Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources/August 26/13

Pope Urges World to Help Find Solution to War in Syria
Naharnet/Pope Francis appealed Sunday to the international community to help find a solution to the civil war in Syria while denouncing a "proliferation in massacres and atrocities" there. "It's not confrontation that offers perspectives of hope to resolve the problems but the capacity to meet and hold a dialogue," the pope said after traditional Sunday prayers. "I launch an appeal to the international community to be more sensitive to this tragic situation and to commit itself to the maximum to help the dear Syrian nation find a solution to a war which spreads destruction and death," he said. "I continue to follow the situation in Syria with suffering and worry," he said. He denounced the "increase in violence in a war between brothers" and the "proliferation of massacres and atrocities." The Syrian opposition has alleged that President Bashar Assad's regime carried out a chemical weapons attack near Damascus last Wednesday that killed hundreds of civilians. Syria denies the charges. "The terrible images of these days again causes me to raise my voice so that the sound of weapons stops," the pope said without mentioning the chemical weapons claims.Source/Agence France Presse.
 

Obama: Between Ideology and Pragmatism
Mostafa Zein/Al Hayat
The Neoconservatives have awaken once again. They have launched a major media campaign to portray President Barack Obama as merely a weak-willed “colored” man, who does not befit America, its history and its pride – one who, if he ever takes a decision, only takes one of withdrawal from this or that area, leaving it to the Russians and to local players.
Neoconservatives are not limited to a few names from among former Trotskyists who turned into Nazi tigers in the United States – the likes of Paul Wolfowitz, “the Prince of Darkness” Richard Perle and others (it is no coincidence that they were all students of German-born Jewish philosopher Leo Strauss). Rather, their ideology is widespread everywhere in Europe and in America, especially in right-wing political circles in parliaments, government institutions, the press, the media, and research centers, such as the Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington.
Those people and others hold against Obama his hesitancy and the fact that he has not been decisive on any of the issues raised by the Arab Spring. Even in Libya, it was France and Britain that led the campaign to topple Gaddafi, while Obama’s participation was limited. They also hold against him the fact that he did not cut off military aid to the Egyptian army in support of their friends in the Muslim Brotherhood; the fact that he has failed to take a firm decision on Syria since the start of the events there, and to supply the opposition with advanced weapons that would have allowed it to achieve victory over the army; the fact that he has not stood up to Iran; and the fact that he does not share Israel’s view of the threat Tehran represents and of the necessity of bombing it, in order to dismantle the “Axis of Evil”. Besides, he has shifted the strategic conflict from the Middle East, where Israel represents America’s crown jewel, to the Far East, and even in that region, he allowed Beijing to expand its influence and intensify its protection of North Korea.
What do those people want? They want to ignite wars everywhere in the world. Their philosophy states that civilization can only arise on a background of destruction. That is what happened in America after the extermination of the Native Americans. That is also what happened in Australia, after the extermination of the Aboriginal Australians. It was also the case in Palestine, after a large number of its people were exterminated and hundreds of thousands of them were expelled from their homeland. The Neocons seek to spread this blood-drenched philosophy and apply it everywhere, so as for a new civilization to arise on the ruins of the old, and for American values to prevail. It is a philosophy that was best applied by George Bush Junior, and before him Ronald Reagan. They plan to attack Syria, topple Assad and replace his regime with one loyal to them, even if this requires all-out war in the Middle East with the participation of Iran, Turkey, Arab countries and Israel.
Perhaps Senator John McCain has been the one to best express the views of these people now. McCain said that, because Obama did not use force in Syria, he has given Assad a green light to commit atrocities. He criticized Obama’s hesitation to send troops to protect civilians, adding that the word of the president of the United States can no longer be taken seriously. He outlined a scenario for war, asserting that the US Air Force could in a few days take control of the Syrian Air Force’s airports and of the planes that are being used to dominate the battlefield in confronting the armed opposition, and that it can impose a no-fly zone by moving Patriot missiles to the border… which could be done very easily, according to him. Obama is no less enthusiastic about spreading American values, but he sees things from a different perspective – a perspective expressed by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey when he said that “the side we choose [to support] must be ready to promote their interests and ours when the balance shifts in their favor. Today, they are not”.
Obama will intervene militarily in Syria, when he finds that intervening would secure America’s interests. However, he now finds that the chaos spreading in the Middle East secures such interests, without him having to pay a single dollar or lose a single soldier. Obama has proved that he was more American than any white man, in the pragmatic sense of the term. Indeed, he is not driven by ideology, but by interest. And both sides have an equal tendency to go to war for the glory of America.

End the nightmare In Lebanon
August 24, 2013/he Daily Star
Friday’s explosions in the northern city of Tripoli serve as a grisly reminder of the dangers of trying to manage the crisis in next-door Syria instead of enforcing a firm stand: End any direct involvement in the war next door.
Many might recall the Civil War as they view the horrific scenes of carnage outside the two mosques targeted – but even more disturbing is the fact that such acts of destruction rarely targeted places of worship even during the height of the 1975-90 conflict. The fundamental problem that the Lebanese face is the notion that they can take part in the war raging in Syria without suffering any repercussions in their home country. The slogan of “we fight in Syria so that we don’t fight in Lebanon” has become dramatically obsolete. The war is here, and a new approach is needed to ensure that the cycle of violence and atrocities does not continue.
Some Lebanese politicians might have a talent for conducting what they believe are carefully made calculations by gauging the international scene, the regional dynamic and a set of local data. Up till now, they believed the war in Syria would not lead to a full-fledged conflagration in Lebanon – but a relentless series of acts of violence, spread throughout the country, has become too much for this country to handle.
On any given day, people are now prepared to wake up and hear the news that an explosion – a car bomb, a rocket attack or some other incident – has shaken a given area. They will hear a storm of condemnations and accusations, with each political side trying to spin the incident in a way that suits its own interests. Politicians and security officials spend every day warning the public about the dangers facing Lebanon, and reassuring the public that they are doing their utmost to maintain order. But people are tired of the verbal heroics; they want solutions.
Their mental state can’t tolerate a daily guessing-game as to whether Lebanon is actually descending into its own civil war. Their economy can’t tolerate the repercussions of daily uncertainty about the domestic situation – it’s already under strain by hosting more than a million Syrians who have fled home. Their political system, which has been in free fall for several months, is also incapable of meeting such difficult challenges, and there are few signs of any hope for improvement on this front. Lebanon’s politicians need to reset their policy on Syria, whose war is now becoming a catalyst for horrific acts of violence on a regular basis. The various political sides have not adhered to a meaningful policy of disassociation – they seem to believe that they are entitled to do anything they wish, just because the government in Beirut is sticking to a policy of neutrality. The time has come to focus Lebanon’s efforts on providing relief to Syria and Syrians, and not serving as a second arena of the war.

