Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for October 13/12
Syria: Free Syria Army kill 60 Hezbollah fighters, retake town
Spreading Iranian cyber attacks hit Israeli military, US financial and Gulf oil targets
Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Oct. 13, 2012
Hariri criticizes Hezbollah, says drone mission risky move
Hariri Replies to Nasrallah: Lebanon is not an Unmanned Drone
Hezbollah obliged to seek out all means to deter Israel: Fneish
Report: Hizbullah Most Sophisticated Antagonist Confronting Israel in Region
Hariri: Lebanon is not an unmanned drone
Op-ed: Hezbollah’s transformation
Report: Hezbollah nabs 3 'Mossad spies'
Bahrain Says Hizbullah's 'Radical Ideology' Threatens Gulf Stability
Hamas Describes Hizbullah Drone as 'Historical Achievement'
Sleiman says escape by Islamists from Roumieh prison unacceptable
Retired soldier kidnapped in east Lebanon
Prisons' General Chaplain: Roumieh Prison Security Cannot Invade Fatah al-Islam's Privacy
Aoun Marking October 13, 1990: We Will Surmount All Difficulties to Uphold Nation
Climbing broad beans flourish in south Lebanon
Iran's Salehi visits Qatar to discuss Iranians seized in Syria
Turkey condemns U.N. inertia as Syrian conflict deepens
Al-Qaeda leader urges holy war over Prophet film
Syria Rebels Down Fighter Jet near Aleppo, Car Bomb Blast near Damascus Kills 8
'Syria envoy Brahimi planning peacekeeping force'
PM, Barak deny agreeing to Golan withdrawal
IAF strikes Gaza global jihadis after Netivot attack

Report: Senior Hezbollah official flees to Israel
Elior Levy Published: 10.13.12/Ynetnews
Al-Arabiya reports Hassan Fahes, 29, defected and crossed border into Israel with classified docs and $5 million after questioning .A senior technical manager for Hezbollah has defected and fled to Israel bringing with him classified documents, maps and some $5 million in stolen funds, Al-Arabiya reported this weekend. The report could not be verified. According to the report, which quoted Hezbollah officials, telecommunications engineer Hassan Fahes, 29, was in charge of setting up the group's operational communications networks. A month ago, he was arrested at the Beirut airport and taken in for questioning together with four other Hezbollah members suspected of embezzlement and collaboration with Israel. The arrest was made possible due to the joint work of Hezbollah and the Iranian intelligence agency. Since 2009, more than 100 Lebanese citizens were arrested on suspicion they collaborated with Israel.
According to the Al-Arabiya report, Fahes managed to flee Lebanon after his arrest and crossed the border into Israel.

Syria: FSA kill 60 Hezbollah fighters, retake town
By Paula Astatih/Asharq Alawsat
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat – After previously threatening to transfer the conflict from Syria to the southern suburbs of Beirut, Free Syrian Army [FSA] spokesman Fahd al-Masri, informed Asharq Al-Awsat that 60 Hezbollah elements had been killed in the town of al-Qaseer on Thursday. He revealed that Hezbollah had requested a truce with the Syrian rebels – lasting for several hours – to retrieve their slain comrades from Syrian territory; however this request was rejected by the FSA leadership.
Recalling details of the operation that led to the deaths of 60 Hezbollah cadres, the FSA spokesman revealed that “a group of Hezbollah fighters, along with al-Assad gangs, attempted to storm and were able to gain control of the town of al-Qaseer in the Homs governorate for a number of hours [on Thursday]. A few hours later, the FSA was able, once more, to return…after the al-Assad gangs left the Hezbollah fighters alone in two primary locations. The first location was in the Christian district of Rabla, close to the railway, whilst the other was west of the town of al-Qaseer, close to the Lebanese area of Hermel. Our forces were able to regain complete control on the town of al-Qaseer, retaking control of all checkpoints and causing heavy losses in the ranks of the Hezbollah opposition. The battle resulted in the destruction of one bus and the deaths of everybody inside, namely 31 Hezbollah cadres with their military equipment. 29 other Hezbollah cadres, deployed across several military and security checkpoints, were also killed. Following this, all other Hezbollah cadres fled towards Lebanese territory.”
Al-Masri, spokesman for the FSA Joint Command, also confirmed that the FSA leadership had refused to release 16 Hezbollah fighters that had been captured by the Syrian rebels in Homs approximately 10 days ago. He said that “the fate of the prisoners and bodies of the deceased will be determined on the basis of international agreements regarding war and under the auspices of the Red Crescent organization and with the knowledge of the United Nations and Arab League, after Hezbollah pledges to immediately withdraw all its fighters from Syrian territory and stop its violations of Syrian sovereignty, as well as its killing and suppression of the Syrian revolution.”
In a previous statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, the FSA Joint Command spokesman Fahd al-Masri had threatened that the FSA would seek to transfer the conflict to Lebanon. Commenting on this, senior FSA officials informed Asharq Al-Awsat that al-Masri’s statements had been “unofficial”, adding that “what we are seeking, as a Free Army, is to liberate our country from the al-Assad regime, not transfer the battle elsewhere.”
For his part, Louay Al Miqdad, official spokesman for the FSA Supreme Military Council, informed Asharq Al-Awsat that “Hezbollah is currently undertaking attempts to incite the Shiites inside Syria to take up arms to defend the al-Assad regime.”
He added “Hezbollah members took part in battles in the Homs districts of Sayida Zeinab and Qabboun, whilst Hezbollah officers are running operations in the provinces.”
Miqdad stressed that dozens of Hezbollah cadres are being killed in Syria on a daily basis by the FSA, adding that Hezbollah had moved from overseeing operations in Syria to actively taking part in them. He said “they are trying to transfer the ball of fire from Syria to Lebanon; however we confirm that we do not accept this. Lebanese security and stability is of the highest priority for us, on the basis that the Lebanese people’s suffering at the hands of the al-Assad family is equivalent to that of the Syrian people’s suffering.”
For his part, Lebanese Change and Reform bloc MP Fadi al-Awar, categorically denied reports of Hezbollah cadres being killed in Syria. The senior member of the Change and Reform bloc – which has strong ties to Hezbollah – acknowledged that a number of Hezbollah cadres had been killed by Syrian rebels, but stressed that this had taken place on Lebanese territory, citing “geographic overlap between Lebanese and Syrian villages, particularly in Hermel.”
Al-Awar, speaking to Lebanon’s Elnashra news website, stressed that Syrian and Lebanese villages overlap from al-Aboudiya to Hermel and Arsal.

