No Longer My Enemy’s Enemy
By: Abdullah Al-Rashid/Asharq Alawsat
http://www.aawsat.net/2013/07/article55308346
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Arab world has seen a dramatic change in position on Hezbollah following its intervention in Syria. For many years, Shi’ite Hezbollah was seen by many people in the Middle East, including Sunnis, as a force for good, a genuine and effective resistance movement which fought the Israelis while Arab leaders ignored the plight of the Palestinians. This perception seems now to be shifting dramatically.
GCC states have recently issued statements condemning Hezbollah for its intervention in Syria. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and others, have joined together to announce a number of political, economic and other measures against the Shi’ite movement’s supporters in the Gulf region.
In addition, Yusuf Qaradawi, a prominent Sunni cleric who once supported the Lebanese movement, has recently said he was wrong in his decision to stand by Hezbollah, and praised the Saudi clerics who had condemned the movement from the start.
At a rally in Doha last month, he said: “I defended the so-called Nasrallah and his party, the party of tyranny . . . in front of clerics in Saudi Arabia,” adding: “It seems that the clerics of Saudi Arabia were more mature than me.”
The Beginnings
Back in 2006, when Israel responded to Hezbollah’s kidnapping of two of its soldiers by waging war on Lebanon, many Arabs and Muslims around the world demonstrated in support of Hassan Nasrallah and his party.
In Vienna, in the same year, more than eight thousand protesters went out in force, carrying pictures of Nasrallah, and slogans declaring support for Hezbollah. These thousands were encouraged to go out by a Friday prayer sermon given by the Palestinian imam of the Shura Mosque in the Austrian capital.
Many people in the Arab world feel aggrieved at the perceived western support for Israel, and were pleased to see a party which dared to stand up to Israel. Many felt let down by their governments, and the sight of an Arab militia launching some sort of an attack on Israel was bound to win support.
While thousands were demonstrating in the streets of Arab cities, their governments had differing views. Saudi Arabia issued a statement in July 2006, attributed to an official source and published on the website of the country’s official news agency, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), which said: “Hezbollah’s action, was a miscalculated adventure.” The Egyptian government also described Hezbollah’s kidnapping of the soldiers as an “irresponsible adventure.”
Meanwhile, 169 Muslim scholars and intellectuals, from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and the Islamic world–most of whom were affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood–issued a statement calling for support for the Lebanese resistance, and called on Arab governments to support Hezbollah too. Many prominent names appeared on the list of those who signed the statement, including Awad Al-Qarni, Khalid Darwish and Sultan bin Kayid Al-Qasmi. The statement said support for Hezbollah was “one of the most urgent duties for Muslims to perform.”
The Salafist View
Within Saudi Arabia, the issue of Hezbollah was a polarizing one. Salafists were against Hezbollah on ideological grounds and their differences were based on historic mistrust of the Shi’ite sect. They rejected all Shi’ite ideas, even resisting the common enemy.
Many Salafist clerics have even issued fatwas totally rejecting Hezbollah, and banning all Muslims from supporting them, or even calling others to support them. Some clerics, such as Nasser Al-Umar, a prominent Saudi Salafist, even went as far as saying on Al-Jazeera TV in July 2006 that “Israel, America, and Iran were all common enemies of Islam,” and called Hezbollah the “party of Satan.”
Many Arab internet forums, the most famous of which was the Saudi “Sahat Arabiyah” (Arab Forums), saw many arguments on the position on Hezbollah, and if they should be supported in their fight against Israel.
However, this issue was been resolved for many Salafists several years ago. A book published in 1986 by a Saudi Salafist, entitled Amal and the Palestinian Camps, described how Hezbollah was formed from the Shi’ite Amal movement in Lebanon, with the support of Iran. The Amal movement was condemned for “barbaric and heinous crimes,” committed against Palestinians during the civil war in Lebanon.
Abdullah Mohamed Gharib, author of Amal and the Palestinian Camps, said: “It seems like Hezbollah was formed to be a trap for Sunni Lebanese and Palestinians. On the outside it seems like a resistance movement against the enemies of Islam, but on the inside, it is a group which contains a number of those who are fooled by the slogans of the rejectionists [the name given to Shi’ites by Salafists].”
Pro-Hezbollah
Moderate and hard-line Islamists disagreed and argued constantly on the subject of Hezbollah. Salafists had to fight against a string of attacks from supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, who were well represented in Al-Jazeera. They constantly sniped at Salafist fatwas which disagreed with the Shi’ite movement.
One Saudi journalist, Faris bin Hizam, said in an article he wrote in Al-Hayat in August 2006 that the Hezbollah argument had revealed the extent of the differences between the Salafists and other Islamic trends. These arguments produced new trends, which openly said: “We have deep differences with Hezbollah, but this is not the time to raise sectarian tensions, and ideological arguments. We must stand together with our Muslim brothers, the Shi’ites, against the common enemy, Israel.”
The Secretary–General of the International Union of Muslim Scholars at the time, Sheikh Salman Awdeh, repeated those same sentiments in a TV program in 2006. He said although the difference with Shi’ites would remain, it was important to stand alongside them in the fight against “Jews and Zionists who did not differentiate between combatants and children in their bombardment of Lebanon.”
Most Islamists who supported Hezbollah argued that it was more important to stand against Israel than against Shi’ites. One of the most prominent Islamists associated with the Brotherhood ideology in Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Awad Al-Qarni, said in August 2006 on Al-Arabiya website: “We may have differences with Hezbollah and others, but our differences with it do not stop us from standing alongside it in its defense of the nation, to remove aggression and oppression from the Lebanese people.”
“Hezbollah: Between the Truth and the Aims”
In 2006, a book titled Hezbollah: Between the Truth and the Aims was published to galvanize support for the Lebanese movement. It was published by the Al-Rayah center in Jeddah. The book collated comments and articles of pro-Hezbollah Islamists, including Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi and Awad Al-Qarni.
The book said it was important that Muslims stood together against the “Jewish and American aggression in Lebanon, which aims at eliminating Shi’ites and Sunnis alike, because they are both in the same trenches.”
Another Saudi Islamist, Mohamed Al-Ahmari, in an article he wrote on August 4 2006, criticized his Salafist colleagues for opposing Hezbollah on ideological grounds, rather than supporting its actions. Al-Ahmari was known for his positive position on Iran and its democratic model. Salafists, however, were swift to respond, criticizing Al-Ahmari for his pragmatic argument for dealing with Hezbollah, and for what they saw as his disregard for correct ideological positions.

US Ambassador Maura Connelly: U.S., Lebanon partners in rejecting terrorism
July 04, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: United States Ambassador Maura Connelly reiterated her country’s commitment to Lebanon’s stability and sovereignty Wednesday saying Lebanon and the U.S. were partners in rejecting terrorism. Speaking at a reception to mark the July 4 celebrations, the ambassador said the U.S. works hard to “keep its democracy vibrant and to defeat the tyrant, so too does Lebanon struggle with its own democratic processes and with its own threatened tyranny.”“The United States stands united with the state of Lebanon as an ally in democracy, steadfast together in the rejection of terrorism,” Connelly told her guests.
“We remain committed to Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence and stability because in a truly sovereign Lebanon, in a truly independent Lebanon, in a truly stable Lebanon, terrorism in Lebanon will not thrive,” she said.
Connelly explained that Wednesday’s reception was her last one in Beirut as she would be leaving later this summer to take up a new assignment in Washington.
“It has been an honor for me to serve as the U.S. ambassador to this incredibly complicated, delightfully charming, breathtakingly beautiful country,” she said in reference to Lebanon.
Connelly praised her colleagues and the staff of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, describing them as “a deeply committed and highly talented team whose hard work has made this embassy extremely effective.”
“Because of terrorism, we live and work in very restricted circumstances but by being here, by doing our jobs, by reaching out to people, by speaking out clearly, we at this embassy – together with our Lebanese colleagues and our friends – defy the tyranny of terrorism every day,” she concluded.

