LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
May 07/12

Bible Quotation for today/Questions about Marriage
01 Corinthians 07/01-16: "Now, to deal with the matters you wrote about. A man does well not to marry. But because there is so much immorality, every man should have his own wife, and every woman should have her own husband. A man should fulfill his duty as a husband, and a woman should fulfill her duty as a wife, and each should satisfy the other's needs. A wife is not the master of her own body, but her husband is; in the same way a husband is not the master of his own body, but his wife is. Do not deny yourselves to each other, unless you first agree to do so for a while in order to spend your time in prayer; but then resume normal marital relations. In this way you will be kept from giving in to Satan's temptation because of your lack of self-control. I tell you this not as an order, but simply as a permission. Actually I would prefer that all of you were as I am; but each one has a special gift from God, one person this gift, another one that gift. Now, to the unmarried and to the widows I say that it would be better for you to continue to live alone as I do. But if you cannot restrain your desires, go ahead and marry—it is better to marry than to burn with passion. For married people I have a command which is not my own but the Lord's: a wife must not leave her husband; but if she does, she must remain single or else be reconciled to her husband; and a husband must not divorce his wife. To the others I say (I, myself, not the Lord): if a Christian man has a wife who is an unbeliever and she agrees to go on living with him, he must not divorce her. And if a Christian woman is married to a man who is an unbeliever and he agrees to go on living with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made acceptable to God by being united to his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made acceptable to God by being united to her Christian husband. If this were not so, their children would be like pagan children; but as it is, they are acceptable to God. However, if the one who is not a believer wishes to leave the Christian partner, let it be so. In such cases the Christian partner, whether husband or wife, is free to act. God has called you to live in peace. How can you be sure, Christian wife, that you will not save your husband? Or how can you be sure, Christian husband, that you will not save your wife?

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Keeping a distance” the Lebanese way/By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Alawsat/May 06/12
Syria's rhetoric: Worse than murder/By Emad El Din Adeeb/Asharq Alawsat/May 06/12

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for May 06/12
Nadim Gemayel warns Hezbollah against using arms inside Lebanon
OTV: Security forces deploy amid tension in Tripoli’s Jabal Mohsen, Bab al-Tabbaneh after gunfire
Sleiman addresses reported murder of Lebanese man in Egypt
Mikati salutes Lebanese press on occasion of martyrs day
Aoun lashes out at Jumblatt, calls Syria “closest to democracy”
Mass arrests in Egypt after deadly Cairo clashes
Lebanon: Two Killed, Four Wounded in Shooting between Security Forces, Drug Smuggler
Al-Rahi Says Lebanese Role in Arab Spring Mustn't Involve Promoting Violence
Mikati vows to protect free speech
Lebanese vote in municipal by-elections
EU: No intentions to establish Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon
Lebanon's Arabic press digest - May 6, 2012 May 06, 201/Daily Star
Sarkozy Closes on Hollande as France Elects President
Sarkozy faces defeat as France heads to polls
U.N. monitors find tanks, resentful residents in Syria town
Syria's Muslim Brotherhood rise from the ashes
Deadly unrest fuels suspicion on eve of Syria vote
Heavy fighting rocks eastern Syria: residents
Erdogan: Turkish borders to remain open to fleeing Syrians
9/11 Plotter Shouts 'You Are Going to Kill Us' in Court
Libya: In the hands of militias

