LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِOctober 17/2011

Bible Quotation for today/Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man
Matthew 09/1-8: "Jesus got into the boat and went back across the lake to his own town, where some people brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a bed. When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the paralyzed man, Courage, my son! Your sins are forgiven. Then some teachers of the Law said to themselves, This man is speaking blasphemy!  Jesus perceived what they were thinking, and so he said, Why are you thinking such evil things? Is it easier to say, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Get up and walk? will prove to you, then, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. So he said to the paralyzed man, Get up, pick up your bed, and go home!  The man got up and went home When the people saw it, they were afraid, and praised God for giving such authority to people.


Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Fruitless labor/By: Matt Nash/October 16/11
Iran’s terrorism exposed/By Mshari al-Zaydi/October 16/11
The mystery behind the alleged Iran assassination plot/By Yossi Melman /October 16/11
Playing Iran with home-field advantage/By Tariq Alhomayed/ October 16/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for October 16/11
Arab League to discuss suspending Syria
Big US airlift drill starts Monday. Fresh Hamas demands for Gilad Shalit
Preparations for absentia trials under way: STL source
Source: Rifi’s Accusations against Syrian Embassy are Accurate
March 8 Studying Alternatives to Replace Miqati
Arms Smuggling into Syria Flourishes
Qassem: We Will Resort to Vote if Govt. Fails Reach Agreement on Complex Issues
Nahas Confirms STL Will be Included in State Budget
ISF Officer Dies from Injuries Sustained in Sept. Clash with Estonians Kidnappers
Mansour Heads to Cairo: We Will Take Position that Supports Syria
Irish President visits her country's troops serving with UN mission in Lebanon
Hezbollah has no right to object on funding STL, says Khoury

Future bloc MP Khaled al-Daher: Syrian embassy transformed into ‘espionage den’
National Struggle Front bloc MP Akram Chehayeb slams Syrian envoy

Future bloc MP Ammar Houri: Lebanese institutions are decayed
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun : We are fighting ‘militia mentality’
Change and Reform bloc MP Youssef Khalilreiterates his bloc’s stance against STL
Kurds rally for and against Syrian regime in Beirut

Aoun says Sleiman suffers from “a deficiency
Berri to Focus on Drilling for Oil during Monday’s Parliament Session
Miqati Vows to Strengthen Lebanese Armed Forces to Replace UNIFIL
Strange ambivalence on Syria
Syria's Assad regime is a threat to the US
Arab League to discuss Syria on Sunday
Assassination so far fails to unite Syria's conflicted Kurds
Saudi Wants Envoy-Killing Plot in Front of U.N.
Iran hardens denial of 'absurd' US plot accusation
Israel to ease Gaza blockade after Shalit freed, depending on Hamas conduct
'Hezbollah instructed Hamas on Shalit talks'
Israeli defense official: Details of Shalit release have been finalized
Ahmadinejad responds to alleged assassination plot: U.S. is the terrorist, not Iran
Israel publishes names of Palestinian prisoners to be released in Shalit deal

Iran warns against "inappropriate action" on US plot claims

Playing Iran with home-field advantage
By Tariq Alhomayed
AsarqAlAwsat
Iran’s Supreme Leader claims that the West is seeking to promote what he described as “Iranophobia”, or anti-Iranian sentiments. The truth is that with the revelation of the Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to Washington, and the international response, this is the first time that the international community plays Iran with home-field advantage, approximately since the 1980s.
Khomeini’s words about “Iranophobia”, which are echoed by some ill-informed people among us today, are untrue, and evidence of ignorance. Rather, what is happening today, and the international response to Iran’s plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador, which may yet bring Iran to the guillotine of the Security Council, represents the first time that is Tehran feeling the gravity of international pressure, and its serious nature.
Hence this is the first time that the international community is dealing with Iran with home-field advantage, and although this is a sports term, it explains a lot about the international situation with Iran. From the year 2005 onwards, I would say to all those who have met with the Iranians, whether US, Saudi, or some Arab officials, your key problem with Iran is that you did not play with them on their home turf. Tehran instead is exploiting your resources, through agents or even through alliances with enemies such as al-Qaeda. It is playing on ethnic and sectarian divisions in your region, exploiting the Palestinian cause, and allying with the Muslim Brotherhood without attempting – even once – to play its opponents on its own territory.
The Iranian mosaic is more complex than Lebanon or Iraq for example. It has a population of more than 70 million, amongst them millions of Sunnis, in addition of course to the Shiites. There are also many Arabs, who are non-Persians, and whose rights are compromised, just as there are also Kurds, Baluchis, Ahwazi Arabs, Turkmen and Armenians. There are also religious minorities such as Baha'is, Mandaeans, Zoroastrians, Aliarsanyen, Jews and Christians. Despite all this, and despite Iranian interference in our region and other Islamic states, no one has once tried to say to Iran that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones!
Iran is interfering in Bahrain under the pretext of supporting the Shiites, while there is not one Sunni mosque to be found in Tehran! It is interfering in Iraq, hence rubbing America’s nose in it, with help from the al-Assad regime, and though al-Qaeda and its Shiite counterparts. A few weeks ago an Iraqi official told me that numerous Sunnis have been swept under the sand, in fact not only Sunnis but also honorable Shiites in Iraq who do not accept Tehran’s intervention. Iran is also doing “wonders” in Lebanon, where it has established Hezbollah, members of which are accused of assassinating the Sunni leader Rafik Hariri.
Tehran itself supports Bashar al-Assad, a man from a minority leadership which governs the majority in Syria with an iron fist, so it is not surprising that the al-Assad regime representative to the Arab League rejected condemnation of the Iranian terrorist plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador!
This is not all; Iran also interferes in Yemen through the Houthis, and in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, through bombings and incitement, the latest example being the incidents in Awwamiya. Tehran has also occupied islands off the coast of the UAE, and has extended its terrorism to Nigeria and Sudan through weapons smuggling. Furthermore, Iran has supported and continues to support al-Qaeda, ever since the late 1980s. Despite all this, Iran has not been challenged, even once, to play their opponents at home, who would believe this?


