LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
August 16/12

Bible Quotation for today
Luke 01/46-55: "And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Tribal law and disorder/By: Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/August 15/12
Beyond the Charges against Michel Samaha/By: Elias Harfoush/AlHayat/August 15/12
Iran and Solidarity/By: Jameel Theyabi/Al Hayat/August 15/12
'Rehabilitating' Jihadis with Cage-Fighting/by Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPage Magazine/August 15/12
Egypt's Jihad Organizations Call for Christian Genocide/by Raymond Ibrahim//Jihad Watch/August 15/12

23 Dead, 200 Hurt in Airstrike on Syria's Aazaz
Naharnet/A Syrian airstrike on a rebel bastion in the north Wednesday flattened a string of houses and killed 23 people including children, activists said, leaving residents wailing in grief and anger. "Bashar did this. God help us, these animals will kill us all," said one man, hoisting a bloodied arm from a pile of body parts on the pavement outside the hospital in the town of Aazaz after the bombardment. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 23 people were killed in the attack by a MiG fighter jet, the latest atrocity blamed on the regime of President Bashar Assad, but the toll was expected to rise.
The dead included women and children, while another 200 people were wounded, it said. "There are many people still trapped under the rubble," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. "The situation is horrific." An Agence France Presse correspondent said at least 10 houses had been flattened in the attack on Aazaz which lies just north of the main battleground city of Aleppo and is often used as rear base by rebel Free Syrian Army fighters. "This was a civilian area. All these houses were packed with women and children sleeping during the fast," said witness Abu Omar, a civil engineer in his 50s, referring to the dawn-to-dusk fast Muslims observe during Ramadan. "Only dogs can do something like this. Israel wouldn't do such a thing in a war," he told AFP.
Witnesses and FSA forces who reinforced security around the town after the strike said the jet fired twice, targeting a makeshift media center used by foreign reporters in the second, smaller strike.
The attack came amid heavy shelling of several districts of Aleppo, regarded as a pivotal battleground in the conflict that is now entering its 18th month and has killed more than 23,000 people according to activists. Dozens of people, many wailing and shouting, were climbing over the rubble, trying to pull out victims, while hundreds of others fled.
Entire families, carrying bags of clothes and boxes of food on their heads, were seen filing past the immigration office at the crossing point into the Turkish town of Kilis.
"That's it, I'm leaving for Turkey with my family today. Life here is impossible," said an Aazaz resident who gave his name as Jomaa.
At the local hospital, people brought in the body of a little girl apparently aged no more than four.
Footage from an amateur video distributed by the Observatory also showed the immobile, dust-covered hand of a little girl, likely dead, reaching out from under ruined buildings.
Abdel Rahman said that among those wounded were four of a group of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims who were kidnapped near Aazaz in May.
Witnesses said the bomb must have weighed at least half a ton and the impact shattered windows up to four blocks away.
Residents insisted there was no rebel base where the bomb struck but some said the families of FSA fighters lived there.
On the pavement outside the hospital, body parts had been heaped in a pile under a blanket.
A burly red-haired man with a bushy beard and hands covered in blood lifted the blanket after helping to bring in a wounded girl, grabbing a severed arm with skin and flesh dangling from it. "I don't know how many people these parts belong to, look here there's half a woman and here half of somebody else," he said as a crowd gathered around.
When he saw the mangled dust-caked body of a child less than a year old, he sat down on the pavement, clasped his head with both hands and started sobbing.
"Nobody knows how high the toll will climb now. It could take days to finish searching through the rubble," said Abu al-Baraa, a doctor who had just arrived in Syria from Saudi Arabia to help. "Nobody can understand why they targeted women and children. They must have wanted to punish the families of fighters," he said.
"I'm a radiologist, not a surgeon, but I'll do anything I can to help," said Abu al-Baraa. There is only one other doctor at Aazaz hospital, an anesthetist.
In Aleppo itself, an AFP correspondent said a new front had opened in the northeastern district of Baaideen, forcing residents to flee as regime forces pounded the area using tanks and warplanes. Abu Ubayda, a local rebel commander, said regime forces were trying to encircle the FSA between Baaideen and southwestern district of Salaheddin which the government retook last week.
Source/Agence France Presse

Meqdad Military Wing Kidnaps Turkish National, 20 FSA Members, Speaks of 'Bank of Targets'
Naharnet /Al-Meqdad family announced on Wednesday that its military wing has so far kidnapped more than 20 Free Syrian Army members in Lebanon, as well as a Turkish national, promising a “hefty catch.”The military wing told LBCI television: “We may take escalatory measures depending on the latest developments.”“We have a bank of targets in Lebanon and we are capable of reaching regional targets,” it warned. “We can reach Aley, Tripoli, and Iqlim al-Kharroub,” said an unidentified masked gunman who was surrounded by a number of other gunmen of the Meqdad military wing.
Media report had earlier announced that the wing had abducted a Turkish national of the Soufan family. Voice of Lebanon radio said that Turkish national is a diplomat called Soufan.
LBCI later broadcast images of the passport of the Turkish national who was kidnapped by the Meqdad family, identifying him as Aydin Tufan.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry demanded that the Lebanese government provide information on its abducted national, reported al-Jadeed television.
On the abduction of Syrian FSA members, Abu Ali al-Meqdad said on behalf of the family: “The family’s military wing kidnapped several Syrians. We are not afraid of anyone.”
He said the tribes of the eastern Bekaa valley such as Shamas, Zoaiter, Nasreddine and Dandash are all working together and will reveal their “big catch” on Thursday morning.
“There are over 20 FSA members kidnapped in Lebanon,” he pointed out.
Media reports said that over 30 members had been kidnapped.
Al-Mayadeen news channel later broadcasted a video of the kidnapped Syrians.
According to LBCI one of the abductees is a captain and another is an officer, who has been wounded.
He confirmed that the military wing kidnapped another member while the press conference was underway. Al-Meqdad’s move comes in light of the FSA’s detention of Hassan Salim al-Meqdad in Damascus for allegedly belonging to Hizbullah. The family’s statement also held Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey responsible for the kidnapping of Hassan.
Bassam al-Dada, the FSA political advisor, told al-Jadeed that the Syrian refuges, who are being kidnapped in Lebanon, are not members of the FSA. He threatened to execute members of Hizbullah if the Syrians weren’t released. Al-Jadeed television later reported that the family of Lebanese national Mohammed Mansour was informed of his abduction in Syria.
On Tuesday, Hizbullah denied a video aired by al-Arabiya news channel claiming that the Free Syrian Army detained a member of Hizbullah identified as Hassan Salim al-Meqdad.
The family of 39-year-old Hassan also ruled out that he is a member of the party, revealing that he works at Jammal Trust Bank and headed to Syria a year and a half ago to resolve some financial problems.
MP Ghazi Zoaiter, who was present at al-Meqdad family’s house to support it, urged the government to assume its responsibility.
He wondered if the kidnapping carried out by the FSA is part of the democracy it is calling for.
Hatem told LBCI that the family will kidnap factions other than the FSA if the man was not released within 24 hours.
Another member of al-Meqdad family vowed to abduct Turks, Saudis and Qataris also, but Abu Ali ruled out this possibility saying that our threats to these countries will remain political.
“We will only kidnap members of the FSA,” he added. Security sources told LBCI that security measures near the Turkish, Qatari and Saudi embassies were boosted.
His other brother, Habib, threatened on Tuesday that the family will take escalatory measures if he wasn’t released within 24 hours.
“We will not wait for the government so that the fate of our son becomes the same as those 11 kidnapped men, therefore, we will not wait for the efforts exerted by Speaker Nabih Berri or (Hizbullah) Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” he said. The 11 Lebanese Shiites pilgrims were kidnapped on May 22 by armed men in the Syrian province of Aleppo while on their way from Iran to Lebanon.
Four of the pilgrims were reportedly killed on Wednesday in an airstrike in the Aazaz region in Aleppo where they were being held.

