LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِOctober
01/2011
Bible Quotation for today/Revenge
& Love for Enemies
Matthew 05: 38-48: "You have heard that it
was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But now I tell you:
do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you. If anyone slaps you on the right
cheek, let him slap your left cheek too. And if someone takes you to court to
sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well And if one of the
occupation troops forces you to carry his pack one mile, carry it two miles.
When someone asks you for something, give it to him; when someone wants to
borrow something, lend it to him. You have heard that it was said, Love
your friends, hate your enemies. But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray
for those who persecute you, so that you may become the children of your Father
in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives
rain to those who do good and to those who do evil. Why should God reward you if
you love only the people who love you? Even the tax collectors do that! And if
you speak only to your friends, have you done anything out of the ordinary? Even
the pagans do that! You must be perfect—just as your Father in heaven is
perfect.
Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Hezb'allah Cells Active
Worldwide, Including in U.S./By Reza Kahlili/September
30/11
Iran and Syria: Different
but the same/By Amir Taheri/September
30/11
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for September 30/11
France: Iran faces high risk of
military strike. Russia practices Iranian reprisal
U.S.: Attack on envoy in Syria part
of ongoing intimidation campaign
Syrian activist Michel Kilo fears
civil war
Prayer Alert:: Algerian Christian
to be Given Five Year Prison Sentence for Blasphemy
STL will accept any means
to fund court
U.S. accuses Damascus of
scare tactics
Syrians Target U.S. Envoy as Regime
Slams Washington
Assad tells Karami popular revolt
easing
Rai draws veiled Future
swipe over Syrians’ visit
Lebanese University professors to
proceed with strike
NTC: Gadhafi Spokesman Captured
Outside Sirte
Hizbullah Condemns Bahrain’s
U.S.-Like ‘Repressive’ Measures
خلايا حزب الله منتشرة في أميركا وغيرها من الدول/تقرير مهم الأطلاع عليه
Hezb'allah Cells Active Worldwide, Including in U.S.
By Reza Kahlili/American Thinker/29.9./11
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/09/hezballah_cells_active_worldwide_including_in_us.html
The terrorist group Hezb'allah, based in Lebanon, is
establishing "resistance cells" worldwide under the direction of Iran, according
to Mohammad Hussein Babai, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in
the province of Golestan.
The cells are already infiltrating the United States with the help of
Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and drug cartels.
The Iranian Student News Agency, which is close to the Guards, reported last
week that Babai, during a press conference, revealed that these jihadist cells
began forming after the 2006 Lebanon war between Israel and Hezb'allah, and with
the current Islamic Awakening, they have expanded their operations.
Their mission, Babai said, is to help create an Islam-dominated world.
This is the first time that a high-ranking Revolutionary Guard commander in the
Islamic regime of Iran has revealed the presence of such jihadist cells in the
world.
"Today we are a witness to our power and authority in the world," Babai said,
"and because of our Islamic Revolution [of 1979], now there is an Islamic
Awakening that, with the leadership of the dear supreme leader, Ayatollah [Ali]
Khamenei, will become stronger and more resilient." The West refers to the
Islamic Awakening as the Arab Spring.
Hassan Rahimpour Azghadi, who is a member of the Supreme Council of Cultural
Revolution and an important theorist of the Islamic regime in Iran, said in a
televised speech last Friday that "today we must get ready for a global
operation, and our forces should expand their operation throughout the world."
"Our fighters are present in all five continents of the world and will fight
against imperialism everywhere," Azghadi added. "We must not fear anyone, and an
international jihad must take place to prepare for the Coming." The "Coming"
refers to Imam Mahdi, the Shiites' 12th Imam, who, according to a Shiite hadith,
will reappear and reap destruction on Israel and the West.
Azghadi said it is the duty of Iran, "the center of the religious fighters
worldwide," to export revolution. "As our Imam [the founder of the Islamic
Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini] declared, we must destroy Israel and
free Jerusalem. We must take our fight into the heart of Europe, America,
Africa, Asia ... and just as we helped with the Islamic movement in Lebanon and
Gaza, soon there will be an Islamic Republic in Egypt."
He then reiterated that Iran must prepare itself for a global conflict.