Arab League to discuss suspending Syria

BEIRUT (AP) — Arab foreign ministers have called an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss whether to suspend Syria from the Arab League, officials said, ramping up the pressure on Damascus to end its bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Despite the growing international chorus for an end to the crisis, Syrian President Bashar Assad has shown no sign of backing down or easing his campaign to crush the seven-month-old uprising against his regime. On Sunday, security forces opened fire on a funeral for a slain activist in the east, while security forces arrested at least 44 people in the capital's suburbs in house-to-house raids.Arab League officials said the meeting Sunday in Cairo was called at the behest of several Gulf countries and aims to pressure Assad to halt the crackdown, which the U.N. says has killed more than 3,000 people since the uprising began in mid-March. Many Gulf states, including heavyweight Saudi Arabia, already have withdrawn their ambassadors from Syria to protest the regime's bloody response to the protests. One official said the Arab League will consider other measures if suspension fails to compel the Syrian regime to stop the bloodshed. He declined to elaborate. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Meanwhile, around 7,000 people took to the streets Sunday in the eastern Syrian city of Deir el-Zour for the funeral of an activist, Ziad al-Obeidi, who was killed a day earlier. Al-Obeidi worked for the British-based Observatory for Human Rights in Syria, and had been in hiding since troops stormed the city two months ago.
Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said security forces fired live ammunition to disperse the mourners Sunday, but there was no immediate word on casualties.
Abdul-Rahman and other activists said security forces also stormed areas near the capital Damascus and were carrying out house-to-house arrests in pursuit of fugitives as part of efforts to suppress the resilient anti-government uprising. He said at least 19 people were arrested in Dumeir Sunday and 25 people in the suburb of Zabadani.
The Local Coordination Committees activist network said security forces and soldiers were setting up barricades in Zabadani and Madaya and raiding houses.

Future bloc MP Ammar Houri: Lebanese institutions are decayed
October 16, 2011/Future bloc MP Ammar Houri said Sunday that “Lebanese [public] institutions are decayed on the internal level, there is almost no separation of powers, and the state is nonexistent,” the National News Agency reported. He added that “[arguments] on the legitimacy of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [have been null] since the day [UN Security Council Resolution] 1757 was issued under the [authority] of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.”
Four Hezbollah members have been indicted by the STL in Hariri’s 2005 assassination. However, the Shia group strongly denied the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court.
-NOW Lebanon

Kurds rally for and against Syrian regime in Beirut

October 16, 2011/Two groups of Syrian Kurds protested Sunday outside the Syrian Embassy in the Beirut neighborhood of Hamra, one in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the second against him.The National News Agency reported that the Lebanese army was heavily deployed in the area. More than 3,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in a Syrian crackdown on almost daily pro-democracy demonstrations in the country since mid-March, according to the United Nations.-NOW Lebanon

Change and Reform bloc MP Youssef Khalilreiterates his bloc’s stance against STL

October 16, 2011 /Change and Reform bloc MP Youssef Khalil said on Sunday that “his bloc will not approve [the cabinet providing Lebanon’s share of] funding for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL),” which is probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. “The STL funding file cannot be approved because the [UN-backed] tribunal is politicized,” Khalil told Free Lebanon Radio. “We will not accept that Lebanon remains threatened…we cannot be submissive to the pressure of either approving of the STL or being subjected to international sanctions.” The 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 UN-backed court, while President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati have repeatedly voiced Lebanon’s commitment to the tribunal.
Four Hezbollah members have been indicted by the STL in Hariri’s assassination. However, the Shia group strongly denied the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court.
Lebanon contributes 49 percent of the STL’s annual funding. Regarding the Syrian army’s violations of the Lebanese border, Khalil said that “mistakes happen, especially because the borders are overlapping.” The MP added that he “thinks that the [Lebanese] government made a mistake by not handling the issue through legal and diplomatic ways.”
Last week, Syrian army tanks crossed the Lebanese border near the town of Aarsal and fired several gunshots on Lebanese territory. The next day, the Syrian troops shot and killed a farmer near Aarsal. Thousands of Syrians have fled to Lebanon in recent months, often using illegal border crossings, to escape the unrest gripping their country
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s troops are engaged in a deadly crackdown on protests against almost five decades of Baath Party rule which broke out mid-March, killing over 3,000 people according to the UN Human Rights Committee, and triggering a torrent of international condemnation. Khalil also rejected the United States accusation that Iran plotted to kill the Saudi envoy to Washington. “The only beneficiary of this accusation is the US because of the problems it is facing in the Middle East,” he said.
“Iran would not plan to kill the Saudi envoy in a way that can be discovered that easily.”The MP added that he “thinks that the [Lebanese] government made a mistake by not handling the issue through legal and diplomatic ways.”-NOW Lebanon

Iran warns against "inappropriate action" on US plot claims

October 16, 2011/Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned on Sunday that any "inappropriate action" over US claims of a Tehran-directed assassination plot would be met with a "decisive response." "If American officials are entertaining any illusions, they should know that any inappropriate action - whether political or security-related - will meet the Iranian people's decisive response," he said in a speech in western Iran, according to his official website. The remark came as US officials consult with allies and other countries on the possibility of ratcheting up economic pressure on Iran, which is already subject to UN and US sanctions over its controversial nuclear program.Iran has fiercely denied any involvement in the thwarted plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel Al-Jubeir. But US President Barack Obama has vowed Iran will "pay a price" for what he says is incontrovertible proof it had a hand in trying to contract a Mexican drug cartel to carry out the hit.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun : We are fighting ‘militia mentality’
October 15, 2011 /Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said on Saturday that he is fighting “the militia mentality that does not respect the law.”
“We look at a [leader] who is a violator who trespasses the limits of law, constitution and jurisdictions. We look at him as if he [were a strong man], but in fact, he is a man who suffers from deficiency and who attempts to hide his deficiency by acting as the ‘strong’ man who trespasses others,” Aoun added, although the FPM leader was not clear to whom he was referring.
“When will we yell at all of these people and tell them: Remain strong, but bow to the law like any other citizen?” Aoun asked during a ceremony commemorating his 1989 defeat by Syrian forces.He then went on to say that Lebanon’s domestic conflicts have “led the militia mentality to [positions of power in] Lebanon.”
On March 14, 1989 Aoun declared "The Liberation War" against the Syrian Occupation. He was defeated on October 13 and exiled to France. He returned to Lebanon on May 7, 2005, eleven days after the withdrawal of Syrian troops.-NOW Lebanon

Future bloc MP Khaled al-Daher: Syrian embassy transformed into ‘espionage den’
October 15, 2011 /Future bloc MP Khaled al-Daher said on Saturday that the Syrian Embassy in Lebanon has transformed into a “security and espionage den,” and slammed Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali. Internal Security Forces Director General Achraf Rifi’s reported statement in front of the parliamentary committee for Human Rights, in which he accused the Syrian Embassy of kidnapping Syrians in Lebanon, is “based on facts,” Daher told MTV. “There is evidence confirming that an ISF officer, along with others, kidnapped [four Syrian brothers] in coordination with Syrian intelligence,” the MP also said, adding that the four brothers were taken to Syria.Daher also said that “no one will believe” Ali when the evidence is presented. According to Al-Jumhuriya newspaper’s Tuesday edition, Rifi told the committee that “members of the Lebanese security forces assigned to protect the Syrian embassy in Lebanon kidnapped four Syrians [whose family name is Jassem] using embassy vehicles.”In March Jassem Merii al-Jassem and his three brothers - Chedid, Ahmad and Ali - were reportedly abducted in Lebanon.“Syria only acts as such with Lebanon…This is considered state terrorism. Relations with Syria should be cut, but unfortunately this will not happen as long as the current cabinet is [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad’s cabinet.”On Friday, the Syrian ambassador denied reports that his embassy was behind the disappearance of Syrian opposition members.-NOW Lebanon