Lebanon's Arabic press digest - May 6, 2012 May 06, 201/Daily Star
Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Sunday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.
An-Nahar
Future Movement at Martyrs' Square on the event of May 7
Between May 7, 2005, - the day former General Michel Aoun came back from exile in Paris to Lebanon -and May 7, 2008, - the armed invasion of Beirut by Hezbollah – the political atmosphere along with the elections scene intensified with two events: the first was the seventh anniversary of Aoun's return Saturday and the to be-held Future Movement organized event Sunday.
Another important stance was that of Walid Jumblatt, the head of the National Struggle bloc, who continued his war on proportional representation, considering the system as a version of an “elimination war."
Meanwhile, the agenda for the upcoming Cabinet meeting includes 36 items including the amended draft law to authorize LL8.9 trillion in overspending. Another item is giving the Finance Ministry a treasury loan of LL4.9 trillion to cover the expenses of public institutions for the year 2012 for a period of six months.
Sources told An-Nahar that the issue could be resolved given that the proposed solution has received the agreement of everyone.
Al-Mustaqbal
Hariri announces today a crucial elections year
The most notable event Sunday will be the festival organized by the Future Movement in Martyrs' Square for the memory of martyrs and the May 7 event.
In his speech, Saad Hariri will announce his position on the next phase and primarily the issue of parliamentary elections.
Sources said that Hariri would stress on the importance of the elections given that they are crucial.
Meanwhile, head of Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt said he regarded the elections more like an elimination war and that "we will not allow anyone to eliminate us."
He added that he "will not become an attaché for those who want to control security, sovereignty, and independence and all the achievements of the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon which will not accept this elimination."
Al-Hayat
He criticized U.S., France, the consensual president.
Aoun accuses his rivals as being "children of rumors": Sleiman disrupts the state and Jumblatt lives on lies
The head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP and former General Michel Aoun attacked President Michel Sleiman and accused him of disrupting the work of the state and Cabinet. He attacked the head of the National Struggle bloc Walid Jumblatt and accused him of living on lies. He also attacked former Prime ministers Saad Hariri and Fouad Siniora along with his Christian rivals.
Aoun also explained the Memorandum of Understanding between him and Hezbollah and said: "We still have the warning letters."
He said Syria was the closest thing to democracy, adding that his stance was not derived from his friendship with the president. He asked: Does the citizen in Syria have the right to choose his way of living or not? Does the woman have rights in countries that teach us about human rights?

Slain Lebanese Journalists
Nadine Elali , May 6, 2012 /This week Lebanon commemorated World Press Freedom Day, an international holiday that aims to raise awareness about the importance of freedom of speech and expression. In addition, May 6 is Lebanese Martyr's Day, which celebrates those journalists and editors who were executed by Ottoman Governor Jamal Bacha in 1916 for advocating for freedom and independence, in what is now known as Martyrs Square. The day is celebrated in both Lebanon and Syria. During the hundred years that followed, Lebanese journalists continued to be killed for shining a light on the major issues and events shaping their country.In light of these two holidays, NOW Lebanon celebrates the editors

Nadim Gemayel warns Hezbollah against using arms inside Lebanon
May 6, 2012 /Kataeb bloc MP Nadim Gemayel on Sunday said that if Hezbollah used its arms again inside Lebanon “then we will confront it with weapons too.” “If Hezbollah was able in 2008 to crush the Future Movement in Beirut and the Progressive Socialist Party in Chouf, then it would have been able to continue its operation against other groups,” Gemayel told Voice of Lebanon (93.3) radio station.
On May 7, 2008, Hezbollah led-gunmen began a multi-day operation to storm and seize West Beirut and other areas across Lebanon. The fighting erupted after the cabinet, at that time led by Fouad Siniora, made the decision to shut down Hezbollah’s private telecommunication network. Gemayel also blasted Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun’s Saturday speech, calling it “sensational and not based on reason.”“[Aoun’s speech] was very dangerous [since it aimed] to sow fear in the minds of Maronites as a power ploy.”Gemayel also questioned the itinerary of US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman’s visit earlier in the week. “Why did Feltman visit [Progressive Socialist Party leader MP] Walid Jumblatt [before meeting the leading officials in Lebanon]? Upon his arrival in Beirut on Tuesday Feltman headed to Jumblatt’s residence in West Beirut’s Clemenceau. -NOW Lebanon

