Bible Quotation for today/Instructions and Warnings
Hebrew 12/: "12-28: "Lift up your tired hands, then, and strengthen your trembling knees!  Keep walking on straight paths, so that the lame foot may not be disabled, but instead be healed. Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it.  Guard against turning back from the grace of God. Let no one become like a bitter plant that grows up and causes many troubles with its poison. 16 Let no one become immoral or unspiritual like Esau, who for a single meal sold his rights as the older son.  Afterward, you know, he wanted to receive his father's blessing; but he was turned back, because he could not find any way to change what he had done, even though in tears he looked for it. You have not come, as the people of Israel came, to what you can feel, to Mount Sinai with its blazing fire, the darkness and the gloom, the storm, the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of a voice. When the people heard the voice, they begged not to hear another word,  because they could not bear the order which said, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling and afraid!”Instead, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, with its thousands of angels.  You have come to the joyful gathering of God's first-born, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, who is the judge of all people, and to the spirits of good people made perfect.  You have come to Jesus, who arranged the new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that promises much better things than does the blood of Abel. Be careful, then, and do not refuse to hear him who speaks. Those who refused to hear the one who gave the divine message on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape, then, if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven! 26 His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, “I will once more shake not only the earth but heaven as well.”  The words “once more” plainly show that the created things will be shaken and removed, so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain. Let us be thankful, then, because we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him, with reverence and awe; 29 because our God is indeed a destroying fire.
 

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Hezbollah’s mad gamble in Qusair/By Michael Young /The Daily Star/April 26/13
Intervention Escalation/By: James F. Jeffrey /Washington Institute/April 26/13

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for April 26/13

Israel Shoots Down Drone Off Haifa, Hizbullah Denies Responsibility
U.N. Warns of Syrian War Spillover in Lebanon as U.S. Slams Hizbullah
Hezbollah denies sending drone over Israel, TV reports say
White House to Congress: Assad has used chemical weapons. Israeli jets down Hizballah drone opposite Haifa
UNIFIL: No definite information on drone sent from Lebanon
Report: Fatmagul Sultan Power Vessel Hit by Major Malfunction, Nine Generators Shut Down
Geagea Rejects any Attempt to Form a Political Government
Aoun to Vote Only for Orthodox Proposal, but to Run in Polls even Under 1960 Law
Report: Lebanon's Offshore Gas Reserves Larger than Israel
60 Students Hospitalized over Water Contamination in Tripoli
Report: Lebanon's Offshore Gas Reserves Larger than Israel
Pilgrims' Families Threaten to Rally near Embassies Backing Syria Opposition
Aoun to Vote Only for Orthodox Proposal, but to Run in Polls even Under 1960 Law
Bogdanov Urges No Interference in Lebanon, Says Bishops Abduction a Grave Crime
PSP to Appeal Suspension of Nominations for Parliamentary Elections on Friday
Key Tripoli Figures United Against Security, Economic Deterioration
Charbel Signs First Ever Civil Marriage Conducted in Lebanon
Safadi: Lebanon not alarmed by U.S. action against exchangers
Jihad in Sidon dismissed as public relations stunt
Lebanon deal? Much more is required
Khatib appeals to Nasrallah to leave Syria
Report: Fatmagul Sultan Power Vessel Hit by Major Malfunction, Nine Generators Shut Down
Syrian Troops Capture Key Town Near Damascus
Russia envoy seeks to shield Lebanon
Putin Hopes Boston Prompts Closer U.S., Russia Anti-Terror Work
US lawmakers demand action on Syria chemical weapons
U.S. weighs action over chemical arms
Iran 'ready to resume talks' with world powers

To Patriarch Al Raei: Your Beatitude, Silence is a virtue and a gift
Elias Bejjani/We strongly believe that the most valuable gift ever our politically derailed Maronite Patriarch can offer to us the Maronites and to all the other Lebanese is his total and complete detachment and dissociation from controversial political rhetoric and stances. We are not happy at all that he has appointed himself an ambassador for the criminal Al Assad Syrian regime, or that he is protecting and safeguarding Hezbollah's weaponry and terrorism. We do not have a religious problem with his Beatitude, but a huge political and patriotic one. We call on him not to interfere in political issues and focus only on his religious role. Politically, our country, Lebanon is full of corrupted and mercenary politicians, officials and dignitaries, we do not need one more to join their flock. We call on his beatitude to spare us his political advices based on the Lebanese proverb that says: "One can not give what he does not have"

