district and the hilltop Alawite quarter of Jabal Mohsen, marked by a string of ragged bullet-pocked and abandoned buildings. Over the past six years, there have been several bouts of fighting here as Lebanon lurched from one political crisis to another. Last Friday’s clashes between Jabal Mohsen and Bab Tebbaneh, as well as the adjacent Sunni district Qobbe, offer a portent of more trouble to come.
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Who started the clashes depends on whom you ask. Alawites insist that the Sunnis shot first, while the Sunnis say that the Alawites opened fire on a demonstration held to support the Syrian opposition movement. “[The Sunnis] want a war and they are preparing for it,” says Rifaat Eid, the portly and convivial leader of Lebanon’s Alawite community, which is close to Syria's regime. His shelves are filled with photographs of Syria's leaders as well as Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the powerful head of the Syria-backed Hezbollah movement.
Mr. Eid accuses leading Sunni politicians and clerics in Tripoli of fomenting anti-Alawite sentiment and distributing weapons to be used in street battles. He said that the Sunnis have been provoking the Alawites for months by firing occasional rocket-propelled grenades into Jabal Mohsen.
If I had wanted to retaliate to what they have been doing, we would have had a war four months ago,” says Eid.
Days after the clashes, few people are on the streets other than Lebanese soldiers, underlining worries that fighting could quickly resume. A mosque with fire-blackened walls and the sides of white-washed apartment blocks riddled with fresh bullet holes testified to the intensity of the fighting, however.
“It’s not over yet. There is fire beneath the ashes,” says Yussef Nasri, a Sunni resident of Qobbe. “This situation will only be resolved when the Syrian regime collapses and all weapons in Lebanon are removed from private hands and from Hezbollah’s hands.”
Why Syria intervened to help form Lebanese government
The outbreak of deadly violence in Tripoli overshadowed a key victory for Lebanon that came just days earlier: the formation of a new government after five months of intense bickering.
The breakthrough came, according to analysts, when Syria realized that it was losing the sympathy of even its close regional allies, namely Qatar and Turkey. In response, the Syrian leadership stepped in to ensure that Lebanon's new government, at least, would be a friendly neighbor. The new government is headed by Najib Mikati, a Sunni billionaire businessman from Tripoli, who is seen as a political moderate. He presides over a mix of apolitical technocrats and politicians affiliated with the Syria-backed March 8 parliamentary coalition. But the Western- and Saudi-backed March 14 bloc, which was ousted from power in January, says it will mount a robust opposition to the Mikati cabinet.
Vitriol in Lebanon mirrors Syria's rising confrontation
The political vitriol already has increased since the government was formed, mirroring the intensifying confrontation between the Syrian regime and the opposition protest movement. Mouein Merhebi, a Sunni lawmaker from the northern Akkar district, recently accused Hezbollah of deploying 130mm artillery guns in the rugged and remote hills south west of Shiite-populated Hermel in the northern Bekaa Valley. “Hezbollah says it is a resistance against Israel. But Israel is far to the south out of range of these guns, so why do they have them there?” he asks, indicating that they could be used against the adjacent Sunni areas of Dinnieh and Akkar to the west of Hermel.
Hezbollah dismissed the claim as “fabricated and ridiculous.”
Take a drive along the remote trails winding through the ochre-hued hills of Hermel studded with dark green juniper trees and no artillery guns are to be seen. If they exist, they are well hidden. But like all politically charged accusations and counter-claims in Lebanon, truth lies in the eye of the beholder. “Of course they have artillery in the hills over there. It’s well known,” says a Sunni farmer indicating the nearby mountain ridge that separates the Sunni district of Dinnieh from the Shiite area of Hermel. But he admits he has never seen the guns. On the Shiite-populated side of the ridge, local farmers dismiss the claims and accuse Mr. Merhebi, the lawmaker, of stirring sectarian tensions.
Meanwhile, Eid, the Alawite leader, speaking in his bunker-like office in Jabal Mohsen, says that his community – along with the Alawite-dominated regime in Damascus – will fight “to the last drop of blood.” “This is Lebanon. Without fighting, Lebanon is not a nice place,” he says with a chuckle. “Welcome to Lebanon.”