Spreading Iranian cyber attacks hit Israeli military, US financial and Gulf oil targets
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis October 13, 2012/ A week ago, on Oct. 6, an unmanned Iranian aerial vehicle with stealth attributes breached Israeli air space. By eluding Israel’s radar, the UAV exposed serious gaps in its air defenses. Thursday, Oct. 11, Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah admitting the drone had come from Lebanon, promised it would not be the last. He seemed to be mocking Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his reliance on strong border fences to keep Israel safe.
A week went by and Saturday, Oct. 13, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) website quoted its chief, Lt. Gen. Ali Jabari as stating that his naval and missile forces are on “strategic deterrent readiness” – a novel term just invented by the Islamic Republic. He spoke Friday at an army base in Khorrasan, during a tour with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Iranian general hinted that the Iranian-Hizballah drone had been able to come close to Israel’s nuclear reactor in Dimona.
Both admissions that Iran and Hizballah were conducting military cyber warfare on Israel were tinged with contempt, arising from the certainty that Israel would not retaliate for the UAV’s invasion any more than it had responded to the posting of thousands of Iranian elite Al Qods troops just across its Syrian and Lebanese borders.
Shortly after Nasrallah spoke, the US Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan managed to break through VP Joe Biden’s interruptions to reveal the stark fact that Iran already possesses enough fissile material to make five nuclear bombs. The cat was finally out of the bag after years in which American and Israeli leaders contrived to keep this secret dark by verbal acrobatics and blinding showers of impenetrable “facts and figures.”
It was no slip of the tongue: Mitt Romney’s running mate was briefed by the team which is preparing the candidate himself for his second debate against President Barack Obama next Tuesday, Oct. 16.
debkafile’s Washington sources disclose that the team is headed by the former US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, who is slated for the job of National Security Adviser if Romney wins the Nov. 6 election.Ryan’s revelation implied that a Romney administration’s Iran policy would take off from the point of its possession of sufficient fissile material for a nuclear arsenal.
Not that this guarantees US military action against Iran’s nuclear program under a new president - or even backing for an Israeli strike - only that now we all know that it is not necessary to destroy the 20 or more Iranian nuclear sites to demolish its program, only to home in on the stockpile of fissile material which took Tehran 20 years to enrich and accumulate.
The Iranians, realizing their secret was out, are certainly not hiding their precious fissile stockpile of approximately one ton at the Fordo nuclear enrichment plant which continues to turn out more enriched uranium. This stock encased in a lead container no bigger than a large kitchen table could be concealed anywhere in the vast 1.6 million-square-kilometer area of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
So a fleet of bombers and array of bunker buster bombs have become dispensable for pre-empting Iran’s nuclear bomb aspirations. All that is needed is one missile – provided of course that the vital core stock can be located.
Also on Thursday, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta unveiled his “pre-9/11 moment” speech which revealed that for two weeks, hackers had been hammering the websites of big American banks, the Saudi national oil company Aramco and Qatar’s Rasgas.
In a strong comment, he said the US would strike back and consider a preemptive strike against cyber terrorism, without saying how or actually naming Iran.
However in leaks to the American media, former U.S. government officials and cyber-security experts reported that the administration believes Iranian-based hackers were responsible for what Panetta warned could be the first “cyber Pearl Harbor” against America.
The Wall Street Journal pointed to a team of 100 Iranian experts as the perpetrators of the cyber attacks on America and the Gulf oil states.
Tehran appears to be sending a message that if US-led sanctions continue to cut down its oil exports and restrict its banking business, Gulf oil producers and American banks would pay the price.
Panetta’s words may therefore be read as Washington’s final warning to Iran to desist from cyber warfare.
In the days leading up to his speech on cyber-terror, the defense secretary was tireless in cautioning against the menace of the Syrian civil war spreading to neighboring countries and evoking Bashar Assad’s threat to bring out and use his chemical weapons.
Before he turned to the cyber threat, the Syrian war had indeed tipped over into an escalating Turkish-Syrian showdown.
Both these developments mean that the waves of Middle East violence are lapping ever farther afield. All the parties with an interest in stirring up trouble are keeping a weather eye on the Obama-Romney debate next Tuesday to see if the president recovers the momentum he lost to his Republican challenger in the first debate.
Before or after the debate, each of them - Al Qaeda, Iran, Syria or Hizballah - is capable of taking direct action to show it is a player to be reckoned with. Such action may explicitly target an American interest or stir the pot by going for Israel, Turkey, Jordan, or a Gulf oil nation.
It can no longer be denied that Tehran is already on a cyber offensive against them all. In the absence of any response, Iran may decide to push further against its targets.

Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Oct. 13, 2012
October 13, 2012/The Daily Star
Lebanon's Arabic press digest.
Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Saturday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.
As-Safir.
Sleiman says [need] to benefit from resistance's capabilities
Connelly inquires about "Ayyoub" drone at the airport
In the wake of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah's announcement that his party was behind the drone [that was shot down by Israel] – an issue that remains under scrutiny in Israel and its media – and not to mention U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly's visit to the airport where she asked questions and sought clarifications from officials with regards to the "Ayyoub drone," President Michel Sleiman rushed to remark on the resistance's step.
His stance was met with satisfaction by the resistance and the political party while the March 14 coalition voiced opposition to the operation.
Sleiman said that the operation of sending a drone over Israeli territory shows the need to approve a national defense strategy that benefits from the capabilities of the resistance to defend Lebanon and also to apply a mechanism that organizes decision-making with regard to the use of such capabilities that suits the Army's plans and defensive needs as well as national interests under all circumstances.
Al-Mustaqbal
Sleiman responds to Nasrallah
Government disassociated itself
The government disassociated itself from the speech of its mentor, Hezbollah's Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, which was followed by reactions that condemned the drone incident given that it takes Lebanon into the unknown and in the Syrian-Iranian [sphere] particularly given that the party said it was behind the Iranian-made drone that flew over Israel.
It also disassociated itself from his confessions that the party was involved in fighting against the Syrian people alongside the regime of Bashar Assad.
It seems that President Michel Sleiman did not disassociate himself [from Nasrallah’s speech] but rushed into making remarks amid various evaluations that unanimously considered Nasrallah's remarks as a blow to all defense strategies.
Baabda Palace sources told Al-Mustaqbal that Sleiman's stance stems from two issues. The first is the failure of the international community to force Israel to implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and put an end to Israel’s violations of Lebanon’s airspace. The second is that Sleiman appreciates the role of the national resistance and its defensive capabilities as well as its sacrifices but in return he believes that it is necessary to benefit from such capabilities in the framework of a defense strategy that enjoys national consensus.
Al-Akhbar
Israel unaware of "Ayyoub" drone's aerial course and March 14 attacks it
The "Ayyoub" drone, details of which Hezbollah's Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah revealed, kept the political scene preoccupied and everyone’s attention was directed at this achievement by the resistance.
Available information about the drone indicates that Israeli occupation forces were not able to discover the path of the drone even after they shot it down and that the drone flew for over 300 kilometers and was in Israeli airspace for around three hours. The occupation forces were unaware of the nature of the drone's reconnaissance mission until after it was downed and neither the Israeli, the American or Mediterranean monitoring systems were able to identify the area where the plane first entered Palestinian airspace.
This simply means that if the drone had a specific mission, it would have accomplished it, knowing that it flew over military sites that are highly sensitive as well as economic institutions that are deemed very important.
Commenting on criticism against the resistance for the operation, Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said that the Future Movement in Lebanon had lost its independence after it began implementing the arrogant project against Lebanon and the region.
During his meeting with Syria's Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel-Karim Ali, Qassem reiterated that his party was opposed to involving Lebanon in the Syrian crisis.

Sleiman says escape by Islamists from Roumieh prison unacceptable
October 13, 2012 /The Daily Star
BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman voiced dismay Saturday over the escape of three Islamists from Lebanon’s Roumieh prison and said staff at the facility should be held accountable for negligence.
“The escape that happened in Roumieh prison is unacceptable, particularly that it comes at a time when the military and security forces have regained control over the chaos in some areas [of the country],” Sleiman, who voiced dismay over the incident, said, according to a statement from his office.
A senior officer told The Daily Star Friday that three Fatah al-Islam inmates escaped Lebanon’s largest detention facility but it is still undetermined when they actually fled.
Sleiman, whose comments came during a meeting with the country’s police chief, said staff at the facility should be held accountable.
“The force tasked with security at the prison should bear the responsibility because it is unacceptable for an escape to go unnoticed and for the officials not to be held responsible for such negligence,” Sleiman said.
Media reports Friday pointed to the possibility that the three inmates escaped about a month ago and that their absence only came to light after prison guards went searching for one of the men over a court date.
Inmates are being questioned over the breakout and the police began Friday a manhunt around the forested hills surrounding Roumieh.
According to the statement Saturday, Sleiman asked Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi to launch an investigation into the incident and take the necessary steps to apprehend the prisoners.
He also asked the Interior Ministry and the military judiciary to uphold their duties in this matter.
Islamist prisoners have been held in Roumieh for several years over suspected links to Fatah al-Islam, which fought the Lebanese Army in the north Lebanon Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in 2007. Many of the prisoners have been held without charge.

Retired soldier kidnapped in east Lebanon
October 13, 2012 /The Daily Star
BAALBEK, Lebanon: A retired soldier was kidnapped Saturday in Baalbek, east Lebanon, security sources told The Daily Star.
Four men belonging to the Jaafar clan abducted Youssef Mohammad Sukariyya, claiming that he owed one of their relatives money. The Lebanese Army has launched a search operation for the retired soldier. The military plans a crackdown in the Bekaa to curb crime levels in the east of the country.