Saudis, Gulf emirates actively aided Egypt’s military coup, settling score for Mubarak ouster
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 4, 2013/The lightening coup which Wednesday, July 3, overthrew President Mohamed Morsi put in reverse gear for the first time the Obama administration’s policy of sponsoring the Muslim Brotherhood movement as a moderate force for Arab rule and partner in its Middle East policies. DEBKAfile reveals that the Egyptian military could not have managed their clockwork coup without the aid of Saudi and Dubai intelligence and funding. Saudi Arabia and the UAE threw their weight and purses behind Egypt’s generals aiming to put their first big spoke in the US-sponsored Arab Revolt (or Spring), after they failed to hold the tide back in Libya, Egypt and thus far Syria. To learn the name of the Egyptian politician designated to lead his country when the army bows out, read the coming issue of DEBKA Weekly due out Friday.
To subscribe to DEBKA Weekly, click here The coup leader, Defense Minister and army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, had two more Saudi-Gulf commitments in his pocket, say DEBKAfile's Middle East sources:
1. Should the Obama administration cut off the annual US aid allocation of $1.3 billion, Saudi Arabia and the UAE would make up the military budget’s shortfall;
2. The Saudis, UAE and other Gulf nations, such as Bahrain and Kuwait, would immediately start pumping out substantial funds to keep the Egyptian economy running. The Egyptian masses would be shown that in a properly managed economy, they could be guaranteed a minimal standard of living and need not go hungry as many did under Muslim Brotherhood rule.
According to our sources, the Saudis and the UAE pledged to match the funds Qatar transferred to the Muslim Brotherhood’s coffers in Cairo in the past year, amounting to the vast sum of $13 billion.
This explains President Barack Obama’s caution Thursday morning, July 4, in his expression of deep concern over the ousting of the Egyptian president and the suspension of its constitution. He urged the military to restore government to civilian hands - without accusing them outright of a coup d’etat - and to “avoid arresting President Mosi and his supporters.”
The US president refrained from cutting off aid to Egypt, now under military rule, only ordering his administration “to assess what the military's actions meant for US foreign aid to Egypt.”
Thursday morning, Washington ordered US diplomats and their families to leave Cairo at once, leaving just a skeleton staff at the embassy for emergencies. DEBKAfile: This step is only one symptom of the broad gulf developing between the Obama administration and Egypt’s post-coup administration headed by Defense Minister and coup leader Gen. El-Sisi
By means of the successful military putsch in Cairo, Saudi King Abdullah had his revenge for the toppling of his friend Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, for which he has never forgiven President Obama whom he held responsible. The Saudi-Gulf intervention in Egypt’s change of government also ushers in a new stage of the Arab Revolt for the Middle East. For the first time, a group of traditionally pro-US conservative Arab governments has struck out on its own to fill the leadership vacuum left by the Obama administration’s unwillingness to pursue direct initiatives in the savage Syrian civil war or forcibly preempt Iran’s drive for a nuclear bomb.
The removal of Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt has far-reaching ramifications for Israel. In the immediate term, it gives Israel some security relief – especially, easing the dangers posed from Sinai to its southern regions. The radical Palestinian Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood offshoot which rules the Gaza Strip, has suffered the most damaging political and military setback in its history with the loss of its parent and patron in Cairo.
The big question facing Egypt’s still uncertain future is: Will Riyadh and the UAE follow through on their backing for Gen. Fattah El-Sisi, the most powerful man in Egypt today, and release the promised funds for rehabilitating the Egyptian economy?

Gulf Monarchies Discuss 'anti-Hizbullah Moves'
Naharnet /Senior Gulf Cooperation Council officials met in Riyadh on Thursday to coordinate sanctions in the six member states against Hizbullah over its support for the Syria regime. The meeting was "to develop mechanisms to monitor movements, financial transactions and business operations of Hizbullah," said Bahraini deputy interior minister Khaled al-Absi. The GCC monarchies decided on June 10 to impose sanctions on Hizbullah, targeting residency permits and its financial and business activities in reprisal for the group's armed intervention in Syria. Absi told reporters two expert teams will be formed: one to "coordinate with central banks" and the second to review "legal, administrative and financial matters" linked to the sanctions. Last month's measure was taken "after the discovery in GCC states of several terrorist cells linked to the group," said Absi. However, he did not say how many Hizbullah "suspects" would be affected by the sanctions or their estimated assets and financial and commercial operations in the region. The sanctions would be implemented "in coordination... with ministers of commerce and the central banks of the GCC," the council's Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani has said. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Qatar expelled 18 Lebanese citizens from the gas-rich Gulf state on June 20, a government source in Beirut told Agence France Presse. An estimated 360,000 Lebanese work in the Gulf, according to the daily An-Nahar, remitting some $4 billion (three billion euros) annually. A staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, of the Alawite sect of Shiite Islam, Hizbullah has backed him since protests erupted in March 2011, openly declaring its military involvement last month. The Sunni monarchies of the Gulf back the mostly Sunni rebels, and the GCC has warned that it might add Hizbullah to its list of terrorist groups. Source/Agence France Presse