U.N. Warns of Syrian War Spillover in Lebanon as U.S. Slams Hizbullah
Naharnet/U.N. Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman has warned that the spillover of Syria's war continues to be felt in Lebanon as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N. Susan Rice slammed Hizbullah for undermining the country's dissociation policy. “The spillover of the conflict in Syria continues to be felt in Lebanon,” Feltman told the U.N. Security Council during an open debate on the Middle East Wednesday.
Feltman cited the recent shelling on Lebanese border villages and rocket attacks that have caused deaths and injuries.
The recent assaults were made on the Lebanese eastern region of Hermel and mainly the town of al-Qasr. Syria rebels have fired the shells over Hizbullah's involvement in the war.
The party's gunmen are reportedly helping Syrian regime troops to fight rebels in the town of al-Qusayr that lies near the border with Lebanon. Feltman said that U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon “calls on all Lebanese parties to respect President (Michel) Suleiman’s wise and courageous disassociation policy designed to help protect Lebanon from spillover from Syria.”
“The Secretary-General, concerned by reports that Lebanese are fighting in Syria both on the side of the regime and on the side of the opposition, hopes that the new government will finds ways to promote better compliance by all sides in Lebanon with the disassociation policy,” he said.
“The conflict in Syria threatens the stability of its neighbors, particularly Lebanon, as demonstrated by recent attacks in Hermel and al-Qasr,” Rice told the Council.
“Hizbullah not only continues to undermine Lebanon from within by violating the government’s policy of disassociation but actively enables Assad to wage war on the Syrian people by providing money, weapons, and expertise to the regime in close coordination with Iran,” she said. Rice hailed Suleiman’s leadership and said Premier-designate Tammam Salam's nomination “is a positive first step towards forming a new government, a process that must remain Lebanese-led.”“We encourage Lebanon’s leaders to adhere to the legal and constitutional framework for holding timely parliamentary elections,” she said.
Lebanon's ambassador to the U.N. Nawwaf Salam, who also addressed the Security Council, said Suleiman renewed on Wednesday his rejection of sending arms and fighters to Syria.
“This is not only in conformity of the Baabda Declaration and the dissociation policy but it aims to consolidate the Lebanese national unity and avoid any turmoil in coexistence,” he said.

Hezbollah denies sending drone over Israel, TV reports say
Powerful Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah denied on Thursday that it had sent a drone over Israel, hours after the Israeli air force said it shot down an unmanned aircraft off the country's northern coast.
"Hezbollah denies sending any unmanned drone towards occupied Palestine," the movement's television channel Al-Manar said, without elaborating. Israel's deputy defense minister earlier put the blame squarely on Hezbollah. Hezbollah has previously claimed responsibility for drone infiltrations, most recently on October 7.
"An unmanned aircraft (UAV) was identified approaching the coast of Israel and was successfully intercepted by IAF aircraft five nautical miles off the coast of Haifa at approximately 2:00 pm today," the military said.
The incident took place as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was flying to attend a ceremony in the Druze village of Julis, with the helicopter briefly landing after he received the news.
"I see this attempt to breach our borders as extremely grave," the premier said. "We will continue to do whatever we must to protect the security of Israel's citizens." Military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner told reporters the drone had been identified moving down the Lebanese coast before reaching Israeli airspace. "A little after 1:00 pm, our aerial defense system identified [a drone] moving from north to south along the coast of Lebanon," he said. "Aircraft, helicopters and combat airplanes were alerted to the area and after confirmation that it was an unfriendly aircraft, they were approved to shoot it down."
But despite widespread reports blaming Hezbollah, Lerner was cautious, saying the incident was still being investigated.
"We don't know where the aircraft was coming from and where it was actually going," he said, adding that the navy was "searching for the remains of the UAV" as part of the probe.
But Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon said it was clear that the Lebanese Shiite movement was behind the attack.
"We're talking about another attempt by Hezbollah to send an unmanned drone into Israeli territory," he told army radio, describing it as "another attempt to destabilize the Middle East."

UNIFIL: No definite information on drone sent from Lebanon
Now Lebanon/UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said that the UNIFIL still has no definite information regarding the drone sent into Israel from Lebanon. “UNIFIL is still probing whether the information regarding a drone being sent over UNIFIL’s operation zone is true or not,” the National News Agency quoted Tenenti as saying in a statement issued Thursday.
He also said that “the coverage of our aerial monitoring is limited to the air space above the UNIFIL operation zone.”Earlier Thursday, the Israeli air force shot down an unmanned drone from Lebanon off the northern coast of Israel in an incident described by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "extremely grave."