Hariri criticizes Hezbollah, says drone mission risky move
October 13, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri criticized in remarks Saturday Hezbollah’s decision to send a drone into Israel, describing it as an “uncalculated adventure.”
“I welcome President Michel Sleiman's approach that reflects deep concern that is shared by all of the Lebanese with regard to the uncalculated adventures Hezbollah wants to drag Lebanon into,” Hariri said in a statement issued to An-Nahar newspaper.
Hariri was referring to Sleiman’s proposal for a national defense strategy that would benefit from Hezbollah’s arsenal and subordinate the decision of its use to the Lebanese Army.
Hezbollah has admitted recently sending a drone into Israeli airspace that was later downed by the Jewish state and vowed that the operation will not be its last.
Hariri, who heads the opposition Future Movement, also urged Lebanese to stand against attempts to endanger the country through acts of involving them in the Syria crisis or violating international resolutions. “During these delicate hours in the region, all loyal Lebanese and those who oppose endangering Lebanon’s national interests ... whether its commitment to international resolutions, particularly [UNSCR] 1701, or involving Lebanese [in the Syria crisis] by turning the act of fighting alongside the Syrian regime into a major part of the agendas of the resistance and Jihad, should bear their historic responsibilities so that everyone realizes once and for all that Lebanon is not a unmanned drone,” he said.
Sleiman said Friday the Hezbollah-dispatched plane underscored the need for a defense strategy that benefits from the resistance party’s strength.
In a statement, he called for establishing “a mechanism to use these capabilities exclusively, and under any circumstances in line with the Army’s plans and its defense needs and the national interest.”
Hariri has repeatedly called on Hezbollah to surrender its arms to the state, saying it is an obstacle to political life in the country.
Lebanon has adopted a policy of dissociating itself from the developments in the region, particularly the 18-month long Syria crisis.

Hezbollah obliged to seek out all means to deter Israel: Fneish
October 13, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Hezbollah Minister Mohammad Fneish said Saturday his party has a duty to acquire any means to deter Israel and defend Lebanon.
“It is the resistance's right and duty to seek and possess whatever [means] that can deter the enemy and fortify deterrence in order to continue the balance of deterrence between us and the Israeli enemy,” Fneish, a state minister in the government, said at a ceremony in Mayfadoun, south Lebanon.
Fneish’s comments come days after Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said the party had successfully flown a drone into Israeli airspace. The unmanned aerial vehicle, code named “Ayyoub,” was later shot down by the Israeli air force.
In a swipe at the Lebanese opposition, Fneish said the “Ayyoub operation” would not have been possible had Hezbollah surrendered its weapons.
“If the resistance was lured into agreeing to what they [March 14 coalition] wanted, we wouldn't have seen such progress in capabilities,” he said, adding that UAV operation over Israel demonstrated that Hezbollah’s arms were directed at “the enemy to confront its ambitions and defend Lebanon.”
Nasrallah said Thursday that the drone, named after e Hezbollah fighter who specialized in reconnaissance, flew over "sensitive" sites including the suspect Dimona nuclear facility in the Negev Desert.
The Israeli military has on one other occasion shot down a UAV belonging to Lebanese group. In July 2006, a Hezbollah drone was downed by the Jewish state over its territorial waters. A year earlier, Hezbollah succeeded in flying a drone over parts of northern Israel.
In his speech Saturday, Fneish also spoke about the mounting reports of Hezbollah fighters battling alongside Syria’s government forces. He described the reports as part of attacks and media campaigns to accuse the resistance and distort its image.
On Thursday, Nasrallah denied that Hezbollah members were fighting alongside Syrian government forces in the unrest which according to the U.N. has claimed over 20,000 lives.

Climbing broad beans flourish in south Lebanon
October 12, 2012 /By Mohammed Zaatari/The Daily Star
SHAWALIQ, Lebanon: With September and October comes the arrival of Lebanon’s bean harvest, covering the hills in the district of Jezzine with green-covered lattices. Beans are climbing plants, growing vertically and horizontally in the hills surrounding Jezzine and across Lebanon’s southern coastline.
The crop’s cycle begins with its planting in April, ending with a harvest that starts in September and sometimes continues through to January.
Beans require a lot of water and thrive in cold mountainous weather.
Unfortunately, the hot summer Lebanon experienced this year has proved devastating for farmers, ruining most of the crops along the southern coast: Only a few of their bean crops have survived for the harvest.
Fortunately for the hilltop village of Shawaliq in the district of Jezzine, the weather has been more cooperative, with farmers preparing to welcome their bounty.
Someone approaching Shawaliq will see what appear to be vast grassy hills, but which are in fact thousands of bean plants growing on wooden lattices.
Ali Mohammad is a farmer in Shawaliq who has covered more than four dunums of his land with broad bean plants.
“I chose the profession of agriculture and left my job in iron manufacturing by coincidence. But now I like planting climbing plants like beans, grapes and fiber,” Mohammad says.
He adds that broad beans are a generous crop. When you plant one seed, you get hundreds of pods.
“Beans provide so much and should be well taken care of. All the family must work together.”
Mohammad describes the process of growing the crop, beginning with sowing dried bean seeds at the beginning of April.
There must be 3 meters of space between each seed, and each one capable of producing a plant that yields up to 3 kilograms of beans by the time harvest begins.
The lands of Mohammad, a successful cultivator, produce 4 tons of broad beans every year.
“We plant the seeds one by one. Every seed, which weighs only a few grams, gives us 3 kilograms of beans if we take good care of the crops. Sixty days after planting, the crop appears and starts to climb vertically and horizontally,” Mohammad says.
His success has largely depended on the water provided by the Litani irrigation project, launched in the beginning of 2012 to benefit farmers in south Lebanon.
“It’s well known that beans need a lot of water and God has given us the Litani project so that we can irrigate our crops,” Mohammad says.
During harvest season, members of Mohammad’s family gather under the lattices every day and race to pick the green pods. Their weekly production is over 300 kilograms of broad beans.
Mohammad boasts that his production for this year will exceed the expected four tons. After the harvest, which comes once a year, he will start preparing for the next season.
Cultivating the beans has become a way of life for Mohammad’s family. His daughter Salam, who helps with the harvest, is fond of beans and says that planting them has become a family tradition.
“Once you see the green pods giving you all of these crops you forget the hard work [of planting and harvesting],” she says.
The family sells their crop at the wholesale vegetable market for LL6,000 per kilogram. In the retail market, each kilogram of broad beans usually costs LL7,000.
“From our profits we cover the expenses and we live from the rest. I can even say that we’re saving money,” Salam adds.
Broad beans can be stored in the refrigerator and used throughout the year for popular dishes – including the breakfast dish foul medames – and in main courses with rice and meat.
It is traditional for the residents of the mountains to rely on their stores of beans to consume through the winter.

