LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِOctober
05/2011
Bible Quotation for today/The
Light of the Body
Matthew 06/22 & 23: "The eyes are like a lamp for the body. If your eyes are
sound, your whole body will be full of light;23 but if your eyes are no good,
your body will be in darkness. So if the light in you is darkness, how terribly
dark it will be!"
Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from
miscellaneous sources
Syria…Has the page turned?/By Tariq
Alhomayed/October 04/11
Today’s two Bachirs/By: Hazem
Saghiyeh/October 04/11
A new voice louder by the day/Now Lebanon/October 04/11
Assad is growing weaker/By: Hussain
Abdul-Hussain/October 3/11
Syria: The Regime is besieging
itself/By Diana Mukkaled/October 04/11
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for October 04/11
Europeans to Seek U.N. Vote on
Syria Crackdown after Dropping ‘Sanctions’
Assad holds Tel Aviv hostage
against Turkish, NATO attack on Syria
Former Mossad chief: Iran far from
achieving nuclear bomb
Focus U.S.A. / Washington's stance
on Israel and Mideast peace is murky
U.S. Say Fall of Syrian Regime a
'Matter of Time'
ESCWA Relocating HQ as ISF Pursues
Gefinor Hoax Bomb Assailant
Obama: Al Qaeda Would Find 9/11
Style Strike 'Very Difficult'
Egypt Re-Arrests Hizbullah 'Spy'
US: Fall of Syrian regime ‘a matter
of time’
Jumblatt says Arab revolutionaries
should “take into account” economic challenges
Sleiman calls for putting an end to
political debates
Mansour: Lebanon did not exempt
Iranians from visa requirements
Elie Aoun: Jumblatt thinks
electoral proportional law is ‘not suitable’
Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya MP Imad
al-Hout says STL will continue
Environment Minister Nazem
al-Khoury says Lebanon will not vote against Syrian regime
Prime Minister Najib Mikati praises
Lebanon’s “united” judiciary
Speaker Nabih Berri visits Armenian
parliament
Geagea: Syria’s Lebanese Allies
Living in State of Confusion over Syrian Events
U.N. Building Evacuated for Bomb
Threat
Appointments Delayed over Fears of
Aoun’s ‘Confiscation’ of Christian Share
Suleiman Meets Elias Murr: All
Sides Must Cease Heated Rhetoric over Media Allegations
Hezbollah: Cabinet won’t OK STL
dues
Jumblatt: Arab Spring will lead to
change
Army has duty to protect
Syrian opposition in Lebanon: U.S.
Lebanese gets 24 years for
murder of woman found in suitcase
Berri blasts Israel,
reiterates commitment to 425, 1701
Electricity workers hold
sit-ins across Lebanon
Mikati denies secretly meeting
Moallem in Syria
U.S. Defense Secretary arrives in
Egypt in bid to free accused Israeli spy
Murr Voices Support for Suleiman,
Says ‘Things Back on Track’
Hizb ut-Tahrir member arrested for
attacks on Rai, army
October 04, 2011/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday against a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir
for inciting hatred against Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai and the Lebanese
Army.
Military Examining Magistrate Fadi Sawwan accused Imad Malla of distributing
fliers across a number of mosques in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley “attacking Rai
and inciting [hatred] against the Lebanese Army, offending its role and
reputation.”
Assad
holds Tel Aviv hostage against Turkish, NATO attack on Syria
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report /October 4, 2011/For the past three months, Syrian
President Bashar Assad has staved off a military attack by Turkey or NATO for
halting the exceptional brutality of his crackdown on protest by explicitly
holding Greater Tel Aviv's 1.2 million inhabitants under threat of missile
retaliation. Iran and Hizballah are exercising the same deterrent. This standoff
was the main theme of the talks US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta held with
Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv Monday, Oct. 3.
According to Western intelligence sources, Syria, Iran and Hizballah have
charted a coordinated military operation for flattening metropolitan Tel Aviv,
Israel's financial, industrial and cultural center, with thousands of missiles
launched simultaneously by all three - plus the Palestinian Hamas and Jihad
Islami firing from the Gaza Strip.
Israeli officials have never publicly admitted that this threat is on record,
but Western intelligence sources have reported that Israel reacted with a
warning of its own: If a single Syrian missile explodes in Tel Aviv, Damascus
will be first to pay the price, and if the missile offensive persists, one
Syrian town after another will be destroyed.
The Israeli message to Assad cited the warnings Defense Minister Ehud Barak and
other government members addressed in the past year to Hizballah, that if Tel
Aviv comes under attack from its missiles, not only Beirut but all of Lebanon
would go up in flames. Assad was given to understand that Syria would go the
same way as Lebanon if it engaged in missile belligerence against Israel.
Bashar Assad's threat to Israel was very much on Leon Panetta's mind when he
told reporters on the plane carrying him to Israel Monday for his first visit as
defense secretary: "Real security can only be achieved by both a strong
diplomatic effort as well as a strong effort to project your military strength,"
he said.
Western military sources say that he was not only referring to Syria, Egypt and
the Palestinians by this and other statements, but pointing at the widening rift
between Israel and Turkey.
The US official believes that this rift plays into the hands of the Syrian ruler
and grants him the freedom to issue dire threats against Israel to hold Turkey
and NATO back from using military force against his vicious regime. For Panetta,
this is a prime example of Israel failing to project its military strength for
diplomatic gains that would be beneficial to the West in the uprisings sweeping
the Arab world. The loss of Turkish-Israeli military cooperation, albeit not
initiated by Israel, ties the hands of the US and NATO against striking Syria.
Those sources report that Panetta does not absolve Ankara of responsibility for
this situation.
Syria first threatened Israel with retaliation on Aug. 9 when Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu spent six hours with Bashar Assad in an effort on
behalf of his own government and NATO to persuade him to stop the carnage his
troops were perpetrating against his people.
Davutoglu warned Assad that if he did not desist from his actions he would share
the fate of Muammar Qaddafi at the hands of NATO and Turkish forces.
The Syrian ruler's response was harsh: From the moment a shot is fired against
Syria, "it will take only six hours for Syria to devastate Tel Aviv and ignite
the entire Middle East," he said.
