LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
August 28/12

Bible Quotation for today/
Matthew 06/19-23: "19 “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Partners in bloodshed/By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 27/12
The brotherhood and America/By Mshari al-Zaydi/Asharq Al AwsatAugust 27/12
What if a war broke out/By Emad El Din Adeeb/Asharq Alawsat/August 27/12
Tripoli’s permanent ordeal/By: Hazem Saghiyeh/August 27/12

Report: Netanyahu Warns Lebanon against any Hizbullah Provocation
Naharnet/27 August 2012/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that his country would launch a strike against Lebanon if Hizbullah provoked Tel Aviv. Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday that a western diplomat conveyed Netanyahu’s message to the Lebanese government. The Israeli PM had held talks with the western diplomat in Jerusalem recently, the daily said. "As far as we're concerned, the Lebanese government is responsible for whatever happens in its jurisdiction," Netanyahu allegedly told the Western diplomat. The Israeli daily quoted a senior official as saying: “Netanyahu perceives Hizbullah as part of the Lebanese administration… therefore; he clarified that if Hizbullah attacks Israel, the latter will strike back forcefully- without differentiating between Hizbullah and the State of Lebanon.”However, Haaretz said that Netanyahu’s office refused to comment on the report. The daily said that any Hizbullah strike against Israel would prompt the Israeli Defense Forces to retaliate against Lebanon's “infrastructure… and would not limit the strike to targets identified with Hizbullah.” Netanyahu’s threats come in light of several recent reports saying that Israel is preparing for scenarios that might “include a confrontation with Hizbullah.” Several Israeli officials had warned that the Syrian regime might transfer chemical weapons, missiles or anti-aerial rockets to Hizbullah following the collapse of President Bashar’s Assad’s regime. Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned earlier in the month that his Iranian-backed group would make lives of Israelis "a living hell" if it was attacked. He said that tens of thousands of Israelis would die, and not just 300 to 500.

Iran & Syria are Partners in bloodshed
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=2&id=30836
On the eve of the comments issued on Saturday by Hossein Taeb, head of the intelligence bureau of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, stating that it is Iran’s responsibility to support the al-Assad government and not to allow “the line of resistance to be broken”, Syria witnessed a horrific massacre committed by al-Assad’s forces claiming the lives of around 440 people, so what does this mean?
The answer is obvious; Iran is a partner in the bloodshed of unarmed Syrians. Tehran is supporting al-Assad, its most important agent in the region whose downfall would represent the collapse of the most significant supply line for the Iranian project in the region since the Khomeini revolution. The importance of this supply line is evidenced by nearly four decades of conspiring, arming and financing several Iranian projects whether in Lebanon or in Syria, whether in the media, cultural or economic domain. Therefore it is not surprising that the head of the intelligence bureau of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard says that Tehran must protect al-Assad, and it is also not surprising that the magnitude of al-Assad’s crimes have witnessed a significant increase. It is clear that the moment of al-Assad’s downfall is near, and hence we find that the Syrian regime has been driven to insanity. Likewise, Iranian maneuvers towards Syria now significantly outweigh Russian maneuvers, and Iran is now intending to launch a plot relating to Syria within the context of the Non-Aligned Movement summit agenda.
Therefore it is no surprise that Iran is supporting al-Assad, its most prominent agent, as his downfall would herald the collapse of the Iranian project in the region. Yet what is strange, and suspicious, is the international paralysis towards al-Assad’s crimes, especially as the international community is aware that al-Assad is approaching the moment of his downfall and that it is still possible to shorten the suffering of the Syrians and spare the Syrian state from total devastation and collapse. Yet the West, and first and foremost America, is doing little or nothing. What is required today is to arm the Syrian opposition with quality weaponry so that they can repel al-Assad’s planes and tanks. Furthermore, there is a need to move to impose a no-fly zone and safe areas within Syrian territory on the Turkish and Jordanian borders. There is no need to resort to the Security Council as long as the Russians and the Chinese intend to protect criminals; rather it is necessary to mobilize now through NATO and the Arab forces willing to participate in any way. The number of Free Syrian Army troops should not be underestimated; all they need is quality weaponry, no-fly zones and the imposition of safe areas. Whatever the cost of such steps, they will be much less than the cost of a sudden collapse in Syria, and it is the responsibility of the international community to protect the defenseless and ensure the social peace and security of the region as a whole. This can only be achieved with the overthrow of al-Assad, which is fast approaching and is just around the corner, and all that is required is the aforementioned steps. Then we will see major splits within the military establishment, which might force al-Assad himself to flee the country.
This will be less expensive than the state collapsing or the crisis being prolonged, and when I say “less expensive” I mean this from a humanitarian, security and political perspective. When al-Assad the Iranian is expelled from Syria, Tehran will revert back to its normal size and Syria, with all its religious and ethnic components, will return back to the Arab heartland after a prolonged absence in Persian orbit.
Therefore it is time for a triple maneuver: no-fly zones, safe areas and qualitative reinforcements for the Free Syrian Army.