Aoun lashes out at Jumblatt, calls Syria “closest to democracy”
May 5, 2012/Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun launched a vehement attack on Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt at a ceremony on Saturday commemorating the seventh anniversary of his return from exile after the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005.
“Yesterday [Jumblatt] said that [the Free Patriotic Movement] was an absurd movement,” Aoun said, retorting, “I think that the limits of logic stop at him and do not extend to anyone else.”
“[Jumblatt] said that he spent 25 years lying to the Syrian regime, so how are we supposed to trust that he is going to be truthful with us?” Aoun asked.
On Friday, Jumblatt voiced his regret for the existence of “an absurd movement led by [Free Patriotic Movement leader] MP Michel Aoun.”
The MP also addressed the issue of Jumblatt’s opposition to adopting proportionality for the 2013 parliamentary elections.
“Jumblatt is now saying that proportionality is aimed against the Druze, and by doing that he is agitating the Druze sensitivities.”
“As ever he only finds fear… as a means for gathering the Druze around him.”
Lebanese parties are debating the electoral law for the upcoming 2013 parliamentary elections after the parliament agreed on drafting a law based on proportional representation.
Aoun wrapped up his criticism of Jumblatt by saying that the latter “lived for lying.”
The Change and Reform leader also addressed the situation in Syria and voiced his optimism that the regime in Syria will not fall.
“Reaching an outcome in Syria similar to the one in Libya is impossible, however [much] Europe and the United States try,” Aoun said, adding that the Syrian people “are solid and possess a state with a solid structure. He also expressed the view that the Syrian political system was essentially democratic.
“Yes, Syria is the closest to democracy and [I say it] without shame.”
Aoun lashed out at Arab countries for their support of the rebels and their efforts to topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“Do the countries that call for the respect of human rights in Syria respect human rights themselves? Do women [in these countries] have rights?”
“Even the churches built in these countries cannot display crosses on their towers,” Aoun said, adding that “the revolts in the Arab world are not tantamount to an ‘Arab Spring’, but to an Arab hell.”
He also warned against the “transfer of the crisis to Lebanon” if the Syrian regime were to fall.
Since mid-March 2011, Syria has witnessed a deadly revolt against the Assad regime. The Syrian Observatory puts the death toll at more than 11,100, while the UN says more than 9,000 have been killed.
Aoun also criticized the March 14 coalition and commented on the recent visit of US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.
“As long as the minutes of the meetings [between March 14 personalities and Feltman] are kept secret then that is treason and a conspiracy.”
Feltman arrived in Beirut on Tuesday evening and left on Friday after holding meetings with top Lebanese officials as well as figures from the March 14 coalition.
Aoun also lashed out at the Future Movement in particular, saying that “they did not want to cooperate, therefore all agreement with them failed.”NOW Lebanon

Sleiman addresses reported murder of Lebanese man in Egypt
May 6, 2012 /President Michel Sleiman offered his condolences to the family of a Lebanese young man reportedly killed in Egypt, the National News Agency reported on Sunday.
“Sleiman requested the relevant Lebanese authorities to follow up with the case,” the NNA said, identifying the young man as Mohammad Salim Walid Al-Alayli, a student at Egypt's University of Science and Technology.According to media reports, Alayli was killed by crossfire as Egyptian police pursued a group of criminals.-NOW Lebanon

Al-Rahi Says Lebanese Role in Arab Spring Mustn't Involve Promoting Violence
Naharnet/06 May 2012/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday said the Lebanese “must not stand idly by concerning the events in the Arab countries,” but stressed that their role must not involve promoting violence in the countries of the Arab Spring. “We hope the Arab world will achieve the so-called Arab Spring and will meet the needs of the people at the political level and in terms of economic and social reforms,” al-Rahi said in Montreal, where he arrived on Saturday for a pastoral visit. “Of course we are looking forward for a democratic spring in the Arab world and for an Arab world that respects all public freedoms, human rights and the dignity of every individual; for an Arab world that knows how to separate between state and religion,” the patriarch added. “We are against violence and against war, which we had experienced in Lebanon and we don’t wish on anyone,” he went on to say. Al-Rahi also called on the Lebanese to “stand by their brothers in the Arab world who are seeking freedom.”