Aoun Marking October 13, 1990: We Will Surmount All Difficulties to Uphold Nation
Naharnet/The Free Patriotic Movement commemorated on Saturday the ouster of its leader MP Michel Aoun on October 13, 1990. “Today the FPM is working on surmounting the difficulties that occurred in the past to uphold the nation,” Aoun told gatherers during a mass at Deir el-Qalaa in Beit Mery. He pointed out that his party began “accomplishing its goals.”The FPM leader didn't tackle any current political affair. Aoun described the memorial as a “day of pride even if it was laced with pain.”He told his supporters that he met his promise and returned to Lebanon. Aoun said that the Taef accord was only signed by Lebanese foes, however, it failed to force anyone to withdraw from Lebanon. Aoun served as the PM of the legal faction of the two rival governments contending for power in Lebanon from 1988 to October 1990.He declared the “Liberation War” against the Syrian occupation on March 14 1989. On the October 13, 1990, the Syrian forces invaded Beirut killing hundreds of unarmed soldiers and civilians. Aoun, then-prime minister, left the Presidential Palace and sought refuge in the French Embassy and he was later allowed to travel to France. He returned to Lebanon on May 7, 2005, eleven days after the withdrawal of Syrian troops. In 2006, as head of the FPM, he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hizbullah. He visited Syria in 2009.

Al-Qaeda leader urges holy war over Prophet film
October 13, 2012 /CAIRO: The leader of Al-Qaida has urged Muslims to wage holy war against the United States and Israel over a film that insulted Islam's Prophet Mohammad.
Ayman al-Zawahri praised as "honest and zealous" demonstrators who breached the U.S Embassy in Cairo and attackers who stormed the U.S. "embassy" in Benghazi in violence linked to the film. The American ambassador and three others died in the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in the Libyan city.
The amateur film "Innocence of Muslims" was made by an Egyptian-born American citizen.
In an audio message released by al-Qaida's media arm As-Sahab and posted on militant websites early Saturday, al-Zawahri claimed Washington allowed the film's production under the pretext of freedom of expression, "but this freedom did not prevent them from torturing Muslim prisoners."

Iran's Salehi visits Qatar to discuss Iranians seized in Syria
DUBAI, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi visited Qatar in the past week to discuss the fate of 48 Iranians kidnapped by rebels in Syria, a deputy foreign minister said on Saturday, according to Iran's Fars news agency. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian did not say who Salehi met while in Qatar, whose government is a major supporter of rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iran's closest ally in the region.
Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow Assad seized the group of 48 Iranians in August, accusing them of being members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards sent to help Syrian government forces crush the uprising which began in March last year. Iran says the group was on a religious pilgrimage and has called for their immediate release.
"During this trip in addition to the developments in Syria, specifically the 48 kidnapped Iranian pilgrims in Syria were discussed," Amir-Abdollahian said, according to Fars.
Iran has called on Turkey and Qatar to use their links with rebel groups to help secure their freedom.
The al-Baraa brigade, part of the main rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, said last week it would start killing the Iranians within 48 hours unless Assad freed Syrian opposition detainees and stopped shelling civilian areas. But Qatar, following a request from Iran, urged the rebels not to carry out the threat. Amir-Abdollahian said on Saturday the kidnapped Iranians were in good health.
Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, also visited Qatar this week, Qatari news agencies reported. Saudi Arabia is also supporting the Syrian rebels.