Analysis: Hezbollah drone a dangerous publicity stunt
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Analysis-Hezbollah-drone-a-dangerous-publicity-stunt-311157
'By YAAKOV LAPPIN LAST UPDATED: 04/25/2013/J.Post
Sending a drone into Israeli air space is meant to remind the Lebanese public that Hezbollah is still defined by its jihad against Israel and not by its large-scale and bloody involvement in the Syrian civil war. Hezbollah’s attempt – likely Iranian-backed – to fly a drone into Israeli air space on Thursday is a dangerous publicity stunt designed to distract attention from its large-scale and bloody involvement in the Syrian civil war.
As the Shi’ite terror organization sends more and more fighters to kill Sunni Syrian rebels, and to try and save the regime of Bashar Assad, it is struggling to justify its involvement to Sunni Lebanese, who are growing increasingly outraged and are openly challenging Hezbollah’s role in their country and the region. Sending a drone into Israeli air space is meant to remind the Lebanese public that Hezbollah is still defined by its jihad against Israel.
Despite being an exercise in PR, the drone incident remains a serious provocation – an attempted breach of Israeli air space near Haifa, home to sensitive petrochemical plants that Hassan Nasrallah has threatened to target.
The air force’s swift reaction represents a significant improvement from the October drone infiltration, when Hezbollah managed to fly a drone deep into Israeli territory, before it was shot down. The lessons of last year’s incident have been learned well, judging by the early detection and interception of the hostile craft on Thursday.
The navy will now begin the tedious task of hunting for the drone’s pieces in the Mediterranean Sea, and the IDF will seek to answer questions such as: What type of drone was involved? Did it managed to record video footage, and could it transmit any of that footage to a base station in Lebanon in real time? The drone is only the most recent and visible aspect of a covert war raging between Iran and Hezbollah on one side, and Israel on the other.Hezbollah agents, together with Iranian Quds Force members, continue trying to attack Israeli civilians and state targets overseas.
On occasion, there are unexplained blasts at Hezbollah weapons storage areas in southern Lebanon, as occurred last December, when a mysterious explosion tore through a suspected Hezbollah weapons depot at Tair Harfa in southern Lebanon. Further away, Iran’s nuclear centrifuges continue to spin. All of these arenas – Lebanon, Syria, Iran (and Gaza) are interlinked. These are tense times, and any miscalculated step can trigger a wider confrontation.

White House to Congress: Assad has used chemical weapons. Israeli jets down Hizballah drone opposite Haifa
DEBKAfile Special Report April 25, 2013/In a remarkable reversal, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in Abdu Dhabi Thursday afternoon, April 25, that the US intelligence community believes the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its own people, determining with "varying degrees of confidence" that Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces have used the nerve agent sarin against civilians and forces fighting to remove Assad from power. The White House is informing Congress about the chemical weapons use now, Hagel said, hours after he voiced reservations about the assessment Tuesday by senior Israeli military intelligence officer Brig. Gen. Itai Brun that the Assad regime had begun to practice chemical warfare. Earlier Thursday, Israel Air Force F-16 warplanes downed a Hizballah drone 8 kilometers out at sea from the big port of Haifa. It flew south from the direction of Lebanon. Witnesses on Haifa’s Mt. Carmel watched the smoke trails of the Israeli jets and heard exploding rockets. Israeli Navy ships are out searching for debris in the Mediterranean Sea.
The Israeli army spokesman issued a statement: An attempt by an unmanned aerial vehicle to enter Israel’s air space was thwarted. The UAV was identified flying from the north past the coast of southern Lebanon and continuing south. It was tracked continuously until it was downed by Israeli fighter planes and attack helicopters. They went into action after the drone was identified as not coming from a friendly source. The Air Force gave the order to shoot it down.” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said: “We take an extremely grave view of this attempt to violate our borders and will continue to guard them and keep our citizens safe.” He added, “We are watching events in Syria and Lebanon with extreme concern. Syria is breaking up and Lebanon is unstable. Both places pose not inconsiderable perils to Israel – two emanating directly from Syria. The first is the possible transfer of sophisticated weaponry to terrorist organizations and the second, attempts by terrorists to break through our borders and attack our towns and villages. Israel stands ready to counteract any threats from Syria or Lebanon by sea, air and land.”debkafile adds: The drone, which was launched from the Lebanese coast of Sidon towards the Israeli coast, was but the first move in a larger plan. Just as the Syrian civil war is already spilling over into Lebanon and threatens to crash through another border into Jordan, there are plans afoot to spread the violence into Israel.
The Hizballah’s UAV intrusion thwarted by the Israeli Air Force and the repeated shooting attacks from the Syrian side of the Golan were omens of more to come. Syria’s Bashar Assad, Hizballah and Iran will not put up with any intervention in the Syrian conflict by the US, Israel, Jordan or Turkey – even though foreign intervention is already present in the form of 3,000 Hizballah commandoes fighting with Assad’s army in Qusayr and Damascus sectors.

