Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources/August 16/13

Lebanon/At Least 14 Dead, 212 Hurt in Car Bombing between Bir al-Abed, Ruwais
Miqati Declares National Mourning Day for Dahieh Victims, Salam Urges Parties to Rise Above Disputes
Political Factions Condemn Dahieh's 'Terrorist' Blast, Urge Avoiding Getting Dragged into Strife
Jumblat Says Israel behind Dahieh Blast
Serra: Investigations Ongoing over Labbouneh Blast
Hezbollah's Raad Says Baabda Declaration Was 'Born Dead'
Nasrallah Claims Labbouneh Blast, Says Hizbullah Will Confront Any Future Violations
Four Relatives of Aazaz Pilgrims Summoned over Links to Turkish Pilots' Abduction
Army Supervises Release of Captives Held in Counter Lebanese-Syrian Abductions
Salam Says Consultations over Cabinet Formation Ongoing
Report: Govt. Based on Suleiman, Salam's Views Likely to Be Formed in September
Gemayel Slams Raad over Baabda Declaration Remarks
Hizbullah Condemns Turkish Pilots' Abduction
Report: Govt. Based on Suleiman, Salam's Views Likely to Be Formed in September
US-Egyptian relations on the rocks. El-Sisi wouldn’t accept Obama’s phone call
Canada Concerned by Ongoing Violence Against Christians in Egypt
Report: Iran seeking closer relations with Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood calls Cairo protest march as Egypt death toll reaches 525
What can Israel do about Egypt?
Egypt Burning: Violence Mounts Across the Country, More than 20 Churches have been Attacked Across Egypt
At Least 464 People Killed in Egypt Violence
Egypt Closes Gaza Border Crossing Indefinitely
UAE, Bahrain Defend Egypt's Assault on Morsi Supporters
Turkey PM Urges U.N. Security Council Meeting over Egypt 'Massacre'
Walid Phares: Egyptians Mad at US Embrace of Muslim Brotherhood
U.N. Says Central African Republic Poses 'Serious Threat'
Israeli Group Secretly Flies 17 Yemeni Jews to Israel
U.N. Condemns Aid Worker Death in Syria

At Least 14 Dead, 212 Hurt in Car Bombing between Bir al-Abed, Ruwais
Naharnet/..At least 14 people were killed and 212 others wounded in a car bombing that rocked Hizbullah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, state-run National News Agency reported. The blast went off on the public road between Bir al-Abed and Ruwais, according to several television channels. "There are at least six killed and a large number of wounded," a military source told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.
Lebanese Red Cross director Georges Kittani said more than 100 people were wounded. But NNA said 10 bodies were transported to the Sahel Hospital and four others to the Great Prophet Hospital, while 100 wounded people were rushed to the Great Prophet Hospital, 50 to Bahman Hospital and 20 others to al-Bourj Hospital. "According to the interior ministry, the blast was caused by a car bomb," MTV reported.
"The human remains found 10 meters from the blast location might be those of a suicide bomber," al-Manar television said. Live TV footage showed burning cars and pillars of black smoke bellowing from the blast scene.
“Gunfire was heard in the vicinity of the blast scene,” al-Jadeed television reported. “The blast went off near Mahfouz Stores in Ruwais,” OTV reported, as MTV said the explosion took place "under a bridge facing the Harkous Chicken Restaurant."  Al-Mayadeen television said a security cordon was imposed around the location. According to MTV, the bomb weighed between 60 and 80 kilograms of explosives.
Media reports said a large number of families were still trapped inside the burning buildings in the area. Later on Thursday, a group calling itself the Brigades of Aisha Umm al-Moemeneen claimed the bombing in a YouTube video and threatened further attacks. The video -- which surfaced shortly after news of the attack broke -- shows three masked men, two of them holding rifles, in front of a white flag inscribed with the Islamic profession of faith. "We... send a message to (Hizbullah chief Sayyed) Hassan Nasrallah's pigs," said one of the men, wearing a white mask. On July 9, a booby-trapped car exploded at a parking lot in Bir al-Abed, leaving 53 people wounded and causing extensive material damage.  In May, two rockets slammed into the Beirut southern suburb of Shiyyah, wounding four people.

Miqati Declares National Mourning Day for Dahieh Victims, Salam Urges Parties to Rise Above Disputes
Naharnet/Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati has declared that Friday will be a day of national mourning for the victims of the blast that hit Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, noting that the Higher Defense Council will convene to discuss the incident. “Once again the hand of treachery and the flames of hatred have targeted civilians in a dear Lebanese region that has been known for its enormous steadfastness in the face of the Israeli enemy's malevolence and plots,” Miqati said in a statement. “This blast indicates that the hand of evil is still tampering with this country and its security, safety and all assets,” Miqati warned. The premier added that following consultations with President Michel Suleiman, it was decided to hold a meeting for the Higher Defense Council at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the presidential palace in Baabda. According to the statement, Miqati also held contacts with caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and the chiefs of security agencies to follow up on the repercussions of the bombing and the outcome of the ongoing investigations. For his part, Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam condemned the bomb attack as a “barbaric act,” urging the Lebanese citizens and political forces to “show solidarity and national unity to fend off those who want to tamper with the country's security.” Salam called on all political forces to “rise above the disputes,” saying it is “the only real response to such terrorist acts.”In an interview on LBCI television, the PM-designate said “serious efforts must be exerted to form the cabinet and we don't want a confrontational cabinet but rather a national interest cabinet.” At least 14 people were killed and 212 others wounded in a car bombing that rocked Hizbullah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday, state-run National News Agency reported. The blast went off on the public road between Bir al-Abed and Ruwais, according to several television channels.

Canada Concerned by Ongoing Violence Against Christians in Egypt
August 15, 2013 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Andrew Bennett, Canada’s Ambassador for Religious Freedom, today issued the following statement:
“We are concerned by recent attacks on religious institutions in Egypt, in particular the unconscionable attacks on Coptic Orthodox and Anglican churches and on Baptist and Franciscan institutions.
“Attacks on places of worship are unacceptable. Canada calls on Egyptian authorities to protect worshippers and religious sites from violence and intimidation.
“On behalf of all Canadians, we would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the victims of these attacks and wish a speedy recovery to the injured.
“Canada firmly believes that implementing a transparent, democratic system that respects the voices of all Egyptians, including members of all religious communities, is the best way to restore calm and give all Egyptians a stake in the future stability and prosperity of their country.“We urge all parties to engage in a productive dialogue to ease tensions. We also call on all Egyptians to show maximum restraint and resolve in the coming days.”