Turkey condemns U.N. inertia as Syrian conflict deepens
October 13, 2012/By Nick Tattersall, Ece Toksabay/Daily Star
ISTANBUL: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan rebuked the U.N. Security Council for inaction over Syria on Saturday as war intensified across the country, saying the world body of superpowers was repeating mistakes that led to massacres in Bosnia in the 1990s.
President Bashar Assad's forces used air strikes and artillery to bombard insurgents on several fronts in the 19-month-old conflict, which risks dragging in regional powers with no sign of a diplomatic breakthrough. Turkey - increasingly entangled after having intercepted a Syrian airliner carrying what it said were Russian-made munitions for the Syrian army, infuriating Moscow and Damascus - has led calls for intervention, including no-fly zones enforced by foreign aircraft to stop deadly air raids by Assad's forces.
But there is little chance of U.N. support for robust action. China insists any solution to Syria's crisis must come from within while Russia has said many Syrians still support Assad. Western nations meanwhile are loath to commit to any military action that could touch off a regional sectarian war.
"The U.N. Security Council has not intervened in the human tragedy that has been going on in Syria for 20 months, despite all our efforts," Erdogan told a conference in Istanbul attended by dignitaries including Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby. "There's an attitude that encourages, gives the green light to Assad to kill tens or hundreds of people every day."
The bloodshed has worsened markedly in the past two months although neither side has been able to gain a distinct advantage, with government force relying heavily on air power and artillery to batter the rebels.
Combat has been reported nationwide but the crucial strategic battles are being fought in an arc through western Syria, where most of the population lives.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was expected to meet U.N. special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on the sidelines of the Istanbul conference later. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this week Brahimi would visit Syria soon to try to persuade Assad to call an immediate ceasefire.
The government dispatched warplanes to attack insurgent forces surrounding the Wadi-al-Dayf military barracks near Maarat al-Numan in Idlib province, wounding 22 rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The rebels captured Maarat al-Numan this week, cutting the main north-south highway linking Damascus, Homs and Aleppo, and government forces will need to retake it in order to reinforce and resupply Aleppo - Syria's largest city and commercial hub.
The U.N. Security Council, divided between Western powers on one side and Russia and China on the other, has proved helpless in halting a conflict which has spiralled into civil war and killed more than 30,000 people. Erdogan said a system which allowed one or two nations to block intervention in such a grave humanitarian crisis was inherently unjust, and that Syria would go down in history as a U.N. failure much like Bosnia in the 1990s. "How sad is that the United Nations is as helpless today as it was 20 years go when it watched the massacre of hundreds of thousands of people in the Balkans, Bosnia and Srebrenica," Erdogan told the Istanbul conference.
The July 1995 massacre in Srebrenica was the worst on European soil since World War Two, in which Dutch U.N. peacekeepers abandoned what had been designated a U.N. safe haven to advancing Bosnian Serb forces, who then killed 8,000 Muslim men and boys and bulldozed their corpses into pits.
Turkish officials had expressed hope they might be able to persuade Moscow, which sold Syria $1 billion of arms last year, to soften its strident opposition at the Security Council and that if it succeeded, China would follow suit. But relations between Ankara and Moscow sank to a new low this week after Turkey forced down a passenger jet flying from Moscow and publicly accused Russia of ferrying military equipment to Assad's forces. Russia has said there were no weapons on the plane and that it was carrying a legal shipment of radar equipment.
Elsewhere on Syria's battlefronts on Saturday, government forces rained mortar fire down on the opposition-held Khalidiya neighbourhood of the city of Homs, the Observatory said. Explosions were felt throughout the besieged district.
To the south of Damascus near Deraa - cradle of the uprising whicb began with peaceful street rallies - Assad's troops and rebels were fighting on the edge of the town of Maarba.
After four days of heavy fighting in the town of Azmarin on the Turkish border, the rebels appeared to have a fragile hold.
"Praise be the town is now in our hands ... We have raised two flags inside the town and the battles are over. Azmarin is completely under our control," one resident, who did not want to be named, told Reuters by telephone from inside the town.
But a few km (miles) along the border clashes continued in the Syrian town of Darkush, where the crack of gunfire and sporadic sound of shelling could be heard from Turkey.
In a preliminary death toll across the country for Friday alone, the Observatory listed about 160 dead. Among them were a 3-year-old child killed in a bombardment of old Aleppo, a district whose ancient buildings have been severely damaged. Tensions between Ankara and Damascus have also worsened. Turkey scrambled two fighter jets on Friday after a Syrian helicopter bombed Azmarin and has warned of a more forceful response if Syrian shells continue to fly over the border.
Syria's state news agency SANA said Damascus was ready to accept a Russian proposal for a Syrian-Turkish joint security committee to try to contain the border violence. There was no confirmation of this from the Turkish side.

Michael Aoun's derailed Nicole Bekhaazi
Hazem al-Amin, October 12, 2012 /Now Lebanon/
The low level of ethics underlying the Aounist campaign on May Chidiac is by no means a futile detail, as Aounism is always prone to ethical gaffes. The campaign targeting May Chidiac, who is running for the Maronite seat in Kesrouan in next year’s parliamentary elections, started with the following comment written by Aounist activist Nicole Bekhaazi on her Facebook page: “May Chidiac’s candidature in Kesrouan will not be accepted because it is unconstitutional. According to the constitution, Kesrouan is endowed with five MPs, not four and a half.” This was a reference to May Chidiac’s amputated leg and hand as a result of the attempt to assassinate her.
Aounists were pleased with the activist’s phrase, which got many likes and went viral, even as the Change and Reform bloc has yet to comment on it.
It would be not be untrue to say that Aounism is always prone to ethical gaffes. This is not a controversial statement or part of an exchange of insults. Indeed, some branches of knowledge are especially designed to explain such an ethical rush and dissipate the bewilderment resulting from the repetition of such incidents, especially when they originate from a collective “subconscious” that rules over a politically and socially active bloc. The tendency to use such an incident to epitomize Aounism does entail a certain degree of generalization and injustice, but this interpretation is dictated by the repetition of similar incidents. In fact, General Michel Aoun’s press conferences often end with words that belong to this language register. Some programs on [pro-Aoun TV station] OTV border on tacky folk rhetoric. Pro-Aoun journalists who write instinct-based articles, which are a mixture of politics and verbal abuse, are no strangers to this category. Aounist representatives in the cabinet and parliament, from [Energy Minister] Gebran Bassil to [MP] Nabil Nicolas, also fit within this phenomenon.
Therefore, what we have at hand is an arsenal of tackiness … where Aounist men and women with a medium level of knowledge and intelligence sink to instincts that have not been schooled and polished by sufficient education. What is Aounism then? Does it epitomize the decadence of Lebanon’s Christians? No, as the cracks riddling the sociopolitical structure are not enough to lead to such a blatant low.
Most probably, this is the moment where the decadent situation of Mount Lebanon’s Christians crosses the path of a serviceman who converted into politics. The army alone does not breed such ingratitude and the Christians could have addressed the consequences of the war using different means. Accordingly, Aounism is the result of two negative components.
Michel Aoun can actually say: “There is freedom in Syria, as proven by the fact that Syrians can go out and buy meat anywhere they want.” Likewise, the aforementioned Aounist activist can also say that there are five parliamentary seats rather than four and a half in Kesrouan. 
*This article is a translation of the original, which appeared on the NOW Arabic site on Friday October 12, 2012

