LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 07/2012

Bible Quotation for today/Worthless Salt and The Lost Sheep
Luke 14/34-35: "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, there is no way to make it salty again. It is no good for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown away. Listen, then, if you have ears!/Luke 15/01-07: "One day when many tax collectors and other outcasts came to listen to Jesus, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law started grumbling, This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them! So Jesus told them this parable: Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them—what do you do? You leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it. When you find it, you are so happy that you put it on your shoulders and carry it back home. Then you call your friends and neighbors together and say to them, I am so happy I found my lost sheep. Let us celebrate! In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent.
 

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Horror is hereditary in Syria/By Tariq Alhomayed/February 06/12
Raising the stakes on Iran/By: Alex Fishman/February 06/12

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for February 06/12
Obama still tries to stop Israeli Iran strike. West confronts Iran in Syria
Activists: Syrian troops pound Homs neighborhoods
Obama: Israel, U.S. will work in lockstep against Iran nukes
Obama: Israel hasn't made decision on Iran
Iran vows to hit any country that stages attack
Israel's Netanyahu to visit U.S. next month
West seeks world coalition on Syria
Israel's Vice PM: Fall of Assad could weaken Mideast 'axis of evil'
Outrage as Russia, China veto UN move on Syria
West seeks world coalition on Syria
Tunisia, Yemen's Karman: cut ties with Syria
US should mull arming Syria rebels: senator
Canada slams UN 'paralysis' on Syria
Iran Hails Russian, Chinese Veto on Syria
Israel sees renewed Hamas activity in West Bank
Egypt protesters take on police for fourth day
Future Movement, PSP to jointly commemorate Hariri assassination
Lebanese army searches for armed groups on border: report  
Mikati: No Cabinet sessions until they can become productive
MP, Khalid Daher: Lebanese troops search for ‘terrorists’ on Syria border
Pro- and Anti-Russia Demonstrations Held in Beirut
Lebanese politicians are in a coma: Rai
PSP, Future: Hariri’s killing transcends politics

Obama still tries to stop Israeli Iran strike. West confronts Iran in Syria
DEBKAfile Special Report/ February 6, 2012/
, US President Barack Obama, by asserting Sunday, Feb. 5, he doesn't think Israel has made a decision on whether to attack Iran, indicated he preferred to keep Israel back from military action and set aside as a strategic reserve, while at the same time using the broad presumption of Jerusalem's assault plans to intimidate Iran into opting for diplomatic talks on its nuclear program.
To this end, the president directly contradicted Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's statement six days earlier that he expected Israel to strike Iran in April, May or June.
In Israel, no knowledgeable source any longer doubts that the Netanyahu government has already reached a decision. It was instantly assumed that Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, whose appointment as the next Israeli Air Force commander was announced Sunday, would lead the coming operation against Iran.
Obama also said, "We are going to be sure we work in lockstep as we proceed to try to solve this – hopefully diplomatically." debkafile's analysts report that by "lockstep" he meant the role to which he had assigned Israel in the massive disinformation contest underway between the West and Iran.
Tehran responded to this verbal assault with one of its own, publishing a paper which suggested for the first time that Iran would not wait to be attacked but was preparing pre-emptive action of its own against Israel. The paper spoke of a surprise missile offensive targeting Israel's military installations, which were said to be concentrated between Kiryat Gat and the South, and the central Lod-Modiin district in the center, which Iran considers to be the soft urban-military belly of Israel.
Two features stood out from the verbiage of the last 24 hours:
1. Iran has no intention whatsoever of abandoning its drive for a nuclear bomb. According to the information in Israeli hands, its program has passed the point of no return and capable of producing a weapon whenever its rulers so decide. This situation, American and Israeli leaders year after year had vowed to avert.
Iran underscored its negative on diplomacy by contemptuously refusing the IAEA inspectors visiting the country this week access to any of its nuclear facilities.
2. The US-led confrontation against Iran by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar has made Syria a major hub of the conflict, especially since the Russian-Chinese blockage Saturday of their UN Security Council motion to remove President Bashar Assad and end his brutal crackdown.
Israel has no role in this clash of wills, and President Obama is doing his best to keep Israel on the sidelines of the Iran controversy too, while he continues to angle for nuclear dialogue.