The radicals ruling Iran, ever since the Islamic Revolution, have invested
heavily to expand their field of operations in Europe and America. I witnessed
their activities when, as a member of the Revolutionary Guards, I was also a CIA
spy. Every Iranian embassy, Islamic cultural centers, mosques, offices of Iran
Air, Iranian shipping lines, Iranian banks, and many front companies dealing
with Iran are being used by the Iranian Quds Forces and intelligence agency for
recruitment, transfer of arms and cash, and terrorist activities.
They have successfully placed many cells in Europe and, through ties with the
Hugo Chávez government in Venezuela, have placed hundreds of Quds Force members
along with Hezb'allah terrorists in front companies in Venezuela. Iran has set
up an explosives lab in Venezuela for its cells with the knowledge of the Chávez
government. In return, the Iranian regime has given hundreds of millions of
dollars to Chávez.
These cells, through collaboration with drug cartels, have infiltrated Latin
America and have even set up shop in Mexico, from where, in a coordinated
effort, they are infiltrating the United States.
The radicals ruling Iran have become increasingly vocal in recent weeks that,
because of the current upheaval in the Islamic world and the weakness and
confusion of the leaders in America and Europe due to the global economy, the
time is ripe to bring the West to its knees.
It is with this view that those radicals, despite four sets of U.N. sanctions,
are pursuing ever so aggressively their nuclear bomb project.
Perhaps the jihadists in Iran are emboldened because they are close to having a
nuclear bomb. Perhaps they have already armed their cells with dirty bombs. The
last report by the International Atomic Energy Agency stated that Iran now has
enough enriched uranium for six nuclear bombs. It certainly has the material and
the knowledge, and now we must realize that it has the will to do what is
unimaginable by the Western world: an all-out attack to create a new world order
in which Islam will rule the world.
The hadith presaging the return of the 12th Imam says, "This is the time when
the last Islamic Messiah will return to rid the world from Infidels and
establish a worldwide Islamic caliphate: Chaos, famine, and havoc will engulf
the Earth. Major wars with dark clouds [atomic wars] will burn the Earth.
One-third of the Earth's population will be killed, and the rest will suffer
hunger and lawlessness."
**Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for an ex-CIA spy who requires anonymity for
safety reasons. He is a senior fellow with EMPact America and the author of A
Time to Betray, a book about his double-life as a CIA agent in Iran's
Revolutionary Guards, published by Threshold Editions, Simon & Schuster, April
2010. A Time to Betray was the winner of the 2010 National Best Book Award and
the 2011 International Best Book Award
France: Iran faces high risk of
military strike. Russia practices Iranian reprisal
DEBKAfile Special Report /September 28, 2011/France's UN Ambassador Gerard Araud
warned Wednesday, Sept. 28 that Iran runs a high risk of a military strike if it
continues on the path to nuclear proliferation. "Some countries won't accept the
prospect of Tehran reaching the threshold of nuclear armament," he said.
"Personally I am convinced that it would be a very complicated operation …with
disastrous consequences in the region."
Ambassador Araud's comment confirmed reports from debkafile's military sources
in recent months that US and European sanctions against Iran had been
ineffectual and the ayatollahs had no intention of slowing down on their drive
for a nuclear weapon.
The French diplomat was not the only one to raise the alarm this week about
regional war clouds circling over Iran.
Sept. 9-26, the Russian army, joined by Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan,
deployed 12,000 troops in a huge combined military exercise code-named
Center-2011 which simulated an Iranian attack on Caspian oil fields operated by
American firms in reprisal for a US strike against Iranian nuclear sites.
Russian intelligence postulated an instantaneous Iranian reprisal for this
strike and based the war game staged by Russian-led Collective Rapid Force and
the Collective Rapid Deployment Forces of the Central Asian Region –CSTO – on
this assumption.
Our military sources disclose that the forces taking part in the exercise were
briefed for a two-stage scenario:
Stage One: An naval attack on the Caspian Sea coast coming from the south
(Iran).
Stage Two: A large-scale air and ground attack from the south by 70 F-4 and F-5
fighter-bombers, namely, the bulk of Iran's air force, along with armored
divisions, marine battalions and infantry brigades landing on the northern and
eastern shores of the Caspian Sea.