Saudis told to leave Lebanon immediately after ‘open threats’
August 15, 2012 /The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Saudi Arabia has called on all it citizens to leave Lebanon immediately, Riyadh’s ambassador to Lebanon said Wednesday.
Ambassador Ali Awad al-Asiri, who is in Mecca, told the National News Agency that he requested that all Saudi nationals in Lebanon leave the country after “the threats have become open.”
Asiri was referring to threats earlier in the day by the Meqdad clan, which said it could take action against Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey over the kidnapping of one its members earlier this week in Syria.
The Meqdad clan said Wednesday it abducted over 30 individuals it described as belonging to the Free Syrian Army, which it claims was behind the kidnapping of their relative, Hassan Meqdad, Monday.
The family held Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia responsible for the kidnappings given their backing to Syrian rebels. The family also held the Lebanese government responsible for not putting enough efforts to release their kin. The Saudi Ambassador told the NNA that he had also requested that all Saudi nationals not visit the country “given the current circumstances.”
He also denied any knowledge “of Saudi nationals having been kidnapped in Lebanon.”

Saniora Meets Suleiman, Confirms March 14 Participation at Thursday’s National Dialogue Session
Naharnet /Head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora confirmed on Wednesday the March 14 camp’s participation at the national dialogue session scheduled for Thursday. He held talks with President Michel Suleiman to inform him of the decision and discuss the latest local and regional developments. The former premier explained that his participation at the all-party talks “stems from the values that produced the March 14 forces.” These values are based on national unity and the authority of the state, he added. “The state alone is responsible for protecting the nation and not one party or sect of Lebanese,” Saniora said. “This entails allowing the state to assume the duties of defending the nation, which include deterring assaults and liberating lands,” continued the MP.
“Any serious national dialogue keen on protecting Lebanon cannot but be based on emphasizing the authority of the state throughout the country,” he added. “No new understanding over protecting Lebanon, such as sharing the military responsibility with another power, should be introduced,” he stressed. “Any dialogue that does not tackle the possession of arms outside the state’s authority will remain superficial,” he noted. The March 14 camp had previously boycotted a national dialogue session over the failure to address Hizbullah’s possession of arms, among other reasons.

Lebanese opposition to attend National Dialogue: sources
August 15, 2012/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Lebanon’s opposition will take part in the Aug. 16 National Dialogue session called for by President Michel Sleiman, a Future Movement source told The Daily Star Wednesday. Another Future Movement source, one close to former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, said the Future parliamentary bloc leader had informed Sleiman of the opposition’s decision during a one-hour meeting at Baabda Palace. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the move came as a result of the Cabinet meeting one of the March 14 coalition’s conditions, namely that Telecommunications Ministry release telecoms data to security agencies. The agencies are investigating assassination attempts against Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea and Batroun MP Butros Harb. The source also said recent statements by Sleiman had contributed to the opposition suspending its boycott of the all-party talks.
“We appreciate the efforts of President Michel Sleiman in his recent statements marking Army Day that the Lebanese state should extend its authority all over Lebanese territories,” the source said.
Siniora and Siniora discussed the issue of March 14’s participation in the National Dialogue at the Presidential Palace between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m.No official statement was issued following the meeting.
Baabda Palace sources told The Daily Star that a statement is expected to come out later Wednesday regarding March 14's participation.
As in a recent session, the Lebanese Forces, a component of the March 14 movement, will not be taking part in the all-party talks.
“The Lebanese Forces will continue its boycott of the Dialogue,” an LF source told The Daily Star, adding that the decision had been made in coordination with Siniora.
“We will not take part because we do not believe that Hezbollah will give up its arms,” the source said. The coalition insists that the Dialogue focus on discussion of a national defense strategy to defend Lebanon against foreign aggression. Hezbollah maintains that its weapons should remain an integral part of any defense strategy and has repeatedly said it is not willing to surrender its arsenal.
Sleiman initiated the talks with the aim of defusing political tension between the country’s rival camps. In a statement released by his press office Tuesday, Sleiman stressed the need for intra-Lebanese dialogue in which a defense strategy would be the main topic of discussion.
He said the presidential palace was “the place to discuss all proposals and express ideas and suggestions, while keeping in mind that the main topic is a national defense strategy, according to the original invitation for dialogue.” Besides discussing Hezbollah’s weapons, March 14 had also demanded that the resistance group lift its protection of those suspected of participating in attempted assassinations.
In a speech earlier this month, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said a genuine and realistic national defense strategy must be based on coordination between the Lebanese Army and the resistance.
He added that in addition to a national defense strategy, Lebanon needed a “national liberation strategy” in order to liberate the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms, Kfar Shuba Hills, and the Lebanese part of the border town of Al-Ghajar. Nasrallah also expressed his belief that the March 14 coalition is not interested in discussing a defense strategy, but only in having Hezbollah surrender its arms.

Aoun reaffirms alliance with Hezbollah
August 15, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: MP Michel Aoun, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), reiterated his backing of Hezbollah, calling it part of the Lebanese entity and saying that no man should stand against his people.
“I cannot but support the resistance,” Aoun told Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reporter. The reporter was interviewing him on the occasion of August 14, the sixth anniversary of the end of the July 2006 War between Lebanon and Israel. “I never regretted my choice to support the resistance. If the July 2006 aggression is repeated, I will have the same attitude and the same enthusiasm, because the resistance is part of our entity, and we cannot accept any attack on our land and our people,” Aoun added. The FPM leader defended Hezbollah’s notion that Lebanon’s security is best served through the tripartite formula of the Army, the resistance and the people. Aoun added that attempts to do away with this formula aim at subordinating Lebanon to international political equations that would threaten its entity in the future. Aoun recalled his two meetings in the past with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, and told his ally, “We are always [on the same side], and we will always support you in this difficult process from which we hope you emerge victorious.” It has been just over six years since Aoun signed an agreement with Nasrallah. Both sides benefited politically from the agreement, but Aoun failed to become president, which is widely believed to have been at the heart of his calculations. Additionally, Hezbollah did little to help him in the 2008 presidential elections.
The 2006 conflict began on July 12, when Hezbollah kidnapped several Israeli soldiers, and lasted until August. In Lebanon, at least 1,200 people, mostly citizens, were killed; in Israel, about 160 people, mostly soldiers, were killed.

March 14 to take part in National Dialogue: Future Movement source
August 15, 2012 /The Daily Star/BEIRUT: The March 14 movement will participate in the Aug. 16 National Dialogue session, a source in the Future Movement told The Daily Star Wednesday.