We the Lebanese are a silly country
October 12, 2012
Earlier this week Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud—flanked by Rina and Romy Shibani, winner and runner-up, respectively, of the latest Miss Lebanon pageant—called for the creation of a “national academy” to groom future beauty queens and teach them to promote a positive image of Lebanon. Months earlier, in July, when he announced the ministry’s sponsorship of the competition, Abboud also called on parents to encourage their daughters to participate in future pageants. If ever there were a national call to arms that illustrated how sunk in shallowness we are and how limited in our aspirations we have become, it was this.
Abboud is one of our smarter ministers, so one must ask what planet he was on when he made these asinine suggestions. He is a successful industrialist, and yet if he cannot see the damage he is doing to Lebanon’s reputation by championing an event that for years has been dismissed as sexist by more enlightened nations, what hope is there for our tiny, insignificant, but over-inflated country.
The irony is that if any beauty academy—even writing the words feels ludicrous—is ever established, it will be nothing more than a veneer to hide the chronic ugliness our society has acquired.
The latest source of this reeking stench was found at the departure gate of an outward-bound MEA flight at Rafiq Hariri International airport last week, when a Middle East Airlines employee felt she was well within her rights to single out a group of foreigners—it is not clear if they were Nepalese of Filipino—and tell them to shut up. We are not sure why she did this, but it is a fair guess that their happy chatter in an unfamiliar language was bothering the sort of people who normally employ them to clean their homes. Imagine!
The employee concerned has since been let go, and it would be easy to dismiss the entire incident as the actions of one rotten apple. We could do this if Lebanon were a country where basic human decency—not to mention human rights—were practiced as part and parcel of everyday life. But it isn’t, and so we can’t. We live in a bubble.
Something happened to Lebanon while the rest of the world was evolving. Our 15-year civil war certainly had something to do with it. Lebanon went into suspended animation for nearly two decades, and when we came to, our inherent national selfishness, our insular tribal nature, our inability to engage with the global community, and our refusal to recognize that we are a tiny country with very little, if any, global clout, have all combined to make us one of the most dysfunctional nations on earth.
We claim modernity, and yet priests and sheikhs still rule our personal status. Our MPs would blanche at accusations that they are small-minded people lacking in sophistication, and yet they cannot find it within themselves to pass a law that prohibits a husband from forcefully having sex with his wife. We claim to be a country of compassion, and yet we practice apartheid. In short, we are a country that feels it has the right tell irritating foreigners to be quiet, even if they come from a nation with three times our GDP.
The only good to have come out of the MEA incident is the fact that public outrage forced the airline to act. There is hope.
A new generation of Lebanese who have either lived aboard, grown up after the war, or simply, through social media, are waking up to the fact that they have a voice and that they don’t have to tolerate the uglier or unfair aspects of the Lebanese character. People power, mainly through Twitter and Facebook, provoked MEA into action. Twenty years ago, even ten years ago, perhaps as little as five years ago, the incident would have very likely passed unnoticed. Today, we have the power to effect change, if we want it.
Let’s first of all establish an academy for national values, for upholding basic human rights, for updating our societal laws, for enforcing equality, for developing prosperity, for teaching a notion of sovereignty and for respecting the environment. The list could go on and on, but it should not, even at the very end, include the grooming of beauty queens. That’s just plain silly.