Aoun to Vote Only for Orthodox Proposal, but to Run in Polls even Under 1960 Law
Naharnet /Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stressed on Thursday that the members of his Change and Reform bloc will only vote on the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal but would participate in the elections under any other law that garners the majority of votes at parliament. In an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper, Aoun said: “We want to vote on the Orthodox proposal … after it garnered the support of the majority at the joint parliamentary committees.” “If other parties have other plans then let them propose them to put them up for voting,” he said. “We will give consent to the proposal that gets the support of the majority” of MPs.
Asked if he would run in the elections if the Orthodox proposal wasn't adopted by parliament, Aoun said: “We will participate (in the polls) even under the 1960 law if the majority approves it.”
Rival MPs at a parliamentary subcommittee had been tasked with agreeing on a new law that would replace the 1960 law, which considers the qada an electoral district and is based on the winner-takes-all system.
But the lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on a new law. The 1960 law was used in the 2009 elections with some amendments. The majority of parties have rejected it for not guaranteeing a fair representation for all the Lebanese, mainly Christians. Speaker Nabih Berri has said he would call for a session on May 15 to vote on the Orthodox proposal for being the only plan approved by the joint committees despite the criticism of al-Mustaqbal bloc, the National Struggle Front and the March 14 Christian independent MPs. Asked about the cabinet formation process, Aoun warned that the government could only be formed through consultations with the majority of parliamentary blocs. He hinted that he would not give a vote of confidence “to people imposed on us.”Aoun, who is a staunch supporter of the formation of a cabinet made up of political figures, criticized a proposal on the rotation of portfolios. “How could a minister follow up projects in a short period of three months?” he mocked. Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam says he wants to form a government whose main responsibility is the supervision of the elections. He rejects having in it provocative political figures and election candidates. “I reject the rotation for short periods because it hinders the work” of ministers, Aoun told al-Akhbar. But he refused to give details on which portfolios he was after and who were his candidates. “I will not talk about names. I need to know the ministries first so that I decide who to appoint.”Asked if he sought along with his alliance in the March 8 coalition a veto power in the new cabinet, Aoun said: “I want the distribution of seats to be made in accordance to the weight of parliamentary blocs.” He added that he would seek for six ministers in a 30-member cabinet.

60 Students Hospitalized over Water Contamination in Tripoli
Naharnet/More than 60 public school students were hospitalized in the northern city of Tripoli on Thursday after the tap water was contaminated, the state-run National News Agency reported.
The students, who age less than 12, were taken to Dar al-Shifa hospital after suffering from pain in the abdomen, vomiting, diarrhea and having difficulty breathing. The children are students at a state school in the area of Abi Samra, the agency said, without giving the name of the institution. But Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) identified it as Hayy al-Nozha school. A doctor at the hospital, Jalal Abbous, told NNA that the number of infected students has risen to 60 after initial reports said it was 33. "The kids most probably became ill after drinking from the water tank," he remarked. “They will be monitored for 24 hours,” he said. “The water is also being tested to know the source of the contamination.”"The results of medical and laboratory tests will be revealed on Friday." In May last year, several students and a teacher in southern Lebanon's Shebaa public school suffered from food poisoning after having lunch during a school trip.

Report: Fatmagul Sultan Power Vessel Hit by Major Malfunction, Nine Generators Shut Down
Naharnet Newsdesk 25 April 2013, 07:02
Nine out of 11 generators on the “Fatmagul Sultan” barge have stopped functioning, media reports said, pointing out that the power-generating vessel is only producing 15 percent of its capacity, which is 27 megawatts.
According to As Safir newspaper published on Thursday, the vessel that began its work earlier this month has several malfunctions caused by the long journey it took to arrive to Lebanon.
Sources told the daily that “the vessel's production almost stopped functioning four days ago.”“Since it began producing electricity, Farmagul Sultan didn't reach its capacity of production as it only generated around 80 percent,” the sources noted. They expected that the vessel will completely stop functioning if the reason behind the malfunctioning was the used fuel. Electricite du Liban management told As Safir that the Turkish Karadeniz power company, which leased the ship to the Lebanese government, said that it was resolving the problem that occurred according to the contract signed with the Ministry of Energy. Lebanon inked in July 2012 a $360 million three-year contract with the Turkish firm to lease electricity-generating vessels. The two barges could generate 270 megawatts of electricity. The second vessel is expected to arrive in June. The power vessels should help make up for the power shortage that will be caused by the rehabilitation of the Zouk and Jiyeh power plants. Lebanon is in need of 2,500 megawatts of electricity while the current production is only 1,500 MW.