President Gemayel Stresses from Sidon Need for National Plan to Tackle Illegitimate Arms, Groups
Naharnet /Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel stated on Thursday that the recent clashes in the southern city of Sidon demonstrated that all sides must adhere to the state and its official armed forces. He said: “We are in great need of a national plan and an expanded meeting of political forces to tackle the spread of illegitimate arms and groups.” “The plan should serve to eliminate all illegitimate forces that are undermining the state and that are contributing to factors that may lead to wars in the future,” he said from Sidon where he held talks with Mustaqbal bloc MP Bahia Hariri at her residence. The meeting was attended my a number officials from the city, including its Mufti Sheikh Salim Sousan. “It is the duty of any citizen to show solidarity with the city given the ordeal its residents had to deal with,” remarked Gemayel. “This city does not discriminate between Muslims and Christians,” he declared. “The clashes demonstrated that only the state and its official security forces should be responsible for the citizens' fate, security, and stability,” stressed the Phalange Party leader. “The Sidon clashes are new evidence that there can be no stability or security or peace without respecting the state,” he added. “We must once and for all eliminate illegitimate arms and closed security zones,” Gemayel demanded. “The Sidon clashes proved that these zones need to eliminated because they contradict the concept of the state,” he explained. Eighteen soldiers were killed and 50 were wounded in clashes with the armed supporters of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir in Sidon on June 22 and 23. More than 20 of al-Asir's supporters were killed, according to a security official. Dozens of them were also arrested, but there was no sign of the cleric.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir in Alleged Audio Message Speaks of Plot to End His Presence in Abra
Naharnet / Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir, whose fate became uncertain after the army stormed his headquarters on June 24, resurfaced Thursday in an alleged audio message in which he described the deadly Sidon clashes as a plot aimed at ending his presence. “You will know and everyone must know the normal context of the incident, or rather the massacre, that happened, which is not an isolated incident, as we had raised the voice several times over the attacks of the Party of Satan (Hizbullah), the criminal AMAL Movement and the shabiha (thugs) of the so-called Lebanese army, which is in the service of Hizbullah, AMAL Movement, the criminal Syrian regime and the Iranian regime,” Asir says in the audio recording. “These attacks have not only targeted us, but have also targeted the entire Sunni sect, ever since Syria started its hegemony over Lebanon … such us jailing our young men, torturing them, stepping on their beards and necks and interrogating them in a provocative sectarian manner, and lately one of the soldiers pushed another soldier against one of our sisters who wears niqab and he fell over her,” Asir added. He said he was fully aware that “a confrontation was being plotted” against his group because Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan “Nasrallah knew that he would lose a direct confrontation against us after he lost in (Syria's) Qusayr.”
“The scenario was to pit us in a confrontation with the army, that's why we raised our voices high throughout seven months to say that the 'apartments of strife' tried to assassinate my son amid daily provocations and several mediations that prevented us from making any move to close the apartments, and we complied with every initiative and remained calm,” Asir claimed.
He accused the army of deploying in the Abra region in order to “protect the apartments” that he had claimed were being used by Hizbullah to stockpile weapons and monitor his movements.
Asir also accused the army of “insulting us and harassing us and our women.”
“We repeated several times that we want coexistence and to live in peace with everyone, but I asked them to put out the fire and vacate the apartments and my demand was not heeded,” he said.
Asir noted that several weeks before the deadly “incident” at an army checkpoint in Abra, his group detected unusual movements on the Mar Elias Hill, the Sharhabil Hill and in Haret Saida “and several other locations.”
“We asked the (Internal Security Forces') Intelligence Bureau to probe the issue, but no one responded,” the fugitive cleric added.
He claimed that gunmen loyal to Hizbullah “expelled residents from the buildings and heavily stockpiled weapons.”
“We informed the relevant authorities that a major battle was being prepare and no one was able to do anything,” Asir added.
“The incident happened when the army erected a checkpoint outside our mosque and its sole mission was to harass us and the worshipers. They used to remove the checkpoint after the end of the prayer at the mosque and erect it again during prayer time to harass our youths,” he said, accusing troops of “beating up a bearded taxi driver and a passenger over the possession of a baton.”
Explaining the incident that sparked the fierce deadly clashes, Asir said: “I asked my office manager Sheikh Ahmed Hariri to go to the checkpoint and ask them to remove it because we couldn't tolerate what's happening anymore, so Sheikh Ahmed and one of the brothers, who were of course armed, went there and spoke with the officer, who started raising his voice gradually before bullets rained down on us.”
“I saw the incident through the surveillance camera and I dare them to broadcast the video that they confiscated from Bank Audi to expose all the liars who condemned the attack on the army,” said Asir.
He added that troops opened fire, “which prompted our men to retreat and defend themselves, and at that moment heavy gunshots rained down on everyone, on the army and on our men, most probably from an apartment belonging to Hizbullah in the building of KFC.”
“One of our men was killed and several others were wounded and the shelling and bullets did not stop when the men retreated to the mosque,” Asir said.
“Is it logical that an incident happened at a checkpoint while bullets and shells were ready to be fired from Haret Saida and Sharhabil over an incident at a checkpoint? Even if an officer and a soldier were killed?” he wondered.
He claimed that it was a “premeditated decision” because “if we wanted to open fire on the army, Sheikh Ahmed would not have gone to the barracks and the issue is a big lie and the decision was taken to end Ahmed al-Asir amid the consent of some local figures and a lot of Lebanese parties from the March 14 and March 8 camps.”
Inside Asir's headquarters complex, which includes a mosque, several office buildings and apartment blocks, explosives and weapons, – including rocket launchers, snipers and machineguns -- were found.
"It looks more like a security fortress than a mosque," caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told reporters in the wake of the clashes, adding that several Asir supporters detained by security forces were non-Lebanese.
According to an army statement, the clashes erupted after Asir supporters attacked a checkpoint in “cold blood” and "for no reason."
Eighteen soldiers were martyred and 20 others were wounded in the attack and in the fierce clashes that ensued. Twenty of Asir's gunmen were also killed.
"The interior minister sent us a message in an indirect manner in which he warned that 'Ahmed al-Asir's head is wanted' and 'Ahmed al-Asir must die'," the cleric added in the recording.
Asir called on the Sunni community to “break the barrier of fear and fear only God,” urging them to protest “in a peaceful and civilized manner” after Friday prayers “in coordination with the Muslim clerics.”
“I don't want to hear that there is frustration. God will show the right and we will return to raise the flag of right, whether they like it or not,” Asir pledged.
He noted that the audio message, whose authenticity could not be independently verified, was recorded on Thursday.

Dar al-Fatwa Ulemas Urge Political, Religious Figures to End Sedition
Naharnet/Dar al-Fatwa Ulemas called on all the political and religious leaderships to consolidate efforts to maintain security in the country and prevent sedition. “Political and religious figures must unite their stances and reject division... to guarantee the strength and stability of Muslims and the Sunni sect,” a statement read by Sheikh Hisham Khalifah said. The statement pointed out that the religious rhetoric must spread peace and end tension and extremism in the country. The Ulemas stressed that the Lebanese army is the sole guarantee for the country's security and stability, demanding it to deal equally with all the Lebanese. They called on the release of those who didn't open fire at the army, who were detained over the clashes in the southern town of Abra near the city of Sidon. The Ulemas are referring to the latest arrest and alleged abuse of Sunni detainees after a deadly battle between troops and supporters of radical Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir in Abra. There have been claims that the army is committing abuses against people suspected of links to last week's clashes in which around 18 soldiers and more than 20 supporters of al-Asir died. Last week, the army said it had ordered a "major investigation" into the beating of a suspect.

Abbas hopes U.S. peace bid with Israel works
July 04, 2013/Daily Star /BEIRUT: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed hope Thursday that U.S. led efforts to revive peace talks with Israel would create positive results.
“The Americans have volunteered [to restart negotiations] and they are serious about it and we hope they will succeed and bring the views between the two sides closer," Abbas told reporters in Beirut following a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Abbas, who arrived in Lebanon Wednesday, reiterated that it was up to the Lebanese government to make decisions about Palestinian arms inside and outside refugee camps. “We are temporary guests in Lebanon and the day will come when we return to our homeland and our country," Abbas said. “We cannot be above the law. We are under the law and under what Lebanese officials declare," he added. Before visiting Berri’s Beirut residence in Ain el-Tineh, Abbas held talks with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati. After the meeting at the Grand Serail in Downtown Beirut, Abbas, accompanied by caretaker Labor Minister Salim Jreissati, drove to nearby Martyrs Square where he laid a wreath at the Martyrs memorial. Abbas, who began a three-day official visit to Lebanon, was hosted for dinner by President Michel Sleiman Wednesday. He is expected to meet Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam later Thursday.