The Russian briefing conjectured that the Iranian offensive would single out the
Kazakh oil field at Mangustan on the Caspian coast, a field which debkafile
reports Exxon Mobile is operating.
Moscow clearly attached the highest importance to the exercise and extreme
credibility to the hypothetical scenario. Russian chief of staff Gen. Nikolai
Makarov personally commanded the drills and on Monday, Sept. 26, President
Dmitry Medvedev toured the field commands and units.
Tehran was not idle: Tuesday, the day before the war game ended, Adm. Habibollah
Sayyari, commander of the Iranian Navy, stated that Iranian warships would be
deployed "close to US territorial waters," since the Islamic Republic of Iran
considers the US presence in the Persian Gulf "illegitimate and makes no sense."
After Tehran rejected a recent US request to establish a "red phone" link
between the countries to avoid unwanted confrontation between their armed forces
in the Gulf region, Ali Fadavi, Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Navy chief,
commented enigmatically: "When we are in the Gulf of Mexico, we will establish
direct contact with the United States."
A significant remark on the intentions of another nuclear rogue government came
from Peter Hughes, the British Ambassador to North Korea, when he stopped over
in Seoul on his way home from a three-year tenure in Pyongyang.
"I have had discussions with high-level officials, who have made clear to me
their view that if Colonel Qaddafi had not given up his nuclear weapons, then
NATO would not have attacked his country," he said. The ambassador therefore
held out little hope of the long-stalled US-South Korea talks with the North
resumed lately getting anywhere on Pyongyang's denuclearization. All these
ominous events – pointed comments by French and British diplomats and the
large-scale Russian-Central Asian war game – add up to widespread skepticism
about any chance of halting Iran's race for a nuclear weapon or disarming North
Korea.
Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai
draws veiled Future swipe over Syrians’ visit
September 30, 2011/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai’s meeting with an official Syrian
delegation drew veiled criticism Thursday from members of the Future Movement,
who questioned whether there were political motives behind the timing of visit
which came as the Syrian regime continues it crackdown on opposition groups.
However, the Future Movement’s Christian allies in the March 14 coalition took a
more cautious approach and avoided confronting the head of the Maronite Church.
Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel played down the importance of the meeting and
justified Rai’s reception of the Syrian delegation as in line with Bkirki’s
open-door policy toward all parties.
“It is normal that Bkirki extend its hand to whoever knocks on its door. It is
no surprise that the seat of the patriarchate receives all national and
international leaders,” Gemayel said, according to his party’s website.
The former president said the Maronite Church’s long-held principles remain
unchanged, but added that Rai’s approach differs from his predecessors.
While Rai’s predecessor Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir was a staunch critic of both
Syria and Hezbollah’s weapons, Rai renewed ties with Hezbollah shortly after his
election and has refrained from criticizing Syria publicly.
In a recent visit to France, Rai linked Hezbollah’s possession of weapons to the
end of Israel’s occupation of Lebanese territories and told President Nicholas
Sarkozy that Assad should have been given more time by the international
community to carry out his promised reform program.
In a show of appreciation for the his recent stances on Syria amid increasing
international pressure to oust President Bashar Assad’s regime, Damascus’ Mufti
Sheikh Adnan Afyouni led a delegation to visit Rai Wednesday.
Following the meeting, Afyouni hailed Rai’s “honorable statements.”
Beirut MP Ammar Houri, a March 14 official, told The Daily Star that the visit
raised further questions over the positions of the patriarch.
Houri added that the visit was not unlike Rai’s positions over the past few days
that were biased toward one political side. “It is part of the same panorama,”
Houri said.
Asked whether Bkirki could have refused to receive the Syrian delegation, Houri
said, in an indirect manner, that the patriarch could have opposed the timing of
the visit.
“I know that some Christian lawmakers requested appointments a month ago and
Bkirki scheduled the meetings for November,” Houri said.
However, Bkirki’s media officer, Walid Ghayyad, said the “Syrian media”
exaggerated the objectives of the visit.
“This visit was scheduled to take place upon the election of the patriarch, but
the events in Syria led to its postponement,” he said.