Report: Lebanon's Offshore Gas Reserves Larger than Israel
By: Naharnet/Lebanon has high prospects of gas in its offshore Exclusive Economic Zone larger than the amount in Tamar and Leviathan fields off Israel's Mediterranean shores. According to Neil Hodgson, an international expert at Spectrum company, there are high chances of detecting large quantities of gas offshore Lebanon. Hodgson pointed out that “if all goes well, Lebanon will be able to produce gas by 2019 or 2020.”
The British Spectrum company had unveiled in 2012 that Lebanon's oil reserves off its southern coast are of the richest and best in the region. The firm estimated that the volume of gas is around 25 trillion cubic feet.
The gas reserves in Lebanon amount to more than 30 or 40 trillion cubic feet while the that in Tamar field reaches 10 trillion cubic feet and Leviathan 17 trillion cubic feet, Hodgson said.
Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil announced earlier in April that Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell and Total are among 46 international oil companies that have been shortlisted to tackle the country's offshore oil and gas wealth. He said that the 12 operator and 34 non-operator companies will be narrowed down and the remaining companies will be granted the proper license to extract the offshore wealth.
Lebanon has been slow to exploit its maritime resources compared with other eastern Mediterranean countries. Israel, Cyprus and Turkey are all much more advanced in drilling for oil and gas.
Lebanon and Israel are bickering over a zone that consists of about 854 square kilometers and suspected energy reserves there could generate billions of dollars. Beirut argues that a maritime map it submitted to the U.N. is in line with an armistice accord drawn up in 1949, an agreement which is not contested by Israel. Major-General Abdul Rahman Chehaytli, who heads the Lebanese delegation following up Lebanon's maritime border, expressed regret on Thursday over Lebanon's failure to resolve the dispute with Israel. “It is our right,” the official said. He pointed out that Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam's cabinet should focus on the matter and tackle it with the international community to attain our rights. In March 2010, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a mean of 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and a mean of 34.5 trillion cubic meters of recoverable gas in the Levant Basin in the eastern Mediterranean, which includes the territorial waters of Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Cyprus. The formation of the Petroleum Authority in November was the first major step in future oil exploration since parliament passed a law in 2011 setting the country's maritime boundary and Exclusive Economic Zone. The country will witness the first oil exploration process in 2015 and it will take a year to enter the production stage.

Putin Hopes Boston Prompts Closer U.S., Russia Anti-Terror Work
Naharnet /Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed hope that the Boston bombing tragedy would result in closer cooperation between Moscow and Washington in the fight against terror. "I hope this tragedy pushes us closer to one another in stopping shared threats," Putin said during his live televised call-in session in Moscow, saying Russia was also a victim of "international terrorism". But Putin criticised excessive "speculation" about the Boston suspects' Chechen origins as a possible motivation for their embrace of terror. "We can endlessly speculate on the tragedy of the Chechen people in the period of exiling them from Chechnya by the Stalin regime. But were Chechens the only victims of those repressions?" Putin said, adding that the Russian people suffered from Stalin repressions more than anyone else. "It is not about nationality or belief," he said. "It is about extremist moods of those people." The entire people of Chechnya were deported to Central Asia under Stalin over accusations of collaborating with German forces in World War II. The father of the bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was born in Kyrgyzstan. Putin added he was "outraged" when Western media describes militants who commit attacks on Russian territory as "rebels". "It has always outraged me when our Western partners... called our terrorists, who carried out beastly, bloody, disgusting crimes on Russian territory, nothing but 'rebels', and almost never 'terrorists'," Putin said. Source/Agence France Presse.