Shiites deported from Gulf lament injustice
By Kareem Shaheen/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: When Hassan Alayan was summoned to the immigration authorities in the United Arab Emirates, he was not prepared for what happened next. After 27 years in the UAE Alayan, a Lebanese Shiite, was asked to leave the country. “Can they compensate me for 27 years?” he asked. Alayan was told to leave back in 2009. Now he heads a committee representing Lebanese citizens deported from the UAE, and worries that more members of the Lebanese Shiite community in the Gulf will be expelled as a result of new sanctions levied by the Gulf States against Hezbollah.
Hezbollah fought alongside the Syrian regime in the border province of Qusair, prompting condemnation from the Gulf Cooperation Council, which pledged to impose sanctions on the party and target its financiers in the region. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah responded by dismissing the allegations, claiming that the party had no presence in the Gulf.
Recent reports alleged that Qatar had deported Lebanese citizens, though the country’s new emir said in a recent meeting with President Michel Sleiman that they would not be targeted for expulsion.
“If Hezbollah did something that they find unacceptable, what do the others from the same sect have to do with it?” said Alayan, who is representing a total of 400 families, all of them Shiites, deported since 2009.
He said there were many more who did not contact his committee for fear of causing problems for their families who remain in the Gulf. “It is a collective death sentence, in the emotional sense,” he said.
Alayan argues that there is a deliberate targeting of Shiites, particularly in the UAE, as a way of putting pressure on the “economic nerve” of a community that supports Hezbollah. But he said that the governments of the GCC ought to make distinctions. “Not everybody is with Hezbollah or the Amal movement,” he said, echoing a statement made by several current and former Shiite residents in the Gulf.
He denied that any of those deported represented a security threat, saying they would have been held in custody and interrogated rather than be sent back to Lebanon. He pointed to the fact that the UAE had recently held a trial for a group of detainees accused of trying to undermine the regime.“If I’m accused for security reasons I should be arrested and interrogated,” he said.Ali Faour, a doctor who lived in the UAE for nearly 20 years before being deported in mid-2009, agrees that the issue has nothing to do with security. “Hezbollah does not have centers or companies or economic activity in the Gulf,” Faour said. “Not every Shiite is Hezbollah.”
Faour said the deportations amounted to discrimination that violates international treaties. “They are judging a human being on a sectarian basis,” he said. “This is alien to our culture.”Faour said he regrets trying to build a future in the Gulf only to be told to leave for no clear reason: “My feeling is that I picked the wrong country to spend my youth in.” Ali Farhat is a more recent deportee. After 15 years working at a restaurant in the city of Al-Ain in the UAE, he was told to go back to Lebanon. He arrived just under two months ago. “Orders from above,” he said, referring to the explanation given to him by the authorities. Farhat said that members of the community were constantly worried they would have their residency permits revoked. “For a while we have been living there, stressed, knowing that we were going to leave,” he said. “Just waiting for a phone call.”
Farhat, who has one daughter, said that many of his friends were also deported and that he believed Shiites were being specifically targeted.“They assume we are with [Hezbollah],” he said. “If we were with them we wouldn’t have left.”He said that none of his friends had a relationship with Hezbollah, and that some of them were not religious enough to pray. Though he expects the number of deportees to increase with the announced crackdown by the GCC, Farhat dismissed the possibility that he was deported for security reasons. “Someone who was never stopped once by a police car in 15 years, what kind of security issue does he have?” he said. Alayan, who runs the committee representing deportees, said the Lebanese state had done nothing to rehabilitate recent arrivals from the Gulf or provide them with social support. Efforts to discuss the issue with the UAE have come to naught. But for Farhat, the issue is more real than politics. “I worked in the same place for 15 years, they were like my brothers there,” he said. “But what can I do?”“I lived with them for 15 years – it’s not a game.”

Berri, Hariri congratulate new Egyptian President
July 04, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri congratulated Thursday the new Egyptian interim President Adli Mansour, who is set to run the country’s affairs after the nation's first democratically elected president was ousted by the military. “Mr. President Adli Mansour, I offer you my sincere congratulations for the trust given to you by the great people of Egypt... to run the country’s affairs in the transitional period to complete the goals of the January 25 Revolution,” Berri said in a message to Mansour who was appointed Thursday.
“Choosing you reflects Egypt’s appreciation to the judicial authorities that have set a model for justice and stood steadfast against tyranny by siding with the constitution and the law,” the speaker’s message said.
For his part, Hariri conveyed his congratulations to the Egyptian president and wished him success in leading the transitional period and in “taking the Egyptian people to the prosperity, stability and freedom it aspires.”
“The Egyptian people, with all is factions and forces, have triumphed for freedom and national dignity and were able to restore Egypt to how it should be and spared this dear country the risks of division and cracking,” Hariri said in his message to the Egyptian president. “On behalf of the Future Movement, I send you the best blessings hoping your selection for the presidency post would be a step in the right direction which reflects the will of Egypt’s people and its youth and sets the ground for a new phase all Arabs are aspiring” the message said. Mansour promised early elections as he was sworn in as interim president after the military forced Mohamed Mursi out of office following days of massive protests against his turbulent period in office.

Abbas Meets Berri, Miqati: Refugee Camps Don't Need Arms as They are Protected by Lebanese State
Naharnet/Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed on Thursday that the Palestinian Authority does not meddle in the affairs of Arab countries, including those of Lebanon. He said: “We are in no need of weapons because we are protected by the Lebanese government and people.” He made his remarks after holding talks at the Grand Serail with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati. “We are open to whatever Lebanese decision is taken to control the arms in the Palestinian refugee camps,” Abbas added. For his part, Miqati hailed Abbas' position, hoping that Palestinians would respect the Palestinian Authority's decision that they refrain from interfering in Lebanese internal affairs. “Lebanon is suffering from the burden of Syrian and Palestinian refugee … and we hope that the Palestinian refugees would not take sides in the crisis in the neighboring country,” he remarked.
Abbas later headed to Ain el-Tineh where he held talks with Speaker Nabih Berri. He reiterated after the meeting his respect for the all decisions taken by official Lebanese authorities over the Palestinian refugees. “In Lebanon, we are most concerned with the country's stability and security,” he remarked. “We are temporary guests in Lebanon and we hope that we may soon return to our homeland,” he explained.
“We must abide by Lebanon's rules as long as we are its guests,” said Abbas. The Palestinian president arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday on a three-day visit where he is set to meet with a number of senior officials.
He kicked off the trip by holding talks with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace. By long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the country's 12 refugee camps, leaving security inside to the Palestinians themselves.

Salam Says he Has Patience, Hints will Form Cabinet End of July
Naharnet /Premier-designate Tammam Salam revealed on Thursday that he would likely form his government by the end of the month despite a freeze in the cooperation of the involved parties in his attempts to come up with a cabinet line-up. In remarks to An Nahar newspaper, Salam said he will be patient with the different political parties that have been stalling in their cooperation with him. But asked whether reports that he had put a deadline to form the cabinet end of July were true, Salam said: “Maybe even before that date.” An Nahar said that the Premier-designate is facing the criticism against him “calmly.” Sources close to Salam hinted Tuesday that he would announce a “fait accompli” government. The freeze in the cabinet formation came against the backdrop of a dispute between Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Premier Najib Miqati, who has refused to attend a parliamentary session amid a resigned government. The row on the constitutionality of the session that Berri had call for on Monday erupted after the March 14 alliance bloc MPs and the Change and Reform bloc of MP Michel Aoun refused to attend it. Berri postponed the three-day session to July 16 after March 14 and Miqati claimed that the speaker cannot ask parliament to convene to discuss not important issues amid a resigned cabinet. They said only the extension of the term of Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji was worthy to hold a session.

MP Kanaan to Form Parliamentary Committee to Resolve New Wage Scale
Naharnet/The joint parliamentary committees convened on Thursday to discuss the new wage scale for public employees after President Michel Suleiman signed the decree mid-June.
The committees decided to task Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who is loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, with forming a committee to study the decree.
“I urge everyone to cooperate to resolve the file of the wages. I will set dates for (the committee's) consecutive meetings,” Kanaan told OTV channel. Deputy Speaker Farid Makari headed the meeting, which was held in presence of caretaker Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi. Suleiman's signature took time after advisers found accounting mistakes in the scale and returned the draft-law to al-Safadi to amend it. It was endorsed by the government in March following weeks of protests across Lebanon. The endorsement was accompanied by increasing the Value Added Tax on cars, mobile phones, alcohol and other luxury products from 10 to 15 percent to be able to fund the raise. Even if the draft-law is discussed by the joint committees, it is not clear when the parliament would convene to approve it.