In Damascus, calm at the eye of the storm
Jun 23, 2011
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - As Syria leads daily international headlines with thronging protests in the streets, besieged provincial towns and reports of human rights atrocities, Damascus feels like the eye of the storm, seemingly unaffected by the unrest surrounding it.
The largest demonstrations have taken place in impoverished towns and cities outside the capital, the power base of President Bashar al-Assad and his security forces. Anti-government protests in the city have been small compared to the provinces, rarely rising above a few hundred people.
Residents of Damascus, home to about one Syrian in 10, are wealthier on average than their 20 million fellow citizens. Many have profited since Assad succeeded his late father in 2000 and opened up the economy to substantial foreign investment.
Posters of the president remain in the windows of shop owners who sing accolades for Assad and a tense and eerie calm covers the city as life seems to play out as normal.
In the business district, men in suits and designer sunglasses drink espressos and chat boisterously at swanky coffee shops. In Old Damascus, young couples and veiled old women meander along the cobblestoned alleyways, browsing through ancient souks selling silks and sweets to the ringing chorus of the afternoon prayer, resonating from the gilded Umayyad Mosque.
But these tranquil scenes of stability hide the reality of panic that has built up in Damascus since protests ripped through the country, starting in March under the inspiration of the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Look a little closer and the signs of unrest are apparent.
The souks are full of men in leather jackets and beige trousers eyeing the shoppers -- the not so secret police, or Mukhabarat, are a constant reminder to Syrians that government spies are ubiquitous, listening in for any dissent.
Activists estimate the number of secret police on the streets has more than doubled since protests started and a longstanding culture of fear of the authorities means Syrians are reluctant to express any revolutionary views openly.
ECONOMY SLOWING
The caffeinated businessmen spend their days drinking coffee instead of working because the country's economy is grinding to a halt. Faced with uncertainty, foreign investors are pulling out of Syria and unemployment is rising sharply.
The expectation of encroaching turmoil is tangible.
"Most people in Damascus have been able to sit on the fence," said a Syrian economist who, like everyone interviewed for this story, asked not to be named. "They have always known that the regime is corrupt and brutal, but they care most about their ability to pay rent and feed their children.
"Now the economy has been hit, they can't do that and the government is losing its support base," he added.
Once away from the snooping ears of the Mukhabarat and in the privacy of their own shops, traders in Damascus express their growing dissatisfaction with the regime.
"Since the unrest started, I haven't been able to sell anything," one souvenir shop owner said over a glass of sweet tea in the back room of his shop.
Tourism, once accounting for up to 15 percent of the entire economy, has shriveled in the past few months.
When demonstrations started, the shop owner blamed the protesters for the dip in business. But it is the vehement response of the Syrian government, he now says, that has ensured so many foreigners are too scared to visit the country.
Human rights groups in Syria report that President Assad's violent reaction to the protests has left over 1,300 people dead and over 10,000 demonstrators imprisoned. The authorities, blaming radical Islamists with backing from abroad, say more than 200 of its security personnel have been killed.
Foreign journalists have been expelled or barred from entering the country, making it hard to verify reports. Personal accounts from released detainees, including a Reuters correspondent, paint a picture of systematic cruelty in jails.
STATE VIOLENCE
One activist, who asked to be referred to only as Mohammed, said that protests he has attended in the capital are immediately dispersed by baton-wielding "paid thugs," who were brought in by security forces on buses. The leather-jacketed secret police, he says, film the protests using mobile phones to use as evidence to later identify demonstrators in prison.
"It is almost impossible gather as the security forces are everywhere in the capital," Mohammed said. "We will normally wait for a Friday when we can assemble safely in the mosque for prayers to form a large group that provides some protection before we go out."
But security forces are usually waiting outside, Mohammed says, and demonstrations turn into a mad race to escape the clutches of police.
Former prisoners say they face relentless beatings and humiliating interrogations. "The police strip you naked and give you electric shocks to force you to confess that you are part of an armed gang and not a peaceful protester," one demonstrator, known as Hamza, said after he was released from detention.
Syrian state media has blamed the unrest on "armed gangs and terrorist groups" but even Assad supporters in Damascus concede that most anti-government demonstrations are peaceful.