The News: From Bad to Worse
Jihad al-Khazen/Al Hayat
Each Arab columnist who wrote an opinion in the past three or four decades underwent the experience of sitting in front of his desk and bracing to write his piece, only to realize that there is no worthy news for him to comment on. These days however, there are too many pieces of news, of which I will select the following:
- As far as I remember, I have always opposed the death penalty, except in cases of children’s killing or rape. Today, I wish to add another exception: the party responsible for the Goota massacre that left around 1,000 dead victims, including women and children, must be executed. Hanging the criminal or shooting him would be too merciful. I think that he deserves to be crucified on one of the gates of Damascus and be left to bleed out and die after days of suffering. Ghoota is God’s heaven on earth as it has water, greenery, and beauty. I once said that the women of Damascus are the fairest; but today, the Syrian women are paying the price of their beauty through molestation, rape and children marriages.
- Hosni Mubarak has been released from prison, while the MB leaders are now locked. This is a form of divine justice to speak in MB terms. I am quite familiar with the former president. I know him more than those who accused him of corruption. Mubarak used to think that he made a sacrifice by accepting to become president and that he served his country and shielded it from failed military adventures. He did not need to pile up billions of dollars abroad, maybe because he expected to live for a hundred more years and to see 200 million Egyptians marching behind his coffin. Corruption did prevail, but Hosni Mubarak was not corrupted. Then came the charge of incitement to kill the protestors in the Tahrir Square. Incitement is the Brotherhood's job and profession. The president that have known since 1983 would never tell the Minister of Interior Habib al-Adili “kill the protestors.” This is impossible. All what he could have said is, “throw these kids out of the Tahrir Square.”
- During this present century’s first decade, the Ahmed Nazif government realized an economic miracle in Egypt, according to the figures of the International Monetary Fund. However, corruption prevented the outcomes of this miracle from reaching the people. Around the same time, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party, the Justice and Development, realized an even bigger miracle in Turkey. Yet, Erdogan experienced a setback recently. Following an unjustified confrontation with the people opposing the construction of a mall in a park at the heart of Istanbul, he started to issue some weird statements concerning Egypt. He was probably afraid that he would meet Mohammad Morsi’s fate. He started to allude to a potential Israeli part played in the Egyptian coup and he denied the occurrence of a popular revolution. In other words, he accused the armed forces of treason. All the Egyptians are patriotic and they are against Israel. As for his buddies from the Muslim Brotherhood, the only good foreign relations they had while in power were with Israel and America.
- Islamic preacher Safwat Hegazi was captured in the Siwa Oasis while trying to flee to Libya. I had only heard of the man’s name in the past. I then heard him make a hostile speech at the Rabaa al-Adawiya Square, when he made death threats and said that “whoever sprays Morsi with water will be sprayed with blood.” The readers must underline the fact that Hegazi was trying to flee to Libya where the terrorist gangs are roaming the grounds. We are currently expecting a fatwa from Hegazi concerning the killing of the security men in Sinai.
- I have indicated on several occasions that tapping people’s calls, emails, and other forms of electronic communication in the USA is illegal and anti-constitutional. I recently read that Judge John Bates, the Head of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, issued a secret decision in 2011, indicting that the National Security Agency’s spying on people is anti-constitutional. President Barack Obama was a professor of American Constitution at the most prestigious American universities. He cannot claim to be an “idiot” like George W. Bush. I will say no more.
 