Erdogan: Turkish borders to remain open to fleeing Syrians
May 6, 2012 /Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed Sunday to keep his country's borders open to refugees fleeing a bloody crackdown on dissent in neighboring Syria. "God willing, a new process will begin in Syria... sooner or later," Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Gaziantep near the Syrian border. "Until the will of the people comes to power in Syria, we will continue to defend the rights of our brothers coming from there, and to host and embrace them," he added. The Turkish prime minister's remarks came shortly before he is due to visit the Kilis refugee camp bordering Syria, and which is one of several camps hosting some 23,000 Syrians who have sought refuge in Turkey. The camp was target of controversy when ricocheting bullets from crossfire between Syrian troops and rebel forces wounded four Syrians and two Turks in early April. Two of the wounded Syrians later died, witnesses had told AFP. Turkey, once a strong ally of Syria, broke with Damascus after Bashar al-Assad's regime began cracking down on dissent in mid-March last year. More than 11,000 people have perished in the violence, activists estimated. -AFP/NOW Lebanon

Deadly unrest fuels suspicion on eve of Syria vote
May 6, 2012/A handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on Saturday, shows people looking at a damaged vehicle following a car bomb in the northern city of Aleppo. (AFP/HO/SANA)
Syria's authorities and the opposition traded accusations Sunday over who was behind blasts that rocked Damascus and Aleppo, on the eve of parliamentary polls designed to boost the regime's legitimacy.
Overnight violence in Damascus province killed three people, a rights watchdog said, as the authorities made final preparations for a vote it says is crucial for building "the new Syria" but which the opposition has already dismissed as a "farce." Information Minister Adnan Mahmud said that voting on Monday was an act of defiance. "By taking part in the election, Syrians are defying the campaign of terrorism and aggression led by international and regional parties implicated in a terrorist war against our country," he said in a statement.
President Bashar al-Assad meanwhile on Sunday laid a wreath at a monument on Mount Kassioun, which overlooks the Syrian capital, to commemorate the annual Martyrs Day.
The opposition for its part blamed the regime for two bomb blasts Saturday in Damascus and one in Aleppo, where according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights an explosion hit a car wash as a bus was passing by, killing at least five people.
"It is the regime that caused these mysterious explosions. We are suggesting an international commission of inquiry," said Omar Idelbi, spokesperson for the Local Coordination Committees, which organizes protests on the ground. "The revolutionaries have no interest in these explosions," he told AFP. But state media, which reported three deaths from the Aleppo blast - including a 10-year-old boy - blamed "terrorists" linked to the opposition for carrying out Saturday's attacks in a bid to sow instability ahead of the vote. The Britain-based Observatory said on Sunday a young man was gunned down by regime troops during the night in the town of Al-Tal, while an explosion killed two in Daf al-Shouk area, also in Damascus province. Army attacks on rebel positions continued elsewhere in Syria, with several people wounded and a number of houses destroyed when the Arida village in central Homs province was shelled, the Observatory said. In the eastern province of Deir az-Zour, government troops reportedly carried out a number of raids and made arrests in the town of Al-Quriya.
Monday's vote, against a backdrop of unrest which the Observatory says has killed more than 11,000 people since March last year, will do little to change the autocratic country, according to regime critics and analysts. The vote, initially scheduled for September 2011, was postponed to May 7 this year after President Bashar al-Assad announced the launch of a reform process. Bashar al-Haraki, a member of the Syrian National Council, the principal opposition coalition, has labeled the elections a "farce which can be added to the regime's masquerade." Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Centre, told AFP the elections were "cosmetic" and "no one in the international community takes these elections seriously." Washington has described them as "ridiculous."Security and logistical concerns notwithstanding, the credibility of the vote has also been hit by the refusal of the main opposition forces to participate. Monday's election will be the first time Syria has held multi-party elections since the adoption in February by referendum of a new constitution that ended the five-decade stranglehold on power of the ruling Baath party.
Nine parties have been created, and seven have candidates vying for a parliamentary seat. Pro-regime parties led by the Baath are represented under a coalition called the National Progressive Front.
A total of 7,195 candidates have registered to stand for the 250 seats, state news agency SANA said. But experts believe little will change politically in Syria, where a tenuous UN-backed ceasefire that came into effect on April 12 has failed to take hold. "The elections are a step in a void and will not lead to any change in the political landscape and security of Syria," Oraib al-Rantawi, director of the Amman-based Al-Quds Centre for Political Studies, told AFP. It is taking place "amid a lack of security, continued killings and violence... while [many] are detained, suffering or displaced," Rantawi said, dismissing the elections as "media propaganda.""This will be a parliament of liars. I will not vote for a parliament built on the blood of the martyrs," an officer of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) told AFP.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Saudi Renews Syria Travel Warning
Naharnet/06 May 2012, /Saudi Arabia on Sunday renewed a warning to its citizens to leave Syria and not to travel to the country, hit by over a year of deadly unrest.
"Due to the continuing deterioration of the security situation in Syria, the foreign ministry renews its warning to all citizens from travelling to Syria," the ministry said in a statement carried by the SPA state news agency. It also "urged citizens there to leave."The kingdom, which has repeatedly called for world action against Damascus and called for rebels there to be armed, issued a similar warning in November.
Saudi Arabia was one of six Gulf countries to expel Syria's ambassadors and withdraw their own in February.  The following month it shut down its embassy in Damascus and withdrew all of its staff. More than 11,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Syria's President Bashar Assad began in March 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
**SourceAgence France Presse.