Report: Govt. Based on Suleiman, Salam's Views Likely to Be Formed in September
Naharnet/No breakthroughs are expected to take place over the formation of a new government until the return of President Michel Suleiman from a personal vacation abroad, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Thursday. It said that the government is therefore likely to be formed in September “according to Suleiman and Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam's convictions.” Suleiman is set to travel on Sunday to Saudi Arabia on a brief visit before kicking off his vacation. He is expected to return to Lebanon on August 28. Should the president and premier-designate commit to their announced stances, then a political neutral cabinet is likely to be formed, reported al-Joumhouria. The proposed government will be subject to a vote of confidence at parliament and should it be rejected, then a new round of parliamentary consultations will begin, “which is better than the current deadlock”, it explained. Salam had held talks with Suleiman on Wednesday on the government formation efforts. He stressed that he is still committed to forming a cabinet of national interests. Salam is seeking the formation of a 24-member cabinet in which the March 8, March 14 and the centrists camps would each get eight ministers. The March 8 camp has meanwhile been demanding that it be granted veto power in a new cabinet, which the premier-designate has repeatedly rejected. The March 14 camp is calling for keeping Hizbullah away from the cabinet over its role in Syria's war.

Toynbee was right
By: Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Alawsat
The Lebanese have been known since ancient times for their love of adventure, sailing to and living in faraway countries in search of success. Most of the pioneering Lebanese migrants were ignorant of geography and history, as well as foreign languages. Nevertheless, ignorance never stopped them from achieving their goals. Their ignorance of geography and history these days will lead to serious consequences as well as leaving them and their country sat on a volcano. Last week an armed group abducted a Turkish airline pilot and co-pilot after stopping their shuttle near Beirut’s International Airport. Incidentally, the airport is called Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport but lies on the edge of Dahieh, which includes Hezbollah’s security square in the Lebanese capital. A dispute over “airport security” in 2008 led to the clashes that marked Hezbollah’s transformation from a force resisting Israel to an armed occupation force that uses weapons to protect its right to have weapons in Lebanon. After the kidnapping was accomplished, Hayat Awali, described as a spokesman for the families of the kidnapped pilgrims in Syria, announced: “Any Turkish national in Dahieh and the city of Beirut will be a target for the families of the kidnapped [pilgrims] in retaliation to the information branch of the Internal Security Forces, to make everything clear.”
“Every Turkish national in Lebanon is responsible for [the deeds of] the information branch,” she added.
It is also to be noted that Awali’s declaration of war against Turkey includes a condemnation of the Internal Security Forces, (perhaps) the only security force that, until this moment, still undertakes its tasks with a modicum of freedom, in light of Hezbollah’s dominance over the state. A few hours following the kidnapping, militants near the Shi’ite-majority Al-Labwa town in north-east Lebanon opened fire on the convoy of the mayor of the Sunni-dominated town of Arsal Ali Al-Hajiri, after he was overseeing a hostage swap between two clans in the area. Hajiri and two others were injured in the ambush while one of the mayor’s companions was killed.
Regarding the ambush, it is almost normal for such a thing to happen in a tribal area which Hezbollah uses as a passage for his militants heading to Syria, while at the same time the town’s residents who are sympathetic to the Syrian revolution host Syrian refugees and the injured. This is not to mention that state sovereignty is absent across Lebanon, let alone in this area, which is considered as one of the most significant of Hezbollah’s strongholds.
However, what was really surprising is that Al-Labwa Mayor Ramez Amhaz held a press conference right after the ambush in which he held Hajiri, the victim, responsible on the pretext that he “always roams the area in an armed convoy in a manner that provokes the citizens.”We should quickly note that Arsal is a Lebanese rather than a Swiss town and is military besieged as well as riven by sectarian divisions.
It is very normal that clans have weapons in northern Beqaa, where Al-Labwa, Arsal and the villages of Baalbek and Harmel districts are.
The real problem lies in Awali’s declaration of war against Turkey—a country populated by 80 million and that until 1918 governed Lebanon and Syria as well as neighboring countries— and Mr. Amhaz’s press conference. These two steps reflect the terrible reality of the mentality controlling Lebanon, a country that was not long ago a beacon of enlightenment, openness, interaction and coexistence not only on a local level but also throughout the Middle East and even beyond. I belong to a generation when the world’s greatest tennis players, such as Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and John Newcombe participated every year in Open Brummana Tournament. I also remember that the Miss Europe beauty pageant used to be organized in Casino du Liban. What is more, I understand that the American University of Beirut (AUB) is home to the largest number of representatives for the San Francisco Conference that established the United Nations in April 1946.
This is how Lebanon used to be; Lebanon which I still remember and recognize. Today, however, Lebanon is another country that is completely different from what it was.We are now in a state of collapse of awareness and an absence of logic that uses the Lebanese people as a cheap fuel for wars bigger than themselves and their country. Lebanon—a country that would not rise or stand firm, were it not for national consensus as well as the exceptional economic success— is transformed into a “mailbox” from which letter bombs are directed in all directions.
Responsibility, naturally enough, does not fall on ordinary citizens made arrogant by their power; rather, it rests with the leaders who tempt citizens and involve them in regional projects that may drag them, before anyone else, into the abyss. The entire region is facing difficult challenges that threaten to redraw its borders. The setbacks we are experiencing will definitely transform the countries of the region into failed ones on whose rubble major international bargains will be made. This brings us to the famous political historian Arnold J. Toynbee whose “challenge and response” theory holds that a civilization results from a series of difficult challenges that stimulate creative minorities to work out solutions in order to redirect society. Thus, the success of a certain society in meeting challenges will lead to improved welfare and growth. However, a civilization becomes shaky and feeble when leaders begin to lack creativity. When it falls victim to national or racist fanaticism and military trends, as well as the tyranny of an authoritarian minority, a civilization collapses and disappears.
Lebanon, together with post Sykes-Picot countries, is past having non-creative leaders. In fact, the Lebanon of today, along with its neighbors, are paying the price of national fanaticism— in its racist and chauvinistic form— and militarized rule as well as the tyranny of a minority.