These Regimes Do Not Depart
Hazem Saghieh/Al Hayat
When areas in Ghouta near Damascus are bombed with chemical weapons, and the corpses of children are lined side by side in a picture reminiscent of the Nazi Holocaust, the Syrian regime would have pushed its desire to survive to a surreal level. Indeed, what the regime is saying through that deadly ‘message,’ is that it is willing to do anything, absolutely anything, in order to remain in power.
But it is also saying that those it had targeted with chemical weapons are not the regime’s people. They are another, dehumanized people. Saddam Hussein once expressed the same thing so eloquently, when he said, by bombing Halabja with chemical weapons, that the Kurds of Iraq are not his people.
In a gentler way, but not necessarily less dangerous, the July 23 regime in Egypt is saying that it is not willing to accept the change brought about by the January 2011 revolution. For instance, the release of President Hosni Mubarak, on the orders of the ‘deputy military governor,’ to house arrest, is tantamount to apologizing for the revolution. As for the wretched President Mohamed Morsi, who was elected by the Egyptians after their revolution, he is currently languishing in prison along with the leaders and cadres of the Muslim Brotherhood, including the Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie.
But why is this the July 23 regime? Well, because all the eras and their sensitivities, between 1952 and 2011, are represented in it: The Nasserists are present in it through Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi’s invoking of Nasser, and the exploitative summoning of ‘Egyptian national dignity,” not to mention the fact that Hamdeen Sabahi’s Nasserists have lined up behind the military coup. The Sadatists are present in it, through the hawkish advocates of economic liberalization, and the ‘liberals’ who cannot stand the Islamists or tolerate their presence in power, if not all of society. Finally, the Mubarakists are strongly present in it, through the ‘fulul,’ or the remnants of the Mubarak regime, who have now restored their infamy and have been vindicated.
Being the July 23 regime is also evident from its position of seeking the near annihilation of the Muslim brotherhood, the same approach of Nasser since 1954, which he revived in the 1960s, before Sadat and then Mubarak followed in his footsteps. Indeed, the demonization of the Brotherhood is a key feature of the July 23 regime, at least since 1954.
In the meantime, the experience of Mohamed ElBaradei provides another proof that we are dealing with the July 23 regime. To be sure, this liberal politician, who tried to undo his mistake when he gave cover to the coup by resigning from his official post, may be tried for “betraying duty.” As is known, politicians like ElBaradei can overcome the ‘localism’ some call ‘patriotism,’ and link Egyptian politics to other broader global spheres, and therefore have no place in the July 23 regime.
In short, these are regimes that never depart. Sixty-one years since the establishment of the July 23 regime in Egypt, and fifty years with the Baath in power in Syria seem to be insufficient to turn the page on the two regimes. Before them, the Baath had ruled Iraq for 35 years, and Muammar Gaddafi for 42 years, and were it not for foreign intervention, they would have still been in power today, bequeathing their posts to their sons.
Our entire world will rot because of this unbound insanity that nothing can deter! This is happening under our noses all and under our very eyes.
 

US rebuffs Syrian access to chemical site as “too late to be credible”DEBKAfile Special Report
August 25, 2013/The US has little doubt the Syrian government used chemical weapons against civilians and any decision to open the site to UN inspectors comes “too late to be credible,” a senior US official said Sunday, Aug. 25. The official made clear the Syrian government's agreement to let United Nations inspectors visit the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack was inadequate.
"At this juncture, any belated decision by the regime to grant access to the UN team would be considered too late to be credible, including because the evidence available has been significantly corrupted as a result of the regime's persistent shelling and other intentional actions over the last five days," the official said. "If the Syrian government had nothing to hide and wanted to prove to the world that it had not used chemical weapons in this incident, it would have ceased its attacks on the area and granted immediate access to the UN five days ago," the senior Obama administration official said. The White House appeared not to be deterred from military intervention by an effort by Damascus to ease tensions by allowing UN inspectors to finally visit the areas allegedly hit with chemical weapons.
Middle East tensions were further ratcheted up during the day by a warning from Tehran. Gen. Massoud Jazayeri, deputy chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces said Sunday: "America knows the limitation of the red line of the Syrian front and any crossing of Syria's red line will have severe consequences for the White House." Iranian and Syrian spokesmen have said that a US attack on Syria would prompt a Syrian missile attack on Israel in retaliation. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman also issued a statement late Sunday saying: "We again resolutely urge all those who are trying to force conclusions on the UN experts and who say that armed action against Syria is possible, to show common sense and avoid tragic mistakes.”
debkafile reported early Sunday morning:
Western and Middle East powers led by Washington began moving Saturday night and Sunday morning, Aug. 25, toward a first strike against Syria following the Assad regime’s large-scale chemical attack in eastern Damascus last Wednesday. The first targeted strike may well signal the start of a series of US-led attacks aimed at toppling the Assad regime, debkafile’s military sources report. They may consist of imposing a no-fly zone and the sealing off of sectors in northern and southern Syria against government forces.
Russian forces also went on war alert
President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron spent 40 minutes on the phone Saturday night amid the strongest indications to date from Washington that direct military intervention by the West was approaching, following a change in the US president’s posture. He has become convinced that the strike would have to be conducted outside the United Nations.
Military commanders from Western and Muslim countries are meeting Sunday in the Jordanian capital of Amman to coordinate action in Syria, with the participation of the US, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, France, Italy and Canada. Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Chiefs of Staff chairs the meeting. Saturday night, four American destroyers were moving closer to Syria, armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, which are capable of precision strikes.
While Western media are reporting at length on Western, Arab and Muslim military preparations, Israel’s armed forces are moving ahead in secrecy. Its officials spread soothing statements asserting Israel’s non-involvement in the Syrian turmoil, as Israel’s military and intelligence agencies get ready for Syria to counter an attack by loosing missiles against their country as well as Jordan and Turkey. All three also expect an explosion of terrorism.
Saturday night, Syrian information minister Omran al-Zoubi, while denying his government was responsible for Wednesday’s poison gas attack, stated over state television that if Syria came under attack, “a mass of flames will ignite the Middle East.”
debkafile’s military sources report that Moscow has placed on war alert Russia’s Mediterranean and Black Sea fleets as well as rapid deployment forces in southern and central Russia.
Three Syrian hospitals told the humanitarian group Médecins Sans Frontières Saturday that they had received around 3,600 patients suffering from symptoms related to a poison gas attack. Of these, 355 had reportedly died.
According to debkafile’s sources, Western demands for proof of the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons before taking action have been countered in the last few hours by the discovery that the forensic evidence will be all but impossible to obtain in view of the special mixture contained in the gas shells. Only tiny quantities of sarin were blended in with a large quantity of riot control agents, a formula developed by Iran to camouflage the use of chemical weapons.