Future calls on STL to look into Samaha ‘terror’ plot
August 15, 2012 /By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The Future parliamentary bloc called Tuesday on the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon to look into an alleged Syrian-backed terror plot aimed at destabilizing Lebanon.
The bloc’s call came as Lebanese security and judicial sources denied Tuesday local media reports that former Information Minister Michel Samaha had recanted the confessions he made during police interrogation about his involvement in the terror conspiracy.
The Future bloc of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri called on the government to take an appropriate stance on the “uncovered and foiled plot and on this flagrant attack on Lebanon and its civil peace.”
“Therefore, the government, by virtue of its responsibilities and obligations [to maintain security], is called upon to inform the Arab League and the [U.N.] Security Council of the information it has about the uncovered plot in order to place the Syrian regime before its responsibility and face developments that might arise from this crime,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting chaired by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora at Hariri’s residence in Downtown Beirut.
“The bloc joined the voices of the families of victims and martyrs of the Cedar Revolution in demanding that the uncovered plot, with all its details, files and implications, be part of the STL’s work in order to examine the possibility that this uncovered crime was linked to previous crimes.”
“The victims of the Cedar Revolution” refer to March 14 politicians and figures who were killed in a string of bombings that rocked Lebanon following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Feb. 14, 2005. The March 14 coalition has blamed Syria for Hariri’s assassination as well as for other killings. Damascus has denied involvement in any of these killings.
The STL, which is trying to uncover the perpetrators of Hariri’s assassination, last year indicted four Hezbollah members in the crime. Hezbollah, which has repeatedly denied involvement in Hariri’s killing, has vowed not to hand over the four suspects.
A military judge interrogated Samaha Monday, two days after he was formally charged by Lebanon’s Military Tribunal of being part of a terror plot to destabilize the country.
Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk, the chief of Syrian National Security Bureau, and a Syrian officer, identified as Brig. Gen. Adnan, were also accused of being part of the conspiracy. The three men were charged with planning a series of terrorist attacks involving explosives in north Lebanon, as well as “planning to kill religious and political figures.”
During police interrogation, Samaha, a longtime ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, two-time minister and former MP, was reported to have confessed to his role in transporting explosives in his car from Syria to Lebanon as part of the terror plot.
“If reports that Samaha retracted his earlier statements are true, therefore the military judge would have been convinced and Samaha would have been released,” a judicial source told The Daily Star.
“But the mere fact that the arrest warrant is still in place for Samaha is proof that the reports are baseless,” the source added.
A senior security source also scoffed at reports that Samaha had recanted his confessions. “The charges against Samaha are documented with compelling evidence, including incriminating video footage, about his role in transporting explosives and assigning people to use these explosives against targets in specific areas, especially in the north,” the source told The Daily Star
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said the reports claiming that Samaha had retracted from his confessions were designed “to mislead the Lebanese public opinion that the [terror] charges were fabricated and politicized.” The source added, “Compelling evidence cannot be politicized.”
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television quoted judicial sources as saying that Samaha withdrew his testimony before Military Judge Riad Abu Ghida Monday, claiming that he had given the statements under pressure. Al-Manar said Samaha had confessed to transferring explosives from Syria to Lebanon with the aim of using them to prevent opponents of the Syrian regime from smuggling militants and weapons through Lebanon’s northern border, rather than to carry out a plot to destabilize the country.
However, judicial sources told The Daily Star the Al-Manar reports were unfounded, adding that Samaha’s lawyers were behind such “rumors.”
Marada movement leader MP Sleiman Franjieh said Monday Samaha had confessed to attempting to target the Free Syrian Army and the routes to smuggle arms from Lebanon to Syria, adding that his confessions were manipulated by the Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch for political reasons.
Judicial sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday that undercover agent Milad Kfouri would be summoned for questioning if need be. Kfouri, who sources identified as having provided incriminating footage in the Samaha case, was reportedly flown outside the country just before the police raids on Samaha’s residences in Ashrafieh and Metn’s Khanshara-Jwar, for fear over his safety.
In his confessions before the Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch, Samaha said Assad had desired bomb attacks in Lebanon.
The sources said the defense attorneys have the right to demand Kfouri’s summoning but that the judge has the final say depending on what serves the probe best.
In its statement, the Future bloc demanded that the government suspend the security agreement signed by Lebanon and Syria after the uncovering of the terror plot. It praised the role of the ISF and its Information Branch in foiling “the biggest and most dangerous conspiracy ever hatched against Lebanon since the assassination of martyr [former] Prime Minister Rafik Hariri by targeting civil peace with an attempt to incite strife among the Lebanese.”
“The uncovering of the Syrian regime’s conspiracy unmasks to the world the criminal means the Assad regime has adopted toward Lebanon, its security, leaders and citizens,” the bloc said. “These means are not far from the means and ways used in the assassination of elite Lebanese leaders over the past years, including the assassination of [former] Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and his comrades and the subsequent crimes against the martyrs of independence.”
The bloc called on the Lebanese to be wary and vigilant against “plots to incite strife and undermine their civil peace.”
Meanwhile, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun declined to comment on the charges pressed against Samaha.
“The case of former Minister Michel Samaha is in the hands of the judiciary. When the case is handled by the judiciary, we leave it to do its job away from political exploitation,” Aoun told reporters after chairing a weekly meeting of his parliamentary Change and Reform bloc at his residence in Rabieh, north of Beirut. – With additional reporting by Youssef Diab

Sleiman: Arab wars will not be waged in Lebanon
August 15, 2012 /The Daily Star
BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman vowed Tuesday that Lebanon would not be used as arena for inter-Arab conflicts which had in the past threatened its security and stability.
Referring to the wave of Arab Spring uprisings roiling the Arab world, Sleiman said: “Lebanon is evolving today amid the change toward democracy that is taking place in the region. It will not return in the future [to serve] as an arena for struggles among brothers.”
The president spoke during an inspection tour of development projects in the Jbeil district, north of Beirut.
His remarks came a few days after Lebanese security agencies uncovered an alleged Syrian-backed terror conspiracy to destabilize Lebanon in what was seen as a spillover of the 17-month uprising in Syria.
Lebanon’s Military Tribunal has formally charged former Minister Michel Samaha, Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk, the chief of Syrian National Security Bureau, and a Syrian officer, identified as Brig. Gen. Adnan, in the plot. Sleiman, who hails from the Jbeil district, said: “Jbeil is not deprived. Rather, it is rich with its men. It has put an end to deprivation in the world with its alphabetical inventions.”
He said Lebanon had struggled for hundreds of years in order to remain “a free, democratic and open” country.
Sleiman said that the storm of upheavals in the region could be averted. “But the danger is from the small heinous storms inside the country.”
In what appeared to be an indirect response to Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh, Sleiman said: “Let everyone understand that Jbeil has given men for Lebanon. He who describes men [working] for Lebanon as not [real] men is not a man himself.” In an interview with Al-Mayadeen TV Monday night, Franjieh, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, accused Sleiman of being Syria’s man when he was Army commander and after his election as president in 2008. “There are figures who were made by the Syrian regime. When Syria was in Lebanon, these figures acted as Syria’s men in Lebanon. I am talking about President Michel Sleiman, especially in the period when they [Syrians] supported him as Army commander,” Franjieh said.
Sleiman, whose six-year term in office ends in 2014, said: “It’s not enough for one-term [in office] to give Jbeil its right [in development projects]. It needs several terms.”
He hoped that with the rise of the state of law and justice, development would be achieved and spread throughout all Lebanese territories.

Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Aug. 15, 2012
August 15, 2012/The Daily Star
Lebanon's Arabic press digest.
Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Wednesday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.
An-Nahar
Witness won’t be brought before judge, as evidence is documented by videotape
Sleiman hits back: Ties that are bad for Lebanon must be terminated
Defense attorneys target Rifi, Hasan to prevent possible leaks of evidence
March 14 hands president a memo before making decision on dialogue
President Michel Sleiman said during the long journey to Jbeil Tuesday, and in response to Syrian criticism conveyed to him, that “when relations with other countries hurt Lebanon, we stop this relationship and when the relationship resumes serving Lebanon’s interests, we restore ties.”
Former Cabinet Minister Michel Samaha will appear for a second time before Military Judge Riad Abu Ghida Thursday ... Samaha has altered the signed testimony he gave police.
And while Samaha’s defense attorneys demanded that [undercover police agent] witness Milad Kfouri be brought before the judge, Abu Ghida did not inquire into his whereabouts or ask to listen to his testimony.
A senior security source said the judge cannot ask to bring the witness [Kfouri] before him, especially since the Internal Security Forces pledged to provide protection for him and his family under Article 226 of ISF law, which states that “disclosure of the identity of informants to any authority is banned unless the informant himself gives his permission for this.”
Al-Akhbar
Investment in Samaha case: Who wants to implicate Sayyed [?]
Media leaks returned in the case of former Minister Michel Samaha targeting former head of General Security Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed.
Meanwhile, the opposition, in recognition of President Michel Sleiman’s positions on National Dialogue, decided to take part in Thursday's meeting.
After the stream of March 14 leaks slowed in Samaha’s case, they emerged again Tuesday launching accusations against new figures with the aim of intimidating their rivals in [the March 8 coalition] or those who criticize the ISF Information Branch.
Significantly in this regard, during the MTV “Murr’s television” broadcast last night, “a security source” was cited saying that “Samaha’s car crossed the border without inspection and that unconfirmed reports spoke of the presence of former Director General of General Security Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed in Samaha’s car during the transportation of explosives.
Al-Balad
Sleiman hits back at [Franjieh] and Mamlouk demands “key witness”
President Michel Sleiman hit back at Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh – who accused him of having been Syria’s number one man in Lebanon – saying that “Jbeil produced men who were for Lebanon before anything else; he who describe [them] as being men for something other than Lebanon, is not a man. "
Meanwhile, LBCI TV said “Syrian general Ali Mamlouk called Lebanese security services and insisted on knowing the whereabouts of the witness in former minister Michel Samaha’s case, Milad Kfouri.”
Al-Mustaqbal
Sleiman hits back at Franjieh: He who describes men as being [disloyal to] Lebanon is not a man
Who tasked General Security with arresting the secret informant?
Syrian regime spies in Lebanon have not yet woken up from the shock of the arrest of the head of Assad’s terror cell in Lebanon, Michel Samaha.
To add to the primitive means adopted in the last two days to [collapse] the case, General Security circulated the name of the secret informant “M.K.” to all border posts so that he can be arrested, according to security sources.
The sources wondered who gave General Security the right to undertake this measure. Was it at the order of Syrian general Ali Mamlouk? The Lebanese judiciary did not ask for this procedure. Not only that, but the law protects secret informants.