Raad Says Baabda Declaration Was 'Born Dead'
Naharnet /Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad stated on Wednesday that the Baabda Declaration “was born dead,” accusing political factions in the country of “hindering the commitment to national agreements.”
"Some groups want to cover their failure in building the state by tackling the resistance's weapons,” Raad said at an event celebrating the contributors to Hizbullah's al-Manar television and al-Nur radio.
He explained: “We might talk about declarations and about national dialogue but the loss of credibility of some factions obstruct the commitment to all these agreements. The Baabda Declaration, for example, was born dead because our political foes used their weapons and ports to transport arms to meddle in regional affairs.”"All what is left from the Baabda Declaration is ink on paper.” In June 2012, a national dialogue session approved the Baabda Declaration that demands that Lebanon disassociate itself from regional conflicts. The Hizbullah lawmaker also denounced “some factions' silence over Israeli violations.” “While they are sensitive towards a rocket that, by mistake, was launched from beyond the border and fell on the Bekaa, even filing complaints with the U.N. Security Council and the Arab League about it, they on the other hand did not condemn the daily Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty and the latest incidence in Labbouneh when troops crossed the Blue Line and advanced 400 meters into Lebanon.” The Lebanese army said last week that a group of Israeli soldiers crossed the border into the southern area of Labbouneh near Naqoura and were wounded in an explosion which reports have said was caused by a landmine. Tackling the formation of the cabinet, Raad insisted that “all political factions must be represented in the new council of ministers.” “Any mistakes in political representation inside the cabinet will lead to a deadlock in solving the internal crisis and we will waste time waiting to see what happens regionally and what results might be exported to Lebanon," he considered.Source/Agence France Presse

Nasrallah Claims Labbouneh Blast, Says Hizbullah Will Confront Any Future Violations
Naharnet/Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Wednesday claimed last week's Labbouneh blasts that wounded four Israeli soldiers, saying his party "will face" any further border violations by the Jewish state.
"We had prior information that the Israelis were going to pass through this zone. Bombs were placed there and when they came that night, they were detonated," Nasrallah told Beirut-based satellite television station al-Mayadeen. He explained: “What happened in (the southern town of) Labbouneh took place under the sight to the resistance’s fighters and we already knew Israelis would cross into Lebanese territories and thus, we have planted explosive devices there.”“It is a newly planted bomb and not an Israeli remnant of the July 2006 war. The incidence was an intended operation and did not happen by coincidence. We took the decision to target Israelis in Labbouneh because the border is under the control of the Lebanese army and the state.”The Lebanese army said last week that a group of Israeli soldiers crossed the border into the southern area of Labbouneh near Naqoura and were wounded in an explosion which reports have said was caused by a landmine. The communique said the Israeli troops reached as far as 400 meters inside Lebanon.
Nasrallah said the Israeli troops' advancement into Lebanon is “a clear violation.” The Hizbullah chief also vowed to “confront any further violations of Lebanon's sovereignty.” "We will not accept Israeli violations of our territory," Nasrallah warned. "As soon as we know that the Israelis have entered Lebanese territory, the party will face (them) in timely fashion."
“No official texts say we do not have the right to confront anyone that violates our land. We have the right not to stay silent after violations and these are violations with goals.”Nasrallah, however, criticized President Michel Suleiman's stance after the incidence, saying that he had a “weak position.” Suleiman had urged the Lebanese Army and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon leaderships to expand the investigation into the infiltration of an Israeli patrol into southern Lebanon. On the eve of the end of the 2006 war against Israel, Nasrallah recalled in his interview the preparations that preceded the war and admitted receiving weapons from Syria. "We owe Syria this and we have to admit that we did receive weapons from the neighboring country," he said. Nasrallah added: "The Syrian regime received our people, supported us and opened its weapon stocks to the resistance. The regime was even ready to fight with us." “After May 25, 2000, people celebrated the liberation but we considered that we should start readying ourselves for any war waged by Israel,” he noted.
He continued: “When the kidnap of the two Israeli soldiers took place, our fighters were ready and logistically we were also ready for any war. And during the 33 days of fighting, the resistance was not confused or lost on ground or in managing the operations because this was already planned.”Nasrallah pointed out that what safeguarded Beirut in 2006 was the resistance “and not a political decision.”He also considered that the weak point of Israel was represented in the losses it suffered. “What counts in winning or losing a battle is the amount of losses,” Nasrallah expressed.

Four Relatives of Aazaz Pilgrims Summoned over Links to Turkish Pilots' Abduction
Naharnet/Four people have been summoned for investigation over their links to the abduction of the two Turkish pilots in Beirut last week, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Thursday. Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told the daily that the individuals are relatives and friends of the Lebanese pilgrims held in Syria's Aazaz region. He added that they willingly complied with the judiciary's summoning request.
He revealed that their names were divulged by Mohammed Saleh, another relative of the pilgrims who was arrested on Sunday over his links to the pilots' kidnapping. Charbel had held talks on Wednesday with Turkish deputy Army Intelligence chief Abdul Rahman Baljak and an accompanying delegation on the pilots' abduction and the case of Lebanese pilgrims held in Aazaz. The delegation later held talks with acting Internal Security Forces chief Ibrahim Basbous. Al-Joumhouria said that the Lebanese delegation refused to offer the Turkish officials any details over the course of the investigation, explaining that they will remain secret until tangible results are reached.
A Turkish pilot and co-pilot were kidnapped by gunmen in Beirut on Friday. The attack prompted Turkey to issue a travel warning urging its citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to Lebanon and those already present in the country to leave. The relatives of Lebanese pilgrims held in Aazaz were quick to deny having any links to the abduction. The families of the pilgrims have repeatedly accused Turkey of being responsible for the release of their loved ones, warning that they will target Turkish interests in Lebanon in order to pressure Ankara to resolve the case. In May 2012, eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in Syria's Aleppo region as they were making their way back to Lebanon by land from pilgrimage from Iran. Two of them have since been released, while the rest remain held in Aazaz.

Army Supervises Release of Captives Held in Counter Lebanese-Syrian Abductions
Naharnet/The tit-for-tat abductions between the Bekaa town of Brital and the Assal al-Ward town in southern Syria were released in a deal supervised by the Lebanese army intelligence, the state-run National News Agency reported on Thursday. According to the news agency, Lebanese brothers Ali Abbas Ismail and Hassan Abbas Ismail, who hail from Brital, and Syrians Bilal Khallouf and Mohammed Omar from Assal al-Ward and Mohammed Shaddad from the village of al-Nabak were all released. However, the fate of Syrian national Saleh Boutros, the brother-in-law of Ismail, remains unknown.
The three Syrian nationals were kidnapped on Tuesday in the eastern mountain belt on the border between Lebanon and Syria in retaliation to the abduction of the two Ismail brothers and Boutros.