National Struggle Front bloc MP Akram Chehayeb slams Syrian envoy

October 15, 2011 /National Struggle Front bloc MP Akram Chehayeb slammed Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali, saying that “no diplomat has the right to interfere in a case that is now in the hands of the relevant [Lebanese] judiciary,” in reference to the disappearance of Shebli al-Aysami. On Friday, the Syrian ambassador denied reports that his embassy was behind the disappearance of Syrian opposition members, including Aysami, who have gone missing in Lebanon, calling such accusations "unfounded."
Chehayeb rejected Ali’s statement that “[Ali] was puzzled by these unfounded claims that have been attributed to the police chief,” and went on to say that Internal Security Forces Director General Achraf Rifi is “brave for stating things the way they are.” “What is puzzling is that the Syrian Embassy [in Lebanon] did not suitably address the incident of the abduction of an intellectual Syrian citizen…and a former vice-president,” the MP said in reference to Aysami. “[Ali] knows that the case he addressed is in the hands of the Lebanese military judiciary. He has no right to interfere…in a case that the relevant judiciary is looking into.”Chehayeb added that knowing “Aysami’s destiny is Lebanon’s and Syria’s responsibility,” and called on Ali to attempt to reveal Aysami’s fate and “to limit diplomatic [contact] to relevant official bodies.”Aysami, 86 is a co-founder of Syria's ruling Baath party who fled his native country in 1966 over political differences. He was last seen in May in the eastern Lebanese region of Aley.-NOW Lebanon

Arms Smuggling into Syria Flourishes

Naharnet /As the revolt in Syria drags on, experts say weapons smuggling into the country has flourished, especially from Lebanon, with automatic weapons, grenades and hunting rifles in high demand. They say that those behind the trafficking are smugglers in search of quick profits rather than political parties backing protesters against the Alawite-dominated regime in Syria.
"Smuggling networks that for years have operated along Syria's borders seem to have turned to weapons trafficking in recent months," said Peter Harling, a Damascus-based expert with the International Crisis Group.
"It appears that a market has quickly developed in a country which, contrary to Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen or Libya, had few weapons circulating beforehand," he told AFP.
He said the smugglers were motivated by money, at least for the time being. "I don't think that at this point we can say, as the Syrian regime claims, that foreign powers are playing a significant role in this," Harling said. "People on both sides in Syria are buying weapons to defend themselves," he added. "Residents in Alawite villages are arming themselves for fear of reprisals and the (mainly Sunni Muslim) opposition is increasingly doing the same given the regime's harsh crackdown against any form of protest.
"So the temptation for people to defend themselves is growing."
A western diplomat in Beirut who did not wish to be identified confirmed that weapons smuggling from Lebanon into Syria was on the rise but also stressed he believed this was the work of individuals rather than parties. "Those sending weapons may sympathize with a certain party but you can't say that a political faction as such is behind the smuggling," the diplomat said.
He noted the situation was ironic given that for years weapons had been smuggled from Syria into neighboring Iraq and Lebanon. "The tables are turned now, and it's a case of the biter getting bitten," he said. Since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising in mid-March, Damascus has accused loyalists of former Lebanese Premier Saad Hariri, a Sunni, of sending cash and weapons to the opposition in Syria.Hariri has denied the allegations. Lebanese authorities have arrested a number of Lebanese and Syrian nationals on charges of weapons smuggling. A judicial official said the arms seized in those cases were either hunting rifles or light weapons.
The smuggling has led to a hike in prices on the black market, notably for hunting rifles, automatic weapons and grenades. "The Syrians are raking in all the weapons and driving up prices," said one licensed weapons dealer who did not wish to be identified. He added that much of the weapons on the black market in Lebanon date back to the country's 1975-1990 civil war or were smuggled in from Iraq following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. An underground weapons dealer in north Lebanon, also on condition of anonymity, said the price of a used Kalashnikov assault rifle has risen from $800 (575 euros) to $1500 (1079 euros) since the Syria uprising began. The price of a grenade has also doubled, from about $5 to more than $10, he added, while rocket-propelled grenades are now fetching $200 a piece as opposed to $70 previously.
"There is high demand for Kalashnikovs and ammunition as well as pump-action shotguns which usually come from Turkey and are sold for $500, compared to $200 normally," he said.
He said the weapons are smuggled by foot or by car through remote areas along the 330-kilometre (205-mile) border between Lebanon and Syria. "There are more than 50 illegal crossings between the two countries and there is no way to station enough troops to control them all," said retired Lebanese army General Elias Hanna.
The Western diplomat said that Hizbullah, a staunch supporter of Assad and a key player in the Beirut government, had boosted its presence along the border in the eastern Bekaa region to stem the smuggling. The Syrian army has also stepped up security along the border. Hanna said that while the arms being smuggled into Syria at this point were light weapons and unlikely to upset the current balance of power, the situation could change if neighboring countries decided to arm the opposition. "When countries like Turkey change their stand and allow the transfer of heavy weapons through the border, then the balance of power will change," he said. "But I don't think this is going to happen anytime soon." Source Agence France Presse

ISF Officer Dies from Injuries Sustained in Sept. Clash with Estonians Kidnappers

Naharnet /Sergeant Major Elias Nasrallah, a member of the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau who took part in a clash with the kidnappers of the seven Estonians, passed away on Friday from injuries sustained in the clash. Born in 1981, he enlisted in the ISF in 2006 where he was rose to the rank of sergeant major in 2010.
Nasrallah will be laid to rest in his village of Firzil in Zahleh later on Sunday. In September, the ISF killed two accomplices of the alleged mastermind behind the kidnapping of seven Estonians during clashes in the area of al-Bireh in Rashaya. The National News Agency said the two men were killed after the ISF put iron barricades on a road between al-Bireh and Izza to stop their four-wheeler. But their vehicle veered off its course and hit a wall. An exchange of gunfire ensued between the ISF and the armed men. The wanted criminals were killed while a Major and another member of the patrol were injured. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a security official told AFP that one of those who died in the shootout was Lebanese and the other was Syrian. The media reports had said that the mastermind behind the kidnapping Wael Abbas was among the dead but later Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3) identified the two as Abbas’ aide Mohammed Zarifi and Kanan Yassine. The media reports said that security forces and the Lebanese army were coordinating efforts to find six other suspects.
The gang is allegedly linked to another network specialized in kidnapping foreigners in Iraq. Later that month, two Intelligence Branch officers were injured when they were ambushed by armed men in the hunt for the kidnappers of the Estonians in the village of Jlala near Shtaura. The seven Estonian cyclists were freed in Lebanon in July, almost four months after armed men abducted them as they entered the country on a bicycle tour from Syria. The abduction has not been officially claimed.