West steps up plans for Syria endgame
August 15, 2012/Agencies
WASHINGTON/GENEVA/ALEPPO: Foreign ministers from leading Western states and Turkey have discussed ways to accelerate the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad and prepare for the aftermath, as Washington steps up its pressure on China to help end the 17-month-old crisis.
The moves came amid continued fierce fighting throughout Syria, claiming 73 lives Tuesday, according to activists.
Separately, Syria’s former Prime Minister Riad Hijab, who fled to Jordan last week, said the regime controlled only 30 percent of the country.
In his first public statement since leaving his post, Hijab said Assad’s regime was near collapse and urged other leaders to tip the scales and join the rebel side.
“The regime is on the verge of collapse morally and economically in addition to cracks in the military,” Hijab told a news conference in Amman, Jordan.
He said he felt “pain in his soul” over the regime’s shelling and other attacks on rebel strongholds as the government stepped up its military offensive.
“I was powerless to stop the injustice,” Hijab said, speaking in front of the rebel flag. He called on “honorable leaders” in Syria to defect as well.
“Syria is full of honorable officials and military leaders who are waiting for the chance to join the revolution,” he said.
“I urge the army to follow the example of Egypt’s and Tunisia’s armies – take the side of the people,” he added.
Hijab said that he was now backing the opposition rebels, but gave no clue regarding his plans. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a conference call for more than an hour Monday before with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, her spokeswoman said Tuesday.
They discussed “support for the opposition in hastening the day when the Assad regime falls,” along with care for refugees and planning for a post-Assad Syria, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.“The conversation very much focused on ensuring that we are all pulling in the same direction, that we’re all sharing information, that we are thinking about the division of labor,” Nuland told reporters.
Clinton was following up on weekend talks in Turkey, where she said the “number one goal” of the U.S. and Turkey was to help bring down the regime and halt the violence, which activists now say has claimed at least 23,000 lives since March 2011.
Washington also asked China to use its influence to press Assad to end the bloodshed, as senior U.S. and Syrian envoys visited Beijing.
“Our hope is that the Chinese will do what they can and use their influence to encourage the Assad regime to end the violence,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
Washington hopes that China will encourage Assad to comply with a peace plan negotiated by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan, who resigned on Aug. 2 as the special envoy to Syria, blaming weak support for his efforts. Damascus has agreed to the candidacy of Algeria’s Lakhdar Brahimi as successor to Annan, his spokesman said in Geneva.
“I was asked if it was true that the Syrians had consented to his candidacy and I said yes,” Ahmad Fawzi said. “No decision has been made yet, by him or by the secretary-general” Ban Ki-moon, Fawzi added. The State Department’s No. 3 official, Wendy Sherman, held talks in Beijing Tuesday as part of a new dialogue set up between the Pacific powers to discuss Middle East policy.
Sherman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, also met with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and will hold talks Wednesday with China’s envoy to the six-nation dialogue on Iran’s contested nuclear program, Nuland said.
Bouthaina Shaaban, a special adviser to Assad, is headed for Beijing to hold talks with Yang and China has said it would consider inviting members of the Syrian opposition to visit in the future. China has joined Russia in vetoing three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at pressuring Assad, uncomfortable with what it sees as Western intervention in other countries’ internal affairs. Sherman will afterward travel to Russia, the main diplomatic and military supporter of Assad. In Sherman’s talks, the United States “welcomed China playing a more active and positive role in world affairs,” a State Department statement said.
But as U.S. and Western officials step up their efforts to accelerate Assad’s fall, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said plans to set up a no-fly zone over parts of Syria are “not on the front burner,” despite persistent calls from rebel forces there that they need the added protection from escalating regime airstrikes.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Panetta said Monday he was confident the U.S. could successfully enforce a no-fly zone over Syria, but doing so would require a “major, major policy decision” that has not yet been made. “We have planned for a number of contingencies that could take place and one of those possible contingencies is developing a no-fly zone. But we’ve also pointed out difficulties in being able to implement that,” Panetta said. “It’s not on the front burner as far as I know.”
Currently, Panetta said, the U.S. is focused on ensuring that chemical and biological weapons there are secure and on providing humanitarian and non-lethal assistance to the rebels.
Panetta criticized Tuesday Iran’s role in the Syria conflict, accusing it of working to form a pro-regime militia in Syria, and warning that Tehran’s growing presence could only aggravate the situation on the ground. “It is obvious that Iran has been playing a larger role in Syria in many ways,” Panetta said at a joint news conference with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey.
“There’s now an indication that they’re trying to develop, trying to train a militia within Syria to be able to fight on behalf of the regime,” Panetta said. Panetta also called on Tehran to stay out of the conflict, saying: “Our hope is that Iran thinks better about how much they do want to get involved ... The Syrian people ought to determine their future, not Iran.”
The United States also lifted sanctions against Hijab Tuesday, as it urged more top officials to abandon the regime.
“This action is being taken because Hijab is no longer a senior official of the government of Syria,” the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. “The United States encourages other officials within the Syrian government, in both the political and military ranks, to take similarly courageous steps to reject the Assad regime and stand with the Syrian people,” Treasury official David Cohen said.
State Department spokeswoman Nuland said lifting sanctions on Hijab did not preclude a potential decision by a post-Assad Syrian government to pursue charges against him.
“This is not a judgment about his accountability, which is something for the Syrian people to decide,” Nuland told reporters. “This guy is no longer part of that offensive, and so he should not be subject to sanctions.” Meanwhile, Syrian warplanes hit a rebel-held district of Aleppo Tuesday, an AFP journalist said, as fighting raged in several neighborhoods of the embattled northern city.
A MiG jet fired several times on the central district of Bab al-Nasr, the journalist said, adding that the southwestern districts of Saif al-Dawla and Salaheddine were also shelled.
Government forces also shelled several suburbs of Damascus, while security forces carried out a second day of raids in the capital, the opposition monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Observatory’s director, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said the conflict has now claimed at least 23,000 lives since March last year.
Most of Tuesday’s casualties were in the governorate of Idlib, Damascus and Deraa, according to the Syrian Revolution General Commission.
In Damascus, residents fled the Qaboun neighborhood, fearing a major military onslaught, as security forces raided the neighborhoods of Midan in the south and Shaghur in the center, the Observatory said.
According to an AFP journalist, security forces also swept the southeastern suburb of Tabbaleh, while the army set up checkpoints at the entrances to Midan and closed off streets to traffic.
Outside the city, government forces shelled the suburbs of Qudsaya and Daraya, while elsewhere in the Governorate of Rural Damascus, a civilian and defecting soldier were killed in the town of Al-Tal, the Observatory said. In Muhasen in the eastern Deir al-Zor province – where rebels claimed they downed a fighter jet Monday – fierce clashes broke out, according to Local Coordination Committees, a network of activists on the ground. State-run Syrian TV said gunmen shot and killed Maamoun Zoubi, deputy director of the Health Ministry in Deraa, as he was leaving work. The station said four gunmen shot him dead then took his car and drove away. Near its border with Syria, the Turkish army staged a new military drill, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Turkish tanks accompanied by advanced armored personnel carriers and tactical missile-launching platforms were deployed at the Oncupinar crossing in southern Kilis province for the drill, the report said.
The drill follows several military exercises at the border after the government warned that it would pursue Kurdish rebels across the frontier.