He was supported in this course by the veteran ex-diplomat Thomas R. Pickering who wrote in the New York Times on Feb. 2 that US relations with Iran remind him of the old Afghan adage: "If you deal in camels, make sure the doors are high" – meaning that to strike a deal, both President Obama and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would have to make concessions.
Obama's latest words indicate he is willing; Khamenei shows the opposite tendency.
Israel could if it so decided upset this unequal diplomatic applecart before it started rolling by a surprise attack on Iran without prior notice to Washington.
For the Obama administration the Security Council defeat was a major policy setback on top of reversals in Cairo.
Tehran in contrast was buoyed up by what it saw as the lifebelt Moscow and Beijing cast to rescue the Assad regime, for now at least, from the onslaught of its enemies and the stabilization of their Mediterranean flank to the west and direct front against Israel.
The Syrian ruler's fall would rob Tehran of its most powerful military ally for taking on Israel without direct Iranian involvement. It would also cause the Lebanese Hizballah's disempowerment as a military force. Severance of its geographic link to Tehran via Syria would expose the Shiite militia to Western and Arab diplomatic pressure and an Israeli attack.
Sunday, Feb. 5, Tehran followed up with a large-scale, three-week long military exercise in southern Iran opposite the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Ocean. The Iranians were showing Washington that after stabilizing their Syrian front, they were braced for any military surprises the US or Israeli might spring on their most vulnerable region.
Monday, Feb. 6, opposition sources reported that the Syrian army had redoubled its deadly artillery and mortar offensive against Homs and, for the first time, bombarded the national financial and business capital of Aleppo. French sources reported Syrian armored cars were attacking Zabadani between Damascus and the Lebanese border.
If all these reports are confirmed, it would mean that Bashar Assad is taking ruthless advantage of the respite granted him by the Russian and Chinese Security Council veto to stamp out the uprising against him once and for all.
On the diplomatic front Monday, the US-led Western and Arab camp was reported to be pushing hard for the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Internal Security chief Mikhail Fradkov to use their visit to Damascus Tuesday and compel Assad to abandon his brutal attacks, pull his troops out of Syrian towns and step down.
To this end, the Western-Arab bloc is trying to set up another Council session before the end of the week – hopefully to reverse its contretemps of Saturday.
The Six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers meet in Riyadh this week for another round of consultations on the Syrian crisis after the Security Council fiasco and failed attempt to deploy monitors in the war-stricken country.
The West is also threatening to supply the rebels with heavy weaponry, at the risk of an escalation to full-scale civil war. This is an indirect admission that only light arms were given the anti-Assad forces until now. By boosting rebel strength, the West would tell Moscow that tolerance for the Assad regime to continue to rule Syria had dropped to zero.
The Russians are being called upon to back away from their support for Assad and reverse the policy which actuated their veto vote at the Security Council. Whether or not this is realistic will become known as the week unfolds.
 

Obama: Israel hasn't made decision on Iran
Reuters Published: 02.06.12/Ynetnews
US president says Israel has yet to decide on course of action against Iranian nuclear program; adds there is no evidence Iran has 'intentions or capabilities' to attack on American soil . President Barack Obama said on Sunday that Israel has not yet decided how to respond to concerns about Iran's nuclear program and said there was no evidence that Iran has the "intentions or capabilities" to wage attacks on US soil. Asked in an NBC interview whether Israel was set to attack Iran, Obama said: "I don't think that Israel has made a decision on what they need to do. I think they, like us, believe that Iran has to stand down on its nuclear weapons program," adding Israel and the United States would work "in lockstep" on Iran. Obama, who is up for re-election in November, has ended the US war in Iraq and is seeking to wind down combat in Afghanistan amid growing public discontent about American war spending at a time when the economy remains weak.
'Diplomatic solution preferred'
The Democrat made clear on Sunday that he would not like to see more fighting in the oil-producing Persian Gulf region.
"Any kind of additional military activity inside the Gulf is disruptive and has a big effect on us. It could have a big effect on oil prices, we've still got troops in Afghanistan, which borders Iran, and so our preferred solution here is diplomatic," he said.
Republican Mitt Romney, the top contender to oppose Obama in the Nov. 6 presidential election, said he would start his presidency by imposing "far tougher" sanctions on Iran and back up American diplomacy with "a very credible military option."