Mansour Heads to Cairo: We Will Take Position that Supports Syria

Naharnet /Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stated on Sunday that Lebanon will not take a position that would harm Syria’s security and stability during the Arab foreign ministers’ meetings scheduled to take place in Cairo later on Sunday. He added: “Lebanon will take a stand that supports Syria and its efforts to implement reform.”
The minister made his statements from the airport ahead of traveling to Egypt to take part in the conference. “We hope Arab consensus would be reached over Syria and the region’s higher interests,” Mansour stressed. In August, Lebanon disavowed itself from a U.N. Security Council statement condemning Syria's crackdown on opposition protests and calling for those responsible to be held "accountable." Mansour had stated that Lebanon can’t support any resolution that condemns the Syrian regime at the Security Council.
The Arab foreign ministers will meet in Cairo to discuss Syrian President Bashar Assad's crackdown on protests at the request of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The oil-rich Gulf states in the council had called for the emergency Arab meeting to address the mounting bloodshed in Syria as Damascus shows no let-up in its deadly crackdown on protests.Arab foreign ministers already met in Cairo on September 13 and called on the Syrian authorities to "immediately stop the bloodshed," drawing a testy response from Damascus.
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi had met Assad three days earlier and presented him with a 13-point document outlining Arab proposals for reform.

March 8 Studying Alternatives to Replace Miqati
Naharnet/Hizbullah and its allies have left Prime Minister Najib Miqati with very little room to maneuver regarding the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, reported the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah newspaper on Sunday. The parliamentary majority believes that the decision to fund the tribunal lies in its hands and not the premier.
March 8 sources told the newspaper that the camp is starting to study possible alternatives to Miqati should he insist on funding the STL, regardless of President Michel Suleiman and Nation Struggle Front leader MP Walid Jumblat’s positions on the international court.
The sources revealed that several alternatives are being examined, included former ministers Abdul Rahim Mrad and Adnan Addoum.
Hizbullah circles asserted that the decision is final and that Lebanon will announce its disassociation with the tribunal at the right time, added al-Seyassah.
Meanwhile, National Struggle Front sources told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Sunday that there can be no escaping the funding, adding that it is “out of the question” for Miqati to retract the commitment he made to the international community over the funding.
Ministerial sources from the majority stated that direct contacts between the government factions over the funding have not started.
They revealed that Tuesday’s cabinet session will not address this issue, but it will be limited to tackling Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi’s proposals over the state budget law.
They said that a suggestion will be made to postpone tackling the STL funding until December.

Source: Rifi’s Accusations against Syrian Embassy are Accurate
Naharnet /A Lebanese security source revealed that Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali’s statements on the abduction of Syrian opposition members in Lebanon does not mean that he and his embassy may not be directly responsible for the kidnapping of the Jassem brothers and Shebli al-Aisamy.
The source told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper in remarks published on Sunday that Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi’s statements on the matter “are accurate and they are based on damning facts and evidence.”“The security apparatuses have handed the military judiciary a complete file on the issue,” it added.
Aisamy, 86, is a co-founder of Syria's ruling Baath party who fled his native country in 1966 over political differences. He was last seen in May in the eastern Lebanese region of Aley.
The Jassem brothers were kidnapped near the Baabda prison where one of them was accused of distributing pamphlets against the Syrian regime.
On Friday, Ali denied reports that his embassy was behind the disappearance of Syrian opposition members who have gone missing in Lebanon, calling such accusations "unfounded."
"I am puzzled by these unfounded claims that have been attributed to the police chief," Ali told reporters after meeting Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.
"Such accusations affect coordination between the two countries as concerns security issues," he added.
He accused some Lebanese officials and MPs of seeking to undermine his country, where the regime of President Bashar Assad is in the throes of a brutal crackdown aimed at crushing an eight-month-long revolt. Ali was referring to Rifi who said on Monday that the ISF collected "dangerous information" linking the Syrian Embassy to the disappearance of Shebli al- Aisamy.

Qassem: We Will Resort to Vote if Govt. Fails Reach Agreement on Complex Issue
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Naharnet /Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem stated on Sunday that all government factions agreed to discuss matters with complete freedom, with each side respecting the other’s views.He said: “However, we have not yet reached an agreement over the complicated issues and if we don’t reach one, then will resort to a vote.”
“The majority can take this line of action and the rest have to accept it,” he added.
“That way, we would have openly expressed our clear commitment to the Lebanese system through the formation of the government and its policy statement,” he noted.
Qassem stressed the importance of the equation of the army, people, and resistance, which was stipulated in the policy statement.
He explained that this equation “began with the government of former Premier Fouad Saniora and later with that of former PM Saad Hariri, meaning that two consensual governments made a clear decision over this equation.”“This is an indication that this issue enjoys consensus among all Lebanese, even those who oppose the consensus and object to the equation,” the Hizbullah official noted.“We ask those who have breached the consensus over their motives and why they are seeking to weaken Lebanon,” he continued.
“Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s government was formed through a popular will, without any foreign settlements or pressure,” Qassem stressed.

'Hezbollah instructed Hamas on Shalit talks'