Romney Says Obama Campaign All about 'Hatred'
Naharnet/ Mitt Romney complained Wednesday that Barack Obama's re-election bid was steeped in "hatred" as the president accused his Republican foe of planning to slash state health benefits for the elderly. Romney, hoping to turn Democrat Obama out of the White House after a single term, said that Obama and backers were stoking divides based on income, age and ethnicity, to whip up a sense of "enmity and jealousy and anger." "The president's campaign is all about division and attack and hatred," Mitt Romney told CBS. "My campaign is about getting America back to work and creating greater unity in this country," Romney told CBS News. "The president seems to be running just to hang onto power -- I think he'll do anything in his power to try to get reelected," he said.
Obama aides responded to the outburst, apparently a bid to dent the president's high character ratings, by affecting bemusement, and pointing out that Romney won the Republican nomination partly through a negative ad onslaught. "Hope it's not hateful to say that Mitt's budget math doesn't add up," said Obama senior advisor David Axelrod on Twitter.
Obama was wrapping up a three-day bus tour of Iowa, the midwestern swing state where he laid the foundations of his 2008 election victory, boosted by the political firepower of his popular wife Michelle.
The president was planning to target Romney on the Medicare health care system for seniors, picking at divides between his rival and his Republican running mate Paul Ryan who backs a voucher plan to replace aspects of the program. Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the president would argue his reforms had strengthened the system by cutting wasteful spending but not benefits.
"He will lay out the choice between his plan and the Romney-Ryan plan to end Medicare as we know it, leaving new retirees with nothing but a voucher in place of the guaranteed benefits they rely on today."
"This kind of plan forces people with Medicare to pay an extra $6,400, all so Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan can give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires."
The row over Medicare, a popular federal government program, could be pivotal in electoral battlegrounds with substantial populations of retirees, including Florida, the largest U.S. swing state.
The exchanges came a day after the most charged jousting in the campaign so far, with Romney telling Obama to take his "hate" back home to Chicago, after Vice President Joe Biden warned Republicans would put Americans "in chains."
"I think comments of this nature sink the White House just a little lower," Romney said, calling the remark an "unfounded charge."
"The comments of the vice president as I heard them ... were one more example of a divisive effort to keep from talking about the real issues."
The Obama campaign responded to Romney's outburst by implicitly questioning whether the Republican's temperament was suited for the Oval Office.
"Governor Romney's comments ... seemed unhinged and particularly strange coming at a time when he's pouring tens of millions of dollars into negative ads that are demonstrably false," Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said Tuesday. Most political experts believe the race to the November 6 election remains close, with Obama perhaps slightly in the lead and well positioned in the dozen or so battleground states that will decide whether he gets a second term.
Obama argues that Romney, a former multi-millionaire venture capitalist, would further enrich his wealthy friends with tax cuts -- and put the burden on a middle class struggling to cope in a slow economic recovery. Romney paints Obama as out of ideas, an enemy of job-creating small businesses and bent on a big government takeover of many aspects of American life, and questions whether he really understands his home country.
Romney's stellar fundraising operation has outpaced the president's in recent months, piling up over 100 million dollars in July for instance. But in one metric of the race -- leveraging the Internet -- Obama is still up. The Pew Research Center said that while Romney's team averaged one tweet per day, Obama averaged 29 tweets -- 17 on @BarackObama (the Twitter account associated with his presidency) and 12 on @Obama2012 a campaign account. "Obama holds a distinct advantage over Romney in the way his campaign is using digital technology to communicate directly with voters," said a statement from the Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Source/Agence France Presse

Abdel Basset Sayda’s advice to Hezbollah
Hazem Saghiyeh/Now Lebanon/August 13, 2012
Abdel Basset Sayda, the head of the Syrian National Council, gave Hezbollah precious advice, whereby it has “to prepare for the post-Assad period, merge with Lebanese players, and seek to contribute in the formation of a strong state that encompasses all Lebanese, which will be in the interest of the Lebanese and Syrian people.” Anyone who actually cares about Lebanon’s interest and stability, and specifically about the safety of the Shiite community and about civil relations, including Sunni-Shiite relations, will find that Sayda’s statements mirror his/her opinion and wishes. In truth, this is absolutely not due to the negative stance on Hezbollah; rather, it is based on the wish to prevent a major shakeup of Lebanese cohesion, which might be destructive this time around, and to allow the Lebanese people not to suffer from woes that can be averted.
Bashar al-Assad’s regime is a sinking ship and wise is the man who abandons it sooner rather than later. Anyone who is still harboring doubts in this respect merely has to enumerate the evidence backing this assertion: he regime has lost control over the borders and vast areas of the country. The economy is collapsing and cities are being destroyed by a suicide policy. Key regime figures, such as Prime Minister Riad Hijabi, have gone dissident, and the Free Syrian Army has successfully dealt severe blows right in the regime’s inner sanctum by killing Assef Shawkat and his two companions. These phenomena and symptoms, which are the products of the Syrian people’s heroic resilience, can be slowed down by the Russian and Iranian stance but, in absolute terms, they cannot be stopped and will ultimately lead to the downfall of the family-sectarian rule. The resounding scandal, the hero of which is former Lebanese Minister Michel Samaha, indicates how the Syrian regime has come to be controlled by a crazy approach it is exporting abroad and how keen it actually is on preserving Lebanon’s security and stability! Realizing what is going on and out of their sense of ethical responsibility, top-level Shiite clerics, Sayyed Mohammad Hassan al-Amin and Sayyed Hani Fahs, voiced their solidarity with the Syrian revolution and people. These two esteemed clerics issued a statement in which they seemed to refuse to have the Shiite community and Lebanon use their name in order to be lured towards a wrong stance and into the unknown. Hezbollah would better, if only for once, deal responsibly with these major developments and take Abdel Basset Sayda’s advice seriously.

Why we don’t need a Resistance
August 13, 2012 /Now Lebanon
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah addresses supporters. The Iranian proxy is more trouble than it’s worth in Lebanon. (AFP Photo)
Saeed Jalili, Secretary General of Iran's Supreme National Security council, travelled to Damascus last week to reassure President Bashar Al Assad that Syria was very much part of the “axis of Resistance,” an alliance he pledged Iran would not see broken. It can surely be no coincidence therefore that last Monday evening, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, another key component in the axis of Resistance, gave a rousing speech to the party faithful in which he argued why an armed militia was necessary to protect Lebanon from Israeli aggression.
“Have we reached a point at which we can really give up the Resistance?” he asked. “Let us put political rivalry aside. Can we really do without the Resistance?” Minutes earlier he claimed that “Israel is not attacking Lebanon because it fears the Resistance and this is called a strategic transformation.”
Is Israel really a threat? Does it really want to attack Lebanon? Israel has invaded Lebanon in the past, most notably in 1978, 1982 and 2006. It also occupied much of South Lebanon for nearly two decades before withdrawing in 2000. In all cases, Israel was chasing down either the Palestinian Liberation Organization or Hezbollah, organizations that it would not tolerate on its northern border.
There is no evidence to show that Israel has territorial designs on Lebanon, nor would the international community tolerate it. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a tract held up by many conspiracy-obsessed Arabs as proof of Israel’s expansionist ambitions, has long been exposed as rubbish. There may be disputes over water and perhaps even oil and gas, but there is no suggestion that these will turn into all-out war.Thus the Resistance is a liability. As long as the party maintains, and even adds to, its sophisticated arsenal of long-range missiles – something it calls a deterrent – Israel will always be nervous and on a heightened sense of alert. It sees the party as a non-state actor that owes its ultimate allegiance to Iran, and Hezbollah’s activities in the border region is more likely to lead to war than if it were not there at all. This was most keenly demonstrated in 2006, when a bungled kidnap attempt on Israeli soldiers led to a full-scale response that cost over 1,000 lives, over a million displaced and billions of dollars in damages.Then there is the matter of trust. The days when Hezbollah’s feats of martial endeavor were restricted to fighting an Israeli occupation that ended in 2000 have long gone. Since then, the party has used the threat of violence, underwritten by its ability to mobilize its militiamen, to achieve domestic political ends. There was the 18-month sit-in in central Beirut between November 2006 and June 2008, the attempted coup in May 2008 and the collapse of Saad Hariri’s government in January 2011. The party, which in 2000 brought a sense of pride to many Lebanese, has become a national hindrance.
There is no place in modern Lebanon for a political party that is stronger than many of the region’s national armies. Lebanon wants to build on its democratic aspirations, create strong state institutions – and that includes the army – and build international relations through the offices of state.
Jalili said it. Hezbollah is a key cog in Tehran’s regional ambitions in a Middle East that is rapidly shaping up into a standoff between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey in the battle to determine the future of Syria. The frightening truth is that Nasrallah couldn’t call time on the Resistance even if he wanted to.