Al Qaeda targets Riyadh, Jeddah and Sderot. Saudi cell had chemicals
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 26, 2012/For the first time, a thread links the three rockets which hit the Israeli town of Sderot Sunday, Aug. 26, slightly injuring two workmen, and the two terrorist cells captured in Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the same day, debkafile’s counter-terror sources report. Both events were conceived by Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula. AQAP has ordered its Sinai cells and Egyptian and Palestinian offshoots to step up their attacks from Sinai and the Gaza Strip.
By three happenings Sunday, AQAP broke new and menacing ground:
1. Three Qassam missiles fired at the industrial zone Sderot shares with Shear Hanegev ushered in a Gaza-based anti-Israel offensive launched by the “Shura Council in the Jerusalem Area” - the umbrella organization of all the Salafi groups operating in Sinai and the Gaza Strip.
This group’s 6,000-strong force of well-armed terrorists is commanded by an Egyptian by the name of Hisham Saydani. Al Qaeda has dubbed him Abu al-Walid al-Maqdisi. He and his lieutenants serve as liaison between the Sinai cells and AQAP headquarters in Yemen.
2. Hamas held Saydani in a special security prison cell in the Gaza Strip until two weeks ago when, for some unknown reason, which US, Egyptian and Israeli counter-terror agencies are trying to discover, Hamas let him go. His first action was to set up the Shura Council’s attack near Rafah, in which 16 Egyptian troops were killed and the Kerem Shalom crossing barrier into Israel was rammed. The gunmen were liquidated before they reached their target: the IDF Bedouin Reconnaissance Battalion’s command base nearby.
This operation was designed at the highest AQAP command level.
Suspecting that at least three of the perpetrators had gone to ground in the Gaza Strip, Egypt demanded that Hamas hunt them down and arrest them. The Shura Council’s three-missile volley against Sderot was its way of warning Hamas to call off the hunt or else the missile fire would continue and bring Israeli retribution down on the Hamas-ruled enclave.
The same tactic was behind the firing of two Grad missiles against the southern Israeli resort and port town of Eilat Friday, Aug. 17. That too was an al Qaeda warning to Cairo to call off the Egyptian military’s pursuit of Salafi terrorists in Sinai or else more missiles would be loosed against southern Israel.
Two days later, Israel placed Eilat under the guard of an Iron Dome missile defense battery.
Following these two incidents, al Qaeda’s Shura Council announced that Israeli towns would be held hostage for the halting of Egyptian and Hamas military pursuit of its members in Sinai and the Gaza Strip, which must stop forthwith.
3. Sunday, too, the Saudi Interior Minister announced the busting of two al Qaeda cells in the capital Riyadh and the Saudi summer capital of Jeddah on the Red Sea, which were plotting attacks on Western targets, and local security forces and public places in the kingdom. There were eight arrests, two Saudis and six Yemenis.Saudi sources disclosed that they were members of AQAP, operating under the orders of the organization’s headquarters in Yemen. Found in their possession were weapons and explosives and also chemical substances for loading into explosive charges.
This is the first evidence since 2002, when a bomb packed with poison chemicals was detonated by Palestinian suicide killer in Jerusalem, of the use of chemical weapons by Middle East terrorists. It is feared that those weapons may also have found their way to Sinai.

Lebanese residents protest jeweler’s killing
August 27, 2012 /Residents in the southern Lebanese city of Sarafand on Monday blocked the highway between the cities of Sidon and Tyr to protest against the killing of a jeweler from their city, the National News Agency reported. Earlier on Monday, Ali Khalifeh died of his wounds after he was shot by unknown gunmen who stormed his jewelry store and robbed it. -NOW Lebanon

Hezbollah says March 14 party implicated Lebanon in Syria's crisis
August 26, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: Hezbollah figures Sunday accused Arab regimes of fueling tensions in Lebanon and Syria, adding that the March 14 coalition has brought the country into Syria’s crisis. In a graduation ceremony in the southern village of Blida, Loyalty to the Resistance MP Mohammad Raad said: “Influential Arab regimes finance what strife is being sowed in Lebanon, Yemen and Syria for the U.S. and Europe.” He added that the West “seeks to affiliate Lebanon with the organization of Arab regimes that want to pave the way for reconciliation with the Israeli enemy based on conditions set by the Jewish State.”Raad also said his rivals have changed their agenda to satisfy the U.S. and Europe and to build animosity with Iran, Hezbollah’s main ally in the region.
He cited an example of Iran’s offer to help Lebanon with its electricity crisis, saying the “state did not even dare to consider the offer since that would anger the U.S.”Meanwhile, Sheikh Nabik Qaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Executive Council, accused the March 14 party of involvement in the course of the 17-month-old conflict in Syria which he said had automatically brought the whole country into the conflict.“The presence of Syrian gunmen in Lebanon implicates our country in the crisis and the March 14 forces have already been involved and become partners in the aggression against that country,” he told supporters during a ceremony celebrating the six anniversary of “Hezbollah’s victory over Israel in 2006,” in south Lebanon.
Qaouk also said that the party provides both political and security cover for the alleged Syrian gunmen in Lebanon to launch attacks and carry out operations against Syria.
He also targeted the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, saying it harms civil peace in the country. “The military and security wing of the U.S. Embassy threatens civil peace and the security of the resistance, as well as threatening Syria from Lebanon via its Lebanese tools,” Qaouk said.

Hezbollah leadership divided over Syrian crisis
August 27, 2012/By Antoine Ghattas Saab/The Daily Star
Europeans are concerned by the ongoing violence in Lebanon; Iranians are scrambling to find a solution to the Syrian crisis through dialogue between the regime and the opposition; and Hezbollah is divided on how to proceed in the face of the unrelenting bloodshed next door. No one who follows developments in the Middle East can deny these realities, nor can anyone ignore Russia’s recent actions in the region. Moscow, which has strongly rejected intervention in Syria, has sent powerful naval vessels, the Yarsolav Mudry and Neustroshimyy, into the Mediterranean for drills.
Meanwhile, American Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced that the U.S.S. John Stennis would arrive four months ahead of schedule to the Gulf, and Iran is responding to Saudi naval maneuvers with its own, each trying to have a say in the Syrian crisis. Diplomatic sources told Lebanese leaders that Iran is preparing to announce a new initiative, prepared by Iran’s Foreign Minister of Arab and African Affairs Hussein Amir Abdel-Lahyan, to end the Syrian crisis during the upcoming meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran.
But Western diplomatic sources say the crisis is far from over and there’s no solution in sight, especially in light of the opposition’s rejection of dialogue with the regime. The fighting in Aleppo is evidence that there is no ready victory for either side, they add. They maintain, however, that the repercussions of the unrest should remain under control in Lebanon as long as the Syrian crisis does not devolve into the worst case scenario. At the same time, a French diplomatic source expressed the European Union’s concern over the violence in Lebanon, especially Tripoli, adding that EU countries are closely following the security incidents – particularly the tit-for-tat kidnappings – in the country. The source called on Lebanese leaders to prevent these incidents from escalating further and vowed that Europe would continue to support Lebanon’s stability. Others in Lebanon believe that the Syrian attempts to export its violence to its neighbor is a real and present danger, especially considering the discovery of the terrorist plot that led to the arrest of Michel Samaha. Diplomatic sources who have closely followed Hezbollah’s recent statements say that the party is cautiously studying developments in the region before moving forward. The sources say that the party is in a precarious position since a major part of the Shiite axis that stretched from Tehran to Baghdad to Beirut is being hit by developments in Syria.
The French source says that the party is preparing to decide between fully backing the Syrian regime by pushing violence in Lebanon or keeping its distance from Damascus and engaging in National Dialogue. There is a significant division in Hezbollah’s leadership over the decision, says the source. Some believe that the party should stand by Tehran and Damascus even if it means taking part in full-on regional conflict and forcing its terms on its rivals in Lebanon through violence. Other leaders, including party chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, see that partnership with the Lebanese is important and should not be overlooked and believe that National Dialogue would serve the party best. These leaders contend that Hezbollah’s demands will only be fulfilled through the dialogue and that without it, the party would risk losing a decade of the resistance’s achievements.