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4135263,00.html

As more details emerge on talks leading up to impending prisoner exchange and Gilad Shalit's release, Gaza sources tell Ynet that Hezbollah guided Hamas on 'art of negotiation' with Israel
Elior Levy /Ynetnews/10.15.11
Behind the scenes of the Shalit negotiations – the Palestinian version: Hezbollah tried to weigh in on the negotiations meant to secure the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, Ynet learned on Saturday. In June 2006, about one week after Shalit was abducted by Gaza terrorists in a cross-border raid near the Kerem Shalom crossing, Hamas Politburo headquarters in Damascus received a top secret report from Hezbollah, which included the Shiite group's recommendations on how best to negotiate a prisoner exchange deal with Israel, given the "strategic asset" the Islamist group had in its possession. The communiqué was delivered two years after a prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah took place. The 2004 exchange saw the remains of three IDF soldiers killed in a cross-border raid on the Israel-Lebanon border, as well as former IDF officer Elhanan Tannenbaum, who was held in Hezbollah captivity for nearly three years, returned to Israel in exchange for 401 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of 60 Hezbollah operatives.
Prior to the Mount Dov deal, Hezbollah had negotiated three prisoner swaps with Israel, in 1991, 1996 and 1998. Just two weeks after the communiqué was delivered Hezbollah conducted yet another cross-border raid, abducting IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. Their remains were returned to Israel in 2008, in exchange for five living Hezbollah operatives, including arch-terrorist Samir Kuntar, and the remains of 190 of the group's combatants.
The 'Super Six'
Details of the secret report became available as the Palestinians' ambiguity over the events which led to the finalizing of the Shalit deal began dissipating.
Oh Hamas' part, the lengthy, five-year negotiations were shrouded with zealously-maintained secrecy and laced with measured amounts of psychological warfare; but since news of the deal broke out – and despite vows by Shalit's captors to "never reveal" the true reality of his confinement – more and more details depicting Hamas' view of the talks have begun emerging.
In the early stages after the abduction, Hamas' leadership decided that only six top officials would take part – and be privy to – the negotiations with Israel: Five politburo members and one officer from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing.
Hamas made their initial demand for the release of 1,400 prisoners public, but from that point on the negotiations, and especially the identity of the prisoners whose release was sought, were kept secret. Hamas viewed Hezbollah's recommendation as their dogma, and the Shiite group's "negotiation tactics" had a great impact on Hamas' dealings with Israel over the past five years.
Surprising support
In 2009, Hamas decided to trim the negotiation team down to four: Deputy Hamas Politburo Chief Dr. Mousa Abu Marzouk, Hamas' Lebanon delegate Osama Hamdan, top Politburo delegate in Gaza Mahmoud al-Zahar and Ahmed Jabari, head of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
According to Palestinian sources, German Intelligence Chief Gerhard Konrad assumed the role of mediator at the time and held his fisrt meeting with the Hamas team at al-Zahar's Gaza home. This was when Israel's demand to expel those it defined as "heavyweight prisoners" first came to light.
As the negotiations dragged on, al-Zahar and Jabari decided to consult with top Hamas operatives jailed in Israel. To their surprise, they prisoners – all of whom are Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades operatives – demanded that Hamas' leadership broker a deal even if they themselves were excluded from it.
By this point – and faced with Hamas' constant rejection of prisoner exchange outlines presented to its leaders, who adamantly claimed that the proposals favored the Israeli position – Konrad had despaired and resigned from his position as mediator.
The negotiation's prospects may have seemed bleak, but it was the change in position demonstrated by Hamas prisoners that eventually gave the negotiations the necessary push.
Old players, new tactics
Another push came in the form of the collapse of the Mubarak regime in Egypt: Hamas was distrustful of Cairo's mediation attempts in the past, declaring that Mubarak was biased against Hamas interest; but was willing to accept them now, as it viewed the new chiefs of the Egyptian Intelligence Services as much more "Hamas-friendly."
Egypt's new rulers, eager to rehabilitate Cairo's rattled position as a key regional player, reclaimed their position as mediator in March 2011 and employed what Hamas officials described as "a totally different approach" than Konrad's, which they said eventually facilitated the deal.
Regardless of the details revealed by Gaza sources, the Popular Resistance Committees, one of the terror groups which took an active part in Shalit's abduction, vowed that the true details of the IDF soldier's captivity will never be revealed.
"The resistance went to extreme lengths to ensure that Shalit never saw his captures," a Gaza source told Ynet, adding that Shalit will not be able to recognize the place where he was held, either. The statement contradicted a previous one by the PRC, which stated that the group would release a video documenting Shalit's time in captivity, after the prisoner exchange is completed. The group insisted at the time that the video "will show that he was treated well and with respect, as demanded by the Islamic dogma."

Iran’s terrorism exposed!
15/10/2011
By Mshari al-Zaydi/AsharqAlawsat
What if Iranian officer Gholam Shakuri had succeeded – via his agents – in assassinating the Saudi Ambassador in Washington, perhaps even blowing up the Saudi Arabian embassy there?
When it came time to point the finger, would the Quds Force – who Shakuri works for – have been in the picture, or would a statement on behalf of a Jihadist group – perhaps an Al Qaeda franchise – been issued claiming responsibility for this attack and speaking about a double revenge against the US and Saudi Arabia for the assassination of two jihadist icons, namely Osama Bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki?
I admit I wouldn't have been surprised if Al Qaeda had carried out an operation such as this, not because I am prejudiced, but because the general context of such an attack, as well as the prevailing logic and the organization’s history, all support it carrying out such operations.
The Quds Force, commanded by General Qassem Suleimani, has had a hand in a series of operations and actions across the region, and has been dubbed the “Iranian bat”, as it is Tehran’s between the world of light and the world of darkness, or between the realm of countries and states, and that of groups. It is the illegitimate face of the Iranian regime, the gateway to terrorism and off-the-book “black” operations. The Quds Force is nothing more or less than the dark side of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
As for General Suleimani, he is none other than the custodian of Iraqi politics and security, and he governs the country from somewhere on the Iranian – Iraqi border. The Quds Force has an unmistakable presence in Baghdad’s impenetrable Green Zone, via Iranian agents stationed there.
We can clearly see General Qassem Suleimani’s fingerprints in our region, from Hezbollah in Lebanon to the Shiite militias in Iraq to the sleeper cells in the Gulf, the Huthi rebels in Yemen, and the loyalist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The danger of the foiled terrorist operation in Washington, which targeted the Saudi ambassador and embassy, is that Iran could easily have gotten away with this. Even more dangerous than this, is that this foiled terrorist operation raises a question that is nearly impossible to answer, namely: what other operations have the Quds Force – or other Iranian intelligence apparatus – carried out in the region which others have been blamed for? What about the assassination of a Saudi diplomat in Karachi last May?
The mistake of Iran’s agents in Washington was akin to a slipup made by a master thief who has grown complacent after the fourth or fifth successful burglary. For during the initial operations, the thief would be very careful and alert, but if he continued not to get caught, he might grow complacent or start to take greater risks, until he is caught.
Iran is not so dumb that it would seek to carry out an operation of this kind for the first time. There are two major issues that clearly explain why Iran would try this. Firstly, it is clear that the Iranian [intelligence] apparatus previously successfully carried out operations such as this – worldwide – that have not been traced back to it. Therefore, they laboured under the delusion that this operation would be like its predecessors. Secondly, and more importantly in my view, the Iranians have found themselves facing intense regional pressure, with their Syrian ally facing internal problems, the [Arab] Gulf victory in Bahrain, not to mention the Huthi setback in Yemen. Therefore, this assassination attempt was a desperate bid to turn the tables and preoccupy Saudi Arabia and the US with something new, by framing Al Qaeda for this operation.
In short, this failed operation uncovered what was hidden, exposed the language of lies and hypocrisy and revealed the truth of this confrontation.
Yes, a state of covert war exists between Saudi Arabia and Iran on the one hand and between Iran and the international community on the other, and I do not believe that the international community will allow Iran to capitalize on the regional vacuum and overrun the Middle East.
We have moved from one condition to another and so our policies, rhetoric and positions must reflect this. It is absolutely imperative that this happens, there is no other option.
One last word to those who promote the Iranian claim – being repeated by the Muslim Brotherhood – that this whole story is nothing more than a fabrication and a lie. Is the US – which uncovered this plot via Justice Department – a banana republic, like Syria, not possessing any oversight bodies able to uncover the most basic of lies?