Tribal law and disorder
Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/August 15, 2012
Maher al-Moqdad speaks to television reporters about his tribe’s military wing kidnapping Syrians and other foreigners in Lebanon. (NOW Lebanon)
In the crowded living room of his apartment in the Rweis neighborhood of Dahiyeh, Maher al-Moqdad explained to the press why members of his tribe had kidnapped scores of Syrians the night before from the streets of Beirut’s southern suburbs. The kidnappings of Syrians came in retaliation for the detention of 39-year-old Hassan Salim al-Moqdad by what relatives thought was the Free Syrian Army, who released a video Monday showing Moqdad surrounded by armed, masked men and saying he was captured as a “Hezbollah member sent to Syria to fight for Bashar al-Assad’s regime against the revolution.”
Maher al-Moqdad said his son was wanted in Lebanon for financial crimes and he had taken refuge in Syria over a year ago, before the anti-regime uprising even began. He couldn’t return home for fear he would be arrested and waited in Damascus until his father could handle his judicial problems. “He was on his way home when they took him. He is not Hezbollah,” Moqdad said.
“I ask the FSA to be reasonable and release him,” he added.
The FSA denied its brigades kidnapped the Lebanese man, while Hezbollah announced it has no association with the Moqdad family.
The Moqdads, meanwhile, have admitted the tribe kidnapped the Syrians in Lebanon. “The family’s military wing kidnapped the Syrians,” Maher al-Moqdad told NOW Lebanon in between two television interviews. He also said that, as the treasurer of the family and as the abducted man’s father, he has been put in charge of dealing with the media during the crisis.
“We have a military wing of the family and they are doing the job,” he said, adding that several tribes of the Beqaa Valley, such as the Shamas, Zeaiters, Nasreddines and Dandashes, are working with the Moqdad military wing to kidnap even more Syrians.
“Today we don’t have any more news for you, but tomorrow we will tell you about a bigger bounty,” he stated proudly, dismissing a phone call from a journalist on his mobile.
He also said that the clan had kidnapped around 20 FSA members across Lebanon. “We kidnapped many people, but we investigate them, question them, and if we feel they are not FSA, we let them go,” he explained.
Later on Tuesday, the clan announced they would kidnap not only Syrians, but also Turkish and Qatari citizens, as the two countries support the uprising in Syria. In spite of the Lebanese authorities boosting security in the areas of the two states’ embassies, a Turkish citizen was reportedly kidnapped Tuesday afternoon.
“Sadly, innocent people are being kidnapped all the time when war breaks out,” Moqdad said, adding with a smile that if the authorities interfere in any way with the military wing’s business, they will be met with violence. There was, indeed, no sign of any law enforcement presence on Moqdad Street, named after the family, as only its members live there and take care of any trespassing.
Analysts say the Moqdads follow the tribal principal of “an eye for an eye.” The Jaafars, another powerful Shiite tribe from the Beqaa Valley known for criminal activity and for frequently clashing with the Lebanese army, have also kidnapped Syrians in retaliation for some of their members being detained in Syria. But the incidents did not receive as much attention as the Moqdad kidnappings.
According to Al-Balad political commentator Ali al-Amine, the Moqdad family has “tribe-like discretion in its areas, just like the Zeaiter or Jaafar tribes,” although they are less organized and live mostly in Beirut. But he says that Hezbollah, although denying any links to the family, can have influence over the situation. “When a kidnapping goes this smoothly, it would be logical to assume that Hezbollah might have turned a blind eye,” he told NOW Lebanon. “It doesn’t bother Hezbollah nor do the party any harm.”
According to An-Nahar commentator Ibrahim Bayram, the Syrian uprising’s effects on Lebanon entered a new phase after the 11 Shia pilgrims were kidnapped in May of this year. “There was an attempt by Hezbollah, Amal and the Shiite Council at keeping things under control, but now it looks like it might get out of hand,” he said. “There is an action in Syria and a reaction in Lebanon. The danger is that it will develop further […] It isn’t just an issue of a group kidnapped here or there; there is an attempt at widening the Syrian conflict throughout Lebanon,” Bayram said.
Later on Wednesday, four out of the eleven Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in Syria were killed in a regime airstrike on the Aleppo town of Aazaz.
Both analysts agree that the Lebanese state is not taking enough action to limit the kidnapping spree. “The Lebanese state is absent,” Bayram said. “The stance it took with the events in the North or in Sidon encourages this behavior; people will want to take matters into their own hands,” he stressed.
Amine agrees. “With the situation we’re in right now, all factors suggest that the security forces will not do much on the matter. They should, however, move to curb this phenomenon. If the story ends at a kidnapping here or there, then so be it, but it shouldn’t develop into a series of kidnappings. Some procedures must be taken to give an impression that this should not happen this easily,” he said.
*Luna Safwan and Bassem Nemeh contributed reporting.

Lebanese clan says holds Syrian rebels over kidnapped kinsman
August 15, 2012/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: The Meqdad clan of east Lebanon’s Bekaa region said Wednesday it had kidnapped over 30 Syrians it described as being members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in retaliation for the kidnapping in Syria of one of its kinsmen earlier this week. Security forces in Lebanon tightened security measures around the embassies of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey as well as their diplomats’ residences, after apparent threats by the clan that it could take action against these states for backing the Syrian rebels. “We have more than 30 Syrian rebels, some of whom have been wounded in the confrontations with the Syrian regime,” Maher Meqdad, a member of and spokesperson for the family, told The Daily Star.
Beirut-based AlMayadeen aired footage Wednesday of two of the men the Meqdad family claimed to have kidnapped.In the video, one of the Syrians urged the FSA to release Hassan.
Members of the Meqdad clan claim that their kinsman Hassan Meqdad was kidnapped by Syrian rebels Monday in Damascus. On Tuesday, Al-Arabiya television reported that Hassan, whom it described as a member of Hezbollah, was detained by the FSA in Syria. Hezbollah denies Hassan is a member of the resistance group, as does his family. The FSA also denied Wednesday reports that it had detained Hassan. “We have nothing to do with the kidnapping of that man,” spokesman for the FSA Col. Fahd Masri told LBCI television. He said information made available to the FSA indicates that Hassan was kidnapped Monday in Damascus near the shrine of Sayyida Zainab.
Maher Meqdad, who said his family fields an armed wing, told The Daily Star that the Meqdads had taken matters into their own hands, as the government had taken no steps to free their kinsman.
“We will do it ourselves, and we have what you can call a regulated army to do the job,” he said. Meqdad said that his family is acting according to the “eye for an eye” principle, and no longer needs the Lebanese government to intervene in order to secure the release of Hassan. Asked about negotiations, Maher said now was not the right time.“It is not the right time to talk; we still have to get some things done,” Maher said. Maher said Hassan’s kidnappers had initially tried to contact the family but that the clan is refraining from pursuing negotiations.He also said the Cabinet had not exerted the required efforts to get back the eleven Lebanese kidnapped in Syria in May. “We also call for setting them free, but our son remains the priority for us,” he said. Maher said the Meqdads had set a 48-hour deadline for Hassan’s release but did not say what further steps the clan would take.
Speaking to the media, the spokesman also held Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey responsible for Hassan’s kidnapping “because they support the FSA; therefore, we cannot guarantee that undisciplined members of the family’s military wing will not do something reckless.”
While security services took the appropriate measures around embassies and diplomats’ residences, the embassies sent out text messages to their respective nationals urging them to inform them of their whereabouts, according to security sources.Reports also emerged Wednesday that a Turkish diplomat had been kidnapped in Beirut. The man was identified as Aidan Toufan. However, security sources told The Daily Star that Lebanese authorities had no records of an Aidan Toufan among the Turkish diplomatic corps in the country.
Later Wednesday, LBC television showed an image from a valid and current passport of Turkish citizen Aidan Toufan, born in 1948. The Turkish ambassador to Lebanon told MTV television that he cannot confirm the abduction of Toufan.