Tehran says its nuclear program is meant to produce energy, not weapons, but has not responded to the latest Western overtures for talks and has threatened to retaliate against US and European sanctions affecting its finances and oil sales. In the NBC interview, Obama stressed he was not taking any options off the table to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power. "We're going to do everything we can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and creating an arms race - a nuclear arms race - in a volatile region," he said.


Obama: Israel, U.S. will work in lockstep against Iran nukes
February 06, 2012 /Daily Star/WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said the U.S. will work in “lockstep” with Israel to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power, adding that he hopes that the crisis will be resolved diplomatically.Obama told NBC television in an interview from the White House Sunday that Israel is “rightly” very concerned about Iran’s nuclear program. He said both Israel and the U.S. “believe that Iran has to stand down.”Last week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wouldn’t dispute a report that he believes Israel may attack Iran this spring in an attempt to set back the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. When asked about a potential attack by Iran on the U.S., Obama said, “We don’t see any evidence that they have those intentions or capabilities right now.”The U.S. president also said he deserves second term despite the nation’s economic woes. Obama said in a pre-Super Bowl interview on NBC that his administration is creating more than 250,000 jobs a month, the most since 2005, and a reversal from the 750,000 jobs the economy was losing three years ago.He said American manufacturing still needs a boost and “We have got to make sure we are pushing American energy, not just oil and gas, but clean energy.”Obama added that the country needed to return to “old-fashioned American values,” so “everyone gets a fair shake.”
Three years ago, Obama said if the economy hadn’t turned around by this time, his presidency would be “a one-term proposition.”

Iran vows to hit any country that stages attack
Associated Press/Ynetnews
Revolutionary Guard senior official says Islamic Republic will target 'any place where enemy offensive operations against Iran originate' . Iran will target any country where an attack against it is staged, a senior Guard commander warned Sunday, the latest Iranian threat tied to growing tensions over its nuclear program and Western sanctions. Gen. Hossein Salami, deputy commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard, Iran's most powerful military force, did not elaborate. His comments appeared to be a warning to Iran's neighbors not to let their territory or airspace be used as a base for an attack. "Any place where enemy offensive operations against the Islamic Republic of Iran originate will be the target of a reciprocal attack by the Guard's fighting units," the semiofficial Fars news agency quoted Salami as saying. The Revolutionary Guard started maneuvers in the country's south on Saturday, following naval exercises near the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil export route, additional muscle flexing by Iran to ward off the prospect of a military strike against its nuclear facilities. Iran has threatened to close off the strait if Western sanctions limit Iranian oil exports.
The US and its Western allies charge Iran is producing atomic weapons. Iran says its program is meant to produce fuel for future nuclear power reactors and medical radioisotopes needed for cancer patients.

Activists: Syrian troops pound Homs neighborhoods
06/02/2012/BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian troops shelled neighborhoods in the restive city of Homs on Monday, striking a makeshift medical clinic and residential areas in an assault that killed at least 12 people, activists said.The bloodshed came one day after President Bashar Assad's government vowed to continue its crackdown on a nearly 11-month-old uprising that has become one of the deadliest of the Arab Spring. The activist reports could not be independently confirmed.
Homs — which many refer to as "the capital of the Syrian revolution — has become a flashpoint of the uprising against Assad. Several neighborhoods in the city, such as Baba Amr, are under the control of rebel army defectors.
On Saturday, Syrian forces killed up to 200 people in Homs — the highest death toll reported for a single day in the uprising — according to several rights groups.
The Local Coordination Committees activist group said the latest bombardment Monday hit a makeshift clinic in the tense neighborhood of Baba Amr, causing casualties. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 12 people were killed across the city.
Omar Shaker, an activist in Baba Amr, said a paramedic was wounded in the shelling of the clinic and two people who were standing outside died instantly. He added that many volunteers at the hospital were wounded as well as people receiving treatment.
"As of 6:30 this morning the shelling intensified with a rate of one shell every two minutes," the man said.
Syria's state-run TV denied government forces were besieging the area, saying activists in the city were setting tires on fire to make it appear as if there was a bombardment.
Syria has banned independent reporting and largely sealed off trouble spots, making it difficult to confirm accounts from either side.