Houri’s colleague, Chouf MP Mohammad Hajjar said the timing of the visit raised
suspicions over its objectives, as the Syrian regime continues to respond with
violence to the protests.
“The goal of this visit is to highlight a political stance,” Hajjar said.
Hajjar added that the political aspect of the delegation’s meeting with the
patriarch was highlighted by the protocol involved, as the visit saw Syria’s
ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdel-Karim Ali, sit next to the patriarch rather
than the mufti, who was supposedly heading the delegation.
International pressure has intensified on Syria over what rights groups say is a
brutal crackdown by Damascus on protesters calling for the departure of Assad’s
regime. According to the U.N. some 2,700 people, mostly civilians, have been
killed in the unrest that began in mid-March.
Prayer Alert:: Algerian
Christian to be Given Five Year Prison Sentence for Blasphemy
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Prayer-Alert--Algerian-Christian-to-be-Given-Five-Year-Prison-Sentence-for-Blasphemy.html?soid=1103889870005&aid=Bv3-sJiSUtI
Algerian Christians are requesting our prayers on behalf of Siagh Krimo, an
Algerian Christian who is scheduled to appear in court today to see if his five
year prison sentence for blasphemy will be upheld.
Krimo was arrested on April 14, 2011 and held for three days for giving a CD
about Christianity to his neighbor. He was later summoned to the Criminal Court
in the Djamel district of Oran on May 4 and charged with blasphemy. The court
tried Krimo based solely on the neighbor's accusation that Krimo attempted to
convert him to Christianity even though the neighbor himself failed to appear at
the hearing. The prosecutor, losing his lone witness and the bulk of his
evidence, reportedly asked the judge to have Krimo's sentence reduced to two
years imprisonment. However, to the surprise of many, the judge sentenced Krimo
beyond the prosecutor's recommendation, giving him a five year prison sentence,
the maximum punishment one can receive for blasphemy.
Krimo's conviction was in accordance with Article 144 bis 2 of Algeria's Penal
Code which criminalizes acts that "insult the prophet and any of the messengers
of God, or denigrate the creed and precepts of Islam, whether by writing,
drawing, declaration, or any other means."
"Brother Krimo is in stress and anxiety over his wife and their beautiful baby
girl," an Algerian church leader and a friend of Krimo's told ICC. "Their whole
life was turned upside down overnight just for preaching the gospel to a Muslim.
But in all this, we are more than conquerors in Christ who is our hope and our
strength. Psalms 135:6 says, 'All that the Lord wants, he does, in heaven and on
earth, the seas and in the abyss.' They need prayer and support so they don't
feel alone and abandoned."
Please pray:
For the judge to overturn the verdict of five years imprisonment previously
given to brother Siagh Krimo.
For brother Siagh Krimo to trust and find courage in the Lord. Pray also that he
will exemplify Christ and give God glory during the court hearing and after,
despite the final verdict that is applied.
For brother Siagh Krimo's wife and child to trust that God will sustain them
during this period of great trial.
For Algerian Christians not be intimidated or grow weary, but to continue to
share the Gospel with courage and seek the Lord's guidance and grace daily.
Sincerely in Christ,
Jeff King
President, ICC
International Christian Concern
www.persecution.org
2020 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20006
Phone: 1-800-422-5441
STL will accept any means to fund
court
September 30, 2011/By Patrick Galey/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The United Nations-backed court investigating the 2005 assassination of
former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri cleared the way Thursday for the government
to provide its share of tribunal funding via a presidential decree, allowing
Lebanon to sidestep the Cabinet debate currently holding up its 2011
contributions to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
STL spokesperson Marten Youssef, speaking after weeks of conjecture over
Lebanon’s financial contributions to the court, told The Daily Star that the
tribunal would welcome governmental funding from Beirut in whatever form it
came.
“The way or method the Lebanese government contributes 49 percent is a decision
for them alone,” he said. “As far as the court is concerned, it is up to the
Lebanese government to make its own arrangements on how to fund the tribunal and
fulfill its obligations.”
As per a cooperation agreement signed with the court and mandated by U.N.
Security Council 1757, Lebanon is obliged to cover 49 percent of the STL’s
running costs, something it has so far failed to do in 2011.