Fears of fatalities among Lebanese hostages in Syria
August 15, 2012/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: There were conflicting reports Wednesday of the fate of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims who were kidnapped in Syria in May, amid reports of at least 30 fatalities from air raids in the area where the pilgrims are thought to be held. Lebanon’s LBC said the Foreign Ministry and political sides had been informed that all 11 of the hostages were killed in an air raid. It also said they had been informed of the death of one of the kidnappers, Abu Ibrahim. Foreign Affairs Minister Adnan Mansour, speaking to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station, denied that his ministry had received notification of the deaths of the pilgrims. A doctor in Azaz told Reuters agency that 30 people were killed during an air raid in the area. Speaking to LBCI TV, Brig. Ahmad Ghazaleh, a member of Azaz’s rebels, said the Syrian army had bombarded the area from the air which led to the killing of scores of people, including four of the abducted Lebanese pilgrims. Earlier Wednesday, Al-Jadeed TV, citing information it had obtained, said four of the 11 Lebanese who were kidnapped in Syria in May were killed in an air raid. The station said the four pilgrims were killed when a Mig-29 jet struck Azaz in Aleppo, northwest Syria. It also said that 15 of the kidnappers were killed in the raid. At least two individuals, including Abu Ibrahim, one of the kidnappers, were wounded in the attack, Al-Jadeed said.
The 11 men were kidnapped in May in Syria shortly after crossing from Turkey. They were heading back to Lebanon after a pilgrimage to Iran.

'Rehabilitating' Jihadis with Cage-Fighting?
By: Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPage Magazine
August 15, 2012
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/12127/rehabilitating-jihadis-with-cage-fighting
UK officials have taken wishful thinking to a new level: not only are some of the most violent Islamic terrorists being released onto the streets; but in order to "rehabilitate" them, they are being trained by a former radical Muslim in one of the most violent forms of sports—cage-fighting, which even the Olympics refuses to acknowledge.
CNN's "Cagefighter 'cures' terrorists," by Nic Robertson and Paul Cruickshank, has the details. While the entire 2,300-word report is worth reading for its eye-opening (or eye-popping) qualities, the following excerpt summarizes:
Usman Raja
In the shadow of London's Olympic stadium, home of the Summer Games, is a hotbed of radical fundamentalism dubbed Londonistan, from where al Qaeda has already recruited for some of its most ambitious plots. In past months, dozens of convicted terrorists have been released in the UK, including onto the same London streets…. At the same time a no-holds barred fight for security is under way. It is unorthodox, but British officials say it is working, producing results which have never been seen before—and at its epicenter is a veteran Muslim cagefighter. … "Unfortunately, we know that some of those prisoners are still committed extremists who are likely to return to their terrorist activities," Jonathan Evans, the director of British domestic intelligence service MI5, warned two years ago. The task of managing the re-integration into society of these young men has proved beyond the capabilities of most Muslim community groups. But one east Londoner, proud to be both British and Muslim, has felt religiously compelled to take on the fight. Usman Raja, the 34-year-old grandson of a Pakistani immigrant is not tall but he is built like an ox, with a close shaven head, short beard, and otherwise pure muscle….Raja is one of the UK's most renowned cage-fighting coaches… He is also a man of deep ideas, including harnessing Islamic teaching to defeat the ideology of the terrorists. Three years ago, Raja began taking under his wing some of the most dangerous offenders being released from the highest security wings of the British prison system; men convicted of carrying out terrorism on behalf of al Qaeda in murder, assassinations, bombing, and arson plots. His aim was to rehabilitate them into mainstream society.…. Raja tried a novel approach with some of the most challenging freed convicted terrorists; he coached them cage-fighting skills. Raja says it proved a remarkably effective way of breaking them out of their pro al Qaeda mentality and opening up their minds to his counter-extremist message.
Some questions:
First, where is the proof that training violent jihadis in cage-fighting is a great success, "producing results which have never been seen before"? Indeed, the report later quotes a UK official gushing about how Raja—who "once subscribed to fundamentalist views himself, and says he came close to fighting Jihad in Bosnia in the 1990s"—is "the most successful guy out there doing this sort of work."
Yet the closer one reads, the more it appears that the only proof for Raja's success is that the released jihadis he is training have not (yet) been rearrested on terror charges.
Is that really proof that this approach is working? Are all jihadis like trapped animals that, once released, must instantaneously start terrorizing all and sundry? Is it inconceivable that they could still harbor the same jihadi inclinations, yet have learned to be patient, in accordance with jihad's prescribed tactics (see taqiyya and tawriya), even as they continue training in violence?
And exactly how does the specific act of cage-fighting help rehabilitate jihadis? Again, the closer one reads, the less answers one receives. Instead, it's more of the usual: during their training, Raja "impresses on them [the released jihadis] that true Islam is spiritual, tolerant and humanistic, and not the narrow-minded, divisive message of hate peddled by self-serving radical preachers, who exploit the fact that, in Raja's words, "some of them [UK's Muslims] are very angry."
In short, this jihadi cage-fighting business is being hailed by CNN simply because it has all the ingredients to validate leftist ideas: 1) "true Islam is spiritual, tolerant, and humanistic"; 2) jihadis are simply "very angry," presumably at Western foreign policy; 3) this pent up frustration and hostility is nothing that some good old fashioned cage-fighting won't alleviate (apparently "art therapy" and Play Station were deemed insufficient).
On the other hand, this story can also be interpreted according to Islam's perspective: 1) jihad is not about instantaneous terrorism but long-term preparations. Even the Muslim Brotherhood—which recently boasted "we will be masters of the world, one of these days"—showcases the word "prepare" in their logo, which comes directly from Koran 8:60, which commands Muslims to "prepare" for jihad "so that you may strike terror into the hearts of Allah's enemies and your enemies"; 2) according to most Arabic legal manuals on jihad, combat sports—cage-fighting being ideal—are essential for jihadis in training.
Despite all this, now that the Olympics have ended without incident, no doubt those myopic UK officials who think only in the short-term and according to their leftist paradigms are now convinced that training jihadis in cage-fighting—that is, training them in extreme acts of violence—is the way to go.

Despite the seriousness of the charges that the military court in Lebanon might make against former Minister Michel Samaha at the end of the investigation with him, the most serious part consists of the confessions that Samaha reportedly made concerning the readiness of the Syrian leadership and the head of its security services to “carry out terrorist acts, attack the state’s authority, and stir sectarian strife” as per the charges for which Samaha was referred to the military court; knowing that the military court only looks into crimes targeting matters of national security.

Strangely, none of these accusations, which were also made against Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk, stirred a response on the Syrian part, and even less a readiness to send the national security bureau’s director to Lebanon to appear in court! Strangely and quite indicatively as well, even those who are telling stories in Lebanon on how the Information Branch laid a “trap” for Samaha aiming at implicating him did not make any statement to express even the slightest bit of doubts concerning the Syrian regime and the possibility of it actually making these actions. All these people are quite aware of the “job” that the Syrian regime had in Lebanon. Thus, they were not surprised by the exportation of the bombs with the aim of carrying out assassinations and stirring sectarian strife in the country. Thus, they got convinced that they may practice their job of defending the regime of President Al-Assad in many aspects not including them going all the way to stress on the regime’s keenness to preserve the Lebanese security or claiming that the regime actually rejects the violence and the killings of its Lebanese opponents. A regime that is carrying out such crimes against its own people cannot be expected to be more sympathetic with the citizens of the neighboring country even if they are connected to it by “brotherhood, cooperation and coordination.” That is the reason why the supporters of Damascus in Beirut turned to some lateral issues such as the dislocation of Samaha’s house door or the fact that the services that performed the arrest were illegal. This was an attempt at covering up on the main issue despite the resulting severe security threat as per the President of the Republic, Michel Suleiman, who got acquainted with the contents of the investigations.