Suleiman Calls for Disassociating Lebanon from Regional Interests, Urges Dialogue 'without Preconditions'
Naharnet /President Michel Suleiman urged Saturday disassociating Lebanon from regional interests, calling also for the formation of a new cabinet and the resumption of national dialogue sessions. "Amid all the dangers threatening the country, I call on all factions without any exception to disassociate Lebanon from regional interests,” Suleiman said in a televised speech on Saturday night. “I urge putting national interests first,” he added.
“We demand transcending international considerations to avoid losing the opportunity of peace and stability in the country.” The president's statement comes one day after two deadly explosions rocked the northern city of Tripoli, killing at least 45 people and wounding 900 others. Suleiman considered that forming a new cabinet and taking part in national dialogue sessions “would prevent divisions and fighting in the country.”
"Participation in national dialogue should be done without any previously set conditions,” he remarked.  He also urged political and religious figures in the country to adopt a "moderate" approach in their speeches. "They must all go back to adopting and abiding by the Baabda Declaration, to secure the higher national interest and to be in harmony with the stance of the majority of the Lebanese.” The head of the state ordered military and security authorities to "maximize the level of alert." "These bodies should pursue criminals and terrorists that are threatening the security and the safety of the Lebanese,” he elaborated. Addressing the Lebanese, Suleiman said they should “preserve their unity and solidarity.” "We also call on the citizens to cooperate with security bodies and to report any suspicious activities that might threaten public safety,” he added. Suleiman ended his speech warning against the country turning into a “prey in the international game.” "The collapse of Lebanon terminates the idea of religious coexistence between different sects and threatens the presence of diversity.”
Prior to his speech, Suleiman had discussed the latest security developments in the country with caretaker premier Najib Miqati, caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and several security officials.

Judge Saqr Saqr Tasks Lebanese Army Intelligence, ISF Intelligence Branch with Investigating Tripoli Bombings
Naharnet /State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr tasked on Sunday the Army Intelligence and ISF Intelligence Bureau with investigating the bombings in the northern city of Tripoli.
They will be responsible for carrying out the preliminary investigations, gathering evidence, and sweeping the scene of the blast sites. He called for carrying out DNA tests on the remains of the unidentified victims of the Friday's bombings. In the meantime, the army had stepped up its security measures in Tripoli in light of the twin bombings, reported the National News Agency on Sunday.
It said that it set up checkpoints at the entrances of the city and within its neighborhoods and main squares. The army inspected vehicles and the identification papers of the drivers. Meanwhile, the Higher Relief Council began inspecting the houses that were damaged by the Taqwa mosque blast. The Ogero telecommunication company began checking the telephone lines that were damaged in the bombing near al-Salam mosque. Activists have been busy cleaning the scene of the blasts and removing the rubble. Mustaqbal MP Bahia Hariri paid a visit to the city, including the blast sites, where she condemned the attacks, linking them to the one that took place in the Ruwais area in Beirut's southern suburb on August 16. “Those committing such crimes are seeking to target the whole of Lebanon,” she remarked. “They are targeting the country's diversity and it is time that the Lebanese people live in peace and security,” she declared. Powerful car bombs exploded outside two Sunni mosques in Tripoli on Friday. The first bomb struck in the city center at the al-Salam mosque as worshipers were still inside.
The second explosion struck just minutes later outside al-Taqwa mosque, about two kilometers away, near the port. Judicial sources told An Nahar daily Sunday that the death toll reached 45 with at least 500 wounded.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel : Same Assailants behind Ruwais, Tripoli Bombings
Naharnet/Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel stressed that the security forces are doing their utmost in order to thwart attempts to create strife in Lebanon, reported the Kuwait daily al-Seyassah on Sunday.
He told the daily: “The same perpetrators are behind the Ruwais and Tripoli bombings.” He also voiced his fears that more bombings will take place in Lebanon, saying that some difficulties are preventing authorities from imposing security throughout the country. “No country in the world can completely ensure its own security,” clarified Charbel. Investigations are ongoing to determine the assailants and arrest them, he added.
“Strife is being devised for the whole of Lebanon and not just the region,” he said. Powerful car bombs exploded outside two Sunni mosques in the northern city of Tripoli on Friday.
The first bomb struck in the city center at the al-Salam mosque as worshipers were still inside. The second explosion struck just minutes later outside al-Taqwa mosque, about two kilometers away, near the port. Caretaker Premier Najib Miqati announced that the explosions killed 35 people and wounded 900 others, including 110 in a critical condition. A bombing shook the Ruwais neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs on August 16, killing 27 people and wounding 336 others.

Al-Rahi Condemns Tripoli Bombings, Blames Officials Responsible for Security Chaos
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi condemned on Sunday the bombings in the northern city of Tripoli, stressing the need for reconciliation among all Lebanese factions. He accused during his weekly Sunday sermon “officials of being responsible for the security chaos and the spread of illegitimate arms.” “Officials and the disputed parties, who refuse to return to the national dialogue, who have been obstructing the formation of a new government, and who are crippling parliament, must realize that they are responsible for the chaos and bomb attacks that have been taking place in the country,” he remarked.
“Their responsibilities at a time of national catastrophes requires them to steer Lebanon away from regional and sectarian conflicts,” he said. “They should liberate it from foreign orders and stop linking its fate to the developments in Syria and other countries,” al-Rahi stated. “They can only achieve this through responsible and honest dialogue,” he noted. “They must abandon personal and sectarian interests for the sake of national ones,” added the patriarch. The political authorities must comply with President Michel Suleiman's call to “take national decisions, facilitate the formation of a new government, and return to dialogue without preconditions,” he said.
Powerful car bombs exploded outside two Sunni mosques in Tripoli on Friday. The first bomb struck in the city center at the al-Salam mosque as worshipers were still inside.
The second explosion struck just minutes later outside al-Taqwa mosque, about two kilometers away, near the port. Judicial sources told An Nahar daily Sunday that the death toll reached 45 with at least 500 wounded.