Since the fall of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Cabinet in January, debate
has raged among the political elite over whether or not Lebanon will stump up
the cash. Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s Cabinet has promised to honor Lebanon’s
international commitments, but its policy statement stopped short of a specific
pledge to fulfill its obligation to the STL.
The protracted disagreement has led to Lebanon failing to provide any financial
assistance at all this year. Mikati and President Michel Sleiman, during trips
this week to New York and Washington, issued the strongest hints yet that
Lebanon was preparing to provide its share of the funding, which would total
more than $30 million for 2011.
Mikati left for the U.N. Security Council in New York over the weekend without
Cabinet’s agreement on funding. It has been suggested by several lawmakers that
Lebanon could use a presidential decree – in which an agreement among prime
minister, president and the justice and finance ministers could bypass a divided
Cabinet – as a way of freeing up the funds.
Political sources told The Daily Star that a presidential decree would be
favorable as Hezbollah, the court’s biggest detractor, would be left out of the
equation.
Although there is no official deadline for Lebanon to provide STL funding,
Youssef urged the government to make good on its financial support promise.
“The U.N. Secretary-General [Ban Ki-moon] communicated with the Lebanese
government earlier in the year informing them of the financial obligation,” he
said. “The STL reminds the Lebanese government of its international legal
obligation to pay 49 percent of the STL budgetary expenditure.”
Youssef added that the court’s operational capability had not been hit by
Lebanon’s failure to provide funding, as other donor states had taken up the
slack. “We have been relying on the voluntary contributions of other countries.
As a matter of policy we leave it to the contributing country to disclose its
contribution,” he said.
The STL was high on the agenda this week during meetings between Sleiman and
Mikati and U.N., U.S. and world leaders.
Mikati, in remarks published Thursday by pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, said that the
cooperation agreement between Beirut and The Hague remained “in effect.”
“[STL] funding and implementing U.N. resolutions are in Lebanon’s interest and
no one is against Lebanon’s interest,” the prime minister told the paper.
The court’s mandate, under Resolution 1757, runs until March 1, 2012.
Given that Security Council mandates are regularly updated and renewed in New
York – such as the yearly renewal of Resolution 1701, which monitors the
cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel following the 2006 war – it
is likely that the organization will seek to continue the STL’s mandate.
Several politicians, including former Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, have
suggested that Lebanon may seek to change the parameters of 1757 when
discussions on its renewal commence next year. Some speculate that Hezbollah
will try and torpedo Lebanon’s cooperation with the court.
Youssef said that the STL “didn’t anticipate any changes to the resolution.”
The STL was established to find and try the assassins of Hariri, who was killed
along with 22 others when a huge car bomb struck his motorcade in Downtown
Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005.
The STL, which has been subject to accusations of politicization since its
inception, issued its first indictment in June against four Hezbollah members
and ordered Lebanese authorities to apprehend the suspects. The four are still
at large and Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah vowed they would
not be handed over to the STL, “even in 300 years.”
U.S. accuses Damascus of scare tactics
September 30, 2011/ Agencies/Daily Star
A grab taken from the Syrian “Addounia” pro-government television channel shows
Syrians attacking a U.S. Embassy vehicle in Damascus.
WASHINGTON/AMMAN/DAMASCUS: The Obama administration blamed the Syrian government
for an attack on the top U.S. envoy to Syria, saying it was part of an ongoing,
orchestrated campaign to intimidate American diplomats in the country.
Administration officials said they had lodged formal protests with Syrian
authorities over the incident but there were no plans to recall Ambassador
Robert Ford from Damascus. He wasn’t injured.
They also said Ford would continue to meet opposition figures and press the
government to end its brutal six-month crackdown on pro-reform demonstrators.
The crackdown led President Barack Obama and some European leaders to demand
that Syrian President Bashar Assad step down.
The White House and State Department said no one was injured when a violent mob
pelted Ford and several colleagues with tomatoes and eggs as they entered the
office of a prominent Syrian opposition figure. However, they said several
heavily armored embassy vehicles sent to help extricate them from the situation
were badly damaged with broken windows and dents when the same crowd hurled
rocks.