Salam Says Consultations over Cabinet Formation Ongoing
Naharnet/Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam expressed surprise on Thursday over reports saying that a neutral de facto cabinet will be formed during the upcoming days. Salam in comments published in As Safir newspaper stressed that he is following up with President Michel Suleiman and the concerned officials the process of government formation. He pointed out that the media leaks are mere fabrications and created an “unnecessary fuss.” On Wednesday, Salam held talks with Suleiman at the Baabda Palace. The PM-designate stressed that he supports “a council of ministers that serves the national interest.” Salam noted that he “has been at the same distance from all political factions since being named to form a cabinet. I have my own independence and freedom because I was named to form the cabinet by 124 MPs and my goal is the national interest.” Salam is seeking the formation of a 24-member cabinet in which the March 8, March 14 and the centrists camps would each get eight ministers and rejects to grant the veto power to any side. However, the formation consultations are expected to slow down as Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker PM Najib Miqati are on a vacation outside the country and Suleiman is expected to leave on a private vacation on August 18. The March 8 alliance has meanwhile been demanding that it granted veto power in a new cabinet, which the premier-designate has repeatedly rejected. While the March 14 coalition is calling for keeping Hizbullah away from the cabinet lineup over its role in Syria's war.

Report: Govt. Based on Suleiman, Salam's Views Likely to Be Formed in September
Naharnet /No breakthroughs are expected to take place over the formation of a new government until the return of President Michel Suleiman from a personal vacation abroad, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Thursday.
It said that the government is therefore likely to be formed in September “according to Suleiman and Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam's convictions.” Suleiman is set to travel on Sunday to Saudi Arabia on a brief visit before kicking off his vacation. He is expected to return to Lebanon on August 28. Should the president and premier-designate commit to their announced stances, then a political neutral cabinet is likely to be formed, reported al-Joumhouria. The proposed government will be subject to a vote of confidence at parliament and should it be rejected, then a new round of parliamentary consultations will begin, “which is better than the current deadlock”, it explained. Salam had held talks with Suleiman on Wednesday on the government formation efforts. He stressed that he is still committed to forming a cabinet of national interests. Salam is seeking the formation of a 24-member cabinet in which the March 8, March 14 and the centrists camps would each get eight ministers. The March 8 camp has meanwhile been demanding that it be granted veto power in a new cabinet, which the premier-designate has repeatedly rejected. The March 14 camp is calling for keeping Hizbullah away from the cabinet over its role in Syria's war.

Gemayel Slams Raad over Baabda Declaration Remarks
Naharnet/Phlanage Party MP Sami Gemayel criticized on Thursday Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad's statements regarding the Baabda Declaration. “Those who signed the Baabda Declaration then describe it merely as ink on paper consider that the Lebanese who are dying in Syria are only ink on paper,” Gemayel said in a tweet. In June 2012, a national dialogue session approved the Baabda Declaration that demands that Lebanon disassociate itself from regional conflicts. On Wednesday, Raad considered that the Baabda Declaration “was born dead,” accusing political factions in the country of “hindering the commitment to national agreements.”“The Baabda Declaration, for example, was born dead because our political foes used their weapons and ports to transport arms to meddle in regional affairs,” he said. Raad pointed out that "all what is left from the Baabda Declaration is ink on paper.” Although Lebanon is officially neutral in Syria's war, it is split over the revolt against President Bashar Assad. Hizbullah has openly sent fighters to battle alongside the Syrian regime against rebels trying to overthrow Assad.But many Sunnis back the Sunni-led Syrian opposition.

US-Egyptian relations on the rocks. El-Sisi wouldn’t accept Obama’s phone call

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 15, 2013/When the clashes between Egyptian security forces and pro-Morsi protesters were at their peak in Cairo Wednesday, Aug. 14 – 525 dead and 3,700 wounded to date - President Barack Obama put in a call to Egypt’s strongman, Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi, debkafile’s intelligence sources report. The US president wanted to give the general a dressing-down much on the lines of the call he made to former president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011 at the high point of the Arab Spring Tahrir Sq demonstrations against his rule, namely: Stop repressing the protesters and firing live ammunition. Step down!
When Mubarak asked for a three or four days’ grace to break up the massed rally, Obama shot back that he has to quit NOW!
And indeed, on Feb. 11, the army announced the president’s resignation.
Realizing what was coming, Gen. El-Sissi decided not to accept President Obama’s call, our sources report. The Egyptian officials who received it informed the US president politely that the right person for him to address was Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour and they would be glad to transfer the call to him. The White House callers declined.
This anecdote shows that the military strongman is not only determined to avoid the pitfalls which brought Mubarak down but is equally determined to keep the US administration from interfering in his plans for driving the Muslim Brotherhood out of Egyptian politics.
Diplomatic condemnation of those plans is building up inWestern capitals. Wednesday night, the Obama White House issued a statement strongly condemning “the use of violence against protesters in Egypt” and the state of emergency. Egyptian ambassadors in Paris, London and Berlin received denunciations and expressions of concern from their host governments, and Turkey demanded a UN Security Council emergency session on the situation in Egypt. debkafile’s sources report that harsh international condemnation of Gen. El-Sissi’s crackdown will do more harm than good. The backlash will come in three forms:
1. The Muslim Brotherhood will be encouraged to pursue increasingly extreme measures to fight the Egyptian army in the expectation of international applause.
2. The generals will be encouraged to escalate their steps for repressing the Brotherhood.
3. The Saudis and the Gulf Emirates will redouble their support for the Egyptian general and his campaign against the Brotherhood. This will widen the rift between those Arab rulers and the Obama administration.
Our intelligence sources also disclose that, while President Obama was trying to get through to Gen. El-Sissi, the general was on the phone with Prince Bandar, Director of Saudi Intelligence.
On July 31, Bandar arrived in Moscow and was immediately received by President Vladimir Putin for a conversation that lasted four hours. The Saudi prince next received an invitation to visit Washington at his earliest convenience and meet with President Obama.
Bandar has still not responded to that invitation.
Clearly, the US president’s problem with the Egyptian situation is a lot more complicated than pulling the army off the Muslim Brotherhood’s backs. He needs to somehow snap the strategic alliance unfolding between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and the rapport between the Egyptian general and the Saudi prince.