Top Judge Mansour Sworn in as Egypt Interim President
Naharnet/Egypt's chief justice Adly Mansour was sworn in as the country's interim president on Thursday, a day after the military ousted and detained Mohammed Morsi following days of massive protests. "I swear to preserve the system of the republic, and respect the constitution and law, and guard the people's interests," Mansour said as he took the oath of office at a ceremony in the Supreme Constitutional Court. Officials welcomed the declaration with a warm round of applause. Mansour went on to pay tribute to the Egyptian people, media, the military and the police force.
"A salute to the Egyptian people for correcting on June 30 the path of this glorious revolution," he said in reference to protests that saw millions take to the streets on the anniversary of Morsi's first turbulent year in power.
The nationwide protests "proved to the world" the determination of Egyptians in the face of adversity, said Mansour. The 67-year-old praised the armed forces for having "always been the conscience of the nation" and "not hesitating for a moment to meet the call of the nation and people". Mansour also described the Egyptian media as a "courageous free beacon that lit the way for the people and unveiled the misdeeds of the former regime".
The swearing-in ceremony, which was broadcast live on national television, came after the military swept aside Morsi on Wednesday, a little more than a year after the Islamist leader took office. A senior military officer told Agence France Presse the army was now "preventively" holding Morsi. The ousted president's government unraveled after the army gave him a 48-hour ultimatum in the wake of massive demonstrations against him on the June 30 anniversary of his maiden year in office.Source/Agence France Presse.

Egypt Islamists Call Friday Protest over 'Military Coup'
Naharnet /An alliance of Islamist parties and movements including ousted president Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood has called for "peaceful protests" on Friday to denounce the military's overthrow of the Islamist president. The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy called for "peaceful protests on Friday in all of Egypt's provinces to denounce the military coup against legitimacy and in support of the legitimacy of President Morsi".
In a statement earlier, the Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, slammed "the terror of the police state through its arrests of Brotherhood leaders and the closure of satellite channels".
The statement was read out to Morsi supporters gathered in Cairo's Nasr City surrounded by army vehicles, a day after he was overthrown by the military. A military source told Agence France Presse that the pro-Morsi protesters were free to come and go but were being screened for weapons "to ensure security". Source/Agence France Presse.

Lebanon charges Assir, 37 others over Abra clashes
The Daily Star /BEIRUT: Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr charged 37 people Thursday, including Salafist Sheikh Ahmad Assir and his two sons, over the recent clashes between Assir's gunmen and the Lebanese Army in the Sidon suburb of Abra. Among those charged were 10 people still at large, including Assir, Lebanese pop singer turned Islamist Fadl Shaker and his brother Abdel-Rahman Shaker, a judicial source told The Daily Star.
The source said three Syrians and a Palestinian were also charged. At least 18 soldiers and 28 gunmen were killed in the fighting that took place in June between Assir's fighters and the Army.
Saqr accused the suspects with “forming an armed ring with the aim of carrying out crime against people and their property, undermining state authority and harming the state prestige.” He also accused them of murder and weapons possession. In addition to the other charges, Saqr accused Assir, whose whereabouts are unknown, with "delivering speeches that undermine military and security institutions, fueling tension, destabilizing civil peace and stirring up sectarian hatred.” The suspects could face the death penalty if convicted. Saqr referred the case to Judge Riad Abu Ghayda for further investigation before arrest warrants are issued.

Brotherhood leader arrested, Egypt's Islamists call protests
July 04, 2013/ CAIRO: The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood was arrested by Egyptian security forces on Thursday in a crackdown against the Islamist movement after the army ousted the country's first democratically elected president. The dramatic exit of President Mohamed Mursi was greeted with delight by millions of people on the streets of Cairo and other cities overnight, but there was simmering resentment among Egyptians who opposed military intervention. An Islamist coalition led by the Brotherhood called on people across the nation to protest in a "Friday of Rejection" following weekly prayers, an early test of Mursi's ongoing support and how the military will deal with it. Perhaps aware of the risk of a polarised society, the new interim leader, judge Adli Mansour, used his inauguration to hold out an olive branch to the Brotherhood, Mursi's power base.
"The Muslim Brotherhood are part of this people and are invited to participate in building the nation as nobody will be excluded, and if they respond to the invitation, they will be welcomed," he said.
Just before he spoke, the air force staged a series of fly pasts in the smoggy skies over Cairo, a stark reminder of the military's role in the latest upheaval. The stunt, involving dozens of aircraft, was repeated at dusk.
But a senior Brotherhood official said it would not work with "the usurper authorities". Another of its politicians said Mursi's overthrow would push other groups, though not his own, to violent resistance.
Mursi's removal after a year in office marked another twist in the turmoil that has gripped the Arab world's most populous country in the two years since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.
INVESTIGATION OPENED INTO MURSI
The United Nations, the United States and some other world powers did not condemn Mursi's removal as a military coup. To do so might trigger sanctions.
Army intervention was backed by millions of Egyptians, including liberal leaders and religious figures who expect new elections under a revised set of rules.
Egypt's armed forces have been at the heart of power since officers staged the 1952 overthrow of King Farouk.
The protests that spurred the military to step in this time were rooted in a liberal opposition that lost elections to Islamists. Their ranks were swelled by anger over broken promises on the economy and shrinking real incomes.
The downfall of Egypt's first elected leader, who emerged from the "Arab Spring" revolutions that swept the region in 2011, raised questions about the future of political Islam which only lately seemed triumphant.
Deeply divided, Egypt's 84 million people are again a focus of concern in a region traumatised by the civil war in Syria. The Muslim Brotherhood's supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, was arrested in the northern city of Marsa Matrouh, near the Libyan border, although security sources said they did not believe he had been trying to flee the country. Demonstrators often chanted against Mursi and Badie in the same breath. Despite its denials, the Brotherhood never managed to shake off the image that Badie and its executive board were the silent force behind Mursi's presidency.
Prosecutors also ordered the arrest of his influential deputy Khairat el-Shater after both men were charged with inciting violence against protesters outside the Brotherhood's headquarters in Cairo that was attacked on Sunday night. At least 16 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in street clashes across Egypt since Mursi's overthrow.
Television stations sympathetic to Mursi were taken off air, and a newspaper affiliated with the Brotherhood's political arm said the state-owned printing press had refused to produce its Thursday edition.
Mursi was in military custody, army and Brotherhood sources said, and authorities opened an investigation into accusations that he and 15 other Islamists insulted the judiciary. A senior Brotherhood politician, Essam El-Erian, said the movement would take a long view of the political setback, and that Egypt's Islamist leaders had not been given a fair chance to succeed in office.
Mohamed El-Beltagy, another senior Brotherhood politician, said the movement would not take up arms over what he called a military coup, although he warned that other, unnamed, groups could be pushed to violent resistance by recent events.
There was also a call from calm from the influential Dawa Salafiya movement of Egyptian Salafists, ultra-orthodox Islamists who have occasionally been allied with Mursi but distanced themselves from him in recent weeks.
"IT'S ABOUT Egypt"
Outside the court where Mansour was sworn in, 25-year-old engineer Maysar El-Tawtansy summed up the mood among those who voted for Mursi in 2012 and opposed military intervention.
"We queued for hours at the election, and now our votes are void," he said. "It's not about the Brotherhood, it's about Egypt." For the defeated Islamists, the clampdown revived memories of their suffering under the old, military-backed regime led by Mubarak, himself toppled by a popular uprising in 2011.
The clock started ticking for Mursi when millions took to the streets on Sunday to demand he resign. They accused the Brotherhood of hijacking the revolution, entrenching its power and failing to revive the economy.
That gave armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who already had his own reservations about the state of the nation under Mursi, a justification to invoke the "will of the people" and demand the president share power or step aside. The United States and other Western allies had also pressed Mursi hard to open his administration to a broader mix of ideas.
Sisi, in uniform and flanked by politicians, officers and clergy, called on Wednesday for measures to wipe clear a slate of messy democratic reforms enacted since Mubarak fell. The constitution was suspended.
INTERIM GOVERNMENT
A technocratic interim government will be formed, along with a panel for national reconciliation, and the constitution will be reviewed. Mansour said fresh parliamentary and presidential elections would be held, but he did not specify when.Liberal chief negotiator Mohamed ElBaradei, a former U.N. nuclear agency chief and favourite to become prime minister in the interim government, said the plan would "continue the revolution" of 2011.
With its position astride the Suez Canal and as Israel's biggest neighbour, the stability of the most populous Arab country is important for many powers.
U.S. President Barack Obama, whose administration provides $1.3 billion a year to the Egyptian military, expressed concern about Mursi's removal and called for a swift return to a democratically elected civilian government.
But he stopped short of condemning the military move in a way that might block U.S. aid. A senator involved in aid decisions said the United States would cut off its financial support if the intervention was deemed a military coup. Israel avoided any show of satisfaction over the fall of an Islamist president. Many in the Jewish state had been initially alarmed by Mursi's rise although early in his term Mursi made clear he would not renege on the 1979 peace treaty that Isra el views as the corner stone of its security.
Germany called the latest events in Egypt "a serious setback for democracy" while NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was "gravely concerned" about the situation.
But the new emir in Qatar, which has provided billions of dollars in aid to Egypt following the ousting of Mubarak, congratulated Mansour on his appointment.
The markets reacted positively to Mursi's exit. Egypt's main stock index rose 7.3 percent on the day.