“It is not an isolated incident, it is part of a pattern that we’ve seen,” State
Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
He added that it was “part of an ongoing campaign to intimidate our diplomats as
they were undertaking their normal activities and duties. Intimidation by
pro-government mobs is just not civilized behavior. It’s an inexcusable assault
that reflects intolerance on the part of the regime and its supporters.”
Toner said the assault reflected “the same kind of intolerance that we see that
stirs the regime to use arrests, beatings and tortures and killings against
those whose crime is only exercising their universal rights to gather peacefully
and express their opinions.”
At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney said the attack was “unwarranted and
unjustifiable.” He praised Ford for bearing witness to the “brutality of the
Assad regime” and putting “himself at great personal risk to support the
legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.”
Ford and his colleagues had left the embassy to visit opposition leader Hassan
Abdul-Azim, who heads the outlawed Arab Socialist Democratic Union party.
Trying to keep a low profile, they parked the vehicle about a block away and
walked to the office where they were confronted by the crowd, according to
Toner. Abdul-Azim said Ford was inside his office when the Assad supporters
tried to force their way in, breaking some door locks. Office staff prevented
them from rushing in, but the ambassador was trapped inside for about three
hours by the hostile pro-government protesters outside.
Ford called the U.S. Embassy for help and alerted Syrian authorities to the
situation. But Syrian security forces did not show up for more than an hour.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. Embassy informed the ministry that Ford
was confronted by protesters when he visited Abdul-Azim. The statement added
that the ministry immediately contacted security authorities, who “took all
measures needed to protect the ambassador and his team and secured their return
to their work in accordance with Syria’s international commitments.”
Ford has angered the Syrian regime in past months by visiting a couple of the
protest centers outside of Damascus in a show of solidarity with the
anti-government uprising.
The incident threatened to escalate tensions between the United States and
Syria, which earlier in the day accused the United States of inciting “armed
groups” into acts of violence targeting its military. “Comments by American
officials, notably Mark Toner, are striking proof that the United States
encourages armed groups to commit violence against the Syrian Arab army,” a
ministry statement said.
“The words of the State Department spokesman, describing these terrorist acts as
natural, are irresponsible and likely to encourage acts of terrorism and chaos
in order to serve foreign goals against the interests of Syrians.
“Syria condemns strongly the U.S. statements and affirms its determination to
preserve its security and stability, to defend its citizens and to oppose all
attempts to interfere in its internal affairs,” said the statement.
Obama had demanded Assad resign in August, saying he had lost his legitimacy as
a ruler.
The attack on Ford came five days after government supporters threw eggs and
stones at France’s ambassador as he left a meeting in Damascus with a Greek
Orthodox patriarch. Ambassador Eric Chevallier was unharmed.
A trip in July by Ford and the French ambassador to the central city of Hama to
express support for protesters drew swift condemnation from the Syrian
government, which said the unauthorized visits were proof that Washington was
inciting violence in the Arab nation. Authorities then warned both ambassadors
not to travel outside the capital without permission.
A month later, the Obama administration brushed off a complaint by Syrian
authorities that Ford violated their travel rules by leaving Damascus without
permission. The Syrian Foreign Ministry registered concern over Ford’s trip in
August from Damascus to the southern village of Jassem, where he met opposition
activists.
Washington and the European Union have also imposed sanctions on some Syrian
officials, including Assad, because of his crackdown that has left some 2,700
people dead, according to the United Nations.
In the latest violence Thursday, the army continued its military operations in
the central town of Rastan amid heavy clashed between troops and army defectors,
according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The group said four people were killed in Syria Thursday, three of them in the
central province of Homs and one in the northwestern province of Idlib.
Armed resistance has emerged in Syria after months of peaceful protests, with
battles between defectors and army in Rastan, 180 km north of Damascus.
Army deserters and armed villagers were holding out against tank fire Thursday,
but Rastan was running short of supplies, activists and residents told Reuters.
“The more they [Assad loyalists] take casualties, the more they fire at
civilians,” said one resident, who gave his name as Sami, adding that defenders
were holding up the tanks with boobytraps and rocket-propelled grenades.
“The wounded are not being taken to hospital because it is at the front line.
Makeshift clinics in homes are running out of medical supplies,” he added.
The Syrian Revolution General Commission, an umbrella for several activist
groups, said the army assault had killed 41 people in Rastan in 72 hours, but
that the figure was an estimate, with communications cut with the besieged town.