 

Report: Iran seeking closer relations with Muslim Brotherhood
By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON08/14/2013/Following the fall of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi from power in Egypt, Iran and Hezbollah are seeking closer relations with the Brotherhood, the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported. Recent changes in the region including the restarting of Israel-Palestinian negotiations, the troubles related to the Syrian war and the international and Arab opposition to the Brotherhood in various Arab countries, have led the “resistance axis” to “rearrange the relationship between Iran and Hezbollah, and the Muslim Brotherhood.”  The Islamic Republic and the Lebanese terrorist organization both identify with the Shi’ite sect of Islam while the Brotherhood is a Sunni movement. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a meeting of the Iranian National Security Council, deemed what happened in Egypt as distressing and dangerous and that it would have negative repercussions on the Islamic reality. He said that no matter what mistakes the Brotherhood has made during its time of leadership in Egypt, it should not lead to the end of the Islamic revival in the region, referring to the Arab uprisings. Iran must support this revival and reengage, he said according to sources quoted in Tuesday’s report. Iranian officials have already begun holding intensive meetings with prominent leaders in the international Brotherhood organization to deal with outstanding issues, though it also wants to keep channels open with the new Egyptian leadership. In recent weeks, meetings were held between Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas in Beirut and Tehran in order to come to an agreement to strengthen political and military cooperation despite differences over the conflict in Syria. These efforts are being made to outline a new strategy that will look for points of convergence between the parties of the resistance and newly elected President Hassan Rouhani will promote unity among the resistance forces and try to stop sectarian strife in the region.

Obama Cancels U.S. Exercises with Egypt in Protest at Crackdown
by Naharnet/U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday the United States has canceled military exercises with Egypt to protest the killing of hundreds of protesters, in his first public statement on the rapid developments in Egypt. He interrupted his weeklong vacation to address the clashes that have left more than 500 people dead. Obama urged Egypt's army-installed authorities to lift a state of emergency and allow peaceful protests but stopped short of suspending $1.3 billion in annual military aid. "While we want to sustain our relationship with Egypt, our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual when civilians are being killed in the streets and rights are being rolled back," Obama told reporters at his vacation home on Martha's Vineyard. Obama said the United States informed Egypt it was suspending the Bright Star exercises, which has been scheduled every two years since 1981.
The exercises were also called off in 2011 as Egypt was in the throes of the revolt that overthrew longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak, a close U.S. ally. Egypt has been in turmoil since, with the army on July 3 ousting the country's first democratically elected president, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi. Obama called on the Islamist protesters to demonstrate in a peaceful manner, noting that violence will only deepen the rift in the country and stressing that Washington is not biased in favor of any party in Egypt. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry already has condemned the clashes between Egypt's military-backed interim government and supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi. More than 500 people have died since Wednesday when Egyptian security forces, defying appeals for restraint by the United States and other powers, crushed pro-Morsi demonstrations.
The United States has carefully avoided calling Morsi's ouster a coup, a designation that would require the United States to cut assistance. Obama said that Morsi was "not inclusive" and that "perhaps even a majority" of Egyptians opposed the Muslim Brotherhood leader. "While we do not believe that force is the way to resolve political differences, after the military's intervention several weeks ago, there remained a chance for reconciliation and an opportunity to pursue a democratic path," Obama said. "Instead, we've seen a more dangerous path taken through arbitrary arrests, a broad crackdown on Mr. Morsi's associations and supporters, and now tragically violence that has taken the lives of hundreds of people," he said. Source/Agence France PresseNaharnetAssociated Press.

Muslim Brotherhood calls Cairo protest march as Egypt death toll reaches 525
By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFFLAST UPDATED: 08/15/2013/CAIRO - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood called on followers to march in protest in Cairo on Thursday, after at least 525 people were killed in a security crackdown on the Islamist movement that has left the most populous Arab nation polarized and in turmoil.The crackdown on Wednesday defied Western appeals for restraint and a peaceful, negotiated settlement to Egypt's political crisis following the military's removal of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi last month, prompting international statements of dismay and condemnation. "We will always be non-violent and peaceful. We remain strong, defiant and resolved," Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad wrote on his Twitter feed. "We will push (forward) until we bring down this military coup," he added. The Muslim Brotherhood said it plans to hold a march in Cairo, one day after the violent crackdown on its members that killed hundreds. "Marches are planned this afternoon from Al-Iman mosque to protest the deaths," the Islamist group said in a statement. Security forces struggled to clamp a lid on Egypt after the worst nationwide bloodshed in decades, although a curfew largely held in Cairo overnight. Islamists clashed with police and troops who used bulldozers, teargas and live fire on Wednesday to clear out two Cairo sit-ins that had become a hub of Muslim Brotherhood resistance to the military after it deposed Morsi on July 3.
The clashes spread quickly, and a health ministry official said about 421 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured in fighting in Cairo, Alexandria and numerous towns and cities around the mostly Muslim nation of 84 million. In Ankara, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called on Thursday for the UN Security Council to convene quickly and act after what he described as a massacre in Egypt. "Those who remain silent in the face of this massacre are as guilty as those who carried it out. The UN Security Council must convene quickly," he told a news conference. At the site of one Cairo sit-in, garbage collectors cleared still-smouldering piles of burnt tents on Thursday. Soldiers dismantled the stage at the heart of the protest camp. A burnt out armored vehicle stood abandoned in the street.
The Muslim Brotherhood said the true death toll was far higher, with a spokesman saying 2,000 people had been killed in a "massacre". It was impossible to verify the figures independently given the extent of the violence.
The military-installed government declared a month-long state of emergency and imposed the dusk-to-dawn curfew on Cairo and 10 other provinces, restoring to the army powers of arrest and indefinite detention it held for decades until the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in a 2011 popular uprising. The army insists it does not seek power and acted Last month in response to mass demonstrations calling for Morsi's removal.
Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who lent liberal political support to the ousting of Egypt's first freely elected president, resigned in dismay at the use force instead of a negotiated end to the six-week stand-off. Other liberals and technocrats in the interim government did not follow suit. Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi spoke in a televised address of a "difficult day for Egypt" but said the government had no choice but to order the crackdown to prevent anarchy spreading. "We found that matters had reached a point that no self-respecting state could accept," he said.
CHURCHES TARGETED
Islamists staged revenge attacks on Christian targets in several areas, torching churches, homes and business after Coptic Pope Tawadros gave his blessing to the military takeover that ousted Morsi, security sources and state media said. Churches were attacked in the Nile Valley towns of Minya, Sohag and Assiut, where Christians escaped across the roof into a neighboring building after a mob surrounded and hurled bricks at their place of worship, state news agency MENA said. The United States, the European Union, the United Nations and fellow Muslim power Turkey condemned the violence and called for the lifting of the state of emergency and an inclusive political solution to Egypt's crisis. Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told a news conference 43 members of the police force were killed in the clashes. He vowed to restore Mubarak-era security after announcing, in a statement last month that chilled human rights campaigners, the return of notorious political police departments that had been scrapped after the 2011 revolution. Wednesday's official death toll took the number of people killed in political violence since Morsi's fall to about 600, mostly Islamist supporters of the ousted president. Violence rippled out from Cairo, with Morsi supporters and security forces clashing in the cities of Alexandria, Minya, Assiut, Fayoum and Suez and in Buhayra and Beni Suef provinces. US Secretary of State John Kerry called the bloodshed in Egypt "deplorable" - a word US diplomats rarely use - and urged all sides to seek a political solution.
A US official told Reuters that Washington was considering cancelling a major joint military exercise with Egypt, due this year, after the latest violence, in what would be a direct snub to the Egyptian armed forces.
The "Bright Star" exercise has been a cornerstone of US-Egyptian military relations and began in 1981 after the Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel. The United States has already halted delivery of four F-16 fighter jets in a signal of its displeasure. Islamist militants with no direct link to the Brotherhood have staged almost daily attacks on security forces in the lawless Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel since Morsi's fall.
In the latest violence, gunmen shot dead two policemen outside their station in El Arish in northern Sinai on Wednesday evening, MENA reported.