Sarkozy Closes on Hollande as France Elects President
Naharnet / 06 May 2012/French voters turned out in numbers Sunday to give their verdict in a hard-fought presidential battle between right-wing incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and his Socialist challenger Francois Hollande. Opinion polls and electioneering were banned in the final 32 hours before polling stations opened, but Hollande began the day as firm favorite despite signs that Sarkozy had narrowed the gap slightly in the closing straight. Dark grey skies and scattered rain showers greeted early voters in Paris, but turnout was high by recent standards in a highly political country today split roughly 50-50 between left-leaning and right-leaning camps. More than 46 million voters were eligible to take part, and around 80 percent of them were expected to do so. Polling was to close at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) and an estimated result was to be given immediately afterwards.
Four hours after polling began just over 30 percent of the electorate had turned out, more than during the first round vote on April 22, but down on the 34 percent who had taken part at the same stage in the 2007 run-off. Hollande campaigned as a consensus-building moderate focused on restoring economic growth and is seen as on course to become France's first Socialist president since Francois Mitterrand died in office in 1995. Sarkozy has trailed consistently in opinion polls for the last six months, but fought a bruising campaign focused on mobilizing voters fearful that immigration and globalization threaten the French way of life. Hollande voted early in his adopted hometown Tulle, in the rural backwoods of the Correze region, accompanied by his girlfriend Valerie Trierweiler and welcomed by a crowd of supporters and journalists from around the globe. "It's going to be a long day," he said. "I don't know if it's going to be a good day -- that's for the French to decide -- but for a portion of them it will obviously be a good day, and not for the others."
Sarkozy and his former supermodel wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy voted at a high school in Paris' chic 16th district followed by a dense pack of photographers and acclaimed by a well-heeled crowd gathered behind street barriers.
Final opinion polls conducted on Friday before campaigning was officially suspended for the weekend suggested the still energetic Sarkozy may have closed the gap on the frontrunner to as little as four percent. But a complete turnaround would still constitute a surprise, and Hollande was expected to assume the leadership of France, the eurozone's second-largest economy and a nuclear-armed permanent member of the UN Security Council. Total voter turnout in the first round last month was high, at just under 80 percent, and the dueling run-off candidates, both aged 57, have warned their supporters not to stay at home as every vote counts. Even before polls opened on the mainland, more than a million had voted in overseas territories and consulates in foreign cities with a large French expatriate population, with turnout slightly higher than in the first round. If he loses, Sarkozy will become the first French president since Valery Giscard d'Estaing in 1981 not to be re-elected. He is already the first ever incumbent not to come out ahead in the first round of voting.
France has a strict ban on publishing result estimates until all polls close, but foreign media websites are expected to publish estimates before then, and these will spread quickly via Twitter and Facebook.
Anyone breaking the law on sharing early estimates faces a fine of 75,000 euros (100,000 dollars), but French citizens got around the restriction in the first round by using code words and the Twitter hashtag #RadioLondres.
Hollande won the first round with 28.63 percent of the votes to Sarkozy's 27.18 percent, and both candidates have been fighting for the votes of those whose candidates failed to make the run-off.
Far-right anti-immigrant candidate Marine Le Pen, who won almost 18 percent in the first round, has said she will cast a blank ballot and observers expect many of her supporters to do the same.
The polling institute Ifop, however, forecasts that 55 percent of her voters would back Sarkozy and 19 percent Hollande.
Hollande needs a strong mandate to implement his program to counter EU-driven austerity, while Sarkozy has played on fears that the election of a Socialist would send shudders through the EU and the financial markets. Whoever wins will next have to build a parliamentary majority after June's legislative elections, but the formal handover of presidential power is expected on or around May 15 -- in any case before May 17. The last week of the campaign was marked by a dramatic television debate that saw the contenders trade insults without either landing a knock-out blow.
Many French were surprised at the Socialist's aggression, while Sarkozy defended his record as France's protector during a global economic crisis.
Fears over low economic growth, rising joblessness and European Union-imposed austerity measures have worked in favor of the Socialists.
Many voters also disapprove of Sarkozy's flashy style during his five-year term, welcoming Hollande's promise to be a "normal president."
SourceAgence France Presse.