Charbel confident on early solution to hostage crisis after releases
August 27, 2012/By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star/Hussein Ali Omar, 60, one of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims that Syrian rebels have been holding for three months in Syria, flashes the victory sign on arrival at Rafik Hariri international airport, in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday Aug. 25, 2012. BEIRUT: The release of one of the 11 Lebanese hostages by their Syrian captors sets the stage for an overall solution for the crisis of Lebanese kidnap victims in Syria as well as Syrians abducted in Lebanon, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Sunday. However, Colonel Riad Asaad, commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army which kidnapped the 11 Lebanese, ruled out an early release of the hostages, claiming that most of them are senior Hezbollah officials. “The release of the [Lebanese hostages] will not be as easy as some can imagine, especially since most of them are senior Hezbollah officials,” Asaad said in an interview, excerpts of which were carried by Elnashara website. He said that the release of the remaining 10 Lebanese hostages needed “tough negotiations” that should result in the interest of the Syrian people and their revolution. Asaad blamed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah for delaying the release of the Lebanese hostages after he had refused the kidnappers’ demand that he apologize for his comments in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad. “He [Nasrallah] even threatened the Syrian people and declared war on them. We see him today fighting fiercely on the side of the regime in order to enable the treacherous regime to defeat the revolution,” he said. Charbel, who visited Turkey last week with Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, chief of General Security, for talks on the case of the Lebanese captives, struck an upbeat note about a happy end to the hostage ordeal by as early as next week.
“Next week will witness a happy end to the crisis of the Lebanese kidnapped in Syria and the Syrians kidnapped in Lebanon,” Charbel told The Daily Star.
“Next week will be a week of optimism for all the Lebanese, especially with regard to ending the issue of the Lebanese kidnapped in Syria and the Syrians held in Lebanon,” he said.
The minister spoke a day after Hussein Ali Omar was released by the FSA, which kidnapped 11 Lebanese Shiites shortly after they crossed into Syria from Turkey on May 22 on their way back to Lebanon from a pilgrimage to Iran. The rebel group said that Omar’s release came in response to a request by the head of the Committee of Muslim Scholars in Lebanon Sheikh Hasan Qaterji. The committee has been involved in efforts to win the release of the Lebanese hostages in Syria.Charbel said he had information that made him optimistic about a solution to the problem of the abducted Lebanese in Syria as well as the Syrians held by the Lebanese Shiite Meqdad clan and another Shiite group for use as a bargaining chip to secure the release of remaining 10 Lebanese hostages and a member of the Meqdad family. He declined to disclose this information.“The release of Hussein Omar is the beginning of a solution for the kidnapped Lebanese crisis,” Charbel said.
Omar, 60, crossed into Turkey after his release Saturday from a military camp in the Aleppo district of Azaz on the Syrian-Turkish border.
He arrived aboard a private Turkish jet at Beirut airport where he received a hero’s welcome by relatives and government officials, including Charbel and Hezbollah and Amal lawmakers.
Dressed in a white shirt and a red tie bearing an image of the Turkish flag that he said he was wearing “in recognition of Turkey’s efforts to free me,” Omar added that the 10 remaining Lebanese hostages were well and in good health, refuting earlier media reports that four of the hostages were killed in a Syrian airstrike on Azaz.
“Our treatment [by Syrian captors] was excellent. They provided us with food, water and even medicine when anyone of us fell ill,” a smiling Omar told reporters at Beirut airport. “I wasn’t kidnapped and was not a captive; I was a guest of the rebels,” Omar told Al-Jazeera satellite channel upon his release.
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri phoned Omar Saturday night and congratulated him on his return home and said he hoped for the rapid release of the remaining Lebanese hostages in Syria. Hariri was reported to have made contacts with Turkish authorities aimed at securing the release of the Lebanese hostages.
Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar, who was among the crowd that welcomed Omar at Beirut airport, expressed hope that the former hostage’s release would pave the way for the return of the other hostages.
“I hope that the release of Hajj Hussein Omar is a positive signal for the release of all abducted Lebanese,” Ammar told reporters after visiting Omar at his house in Hay al-Sellom in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
He also condemned the tit-for-tat kidnappings and the involvement of “innocent civilians in regional conflicts,” and urged everyone to put in efforts to secure the release of every Lebanese held in Syria.
Hours after Omar’s release, the armed Meqdad clan, which has kidnapped over 20 Syrians and a Turkish national in retaliation for the abduction of their relative by Syrian rebels, also released six Syrians, saying the remaining four hostages were linked to the FSA. The clan released some 20 Syrians last week.
Another four Syrians were released Saturday by the Shiite group Al-Mukhtar al-Thaqafi, which abducted 10 Syrians earlier this month in order to press its demand for the release of Lebanese hostages.
Omar’s release came 10 days after the Meqdad clan kidnapped a Turkish businessman identified as Aydin Tufan Tekin, 28, and more than 20 Syrians to force Syrian rebels to release a family member, Hasan Meqdad, whom the rebels abducted near the Syrian capital, Damascus, and accused of being a member of Hezbollah. Hezbollah has denied Meqdad was a party member as did the Meqdad clan.
Another Turkish national, identified as Abdulbasit Arslan, 56, was kidnapped by a Shiite group to press for the release of the Lebanese hostages in Syria.
Maher Meqdad, a spokesman for the Meqdad clan, also voiced optimism about an early solution to the Lebanese hostage crisis. He said Omar’s release was “a positive signal” for ending the hostage ordeal.
“I am optimistic like the interior minister over a solution to the hostage crisis. I think the issue of the kidnapped Lebanese will come to a happy end next week,” Meqdad told The Daily Star. He stressed that Turkey held the key to a solution to the case of the Lebanese hostages in Syria.
“Turkey is the gate and lung through which the Free Syrian Army breathes,” Meqdad said. He added that the Meqdad clan had initially kidnapped 45 Syrians and later released all but four, in addition to “a Turkish businessman,” to press for the release of Hasan Meqdad.
He said that two of the four Syrians belonged to the FSA and the other two had links to “revolutionary committees.”
“The four Syrians and the Turkish businessman will be released only after the release of Hasan Meqdad,” Maher Meqdad said. He added that had it not been for the kidnapping of the Turkish businessman, “we would not have seen this flurry of activity to secure the release of Lebanese hostages in Syria.”
Meanwhile, Charbel said the kidnapping of a Kuwaiti national in east Lebanon was not politically motivated, and that the security forces and Army intelligence were working relentlessly to secure his release.
“Preliminary investigations indicate no political reasons” behind the kidnapping of the Kuwaiti citizen, Charbel told An-Nahar newspaper.
Issam al-Houty was kidnapped by gunmen in Hawsh al-Ghanam in the eastern Bekaa region outside his house Saturday. Reports said his wife informed the Kuwaiti Embassy of the abduction.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called for the immediate release of Houty, saying that Kuwait has always stood Lebanon’s side under all circumstances. He held a series of contacts to secure Houty’s release, the state-run National News Agency said. “The least that should be done is to immediately release the kidnapped Kuwaiti along with a deep apology,” Berri added in a statement.
Kuwait’s ambassador to Lebanon told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anbaa that no party had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping yet, denying rumors that a $500,000 ransom had been demanded in exchange of Houty. However, Charbel told Al-Jadeed TV Sunday that one suspect in the Kuwaiti’s abduction had been arrested, and that the search for a second was ongoing.
Following a spate of kidnappings of Syrian and Turkish nationals along with threats by local groups to target Gulf citizens in tit-for-tat abductions, Kuwait and other Gulf countries issued travel advisories asking their citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon. Kuwait has also said that most of its citizens have been evacuated.