On the political front, prominent dissident Michel Kilo said anti-regime forces
inside Syria oppose the Syrian National Council, an opposition body formed in
Turkey last month, because it favors foreign intervention.
“If the idea of foreign intervention is accepted, we will head toward a
pro-American Syria and not toward a free and sovereign state,” he told AFP.
“A request for foreign intervention would aggravate the problem because Syria
would descend into armed violence and confessionalism, while we at home are
opposed to that.”
Iran and Syria: Different but the same
By Amir Taheri/Ascharq AlAwsat
At first glance, the regimes in Iran and Syria would not appear to have much in
common. With “Walayat al-Faqih” as its founding principle, the Iranian regime
has been unashamedly theocratic from the start. In contrast, the Syrian regime,
shaped by a coterie of Alawite military disguised as Ba’athists, has boasted
about its “secular” character, presenting itself as the guarantor of
non-sectarian coexistence among the country’s different communities. At first
glance, in recent months both regimes have been emphasizing their claimed
founding principles.
In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has had his wings clipped, thus enabling
the “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei to advertise himself as the 14th “Imam”.
In Syria, President Bashar al-Assad has blamed “Islamist extremists” and even Al
Qaeda for the revolts that have shaken the country for months.
And, yet, a closer look might show that, in systemic terms, the two allies have
been moving closer to one another. In Iran, Khamenei may pretend to be the
“Imam”. But it is increasingly clear that the military provide the principle
pillar of his rule.
In other words, he holds power because guns are on his side, at least for the
time being, not because the rosary jingles in his hand. In Syria, on the other
hand, the wedge between the military and the Assad clique is getting wider by
the day. This is why the clique has decided to revive the sectarian Ali al-Murtadha
movement, once led by Rifaat al-Assad the president’s estranged uncle, as the
backbone of Alawite unity. Efforts to frighten the Alawite minority into
supporting a doomed regime are unlikely to work. Today, most Syrians, including
Alawites, are mature enough to think above and beyond narrow confines of
sectarianism. Nor could Assad win the sympathy of Western powers by advertising
himself as the protector of the Christian minority.
At the same time, because of his increasing dependence on Iranian support, Assad
has been forced to inject a dose of religious mumbo-jumbo into his discourse.
The presence of hundreds of Iranian mullahs and tens of thousands of pilgrims
from Iran has also altered the visual landscape of Damascus parts of which now
look more like Qom than the supposedly “secularist” paradise the Assads claim to
be defending. However, the two regimes now share other important features. Chief
among these is the systematic destruction of virtually all institutions created
over decades. In Iran, the first institution to go was the presidency which,
with a few brazen moves by Khamenei, was turned into an embarrassing
irrelevancy.
Next, it was the turn of the judiciary to be reduced to a mockery with the
appointment of a junior mullah made into a Grand Ayatollah by the state-owned
media.
The so-called Expediency Council was also destroyed when Khamenei appointed a
new group of his cronies to do its job.
Now, the legislative institution, the Islamic Consultative Assembly or Majlis,
has also been divested of whatever relevance it might have had in a system based
on Walayat al-Faqih, or rule by the mullahs. Muhammad-Jawad Larijani, a brother
of the Majlis Speaker Ali Ardeshir, has simply announced that anyone suspected
of not wishing to obey the “Supreme Guide” on all matters and at all times
should not be allowed to stand as candidate in next year’s elections.
Since there is no mechanism to establish in advance who might obey the “Supreme
Guide” in the future, the most efficient method to pre-empt such a calamity is
to empty the Majlis of what little content it might have had. And this is done
by Ali Ardeshir himself with the cute observation that the Majlis should act
only “according to guidance from the Supreme Guide.”
One could observe a similar trend in Syria where the parliament, the judiciary,
the council of ministers and even the Ba’ath Party have been turned into empty
shells. The idea was to squeeze all those institutions of their power and
prestige in the hope that what they lost would be added to the prestige and
power of the presidency.
