LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 11/12

Bible Quotation for today/ be joyful in your union with the Lord
Philippians 04/04-07: "May you always be joyful in your union with the Lord. I say it again: rejoice! Show a gentle attitude toward everyone. The Lord is coming soon. Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart. And God's peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus."

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 10/12
Chemical warfare feared raising its head in the Syrian civil war
Church attacks kill at least 3 in Nigeria
Iran urges world powers to 'accept our demands
Netanyahu Links Iran and Hizbullah to Syria Massacres
Israel accuses Syria of genocide, urges intervention
Assad forces renew Homs assault
Syrian Opposition Group Elects New Leader, More Deaths Reported
Shabiha militiamen, tools of the Syria regime
Iran bans women from Euro 2012 screenings
U.S. "disappointed" by Iran-IAEA atom talks failure
Human Rights Watch slams Israel migrant law
London: Syria Resembles 1990s Bosnia
Iran Hits out at Saudi Arabia Says its Violating OPEC Quota
Tit-for-tat abductions near Lebanon-Syria border
Two Lebanese men kidnapped in North
Hizbullah Convinced of Having Defense Strategy Based on Cohesion
Jumblat Warns Current Situation Similar to 1982, Stresses Importance of Dialogue
Tripoli Ceasefire Disturbed by Sniper Activity
Arab League Leader Fears that Lebanon Would Go up in Flames
Al-Jadeed Reporter Ghadi Francis Beaten during SSNP Elections
Suleiman on Ghassan Tueni: He will be Missed at Dialogue Table
Gemayel: Current phase calls for communication

Chemical warfare feared raising its head in the Syrian civil war
DEBKAfile Special Report June 10, 2012/Tehran pumped out a report Early Sunday June 10 accusing Syrian rebels of arming themselves with chemical weapons originating in Libya and acquiring training in their use from an unknown source in their use. The report sent shudders of alarm through Western capitals and Israel and fears that Tehran and Damascus were preparing the ground for the Assad regime to resort to chemical warfare to finally crush its foes./Iran claimed, “Any report released on the Syrian Army’s alleged use of the chemical weapons is meant to pave the ground for the terrorists to use these weapons against the people and accuse the Syrian army and government of that crime.”
Three days earlier, on June 7, Syrian rebel sources charged that the Syrian air force planes had dropped poisonous substances over Deraa, Hama and Idlib which knocked people unconscious. This later proved unfounded. Western military sources watching Syria’s flashpoint areas warn that the fact that both sides of the conflict are now talking openly about chemical warfare attests to their seriously getting ready for this deadly escalation - and the ultimate game-changer. If they indeed go through with it, say sources Washington, European capitals, Riyadh and Jerusalem, US President Barack Obama cannot possibly stick to his refusal to take military steps in Syria and will have to step in with limited force to stop the escalating horror.
In that case, the US would almost certainly be joined by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and possibly other Arab nations. Official spokesmen in the West, Moscow and the UN are still warning that Syria is on the verge of civil war, refusing to admit that a sectarian war which they failed to avert is already fully fledged – certainly between Sunni Muslims and Assad’s Allawite minority.
The Christians are also involved because some members of that community occupy high-ranking positions in the military command. Defense minister Dawoud Rajiha, who manages government action against the revolt, is a Christian. The conflict is no longer clear-cut between the Syrian army and the various armed rebel groups. The al Houla massacre in the last week of May was a tragic turning-point: Armed groups of Alawites and Sunnis living in the same neighborhoods are now turning on each other. Their battles go largely unreported. One of the most disastrous episodes of this kind erupted last week between Sunni and Alawite neighbors in Latakia. Many parts of southern, eastern and northern Syria had consequently spiraled out of control of military and security forces. Western and Israeli military sources report that regional commanders and the general staff in Damascus have lost track of the violence plaguing those regions and more massacres on the scale of al-Houla and Al Qubeir are feared.
The rebel Syrian National Council’s choice of a Kurdish exile Abdel Basset Sayda Saturday as its new head is a bad omen: More than a step toward resolving the differences among the various factions and unifying ranks, the appointment brings the Kurdish community, one-fifth of the Syrian population, squarely into the revolt. Syrian Kurds have stayed out of it until now.
A major concern for Jerusalem was sparked by recent comments in Iranian Revolutionary Guards publications. Friday and Saturday, the official IRGC mouthpiece Mashregh quoted a warning by Brig. Gen. Massoud Jazaeri that in the event of any Western or Arab force interfering in Syria, Assad’s allies in the resistance “would ensure that aggressors do not survive the conflict. The Zionist regime and the interests of the enemies of Syria are all within range of resistance fire.”
Saturday night, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov underlined Moscow’s hard line on Syria: “Moscow would support the departure of President Bashar al-Assad, but only if Syrians agreed to it,” he stressed. He ruled out outside force and sanctions against the regime and proposed another international conference.
Moscow has now ranged itself solidly behind Assad and the pyramid that keeps him in power – family, Alawites and the top military echelon. Even if the ruler was himself ousted in a coup by his own army, the general who seized power could count on Russian backing. Syria endured another day of slaughter Saturday with the numbers of dead in double digits and the Red Cross warning that more than a million Syrians are in dire need of aid. The Syrian tragedy is more intractable than ever.