Activists say they fear that the Saturday decision by Russia and China to block a U.N Security Council resolution on Syria will embolden Assad's regime. Some fear that Syria's turmoil will move into even a more dangerous new phase that could degenerate into outright civil war.
On Sunday, the commander of rebel soldiers said force was now the only way to oust Assad, while the regime vowed to press its military crackdown to bring back stability to the country.
"We did not sleep all night," Majd Amer, another activist in Homs, said by telephone. Explosions could be heard in the background. "The regime is committing organized crimes."
Amer said shelling of his neighborhood of Khaldiyeh started at 3 a.m., and most residents living on high floors either fled to shelters or to lower floors. He said electricity was also cut.
Homs has been an epicenter of Syria's uprising. Monday's violence came two days after another heavy bombardment of the city.
Activists said more than 200 people died in a single day. The regime denied any bombardment, and there was no way to independently confirm the toll.

Horror is hereditary in Syria
By Tariq Alhomayed
http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=2&id=28384
Asharq Al-Awsat,
How right the French Ambassador to the United Nations was when he said: “Horror is hereditary in Damascus”. Ambassador Gerard Araud said: “The father killed en masse, the son is doing the same”. But the question here is: Will the Arabs be silent about the crimes of Bashar al-Assad, as they were with the crimes of his father?
The strength of the al-Assad regime, for both father and son, does not stem from its capabilities, but rather from growing accustomed to impunity from punishments and consequences. The al-Assad leaders, both father and son, have not paid one serious price during their reign, whether in Lebanon, past and present, or even in Iraq. The al-Assad regime has not just harmed Syria alone, but rather the entire region over forty years, sometimes through sectarianism, other times through intimidation, not to mention its violence and extortion. Yesterday, the British newspaper “The Sunday Telegraph” revealed that in the past week, the Bashar al-Assad regime has released the prisoner Abu Musab al-Suri, the “mastermind” behind the July 7th London bombings. This means, simply, that the al-Assad regime is returning to the game it knows well; using terrorism and terrorists!
The al-Assad regime is used to exploiting the ethics of its opponents, sometimes even appearing to defend their rights or aid the oppressed. However, with the occurrence of thousands of dead Syrians, and the process of systematic intimidation carried out by al-Assad’s forces, and the tyrant’s lawyers resorting to the Security Council, imploring Russia and China to use their veto power, the Arabs today must stay away from the usual jaded Arab recipes, especially as it has been proven that the al-Assad regime is dishonest and beyond repair. Merely talking about reform today is a waste of time; therefore the Arabs must now work towards ensuring the success of the new French initiative, announced by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday evening, when he said: “France is not giving up”. He revealed that Paris “was in touch with Arab and European partners to create a "Friends of the Syrian People Group" that would marshal international support to implement the Arab League plan”.
But this step alone is insufficient, although it is something we have called for again and again. The first task of the “Friends of the Syrian People Group” should be to recognize the Syrian National Council, and provide it with all kinds of support. It should also be its mission to provide safe corridors for citizens and a weapons-free zone, which can be achieved by forming a so-called “coalition of willing Arab countries”, along with the international community; Europe and America. These countries, especially the Arab ones, must seek to expel the tyrant of Damascus’s ambassadors from their territory, a move which is long overdue and is more important now than ever. The al-Assad regime is beyond hope, whatever Moscow says, and even if Russia sent its Minister of Foreign Affairs and Head of Intelligence to convince al-Assad of the need to reform.
I will summarize by saying: support for the French initiative – and specifically for the Friends of the Syrian People Group – is now inevitable, especially as it has been proven that horror is hereditary in Damascus.


West seeks world coalition on Syria
February 06/12/Daily Star/BEIRUT: The United States proposed an international coalition to support Syria’s opposition Sunday after Russia and China blocked a U.N. attempt to end nearly 11 months of bloodshed, raising fears that violence will escalate. Rebel soldiers said force was now the only way to oust President Bashar Assad, while the regime vowed to press its military crackdown.The threat of both sides turning to greater force after Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution raises the potential for Syria’s turmoil to move into even a more dangerous new phase that could degenerate into outright civil war.
The uprising inspired by other Arab Spring revolts began in March with peaceful protests against Assad, sparking a fierce crackdown by government forces. Soldiers who defected to join the uprising later began to protect protesters from attacks. In recent months the rebel soldiers, known as the Free Syrian Army have grown bolder, attacking government troops and trying establish control in pro-opposition areas. That has brought a heavier government response.