What can Israel do about Egypt?
By YOSSI MELMAN08/15/2013/Israel's primary concerns are the prospective fall of the military regime, or a descent into civil war, which could render null the peace treaty that has brought relative calm to the Egyptian border for more than 30 years.From a diplomatic and military perspective, Israel is following events in Egypt with great trepidation, in the knowledge that there is little it can do. But it is not entirely impotent: Israel has been engaging in some diplomatic lobbying, particularly in Washington and a number of European capitals, with the intent of persuading those governments against rushing to step up their condemnation of the latest Egyptian military operation to remove the pro-Muslim Brotherhood protesters from the streets of Cairo and other cities. Since the Egyptian military, headed by Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, ousted the Islamist government of President Mohamed Morsi some six weeks ago, Israel has been secretly maneuvering via friendly nations, deploying heavy diplomatic leverage to stop Western governments, first and foremost the United States, from denouncing the operation by the Egyptian security forces, deterring them from calling it a "massacre.Israel's fear is that such condemnation would weaken the new military-backed Egyptian government, strengthen the will of the Muslim Brotherhood to continue its policy of brinkmanship and give weight to its rejection of a political solution to the crisis, thereby significantly reducing the chances of reaching any resolution.
Israel's primary concerns are over the prospective fall of the military regime (which for now enjoys the support of most of the Egyptian people) or a descent into all-out civil war, which could render null and void the 1979 peace treaty that has brought relative peace to Israel's 270-km Egyptian border for more than 30 years. Of secondary concern is that the events in Egypt will also have an impact on existing problems in the Sinai.
The Egyptian army has in recent weeks been engaged in the most intense campaign against the global jihad movement's terror networks. No one knows how many armed militants there are there – it could be anything from several hundred to three thousand. Most of them are local residents, with their numbers swelled by Islamist volunteers from Yemen, Somalia and Iraq, as well as by Palestinians from Gaza who "defected" from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. To facilitate an effective operation, Israel consented to a mass Egyptian military deployment of troops, tanks and helicopters in the Sinai, in contravention of bilateral peace agreements.
From an operational perspective, the current uncertainty and chaos apparently provide Israel with the opportunity for militarily action, such as, for example, a drone strike on terrorist cells, which, according to foreign sources, is exactly what it did a week ago. Yet any attempt to exploit this situation could well backfire. The last thing al-Sisi needs is accusations from his rivals that he is conspiring with Israel, and giving it free rein to act against terrorism in the Sinai. Israel must tread carefully when it comes to the events still unfolding next door.


At Least 464 People Killed in Egypt Violence
Naharnet/At least 464 people were killed in nationwide violence sparked by a crackdown on the protest camps of supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, government officials said Thursday.
At least 421 civilians died in Wednesday's violence, ministry spokesman Mohammed Fathallah said. He said 137 people had been killed in the main Rabaa al-Adawiya camp which pro-Morsi protesters had occupied for weeks. At the smaller of the two encampments in Nahda square, 57 people were killed and 227 died in the rest of the country, he said. The interior ministry said 43 policemen had also been killed. Source/Agence France Presse

U.N. Says Central African Republic Poses 'Serious Threat'
Naharnet/ The U.N. Security Council warned Wednesday that turmoil in the Central African Republic poses a "serious threat" to the country and the region, and urged new measures to restore stability.
A unanimous declaration of the 15 council members did not specify what these new options could be, but a recent report by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recommended sanctions against officials from the Seleka coalition suspected of committing atrocities. According to U.N. Special Representative Babacar Gaye, the threat of sanctions is a form of pressure to improve the human rights situation in the Central African Republic. The Central African Republic has been sliding into chaos since Seleka rebels took over in March, with reports of executions, looting and epidemics. After ousting Francois Bozize from power, the international community granted the Seleka rebel alliance de facto recognition and a shot at steering the nation through a transition period leading to fresh polls.
But on Wednesday Security Council members "expressed deep concern at the security situation in CAR, characterized by a total breakdown in law and order, and the absence of the rule of law."
"They stressed that the armed conflict and crisis in CAR pose a serious threat to the stability of the CAR and the region," it said, highlighting "grave concern" about a deterioration in the humanitarian situation.
It cited "reports of widespread human rights violations, notably by Seleka elements, including those involving arbitrary arrests and detention, sexual violence against women and children, torture, rape, extrajudicial killings, recruitment and use of children and attacks against civilians." Top U.N. officials earlier called on the international community to act to keep the crisis-torn Central African Republic from becoming a "failed state."
"The Central African Republic is not yet a failed state but has the potential to become one if swift action is not taken," U.N. under-secretary-general and emergency relief coordinator Valerie Amos said.
According to the United Nations, 1.6 million people in the Central African Republic are in need of urgent help. The crisis has forced 60,000 people to flee to neighboring countries and has displaced 206,000.
Amos called for the Security Council to support the new International Support Mission to Central Africa (MISCA). The 3,600-strong force, under the auspices of the African Union, is tasked with helping the government secure its territory. She also called on the international community to provide "funds and logistical support" for the country, noting that only 32 percent of $195 million requested by the United Nations has been provided thus far. The International Federation for Human Rights said last month it had documented at least 400 murders by Seleka-affiliated groups since March. Barring a few arrests in Bangui, all those killings have gone unpunished.
Source/Agence France Presse