Tit-for-tat abductions near Lebanon-Syria border
June 10, 2012/Gunmen abducted four Syrian Alawites and a Shia man on Sunday along the border with Syria after a Sunni Lebanese was kidnapped in the same region, a security official and witnesses told AFP. The tit-for-tat abductions occurred in the Wadi Khaled border region between the two countries, where tensions have run high between supporters and opponents of the regime in Syria, the sources said. They said unidentified gunmen first kidnapped a Sunni Muslim Lebanese man in the village of Massoudiyeh, which has a large Alawite community, the same sect of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Afterwards gunmen abducted four Syrian Alawites in the Wadi Khaled region and later a Syrian Shia Muslim was also seized, the sources added. The Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shia Islam and represents only 12 percent of Syria's mostly Sunni population of 22 million people. Residents of the mostly Sunni region of Wadi Khaled blocked roads and burned tires to protest against the abduction of the Lebanese national. Several kidnappings of Lebanese and Syrians have recently occurred in Wadi Khaled, which hosts thousands of Syrian refugees who have fled repression in their country. The opposition Syrian National Council has repeatedly accused the Damascus regime of breaching the border with Lebanon and of launching attacks against Lebanese citizens and Syria refugees alike. Lebanon has also witnessed deadly sectarian violence over the past weeks, namely in the northern port city of Tripoli where supporters and opponents of the Syrian regime have clashed. -AFP/NOW Lebanon

Netanyahu Links Iran and Hizbullah to Syria Massacres
Naharnet /10 June 2012/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linked on Sunday the massacres in Syria to Iran and Hizbullah, accusing them of providing Syrian President Bashar Assad with assistance."It's not just the Syrian government. It is being aided by Iran and Hizbullah," Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet session about the massacre of hundreds of civilians in several towns in Syria.The world must recognize the axis of evil confronting the region: Iran, Syria and Hizbullah, he said. "This axis is rearing its ugly head," Netanyahu told the cabinet, "and the world must understand that this is the region we live in."Also on Sunday, a senior Israeli minister accused Assad of committing genocide in his crackdown on a 15-month uprising. Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz also criticized Russia for arming Damascus and repeated Israel's demand for international military intervention to topple Assad, akin to last year's campaign in Libya.

Hizbullah Convinced of Having Defense Strategy Based on Cohesion
Naharnet /10 June 2012/Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said Sunday that the party is convinced that Lebanon needs a national defense strategy based on cohesion, the strength of Lebanon and the unity of the army, people and the resistance. “We should be independent and free and not followers,” Qassem said, calling on the Lebanese to build their future without any foreign intervention.
“The defense strategy puts the weapons in their real place in defense of the country which guarantees that Lebanon becomes strong,” he said on the eve of the national dialogue that is scheduled to be held at Baabda palace under President Michel Suleiman. He hoped that the dialogue would “purify” strained ties between the different parties in the country so that the Lebanese could live in a united Lebanon.
According to Hizbullah’s deputy secretary-general, approval of a fair parliamentary law that would reproduce power according to the right representation is one of the pillars of state building.
“This can only be achieved through the proportionality law,” he stressed. The second pillar lies in preventing Lebanon from becoming a base or a route for others to serve their regional and international objectives, Qassem said. Protecting our country through the army-people-resistance equation is a third pillar to confront the Israeli occupation and its threats, he said.Qassem also called for serving the people through social and economic projects, the fourth pillar of state building.