Assad was spelling out the warning issued on May 10 by a close crony,
international business tycoon Rami Makhlouf, who said then: "If there is no
stability here, there’s no way there will be stability in Israel. No way, and
nobody can guarantee what will happen after, God forbid, anything happens to
this regime.”
The barrage of Syrian threats was reinforced from Tehran Monday, Sept, 26 by
Ayatollah Jafar Shoujouni, a close associate of the all-powerful Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Shoujouni recalled that when he visited Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah in
Beirut last May, he assured him: "If Israelis come near Tehran, we will destroy
Tel Aviv."
The Iranian cleric and the Syrian businessman spoke in the same vein in the same
month. This was no coincidence. Their threat has since been repeated with
greater emphasis to provide the Assad regime with insurance for its survival
against foreign military intervention while continuing its pitiless onslaught on
dissent.
Syria and Turkey are increasingly at odds, debkafile's military sources report.
This week, Damascus accused the Turks of smuggling automatic and anti-tank
weapons to the protesters, claiming to have uncovered a consignment in the
protest center of Homs.
Ankara has initiated the process of freezing Assad family members' bank accounts
and assets whose worth is estimated at half a billion dollars.
Turkey is also weighing unilateral sanctions after the UN Security Council last
week imposed an arms embargo on Syria although Russia succeeded in blocking a
tough council resolution. Moscow was punishing the West for its military
intervention in Libya and flatly opposed to giving NATO another such opportunity
in Syria.
Damascus repeatedly warned Turkey in the past week of reprisals if its
inspectors dare open freights on transit to Syria by ship, plane or land vehicle
to search for embargoed arms.
At a time of dangerously spiralling tensions, there is no knowing when the Assad
regime will determine that the first Turkish shot was fired and how it will
retaliate.
Army has
duty to protect Syrian opposition in Lebanon: U.S.
October 04, 2011/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura
Connelly stressed Tuesday the importance her government placed on the Lebanese
Army to protect members of the Syrian opposition living in Lebanon. “Ambassador
Connelly emphasized the importance the United States places on the Lebanese
Armed Forces’ role in protecting members of the Syrian opposition residing in
Lebanon, as one of Lebanon’s international legal obligations that also include
support and funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon [STL],” a statement from
the U.S. Embassy said Tuesday. The statement was issued after Connelly met with
Lebanon’s Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn Tuesday.
The STL was established in 2007 to try those involved in the assassination of
former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Four members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah have
been indicted in the case but remain at large. The resistance group denies
involvement in the 2005 assassination and describes the court as part of a plot
to target it and sow strife in the country.
During the meeting between Connelly and Ghosn, the U.S. envoy conveyed her
government’s support for and assistance to the Lebanese Army, while stressing
the need for Lebanon and its military to fulfill their commitment to Security
Council Resolution 1701.
“Ambassador Connelly reiterated the U.S. government’s support for and assistance
to the Lebanese [Army] as well as the U.S. and international community’s
expectations that Lebanon and the Lebanese [Army] fulfill their commitment to
implement UNSCR 1701 and continue to work to improve Lebanon’s border security,”
the statement said.
The two also discussed the upcoming visit of Lebanese Army commander Gen. Jean
Kahwaji to the United States at the invitation of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the statement said, adding that this reflected
a strong partnership between the U.S. and Lebanon “and a demonstration of U.S.
support for the Lebanese [Army].”
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri blasts Israel, reiterates commitment to 425, 1701
October 04, 2011 /The Daily Star /BEIRUT: Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri blasted
Israel Tuesday for ignoring U.N. decisions stipulating a cessation of
hostilities and withdrawal of occupied territories and reiterated his commitment
to Security Council resolutions 425 and 1701. “I reiterate today that we are
committed to U.N. resolutions 425 and 1701, while Israel keeps ignoring
international resolutions and conducts daily violations,” Berri said in a speech
before the Armenian Parliament. Berri, who is on an official visit to Armenia,
was accompanied by Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad, head of the Loyalty to the
Resistance parliamentary bloc, and MP Artur Nazarian, head of the
Armenian-Lebanese Friendship Committee. “For this reason, the resistance
[Hezbollah] was and will continue [to exist] as long as the danger remains
[high] for our territory and threatens our rights," Berri added. Resolution 425,
adopted on March 19, 1978, five days after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon,
called on an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. It also established the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). UNSCR 1701 called for full
cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel following the July-August
2006 war between Lebanon and the Jewish state. Berri said letting go of the
resistance was “just like someone calling for Israel to occupy the land.” The
speaker also warned against inciting sectarian strife in Syria as this would
have a negative impact on the region. At the economic level, Berri said there
were many opportunities for investment between Lebanon and Armenia, including
the development of relations in the tourism sector.
Hezbollah: Cabinet won’t OK STL dues
October 04, 2011/By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: A solution to the problem of financing a U.N.-backed court will not be
possible inside the Cabinet because there is a majority that is against the
court and its funding, a Hezbollah source said Monday.
“There is a majority inside the Cabinet which is against the international
tribunal and its funding. Therefore, a solution to the row over the tribunal’s
funding is highly unlikely inside the Cabinet,” the source told The Daily Star.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The source was referring to Hezbollah and its March 8 allies which have a
majority in Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s 30-member Cabinet and which oppose the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The Netherlands-based tribunal is probing the 2005
assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
President Michel Sleiman told Ash-Sharq newspaper that the funding of the STL
was being examined “calmly and without noise.” The president also hoped that
Lebanon will pay its dues to the court “because Lebanon is committed to that.”
Sleiman also reiterated support for an electoral law based on proportional
representation, adding that he was working on a electoral law that would benefit
the future generations.
The president’s comments came as Mikati was reported to have launched
behind-the-scene contacts with the parties concerned in an attempt to find a
compromise to avoid a split within the Cabinet as the funding of the STL is
rapidly emerging as a major bone of contention that could threaten the
government’s fate.
Although Hezbollah’s March 8 allies, namely the Free Patriotic Movement led by
MP Michel Aoun, have stepped up their public opposition to the STL’s funding in
recent days, the party’s ministers and lawmakers have kept mum on the escalating
rift over the payment of Lebanon’s $32 million share to the court, nearly half
of the court’s annual $65 million budget.