Tripoli’s permanent ordeal
Hazem Saghiyeh, August 27, 2012
Any observer of the history of major crises since Lebanon’s independence in 1943 will note that Tripoli has always been the greatest stage for these crises and one of its greatest victims.
National explosive situations often started in the capital of the North and were often resumed in it after smoldering in other Lebanese regions.
This was often justified by Tripoli’s geographical location, as it is close to Syria and lies to the south of the Palestinian refugee camps of Beddawi and al-Bared. This was added to its sectarian structure based on a substantial Christian and Alawite presence along with the Sunni majority. One must not forget, of course, the poverty characterizing the city, especially in its inner neighborhoods, which expressed their anger and tension buildup on many occasions. However, there is something to Tripoli that is seldom mentioned and that makes it an incubator for sectarian, national and social flare-ups: This is the crisis relationship between Tripoli and Lebanon, which kept the city caught between narrow civil and sectarian loyalty on the one hand, and broader Arabist and Islamist trends on the other hand.
We know that then-Tripoli leader Abdel Hamid Karami was the last Lebanese politician to acknowledge the “Lebanese entity” and that Beirut and Mount Lebanon politicians always dealt with Tripoli as a “less” Lebanese foreign body. In turn, elder Tripoli natives remember an incident of extreme significance, which illustrates the intricate relation between narrow subnational loyalty and supranational ideological rhetoric. The clearest expression of how the “nationalist issue” was exploited in order to further local designs lies in what happened on March 4, 1947 in the city. On that day, Tripoli native Fawzi al-Qaweqji came to the city from his exile in Germany. Qaweqji had played a key role in the 1936-39 events in Palestine and the 1941 events in Iraq before establishing the “Salvation Army”, which called for honoring him as a “nationalist hero.” However, the conflict between the Karami and Moqaddam families, which competed to honor him, led to 18 people being killed and 48 others wounded.
This prompted the Syrian regime to use Tripoli and some of its inhabitants to further its schemes, much like the Palestinian resistance had done before.
It is worth mentioning that most of the destruction that can still be seen in the city results from the 1980s war between Hafez Al-Assad and Yasser Arafat.
In the midst of this mayhem, the “city” receded in favor or neighborhoods and alleys. Traces of progress and development that occurred in Tripoli between 1943 and 1975 disappeared in favor of signs of retardation, the most potent example of which was Sheikh Saeed Shaaban. Tripoli will always sit on glowing embers as long as its inhabitants do not settle this issue once and for all. This is far more than a right political position, such as supporting the Syrian revolution, or a wrong one, such as opposing it. It is an essential question that transcends all eras and positions.
*This article is a translation of the original, which first appeared on the NOW Arabic site on Sunday August 26, 2012