Jumblat Warns Current Situation Similar to 1982, Stresses Importance of Dialogue
Naharnet /10 June 2012, 16:22
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat said on Sunday that the current phase in Lebanon brings to mind the threats of the 1982 Israeli occupation, calling for dialogue to regulate disputes peacefully. “We are in a dangerous phase that reminds me of the Israeli invasion in 1982,” Jumblat said, adding that “resolving local disagreements is our responsibility and we must regulate the disputes peacefully, instead of fighting like in Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.” The PSP leader warned that the continuous clashes between the two northern neighborhoods might expand to other areas.
“It is true that there are many disagreements among parties in Lebanon but we have to peacefully address these disagreements,” he added. The rival Tripoli neighborhoods have been gripped by frequent fighting, reflecting a split between Lebanon's parties where the March 14-led opposition backs the revolt in Syria while a ruling coalition led by Hizbullah supports the Damascus regime. Jumblat praised President Michel Suleiman’s call for resuming national dialogue, adding that Monday’s all-party talks will contribute to regulating disagreements away from violence. Suleiman called for the resumption of national dialogue to defuse mounting tension after deadly gun-battles raged between pro- and anti-Syrian regime supporters in Beirut and the northern city of Tripoli.

Arab League Leader Fears that Lebanon Would Go up in Flames
Naharnet/10 June 2012/,Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi expressed concern over the situation in Lebanon but stressed the body will not make an initiative to resolve the security incidents in the country as long as Lebanese officials haven’t asked for assistance. “Signs (that the situation) in Lebanon would ignite are very worrying,” al-Arabi told the Saudi Okaz daily in an interview published Sunday. “I hope that doesn’t happen.” “I believe that all Lebanese are aware of the dangers,” he said. “We haven’t been asked to do anything particular and I am always in contact with PM (Najib) Miqati and Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour,” al-Arabi added. Asked if he believed the situation would get worse after more than 12 people were killed in fighting between armed groups in Beirut and the northern city of Tripoli, he said: “We hope it doesn’t.” But al-Arabi stressed that the Arab League is in the service of its member states if they need any assistance in resolving a crisis. Asked if the League would make an initiative on its own, he reiterated that it doesn’t impose anything on the different Lebanese parties as long as they haven’t resorted to it for assistance. He also expressed trust in the “wise” government of Premier Najib Miqati that “is working to end the crisis as soon as possible.”

Iran urges world powers to 'accept our demands'
By Marc Burleigh | AFP –"The only path" for world powers holding talks with Iran on its nuclear activities is to accept Tehran's position, a top military representative for the country's supreme leader said on Sunday, according to the Mehr news agency. "Unfortunately, the P5+1 logic, especially that of America, is of bullying, which is in no way acceptable to our people and officials," said Ali Saeedi, a senior figure in Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards who acts as agent for supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The comments hardened a tone of defiance coming from Tehran ahead of a new round of fraught talks to take place in Moscow on June 18-19 between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group (the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China).
They also added to a sense of pessimism growing over a separate track of dialogue between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran about inspections following a fruitless meeting last Friday in Vienna. Saeedi accused the West of "pursuing its own aims that go beyond the (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) regulations and the agency, and which do not fall within the IAEA's remit."
He portrayed Iran's position in both tracks as "logical and rational" and sternly told the United States and its Western allies to adopt it.
"The only path in front of them is to accept Iran's demands in an atmosphere of mutual respect, and to stop politicising it (the nuclear issue)," Mehr quoted him as saying.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has accepted the IAEA's regulations and it is in the interest of the West to adhere to the agency's regulations," he said.
Other Iranian officials have underlined that Tehran is not budging from its view that the West should ease its punishing economic embargoes and accept Iran has a "right" to uranium enrichment as first steps in the negotiations. That insistence contrasts with the P5+1 group's equally stubborn bid to coax Iran into giving up its higher-level uranium enrichment and stocks in exchange for more modest incentives, such as airplane spare parts and the lifting of an EU ban on insurance for oil tanker shipments to Asia. The gulf between those two positions almost caused the collapse of the last round of Iran/P5+1 talks, in Baghdad last month. Both sides, though, agreed to hold the next round in Moscow -- just two weeks before a total EU embargo on Iranian oil imports comes into effect.
Iran's defence minister, Ahmad Vahidi, was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as echoing the line that it was up to the West, not Iran, to bend in the negotiations.
"The Western nations should comply with Iran's rational demand for the use of peaceful nuclear energy," he said, adding that Iran "will not give up its rights."
Iran rejects Western and IAEA suspicions that it is pursuing the development of a nuclear weapons capability. Vahidi and other officials have highlighted Khamenei's repeated stated opposition to possessing atomic weapons. The Islamic republic accuses the United States and its allies of using the nuclear issue as a pretext for a broader political goal believed to be geared towards toppling Tehran's theocratic regime. The IAEA, Iran says, is also being manipulated to that end.
Iran's envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog, Ali Soltanieh, reiterated in an interview published on Sunday by the Tehran Times newspaper that "a couple of Western governments" are trying to turn the IAEA into an intelligence service rather than a technical verification body. He noted that Iran observes the terms of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but that its adherence to an "additional protocol" to that treaty permitting more invasive IAEA inspections "depends on the resolution of the (nuclear) issues with respect to the UN Security Council."
The Security Council has since 2006 issued six resolutions demanding Iran comply with the additional protocol it dropped in 2005, and to suspend all of its uranium enrichment activities.