Well over 5,400 people have been killed since March, according to the U.N., and now regime opponents fear that Assad will be emboldened by the feeling he is protected by his top ally Moscow and unleash even greater violence to crush protesters. If the opposition turns overtly to armed resistance, the result could be a dramatic increase in bloodshed.
At least 56 people were killed in violence across Syria Sunday, half of them civilians, a rights group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 23 civilians were killed in the flashpoint province of Homs, central Syria, two in Daraya near the capital and three in Idlib, in the northwest of the country.
The Britain-based group, in a statement received in Nicosia, reported 14 military deaths in Idlib, seven in Homs, four in the southern province of Daraa and three in Zabadani near Damascus.
The commander of the Free Syrian Army told the Associated Press that after the vetoes at the U.N., “there is no other road” except military action to topple Assad.
“We consider that Syria is occupied by a criminal gang and we must liberate it from this gang,” Col. Riad al-Asaad said, speaking by telephone from Turkey. “This regime does not understand the language of politics, it only understands the language of force.”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned that chances for “a brutal civil war” would increase as Syrians under attack from their government move to defend themselves, unless international steps provide another way.
Speaking to reporters in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, she called the double veto at the U.N. Security Council Saturday “a travesty.”
“Faced with a neutered Security Council, we have to redouble our efforts outside of the United Nations,” she said, calling for “friends of democratic Syria” to unite “support the Syrian people’s right to have a better future.”
The call points to the formation of a formal group of like-minded nations to coordinate aid to the Syrian opposition, similar but not identical to the Contact Group on Libya, which oversaw international help for opponents of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. In the case of Libya, the group also coordinated NATO military operations to protect Libyan civilians, something that is not envisioned in Syria.
U.S. officials said an alliance would work to further squeeze the Assad regime by stepping up sanctions against it, bringing disparate Syrian opposition groups inside and outside the country together, providing humanitarian relief for embattled Syrian communities and working to prevent an escalation of violence by monitoring arms sales.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Sunday Europe will strengthen sanctions against Damascus to increase pressure on Assad.
Juppe also said that France would “help the Syrian opposition to structure and organize itself” and would be working to create an international group on Syria. President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed the creation of a “group of friends” of the Syrian people. Juppe said Sarkozy “will take steps in the coming days to try to bring together all those who consider the current situation [in Syria] absolutely intolerable.”The main Syrian opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Council, backed the idea.
Radwan Ziadeh, a prominent figure in the SNC, wrote on his Facebook page that friendly countries should form an “international coalition ... whose aim will be to lead international moves to support the revolution through political and economic aid.”
A deeply sensitive question is whether such a coalition would back the Free Syrian Army. There appears to be deep hesitation among Western countries, fearing further militarization of the conflict. Omar Idlibi, an activist with the Syrian National Council, said action by a “friends coalition” to increase sanctions and other steps would boost peaceful opposition through protests.
But, he said, it should also include support to the FSA, which he said would prevent civilians from taking up arms, worsening the conflict.
The FSA, he said, “is a national Syrian army and as the regime has the right to get help from its Russian and Iranian allies, it is the right of the opposition to ask for help from its friends in enabling the Syrian people to achieve change.” The FSA, based out of neighboring Turkey, is believed to number several thousand soldiers and it almost daily announces claims of groups of soldiers joining its ranks that cannot be confirmed. It is heavily outgunned by the powerful regime military, which still has the power to conduct focused operations that can drive the rebels out of any areas they gain control of.
But the military cannot cover everywhere at once, and FSA troops appear to be proving effective at hit-and-run attacks and have put up staunch resistance in assaults on opposition-dominated urban areas.
Early Saturday, government forces bombarded the restive central city of Homs, apparently in response to FSA attacks. Activists said the bombardment was the deadliest incident of the uprising, killing more than 200 people in a single day.
Idlibi told The Daily Star Sunday that the opposition Local Coordination Committees has so far identified 181 bodies as victims of the Homs shelling, adding that efforts are ongoing to identify more bodies.