Echoes of Iran
Ivan Sahar Media Guide Centre files

Canadian authorities arrested refugee claimant Mansour Ahani as a threat to national security and deported him to Iran in 2002.
Stewart Bell Oct 15, 2011 –National Post
Mansour Ahani said he was fleeing religious and political persecution in Iran when he arrived at Vancouver airport from Singapore in October 1991.
“I am dead if I return,” he wrote in his refugee claim.
But after spending months following Ahani, Canadian intelligence officers came to a startling conclusion: He was a highly trained Iranian government assassin whose handlers were planning an attack on the British author Salman Rushdie.
.Allegations this week that Iranian officials were behind a plot to murder the Saudi ambassador to the United States have been met with disbelief by some analysts. But while questions remain about the extent of Tehran’s official involvement, the Ahani case is a reminder Iranian security agencies have a long history of assassination attempts.
“They have done these kind of things before,” said Ramin Jahanbegloo, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto who was detained by Iran in 2006.
“This is not the first time that Iran has been implicated in terror attacks.”
Soon after the Islamic regime came to power in 1979, a security guard at the Iranian mission in the United States was recruited to assassinate a critic in Maryland. Iranian agents killed scores of dissidents in Europe in the 1990s. They also helped bomb a Jewish centre in Argentina in 1994 (one of the men wanted for the attack is now Iran’s Defence Minister).
And in Canada, there was the Ahani case.
Like the suspect in the alleged murder-for-hire plot announced Tuesday by Eric Holder, the U.S. Attorney-General, Ahani was closely linked to elements of the security apparatus set up to eliminate threats to Iran’s Islamic Revolution.
Both cases also involved suspected Iranian agents who entered North America as migrants and appeared hapless and ordinary, but on closer inspection were allegedly taking orders from senior officials in Tehran.
And both plots emerged at times of distress for Iran. The Canadian case came as the Islamic regime was trying to consolidate its hold on power by eliminating dissidents, while also exploiting anger over Mr. Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses to position itself as leader of the world’s Muslims.
“Now, the Iranian authorities’ anger is fed by increasing U.S. and European sanctions, plus Tehran’s conviction that the West is pursuing a soft overthrow of the Islamic Republic by use of modern communications to whip up protests,” U.S. analyst Matthew Levitt wrote on foreignpolicy.com.
After making his refugee claim, Ahani took a bus to Toronto. Before long, he got a call from a commander in the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). His name was Akbar Khoshkooshk and he was in charge of co-ordinating attacks on Iranian exiles.
He had also trained Ahani. Recruited into a special security unit of the prime minister’s office, Ahani had learned about small arms, automatic weapons, explosives, martial arts, counter-surveillance and assassination techniques.
In July 1987, he took part in an attack on Iranian dissidents in Quetta, Pakistan, a Canadian Security Intelligence Service report says, which notes he also had “detailed knowledge” of the murders of two dissidents in Europe in 1987 and 1990.
Ahani had been in Canada for five months when Mr. Khoshkooshk called and said he wanted to meet. He wired US$900 for a false passport. Then he called again and told Ahani to fly to Switzerland.
Using his false Andorran passport, which identified him as Paolo Gomez, Ahani flew to Zurich. He and Mr. Khoshkooshk met in a wooded area and travelled on separate trains to Italy. They then took a bus to Fermignano, a small town in central Italy that was home to several Iranian dissidents.
Posing as a tourist, Ahani photographed buildings identified by Mr. Khoshkooshk. Canadian authorities believe the photos were preparations for an assassination. Italian police arrested the two men, but could not hold them.
Once released, Ahani fled to Turkey and delivered the camera with the reconnaissance photos to the Iranian consulate in Istanbul. He returned to Canada using a different false passport, this one Greek.
Back in Toronto, Ahani got a job at a Burger King at a downtown food court, but the intelligence officers watching him felt he had developed an unusual interest in the nearby Winter Garden Theatre. Perhaps not coincidentally, the writers’ group PEN was preparing to host a benefit there that December, and the surprise guest was to be Mr. Rushdie.
Since the publication of The Satanic Verses, Mr. Rushdie had been forced into hiding. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s top cleric and Supreme Leader, had issued a fatwa declaring the book blasphemous and ordering the author’s killing.
Its Japanese translator was murdered and the translator of the Italian edition was stabbed. Bookstores that sold the novel were bombed. The Iranian intelligence service was linked to at least some of the attacks.
Because of his tight security protection, Mr. Rushdie had survived, but he was due in Toronto on Dec. 7, 1992 and a trained Iranian assassin appeared to be conducting reconnaissance of the building where he was to speak.
As a precaution, CSIS officers took Ahani to the Deerhurst Resort in Muskoka, Ont., before the PEN event. Under questioning, he talked about Mr. Khoshkooshk.
“He further stated his belief that should targets be identified in Canada, the government of Iran would not hesitate to eliminate them,” reads the CSIS report summarizing the case.
Even with Ahani out of town, there was a heavy police presence at the PEN benefit, but it went off without any trouble. Bob Rae, then the Ontario premier, spoke in support of Mr. Rushdie, calling the Ayatollah’s fatwa “an obscene edict from a fanatic sect.”
Ahani was eventually arrested as a threat to national security. Canadian courts determined he was a member of the MOIS.
He appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the government argued he was “a threat to Salman Rushdie and persons living in Canada.” After countless court appeals, he was deported to Tehran on June 18, 2002.
Paul Kennedy, a senior public safety official, told a 2005 parliamentary hearing about Ahani’s training, links to the MOIS and involvement in a “potential assassination attempt” in Italy.
“The concern was that he would possibly be used by them here as a resource for that purpose,” he said. “Therefore, in an act of prevention, he was moved out of the country.”
Now the United States is alleging senior members of Iran’s Quds Force orchestrated and financed a plot to bomb a restaurant frequented by the Saudi ambassador to Washington. Manssor Arbabsiar was arrested Sept. 29. According to the charges, after meeting Quds Force officials in Tehran, he travelled to Mexico and hired a purported hit man to carry out the killing.
Professor Martin Rudner said Iran might have been attempting to strike a blow against its regional rival while complicating Saudi-American relations.
“I could see reasons why Iran would seek to do this in the Iranian interest,” said Prof. Rudner, distinguished research professor emeritus at Carleton University in Ottawa.
“The question is, if they have the intentions, do they have the capabilities? And I think they’ve demonstrated those capabilities with Ahani and other cases.”
National Post
sbell@nationalpost.com
 