"When I was imprisoned, our jailers wouldn't let us sleep," Hamza said. "The only people who got any rest were the ones who were beaten so badly that they fell into comas."
Assad has spent the past 11 years sculpting an image of himself as a reformer willing to listen, in contrast to his father, Hafez al-Assad, who crushed an armed Islamist uprising in the central city of Hama in 1982, killing many thousands.
But as stories of state-endorsed viciousness are whispered in hushed tones across the capital, Damascus residents are starting to question if their current leader is any less vindictive than his father."Beneath the cool calm, there is a feeling of change in Damascus," a Syrian journalist working in the capital said. "People are starting to question if the president is who they thought he was."
DISSENT BUBBLES
Talking politics has long been taboo in Syria and dissenters say they expect jail time. But as protests grow around the country, activists in Damascus say they have "broken the wall of fear" that prevented them from speaking out against the regime. The cracks in Assad's powerhouse are starting to show.
Even in cafes around Damascus, conversations broaching politics can be overheard, something unheard of only a few months ago. Jump into a taxi and the driver will often start the conversation by asking: "What do you think of the protests?" Questioning Syrian taxi drivers on their political views before the Arab Spring, which began six months ago, was normally met with a frown and a swift change of subject. "The problem has become so big, that for people to publicly ignore it seems ridiculous," the Syrian journalist said. "Syrians can speak about the protests even as they walk along the street without seeming too rebellious."
Many activists have gone further and are openly denouncing the regime on Facebook profiles and Twitter accounts.
"At the start, I was too scared to speak out or attend protests but I now feel I have to do something when I hear about the horrific things the government is doing around the country," a student at Damascus University said in a busy café, confident that the ambient noise of chatter would drown out her words.
"I know that if I protest, I will get arrested, tortured or even killed as this has happened to some of my friends," she added quietly. "But the alternative of doing nothing as this man stays in power is worse."Long-serving diplomats in Damascus agree that there has been a significant shift of mood in capital. This Friday, as every week, attention will focus on crowds coming out of the city's mosques."So far, the protesters have only be able to assemble in the suburbs of Damascus and are quickly dispersed by the police," one Western diplomat said, on condition of anonymity. "But it seems the protesters are now growing in numbers and gathering closer to the city center."
(Editing by Alastair Macdonald

Stand-up tragedy
June 23, 2011
Now Lebanon
So all of a sudden, according to that well-known political prankster Michel Aoun, the March 14 alliance can’t take a joke. The FPM leader made the comment on Tuesday when it became apparent that his by-now-infamous quip about former Prime Minister Saad Hariri only needing a “one-way ticket” out of Lebanon had backfired.
Let us put aside Aoun’s arrogance in assuming that the March 14 ideal is dead and buried, and let us also assume that we believe Aoun when he says that his comment had absolutely no gangland connotations. The fact that Aoun, who has been the angry man of Lebanese politics for the past six years (some would say two decades), has the gall to accuse anyone of being humorless is, well, quite laughable.
The real Aoun surfaced when he felt no one got his joke. “They do not appreciate a sense of humor,” said the man who has gone from anti-Syrian firebrand to one of the same regime’s most ardent supporters. “Since they rejected the ‘one-way ticket out’ statement, we will issue them a ‘one-way ticket’ in. There is a big section of Roumieh Prison that is being renovated, and it fits a lot [of people]. God willing some [members of the March 14 coalition] will be in it.”
One can only speculate what Aoun meant. Was he saying that if Hariri and his allies don’t go quietly, the government would throw them in jail? It seems preposterous, but that’s what it sounded like. Surely stand-up comedy doesn’t get any better than this.
This was the Aoun we have come to know, even if we hardly love him. Here was bitterness, resentment and the first stirrings of a full-blown, toys-out-of-the-pram tantrum dressed up as a joke; in short the hallmarks of a man whose party manifesto has been to tell us what is illegal rather than to seek solutions. It is typical of a man who has allied with those who prefer to block, smother or even kill off any initiative that might contribute to the common good if it stands in the way of March 8’s narrow agenda.