Islamic Gathering: Tripoli Blasts Continuation of Samaha-Mamlouk Scheme, City Won't Be Dragged into Forming Cantons
Naharnet/The Islamic National Gathering assured on Saturday evening that the northern city of Tripoli will not be “dragged into creating sectarian cantons.”"The residents of Tripoli will not be dragged into the project of dividing the country and of creating sectarian cantons,” al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Mohammed Kabbara said after an exceptional meeting of the gathering in the port city. He stressed: “They will not allow terrorists to reach their goals.”A statement released by the members of the gathering said that Friday's explosions “are a continuation of the Mamlouk-Samaha scheme that aimed at igniting strife in Lebanon.” "They serve the interests of both the Syrian and the Iranian regimes,” it said. The statement was pointing out to the case of former Information Minister Michel Samaha and Syrian security chief Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk. Lebanese judicial authorities have charged Samaha and Mamlouk with forming a group to commit terrorist crimes in Lebanon. The two were also charged with plotting to assassinate political and religious figures.
The Islamic gathering said the people of Tripoli “choose the state and its institutions as a reference,” urging them to cooperate with the new measures adopted by the army and the security forces. The conferees also praised the “attitude and behavior of Tripoli's residents” following the bombings. “Their stances after the blasts prevent those looking to cause sedition from attaining their goals,” Kabbara said. “And their impulsiveness to assist in the rescuing operations is an example of civil and human responsibility.” Saturday's meeting came one day after car bombs exploded outside two Sunni mosques in Tripoli killed nearly 45 people and wounded 900 others.
The first bomb struck in the city center at the al-Salam mosque as worshipers were still inside. The second explosion struck just minutes later outside al-Taqwa mosque, about two kilometers away, near the port.

Rockets, Mortars Left Over from 2006 War Found in Tyre Region
Naharnet/Several rockets and shells were found on Sunday in the Tyre region in south Lebanon, state-run National News Agency reported. “Three rockets left over from the July War were found in the al-Nsar-Deir Qanoun Ras al-Ain area east of Tyre and Lebanese army experts removed them from the location,” NNA said. Later on Sunday, the agency said more rockets and shells were discovered in the same area, noting that several of them had Hebrew writings. "Eight mortar shells were found buried in the ground in addition to the three rockets," NNA reported. It later said six Grad rockets and two Israeli-made rockets were found in the area.
"The army cordoned off the area and prohibited access over safety concerns as the commander of the Italian (UNIFIL) contingent in al-Mansouri Colonel (Giovan Battista) D'Alessio and a number of his officers arrived on the scene to inspect the shells in cooperation with the army," NNA added. The Lebanese army is still conducting a large search operation in the region, it said.
Earlier, LBCI said the rockets were of 122mm caliber while Future TV said they were Katyushas. On Thursday, four rockets were fired from an area between Hawsh and the al-Rashidiyeh Palestinian refugee camp near Tyre towards northern Israel, causing no casualties. Israel retaliated at dawn Friday with an air strike on tunnels used by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in the Naameh area south of Beirut, although the rocket attack was claimed by the al-Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades. And on Monday, several rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and hundreds of machinegun bullets were found on a road in Western Zawtar in the Nabatiyeh province.

Iran Army Warns U.S. of 'Harsh Consequences' over Syria
Naharnet/A top Iranian military chief warned on Sunday that the U.S. will face "harsh consequences" if it intervenes in ally Syria over claims of chemical attacks, Fars news agency reported. "If the United States crosses this red line, there will be harsh consequences for the White House," armed forces deputy chief of staff Massoud Jazayeri was quoted as saying. A year ago U.S. President Barack Obama warned the use of chemical weapons in Syria would cross a "red line" and have "enormous consequences". On Sunday, his Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the US military was ready to take action against Syria. "President Obama has asked the Defense Department to prepare options for all contingencies. We have done that," Hagel told reporters in Malaysia. "Again, we are prepared to exercise whatever option, if he decides to employ one of those options," he said, a day after Obama held a rare meeting his top aides and brass to discuss Syria. After the meeting, Obama spoke by phone with Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, which has accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons on a large scale. A statement from Cameron's office said if the use of chemical weapons by Syria would "merit a serious response" -- echoing French calls that "force" be used if the claims are confirmed.
But the Iranian military leader warned Washington, its Western allies and Israel against playing with "fire". "The terrorist war underway in Syria was planned by the United States and reactionary countries in the region against the resistance front (against Israel)," Fars quoted Jazayeri as saying. "Despite this, the government and people of Syria have achieved huge successes. "Those who add fire to the oil will not escape the vengeance of the people," added Jazayeri. Foes of the Damascus regime say Syrian forces unleashed a chemical attack Wednesday on areas southwest and east of the capital, killing hundreds of people. The regime of President Bashar Assad denies the accusations, saying instead that rebel fighters have used chemical weapons in the 29-month conflict. Source/Agence France Presse.