“No comment. Hezbollah’s position [on the STL] has not changed,” Hezbollah MP
Nawar Sahili told The Daily Star.
As outlined by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah last year, the party’s
position called on the government of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to sever
Lebanon’s links with the STL by halting the payment of Lebanon’s share to the
tribunal’s funding, withdrawing Lebanese judges and abolishing the cooperation
protocol signed by Lebanon and the STL.
Minister for the Displaced Alaaeddine Terro from Progressive Socialist Party
leader Walid Jumblatt’s parliamentary bloc said Lebanon must pay its share to
the STL’s funding in order to show that it is honoring its commitments to U.N.
resolutions.
“We hope that a solution will be reached to the problem over the STL’s funding.
Lebanon cannot but comply with U.N. resolutions, including the resolution that
established the international tribunal,” Terro told The Daily Star.
“So far, save for the Free Patriotic Movement, none of the parties in the
government has declared their opposition to the financing of the tribunal,” he
said.
Terro said that the PSP, President Michel Sleiman and Mikati have announced
support for the payment of Lebanon’s share to the STL’s funding.
Asked if the payment of Lebanon’s share could be done by the signing of a
special decree by Sleiman, Mikati and Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi – a move
circumventing the Cabinet – Terro said what matters is the funding of tribunal.
The Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance was reported to be opposing the signing of a
special decree to pay Lebanon’s share to the STL. Two March 8 ministers, Labor
Minister Charbel Nahhas, a member of Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform
bloc, and State Minister Salim Karam from the Marada Movement of Zghorta MP
Suleiman Franjieh, said the STL’s funding should be addressed by the Cabinet.
Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi said that the STL has not so far asked Lebanon
to pay its share. “Lebanon will look into the matter when it receives the
request from the international tribunal,” Safadi told LBCI television Monday
night. He said his talks with U.S. officials in Washington did not touch on the
STL.
STL spokesperson Marten Youssef, speaking after weeks of conjecture over
Beirut’s financial contributions to the court, told The Daily Star last month
that the tribunal would welcome state funding from Lebanon in whatever form it
came.
Hezbollah, the Amal Movement of Speaker Nabih Berri and Aoun’s FPM oppose the
STL altogether, let alone financing it. Hezbollah and its March 8 allies have
dismissed the tribunal as “an American-Israeli court” designed to target the
resistance group. The STL has indicted four Hezbollah members in Hariri’s
assassination and demanded their arrests. Nasrallah has rejected the indictment,
vowing never to turn over the four suspects.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel handed Sleiman Monday a copy of a
draft election law prepared by the Interior Ministry for the 2013 parliamentary
polls.
Jumblatt:
Arab Spring will lead to change
October 04, 2011/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt has predicted that
the wave of popular upheavals currently sweeping the Arab world would eventually
lead to a change in authoritarian countries even if it takes a long time.
In his weekly article to be published Tuesday by the PSP’s weekly newspaper Al-Anbaa,
Jumblatt called on Arab revolutionaries to pay attention to economic and social
challenges once the long-aspired change has been achieved.
“It is useful to look into the wider horizon represented by the successive and
fast-moving changes in the Arab world made by revolutionaries in more than an
Arab country. Once they have been achieved, [these changes] require paying
attention to major challenges in humanitarian, economic and social development
where all indications confirm that such development has receded in various Arab
countries despite the important wealth and the huge oil and financial resources
enjoyed by a group, which is not few, of Arab states,” Jumblatt said.
Citing a report about Arab humanitarian development issued by experts in 2002
which prescribed the diseases of the Arab world, he said, “What is striking is
that the indications and figures contained in the [2002] report still apply
today as there has been no noticeable change due to the absence of Arab economic
development policies and its link to the continued Israeli occupation and the
absence of democracy in most Arab countries.”
“The Israeli occupation of Arab territories has continued to pose a major
obstacle to consolidating security and achieving progress in the region. In
addition to this, [Israeli occupation] has been used as a pretext to prevent a
democratic change inside Arab countries and strike the potentials of building
diversified plural systems with a great deal of freedoms and human rights,”
Jumblatt said. He added that the increase in military spending in some Arab
states took place at the expense of investment in humanitarian development.
According to the 2002 report, the PSP leader said that one in five citizens in
Arab countries lives in abject poverty surviving on less than two dollars per
day, in addition to a decline in the level of health care and a drop in the
opportunities of obtaining good education.
“How telling is this report which ends its last pages with a clause: Freedom not
domination, innovation not subservience, competence not favoritism, and
institutions not individualism,” Jumblatt said, adding: “Arab revolutions have
been launched along these slogans. The Arab change is ongoing, even if it takes
a long time and encounters problems and difficulties.”
So far, the popular uprisings have led to the overthrow of the leaders of
Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, while the Syrian and Yemeni presidents are fighting
for survival in the face of nationwide protests demanding their ouster.
Egypt
Re-Arrests Hizbullah 'Spy'
Naharnet /Egyptian security authorities on Monday detained a man suspected of
spying for Hizbullah after he escaped detention during the January uprising, the
official MENA agency said.
Hassan al-Manakhly, one of the 22-member Hizbullah cell, was arrested after
making an appearance on a live talk show Sunday night in Cairo, MENA said.
Manakhly had been serving a 10-year jail sentence for spying for Hizbullah and
"planning terrorist attacks inside Egypt".
Egyptian authorities announced on February 3 that the 22 members of the cell had
escaped from a prison during the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak a
week later.
Hizbullah, which has had strained ties with Egypt for decades, had praised
Egyptians on their "historic victory" after Mubarak's ouster.
The Shiite group -- which opposes the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel
-- sparked the ire of ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak in late 2008 by
accusing him of complicity with Israel during the Israeli offensive in the Gaza
Strip.Egyptian courts last year sentenced 26 people, four in absentia, for
allegedly planning attacks in Egypt on behalf of Hizbullah.
*Source Agence France Presse
Geagea: Syria’s Lebanese Allies Living in State of
Confusion over Syrian Events
Naharnet /Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stated on Sunday that Syria’s
Lebanese allies are sensing that the Syrian regime will be overthrown, and they
are therefore now, contrary to their usual practices, calling for dialogue. He
said: “They are living in a state of confusion and are trying to take all
possible measures to save themselves should the regime be toppled.