Israel accuses Syria of genocide, urges intervention
By Dan Williams | Reuters /JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A senior Israeli minister on Sunday made the Jewish state's most explicit call yet for military intervention to topple President Bashar al-Assad and accused him of committing genocide to suppress the 15-month-old uprising against his rule. Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz urged world powers to oust Assad in the same way that last year's Western-backed campaign in Libya overthrew former strongman Muammar Gaddafi. "A crime against humanity, genocide, is being conducted in Syria today. And the silence of the world powers is contrary to all human logic," Mofaz told Israel's Army Radio. "Since in the not-distant past the powers chose military intervention in Libya, here the required conclusion would be immediate military intervention to bring down the Assad regime." Israel had so far taken a cautious line on the uprising in its Arab neighbour. While the overthrow of Assad would weaken his close ally and Israel's main enemy Iran, it has been wary of what might happen if the Syrian leader were to be replaced by an Islamist government more hostile to the Jewish state.
The military chief, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz, said last week he saw a "lose-lose prospect" for Israel whichever way the Syria conflict played out.
But with Israeli public opinion appalled by media reports of mounting Syrian civilian deaths, some officials had begun to suggest privately that they would welcome foreign military intervention.
A belief that the uprising may have reached a tipping point and can no longer be rolled back has also given more space to hawks who see in Assad's fall an opportunity to weaken Iran - whose nuclear program is Israel's biggest security concern.
Assad, from the minority Alawite sect, considered an offshoot of Shia Islam, has close ties both with Shi'ite Iran and the Lebanese Shi'ite political and military group Hezbollah, which was originally set up to oppose Israel. But during his rule, Israel maintained what it believed to be a manageable standoff with Syria which might spin out of control were an organization like the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood - ruthlessly crushed by his father Bashar al-Assad - to take charge next door.
NETANYAHU SAYS IRAN, HEZBOLLAH HELPING
Comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, however, suggested that concerns about Iran may be starting to predominate in Israel's calculations.
"This is a slaughter carried out not only by the Syrian government. It is being helped by Iran and Hezbollah," he said in broadcast remarks to his cabinet. "The world should understand what kind of environment we live in."
Iran denies helping Assad to crush dissent.
Netanyahu has steered clear of explicitly calling for military intervention in Syria, telling Bild newspaper last week: "That's a decision for the leading powers who are now talking about it. The less I say as prime minister of Israel, the better."
Mofaz, a former top general and political centrist who became junior partner in Netanyahu's conservative coalition government last month, said Israel had limited options on Syria.
"We cannot get involved, for understandable reasons. But I think that the West, led by the United States, has an interest in guarding the threshold (so) genocide does not take place."
Soldiers and militias loyal to Assad have killed at least 10,000 people, including many majority Sunnis, according to U.N. figures.
The Assad government puts its own losses at more than 2,600 dead. It has condemned the killing of civilians in Syria, and blamed the violence on Sunni Islamist terrorism.
Israel's comments on Syria come at a time of intense frustration with the west's failure to curb Iran's nuclear program. World powers have so far used sanctions and negotiations to stop a program they believe is geared towards producing nuclear bombs. Israel has hinted it could attack Iran preemptively should it deem diplomacy a dead end.
Iran dismisses accusations it is secretly developing nuclear arms and has vowed wide-ranging reprisals if attacked, raising the specter of a Middle East war in which Syria and Hezbollah would support Tehran against Israel.
Ehud Yaari, Middle East correspondent for Israel's top-rated Channel Two television, described Syria as a test-case for international resolve in the Middle East.
"When you see the lassitude (by world powers) regarding goings-on in Syria, you cannot but draw discouraging conclusions about their readiness to act to stop Iran," he said.
Israeli officials other than Mofaz have preferred to frame prospective foreign intervention in Syria in terms of humanitarian aid.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon on Sunday offered Israeli relief to Syrian refugees - either in countries like Jordan and Turkey that recognise Israel, or in Israel itself.
(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Assad forces renew Homs assault
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis | Reuters
AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces have renewed efforts to impose control in Homs province, killing at least 35 people in one of the biggest bombardments since a failed U.N.-mandated ceasefire in April, opposition activists said on Sunday. They said the Syrian army used artillery, mortars and rockets to hit opposition strongholds in the city of Homs and the towns of Qusair, Talbiseh and Rastan in central Syria. Free Syrian Army rebels had been intensifying attacks in the area, the Syrian Network for Human Rights and other opposition campaigners said.