“In the very beginning, we were only able to identify 39 bodies. The security forces have managed to take away many corpses from hospitals, and activists on the ground are still trying to come up with an accurate body count,” Idlibi said. “The last figure that we circulated to the media today is 181, but we are sure there are more deaths.”The regime denied any bombardment and there was no way to independently confirm the toll.

Outrage as Russia, China veto UN move on Syria
05/02/2012/DAMASCUS, (AFP) - Russia and China blocked a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria for its crackdown on protests, amid growing outrage Sunday at a “massacre” in the protest city of Homs and a spiralling death toll.
The double vetoes on Saturday drew swift condemnation from world powers while the opposition Syrian National Council said it gave the regime of President Bashar al-Assad a “licence to kill.”On the ground, activists on Sunday reported another 57 people killed in Syria, adding to the body count of one of the bloodiest weekends since the uprising against Assad’s regime erupted almost 11 months ago.
Activists and residents had reported more than 200 civilian deaths, including women and children, overnight Friday during a massive assault by regime forces in the central flashpoint of Homs.
The surge of violence coupled with the second UN veto in four months triggered a wave of international outrage at the failure to reach a common stand at the United Nations.
Washington said it was “disgusted” with the rare double veto and France denounced Friday’s massacre in the city of Homs as a “crime against humanity.”Assad’s troops shelled Homs “randomly” during the night, killing men, women and children, the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) said.
It said at least 260 civilians were killed in the onslaught. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said about 100 women and children were among the 237 dead in its toll. Both said hundreds more were wounded.
The Assad regime “committed one of the most horrific massacres since the beginning of the uprising in Syria,” the SNC said. Opposition groups say more than 6,000 people have now been killed in the country since last March.
Dozens of bodies and scenes of chaos could be seen in video images shown by the Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya television channels.
Church bells rang out and Muslim prayers were recited in Homs mosques for those killed, activists said. Thousands took part in funeral processions across the city on Saturday.
The authenticity of the figures and videos are difficult to independently confirm because of reporting restrictions imposed on the foreign media.
US President Barack Obama denounced the “unspeakable assault” and demanded that Assad step down. “Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now. He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately,” Obama said in a statement.
The Syrian government denied responsibility for the deaths, blaming them on opposition rebels seeking to influence Security Council debate on Syria. But Russia and China used their diplomatic muscle for the second time in four months to block a resolution condemning the violence.
The other 13 countries in the 15-member council voted for the resolution, proposed by European and Arab nations to give strong backing to an Arab League plan to end the crackdown.
Russia and China “remain steadfast in their willingness to sell out the Syrian people and shield a craven tyrant,” US ambassador Susan Rice told the council. Britain is “appalled” at the veto, said its UN ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy “strongly deplores” the veto by Russia and China, his office said.
Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin justified the veto by saying the proposed resolution “sent an unbalanced signal to the Syrian parties.”
His Chinese counterpart Li Baodong said pushing through such “a vote when parties are still seriously divided... will not help maintain the unity and authority of the Security Council, or help resolve the issue.”Western envoys said they had bent over backwards to change the text after Russia had balked at any resolution that could be used to justify foreign military intervention, called for Assad to quit or imposed an arms embargo on Syria.
The umbrella Syrian National Council said in a statement that “Syrians and others around the world” had looked to the Security Council to issue a strongly worded resolution.
“The SNC holds both governments accountable for the escalation of killings and genocide, and considers this irresponsible step a licence for the Syrian regime to kill without being held accountable,” it said. As news of the Homs killing spread, protesters stormed Syrian embassies in Athens, Berlin, Cairo, Kuwait, London and Sydney. Tunisia said it was expelling Syria’s ambassador and withdrawing its recognition of the Assad government.
On Sunday, Tunis urged other Arab nations to follow its lead.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, meanwhile, on Sunday reported 57 more people killed in Syria, including 27 soldiers and six armed rebels. Among the dead were 12 civilians killed Saturday when security forces opened fire in the Damascus suburb of Daraya on mourners attending funerals of people killed the previous day, the Britain-based rights watchdog said.
It said nine Syrian soldiers died and 21 were wounded in clashes overnight with armed rebels at Jebel Al-Zawiya in Idlib province, which borders Turkey. The Turkey-based Free Syrian Army, which comprises army deserters and armed volunteers, regularly attacks the security forces in a bid to halt their brutal crackdown on dissent which rights groups say has killed more than 6,000 people since mid-March.