Syria's rhetoric: Worse than murder!
By Emad El Din Adeeb
Asharq Alawsat
In the Syrian crisis, or rather the bloody Syrian civil war, we have entered an absurd stage with regards to official political statements.
Last week Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mukdad, who is a seasoned diplomat, with experience in the UN Security Council and General Assembly, issued strange and bizarre statements to the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
Mukdad said that the West was conspiring against Syria.
Then he added that Western countries such as Britain, France and the United States are seeking to strengthen the presence of al-Qaeda in Syria!
These are frightening and illogical words, and reflect a state of complete denial with regards to the source of the problem in Syria.
Since when was al-Qaeda an ally of the West?
Was it not al-Qaeda, according to its own statements, that attacked the United States on September 11th 2001 in New York, dealing the most damaging blow on US soil since the Japanese air strikes on Pearl Harbor during World War II?
Was it not al-Qaeda that kidnapped French nationals in Yemen, and is now negotiating to release a British citizen in exchange for Abu Qatada?
Have matters really reached the stage where we are underestimating the general public's intellect to this extent?
These words may be fit for local consumption in official Syrian newspapers and Syrian state television channels, but are they really suitable for the mentality of people who read newspapers such as The Daily Telegraph?
The official Syrian political discourse has entered a dark tunnel since the UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan began to mediate, and the situation on the ground was revealed to everyone. This cannot be offset or covered up with statements such as the continuous talk about an international conspiracy against Syria, the “advocate of Arabism and resistance”.
There are tanks, surface-to-surface missiles and field artillery being used by the regime against its own citizens, the death toll and the number of wounded increase every day, and images of dead bodies, victims, genocide and destruction are broadcasted on air via the internet and global television stations.
If any wise minds remain in the decision making centers in Damascus, then they must immediately address the quality of the political discourse that they are presenting to the outside world.
In short, their murders are a crime but their rhetoric is an even greater one!