Fruitless labor
Matt Nash, October 16, 2011 /Now Lebanon
Unable to rally its political patrons, Lebanon’s General Worker’s Union (GWU) lost a battle for wage hikes this week, exposing its relative weakness and prompting a compromise that pleased no one.
In a decision that has since been derided across the board, cabinet on Tuesday agreed to raise wages for two tranches of employees: those earning monthly salaries between 500,000 and 1 million Lebanese Liras ($333 and $666) and those earning between 1,000,001 and 1.8 million LL ($666 and $1,200). The GWU wanted much more, and most workers seem particularly incensed with the 1.8 million LL limit on which workers will receive raises.
The decision, accepted by GWU leader Ghassan Ghosn, prevented a general strike the organization had scheduled for October 12. Strikes, of course, are means for labor unions to flex their muscles and extract concessions. However, Ghosn was likely relieved to see the demonstration stopped.
Founded in 1970, the GWU is an umbrella organization grouping many of the country’s labor federations (themselves comprised of individual unions). Viewed as neutral and at times even a unifying force during the civil war, the GWU became increasingly politicized after the conflict ended, according to a 1997 paper by Lebanese American University Political Science Professor Sami Baroudi.
Today Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal Movement is best represented in the GWU, and Berri, many argue, more or less controls the body’s actions. In recent years, at times of political crisis, GWU strikes have gone ahead.
As the March 8 coalition called for the toppling of Fouad Siniora’s government in early 2007, after resigning from it in 2006, and tensions soared over establishing what is now the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the GWU led a strike many saw as a means to pressure the government. None of the GWU’s demands were met.
The organization had more success in May 2008. On May 7, the GWU held a 24-hour general strike that led to fist-fighting on Beirut’s streets, days after cabinet decided to investigate Hezbollah’s private phone network in the South and sack the head of airport security, who was close to the Party of God. The following day, after a speech on the cabinet’s decision by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, March 8 supporters took over half of Beirut.
In the aftermath of what is euphemistically referred to as “the May 7 events,” the GWU won a coat-tail victory in seeing the minimum wage rise from 300,000 LL ($200) per month to 500,000 LL. Additionally, the minimum wage hike decision mandated that all employees receive a 200,000 LL ($133) raise.
That Ghosn accepted a deal this week belies the fact that without the consent of the real powers-that-be in the GWU, it carries little sway.
“I don’t think that the labor union [GWU] wanted to [hold the strike] because it would have shown their limited ability to get people out,” LAU’s Baroudi told NOW Lebanon. He said Ghosn probably took an initially hard-line position assuming the government would be on his side. Baroudi dismissed the idea that the timing of raising their demands was politically calculated on the GWU’s part.
However, a showdown is brewing between Prime Minister Najib Mikati and ministers from the March 8 alliance over Lebanon’s funding for the STL. Cabinet is also soon expected to fill dozens of administrative vacancies—an opportunity for politicians to both exercise patronage and gain influence in ministries and other state bodies. There may have been more being negotiated this week than a wage increase, but in the end, the GWU was left without political backing for their strike, and ultimately backed down.
Many of the federations within the GWU—particularly teachers—are so upset with the deal they are insisting on striking next week (and, indeed, many teaches did strike on October 12).
“We as the teacher’s union are also objecting to the fact that the decision [to cancel the strike] was taken without our consent,” Walid Jradeh, head of the union in South Lebanon, told NOW Lebanon. “We were working on the basis that there be coordination between us and the GWU. It is unacceptable that the latter be the sole decision maker and decide to freeze the strike without referring back to the different bodies that are involved and taking part.”
The teachers are not the only unhappy ones. Business leaders are enraged and have threatened not to give their employees raises, while several economists have condemned a decision they say will spark a jump in inflation.
Kamal Hamdan, an economic specialist with the Consultation and Research Institute, was particularly critical of the 1.8 million LL limit on salary increases. Workers earning $1,201 and above will not be happy seeing their lower-paid colleagues get raises they are not entitled to, he said.
On the political level, allies of Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, particularly Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas, also slammed the compromise, insisting on a more holistic approach to improving the social and economic problems the country faces—quite in line, actually, with the larger basket of demands the GWU initially proposed.
For Samir Farah, a representative of the German organization Friedrich Ebert Stiftung who has worked with the GWU in the past, this week’s display was quite disappointing.
“This is the first time they’re demanding in such a chaotic and humiliating way the rights of workers,” he told NOW Lebanon. “It’s clear they are manipulated by politicians.”
When asked what could be done to revamp the GWU to make it a more effective tool for securing workers’ rights, he sighed, half smiled and shook his head.

Big US airlift drill starts Monday. Fresh Hamas demands for Gilad Shalit
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report/ October 16, 2011/, The United States launches a large-scale exercise over the Middle East deploying 41 giant transports of the 22nds Airlift Squadron Monday Oct. 17, the day before the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is scheduled to be released by Hamas. The US Transportation Command and its Air Forces Transportation will be testing its ability to provide a rapid strategic airlift response to major crises and contingencies.
Tuesday morning, when the Israel and Hamas prisoner exchange is due to be executed, the giant US transports will drill landings in Israel and Saudi Arabia. The aircraft will be packed with command and control elements and fighting units with full equipment.
debkafile's military sources report that during this critical week, the exercise ending Friday, Oct. 21 will keep an American air fleet in Middle East skies ready to land at any moment for any contingency. The Israeli, Egyptian and Saudi armies are on a high state of preparedness.
In parallel, The USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier is on its way from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. Last Tuesday Oct. 11, as the US officials accused the Iranian government of directing a plot to assassination the Saudi ambassador to Washington, the Stennis was nearing the Red Sea.
Aboard was the Chief of US Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert who was assigned to the operation in this arena shortly after taking up his appointment.
The missions of the Stennis Battle Group, consisting of an additional seven warships, most of them destroyers and frigates, as well as Air Wing CVW-9, are to provide ground troops with combat support and strike land and sea targets. It is also able to sow mines over large areas around coastal regions and on the high sea.
Sunday, Oct. 16, US intelligence sources warned that the operation for the Israeli soldier's recovery from Hamas captivity (paid for by 1,027 jailed Palestinian terrorists) could touch off a spate of terrorist attacks in the region, most likely aimed at US embassies and Israel targets in and outside the country.
A senior US source noted that Iran, Hizballah and Syria might try and disrupt the exchange while it is in progress.
Tehran was furious with Washington for fingering Gholam Shakouri as one of the masterminds of the foiled assassination attempt. Shakouri is Deputy Chief of the Revolutionary Guards' Al Qods Brigades.
Iran, Syria and Hizballah all, furthermore, own an interest in thwarting the transfer of Hamas' political headquarters from Damascus to Cairo which was assured in a secret provision of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas that was brokered by the US and Egypt.
Oct. 12, the day after the Shalit deal came to light, debkafile's military sources first drew attention to the danger of the three allies activating their undercover agents in the Gaza Strip to stymie the exchange.
On Oct. 14, the same warning was issued by the German spy agency's director Erns Uhrlau.
Sunday, circles in the IDF and Israel Defense Ministry voiced concern about the difficulties still to be overcome before Tuesday arrives. And indeed, that morning, Cairo sources reported hitches in finalizing the transfer arrangements which the prime minister's emissary David Maidan is managing for the Israeli side in Cairo. Those sources reported that Hamas representatives had raised fresh demands over and above the provisions of the prisoner swap accord they signed last week. They sought now to add more Palestinian female prisoners to the 27 agreed; they also wanted to delay the deportation of 40 hard-core terrorists to host countries and demanded that they stay in Egypt before their transfer.
Western sources report that Hamas hast yet to ask any foreign country to receive them.