Assad's forces also carried out raids on neighborhoods in and around Damascus to try and flush out rebels who have been stepping up operations near security compounds in the capital.
United Nations efforts to bring peace to Syria - where a 15-month-old uprising against Assad has turned increasingly violent - have largely come to nothing, with both sides blaming the other for breaking the ceasefire. Soldiers and militias loyal to Assad have killed at least 10,000 people, according to U.N. figures. The Assad government puts its own losses at more than 2,600 dead. Assad has blamed unspecified foreign-backed terrorists for the violence.
Among reports on the weekend violence, activist Abu Qassem said at least 500 rockets and shells had fallen on Rastan, 25 km (15 miles) north of Homs, since Saturday, and army helicopters were firing machineguns into the area.
"The Free Syrian Army is far outgunned, but it is responding by mounting guerrilla attacks while trying to avoid direct exchange of fire," he said.
Rastan was once a reservoir of Sunni Muslim recruits for the military, whose senior ranks are dominated by members of Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam.
After Syria's revolt broke out in March last year and pro-democracy demonstrators in Rastan were killed, Sunni officers from the town began defecting.
Talbiseh to the south came under shelling and heavy mortar fire from loyalist troops after some soldiers from surrounding roadblocks defected on Saturday and drove two armoured personnel carriers into the town, according to opposition sources there.
"Five people have been killed, including a woman and her one-year-old daughter. They were among the few civilians who had not fled Talbiseh," activist Abu Mohammad said by satellite phone.
Army shelling was also reported on Homs, concentrating on the neighborhood of al Khalidiya, inhabited mostly by Sunni tribal families from the desert, activists said.
FIGHTING IN THE CAPITAL
In Damascus, Syrian forces bombarded the northern district of Qaboun and later entered it in armoured vehicles, storming houses, following attacks on Friday on buses carrying troops and pro-Assad militia, opposition sources said. "Qaboun came under bombardment for the first time since the uprising. Security forces in the nearby Airforce Intelligence compound fired on the neighborhood with anti-aircraft guns and large calibre mortar bombs," said Abu Fida, an activist in Qaboun who did not give his real name for fear of arrest.
Attacks on loyalist buses and army roadblocks were also reported in the last three days in the Damascus neighborhoods of Barzeh and Mezze.
Western countries, unwilling to launch the kind of military intervention which toppled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi last year, are struggling to work out how to address the violence in Syria. While they want Assad to step down, he retains the support of Russia. The absence of a clear and unified opposition, and concerns about an intensifying civil war which would suck in neighbouring countries has also complicated the picture. The main Syrian opposition umbrella group, the Syrian National Council, operates from exile and its control over the different rebel factions inside Syria is limited.
On Sunday, it elected Kurdish activist Abdelbasset Sida as its leader for a three-month term at a meeting in Istanbul. Sida, who has been living in exile in Sweden for many years, succeeds Burhan Ghalioun, a liberal opposition figure who had presided over the council since it was formed last August.
(Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Istanbul; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Human Rights Watch slams Israel migrant law
AFP – Human Rights Watch on Sunday urged Israel to repeal or amend a law that allows migrants to be detained without charge for up to three years, calling it a violation of "basic rights." The New York-based group said the new law "punishes asylum seekers for irregularly crossing into Israel, in violation of their basic rights." "Subjecting irregular border-crossers to potential indefinite detention without charge or access to legal representation would violate the prohibition against arbitrary detention under international human rights law," it said. Israel announced on June 3 that officials would be able to detain migrants who crossed into the Jewish state illegally for up to three years, as part of a bid to stem the flow of African migrants into the country. But Human Rights Watch said the law stood to stoke anger against migrants, which erupted last month when a protest by around 1,000 people against the rising number of Africans in Israel turned violent. "Israeli officials are not only adding rhetorical fuel to the xenophobic fire, but they now have a new law that punishes refugees in violation of international law," said Human Rights Watch's refugee programme director Bill Frelick in a statement. "The law should be amended immediately, and not enforced until necessary revisions are made." Interior ministry statistics show there are approximately 60,000 African immigrants who have entered Israel illegally. Some are refugees fleeing persecution in their home nations, but others are economic migrants. During the protest last month, demonstrators went on the rampage, attacking African-run shops and smashing up a car driven by two African men. Police said afterwards that 20 people had been arrested on suspicion of vandalising shops and attacking cars driven by Africans, but there were no injuries.
Migrants have subsequently been targeted in several attacks, including the firebombing of an apartment in Jerusalem last week. The riots sparked shock in Israel, but also prompted top-level calls for the immediate arrest and expulsion of tens of thousands of African migrants, most of whom come from Sudan, South Sudan and Eritrea.