Egypt Burning: Violence Mounts Across the Country, More than 20 Churches have been Attacked Across Egypt

International Christian Concern
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

http://www.persecution.org/2013/08/14/egypt-burning-violence-mounts-across-the-country/
8/14/2013 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) - International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that more than 20 churches have been attacked in the midst of the deadly violence that has swept across Egypt in the past few hours. The clashes, which have already claimed more than 100 lives and left nearly 1000 more wounded, prompted interim president Adly Mansour, to declare a nation-wide state of emergency, Ahram reported.
The attacks against Christians throughout the country have been staggering. Dozens of churches, schools, monasteries, stores, and homes have been attacked. "From the far north of Egypt to the far south, from the far east to the far west, all across the country Coptic Christians have come under attack today," Ashraf Ramelah, president of the advocacy group Voice of the Copts, told ICC.
Fr. Ibram Tamesy, of the Church of Saint Mary and Anba Ibram in the village of Delga in the Minya province, told ICC that a mob broke into the church and looted the contents, including the food collected for the poor. Then they looted and burned the home of Fr. Angelos, who also serves at the church, and the homes of 17 other Christians in the village.
"The loudspeaker systems from the mosques were being used to tell the Muslims to gather at Ebad El Rahman and defend Islam because many Muslims had been killed at the Rabba and El Nahda sit-in," Fr. Tamesy said. The mob, further incensed after gathering went on to loot and set fire to the Monastery of St. Mary and its three churches, he reported. The Mar Mina church and a Baptist church, also in the Minya province, were burned in attacks by pro-Morsi supporters.
In the Sohag region, the churches of Mar Girgis, St. Mark, and St. Mary were set on fire by attackers. Emad Faheem, a Christian in Sohag, told ICC "Some Christian stores in Sohag City close to Mar Gigris Church were ransacked and destroyed by Muslims. Some cars owned by Christians were smashed also. The situation is so bad here," he added.
In the city of Assiut, in Upper Egypt, the Catholic church of Saint Therese, the Archangel Michael's church, and the Mar Girgis church were all attacked and set on fire. Ayman Ibrahim Abdel Malak, a Christian from Assiut, told ICC, "Muslims broke into the Bible Society and fully burned it." They also attacked many other Christian shops in the city, he said.
The Good Shepherd Church in Giza
The Good Shepherd Church, monastery, and Christian school were all set ablaze in Suez City. The Bible Society headquarters in Cairo were attacked. In Alexandria, the churches of Saint Maximus and Mar Girgis were burned. The crowd of Morsi supporters "burned the car of the Fr. Mosa and another car owned by a servant in the Church, and, after that, they broke into the Church and burned it and they were chanting Allah Akbar," Wissa Fawzy, a Christian in Alexandria, told ICC.
The latest string of attacks began when the Egyptian security forces attempted to disperse pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo. As the BBC reports, "supporters of Mr. Morsi have been occupying Nahda Square and the Rabaa al-Adawiya site since he was ousted on 3 July. They want him reinstated." Security forces moved in on the camps around 7 a.m. Dozens were killed in the clashes between security forces and protesters.
The violence quickly spread throughout the country, with the Copts on the receiving end of much of the violence. "I have said that Copts will pay a high price for freedom," Ramelah told ICC. "We are still looking for the democracy that Egyptians have been dreaming about," Ramelah said.

Walid Phares: Egyptians Mad at US Embrace of Muslim Brotherhood
Wednesday, 14 Aug 2013 06:46 PM
By Bill Hoffmann
Egyptians are frustrated with the United States' embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was recently ousted from power along with President Mohammed Morsi, according to Walid Phares, Fox News' Middle East and terrorism expert.
"We need to understand what Egyptians are trying to say. Most Egyptians are — with the exception of the Brotherhood, obviously — very angry, very frustrated," Phares told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"Not with the American public, they love the American public and people and citizens, but with the Obama administration because it openly was supporting the Muslim Brotherhood regime.
"Now they're trying to save the political neck of the Muslim Brotherhood movement."
Phares said when Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina visited Egypt "they probably did not understand that there is an overwhelming majority of regular people who do not want Islamist movement in Egypt or regime."
"So what they have heard was we don't like what America is doing. They meant we don't like what Washington was doing, and that is a big difference."
Phares, author of "Confrontation: Winning the War Against Future Jihad," said the bloodshed in Egypt this week — some 278 have died and more than 1,400 have been wounded as security forces break up pro-Morsi protests — could also represent a threat to Israel.
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America's Problems in the Middle East are Just Beginning
by David P. Goldman/PJ Media
http://www.meforum.org/3583/america-problems-middle-east