US lawmakers demand action on Syria chemical weapons
Members of Congress urged US President Barack Obama to take action to "secure" Syria's chemical weapons after he warned Thursday that strongman Bashar al-Assad likely used them against his own people.
Republican Senator John McCain led the revulsion and anger in Congress, saying it was now up to Obama to coordinate a response that prevents such weapons, including the agent sarin, from falling into the hands of terrorists or extremist groups.
Obama "said that if Bashar Assad used chemical weapons, it would be a game-changer, that it would cross a red line. I think it's pretty obvious that a red line has been crossed," McCain told reporters. "We have to have operational capability to secure these chemical weapon stocks," he added. "We do not want them to fall into the wrong hands, and the wrong hands are a number of participants in the struggle that's taking place in Syria."
For months the veteran Republican has urged Obama to take a more pro-active role in the Syrian conflict and pressed him to help arm Syrian rebels and ensure safe havens in the country.
On Thursday he called for increased White House pressure on Russia and Iran to stop supplying weapons to Assad, and greater commitment to aid Syria's rebel groups fighting Damascus.
Democrat Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, concurred that "red lines have been crossed" in Syria.
"Action must be taken to prevent larger scale use. Syria has the ability to kill tens of thousands with its chemical weapons," she said in a statement.
"The world must come together to prevent this by unified action which results in the secure containment of Syria's significant stockpile of chemical weapons."
But while Feinstein turned toward a United Nations role, some Republicans were urging more direct US action.
"The time for passive engagement in this conflict must come to an end," Senator Marco Rubio said, adding that allowing Assad to plunge his country deeper into chaos "will have disastrous consequences for US interests for decades to come."
"I urge President Obama to explain to Congress and the American people... what additional measures he is ready to take to follow through on his previous statements."Republican Howard "Buck" McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said Assad's use of chemical weapons on the Syrian people, if true, is "an astounding violation of human rights," and triggers a "national security imperative."Obama now has "a deep moral imperative" to act, McKeon said. House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers said Obama made an "important acknowledgement" about chemical weapons.
"Now that we have confirmed their use, the question is what is our plan for transition to a post-Assad Syria?" he said.
"The world is waiting for American leadership."