Tripoli sniper kills one, Army tries to restore order
August 27, 2012 /By Antoine Amrieh/The Daily Star
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Sniper fire killed one man in Tripoli Sunday as the Army arrested gunmen and seized arms as part of a plan aimed at restoring order to the northern city. Army intervention follows five days of renewed clashes between pro- and anti-Assad factions that have left at least 17 people dead. Adel Othman was the man killed by sniper fire in the Jabal Mohsen neighborhood, security sources said.
While relative calm prevailed in Lebanon’s second largest city, the Army arrested 18 gunmen and seized quantities of arms, ammunition and military hardware in Al-Zahriyeh neighborhood in Tripoli after a military patrol came under fire in the area, according to an Army statement. An Army unit also raided some places in Al-Qibeh neighborhood after shots were fired from the area, seizing a quantity of arms and ammunition, the statement said. The arrested gunmen and the seized arms were delivered to the relevant authorities, it added. The Army and Internal Security Forces stepped up their armored patrols in addition to setting up mobile and stationery checkpoints in Tripoli’s main streets, inspecting cars and motorbike riders. Authorities are attempting to prevent continued hostilities between armed supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad entrenched in the Sunni dominant Bab al-Tabbaneh district and the mainly-Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen.
Security forces also raided some houses in Bab al-Tabbaneh, Jabal Mohsen, al-Bakkar, Rifa and al-Maloula in search of gunmen. Soldiers clashed with members of the pro-Hezbollah Al-Moury family, an armed clan, after the Army attempted on several occasions to raid an infirmary known to belong to the group.
A total of 120 people have been wounded in the clashes since Monday. Civil society groups held a sit-in Sunday outside the headquarters of the Tripoli Municipality, calling for the disarmament of the city and voicing frustration over the repeated outbreaks of fighting. The head of Tripoli Municipality, Nader Ghazal, said there was an immediate need to disarm all groups in north Lebanon, saying “the people are fed up.” Despite a cease-fire agreed to last week among figures of both neighborhoods, fighting intensified Friday following the death by sniper fire of anti-Assad Salafist Sheikh Khaled Baradie, leaving two killed and 21 wounded, including a foreign journalist. The cease-fire agreement also called on the Lebanese Army to heavily deploy and restore order and security in the city. Soldiers were seen Sunday patrolling the front line of the rival areas and responding to sporadic sniper fire. The violence has left Tripoli almost completely deserted, with most shops closed and residents confining themselves to their homes.
In the latest attempts to restore security to the city, a meeting was held Sunday at Future MP Mohammad Kabbara’s home in Tripoli, attended by senior security officials, some Future MPs and religious figures. Sunday’s was the fifth such meeting held at Kabbara’s home since the fighting erupted in Tripoli last Monday.
In a statement issued after the meeting, the participants called on the rival factions to adhere to the cease-fire agreement and not to respond to the fire.
“They called on the Lebanese Army to shore up security in tense areas and prevent security violations. They also called on Internal Security Forces to consolidate security in the city’s other areas,” the statement said. The leaders asked security forces to deal firmly with the phenomenon of “individual attacks” targeting shops on a sectarian basis.
The participants urged the government to treat the wounded people and pay the costs of their hospitalization. They asked the government to assign the state-run Higher Relief Committee to assess the damage and pay compensations for lost lives or material losses as a result of the fighting. The government was also urged to prepare a socio-economic developmental project for deprived areas in the north.

Monk Found Dead on Naameh Shore
Naharnet/26 August 2012/Maronite monk Elie Jerji al-Maqdessi, 51, was strangled to death with a rope, the National News Agency reported on Sunday, after his body was found Saturday morning on the seaside road in Naameh. The monk of the Bhersaf Monastery in Northern Metn originally hails from the Bekaa town of Hawsh Hala. The rope used to kill Maqdesi was found near his body which was taken to Siblin Hospital, NNA said. The body was later handed over to the monk’s family. Al-Jadeed television noted that the monk was not wearing a religious costume.
Later on Sunday, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said in an interview with al-Jadeed that the slain monk had arrived from Belgium 10 days ago.
Charbel said that the security agencies have made some progress in the investigations, noting that there is no sectarian motive behind the crime.

Confessions of Informer in Samaha’s Case Published
Naharnet/ 27 August 2012/Al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Monday the transcript of confessions of the informer in the case of ex-Minister Michel Samaha.
According to the daily the informer headed to the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch in July, saying that he has obtained “very dangerous information he would like to make.”
ISF Intelligence Branch head Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan questioned the informer who confessed to having a close relation with Samaha, who told him to meet him at his residence in the northern Metn town of Jwar al-Khensahara.
The report said that Samaha asked the informer to do a favor for head of the Syrian National Security Bureau Ali al-Mamlouk.
The informer confessed that he was demanded to carry out bombings in the northern province of Akkar at the behest of Mamlouk, pointing out that the latter was ready to provide him with all the necessary logistic and financial requirements.
Media reports said that the man behind reporting Samaha was Milad Kfouri, who also used several aliases.
Samaha and Mamlouk were charged earlier this month with plotting to target Lebanon as Samaha was accused of possessing and transporting several explosive devices from Syria.
The informer told Samaha that he will consider his proposal, however, he decided to head to the ISF intelligence branch and inform them about the plot targeting Lebanon.
According to the transcript of confessions, the informer said that another meeting was scheduled to be held with Samaha on July 21 in his residence in Ashrafiyeh.
The informer was equipped with a secret camera and recording machine to document the meeting. The two also held meetings on August 1 and 7, where they decided on their targets.
The daily noted that all the meetings between the informer and Samaha were recorded and documented.
Samaha told the informer that only four people know about the plot “the president, Ali, me and you.”
Al-Joumhouria published the complete dialogue that the informer and Samaha held during their consecutive meetings.