It's 2015, and there is a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas), financed by Iran, wins an election on a platform demanding the expulsion of the Jews from Israel. Iran meanwhile smuggles shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to terrorist cells in Palestine that can take down civilian airlines at Ben-Gurion airport. With backing from the Egyptian military, Fatah throws out the elected Hamas government and kills larger number of Hamas supporters. What will Washington do? Given the track record of both the Obama administration and the Republican mainstream, one would expect America to denounce the use of violence against a democratically-elected government.
Such is the absurdity of both parties' stance towards Egypt: the Egyptian military is doing America's dirty work, suppressing a virulently anti-modern, anti-Semitic and anti-Western Islamist movement whose leader, Mohammed Morsi, famously referred to Israelis as "apes and pigs." It did so with the enthusiastic support of tens of millions of Egyptians who rallied in the streets in support of the military. And the American mainstream reacted with an ideological knee jerk. America's presence in the Middle East has imploded.
As it happens, Iran already is smuggling weapons via Syria to the West Bank to gain leverage against the Abbas government, as Stratfor reports (hat tip: the Daily Alert), including surface-to-air and anti-tank missiles. Hamas crushed Fatah in the 2006 West Bank elections parliamentary elections 74-45, and made short work of the supposedly moderate Palestinian faction when it seized power in Gaza in 2007. As Syria disintegrates, along with Iraq and Lebanon, the artificial borders of Arab states drawn first by Ottoman conquerors and revised by British and French colonial authorities will have small meaning. Palestinians caught up in the Syrian and and Lebanese conflagrations would pour into a new Palestinian state and swell the ranks of the hard-core Jihadi irredentists. Iran will continue to use Hamas as a cat's paw.
Among other things, the American response to the events in Egypt show the utter pointlessness of American security guarantees in the present negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Authority. Even in the extremely unlikely event that Mohammed Abbas chose to make peace with Israel, he would face a high probability of civil war, just as Ireland's independence leader Michael Collins did when he struck a deal with the British for an Irish "Free State" rather than a republic. Collins killed more Irishmen than the British did in the preceding independence struggle. I do not want to compare Abbas to Collins, and I do not think he has any attention of making peace with Israel. But American blundering in Egypt has closed out the option, for whoever makes peace with Israel will require a free hand with Iranian-backed rejectionists.
America forgets that it corrected the flaw in its founding by killing 30 percent of Southern men of military age during its own Civil War, so many that the Confederate Army collapsed for lack of manpower. There are numerous wars which do not end until all the young men who want to fight to the death have had the opportunity to do so. And of all of history's conflicts, none was so likely to end with this sort of demographic attrition as the present war in the Middle East. Compared to the young Arabs, Persians and Pakistanis of today, American Southerners of 1861 were models of middle-class rectitude, with the world's highest living standards and bright prospects for the future. The Europeans of 1914 stood at the cusp of modernity; one only can imagine what they might have accomplished had they not committed mutual suicide in two World Wars.
Today's Middle Eastern and South Asian Muslims have grim future prospects. The world economy has left them behind, and they cannot catch up. Egypt was at the threshold of starvation and economic collapse when the military intervened, bringing in subsidies from the Gulf monarchies. The young men of the Middle East have less to lose, perhaps, than any generation in any country in modern times. As we observe in Syria, large numbers of them will fight to the death.
America cannot bear to think about its own Civil War because the wounds are too painful; in order to reunite the country after 1865, we concocted a myth of tragic fratricide. Wilsonian idealism was born of the South's attempt to suppress its guilt for the war, I have argued in the past. That is an academic consideration now. America's credibility in the Middle East, thanks to the delusions of both parties, is broken, and it cannot be repaired within the time frame required to forestall the next stage of violence. Egypt's military and its Saudi backers are aghast at American stupidity. Israel is frustrated by America's inability to understand that Egypt's military is committed to upholding the peace treaty with Israel while the Muslim Brotherhood wants war. Both Israel and the Gulf States observe the utter fecklessness of Washington's efforts to contain Iran's nuclear weapons program.
The events of the past week have demonstrated that America's allies in the Middle East from Israel to the Persian Gulf can trust no-one in Washington–neither Barack Obama nor John McCain. Those of us in America who try to analyze events in the region will be the last to hear the news, and the value of our work will diminish over time.
**Mr. Goldman, president of Macrostrategy LLC, is a fellow at the Middle East Forum and the London Center for Policy Research.

Iranian-Israeli Intersection
Hassan Haidar/Al Hayat
If the Americans know that Vladimir Putin has for years been building his popularity on the Russian interior scene by presenting himself as opposed to the policies of the United States in the world, why then would they grant him a badge of honor by cancelling a proposed summit between him and Barack Obama, who described him on the personal level in terms that will only help reinforce the impression the Russian President gives his country’s citizens of himself?
Yet it seems that Obama is purposely severing ties with his counterpart in the Kremlin because of a series of challenges he is trying to elude, most prominently that of the situation in Syria. And he has found no better pretext than the issue of IT expert Edward Snowden, although the Americans have never extradited any suspect to Russia, neither during nor after the Cold War.
Meanwhile, Arab concern for the ongoing hemorrhage in Syria is growing, in view of its tragic nature, which has exceeded all bounds, and of increasing indications of it spreading towards other countries, such as Iraq and Lebanon, and perhaps Jordan as well. The Arabs are thus in a hurry for it to stop, while the Americans seem unconcerned with the atrocities being committed and the dangerous sectarian direction taken by the conflict. This is as long as all those fighting are “enemies” – starting from the Syrian regime and its Iranian backers, to extremist Islamists and all other opposition groups of diverse loyalties – of which the US is monitoring the alliances because it does not trust in their ultimate loyalty. This is as long as the Americans share with their ally Israel the benefits of prolonging the conflict, after it had pressured them – and continues to – in order to prevent it from ending decisively.
Indeed, by calling off a long-awaited opportunity to potentially reach a middle-of-the-road solution with Moscow, which clings to Assad remaining in power until the end of his term while generously supplying him with weapons as well as funds, Washington is only consecrating a status quo that puts no one at ease but itself and Tel Aviv. It thus expects the war to last for years, thereby excluding the possibility of holding the Geneva 2 conference, about the clinical death of which “medical reports” are issued every now and then, and freeing itself of the burden of negotiating with Putin and pressuring him, because it will be forced to accommodate him on other issues – issues that it might not have decisive answers to.
As for the repeated and tiresome talk of the US administration’s desire to hold such a conference, it no longer convinces anyone, after it has become apparent that its purpose was simply to cover for the decision not to get implicated and to merely observe developments and their repercussions, and even to neglect to take measures to provide humanitarian relief.
Indirectly, Iran meets with the (originally Israeli and by proxy American) desire to prolong the civil war in Syria. Thus, the intervention of the Revolutionary Guard and of Hezbollah in battles there is aimed not just at defending the Assad regime, but also at anticipating any potential concessions by Russia and cancelling their effects. Indeed, Tehran seeks to assert by its involvement that the fall of Assad would not end the war, and that the fight would continue with or without him “in defense of the Shiite community” in Syria and Lebanon, in an effort to impose itself as a major party to any solution.
Perhaps the fact that Bashar Al-Assad understands and is convinced that the international pressure being put on him is not serious feeds the obstinacy that dominates his stances and increases with time. Indeed, he does not neglect to assert that the solution to the crisis raging in his country can only be found on the battlefield, reducing the Syrian people’s options to a choice between black and white. Thus, if they do not stand with the regime, they deserve to be killed, as long as no one is asking questions.