The mystery behind the alleged Iran assassination plot

By Yossi Melman /Haaretz
While everyone in Israel has been preoccupied since Tuesday with the upcoming release of captive Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, they have hardly noticed recent events in the U.S. and the implications they have on the world, the Middle East and even on Israel: the U.S. government's claim that Iran was involved in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington and to again harm the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Very few details were published about the military plan, but those that were published showed the plan was inadequate and amateurish. This created a lack of trust in the American announcement. Specialists on Iran – most of whom frequent Gary Sick's Internet forum, the Gulf/2000 Project – hastened to support Iran and raise doubts as to whether it was really behind the plot. Others went so far as to weave conspiracy theories that the American government, with the support of its intelligence, fabricated the operation to incriminate Iran, so as to create a casus belli and prepare public opinion for a military blow on Tehran.
At the same time, the U.S. is putting pressure on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to publish evidence it received over the last few months about the Iranian nuclear program. According to the New York Times, this classified intelligence information says Iran is conducting technological experiments for building nuclear weapons.
There were even those who conjured conspiracy theories in their sick minds that blame the Mossad for being behind the act in order to provoke a war between Washington and Tehran. In this context, they reminded that Israel played an important role in gathering "evidence" against Sudam Hussein's regime in Iraq in order to push the U.S. to invade Iraq. But even without these conspiracy theories, the Americans and the world remember that George W. Bush used faulty intelligence information to show Sudam Hussein was developing nuclear weapons – or at least chemical and biological weapons – as a justification for invading Iraq in 2003. If the Israeli intelligence, many in the U.S. claim, was capable of using the information and intelligence assessments for political echelon, who could guarantee they wouldn't do it again?
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday scornfully rejected the Americans' claims, saying they were meaningless. "A meaningless and nonsensical accusation has been raised against a few Iranians in America, which was made into an excuse to present the Islamic Republic as a supporter of terrorism," Khamenei said on an official television station in Iran.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller were the ones to unveil the plot last week. They spoke of an Iranian-American named Mansour Arbabsiar, from Corpus Christi, Texas, and who has a relative serving in the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force in Iran. Last June, Arbabsiar turned to a man and asked him to obtain weapons from a Mexican drug cartel. That man, it turns out, was a DEA agent. From that moment on, Arbabsiar was put under surveillance until he was recently arrested and charged.
Another suspect, Ali Gholam Shakuri – who is allegedly a member of the Quds Force, got away.
The charges do not mention the plot to attack the Israeli embassies, but it was reported in the American and Argentinean media and was based on conversations with government officials.
The Quds Force, headed by Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, consists of about 15,000 conscripts and is considered the elite force of the Revolutionary Guard. The force is responsible for maintaining contact with different organizations around the world, mainly Shiite groups – and provides arms and funding to Hezbollah, Hamas, Shiite militias in Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen and al-Qaida. It is known that Suleimani was in close contact with Hezbolla's "Defense Minister" Imad Mughniyah, who was killed in February 2008 in an operation attributed to the Mossad. Suleimani also secretly visited Iraq to help organize resistance to the U.S. military.
It's hard to believe that Iran, who has significant intelligence capabilities and has carried out sophisticated terror attacks in the past – would assign such an important task to an Iranian-American whose favorite drink is whiskey.
Furthermore, the last time Iran was involved in a terror plot on U.S. soil was in 1980, shortly after the Islamic Revolution which saw Ruhollah Khomeini rise to power. Dawud Salahuddin, an American who converted to Islam, tried to assassinate Ali Akbar Tabatabai, the former press attaché at the Iranian embassy in Washington. Salahuddin fled to Tehran, where he resides to this day. Last week Salahuddin gave an interview to the Christian Science Monitor, in which he said that based on his experience, the Iranian intelligence agencies would not have operated this way.
Yet one must not forget that Iran's Quds Force and intelligence agency are responsible for various terrorist operations in recent decades, which were carried out by Iranian, Lebanese, or other dissidents. These included attacks in Berlin, Vienna, Rome, Paris, and Israeli and Jewish targets in Argentina.
Despite Israel's official silence on the recent events, security officials know that not only is Iran capable of carrying out such attacks – it is actively initiating them. As evidence, officials point to the botched attacks in Azerbaijan, Cairo, and a West African state. These attempts were carried out in cooperation with Hezbollah, which sought to avenge Mughniyah's death.
The Saudis also believe the Iranian plot is real. Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said last week in a visit to Austria that "we hold (the Iranians) responsible for any action they take against us." He indicated that this is not the first time Iran is suspected of such operations.
There is no doubt that a terrorist attack on U.S. soil against a Saudi or an Israeli target would be considered a tremendous Iranian success – a "quality" operation. It conforms to the Iranian strategy of proving to its bitter enemies that there no place where they are safe, not even in the capital of Israel's and Saudi Arabia's strategic partner.
Furthermore, Saudi Arabia's ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir is considered a bitter rival of Iran and his actions have been loathed by the Ayatollah regime for years. He is a seasoned diplomat that works tirelessly to progress Saudi-American relationships, and succeeded in no small measure to correct the bad impression left by Saudi Arabia with its involvement, and the funding it provided to the Saudi citizens among the September 11 attackers. Al-Jubeir maintains close ties with the Saudi king, and according to WikiLeaks documents he was one of the people who succeeded in toughening the king's stance toward Iran. Moreover, before being appointed ambassador he was considered an "envoy" to the Jewish community in the U.S. – meeting Jewish leaders and bringing about a certain change in the embassy's traditionally hostile stance towards the Jewish community. There is no chance that the last weapons deal between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. went through almost without opposition in Congress. One of the reasons for this was that the pro-Israeli lobby AIPAC didn't oppose it.
With such a record, the Saudi ambassador could definitely constitute a fitting target for an Iranian plot. It is also possible the inadequate and amateurish plan proves Iran does not have proper terror foundations in the U.S., and therefore found it difficult to carry out the operation by the standards it would hope for. Otherwise, it's hard to imagine that the U.S. Attorney General, the head of the CIA and most of all U.S. President Barack Obama, would risk their reputation by publishing such unequivocal dramatic announcements that Iran is behind the plot. The government undoubtedly has additional evidence – probably from intelligence findings like tapped telephone conversations or internet communications – that at this stage they do not want to reveal.