Aoun clearly feels he is in his pomp. He says that Lebanon is now free of foreign interference (the alleged part played by senior US diplomat and former Ambassador to Beirut Jeffrey Feltman in the formation of pervious governments), free to root out corruption (the files at the Ministry of Finance that allegedly point to March 14 dishonesty), and free from the rule of international law (one has no idea what he meant, but it’s nice to know he will back the Special Tribunal for Lebanon). In short, those who didn’t like his joke will pay for their lack of humor. But the joke is on Aoun. Can’t he see that such is the nature of Lebanese politics that for every allegation there is a counter allegation that can be leveled not only at March 8, but also his Free Patriotic Movement? Indeed, imagine the mess we would be in if we were ever allowed to investigate Hezbollah’s finances. Imagine the red faces if ever those behind the downtown sit-in (during which the seat of government was besieged for 18 months) and the violence of May 7, 2008 were brought to trial.
Aoun should abandon his witch hunt and demonstrate to his followers that government is not just about telling people what they can’t do, it’s also about devising and implementing policy. It’s about setting a national example, and in Lebanon that does not mean pouring oil on the sectarian fire or making libelous statements in the wake of what is in reality a hollow victory for Aoun and his allies.
Rather than comedy, it is tragedy that we should apply to Aoun, who at times resembles an angry King Lear as he wanders the heath shouting, “I will do such things – What they are, yet I know not – but they shall be the terrors of the earth!”
Of course Lear does no such thing. He just goes mad. (That was a joke, by the way)

France grants eight armored vehicles to LAF
June 23, 2011
France granted the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) on Thursday eight armored vehicles during a ceremony held at UNIFIL headquarters in South Lebanon’s Naqoura.
According to a UNIFIL press release, French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton, on behalf of his government, “handed over eight Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) to the LAF.”
“The APCs were deployed with French troops in UNIFIL and had been returned to French Army control. France decided to release them directly to the LAF,” the statement said.
“The Armored Personnel Carriers are in good running condition. Related spare parts have also been provided to allow regular maintenance,” it added.
The statement also said that UNIFIL Force Commander Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas and Brigadier-General Rifaat Choukor, representing LAF Commander General Jean Kahwagi took part in the ceremony. UNIFIL Director of Mission Support, Girish Sinha, and the UNIFIL Chief of Staff, French Brigadier-General Xavier de Woillemont also were at the ceremony. -NOW Lebanon
 

Latest developments in Arab world's unrest
By The Associated Press
SYRIA
Syrian troops push to the Turkish border in their sweep against a 3-month-old pro-democracy movement, sending panicked refugees, including children, rushing across the frontier to safe havens in Turkey. The European Union announces it is slapping new sanctions on the Syrian regime because of the "gravity of the situation," in which the Syrian opposition says 1,400 people have been killed in a relentless government crackdown.
LIBYA
Supporters of Moammar Gadhafi rally in Tripoli after the Libyan leader lashes out at NATO over civilian casualties, calling the alliance "murderers" following an airstrike on the family home of a close associate. A few hundred supporters, most of them women, gather in the capital's Green Square hours after the late-night speech, vowing to defend the Libyan leader against rebels seeking to oust him and NATO forces giving them air support. Gadhafi also warns the alliance that its more than three-month mission in Libya is a "Crusader's campaign" that could come back to haunt the West.
EGYPT
The outgoing Arab League chief says the Arab world's uprisings have set the region on a path of change. It is Amr Moussa's last speech Thursday to the 22-member organization before he leaves to run for president of Egypt. Moussa says the ongoing revolts will not be in vain, because "the Arab nation is on the right track."