Abu Ibrahim Says 'Guests' to Stay for a While, Crisis Cell Promises Positive Development
Naharnet/ 27 August 2012/The ministerial crisis cell tasked with following up on the issue of the Lebanese abductees in Syria on Monday said it expects a positive development “in the coming days.”
“We spoke of the policy of silence and said that the event will announce itself and that happened when Hussein Omar was released and announced that the abductees are in good health,” Labor Minister Salim Jreissati, the cell’s spokesman, said after a meeting at the interior ministry’s headquarters in Sanayeh.
Omar was released on Saturday by his captors following a Turkish initiative. Upon his arrival in Beirut, Omar reassured that all the abductees were in good health and that they were being treated well.
“The committee has decided to carry on with its policy of reticence and to keep in contact with the interior minister over the developments which are positive developments,” said Jreissati.
“The interior minister is working night and day with the parties concerned in order to secure the release” of the remaining 10 pilgrims, he added.
“The negotiations are going positively and the outcome will emerge in the next few days, but we don’t have a precise number, names or timing,” Jreissati went on to say. Meanwhile, Abu Ibrahim, the head of the group that abducted the pilgrims in the Syrian town of Aazaz, said they kidnapped the 11 men in order to “show the real face of the Syrian revolution and to explain its objectives to the Lebanese and entire world.”
“We in the Syrian revolution believe that the international community is waging a war against us and that the International Red Cross, the International Court of Justice, the Security Council and all the international organizations must clearly define their stances towards the Syrian revolution and recognize the suffering of our children, women and elderly,” Abu Ibrahim told Turkey's Anatolia news agency.
“We have released the Lebanese hostage Hussein Ali Omar at Turkey’s request, and given Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s courageous and honorable stances on the Islamic causes in Gaza, Iraq and Syria, we decided to comply with the Turkish request,” Abu Ibrahim added.
“Our guests will remain in our custody for another period of time and we have chosen the governments of Turkey, Qatar and the U.S. to negotiate about them,” he said, noting that “there is an Iranian hostage among the abductees.”
The 11 Lebanese men were kidnapped on May 22 as they entered Syria from neighboring Turkey on their way back from pilgrimage in Iran.

Jumblat: Lebanese Have the Right to Wonder about their Fate in Case of a Regional War
Naharnet /27 August 2012/Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Jumblat stressed on Monday the importance of allowing the Lebanese state to control the country’s decision of war and peace.
He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “We have no doubt over the effectiveness of the resistance’s rockets in displacing hundreds of thousands of Israelis, but the Lebanese people have the right to wonder about their fate and future in case a regional war should erupt.”
On this note, he lauded the Lebanese army for “gradually” imposing its authority in Tripoli and demonstrating that it has the ability to perform its duties, “especially when the political will to that end is available.”
“This will enable it to perform its defensive duties for Lebanon if a national agreement on the matter is reached,” continued the Druze chief.
During his latest speech, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had said: "Even though the party cannot destroy Israel, it is capable of turning the lives of millions of Israelis into a living hell."
Commenting on the Non-Aligned Movement meeting currently held in Tehran, Jumblat said: “It is ironic that the non-aligned movement that was launched in 1955 by the likes of Jamal Abdul Nasser, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Joseph Tito against colonization has now been transformed into a meeting for regimes that practice all forms of oppression against their people.”
“The best indication of this claim is the direct protection some of these powers have been providing to the Syrian regime against the legitimate ambitions of its people for freedom and independence,” added the PSP.
“It is ironic that the Non-Aligned Movement would be attended by some Arab leaders who not too long ago were elected after revolutions that overthrew the symbols of oppression,” he continued.
“Instead of siding along with their people and their interests, these leaders are now standing against the rights of the Syrian people and their epic struggle that is crowned everyday by hundreds of martyrs, wounded, and prisoners,” stated Jumblat.
“It is also ironic that the Tehran summit would be attended by some Palestinian leaders who will sit next to representatives of the Syrian regime, the same regime that has committed greater atrocities against its people than Israel ever did against the Palestinians,” he remarked.
“As for Lebanon, we are not worried over the Lebanese official position represented by President Michel Suleiman who, with his habitual boldness, will take a stand that will fall in Lebanon’s national interest instead of those of regional powers,” he added.
“We hope however that Lebanon will not be transformed once again into an open ground for the wars of others given the Israeli madness, represented by Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, the Syrian contempt that wants to create instability in the country, and the chaos of rockets in Lebanon that have not been organized under a defense plan,” Jumblat said.
He therefore reiterated the PSP’s position that the resistance’s capabilities need to be incorporated in the official Lebanese military institution “in order to defend Lebanon and only Lebanon.”

Sarafand Residents Block Highway over Jeweler’s Murder
Naharnet/27 August 2012/Several angry residents of the southern town of Sarafand on Monday blocked with burning tires the highway that links Sidon to Tyre to protest the murder of a jeweler.
Ali Khalife, who is the owner of a jewelry shop in Sarafand, was killed by armed men after they opened fire on him and stole a bag of jewelry he was carrying.
The assailants then escaped in a black Mercedes with no license plate. The man had received seven gunshot wounds and was taken to a hospital in Sidon. But he later succumbed to his injuries. The Internal Security Forces launched an investigation and a manhunt to arrest the suspects.