Keeping a distance” the Lebanese way
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed
Asharq Alawsat
Authorities in Lebanon were very enthusiastic after intercepting a ship that passed through its waters, claiming that it was carrying a cargo of weapons addressed “to the rebels in Syria”, and are now determined to hold those involved accountable. The Defense Minister vowed he would not allow investigations into the seized ship or the issue to be diluted, and the President said that he would fight the offenders. The “Lutfallah 2” cargo ship was said to have been loaded with weapons in Libya, and arrived in Lebanon by sea. Yet despite no weapon emerging or being used, the statesmen are eager to prosecute those involved.
Lebanon claims to have adopted a policy that can be found under the international dictionary definition of “keeping a distance”, when it comes to dealing with the Syrian revolution. However, this policy is practiced only to avoid condemning the crimes of the Syrian regime, and to justify staying away from the popular Syrian and Arab sense of accountability. However, the Lebanese authorities are not “distant” in as much as they are an important factor for the Syrian regime. They were not distant when they seized the Libyan cargo ship. In fact, they were doing what Turkey did when it seized the “Atlantic Cruiser” freight ship, loaded with weapons and docked in a Turkish port, where it was initially reported that Iranian weapons were found on board, on route to the Syrian regime. Yet the Turks subsequently resolved the matter and closed the case file. In contrast, Lebanon has made the cargo ship a prominent issue and is more enthusiastic about pursuing the details of the case than the al-Assad regime itself, which certainly does not pursue smugglers with the same zeal as the Lebanese officials.
Lebanon did not distance itself when a few dissident soldiers from the Syrian army fled and crossed its borders. Rather, some Lebanese elements arrested them and handed them over to the Syrian forces, where they would face the risk of being killed, thus contravening international laws. As for cases when the Lebanese authorities have distanced themselves, consider their silence regarding the Syrian and Iranian embassies abducting people on the streets of Beirut, in broad daylight. We have not heard anything from the security or military services or the presidential establishment about any effort to investigate the kidnapped Ahwazi or Syrians in Beirut.
If Lebanon had chosen to adopt the stance of “keeping a distance” and was genuinely able to do that then we would be happy, but we know that it is quite impossible to stop the combatants, whether individuals or governments, from using Lebanon’s territory and its waters. What the Lebanese authorities are doing currently is clearly biased, keeping silent about the actions of the Syrian regime and its affiliated parties that provide its means to kill, pursue and propagandize, even using state agencies and institutions in some cases. On the other hand, the Lebanese state is harnessing all its capabilities to pursue Syrian revolutionaries or restrict them, as we see in the investigations into the “Lutfallah 2” smuggling attempt, because the ship passed through a Lebanese port, until it became a matter that the President and the Defense Minister pledged to follow up.
This eagerness to please Damascus on the part of the Lebanese authorities will not come to the aid of the tottering al-Assad regime. Instead, it will anger governments working with the other side, such as the Gulf States and the West, and it will shock the majority of the Arab people, and these countries are the most important to Lebanon.
Lebanon will remain the main arena for Syrian events, regardless of their developments and how they end. If Lebanon does not want this to be the case then when it declares it has distanced itself it must actually prove it, either through refusing to cooperate with both Syrian sides, or turning a blind eye to all violations.
It is expected that the Lebanese should support change in Damascus, and support the overthrow of a regime that has exhausted and ravaged Lebanon with wars and interventions, not even hesitating to plunder the savings of its citizens and banks. The revolution in Syria in fact reflects the age old demands of the Lebanese.
The truth is that the fall of the regime in Damascus will not only liberate the Syrians, but it will also liberate Lebanon and its people.