Assad defiant as army renews assault on Homs
July 04, 2013/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar Assad said the international community had failed in attempts to overthrow his government, as his army pressed recent gains by renewing an assault on the central city of Homs.
In remarks published Thursday, Assad boasted that if the situation remained as it is now, his regime would survive the civil war, having endured over two years of opposition revolt. "This was their goal in hitting our infrastructure, hitting our economy, and creating complete chaos in society so that we would become a failed state," Assad said in an interview with Syria's official Thawra newspaper published Thursday. "So far we have not reached that stage." He said direct foreign intervention could overthrow him, but said even that was unlikely, given international concerns that the opposition is drowning under the influence of Islamic extremist forces.
"They have used every material, emotional and psychological means available to them. The only option they have is direct foreign intervention," he said.
"But there is hesitation and rejection (of intervention) from most countries so if we can overcome this stage with resoluteness and awareness, we have nothing more to fear." The United States and Russia, Assad's main weapons supplier, have proposed a "Geneva 2" peace conference but their deadlock over Syria has meant little progress on the diplomatic front.
While the president acknowledged widespread suffering across the country, he said that his government and its supporters remained strong.
"The Syrian people remain unbroken in every sense of the word. There is an explosion, and within minutes of the clean up, life goes back to normal," Assad said. "They go to work even as they expect terrorist rockets and terrorist explosions and suicide bombings to happen at any moment." Assad also dismissed the notion that what was happening was a revolution, and instead labeled it a conspiracy by Western countries, who were sending terrorists to Syria to get rid of them.
They believe, he said, that "these takfiri (extremist) terrorist groups that have been a security concern for decades will come to Syria and be killed and that way they will get rid of them.”
The disjointed opposition Syrian National Coalition was again meeting in Istanbul Thursday, partly to name a new leader, but also to convince foreign benefactors that they should deliver much-needed advanced weapons to the rebels to push back recent regime gains across the west of the country.This is the second such meeting in two months.
The central city of Homs was subject to a renewed assault by the army Thursday, with warplanes attacking from the sky, and troops and insurgents fighting on the ground. .
"Warplanes carried out two raids against the Khaldiyeh neighbourhood of Homs, and both Khaldiyeh and the Old City were under heavy rocket fire producing the sound of explosions and plumes of smoke," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said.
"Sporadic clashes were ongoing between rebels and regime forces on the outskirts of Khaldiyeh," the watchdog added.
Regime forces began a campaign to retake several rebel-held neighborhoods of Homs, often dubbed the capital of the uprising,on Saturday.
On Tuesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed fears for 2,500 civilians "trapped" in the city.
Ban called on "the warring sides to do their utmost to avoid civilian casualties and to allow immediate humanitarian access, as well as opportunities for trapped civilians to leave without fear of persecution".
The U.N. is continuing to a mull a statement which would provide such a corridor. Russia asked Wednesday for an extension to the deadline to objections, which now falls 5 p.m, Beirut time, Thursday.
The draft statement expresses "grave concern" at the plight of the trapped civilians and calls for Syria to facilitate "immediate, safe and unhindered access" to Homs for U.N. and other humanitarian workers so they can assist civilians in need, especially those requiring medical treatment, the diplomats said.
It calls on all parties in Syria to do their utmost to protect civilians, including allowing them to leave Homs, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the statement has not been made public.
Also Thursday, the deputy Labor Minister, Rakan Ibrahim, was injured when an IED exploded under his car in the Baramkeh area of Damascus, state news and the Observatory reported.