Furthermore, none of the Syrian regime supporters volunteered to wonder about how could a car loaded with this amount of explosives that could tear the country apart actually cross the Syrian-Lebanese borders at a time when these supporters never stopped calling for the need to shield the Lebanese borders from the “infiltration” of the “terrorist elements” towards the Syrian interior in order to fight the regime there. The Lebanese side is definitely at fault concerning the issue of the explosives’ smuggling and there is a need for an investigation concerning the responsibility of the Lebanese security services on their side of the borders. However, the major question is to be raised concerning the Syrian side and the nature of the “presents” that are infiltrating the borders in the direction of Lebanon despite the security agreements between the two countries. These agreements should presumably include that the services of the neighboring country must not carry out any actions that could threaten the security of the other country.

If the accusations against Michel Samaha are proven to be true, he would have offered a “favor” to the opponents of the Syrian regime and its long-term actions in Lebanon; a favor larger than this regime’s staunchest enemies could have ever offered. He would also have offered a favor to those people who are calling for Lebanese sovereignty against the Syrian interferences. Who could have imagined, even in a dream, that a Lebanese judge would dare make this kind of accusation against the number two man in the pyramid of the Syrian security authority right after the president himself? Through his deed, Samaha has provided conclusive evidence for the first time to all the accusations against the Syrian regime including the carrying out of assassinations; the stirring of ambulant sectarian massacres in order to prolong the civil war and thus prolong the lifetime of the Syrian interference in Lebanon under the pretext of working on preventing the civil war!

The value of this “favor” is not toned down by the fact that Samaha’s deed is the result of an excessive “naiveté” despite the exaggerated talk about his “smartness”; or by the fact that his connection to the Syrian security services has reached a level where he can no longer refute the orders of that regime. Thus, the Lebanese authorities must respond to Samaha’s expressed gratitude for saving him from “the tormented conscience” that he would have felt had the bombing plot succeeded by saying to him in turn: thank you for allowing us to find the thread that we had been looking for, for the past forty years!

What does the tour conducted by Khamenei’s representative at the higher national security council Said Jalili to Iran’s allies in the region, i.e. Lebanon, Syria and Iraq mean? Does it reveal Tehran’s difficult position and the collapse of the political cards with which it has been playing, thus requiring the activation of its cells and the mobilization of its allies in the region to transfer the confrontation to the regional arena in order to force the world to negotiate with it over its influence and guarantee its interests at the level of its nuclear program following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime? What does it mean for Iran to accuse Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey of being behind the kidnapping of the 48 Iranians in Syria, before recanting the accusation to these states and the denial of the fact that its kidnapped citizens are connected to the army, the Revolutionary Guard or the Basij forces, recognizing later on that they include retired military elements from the army and the Revolutionary Guard? Moreover, what were the latter doing amidst the daily incidents and confrontations between the regime and the revolutionaries? Were they fixing the electricity and providing water and food? Or were they tourists participating in the killing of the innocent?

Also, what does it mean for Iran to call on Islamic states to hold a consultative ministerial meeting in Tehran to discuss the developments affecting the crisis in Syria, 48 hours after Iranian President Ahmadinejad received an invitation from the Saudi monarch to attend the Islamic solidarity summit in Holy Mecca? And why did this call fail and was only met by ambassadors not ministers?

Were the signs of Hezbollah’s involvement not clearly seen following the arrest of former Lebanese Minister and Deputy Michel Samaha, who was planning to carry out explosions in Lebanon during Iftar ceremonies in the month of Ramadan and target political figures through the payment of sums of money to agents? Had the person who was trusted by Samaha, who was assigned to implement these explosions and who received money in exchange for the implementation not refused to take part in such a bloody act and exposed the secret, Lebanon, its sects and visitors would have fallen in the cycle of assassinations and accusations once again. The sources assure that Samaha became acquainted with this person (agent) a long time ago, and used to meet with him in the office of a senior Syrian security official. This means that the Syrian regime and its allies are suffocating to the point where tranquilizers are no longer useful.

Moreover, last Friday, Washington revealed activities carried out by Hezbollah in Syria, along with the key role played by the party at the level of the ongoing acts of violence seen at the hands of Al-Assad’s regime against the Syrian people. It thus accused Hezbollah of “offering training, advice and logistic support to help the Syrian government oppress the opposition in a fiercer way day after day,” of facilitating the training of the Syrian governmental troops by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and of playing an essential role in ousting Syrian oppositionists from Lebanon. Certainly, the party is not working alone and is implementing Tehran’s dictations.

I do not think that any political observer would be surprised by Iran’s eager defense of Al-Assad’s regime and its offering of support and advice to this regime, especially as it watches its strategic ally taking its last breath. Indeed, the end of Al-Assad’s regime would mean the collapse of Iran’s final platform in the region, which will weaken its positions, undermine its plans and enfeeble Hezbollah’s mini-state in Lebanon, thus burning the cards it continued to play and exploit to serve its agenda throughout the past years.

There is no doubt that Iran is currently going through an exhausting stage on the psychological level, following the retreat of the strength of its wide gate in Damascus. This will obstruct its ability to actively play on the arena of regional politics and at the level of the international negotiations the way it used to in the past, while the success of the Syrian revolution will burn some of its cards and paralyze Hezbollah’s roles that rely on it on the political and doctrinal levels and are merely implementing its agenda and ideology.

The Islamic nation is going through a dangerous historical stage and very critical times, due to the disputes, divisions, schisms and polarization between the Islamic countries that are unable to confront the challenges. Iran for its part, and ever since Ahmadinejad came to power – unlike the case under his predecessor Muhammad Khatami – is perceived as being a leading state in the provocation of conflicts and the increase of tensions and confrontations!

I believe that the call of the Saudi monarch on the Iranian president to attend the Islamic Solidarity summit in the Holy Mecca will only add further dissent and division, especially since the Syrian file is the main topic that will be discussed by the leaders, which will further burden the Arab and Islamic states.

In my opinion, and based on its current policy, Iran does not deserve to be invited, as it is carrying poisonous heads and states that provoke turmoil, strife and problems, in an attempt to increase the tensions in the region. In addition, the quasi-majority of the Arab states are complaining about its interferences, practices and plans, which is why it should have been ignored due to its negative positions and relations, as well as its blatant support in favor of a regime shedding the blood of the Syrian people without any mercy or humanity.

Egypt's Jihad Organizations Call for Christian Genocide
by Raymond Ibrahim
Aug 14, 2012/Jihad Watch
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/2012/08/egypt-jihad-organizations-call-for-christian
According to today's issue of El Fegr, "Elements of terrorist, jihadi organizations distributed leaflets today inciting for the killing of Copts in Suez, Ismailia, and Upper Egypt, promising them [Copts] a tragic end if they do not return to the truth."Fear and terror for Egypt's Christians grows worse day by day.
An image of a copy of the letter appears on El Fegr's website. Titled "An Urgent and Important Notice," it begins by calling on "all brothers and sisters" to "kill or physically attack the enemies of the religion of Allah—the Christians in all of Egypt's provinces, the slaves of the Cross, Allah's curse upon them…" It proceeds to promise a monetary reward for whoever helps "achieve Allah's rights against his enemies." As a testimony to how safe the jihadi organizations of today's Egypt feel under the new president, the Muslim Brotherhood's Muhammad Morsi, the usual cryptic language is dropped, as the letter names contact points and even a mosque, Sheikh Ahmed Mosque in Kasfrit, where those interested should rally "after Friday prayers where new members to the organization will be welcomed."
This genocide has been called until Egypt's Christians "return to the truth," a reference apparently meaning that Egypt's Christians must either embrace "the truth"—that is, Islam, which they must convert to—or else return to the truths of the religion, which holds that Christians must embrace their subhuman dhimmi status (Koran 9:29).
Both forced conversions and dhimmi status for Christians are a regular feature of Egypt's landscape, past and present.
Subsequent news reports cite the growing fear and terror among Egypt's Christian population.