Israel's Netanyahu to visit U.S. next month
By Jeffrey HellerظJERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Washington next month, his office said Sunday, amid heightened speculation that Israel might attack Iranian nuclear facilities despite U.S. reservations. Netanyahu is to address the annual policy conference of the influential pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, which will be held in the U.S. capital on March 4-6, an official statement said. It did not say whether he would hold talks with U.S. President Barack Obama but Israeli political sources said a meeting was likely during the visit.
There was also no official word on whether Netanyahu would see any Republican presidential hopefuls, some of whom have accused Obama of a lack of commitment to Israel's security, an allegation White House officials deny.U.S. and European officials have said the Obama administration is increasingly concerned about Israeli leaders' recent strong public comments on Iran's atomic ambitions and a lack of information from Israel about its plans. Netanyahu and Obama, who have had a frosty relationship, last held face-to-face talks in September on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
Israeli political commentators have speculated that Netanyahu could opt for bold moves on Iran, believing that Obama would be reluctant to oppose him for fear of angering pro-Israel voters as the U.S. November election nears. But an Israeli attack could also have serious consequences for the U.S. economy, and Obama's re-election prospects, should Iran retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz and choking off oil shipments. Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak cautioned publicly that Tehran's nuclear program was reaching "the immunity stage" where atomic facilities would be sheltered against any effective military attack. "Those who say 'later' may find that later is too late," Barak said, an indirect reference to the prevailing view in Washington that strengthened international sanctions against Iran should be given sufficient time to work. Fuelling the debate, David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist, reported that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believed there was a "strong likelihood" Israel would attack Iranian nuclear installations within the next six months, as early as April.
In an attempt to mute some of the rhetoric that has alarmed Washington, Netanyahu, with reporters present, told cabinet ministers from his Likud party at a meeting on Sunday: "I ask you not to comment on the Iranian issue, neither publicly nor on background."Also Sunday, Amir Eshel, a general who has cautioned publicly that Israel could not deal a knock-out blow to its enemies, including Iran, in any regional conflict was named chief of Israel's air force.
In his role as the country's top military planner, Eshel declined to answer reporters directly last month when asked about the possibility of such an attack, which could spark a broader conflict.
"We have the ability to hit very, very hard, any adversary," he said, but added that people often have "romantic views about knock-outs, like in boxing. One of the sides is lying on the ground, you count to ten and that's it. This is not the case anymore. This won't be the case."Iran has vowed to hit back at any country involved in a strike against its territory. And in that case its allies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip would be likely to open fronts against Israel, as well. Netanyahu has called a nuclear-armed Iran an existential threat against Israel. Along with the United States, he has said all options are open in preventing Tehran from building atomic weapons.
Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes.
(Additional reporting by Dan Williams and Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Canada slams UN 'paralysis' on Syria
CBC –Canada is "disappointed in the extreme" by the UN Security Council's "paralysis" after Russia and China vetoed a resolution calling for Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down.
“Today's failure by the UN Security Council to effectively deal with the crisis in Syria is yet another free pass for the illegitimate Assad regime and those backing it," Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a statement issued from Tel-Aviv on Saturday.
"Canada is disappointed in the extreme."
Baird said the UN's "paralysis of power is particularly deplorable given the reported upsurge in violence overnight in Homs, which we condemn without reservation."
"Those attempting to cling to power in Syria are morally bankrupt, and their disregard for human life is surpassed only by their cynicism for doing what is just and right.
The New Democrats also weighed in, calling on the federal government to "immediately recall" Canada's ambassador from Syria but also to apply diplomatic intervention.
"We call on the Canadian government to immediately exert diplomatic pressure on China and particularly Russia in order to secure a UN resolution on the crisis," said NDP foreign affairs critic Hélène Laverdière in a written statement Saturday.
The decision by two of the Security Council's permanent members to veto the resolution comes ahead of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's second trip to China, set for next week.Baird, who is currently in Israel as part of a Middle East trip but will be travelling to China with Harper on Monday, said Canada continues to support the efforts of Syria's neighbours and others to resolve the current crisis.
"History will judge those whose obstruction serves only to prolong this senseless violence," said Baird.