Hezbollah’s mad gamble in Qusair
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2013/Apr-25/214965-hezbollahs-mad-gamble-in-qusair.ashx#axzz2RWxCHorQ
By Michael Young /The Daily Star
It’s still too early to tell whether Hezbollah will succeed in its bid to clear the area of Qusair of Syrian rebels, in that way assuring Syrian regime control over the passage between Damascus and the coast, via Homs, and between the coast and Lebanon’s Hermel region.
Hezbollah is perfectly aware of the great risk it has taken by intervening in Syria. The fact that it has done so regardless suggests that the decision was an Iranian one. Hezbollah’s risk is twofold: Its intervention has provoked domestic discontent, increasing Sunni-Shiite tensions, while undermining the policy of Lebanese non-intervention in the Syrian war; perhaps more dangerously for the party, it may be sucked into the Syrian conflict, unable to extirpate itself, taking ever greater losses in someone else’s fight.
Conceivably, Hezbollah may find itself in much the same situation as the Israelis in southern Lebanon until 2000: operating in a foreign land on unfamiliar terrain and engaged in guerrilla warfare against a determined foe defending his territory. There are reports that Hezbollah has taken significant losses. If so, the Shiite community will accept this for a time, but unless Hezbollah can achieve its objectives relatively quickly, discontent will rise if the war in Syria turns into a grinding campaign that provokes many more Lebanese casualties.
Nor can the sectarian aspect of the conflict be ignored. Lebanese Salafists have called for a jihad in Syria, which could seriously destabilize the situation in Lebanon. The fight against Hezbollah could become a magnet for jihadist groups keen to do battle with Shiites – whether Syrian, Lebanese or Iraqi. Already, the Nusra Front has threatened to strike against Beirut if Hezbollah is not prevented from participating in the Syrian conflict. Though the Nusra Front is hardly one to talk, this situation is precisely what everyone had sought to avert, and which Hezbollah, with Iranian encouragement, has suddenly and quite recklessly made more likely.
Hezbollah’s Syria strategy has also virtually ensured that Lebanon will not have an election this summer. Despite the calls for one, the reality is that the political climate is too tense for any kind of agreement over an election law, let alone for a voting process that may be divisive and volatile, particularly in mixed confessional districts.
Nor would most of the major political actors be unhappy. At a sensitive time for Hezbollah, the party prefers to avoid the uncertainty of an election that may alter the balance in Lebanon. The Future Movement as well would not oppose postponement, with its leader out of the country, its patronage power much reduced, and its majority (albeit an unstable one) in parliament. Walid Jumblatt, too, has no interest in surrendering his balancing role, especially if elections are held on the basis of legislation different than the 1960 law, which guarantees him a leading role in Aley and the Chouf.
Among the Christians, Michel Aoun, similarly, prefers to delay elections, to safeguard his status as the dominant Christian in parliament. Only Samir Geagea seems eager to go ahead with the voting, in large part because the Lebanese Forces have a relatively small parliamentary stake to defend by embracing the status quo, and feel that they would gain if elections went ahead.
More urgent than elections is the formation of a new government. Hezbollah, keen to protect its rear, seeks a government of national unity that can stabilize the situation in Lebanon, and that would once again endorse the formula of “the Army, the people, and the resistance.” Yet achieving this is tricky, since the Future Movement will not join a government that legitimizes Hezbollah at a time when the party is engaged in Syria. Nor is it realistic to seek a reaffirmation of the Army-people-resistance triad when Lebanon is so divided, and when no Sunni leader, least of all the prime minister-designate, Tammam Salam, can afford politically to reaffirm it.
Despite claims that Hezbollah controls Lebanon, the party has overreached, inviting a potentially dangerous Sunni counter-reaction. If it’s true, as some have claimed, that the party has committed crack troops in Syria, that means it has depleted its vanguard units facing Israel. How revealing that like Bashar Assad’s troops redeployed from the Golan front toward Syria’s interior, Hezbollah will forget Israel when tasked with a project of repression.
If Hezbollah gets caught up in a Syrian quagmire, we can expect a far more perilous situation in Lebanon as the party finds itself simultaneously challenged internally and in Syria. Some may regard this as an opportunity to extract concessions from Hezbollah, but the greater likelihood is that it will only push the party to take harmful measures to protect itself, exacerbating the situation.
Hezbollah’s becoming cannon fodder for the Syrian regime, at Iran’s request, is not something the party must relish. It may be understandable for Hezbollah fight in Syria, since the downfall of Assad would represent a far-reaching defeat for Iran and the party. But there is a price to pay for Hezbollah’s pushing the boundaries of Lebanon’s sectarian system to its limits. And this price may be the party’s gradual destruction, or worse a Lebanese sectarian civil war.
Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Intervention Escalation
James F. Jeffrey /Washington Institute
Alleged chemical weapons use by Syria is pushing the United States toward action, but Russia, China, and Iran might have something to say about that.
Ever more credible claims by France, Britain, and some Israeli officials that the Bashar al-Assad regime has used chemical weapons have upped the pressure on the Obama administration to respond more decisively to the situation in Syria, and specifically to act on the president's chemical weapons "red line" warning. And the administration appears to be reconsidering its previous hesitancy. During a recent hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Secretary Chuck Hagel announced that the United States would be sending some 200 troops to Jordan from the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, to work alongside Jordanian personnel to "improve readiness and prepare for a number of scenarios" relating to the conflict in neighboring Syria. The Los Angeles Times reports that the Pentagon has drawn up plans to possibly expand the force significantly.
And yet the chances are, in today's political environment, that U.S. involvement in the region will not be of the massive, long-term sort seen in Iraq. U.S. military assistance is more likely to entail moving equipment, distributing humanitarian supplies, enforcing no-fly zones, coordinating or executing attacks on terrorists, and punishing the regime (in some fashion) for its violation of the chemical weapon "red line."