U.N. says experts to visit Syria poison gas site from Monday
Reuters - U.N. chemical weapons experts will visit the site of an alleged poison gas attack in Syria to conduct investigations beginning on Monday, the United Nations said. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's office said in a statement on Sunday that Syria had promised to observe a ceasefire at the site in the suburbs of Damascus while a U.N. team begins "on-site fact-finding activities". The U.N. experts arrived in Damascus three days before a mass poisoning killed many hundreds of people on Wednesday in what appears to have been the world's worst chemical weapons attack in 25 years. Syria said earlier on Sunday it had agreed to let the experts visit the site.
(Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Alison Williams)

Muslim Brotherhood leaders, Mubarak face trial in Egypt
By Alistair Lyon/CAIRO (Reuters) - Three leaders of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and the movement's former arch-foe Hosni Mubarak faced separate trials on Sunday on similar charges of involvement in the killing of protesters. With Egypt now under an army-installed government after last month's overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, local media seized on the symbolism of scheduling both sessions on the same day. "Trial of two regimes," headlined al-Shorouk daily. In the end, Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood's "General Guide", and his deputies did not appear at the opening of their trial for security reasons, a judicial source said. Citing their absence, the judge adjourned the proceedings until October 29. The case against Badie, Khairat al-Shater and Rashad Bayoumy relates to unrest before the army removed Mursi on July 3. Mursi has been detained in an undisclosed location since then. More than 1,000 people, including about 100 soldiers and police, have died in violence across Egypt since Mursi's fall, making it the bloodiest civil unrest in the republic's 60-year history. Brotherhood supporters say the toll is much higher. Mubarak, who left prison on Thursday after judges ordered his release, appeared in a courtroom cage in a wheelchair, wearing sunglasses and dressed in white, along with his jailed sons Gamal and Alaa and former interior minister Habib al-Adly. After a hearing that lasted about three hours, the judge set the next session for September 14, pending further investigation.
The former president was sentenced to life in prison last year for complicity in the killing of protesters during the 2011 revolt against him, but an appeals court ordered a retrial. A helicopter flew Mubarak to the court in the Police Academy on the eastern outskirts of Cairo from a military hospital where he was placed under house arrest after his release from jail.
The government used a state of emergency it declared earlier this month to place Mubarak under house arrest, apparently to forestall any public anger if he had simply walked free.
The trial of the Brotherhood leaders signals that Egypt's new army-backed rulers intend to crush what they have portrayed as a violent, terrorist group bent on subverting the state. The Brotherhood, which won five successive post-Mubarak votes, says it is a peaceful movement unjustly targeted by the generals who ousted Mursi, Egypt's first freely elected leader.
The military contends it was responding to the people's will, citing vast demonstrations at the time against the rule of a man criticized for accumulating excessive power, pushing a partisan Islamist agenda and mismanaging the economy.
BROTHERHOOD IN DISARRAY
Charges against Badie and his aides include incitement to violence in connection with an anti-Brotherhood protest near the group's Cairo headquarters on June 30 in which nine people were killed and 91 wounded. The 70-year-old Brotherhood chief was detained last week. Shater and Bayoumy were picked up earlier.
Pro-Mursi crowds staged small-scale marches on Friday, but the Brotherhood's street power appears to have faded due to the round-up of its leaders and the bloody dispersal of protest camps set up in Cairo to demand the president's reinstatement. A pro-Mursi alliance known as the National Coalition to Support Legitimacy and Reject the Coup called on Sunday for a campaign of civil disobedience to paralyze Egypt, "retake the revolution" and reverse the army takeover. A day earlier, in a sign of confidence, the government relaxed a night-time curfew, saying it would start at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT), instead of 7 p.m. The month-long curfew was imposed on August 14, the day the pro-Mursi protest vigils were stormed. Banks and financial institutions are working normally again.
Castigating foes of the army, a spokesman for interim President Adly Mansour said Egypt had undergone difficulties in the past two months, but had reached a "safe area". "Those who tried and are still trying to break the Egyptian army will fall alongside the Tatars and Crusaders and all other enemies in the same dustbin," Ahmed el-Meslemani declared.
The army has announced a roadmap back to democracy that involves revising the constitution adopted under Mursi in late 2012, with parliamentary and presidential elections to follow. Changes proposed by a government-appointed legal panel would scrap last year's Islamic additions to the constitution and revive a Mubarak-era voting system. Islamists and liberals have expressed alarm about the suggestions. Egyptian authorities arrested an Islamist militant on Sunday, saying he was close to the brother of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and had supplied arms to Mursi's supporters.
Security sources said the authorities described the man, Daoud Khairat, as the "right-hand man" of Mohamed al-Zawahri, who was himself arrested in Egypt on August 17. The Brotherhood denies using firearms and says it has no links to al Qaeda. Earlier in the day, the army said it had captured five militants in Sheikh Zowayed, a town in North Sinai, saying they had been involved in attacks on security forces in the area. A son of senior Brotherhood politician Mohamed al-Beltagi was also detained in the southern city of Beni Suef, the security sources said, in a continuing wave of arrests.
(This story is refiled to correct date of anti-Brotherhood protest to June 30 in paragraph 14) (Reporting by Cairo bureau; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Moscow Warns West against 'Tragic Mistake' in Syria
Naharnet /Military action against the Syrian regime would be a "tragic mistake", Russia said Sunday, warning the West not to preempt the results of a U.N. probe into alleged deadly chemical attacks. Moscow warned there was a danger of history repeating itself a decade after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which it opposed, and urged the United States to refrain from any reckless decision. "We strongly urge those who, by attempting to impose their own results on the U.N. experts, are raising the possibility of a military operation in Syria to use their common sense and refrain from committing a tragic mistake," foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement. "All this is reminiscent of events from a decade ago, when the United States bypassed the U.N. and used fallacious information on the presence in Iraq of weapons of mass destruction to launch an adventure, the consequences of which are known to all," he said. The United States and Britain led the military invasion of Iraq that toppled long-time dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003. A U.N. mission had failed to find any of the weapons of mass destruction Saddam was suspected of possessing but the Iraqi strongman was known to have repeatedly used chemical weapons.
The United Nations said Sunday its inspectors in Syria could begin work as early as Monday, after Damascus agreed to the probe Sunday during a visit by top U.N. official Angela Kane.
Doctors Without Borders has said 355 people died last week of "neurotoxic" symptoms, after the opposition claimed regime forces unleashed chemicals east and southwest of Damascus last Wednesday causing more than 1,300 deaths. The regime has denied the charges and in turn accused the rebels of using chemical arms.
Russia took credit for the deal allowing the U.N. inspectors to begin their work, saying it was the result of "relentless efforts" by Moscow with the Syrian regime.
"We are satisfied with the Syrian leadership's constructive approach towards ensuring an effective cooperation with the U.N. mission," the spokesman said.
Washington, which has said that evidence President Bashar Assad's regime used chemical weapons would cross a red line and warrant tougher action, said the Syrian offer was "too late to be credible."
Officials said U.S. President Barack Obama, who held crisis talks Saturday with top aides, would make an "informed decision" about how to respond to an "indiscriminate" chemical weapons attack.
One official told Agence France Presse that based on the reported number of victims and their symptoms, and U.S. and foreign intelligence, "there is very little doubt at this point that a chemical weapon was used by the Syrian regime against civilians in this incident." Russia -- which together with Iran and China has supported Assad throughout the 29-month-old Syrian crisis -- urged the rebel camp to guarantee the safety of the U.N. team lead by professor Aake Sellstroem. "It is important that the armed opposition controlling part of Eastern Ghouta ensure that the U.N. mission is able to operate safely and refrain from the kind of armed provocation witnessed against U.N. observers last summer," Lukashevich said. Opposition leaders already said Friday that U.N. inspectors would have "unfettered" access to areas under rebel control such as Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus to investigate the use of chemical weapons. Source/Agence France Presse.