Region reacts to Morsi’s ouster
July 04, 2013/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Qatar, a key political and financial backer of Egypt's deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi, congratulated his successor on Thursday while Gulf neighbors were more unequivocal in their support for the coup. "Qatar will continue to back Egypt in its leading role in the Arab and Muslim worlds," a foreign ministry spokesman said in remarks carried by the official QNA news agency.
The country "will continue to respect the will and choice of the Egyptian people," the spokesman who was not named by the agency said, and called for the "strengthening of Egypt's national unity".
tar's new emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani sent Egyptian caretaker president Adly Mansour a message of congratulations, the agency added.
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who abdicated as the ruler of Qatar last month in favor of his son Sheikh Tamim, was a staunch supporter of Arab Islamist movements and provided key political and financial support to Mursi's government after the 2011 uprising that toppled veteran Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak.
The Qatar-owned Al-Jazeera TV offices in Cairo were shut down by security officials late Wednesday evening, after Mursi was overthrown.
In Syria, President Bashar Assad was positively gleeful about events in Egypt, saying in an interview that the protests in Cairo, which began Sunday, signaled the death of political Islam.
"Whoever brings religion to use for political or factional interests will fall anywhere in the world," Assad said in an interview with state newspaper Al-Thawra, given before the events of Wednesday evening.
Turkey was harshly critical of Egypt's army, saying its overthrow of Mursi was "unacceptable" - a marked difference from its would-be partners in the European Union, which avoided repeated questions on whether it was a military coup.
"It is unacceptable for a government that has come to power through democratic elections to be toppled through illicit means and, even more, a military coup," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Istanbul.
Turkey has a history of military coups and is run by a government with Islamist roots which has faced weeks of often violent protests.
Qatar’s Gulf neighbors were more enthusiastic in their support for the new interim government Thursday.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain all congratulated Mansour Thursday.
"We followed with all consideration and satisfaction the national consensus that your brotherly country is witnessing, and which had played a prominent role in leading Egypt peacefully out of the crisis it had faced," UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan said in a cable to Mansour.
Kuwait's ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah congratulated Egypt's interim president and people. The KUNA state news agency said Sheikh Sabah praised Egypt's armed forces for the "positive and historic role" it played in preserving stability.
Gulf Arab states have long seen Egypt as a strategic ally against any potential threat from non-Arab Iran across the Gulf.
Relations between Egypt and most Gulf Arab states suffered after the uprising that toppled long-time ally Mubarak and propelled the Muslim Brotherhood to power.
Iran on Thursday gave a guarded response to the army's removal of Mursi, Mohamed Mursi, calling for the people's "legitimate demands" to be fulfilled and warning of "foreign and enemy opportunism".
Iran welcomed the overthrow of Mubarak in 2011 as part of an "Islamic awakening" and has sought to repair its strained ties with Egypt since Mursi's election victory last year.
Mursi visited Tehran on one of his first official trips abroad, but the two countries have found themselves supporting opposite sides of a civil war in Syria that has taken on increasingly sectarian overtones.
"Certainly the resistant nation of Egypt will protect its independence and greatness from foreign and enemy opportunism during the difficult conditions that follow," Fars new agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi as saying. "With respect for the political origins of its (Egypt's) discerning, civilised and historic people, the Islamic Republic emphasises the need to fulfil their legitimate demands and is hopeful that ... developments will provide an atmosphere to meet their needs," Araqchi said. The statement was a good deal more equivocal than before Mursi was deposed. On Tuesday, an Iranian official said the Egyptian president had been elected by the will of the nation and called on the armed forces to "take heed of the vote of the people". Tunisia's ruling Islamist party, Ennahda, on Thursday condemned what it called a "coup against legitimacy" after the army ousted Islamist Mohamed Mursi. "Ennahda rejects what happened and believes legitimacy is represented by President Mohamed Mursi, and no one else," said a statement from the party, which has headed the Tunisian government since 2011.
The divide between secularists and Islamists in Tunisia has widened since the ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali more than two years ago triggered a wave of uprisings around the Arab world, including in Egypt.

The Lebanese mood shifts on Syria’s war
July 04, 2013/By Michael Young/The Daily Star
There seems no doubt that Hezbollah played a suspect role in the removal of Sheikh Ahmad Assir in Abra. This has angered many Sunnis, understandably so. However, the sense of doom hovering over Lebanon before that showdown has subsided and many Lebanese backed the Army and do not regret Assir’s defeat.
In part this is a reflection of the changing attitude toward events in Syria. Whatever the barbarism of his men, President Bashar Assad has succeeded in redefining the debate over the conflict in his favor. From the outset his regime portrayed the uprising as one led by jihadists, and created the objective conditions ensuring that jihadists would join the fight. This granted Assad the means to pursue a war of eradication, similar to that of the Algerian generals during the 1990s, and rally to his side those fearing Sunni Islamists the most.
Few were duped by Assad’s tactics. They saw clearly that for months his men murdered and tortured unarmed protesters. But this provoked no response from supine Western governments and Assad pursued his policy of repression and radicalization, knowing that jihadists would soon fill the void left by Western unresponsiveness.
This radicalization also had repercussions for the countries surrounding Syria. In Iraq, the government is facing car bomb attacks in Shiite areas on a daily basis, consolidating communal fears and giving Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki the justification he needs to support the Assad regime. In Jordan, fears that jihadist gains in Syria might harm Jordan has forced the regime to play a balancing game: assisting the rebels in line with the policies of the Gulf states, but also setting limits on that assistance, while looking for ways, if possible, to push the Syrian refugee crisis outside the kingdom’s borders.
In Lebanon, the mood is changing decisively against the Syrian uprising – not because of sympathy for Assad, but because there is a perception that the war next door may spread to Lebanon. Making matters worse, the Sunni community, outraged by the way the Army allowed itself to be manipulated by Hezbollah in Abra, is increasingly isolated, as its narrative of events there is in stark contradiction to that of other communities in the country – who believe a radical Salafist provoked the Army and paid a price for his recklessness.
The involvement of Hezbollah in the Syria conflict, while a source of sectarian tensions in Lebanon, has become a fait accompli. The threats by the Syrian opposition to strike back against the party inside Lebanese territory are viewed with alarm by many Lebanese who refuse to be drawn into the fighting next door. Hezbollah benefits from this uneasiness, and some have speculated that the party, realizing this, was behind the recent rocket attack against Shiyah. Assir’s championing of the armed uprising in Syria, combined with the alarming statements of Syrian rebels on Hezbollah and the fears that Lebanon may be heading toward a sectarian war, has damaged the Syrian opposition. Moreover, arms supplies across the Syrian-Lebanese border have been hindered by the takeover of Qusair and Tal Kalakh and Hezbollah’s effort to break the geographic link between Lebanese Sunni areas and rebels inside Syria. We got a good sense of the thinking in Hezbollah when its secretary-general, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, recently invited the party’s Lebanese adversaries to fight Hezbollah inside Syria, not in Lebanon. This was seen at the time as a provocation, a way of daring the Sunni community, who Nasrallah unwisely and insultingly associated with “takfiris.” But in fact it was an accurate reflection of the party’s desire to avert a debilitating civil war in Lebanon.
Ironically, Hezbollah’s inflammatory moves aside, Nasrallah’s call to spare Lebanon is an approach that appeals to most Lebanese, even if Sunnis have interpreted it to mean that Sunni demands inside Lebanon would be sidelined to steer well clear of civil conflict. That is indeed the implicit message in Nasrallah’s rhetoric, and the downside is that it may push Sunnis to follow the lead of their most extreme elements, even though a majority of Sunnis has no patience for the Salafists and Ahmad Assir was regarded as a nuisance by leading Sunni politicians.
With this in mind, continued Sunni mistrust of the Army, albeit understated, may backfire, and will be used by Hezbollah and Syria’s friends to their political advantage. But to Sunni representatives, they’re damned if they do something, and damned if they don’t. The latest indication is that the preference in the Future movement is not to vote for an extension of the mandate of Gen. Jean Kahwagi, the Army commander. If that happens, it could create a momentary alliance between Future and Michael Aoun. But the general reaction will be that Sunni leaders are punishing Kahwagi for the Abra attack, regardless of whether this leaves a vacuum in the Army’s command. It would also discredit Saad Hariri’s call for Kahwagi’s extension, which some Future figures felt should not have been made without getting something in return.
Hezbollah has ignored the decision of Lebanese leaders to stay out of the Syrian conflict. But unfortunately the party is not alone in doing so. As much as we wish good luck to Assad’s foes, Lebanon cannot be drawn into a new war that will destroy the country. If reaching this conclusion helps Assad and isolates the rebels, then so be it, because war is a red line the Lebanese cannot afford to be ambiguous about.
This will not alleviate Sunni anger. The community is paying for the absence of any credible leadership. But Hezbollah faces much uncertainty in its Syrian campaign, and could falter. Exploiting such openings must become Sunni communal priorities, but within the limits of avoiding a war and putting off the temptation to discredit the Army. No one gains from that except Hezbollah.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Assad defiant as army renews assault on Homs
July 04, 2013/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar Assad said the international community had failed in attempts to overthrow his government, as his army pressed recent gains by renewing an assault on the central city of Homs.In remarks published Thursday, Assad boasted that if the situation remained as it is now, his regime would survive the civil war, having endured over two years of opposition revolt.
"This was their goal in hitting our infrastructure, hitting our economy, and creating complete chaos in society so that we would become a failed state," Assad said in an interview with Syria's official Thawra newspaper published Thursday."So far we have not reached that stage."
He said direct foreign intervention could overthrow him, but said even that was unlikely, given international concerns that the opposition is drowning under the influence of Islamic extremist forces.
"They have used every material, emotional and psychological means available to them. The only option they have is direct foreign intervention," he said.
"But there is hesitation and rejection (of intervention) from most countries so if we can overcome this stage with resoluteness and awareness, we have nothing more to fear."
The United States and Russia, Assad's main weapons supplier, have proposed a "Geneva 2" peace conference but their deadlock over Syria has meant little progress on the diplomatic front.
While the president acknowledged widespread suffering across the country, he said that his government and its supporters remained strong.
"The Syrian people remain unbroken in every sense of the word. There is an explosion, and within minutes of the clean up, life goes back to normal," Assad said. "They go to work even as they expect terrorist rockets and terrorist explosions and suicide bombings to happen at any moment."
Assad also dismissed the notion that what was happening was a revolution, and instead labeled it a conspiracy by Western countries, who were sending terrorists to Syria to get rid of them.
They believe, he said, that "these takfiri (extremist) terrorist groups that have been a security concern for decades will come to Syria and be killed and that way they will get rid of them.”
The disjointed opposition Syrian National Coalition was again meeting in Istanbul Thursday, partly to name a new leader, but also to convince foreign benefactors that they should deliver much-needed advanced weapons to the rebels to push back recent regime gains across the west of the country.
This is the second such meeting in two months.
The central city of Homs was subject to a renewed assault by the army Thursday, with warplanes attacking from the sky, and troops and insurgents fighting on the ground. .
"Warplanes carried out two raids against the Khaldiyeh neighbourhood of Homs, and both Khaldiyeh and the Old City were under heavy rocket fire producing the sound of explosions and plumes of smoke," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, said.
"Sporadic clashes were ongoing between rebels and regime forces on the outskirts of Khaldiyeh," the watchdog added.
Regime forces began a campaign to retake several rebel-held neighborhoods of Homs, often dubbed the capital of the uprising,on Saturday.
On Tuesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed fears for 2,500 civilians "trapped" in the city.
Ban called on "the warring sides to do their utmost to avoid civilian casualties and to allow immediate humanitarian access, as well as opportunities for trapped civilians to leave without fear of persecution".
The U.N. is continuing to a mull a statement which would provide such a corridor. Russia asked Wednesday for an extension to the deadline to objections, which now falls 5 p.m, Beirut time, Thursday.
The draft statement expresses "grave concern" at the plight of the trapped civilians and calls for Syria to facilitate "immediate, safe and unhindered access" to Homs for U.N. and other humanitarian workers so they can assist civilians in need, especially those requiring medical treatment, the diplomats said.
It calls on all parties in Syria to do their utmost to protect civilians, including allowing them to leave Homs, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the statement has not been made public.
Also Thursday, the deputy Labor Minister, Rakan Ibrahim, was injured when an IED exploded under his car in the Baramkeh area of Damascus, state news and the Observatory reported.