Shabiha militiamen, tools of the Syria regime
By Rana Moussaoui (AFP) –
BEIRUT — Accused of the most barbaric massacres since the start of the revolt in Syria, the shabiha are feared militiamen and tools of a regime seeking to dissociate itself from atrocities, experts and activists say. While there is no hard evidence of the involvement of these gunmen in the repression, United Nations officials have expressed "strong suspicions" about their role, notably in the Houla massacre that left 108 dead on May 25 and 26. The regime of President Bashar al-Assad has denied any connection with the carnage, which it blames on "armed terrorist groups."
"The shabiha are those who carry out the regime's dirty work. The government can say 'this is not me, I am not responsible'," said Fabrice Balanche, director of the French Research Centre Gremmo.
"They provide cover for the regime when massacres are committed," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The word "shabiha" alone is enough to make people tremble. These men, often in plain clothes, are also accused of arbitrary arrests, summary executions and torture. "I do not think the Damascus regime actually says 'now is the time to commit massacres'," said one analyst in Damascus on condition of anonymity. "But for 15 months, the authorities have not only tolerated, but exploit the phenomenon of the shabiha, contributing greatly to the deterioration of the crisis." According to experts, this phenomenon is not unique to Syria, but has thrived in countries dominated by totalitarian regimes or experiencing unrest. "It's like death squads in Latin America. It is also a way to terrorise people," said Balanche. The word "shabiha" (from the Arabic "shabah," which literally means "ghost"), dates to the 1980s when it referred to drug traffickers who sped through the port of Latakia in Mercedes cars and who, activists say, worked for the Assad clan's personal circle. They reappeared when the anti-regime revolt broke out in mid-March 2011, this time to quell protests.
Members of the militia are mostly "young, unemployed men from the suburbs who, given money and a Kalashnikov, feel they are all-powerful," said Balanche. According to Dany Hamwi, an activist in the central city of Hama, the regime uses the shabiha to spare the army from direct involvement in crimes and thus reduce the chance of mass desertions.
"An officer or soldier might refuse orders to kill, but a 'shabih' is loyal to the end," he said. A number of activist videos show men in civilian clothes, armed with sticks or Kalashnikov assault rifles, attacking protesters and chanting: "Shabiha for ever, for your eyes, Bashar!" According to the Syrian Observatory, the number of shabiha is estimated at nearly 6,000, some of whom have been integrated into the security services. By fighting for the regime, they are also battling for their own survival, in part because they are predominantly Alawites -- the confession of the Assad clan -- facing Sunni opponents, the majority religious community in the country. Activists have accused Alawite shabiha from neighbouring villages of committing last month's massacre in the small central Syrian Sunni farming community of Houla. "These are the biggest supporters of the regime," said Balanche. "And the Alawites are terrified of Sunni vengeance" if the regime falls.
According to activists, a Mafia mentality now prevails. "The regime used to pay them wages. But with the economic crisis, it has given them the green light to plunder neighbourhoods," said Omar Shakir, an activist in Homs. Kidnappings and robberies have become commonplace in increasingly militant Aleppo, Syria's second city. "The 'contract' was: 'You make sure there are no demonstrations, and in return, you do as you please'," said the Damascus-based analyst, adding that "this has been a large factor in turning Aleppo against the regime." The risk, he said, is that the regime can no longer control "the Frankenstein that it alone has created."
Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved. More