Syria, Rebels Trade Chemical Arms Charges
Naharnet /The Syrian government and its foes accused each other of using chemical weapons, as Doctors Without Borders said 355 people had died earlier this week of "neurotoxic" symptoms. A senior U.N. envoy was meanwhile in Damascus to press for an investigation into the alleged chemical attack on Wednesday, as U.S. President Barack Obama met his top national security advisers to weigh a possible response. He also discussed the crisis with British Prime Minister David Cameron. Obama is under mounting pressure to act following the reported attack near Damascus that opposition groups say was carried out by President Bashar Assad's forces and had killed more than 1,000 people. The Syrian government has strongly denied the allegations but has yet to accede to demands that U.N. inspectors already in the country be allowed to visit the sites of the alleged attacks.
However, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem was quoted by his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, as saying Damascus would facilitate such a visit.
"The Syrian government will cooperate with the United Nations mission now in Syria to create the conditions for a visit to zones where terrorist groups have carried out attacks with chemical weapons," he was quoted as saying.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke Thursday with Muallem about the alleged attack. Russia urged Damascus to cooperate with the U.N. but dismissed calls for use of force against its ally.
With the two sides trading accusations, U.N. Under Secretary General Angela Kane is in Damascus, tasked by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with establishing the terms of an inquiry. U.N. experts have been on the ground in Syria since last Sunday to probe three other sites.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi said the regime had never used chemical weapons, "in any form whatsoever, be it liquid or gas".
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said around 3,600 patients displaying "neurotoxic symptoms" had flooded into three Syrian hospitals on the day of the alleged attacks, and 355 of them died.
"Medical staff working in these facilities provided detailed information to MSF doctors regarding large numbers of patients arriving with symptoms including convulsions, excess saliva, pinpoint pupils, blurred vision and respiratory distress," MSF director of operations Bart Janssens said. But MSF stressed it had no scientific proof of the cause of the symptoms nor could it confirm who carried out the attack. For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 300 people had died from the effects of gas, including 82 women and 54 children.
In Washington, a White House official said: "The president has directed the intelligence community to gather facts and evidence so that we can determine what occurred in Syria. "Once we ascertain the facts, the president will make an informed decision about how to respond."
"The president also received a detailed review of a range of potential options he had requested be prepared for the United States and the international community to respond to the use of chemical weapons," a statement said.
The violence continued Saturday, with a watchdog accusing the regime of striking by air several rebel positions, including in Jobar, and reporting that insurgents seized a strategic town in the northwest.
State television said an army unit surrounded a "sector of Jobar where terrorists used chemical weapons", adding that soldiers who tried to enter the neighborhood had "suffocated". Rebels have "resorted to chemical weapons after the successes of the Syrian army in recent days", the television charged. The opposition National Coalition denied that rebels had used chemical arms, saying the government was only trying to divert attention from its own use of them.
The "international community knows full well that the Assad regime is the only party in Syria which possesses the means to produce, use and stock chemical weapons", it said. Obama and Cameron expressed their grave concern Saturday about the "increasing signs" of a major chemical weapons attack.
A White House statement said the two leaders vowed during a telephone call to "continue to consult closely" regarding the alleged attack, as well as potential international responses.
But Cameron's Downing Street office went further, noting that the two leaders "are both gravely concerned by... the increasing signs that this was a significant chemical weapons attack carried out by the Syrian regime against its own people". "The fact that President Assad has failed to cooperate with the U.N. suggests that the regime has something to hide," the British statement said, stressing that "significant use of chemical weapons would merit a serious response from the international community". French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, during a visit to the West Bank on Saturday, blamed Syria for a "chemical massacre" and said "the Bashar regime is responsible".
But Damascus ally Iran blamed the rebels and warned the West against any military intervention. "There is proof terrorist groups carried out this action," foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi said, without giving any details. Warning against any Western military intervention in the conflict, Araqchi said "there is no international authorization for" such action. The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria since an uprising against Assad's rule flared in March 2011, while millions more have fled the country or been internally displaced.Source/Agence France Presse.