He made his statements during a telephone call to the annual LF party conference
in North America. “Everyone in Lebanon is in a state of expectation and don’t
expect the March 8 or 14 camps to take any extraordinary measure in the country
except caretaking, which is what they are already doing today,” Geagea noted.
“The developments in Syria are a major popular revolt aimed at toppling the
regime,” he added. “The road to democracy will pass through several obstacles
and hardships, but in the end, history can only move forward towards the
positive,” he stressed. On local developments, the LF leader said: “The
situation in Lebanon cannot become stabilized if an electoral law that adheres
to the Taef accord is not adopted.”
Mikati denies secretly meeting Moallem in Syria
October 04, 2011/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati denied Tuesday reports he had “secretly” met
with Syrian Foreign Affairs Minister Walid Moallem and former Syrian
intelligence chief Rustom Ghazaleh at Damascus airport. The prime minister’s
statement was in response to a report published Tuesday by Al-Mustaqbal
newspaper which cited a Western diplomatic source as saying that while Mikati
was flying to Paris for a “Friends of Libya” conference, he had made a secret
stopover at Damascus airport, where he met for two hours with Moallem and
Ghazaleh. A statement released by Mikati’s office described the report as
“totally baseless.” “The prime minister’s visits are made public and announced
in line with the norms,” the statement said. France hosted a "Friends of Libya"
conference in September to allow states that stood by during the uprising that
ousted Col. Moammar Gadhafi to belatedly back Tripoli's fledgling revolutionary
regime. In the Al-Mustaqbal report Tuesday, the diplomatic source said Moallem
had asked Mikati to test the pulse of the U.S. administration, particularly U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, regarding a potential swap whereby Damascus
would offer to be more cooperative on issues such as Iraq and Palestine in
exchange for an easing of pressure by the U.S. and the international community.
“Although Moallem was able to make such an offer directly while he was in New
York to address the U.N. General Assembly, it appears that the Assad regime
wanted to test the pulse of the U.S. administration through a third party so
that he [Assad] can say that the initiative was carried out without the
knowledge of the Syrian leadership,” the source told Al-Mustaqbal. The news
comes amid reports that Mikati is due to hold a meeting with Syrian President
Bashar Assad, who is facing growing international pressure over what activists
describe as a brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters in his country. A
source close to Mikati told The Daily Star Sunday that the prime minister’s
visit is likely to take place at any time, though no final date has been set yet
for the visit.
Appointments Delayed over Fears of Aoun’s ‘Confiscation’ of
Christian
Naharnet /The cabinet is not expected to make new appointments to state
positions this week amid a dispute inside the government over Free Patriotic
Movement leader Michel Aoun’s insistence to give the majority of Christian
shares to his parliamentary Change and Reform bloc. Ministerial sources told
several Beirut dailies that the appointments are not on the agenda of the
cabinet that is scheduled to meet on Wednesday. But ministers could raise the
issue if ongoing consultations lead to an agreement on the name of the president
of the Higher Judicial Council. The candidates named for the post are Judges
Tannous Meshleb, Alice Shabtini and Arlette al-Tawil Jreissati. The sources
expected intense contacts between Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi on one side
and President Michel Suleiman and Aoun on the other to reach an agreement on the
name of the HJC chief in coordination with Premier Najib Miqati. They said that
several members of the cabinet have fears that Aoun would “confiscate” the
Christian share. The FPM chief is receiving the backing of his ally Hizbullah
under the pretext that he has the largest Christian representation in the
government and that he should be rewarded for his stances. However, Suleiman,
Miqati and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, who represent the
centrist forces in the cabinet, are playing down Aoun’s demands, the sources
said. Aoun is holding onto naming Judge Tawil for the post of the HJC president
without taking into consideration the seniority and the competence of the
person, they said, adding that Minister Qortbawi, who belongs to the Change and
Reform bloc, is seeking to appease Aoun but at the same time calling for the
selection of the top judge away from political considerations. Meanwhile, the
cabinet is expected to discuss 150 items placed on its agenda including measures
to hold municipal by-elections in the governorates of Mount Lebanon, Bekaa and
South and covering the expenses of the salaries of judges.
Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya MP Imad al-Hout says STL will continue
October 3, 2011 /Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya MP Imad al-Hout said on Monday that the
international court probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister
Rafik Hariri is a reality.
“The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is a reality whether we like it or not, and
its [work] will continue,” he told Future News television. “Refusing to
cooperate [with the STL] and rejecting [paying] Lebanon’s share to finance it
means rejecting to cooperate with international legitimacy,” Hout added.
Hezbollah-led March 8 parties – which currently dominate Lebanon’s cabinet –
have opposed a clause in the Lebanese annual state budget pertaining to the
funding of the tribunal which is probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri.
Lebanon contributes 49 percent of the STL’s annual funding.Four Hezbollah
members have been indicted by the STL. However, the Shia group strongly denied
the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court.-NOW Lebanon
Prime Minister Najib Mikati praises Lebanon’s “united”
judiciary
October 3, 2011 /Prime Minister Najib Mikati met on Monday with Justice Minister
Shakib Qortbawi and a judicial delegation at the Grand Serail. “The judiciary
has preserved its unity [despite] difficult circumstances… and this is an
achievement,” Mikati was quoted as saying by the National News Agency. He also
called on the judicial sector to “maintain its independence,” and rejected
having it subject to “[verbal] attacks or criticism.” The PM also met with
Executive Secretary of UN Economic and Social Committee for Western Asia (ESCWA)
Rima Khalaf to discuss the measures taken to secure the ESCWA building in
Beirut. “[Our two concerns] are to secure the safety of the building and not to
disturb the [neighboring] citizens while doing so,” Khalaf said. She added that
“in the short run, the roads on the left and right sides of the [ESCWA] building
[in Beirut] will remain closed…until we secure another building inside Beirut,
which suites ESCWA’s requirements.” Last Friday, the road next to the ESCWA
building in Beirut was closed by security forces.