Iran bans women from Euro 2012 screenings
AFP –Women in Iran are being banned from watching live public screenings of Euro 2012 football games because of an "inappropriate" environment where men could become rowdy, a deputy police commander said Sunday. "It is an inappropriate situation when men and women watch football in (movie) theatres together," said Bahman Kargar, Iran's deputy police commander in charge of social affairs, according to the ISNA news agency. "Men, while watching football, get excited and sometimes utter vulgar curses or tell dirty jokes," he said. "It is not within the dignity of women to watch football with men. Women should thank the police" for the ban. The Euro 2012 games underway in Poland and Ukraine are being aired on state television in football-mad Iran.
They are also being shown in movie theatres as a continuation of a practice that became popular for couples and families during the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.
Many among Iran's hardline authorities and clerics favour segregation of the sexes and find the mingling of unrelated men and women to be corrupting.
Women have to use women-only swimming pools, beaches and parks across the Islamic republic. Women can travel in the back of public buses, or use women-only taxi cabs or cars on the metro.
All school classes, as well as some in universities, are segregated in Iran. Women are also required by law to observe an Islamic dress code, with those improperly wearing their mandatory headscarves or dressed in "vulgar" attires being confronted by Iran's so-called morality police.

Syrian Opposition Group Elects New Leader, More Deaths Reported
VOA News/June 10, 2012
Syria's main exiled opposition group has elected a Kurdish academic to try to unify the movement after months of infighting, and activists report at least 19 more deaths in government shelling and clashes across the country. Senior members of the opposition Syrian National Council chose Abdulbaset Sieda to be the group's new leader at a meeting in Istanbul that lasted from late Saturday until early Sunday.
The new SNC president urged Syrians around the world to act in solidarity with citizens in the country and encouraged members of Syria's armed forces to defect from their posts.
"They [the people of Syria] are still resisting the massacres and the crimes committed by the Syrian regime," he said. "I'm calling upon all the Syrian expatriate community to organize sit-ins before their Syrian embassies. I would also call for the international observers to go to Homs. The SNC is allocating $3 million in an urgent manner as a fund for the Syrian people who are suffering and areas which are in destruction. We also call for all those in positions of responsibility in the armed forces and the government to defect from the regime."
Sieda's call for the United Nations to send monitors to Homs came as other Syrian activists reported more violence there on Sunday.
More deaths reported
The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told VOA that fighting and shelling killed at least 12 people in Homs province. The Observatory later reported the death of a rebel fighter during a rebel bombing of a local authority building in the town of Qusayr. Casualties inside the building are still unknown. Fighting elsewhere killed two soldiers in Daraa, a civilian in Idlib and two armed civilians near Aleppo. The Observatory chief also said a lawyer was killed Sunday in Damascus, where U.N. observers were dispatched to investigate reports of intense fighting from the day before.
Syrian activists say at least 96 people, mostly civilians, were killed in violence on Saturday across Syria. The Observatory said at least 20 died when pro-government forces bombarded the southern town of Daraa, where a pro-democracy uprising began 15 months ago.
A consensus figure
The new opposition council president is in his mid-50s and lives in exile in Sweden. Other SNC members including Abdel Hamid al-Attassi described Sieda as a consensus figure.
"He is an academician. He is also well-known, a moderate man," he said. "We shouldn't claim that he has Islamic tendencies or secular tendencies. He has been approved and accepted by everyone."
Sieda replaces Burhan Ghalioun, who agreed to step down last month under criticism of his leadership.
The SNC has been plagued by internal rivalries since it was formed last year to try to present a credible alternative to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Ghalioun's critics complained that he gave Islamists too powerful a role in the SNC and did not do enough to coordinate with committees of youth activists organizing protests inside Syria.
Sieda's election as SNC chief may help the opposition council to boost its support among Syrian Kurds, who make up about 10 percent of the country's population and have largely stayed on the sidelines of the anti-Assad revolt. Many Syrian Kurds fear they would continue to suffer discrimination if the majority Sunni-led opposition overthrows Mr. Assad's minority Alawite-led government.
Israel condemns violence
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday accused Syria of massacring its own civilians with help from Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, both allies of the Assad government.
"It is a sleight carried out not only by the Syrian government, it is being helped by Iran and Hezbollah, and the world must today see the focused axis of evil: Iran-Syria-Hezbollah. The face of this axis of evil has been exposed in its full ugliness,'' he said.
Earlier, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz accused the Syrian government of committing "genocide" and called for international military intervention. In an interview on Israeli radio Sunday, he said world powers have failed to take action and criticized Russia for selling weapons to Assad, a longtime ally of Moscow.
Russian diplomacy
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday that Moscow would support Assad's departure from power if the Syrian people agree on it. It was not clear if Lavrov's comment marked a softening of Russia's support for the Syrian president. Russia has repeatedly blocked Western and Arab efforts to impose U.N. sanctions on his government. Speaking at a Moscow news conference, Lavrov reiterated Russia's rejection of any foreign military intervention in the Syrian conflict. He also repeated his call for nations supporting and opposing Assad to join an international conference to salvage a Syria peace plan drafted by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