Israel's Peres Urges World to 'Take out' Syria Chemicals
Naharnet/Israeli President Shimon Peres called Sunday for an international effort to "take out" chemical weapons in Syria after claims President Bashar Assad's regime used them in a deadly attack.
"The time has come to make a joint effort to take out all the chemical weapons from Syria," Peres said, without elaborating if he envisioned this being achieved through military strikes or otherwise.
The chemical arms, Peres said, "cannot remain there, whether in the hands of Assad or the hands of other people." "It's very complicated, very expensive, but it will be more expensive and more dangerous to keep" the situation as it is, said the Israeli leader. Doctors Without Borders said that 355 people of the thousands treated at three hospitals died with "neurotoxic" symptoms stemming from attacks on Wednesday near Damascus. The Assad regime and its opponents accuse each other of carrying out the attacks. "I think it's unprecedented what's happening in Syria," said Peres. "I can't believe that there has been the most unbelievable war crime which is the use of chemical weapons to kill hundreds of women and children," he said in remarks ahead of talks with visiting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. For his part, Fabius reiterated the French stance that "everything indicates a chemical massacre, and its very heavy responsibility falls on Bashar Assad". "We don't understand the absence of a strong reaction by the international community after the facts have been proven. "If the international community stays silent in front of such massacre, the people will wonder who or what can we trust," the French minister warned. Fabius was in Jerusalem for talks with senior Israeli officials, after Saturday meetings with the Palestinian president and prime minister. Speaking ahead of his weekly cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the reported chemical weapons attacks in Syria "a terrible tragedy and a terrible crime". "Our hearts go out to the women, babies and children who were hit so cruelly by weapons of mass destruction," he said. "This situation cannot continue." Netanyahu said the alleged attack was further proof "the world's most dangerous regimes cannot have possession over the world's most dangerous weapons". The premier, who was set to meet Fabius later in the day, said Israel was closely monitoring Syria and would be ready to take action if it felt at risk.
"Our finger is a responsible finger, and if necessary it can be on the trigger," he said. "We will always know to protect our citizens." Israeli officials have taken care to not voice support of foreign military intervention in Syria, as the U.S. said it was ready to take action there but still evaluating the claims of a chemical weapons attack. Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Sunday that "the massive use of chemical weapons and the terrible pictures of hundreds of dead children won't be able to pass without a reaction" from the international community. "If I must make an assessment -- there will be some sort of reaction by the international community, the U.S., maybe other states," he told army radio.
Source/Agence France Presse.

The Brotherhood Equation
By: Bakr Oweida/Asharq Alawsat
On July 7, four days after the ouster of Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi, London’s Observer published a cartoon by its cartoonist, Chris Riddell, showing an officer who resembled Nasser springing out of a box and directing a right hook that knocked out a man holding a truncheon representing political Islam. Under his left arm, he held a little girl representing secularism and saying: “It is only a coup if he [the officer] does not get back in the box.”
Last week, Riddell freed the officer, now resembling a lion, from all restrictions, added the color red to his cap and blood to his fangs and claws, with secularism now holding on to his tail looking at the joint enemy, the Muslim Brotherhood, while the officer screamed: “What now?”Between what started on January 25, 2011, through to June 30, 2013, and on to July 3, right until now, the question “What now?” has been pertinent, although there is more urgency in the question, “Where to from here?” This is true not only in Egypt, but in every place where Arabs were promised a spring which did not bloom, as millions of them had imagined, or wished—to be more accurate—fantasized about, and which has since been lost. On Egypt, I can say that I am of an opinion shared by many: deciding on a strong leader based on a popular consensus is a matter of time. Preparations of that are afoot in a plan included in the road map.
But from various announcements and presidential elections, we know what will happen next: a new constitution, parliamentary elections, then presidential elections, or. . . . Maybe the opposite will happen. There is a strong movement that prefers to elect a president before a parliament—a president whom they want to win a landslide majority that unites Egyptians.
The favorite for that role, even if he tries to distance himself from the position, is Genenral Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. It is known, that there are some political opportunities that cannot be wasted, as they will never happen again. It is a duty for Sisi, a man who enjoys the support of the majority of his people, to take this opportunity—even if it involves a sacrifice of privacy and of family life and the gamble of taking on the problems that come with authority.
Of course, Arab democrats and liberals—and I am one of them—will express regret and pain, but I think it is brave to admit that there is a huge distance between the Arab intellectual and political elite and the general public.
There is no argument that Riddell’s cartoon in the Observer, and dozens like it in world publications in the East and West, represent a point of view that has weight among the elite. It is likely, however, that it is not as important to millions among the general public.
To put it more directly, we can say that the elite sleep and breathe political analysis, but the general public doesn’t really care about such discourse.
There is nothing wrong with pointing out that people want a simple life, to have their bread and clean water—because the first right of a citizen is to have a secure life. What is security, and where do we find it, if we do not provide the simple necessities of life without insult and hassle? So what does that have to do with questions over where Egypt can go from here? Well, it is another sign of the failure of the elite. The Brotherhood ruled Egypt through the ballot box, and what happened? They looked down on others. There leaders refused to involve representatives of other sections of society, they adopted a policy of exclusion, appointed themselves as the most elite of the elites—the crème de la crème. They talked themselves into a corner where they didn’t have to listen to anybody but themselves. Of course, we can all see how that turned out. Some may note that they have ruled before—in Sudan, Gaza, Ankara and Tunisia—so, why was there such a rapid collapse in Egypt? The answer is not difficult for anyone who knows the Middle East’s political geography. Egypt is not the same as the others. It is strange that the Brotherhood ignored that fact. To be fair, the experience of the Brotherhood in government, which in Egypt was very short but which continues elsewhere, did not come from nowhere. It was not an evil plant that grew in the deserts of Arab political parties, and certainly was not a unique experience in the Arab world.
The equation to solve the mystery of the Egyptian Brotherhood’s rise and fall is, at the end of the day, very simple: Extremist ideology + Elitist group = Epic Fail.