Syrian security apparatus weakened, in hiding like "rats" - Source
By Shirzad Shikhani/Asharq Alawsat
Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat – The ongoing Syrian revolution, which initially broke out more than 18 months ago, has had huge repercussions on domestic and regional affairs. Indeed the Arab Spring as a whole has resulted in significant shifts within Arab society and politics, particularly the actions and behavior of dictatorial regimes. Such regimes previously relied on strong security and intelligence apparatus to intimidate the opposition and cow the general public. Many Arab regimes, including the al-Assad regime in Syria, succeeded over the past decades in such endeavors, securely clinging on to power and facing only sporadic internal dissent that was swiftly crushed. Hafez al-Assad instituted this policy in Syria, laying the foundations for a Baathist regime and establishing a strong security apparatus; these were inherited by Bashar al-Assad when he came to power in Syria in 2000.
Over the past 40 years, the Syrian security apparatus has been successful in clamping down on the entire country. Public political dissent was virtually non-existent, whilst any Syrian citizen wishing to travel abroad would have to pass a number of stringent security checks. However the Syrian security apparatus has seen its grip on the country slacken following the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, to the point that much of the country is now outside of the control of the central government. Syrian citizens, across the country, have taken up arms to tear down the regime that the security apparatus is tasked with defending, and many believe that it is just a matter of time before the al-Assad regime collapses completely.
A prominent Syrian Kurdish dissident, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, mused on the huge changes that have taken place in Syria following the outbreak of the revolution, saying “security elements today are now afraid of us, after we suffered at their hands for more than 40 years!” He revealed that “they [Syrian security] are sheltering in their institutional headquarters like rats, and they do not dare to come out for fear of being arrested or killed by the citizens!”
He added “the borders are now open to us, nobody can call us to account regarding entry and exit, and this is the first time in my political life that I have enjoyed this freedom” revealing that “I was able to visit my children, who are refugees in Europe, after long decades of separation!”
Asharq Al-Awsat met with this well-known Syrian Kurdish political dissident, who asked for his identity to be concealed for fear of reprisals by al-Assad regime forces, in Erbil on Wednesday. He was returning from a visit to Turkey, which finds itself in a virtual state of war with the al-Assad regime after tensions erupted along the Syrian – Turkish border.
He informed Asharq Al-Awsat “I was invited by Turkish Kurdish parties [to visit], so I left Qamishli and crossed the border into the Kurdistan Region, and from there I traveled to Diyarbakir and met with a number of Kurdish leaders there. We conducted talks on the Kurdistan situation in Syria and Turkey, and I am not returning to Qamishli.”
He revealed that many Syrian Kurdish dissidents are travelling to the Kurdistan Region on a daily basis, whether in political delegations or individually, to meet with Kurdish leaders there and discuss the post-Assad period in Syria. He added that other Syrian Kurdish dissidents also traveled to Brussels, Washington and Paris to take part in Syrian opposition summits, and that nobody – not least the ailing al-Assad regime – is capable of stopping them.
Another Syrian opposition source, also speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, revealed “I am a member of the political bureau of a [Syrian] Kurdish opposition party currently residing in Kurdistan Region. I do not feel any fear of travelling to Qamishli or any other Kurdish town [in Syria] to meet with my party leaders. Nobody dares to hold us to account or investigate us….all Syrian security apparatus – officers and privates – are now staying within their own institutions, nobody dares to come out, so we are free of them!”
He added “in the past, we were afraid of them and would flee their pursuit, and indeed we would spend millions in bribes to them so that they did not kill us or accuse us of crimes against the regime…whilst today they are contacting us in secret to guarantee them their lives.”
The Syrian Kurdish opposition figure called on Syrian soldiers and officers to defect from the al-Assad regime and join the Syrian revolution, adding “we will not stop until we get rid of this oppressive and violent regime that is killing its own people. It rejected every peaceful solution that would guarantee a safe departure from Syria, and these officers and soldiers must not link their fate with the fate of this regime whose ouster is inevitable…they must return to the ranks of the Syrian people before it is too late”

Isn't al-Assad detached from reality?
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
During an interview with German’s Der Spiegel magazine, which was also published by our newspaper last Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said “In Damascus I met a president who is perfectly aware of the critical situation. He didn't seem to be out of touch, but rather self-confident and combative. The president appeared confident that he could win the conflict in Syria militarily.” Is al-Assad truly not out of touch?
Salehi did not stop here, and went on to say “the president is realistic. He does not believe that Syria can be pacified from one day to the next. He assumes that, like in Iraq, there will continue to be additional trouble spots and pockets of opposition.” The fact is that the information that I have heard from regional officials familiar with Syrian affairs is the complete opposite to Salehi’s statements, even if they agree with the Iranian Foreign Minister that al-Assad believes that he can decisively win this conflict militarily.
Well-informed sources have told me that those involved with Syrian affairs have begun to receive numerous messages from officials close to al-Assad. These messages reveal that al-Assad is detached from reality and leading the entire country into chaos. We cannot believe any of his talk about reform or negotiations, for al-Assad – according to these Syrian officials – is completely detached from reality and believes that he will be able to resolve the situation in the country in the near-future. He is committed to continuing the killing until the bitter end. This is the sole thing that those close to al-Assad and Salehi agree upon, particularly after Salehi stated that al-Assad is “confident that he could win the conflict in Syria militarily.” Talk about al-Assad’s detachment from reality is nothing new, and this was put forward by some who met him immediately following the outbreak of the Syrian revolution. This is also what we heard from some of al-Assad’s own ministers, including some who are personal friends of his, or at least that’s what the tyrant of Damascus believes! Everybody confirms that the man is completely out of touch regarding what is taking place around him, and that he truly believes that there is a universal conspiracy against him. Therefore, he is incapable of seeing the truth and will drag all his allies into the abyss with him. The tyrant of Damascus is like somebody who has fallen into a hole and keeps digging! Informed sources also told me that the Russians – and this is a surprise – informed al-Assad that they cannot continue supporting him in this endless manner, and that they are no longer able to bear all the losses and difficulties that they are facing!
Here, one might say: why are we talking about al-Assad’s detachment from reality at this juncture, whether this comes from officials close to him or Russian nervousness? The answer is simple, and that is that we are beginning to approach the final stages of the US presidential elections. This is not to mention the developments that have taken place on the Turkish side, with Ankara now being in a state of war with al-Assad. Arab observers will also be aware of Arab movement on different levels in this regard. This means that everybody has begun to sense that something is imminent on the Syrian scene, perhaps not today or tomorrow, but certainly in a matter of months! Therefore, there can be no doubt that al-Assad has indeed lost his senses, and the evidence of this is the daily criminal escalation on the ground in Syria.