U.S. "disappointed" by Iran-IAEA atom talks failure
VIENNA (Reuters) - Lack of progress in talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency is disappointing and it shows Tehran's continued failure to abide by its commitment to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, a U.S. envoy said on Saturday. The IAEA and Iran failed at talks on Friday to unblock an investigation into suspected atom bomb research by the Islamic state, a setback dimming any chances for success in higher-level negotiations between Tehran and major powers later this month. The IAEA, a Vienna-based U.N. agency, said no progress had been made in the meeting aimed at sealing a framework deal on resuming its long-stalled investigation. Six world powers were scrutinizing the IAEA-Iran meeting to judge whether the Iranians were ready to make concessions before a resumption of wider-ranging negotiations with them in Moscow on June 18-19 on the decade-old nuclear dispute. "We're disappointed," Robert Wood, the acting U.S. envoy to the IAEA, told Reuters in an emailed comment. "Yesterday's outcome highlights Iran's continued failure to abide by its commitment to the IAEA, and further underscores the need for it to work with the IAEA to address international community's real concerns," he said. The IAEA had been pressing Tehran for an accord that would give its inspectors immediate access to the Parchin military complex, where it believes explosives tests relevant for the development of nuclear arms have taken place, and suspects Iran may now be cleaning the site of any incriminating evidence. PROGRESS POSSIBLE?
The United States, European powers and Israel want to curb Iranian atomic activities they fear are intended to produce nuclear bombs. The Islamic Republic says its nuclear program is meant purely to produce energy for civilian uses. Both the IAEA and Iran - which insists it will work with the U.N. agency to prove allegations of a nuclear weapons agenda are "forged and fabricated" - said before Friday's meeting that significant headway had been made on the procedural document.
But differences persisted over how the IAEA should conduct its inquiry, in which U.N. inspectors want access to sites, documents and officials.
"The IAEA and Iran have on some points significantly diverging ideas of how a new agreement would look," said Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
But Hibbs said "negative" signals from Vienna did not necessarily have to mean anything in the talks in Moscow between Iran and the six powers - the United States, Russia, France, Germany, Britain and China. The talks pursued by world powers are aimed at defusing tension over Iran's nuclear works that has led to increasingly tough Western sanctions on Iran, including an EU oil embargo from July 1, and stoked fears of another Middle East war. Full transparency and cooperation with the IAEA is one of the elements the world powers are seeking from Iran.
But they also want Iran to stop its higher-grade uranium enrichment, which Tehran says it needs for a research reactor but which also takes it closer to potential bomb material.
For its part, Iran wants sanctions relief and international recognition of what it says is its right to refine uranium.
"If the West makes a serious offer to Iran, we could see real progress. But if Moscow fails to move forward, we'll have big problems," Hibbs said.
(Reporting by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)

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