The ESCWA building has been the site of a number of demonstrations and sit-ins
across the years, including on the issues of Palestinian rights, Lebanese
prisoners in Syria, the protests in Syria and other matters.-NOW Lebanon
Environment Minister Nazem al-Khoury says Lebanon will not
vote against Syrian regime
October 3, 2011 /Environment Minister Nazem al-Khoury said on Monday that
Lebanon will not take part in any international resolutions against the Syrian
regime.
“Lebanon’s [position] was clear, we will not take part in any resolution against
Syria,” he told Al-Manar television. “We hope that reforms will be implemented,
and we support the spread of democracy. However, we will not interfere in Syrian
domestic affairs,” Khoury added. Lebanon is currently a voting member inside the
UN Security Council, and presided over the UN body in September. The UN says
that the Syrian regime's crackdown on protests that erupted in mid-March has
killed more than 2,700 people.
-NOW Lebanon
Mansour: Lebanon did not exempt Iranians from visa
requirements
October 3, 2011 /Minister of Foreign Affairs Adnan Mansour said on Monday that
Lebanon did not issue a decision to exempt Iranians from requiring a visa to
enter Lebanon. However, he added that Iranians may now acquire a visa once they
arrive in Beirut’s airport. “There is a lot of confusion about the issue. We did
not [exempt] Iranians from requiring a visa, but they can get one [when they
arrive] in the airport in Beirut. We are treating the [Iranians] the way [they]
treat the Lebanese since the latter can get a visa [when they arrive] in
Tehran’s airport,” Mansour told Al-Manar television. Prime Minister Najib Mikati
said in a statement issued in September that “Iran and Lebanon agreed to cancel
visas between [them].”
Mansour also said that a commission will be formed to visit Libya and address
the issue of Lebanese Shia leader Imam Moussa Sadr, adding that the date of the
visit depends on the situation in Libya. The Amal Movement claims that Libya is
complicit for the 1978 disappearance of its founder, Sadr. Ousted Libyan leader
Moammar Qaddafi has repeatedly denied involvement. Qaddafi loyalists continue to
fight with those loyal to Libyan National Transitional Council. Asked about the
Syrian situation, the FM reiterated his position that Lebanon “will not vote in
support of any decision condemning Syria,” and added: “This position is that of
the Lebanese cabinet, and it is final.” Mansour added that any foreign
interference in Syria “ would lead to the [latter’s] destruction.”According to
the United Nations, the Syrian regime's crackdown on protests that erupted in
mid-March has killed more than 2,700 people.
-NOW Lebanon
Sleiman calls for putting an end to political debates
October 3, 2011 /President Michel Sleiman on Monday called for putting an end to
political debates to overcome the current stage, in which there are “exchanged
accusations.”
The president said that the accusations are “based on documents and minutes of
meetings published in media outlets and are most of the time
inaccurate.”According to a statement issued by the president’s press office,
Sleiman also met with Interior Minister Marwan Charbel who submitted a draft
electoral law.Lebanese parties are debating the electoral law for the upcoming
2013 parliamentary elections. After the parliament agreed on drafting a law
based on proportional representation, some parties rejected the proposed law and
called for adopting the 2009 electoral law, which is based on simple majority
representation.-NOW Lebanon
Elie Aoun: Jumblatt thinks electoral proportional law is ‘not suitable’
October 3, 2011 /National Struggle Front bloc MP Elie Aoun said on Monday that
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt “thinks that an electoral
law based on proportionality is not [currently] suitable.”“The current electoral
law may need some development [like allowing] expatriates to vote, lowering the
voting age [from 21] to 18 and activating women’s participation. The [current]
law can be modernized,” Aoun told New TV.The MP also said that there “will not
be a new electoral law,” adding that the 2013 parliamentary elections will be
based on the old electoral law but with “some amendments.”Lebanese parties are
debating the electoral law for the upcoming 2013 parliamentary elections. After
the parliament agreed on drafting a law based on proportional representation,
some parties rejected the proposed law and called for adopting the 2009
electoral law, which is based on simple majority representation.In August,
Jumblatt called for preserving the current electoral law in the upcoming
parliamentary elections.-NOW Lebanon
Today’s two Bachirs …
Hazem Saghiyeh, October 3, 2011
A few days ago, the Lebanese Christian milieu commemorated the annual
anniversary of the assassination of President-elect Bachir Gemayel.
Yet the unified commemoration coincided with widespread cracks in the armor of
this same milieu, as the Maronites now have two patriarchs who are operating on
two entirely different tracks. The Maronites also have at least two political
patriarchs, knowing that the atmosphere resulting from the Syrian uprising calls
for additional interest not only in the stance of Christians in Lebanon and
Syria, but also in the stance of all Christians in the Arab Levant.
In truth, the current division is one that pertains to Bachir Gemayel himself
and to what he represents. In other words, Bachir Gemayel was a man of two
faces.
The first Bachir is the son of the civil war, of bitter enmity toward
Palestinians, of open conflict with Muslims and of establishing the Lebanese
Forces as a military party. He was a man who liquidated all other rival
Christian leaders and claimed to represent all the Lebanese without referring
back to them. He heralded an all-out alliance with Israel regardless of the
margin of maneuver available for Lebanese “partners” or overall Arab stances
that could not bear the Egyptian-Israeli peace.
The second Bachir was born after his presidential election.
Back then, the president-elect realized that he would have to rule a people of
multiple confessions, orientations and opinions in an Arab world with which
Lebanon could not afford a boycott, and that he would have to enter a post-war
era where the state would have to monopolize all means of violence. As proven by
the famous Nahariya meeting with Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon, he realized
that the interests of Lebanon and Israel are incompatible and that it was
necessary to rely on the United States (Philip Habib and his role) as “an older
brother” instead of relying on Israel. Rather, it was necessary to use the
relation with Washington in order to exert pressure on Tel Aviv.
Michel Aoun never approved on the Taif Accord in the first place and later on
allied with an armed party and minority players in the region. Nowadays, one can
say that he is the closest to the first Bachir Gemayel. In contrast, it would be
safe to assume that Samir Geagea, especially following his latest speech, is the
closest to the second Bachir Gemayel. Indeed, following his imprisonment, Geagea
developed the stance that drove him to support the Taif Accord. And when he was
released from prison, he acted as a man gearing up to live in a civil state and
civil peace based on a consensus with Muslim parties while taking into account
the considerations pertaining to the surrounding Arab world.