YEMEN
A senior U.S. diplomat pushing for a peaceful transfer of power in Yemen says that whichever side emerges from the four-month political crisis to lead the nation will cooperate with Washington in battling Yemen's al-Qaida branch. The Obama administration fears Yemen's turmoil will give al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula more room to operate freely and plot attacks on the West from the country's remote and mountainous reaches. The U.S. says the Yemen-based militants are now the terrorist network's No. 1 threat and has carried out expanded strikes against them with armed drones and warplanes. Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Reports of Syrian accounts at Beirut Central Bank overrated: lenders
June 24, 2011 /The Daily Star BEIRUT: Lebanese bankers downplayed Friday the significance of the step taken by the Syrian Central Bank to open an account at the Central Bank of Lebanon. The bankers were responding to a newspaper story that the Syrians have opened an account at the Lebanese Central Bank at a time when Damascus was coming under increasing pressure from the United States and Europe for its brutal crackdown on oppositions. The newspaper suggested that the Syrian regime may be trying to evade any possible freezing of Syrian bank accounts in the future by the international community. “It is a non-event. Why do the press bother to make a big issue of an account opened at the Central Bank. These happen all the time,” a banker told The Daily Star. He added that the Central Bank received accounts from different countries, including Syria. “Our relation with the Syrian Central Bank is very old and intimate. We have helped the Syrian Central Bank on many occasions and we also trained their staff to better understand the market,” the banker explained.
He stressed that there are more than six Lebanese banks operating in Syria and it is natural that there are strong banking ties between Lebanon and Syria in this regard.
Syria’s President Bashar Assad opened the market to Lebanese and foreign banks eight years ago as part of efforts to attract investments and achieve higher GDP growth.
But since the violence broke out more than three months ago in Syria, the United States and the European Union have applied a series of sanctions on some top Syrian officials.
But these measures have not yet reached full sanctions on the Syrian economy or the banning of foreign airlines from flying to Damascus. Bur the banker said that if the United Nations decided to freeze all Syrian banks accounts throughout the world, Lebanon would not be excluded. “Until this happens, the Syrian Central Bank can still deal with the Lebanese banks through our [Lebanese] Central Bank,” the lender added. 

New minister, new mindset in telecoms?
Matt Nash, /Now Lebanon June 23, 2011
Lebanon’s telecom sector is on the cusp of radical change – with both upgraded mobile phone networks and a much-needed deluge of international Internet bandwidth on the horizon. However, continued confrontation in the sector – particularly between the Telecom Ministry and Ogero, a state-owned company that currently controls all the country’s Internet access – could scuttle these plans.
Ending a speech at a Wednesday press conference, Lebanon’s next telecom minister, Nicolas Sehnaoui, said, “Now let’s all go; we have work to do.” He left the room without taking questions, and his spokesman told NOW Lebanon that he will not be speaking with reporters for one month.
The event mirrored others taking place across the city this week: former ministers, in this case Charbel Nahhas, handing over authority to new ministers (acts arguably premature as the new government has not yet received parliamentary approval).
In taking the reins from Nahhas, Sehnaoui promised to continue improving the sector but hinted the tensions between the ministry and Ogero, which recently pitted members of Lebanon’s security forces against each other, will remain.
The most important thing the sector needs is international Internet bandwidth – without it new, 3G mobile networks will not live up to their potential, and Internet and data service providers cannot give consumers high-speed connections. Salvation waits in the wings in the form of the IMEWE undersea fiber optic cable.
It’s ready for use, but in interviews in the past few months with people involved in the project both inside and outside the country, NOW Lebanon was repeatedly told Lebanon is not yet benefiting because of problems between the ministry and Ogero.
“[Ogero] should go back under the authority of the state to support a project which aims at development, and so that it can become the tool to apply what’s asked of it following the politics, projects and goals of the ministry,” Sehnaoui said at the press conference.
Under Nahhas, the ministry tried to replace Ogero as the contact in Lebanon for the IMEWE cable, owned by a consortium of nine telecommunications companies. Ogero initially signed the contract to be part of the consortium, but earlier this year, Nahhas sent the consortium a letter, seen by NOW Lebanon, saying it should from now on deal with the ministry.
The consortium responded to say Ogero is the legal contact point in Lebanon. The ministry, a source outside of Lebanon familiar with the situation who spoke anonymously because of the consortium’s non-disclosure rules, has not yet responded. The source said that regardless of the response, the IMEWE consortium will continue working with Ogero alone.
Should the ministry disagree, more problems could arise. Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a billionaire who amassed much of his fortune in the telecom business, however, seems like he will step in to mediate.
According to press reports, Mikati specifically vetoed Nahhas’ return to the telecom ministry. The former minister specifically butted heads with Ogero director Abdul Mounim Youssef. A Tripoli native, he could be instrumental in diffusing tensions between the ministry and Ogero – led by Abdul Mounim Youssef, the target of Nahhas’s ire, who is also from the Northern port city.