Egypt after Morsi: Joy and Worry
by Daniel Pipes/National Post
http://www.meforum.org/pipes/13051/egypt-after-morsi
The overthrow of Mohamed Morsi in Egypt delights and worries me.
Delight is easy to explain. What appears to have been the largest political demonstration in history uprooted the arrogant Islamists of Egypt who ruled with near-total disregard for anything other than consolidating their own power. Islamism, the drive to apply a medieval Islamic law and the only vibrant radical utopian movement in the world today, experienced an unprecedented repudiation. Egyptians showed an inspiring spirit.
If it took 18 days to overthrow Husni Mubarak in 2011, just four were needed to overthrow Morsi this past week. The number of deaths commensurately went down from about 850 to 40. Western governments (notably the Obama administration) thinking they had sided with history by helping the Muslim Brotherhood regime found themselves appropriately embarrassed.
My worry is more complex. The historical record shows that the thrall of radical utopianism endures until calamity sets in. On paper, fascism and communism sound appealing; only the realities of Hitler and Stalin discredited and marginalized these movements.
In the case of Islamism, this same process has already begun; indeed, the revulsion started with much less destruction wrought than in the prior two cases (Islamism not yet having killed tens of millions) and with greater speed (years, not decades). Recent weeks have seen three rejections of Islamist rule in a row, what with the Gezi Park-inspired demonstrations across Turkey, a resounding victory by the least-hardline Islamist in the Iranian elections on June 14, and now the unprecedentedly massive refutation of the Muslim Brotherhood in public squares along the Nile River.
The crowds in Egypt this week have been numbingly large.
But I fear that the quick military removal of the Muslim Brotherhood government will exonerate Islamists.
Egypt is a mess. Relations between pro- and anti-Muslim Brotherhood elements have already turned violent and threaten to degenerate. Copts and Shi'ites get murdered just because of their identities. The Sinai Peninsula is anarchic. The incompetent and greedy military leadership, which viciously ruled Egypt from behind the scenes between 1952 and 2012, is back in charge.
But the worst problems are economic. Remittances from foreign workers have declined since the upheaval in neighboring Libya. Sabotage against the pipeline sending natural gas to Israel and Jordan ended that source of income. Tourism has obviously collapsed. Inefficiencies mean that this hydrocarbon-producing country lacks the fuel to run tractors at full capacity. Socialist-era factories churn out sub-par goods.
Egypt imports an estimated 70 percent of its food and is running fast out of hard currency to pay for wheat, edible oils, and other staples. Hunger looms. Unless foreigners subsidize Egypt with tens of billions of dollars of aid a year into the indefinite future, a highly unlikely scenario, that hunger looks unavoidable. Already, about out of seven poor families have cut back on their food intake.
Looming over all these dangers, the Ethiopian government exploited Egypt's weakness a few weeks ago to begin building a dam on the Blue Nile that could entail a reduction in water being supplied to Egypt from 55 billion cubic meters to 40 billion, a move that has incalculably negative implications for life in the country known as the Gift of the Nile.
As these economic disasters hit, the year-long interlude of Islamist rule by Morsi & Co., which did so much to exacerbate these problems, may well be forgotten – and whoever inherits the rule will take the blame. In other words, the pain Egyptians have and will go through may be for naught. Who knows, they might in desperation turn again to Islamists to pull them out of their future predicament. Likewise, the Muslim Brotherhood's brief time in power means other Muslim peoples will also not gain as they should from Egypt's dire experience.
On another subject, Lee Smith of the Hudson Institute speculates that Egypt's new rulers will see a short war with Israel as the only way to "reunify the country and earn Egypt money from an international community eager to broker peace," as well as "return Egypt to its former place of prominence" in the Middle East. Such a war would likely achieve none of these goals – Egyptian forces would probably get clobbered, leaving the country yet poorer and weaker – but one cannot discount this possibility. Egypt's military leaders have many times before engaged in follies against Israel.
In short, my joy at Morsi's departure more than offset by my concern that the lessons of his misrule will not be learned.
Mr. Pipes (DanielPipes.org) is president of the Middle East Forum. © 2013 by Daniel Pipes. All rights reserved.