All of this is a past that the present is having a hard time shaking off.
*This article is a translation of the original, which was published on the NOW
Arabic site on Monday, October 3, 2011
Speaker Nabih Berri visits Armenian parliament
October 3, 2011 /Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday visited the Armenian parliament
during his official visit to the country. The National News Agency reported that
Berri also met with his Armenian counterpart, Hovik Abrhamyan. Berri was
accompanied by Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammad Raad, the report also
said. The Lebanese parliament speaker arrived in Armenia earlier in the day for
a three-day official visit -NOW Lebanon
Assad is growing weaker
Hussain Abdul-Hussain, October 3, 2011
Now Lebanon
A ferocious battle was taking place in Rastan between army defectors and
loyalists to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Witnesses said the ranks of the
rebels swelled when more soldiers defected from the attacking pro-Assad forces.
Benefitting from the support of the local population, the defectors unexpectedly
held their ground and inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers, forcing the
army to use air power to bombard the town randomly and teach both defectors and
civilians a lesson.But six months after the outbreak of the uprising, it seems
that Assad is the one who needs to learn some lessons. Brutality has succeeded
in subduing dozens of the flashpoint Syrian cities and towns only as long as
Assad keeps his tanks in the squares and his snipers on rooftops. When these are
redeployed to quell the uprising elsewhere, protesters take to the streets again
to demand Assad step down.
Syria has seemingly reached a stalemate between Assad's loyalists and those
calling for his ouster. But the rebels have time on their side, especially given
their tested determination and resilience.
Assad, for his part, has employed a two-pronged strategy: the unlimited use of
violence coupled with a propaganda campaign aimed at scaring Syria's minorities
and foreign powers of the consequences of his possible downfall.
With the decline of America's power in the region and with the potential for a
power vacuum to prevail, many fear the future if Assad were to fall. The
scenarios have varied between a civil war that might spill into Iraq and
Lebanon, and a radical Islamist takeover. News reports are also buzzing with
unverifiable stories that army defectors and civilian activists have been
arming.
Syrian rebels fall into four general categories. One is composed of dissidents
in exile who have no influence over the course of events but can help lobby
world powers in favor of the uprising. The other three types of activist are
inside Syria, and two of them have been instrumental in stirring the uprising.
Peaceful activists, organized into loosely connected Coordination Committees,
have been the main engine of the uprising.
They organize protests and tape them, and run a sophisticated social media
campaign. The probability of these people turning violent is slim.
Another group influencing events inside Syria is the army defectors, who have so
far organized themselves into the Free Officers, the Free Syrian Army, and the
Khaled Bin al-Walid Battalion in Homs and the Omar Ibn al-Khattab Battalion in
Deir al-Zour. Estimated at more than 10,000, these soldiers have ambushed
Assad's loyalists and engaged them in battles, though they often run out of
ammunition and get decimated.
The last group is formed of intellectuals and opposition figures living in Syria
who were active before the uprising began.
They have no influence with either the peaceful activists or the army defectors.
A few of them have been co-opted by Assad and have been arguing that a civil war
is inevitable, thus aggravating the fear of a post-Assad Syria. Many of them
call for dialogue with Assad as the only way to end the strife.
More soldiers will probably defect, and some may join forces with tribal
fighters and procure arms off the black market, but they will by no means be
able to get their hands on enough firepower to make a dent in the official armed
forces. If the Libya war tells us anything, it is that ragtag militias without
foreign intervention cannot stop, let alone defeat, an organized army like the
units still loyal to Assad.
Still, despite Assad's brutal upper hand, time is on the rebels’ side.
Last week, the government banned the import of any commodity with a tax that is
higher than five percent to prevent the flow of hard currency out of Syria,
leading experts to conclude that the volume of Syria's reserves is much smaller
than the $18 billion Syria's Central Bank governor, Adib Mayyaleh, previously
announced.
The minute Assad runs out of foreign currency, the Syrian pound will stop being
worth the paper it is printed on. Hyperinflation will hit, and Assad will not be
able to pay his fighters.
Unlike Libya's Moammar Qaddafi, who had an estimated $15 billion in cash in the
vaults of his Central Bank during the fight for Tripoli, Assad's resources are
meager, especially after Europe slapped sanctions on the country’s oil sector
last week.
Assad is growing weaker by the hour. If Syrians continue protesting, there is no
way he can keep his terror campaign going. There is no worldwide radical Alawite
network to bolster the regime or protect the sect’s interests if Assad is
ousted. There are no foreign troops to rally Syrians against. Assad is running
out of cash and excuses. Sometime soon, he will be the commander of a minority
that fears that a continuation of the battle will spell its end, and it will
either force Assad to give up or it will give up on him.
**Hussain Abdul-Hussain is the Washington Bureau Chief of Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai
Jumblatt says Arab revolutionaries should “take into
account” economic challenges
October 3, 2011 /Now Lebanon
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt said in an interview to be
published on Tuesday that Arab revolutionaries should take into consideration
the the economic challenges in their countries. “Change in the Arab world is
ongoing despite the time [it takes] and the difficulties, he told Al-Anbaa
newspaper which is issued by the PSP.”
Jumblatt added that he hopes that the Arab Spring “will lead to a real and
qualitative change in the lifestyle of the Arab peoples who have been [victims]
of poverty and ignorance.”
“The Israeli occupation of Arab territories has been a barrier in the way of
security and sustainable [development]… it has been used as an excuse to stop
the democratic [reform] in the Arab countries and [prevented] the possibility of
establishing pluralistic regimes that [respect] human rights and freedom,” he
told the newspaper.
“The cost of ignorance is unlimited,” he said. Protests erupted in several Arab
countries in what is called the “Arab Spring.” The revolts succeeded in toppling
the Tunisian, Egyptian and Libyan regimes. Syrian and Yemeni protesters are
still asking for reforms and regime change as they face deadly attacks from
their regimes. In Bahrain, troops from Saudi Arabia and UAE entered the island
to back the Sunni regime in the Shia-majority populated kingdom. -NOW Lebanon
US: Fall of Syrian regime ‘a matter of time’
Now Lebanon/October 3, 2011
It is "a matter of time" before the Syrian regime headed by President Bashar
al-Assad is ousted from power by a popular uprising, US Defense Secretary Leon
Panetta said on Monday.