When, as is increasingly likely, the United States plays a military role in the Syrian conflict, it will not just have to worry about inadvertently strengthening local Islamists or getting bogged down in another Middle East quagmire. Washington must also consider the significant geostrategic consequences to Iran, Russia, and China, particularly if our intervention brings about the demise of their ally in Damascus. In diplomacy, as in physics, every action generates a reaction. Any U.S. engagement in Syria will not be different, and the Obama administration must be prepared.
Iran, Russia, and China have deep stakes in the preservation of the Assad regime. Iran provides the Assad regime with financial and military assistance, and aids in organizing the Alawite militia. In return, Tehran gets a significant forward operating base on the Mediterranean in which Iranian weapons can be modified, manufactured, and sent to their Hezbollah allies in Lebanon. But, equally important, the alliance with Syria strengthens Iran's claim as a leader in the resistance against Israel and a protector of the world's Shiites. Convinced that the West seeks their demise, Iran's ideologically driven leaders are unlikely to take Assad's downfall lightly and will likely become even more aggressive. Washington must anticipate even less progress in nuclear negotiations, greater destabilization in Iraq, increased Iranian asymmetrical adventures, new confrontations in the Gulf, and possibly even full-out nuclear weapons development.
China and Russia, too, have ideological and strategic interests in preserving Assad's rule. Russian President Vladimir Putin has hung much of his foreign policy on rejecting American-sponsored regime change, as his consistent rhetoric from Kosovo to Libya has made clear. Beijing, while less vocal, takes care to limit pressure on its own puppet states, as we have seen in North Korea. In addition, China tends to follow the Russian lead on many global issues, in part because it shares Russia's "you win we lose" attitude toward the United States. Furthermore, China and Russia appear to fear the United States and its partners eventually using successful interventions to set a precedent for more widespread meddling in their domestic affairs, be it in the north Caucasus, Tibet, or Xinjiang.
The power balance in Syria's immediate neighborhood is so tipped in favor of the United States and its friends that there is little China and Russia (or Iran) could do to counter the United States directly. But, drawing from classic great power traditions they know well, Russia and China could act to the detriment of both U.S. interests and a stable globe. First, by opening or intensifying current fronts at odds with the United States, they could make Washington pay a price for helping topple Assad. Russia could tinker with Europe's continuing dependency on Russian hydrocarbons, complicate NATO's plans related to Afghanistan, and, with China, stymie U.S. initiatives in various international forums. China's growing economic, political, and military weight is manifest, as is its ability to challenge the United States on the Korean peninsula, with its island disputes with Japan and ASEAN states, and on trade relations with U.S. allies like Australia.
Russia and China could also take another tack, allying more openly with Iran and facilitating Tehran's anti-American escapades. For example, China could expand its recent limited increase in oil purchases from Iran, challenging the U.S. sanctions regime. Russia could reconsider its decision to withhold high-performance air defense equipment to Tehran, and otherwise assist Iran in its military buildup or in evading sanctions.
Russia and China could most forcefully teach a lesson to the United States in the realm of Iran's nuclear research program, a central U.S. concern. With the region in flux, China and Russia could forgo their traditional opposition to Iranian nuclear proliferation and block U.S.-backed sanctions against Iran in the International Atomic Energy Agency and the U.N. Security Council, or erect obstacles in the P5+1 negotiations. By undermining these diplomatic efforts, Russia and China would prevent Washington from acquiring the international mandate it would need to take military action against Iran if necessary. Arguably, this could no more deter the United States in Iran than did international intransigence slow efforts to move against Iraq in 2003. But times are different. The United States has based its entire campaign against Iran on international solidarity; losing that backing could undercut support among the U.S. public, which remains wary of entering new battles a decade after "Shock and Awe." And let's be clear: Iran, China, and Russia have far more strategic, diplomatic, and economic clout to wield against the United States than Iraq did in 2003.
The potential for a Russian, Chinese, or Iranian backlash should not deter Washington from taking necessary military action in Syria. Middle Eastern stability is a key U.S. interest and helping Syria to the best possible soft landing is central to our security role, as is living up to our red line threat on chemical weapons use. Shrinking from that responsibility could, in fact, bolster our detractors' self-confidence and embolden them: If Assad somehow survives, the rise in Iranian prestige and loss of ours could even prompt Moscow and Beijing, smelling blood, to up the ante against Washington. The Obama administration thus needs to think geostrategically in Syria; more Metternich than Wilson.
If the United States acts from a position of strength -- indicating our willingness to take military action -- we may induce Russia and China (perhaps even Iran) to be more cooperative today, as well as in the chaotic period after the regime's defeat. We need to share with Moscow and Beijing our thinking about Syrian day-after scenarios, including whether we could tolerate a de facto Alawite redoubt similar to Iraqi Kurdistan. Anything we can do to reassure them that we and our value system are not out to incorporate Syria after Assad would presumably help the two powers accommodate themselves to a U.S.-assisted new order in Damascus. But such reassurance would cut against the grain of all of our instincts with failed states -- to jump in until they can be made whole again. Similarly, proceeding from a position of military readiness, we can encourage Iranian cooperation in Syria by being more open about the economic sanctions we would be willing to trade for nuclear concessions.
The United States is already undoubtedly doing much of this talking to Moscow and Beijing, but the question remains open with what degree of clarity the administration has communicated its willingness to take risks, prioritize its needs, and deal with the devil when necessary. But above all, it must avoid the attitudes that still color much of Washington's foreign policy thinking: that we still live in a post-1989 world, that the triumph of the West is inevitable, and that the natural evolution of states is to become stable democracies. Alas, that time has passed.
*Ambassador James F. Jeffrey is the Philip Solondz distinguished visiting fellow at The Washington Institute.