The trouble is that, by pushing itself into the forefront of the crackdown, the
presidency has embarked on a process of self-destruction. Even Assad’s few
remaining well-wishers admit that, today, the Syrian presidency is weaker than
it was a year ago. Accused of crimes against humanity and boycotted by most of
the countries that matter to Syria, President Bashar can no longer function as a
normal head of state. His loss of stature is directly translated into a
weakening of the presidency as an institution.
All this means that in Syria, as in Iran, the only institution left is that of
the armed forces.
However, a regime based on thinly disguised military force is inherently
unstable. This is why, even if tactically attractive, the policy of dismantling
all institutions and depending solely on the armed forces is strategically
doomed to failure. The late Ayatollah Khomeini instinctively understood this.
This is why he publicly forbade the military from expressing any views on
political topics, let alone posturing as the Praetorian Guard of “Walayat
al-Faqih”.
The late Hafez al-Assad also understood this. This is why he shed his military
uniform and allowed the parliament, the council of ministers and even what was
left of the Ba’ath Party some space in which to breathe. By concentrating all
power in their respective hands while increasingly dependent on the military,
Khamenei and Bashar have denied themselves the protection of the interfaces
built over decades. This is why in both countries the toppling of the top man is
now the central demand of all opposition, including those still emotionally
attached to the system.
Even the most despotic system of government requires some interface between the
ruler and the ruled. This is because while coercion is of primordial importance
in establishing power, persuasion is vital for its perennity. A ruler hiding
behind a gun almost always ends up with the gun turning to point at him.
Syrian activist Michel Kilo fears civil war
By Roueida Mabardi and Sammy Ketz | AFP
Syrian writer and well-known opposition member Michel Kilo speaks during an
interview …
Prominent Syrian activist Michel Kilo said he fears that if protestors against
President Bashar al-Assad fall into the strongman's trap and take up arms, it
will lead to a disastrous civil war.
"If the protestors decide to take up arms, there is a great risk that the
situation will deteriorate and that Syria will slide towards a religious or
civil war.
"If that happens, then we will all be the losers," Kilo told AFP in an
interview.
Kilo, 71, a writer who has opposed the ruling Baath party since it came to power
in 1963, was jailed from 1980 to 1983 and from 2006 to 2009.
He is a member of the National Committee for Democratic Change (NCDC), which was
formed on September 17 and groups Arab nationalists, socialists, Marxists,
members of the Kurdish minority and independents such as Kilo.
"From the very beginning, the regime has followed a plan -- push the protestors
to extreme options, to take up arms. A peaceful civil movement is not what it
wants at all," Kilo said.
"It wants an armed movement, linked to Islamic extremism," he said, warning that
the pressure for a harder line was growing in the face of continued heavy
bloodshed, with the United Nations saying more than 2,700 have been killed by
the security forces since March.
"The young peaceful militants have been reduced to despair. They say they are
being cut down without mercy every day while they are unarmed," he said, adding
that the idea of 'protected demonstrations' was gaining ground.
In Homs, the central town known for its opposition to the Assads, both the late
father and his current ruling son, protests are now protected by armed
demonstrators while deserters from the army have taken on that role elsewhere.
"I am afraid that in the next step, the protestors will take armed action
because the regime continues to hit the demonstrations," Kilo said.
At the same time, he noted that the country's religious minorities are afraid
that the protest movement "could degenerate into extremism and violence.
"We have to reassure them by insisting on the peaceful nature of the movement,
on the principle of equality for all citizens in a state open to all --
including current members of the (ruling) Baath party."
He said that to begin talks with the opposition, the regime would have to create
a "favourable climate -- drop the use of force, stop assassinations, allow
peaceful demonstrations and free all political detainees."
As for the young people at the heart of the protest movement, Kilo praised their
bravery and selflessness in taking to the streets whilst he and his fellow
opposition leaders had never achieved that much.
"We are in some ways complementary. They have adopted our ideas about the state,
liberty, multi-party rule and the separation of powers," he said.
"We belong to the world of parties and small groups but they are part of society
at large."
Kilo rejected any idea of foreign intervention to depose Assad since it would
set off a violent reaction and the opposition wanted a peaceful outcome.
Such a course "would lead to a pro-American Syria and not a Syria free and
sovereign," he said, adding that after four decades of political struggle, his
only wish was to see the country "democratic and free."
...