Speaking in Tel Aviv after meeting his Israeli counterpart, Panetta said
Washington and other foreign capitals had "made clear Assad should step down."
"While he continues to resist, I think it's very clear that it's a matter of
time before that [exit] in fact happens. When it does, we don't know," he said.
The Pentagon chief, in a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on
Monday, said Assad's regime had lost all credibility after a brutal crackdown
that has killed at least 2,700 people, according to the United Nations. "Any
time you kill your own people as indiscriminately as they have over these last
number of months, it's pretty clear that they have lost their legitimacy as a
government," he said at a news conference with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud
Barak. Panetta, who served as CIA director until taking over as defense chief in
July, pledged the United States and other countries would keep up pressure on
the regime to make way for a government more responsive to the needs of its
people. Barak also said the Damascus regime's days were numbered and that
Assad's fall from power would represent a "major blow" to what he called a
"radical axis" of militants in the region supported by Iran. In Syria,
protesters poured onto the streets in a mass show of support for a powerful
opposition grouping that was launched in Istanbul, activists said on Monday.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon
New Opinion: A new voice louder by the day
Now Lebanon /October 3, 2011
On Sunday, on the same day the Syrian National Council was formally created,
senior Hezbollah official Nabil Qawouk accused Lebanon’s opposition March 14
bloc of supporting regime change in Syria, as if doing so were akin to treason,
blasphemy or some equal moral betrayal.
It is fitting that his comments should come on a weekend in which the Syrian
opposition, after six months of bloodshed and tragedy, has found a common voice.
The tide of change, instead of ebbing, as many hidebound supporters of the
regime claim, is flooding irresistibly across Syria, leaving the old guard with
little to do except make empty accusations of treachery.
What is wrong with advocating the downfall of a regime that is fossilized and
out of step with the mood in the Middle East? What is wrong with supporting the
downfall of a regime that for generations championed the Israeli conflict at the
expense of national growth and used it as an excuse for repression? What is
wrong with demanding the downfall of a government that for three decades robbed
Lebanon blind, stifled its sovereignty and repressed its people? In fact, forget
the other reasons—what is wrong with demanding the downfall of a regime that
murders those who demand democracy?
Qawouk’s is the same withering reaction that we hear to those who call for the
disarmament of Hezbollah. It is part of an outdated ideology, one that
commentator Nadime Shahedh, writing in the New York Times in late September,
said was on the wane. This ideology declared that “No voice [rose] above the
sound of the battle for Palestine.” And yet a new “voice” gets louder by the
day.
We should not be surprised that March 14 supports democracy and freedom in the
region. The movement was, after all, created by seismic change, when, in March
2005, in the aftermath of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri, it successfully forced the same Syrian regime to remove its troops and
security apparatus from Lebanese soil.
Meanwhile, the March 8 camp, of which Hezbollah is fundamentally a part, is
founded on the perpetuity of an obsolete ideology. For them, the battle for
Palestine is a cynical, blinkered mantra founded as a tool to control and
repress rather than offer a taste of modern life and a whiff of democratic
freedoms. This was supremely highlighted in Tehran this weekend when Amal
Movement leader and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, speaking at the fifth
International Conference to Support the Palestinian Intifada, declared ad
nauseam that “The Resistance will remain the deterrence against Israeli
intentions… and Lebanon, which backs the defense formula of ‘People, Army,
Resistance,’ grows stronger in confronting the [Zionist] enemy.”
Simply put, March 14 supports a bright future, while March 8 insists on banging
an outdated and threadbare drum.
Elsewhere, we were assured this weekend by Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP
Hassan Fadlallah that Lebanon’s current government is performing well because it
will never betray the Resistance. In the eyes of March 8, this is the litmus
test for a successful administration. As long as the government is four square
behind an armed party that is outside the state but is committed to the battle
for Palestine, who cares about its record on economic or social issues?
But bottom line, we know why Qawouk wants the Syrian regime to endure and why he
pours scorn on those who would support the Syrian people’s legitimate demand for
reform. Without the current regime, Hezbollah simply cannot thrive. It is the
supreme example of how a cynical cocktail of fear and warped patriotism is still
being used, with less and less effect as each day goes by, to pump life into a
very dead cause.
U.N. Building Evacuated for Bomb Threat
Naharnet/A U.N. building at the Gefinor Center in Clemenceau on Monday was
evacuated after hand-written pamphlets warned of bombs in the building were
thrown, National News Agency reported. The U.N. media official Bahaa Elkoussy
said to NNA that “an unknown person entered the U.N. building Monday afternoon
in order to transfer a box to the health center and threw leaflets which were
handwritten in red saying “there is a bomb.”The U.N. security evacuated the
building and an explosives expert came, but no explosives were found.
The security forces have identified the person who threw the leaflets and are
currently in his pursuit.Earlier, security measures have been taken to protect
the U.N. building in downtown Beirut, ESCWA, after the international
organization has been targeted in many countries, recently in Abuja.
Syria: The Regime is besieging itself
By Diana Mukkaled/Asharq Al-Awsat
The image was distant and shaky, but it was real.
A little boy fearfully clasping his father's neck as the latter tries to carry
him away from the pursuing soldiers. Sprouting up everywhere like mushrooms, the
soldiers are trying to arrest the boy amidst a jumble of screams, shouts and
chaos in the street.
We don't know whether the boy was arrested or whether his father's attempts were
successful in protecting him from a dreaded fate.
The "YouTube" footage does not tell us what happened to the Syrian boy who had
committed a cardinal sin for children in Syria today; taking to the streets and
chanting anti-regime slogans. To us, mere viewers of this footage, Syria today
appears as glimpses of incomplete clips and stories, mostly culminating in a
cruel and horrific atrocity.
How could we not fear for the little boy clinging onto his father's neck, and
not think of Zeinab al-Hussni, the young woman who had fallen victim to
draconian torture in Syria's security cellars? We hold our breath and hope that
this boy's name will not be raised alongside the names of those children, teens,
and young men and women from Syria who over the past seven months have become
martyrs for the revolution and inspiring figures for the masses.