Iran Primes Summit amid High Security
Naharnet /27 August 2012/Formidable security surrounded a meeting in Tehran on Monday of officials from Non-Aligned Movement nations preparing for a summit later this week that Iran is determined to use to bolster its international status.
Some 110,000 police were deployed across the country, but especially in the capital, where they were manning street corners and hundreds of vehicle inspection stops.
The heavy security underlined the authorities' resolve to ensure no incident upstages an event they were portraying as a diplomatic coup against US-led pressure.
"God willing, a glorious holding of the summit will mark a victory for Iran in the media-political battle" against the West, the head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, told the Guards' website Sepah News.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is expected to reinforce that message when he opens the two-day NAM summit on Thursday.
NAM foreign ministers were on Tuesday to take over from their aides to finesse the details of the summit, which will bring together heads of state and government from more than 30 countries, according to organizers.
The NAM, a Cold War grouping founded in 1961, has 120 members representing most of the developing world and which see themselves as independent of Washington and Moscow influence.
Although the organization had increasingly been seen as an anachronism in the past couple of decades, Iran is seeking to revive it as a counterweight to perceived domineering by permanent U.N. Security Council members Britain, France, China, Russia and -- especially -- the United States.
"We share the concern of many members that the U.N. Security Council has increasing power in the face of decreasing power in the (U.N.) General Assembly," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Sunday as he opened the NAM preparatory meetings.
He backed a longstanding call for reform of the Security Council.
Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri, the deputy chief of the Islamic republic's armed forces, told Sepah News that the NAM must create "an atmosphere to influence the United Nations and revise the veto rights of the permanent members of the Security Council."
NAM delegations, however, were likely to have their attention focused on more pressing issues, chiefly Syria.
The vicious, 17-month conflict tearing Iran's ally apart has confounded several diplomatic quests to find a solution.
Egypt's new president, Mohammed Morsi, is to make another stab during the summit by talking about his idea of a contact group on Syria including Iran -- which backs the Damascus regime -- and Saudi Arabia and Turkey -- which support the Syrian opposition.
"If this group succeeds, Iran would be part of the solution and not the problem," Morsi's spokesman Yassir Ali told reporters on Sunday.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will not be going to Tehran, but will send his prime minister and foreign minister, according to a prominent Iranian MP, Aladin Borujerdi, who saw him in Damascus on Sunday.
But Assad said "he would welcome efforts Iran can make to solve Syria's problems," on condition that countries supporting Syria's rebels "exert pressure on them to stop the bloodshed and violence," Borujerdi told Iran's state broadcaster IRIB.
Morsi's presence in Iran will be notable because it will be the first by an Egyptian leader since diplomatic relations were broken in 1979, after Cairo hosted Iran's toppled shah and signed a peace accord with Israel.
But Ali said Morsi's visit in Tehran would last just "a few hours" and "no other subject is expected" to be broached, specifically any concerning the resumption of diplomatic ties.
Iran is also keen to use the summit to gather support for what it calls its "legitimate rights" to nuclear activities, which are the source of a showdown between it and the West.
But U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, who is to participate in the summit as an observer, aims to "convey the clear concerns and expectations of the international community" on that and other issues, according to his spokesman.
Iran's defense of the Palestinians was also certain to be raised.
Khamenei and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have repeatedly called Israel a "cancerous tumor" that should be excised from the Middle East, with "Palestine" replacing it.
But in a gesture of political expediency, Iran on Sunday stated the only Palestinian representative invited to the summit was Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
It specifically excluded Abbas's Gaza rival, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, who subsequently said he had decided to not attend despite being invited by Ahmadinejad.
Source/Agence France Presse.

What if a war broke out?
By Emad El Din Adeeb/Asharq Alawsat
What would happen if a regional war broke out between Israel and Iran? I'm not here to talk about who would be the "devil" or the "angel" in this political context. I will not enter into the issue of who is right and who is wrong, nor will I touch upon the overwhelming state of hostility towards Israel or the hostility that the majority of Arabs currently display towards Iran. Rather, I will focus my attention on answering the big question. Yes, what if a war broke out? What stance would the Arabs adopt towards such a catastrophic occurrence in the region between two military forces, each with a highly-destructive, unconventional arsenal, and between two hardline and extremist governments that lack political wisdom and are ready to blow up the entire world in the name of sectarian nonsense or for the sake of limitless religious obsession? If this war did break out – God forbid – the skies, seas and lands of the entire Arab region would come under fire. The structures, achievements and residents of the Middle East would all come under serious threat. Here some may say: "Come on, be optimistic. Nothing bad is going to happen, God willing." One might hear such an argument from an old man sitting in a coffeehouse smoking shisha, and it may indeed turn out to be true. Yet history has taught us that an important element of crisis management is to be prepared before the event happens, no matter how faint the possibility of this crisis might be. If a war erupted would the Arab League adopt a collective stance? What would happen if some Arab League members sought to side with Iran or – believe it or not – other members took a stand against Iran by offering logistical support to the Israeli air force? What stance would the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states adopt if Iran decided not to aim at Israeli targets, but rather at targets and sites within the Gulf States themselves?
What stance would the Arab states bordering the Red Sea adopt if the Iranian navy closed the Strait of Hormuz? If the Strait was closed, how would this affect oil shipment and global oil prices?
There are dozens of questions that could arise from the possibility of a war breaking out. Here some will undoubtedly say: "Come on, let us focus on the massacres being committed today in Syria, and let us prevent these from extending to Lebanon." These people would argue against speculating over future events, saying: "Leave creation to the Creator." I would respond by saying glory be to God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, who alone is capable of doing anything. Yet, once again, I must ask: What would we do if a war broke out?

The brotherhood and America
By Mshari al-Zaydi/Asharq Al Awsat
In his recent article, Dennis Ross, a former aide to US President Barack Obama on Middle Eastern affairs, and currently a counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, issued clear warnings to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. According to Ross’ point of view, preliminary indications regarding the rights of Copts and women and media freedoms do not bode well, and likewise the behavior of the current Egyptian administration is elusive about its relationship with Israel, with which Egypt has a peace treaty, and which is also not sending reassuring messages. Yet Ross’s article also reveals much about the US political stance in the region.
The importance of the words of someone like Dennis Ross - in addition to the fact that he is influential in directing public opinion among the political elite in Washington, with regards to the policies that should be adopted in the Middle East - is that the Obama administration previously gave its “blessing” to the Arab Spring, with the Muslim Brotherhood at the helm. It extended the hand of friendship towards the Brotherhood and even applied pressure on its opponents, the latest of which being the successive warnings issued to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) not to “obstruct” the Brotherhood’s progress in seizing all aspects of the Egyptian state. There were recent demonstrations of outrage at America’s intervention in the country in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was pelted by some protestors during her recent visit to Egypt.
Ross places dual blame on the Brotherhood’s rule in Egypt and the Obama administration’s “soft” approach towards the Brotherhood’s policies. In his article published in the American press and in Asharq al-Awsat, he says: “The administration’s position needs to be clear: If this behavior continues, U.S. support…will not be forthcoming. Softening or fuzzing our response at this point might be good for the Muslim Brotherhood, but it won’t be good for Egypt”.
The American experimentation at this stage, namely supporting Islamist currents as they rise to power, resembles an earlier American experiment, shortly after September 11th 2001. At that point the US supported dynamic Shiite currents based on the assumption that the Shiite doctrine had greater potential for democracy and dialogue, unlike the Sunnis, as was the theory of the American thinker of Iranian origin, Vali Nasr. The experiment continues, this time under the pretext that the arrival of the Muslim Brotherhood to power in the Arab world will bring several benefits to the West and America. The Americans believe that the Brotherhood will fight jihadist currents - this time in the name of religion rather than in the name of “secular” nationalism, it will maintain the integrity of borders and relations with Israel - this time in the name of “jihad”, and it will not change much on the ground except certain “details”. After all, what remains important is preserving national interests, does it not? The Brotherhood will do all this with a mass, legitimate cover.
Can you blame the Americans? Certainly they are looking out for their own interests, whether through the Turban, the Tarboush or the Quba’a. But how long will the American experiment last this time? How much are the people willing to pay?
One final question remains, regardless of America’s pragmatic thinking: Will the arrival of the Brotherhood to power in the Islamic world curb the dynamism and fanaticism of religious groups, or will they be let loose in a dangerous fundamentalist “arms race”? This is a pertinent question against the backdrop of what is happening in Tunisia, Gaza and Egypt these days.