Further, Mikati has repeatedly stressed his desire to kick start Lebanon’s faltering economy, which, studies have repeatedly shown, a flourishing telecom sector would undoubtedly do.
Khaldoun Farhat, CEO of the Internet and data service provider Terranet, told NOW Lebanon he is hopeful Sehnaoui, who comes from a banking and finance background, will be a boon for the sector.
“I think this is a government that will deliver,” he said. Among private sector concerns, he said, are lowering prices for access to international Internet bandwidth, speeding up the process of giving bandwidth to the private sector to resell to consumers and finishing the construction of a national fiber optic backbone, currently underway.
At the very end of Nahhas’ time with the ministry, he also picked a bone with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, created in 2007 to monitor the sector under the preview of the minister. Nahhas petitioned Lebanon’s highest court, the Shura Council, to issue an opinion he said at a press conference June 10 effectively nullified the body.
On June 15, acting head of the TRA, Imad Hoballah, held a press conference to explain that the council’s decision only detailed the TRA’s powers. He stressed repeatedly that the TRA will work within the law and hand-in-hand with the new minister.
Sehnaoui is a member of Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, the political party that has controlled the ministry in the past two governments as well. In that time, average mobile phone call costs have dropped an average of 50%, mobile phone penetration increase three-fold as have legal internet subscriptions.
Undoubtedly an impressive legacy, it stands to reason the party would step back from political confrontations that could block more progress for the bump in popularity finally bringing Lebanon’s telecom sector into the modern age would bring – especially with the 2013 parliamentary elections approaching.

The Guardians of the Cedars Party - The Movement for Lebanese Nationalism issued the following message:
The Lebanese people will not celebrate the advent of the new government unless they see tangible and bold patriotic stances, as well as real achievements on the ground. Making grandiose promises no longer fool them, nor will they be fooled by resounding ministerial policy statements that are cloned wholesale from previous statements. Particularly that the Lebanese people have completely lost faith in the entire existing system, no longer distinguishing between improvised majorities and minorities that do not represent the will of the people or between one party or another; they all have come, ruled and gone, as if they never came, never ruled, and never left!
As long as the formation of Lebanese governments, both previous and existing ones, remains subservient to the approval of foreign actors and to sectarian and religious balancing acts, and to the interests of failed political leaderships, without regard for merit and competence and at the expense of the national interest, the people will not put much hope into this government. The aspirations of the Lebanese people are much more attuned to the winds of change blowing through the region, in the hope that, perhaps, they may reflect positively on the Lebanese scene and bring with them the much-needed change.
Naturally, not all members of the new government should be lumped into this categorization, as there are new ministers whom we respect and trust. But the overall political climate in the country is pestilent to say the least, which might shackle their hands and prevent them from accomplishing the reforms they seek to accomplish, as has unfortunately happened with the previous government.
What matters is that the new government is today facing major challenges, three of which might be the conduit to success or failure.
The first challenge lies in the government's stance vis-à-vis the illegal weapons and the manner with which it deals with this issue, in a transparent, decisive and unambiguous manner on the basis of UNSCR 1559, without prevarication, adulation and hiding behind meaningless slogans that are no more than semantics and distorted language, such as the slogan of "The people, the army and the 'resistance' ">
The second challenge lies in the government's stance vis-à-vis the country's international obligations and commitments, specifically the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and the manner in which it deals with it, again with the transparency, the boldness and the clarity it deserves, in order to prevent any dispute with the international community. Such a dispute may enable an evasion from this critical milestone and its substitution by the so-called "National Dialogue Committee", exactly as happened with the issue of the illegal weapons.
The third challenge lies in its stance vis-à-vis the longstanding corruption that is corroding the state and its institutions. The government must show the determination to attack it front and center and eradicate it from its roots, without any consideration for the bosses who stand behind it and protect it. Without such a bold risk, there won’t be any reform or change or progress or prosperity, no matter how embellished and recycled are the slogans, the last of which is "All for the homeland, all down to business".
As we hope that the government will pass this test, its success or failure will respectively earn it our praise or our contempt.
Lebanon, at your service
Abu Arz
June 17, 2011