The image of this trembling little boy is one of thousands which the regime has
been trying over the past seven months to contain, monitor and curb until
finally it all backfired as the regime suddenly found itself besieged and hemmed
in by such images. What did the media blackout imposed on the Syrian popular
uprising achieve over the past few months?
The official account about armed gangs and infiltrators roaming the streets of
Syria has been totally shattered and has grown exceedingly unconvincing, even
for the closest of regime associates. Reports of the regime’s atrocities have
filled the headlines and continue to do so. The attempts made by Syria's
official media to promote the idea that life over there was normal and that
"everything in Syria is fine" only contributed to widening the gulf separating
the regime from its people and the rest of the world, with the exception of
Iran, Russia and Lebanon (at least officially).
Footage that has been smuggled out, leaked, or simply issued with a view to make
a statement, and here I mean clips showing security elements and pro-regime
thugs (Shabiha) torturing or killing their victims, has become a customary daily
post online, and an everyday reality at the same time. The claim that the regime
is still powerful is unconvincing because it has become besieged by a scene that
the world can no longer ignore. Yes, the regime is besieged by the scene of its
innocent victims. The assertion that post-revolutionary Syria cannot go back to
as it was before derives its logic from this fact. How could the world stomach
the possibility of Syria's regime staying in power now? By doing so, the world
would be sending a message that the regime's bloody crackdown on the revolution
could pass as an approved and legitimate method for quelling uprisings wherever
they erupt. What draws ridicule and contempt at the same time is the conceited
attitude of the regime's media while stating that protests have begun to
register a marked retreat. It is as if those people are proud that the power of
tyranny and unrestricted killing has gotten the better of the masses. The hard
truth is that over seven months ago the regime tried to besiege the city of
Daraa and castigate its youth. Today this same regime has come under siege and
is on the brink of collapse.
Syria…Has the page turned?
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
Lebanon's “An-Nahar” newspaper reported that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
had told former [Lebanese] Prime Minister Omar Karami that “the story is over;
we are pleased to have turned a page on these events. It is under control, we
are no longer worried”. So has the situation in Syria truly settled down for the
al-Assad regime?
I doubt it. Within 48 hours of this assertion, events occurred that proved this
was not true when the formation of the Syrian National Council [SNC] was
announced in Istanbul, with France being one of the first to welcome it.
Following this announcement, various cities in Syria were engulfed in
demonstrations in support of the SNC. News also spread that the al-Assad regime
had targeted members of Burhan Ghalioun’s family, a prominent member of the
Syrian opposition. Syrian reports also indicated that a statue of President
Hafez al-Assad, the father of Bashar, had been destroyed, this time not in a
Syrian village, but in the capital, the first statue in the capital to be
destroyed!
Is this all? Of course not, observers are still waiting for the key details
surrounding the assassination of the Syrian Grand Mufti’s son, for there are
serious doubts about the official account from Damascus. An operation targeting
the Grand Mufti’s son would be an indication that some things are now being
plotted in the dark. Divisions are intensifying, especially now that
resignations have begun to occur within the ranks of the Syrian media. In
addition to this, there is the ever increasing series of military defections,
and the continuing clashes between the al-Assad regime’s security forces and
those who have defected from it.
All of the above, occurring within a timeframe of only two days, indicates that
a page has been turned in Syria, but this is to the effect that the situation
cannot return to how it was before the outbreak of the Syrian revolution.
Al-Assad saying that he is comfortable, and no longer worried, means that the
regime is unwilling to undertake any reforms, and there is no hope that this
will happen, because al-Assad’s words [to Omar Karami] means that the Syrian
only option that the Syrian regime is interested in is the security solution,
and thus all the talk of political reform was nothing but a [political]
maneuver. Here, some may ask: Is there anything new about the al-Assad regime
not being capable of carrying out reforms, or did we really believe that it
would? The answer is no, of course not, but this is important as it represents
further evidence for the countries that believe that the al-Assad regime will
undertake genuine reforms to rectify the situation in Syria. The most prominent
of these countries is Russia. So, with al-Assad saying that he is comfortable,
and believing that the page of the revolution has been turned, this is proof
that there is no hope for this regime, and this is the message that the Russians
must understand today, just as the Turks quickly realized that the al-Assad
regime was no longer credible. Until recently the Russians believed that the
al-Assad regime was undertaking steps to create a dialogue between the regime
and the Syrian revolutionaries, but the [Syrian] regime today believes that
matters have settled down, and it is no longer worried, so what reforms is it
set to undertake, what dialogue is it talking about, and who is trying to
mediate on its behalf?
Thus, the page of the revolution has not turned, but perhaps the page that has
turned is on those who want to believe the al-Assad regime, and its supposed
promises of reform.
Lebanese Man Gets Life 11 Years after Slitting Roommate’s
Throat in London
Naharnet /A Lebanese man has been jailed for life more than 11 years after he
killed a Canadian-Moroccan woman whose body was found in a suitcase at London’s
Heathrow Airport.
In August, the former Kuwait Airways flight attendant, Youssef Wahid, 42, was
convicted of murdering Fatima Kama by slitting her throat and stabbing her
repeatedly. On Monday, he was jailed for life. The woman's jewels and $90,000 in
cash were unaccounted for when police discovered her body stuffed in a suitcase
on a baggage cart in a parking garage at Heathrow in 1999. Kama was 28 at the
time of her death. She had been working on and off in Lebanon as a wedding
singer and entertainer. She was due to fly back to Montreal to her parents' home
the day after she was killed. She had moved to London in May 1999 to further her
music career and rented a flat there.
The woman flew back to Montreal to celebrate her birthday. But when she returned
to London in July she was told she would have to share the apartment with Wahid,
the brother of her landlord. Wahid was caught on CCTV at Heathrow preparing to
dump the butchered body of his flatmate. He travelled to Lebanon a day after the
slaying. He was arrested shortly after arriving in Beirut, but released because
of a lack of evidence. He then disappeared. Detectives traced him to Bahrain and
arrested him there last month and took him back to Britain.