Mass burials after Syria slaughter
August 27, 2012/Agencies
AMMAN/BEIRUT/CAIRO: Dozens of bloodied bodies were buried Sunday in mass graves in a Damascus suburb where activists claim more than 300 people have been killed over the past week in a major government offensive to take back control of rebel-held areas in and around the capital. The British-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 32 more dead bodies were found in the streets of Daraya Sunday and that they had been killed by “gunfire and summary executions.” Among them were three women and two children, the group added. It put the toll for the past week at at least 320.
Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, claimed 300 bodies were discovered Saturday in Daraya and 633 people have been killed there since the government launched its assault last week. It was impossible to independently verify the conflicting death tolls in Daraya due to restrictions on media coverage of the conflict. However, activists and residents have reported excessive use of force by the regime in major battles, with indiscriminate shelling from the ground and the air.
The Local Coordination Committees said some of those killed by regime forces in Daraya had been buried in mass graves Sunday. Video footage posted by the group showed bloodied bodies wrapped in blankets lying next to each other with branches of date palms strewn over them.
Another video posted on the Internet and dated Saturday showed dozens of bodies on the floor of a mosque in Daraya. Most of the bodies were bloodied and wrapped in blankets. The anonymous commentator said there were at least 150 bodies there and blamed a pro-government militiamen for the killings. The authenticity of the two videos could not be independently confirmed.
The Local Coordination Committees said an additional 1,755 people had been detained in Daraya, suggesting that hundreds more might turn up dead.
Troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships stormed Daraya Thursday after intense shelling and fighting that lasted days.
The battle for Daraya showed the regime to be struggling to control Damascus and its suburbs though the firepower available to it is far superior to anything the rebels might have. Government forces are stretched thin, with a major ongoing battle for control of the nation’s largest city, Aleppo in the north, as well as smaller scale operations in the east and south.
President Bashar Assad, in comments carried by state media, reiterated his long-standing claim that a foreign plot was behind the uprising against his rule and said he would not allow it to succeed “whatever the price might be.”
Meanwhile, Britain’s minister for Middle East affairs, Alistair Burt, said if confirmed, the massacre “would be an atrocity on a new scale requiring unequivocal condemnation from the entire international community.” He added that it “highlights the urgent need for international action to bring an end to the violence, end this culture of impunity and hold to account those responsible for these terrible acts.”
Burt said he had discussed the killings with U.N. and new Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi.
Brahimi, who takes over from Kofi Annan next month, said Friday he was “scared” of the enormity of the task he faces to try to end what he describes as civil war.
Syria warned Brahimi Sunday not to follow the same path as Annan, with Ath-Thawra accusing the former U.N. chief who quit this month after the failure of his peace plan of “bowing to U.S. and Western pressure.” Diplomatic efforts to stop the violence in Syria are stalled by a stalemate dividing Western countries, Gulf Arab states and Turkey – which all support the opposition – and Iran, Russia and China – which support Assad. Egypt is seeking to arrange a four-way meeting with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran, the main regional players in the conflict. Iran is Assad’s main backer, while Saudi Arabia is believed to be supplying weapons to the rebels.
Iran accuses its foes in the West and the Arab world of fueling the conflict by backing the opposition. Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian welcomed Egypt’s initiative. “Iran has its own views about the political process in Syria and will put forth these views upon the formation of this committee,” he said. “We see any foreign intervention, terrorist actions and armed movements [as] against the wishes of the people of Syria.” The Iranian parliamentary delegation that met with Assad Sunday also visited Vice-President Farouq al-Sharaa. It was Sharaa’s first public appearance in weeks, quashing activist rumors that he had defected to the opposition.
Elsewhere Sunday, regime forces used helicopter gunships and tanks to pound rebel-held areas in Aleppo and the southern town of Deraa along the Jordanian border. The Observatory said it had reports of fatalities, but not exact numbers.
Activists say more than 20,000 people have died in 17 months of fighting in Syria, as an uprising that started with peaceful protests has morphed into a civil war.
In neighboring Jordan, officials say the country is bracing for a mass exodus of Syrians in the wake of intensified fighting. Jordan appealed for increased international assistance for 160,000 Syrian refugees it is hosting. Information Minister Sameeh Maaytah said the refugee influx had swelled even further, with more than 2,300 Syrians crossing into Jordan Friday – the largest arrival in a single day since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising in March 2011. “The number of refugees is growing and our limited resources are thinning,” Maaytah said. “The international community should come to the aid of the Syrian refugees.”
Jordanian police spokesman Col. Mohammed Khatib said a Syrian rocket fell in the northern border town of Ramtha late Saturday, but no injuries were reported. It was the seventh rocket to fall in Jordan in five days, underlining the intensity of the army assault on southern Syrian towns such as Deraa, the birthplace of the uprising against Assad.
A police statement said 200 Syrian refugees had pelted stones on Jordanian security personnel guarding their desert camp late Saturday, wounding several policemen. The refugees were protesting poor camp conditions.