"Canada will stand with the people of Syria in their efforts to achieve for themselves a brighter future for all Syrians."
Liberal foreign affairs critic Dominic Leblanc said the Liberals "deplore" the decision by Russia and China "to stand in the way" of ending the violence in Syria.
"We must do what we can to help bring about a peaceful political transition," Leblanc said in a written statement on Saturday.
Canadians outraged at the escalating violence in Syria held protests in various cities across Canada on Saturday.
The president of the Syrian-Canadian Council, Osama Kadi, told CBC News he was "really puzzled" by Russia and China's decision to veto the deal.
The massacre in Syria "didn't move the hearts of the Chinese and Russian," he said. "We will never lose hope."
But after "almost five decades of dictatorship [in Syria], enough is enough," Kadi said outside Old City Hall in Toronto, where dozens of Syrian-Canadians gathered to protest.
About 40 demonstrators gathered at the Syrian Embassy in Ottawa Saturday morning, calling on the international community to put an end to the violence in Syria.
Overnight Friday, vandals splashed red paint on the embassy's fence and facade. The RCMP is investigating.
Syrian embassies in six other countries were also vandalized overnight.

Raising the stakes on Iran
Alex Fishman/ 02.05.12/Ynetnews
Op-ed: Israel, America trying to make Iranians sweat by resorting to more intense military threats. Israel and the United States, apparently acting in coordination with each other, raised the stakes at the regional poker table over the weekend.
Pentagon officials said that Israel has already started the countdown ahead of a military strike. American television contributed its part to reinforcing the above assessment by providing a description of the manner in which Israel is expected to strike Iran’s nuclear sites. It was a simple and logical operational account, Hollywood-style. It was so convincing in its simplicity that all that’s left was to ask when the show will get on the road. Meanwhile, Israel contributed the Herzliya Conference, with a variety of statements that hinted: Don’t mess with us. We know what needs to be done, and if necessary we’ll do it. As opposed to what may appear around here, the Iranians got the message, yet they have not yet started to sweat. They too raised the stakes.
Supreme leader Khamenei reminded us that Iran assists every global party that fights against Israel. In order words, you’re going to hurt us? Not only Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas will operate against you; every terror group we fund worldwide, ranging from South America to the Far East, will give you no rest. Now, the ball is back in the Israeli-American court. If the military threats don’t deter Iran, what should be done until the sanctions start affecting Tehran? More threats? Pull out the claws?
The Cuba model
Former Air Force Chief, General (res.) Eitan Ben-Eliyahu, estimates in closed-door forums that the crisis vis-à-vis Iran is following the model of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. As was the case then, the current crisis has three sides to it.
Firstly, we have the sanctions on Iran (similar to the naval blockade on Cuba.) Secondly, we see military threats in the form of reinforced American deployment in the Persian Gulf (similar to the high alert called by the US ahead of a possible strike on Cuba.) Thirdly, the US and USSR maintained a secret dialogue channel in 1962 that ultimately allowed the Russians to get off their high horse. It’s unclear whether such channel exists today.
In line with this model, over the weekend both Israel and the US reinforced the military threats. During the Cuban crisis, the Russians treated the American threat as one that may materialize. The Iranians, even after the past weekend, are not there yet. During the Cuban crisis, there was the possibility of a global nuclear war in the immediate range. Nowadays we are talking about the chance of a regional, conventional and non-immediate clash. Moreover, today it is unclear who truly holds the reigns in handling the crisis. Under the Cuban model, there were two maim actors: President John Kenney and his brother, Robert Kenney. President Obama and Defense Secretary Panetta wish to play the role of the Kennedys in the Iranian crisis. However, they’re not alone: Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak are also interested in the role.
Meanwhile, the Americans are unwilling to let Israel lead the handling of the crisis. The US and Europe do not accept Israel’s thesis of “now or never.”
In March, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will determine whether Iran compiled with the demands presented to it. Should the new inspectors’ report, completed at the end of January, fail to satisfy IAEA chiefs, the way shall be paved for handing over the matter to the UN Security Council. A similar international atmosphere paved the way for the American attack on Iraq in 2003.
For Israel, the IAEA decision in March will be yet another stop in the decision-making process pertaining to the crisis. It is very likely that at that point, Israel will not only place declarations on the table, but rather, back them up with something more tangible.