LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

Bible Quotation for today/
Saint Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 10/12-13/ Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall. No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men. Judge what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, isn’t it a sharing of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, isn’t it a sharing of the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf of bread, we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf of bread. Consider Israel according to the flesh. Don’t those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?

Crying over the Brotherhood
By: Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Alawsat
What we are witnessing in the crying over the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood, tells us that that it did not have a political program for all the Egyptians, but a program for a movement which wanted to control the Egyptian state according to its own agenda, not according to the Egyptian people and their aspirations. As much as the fall of the Brotherhood, represented by the ousting of President Mursi, was a success for the Egyptian people and army, the fall of the Brotherhood also represents a spectacular political failure on the part of the organization, only rivaled by the Taliban’s political failure. What happened in Egypt after the fall of Mubarak has exposed the Brotherhood as political failures, as they madeenemies of everyone: Al-Azhar, the judiciary, the media, businessmen and workers, minorities, political forces, and even the simple man on the street. Former President Mohamed Mursi failed miserably to deal with Egyptian society in a politically effective way, with no compromise and no concessions, even when all indications said failure was inevitable, to the last moment of the Brotherhood’s rule. Failure has continued after Mursi’s fall, as we see the Brotherhood’s guide making speeches and threats, as if Egyptians had elected the Brotherhood and its guide, not Mursi, who had forgotten that he came to power with a very small majority in the presidential elections. The Brotherhood’s biggest failure today is in the violence shown by their supporters against Egyptians who went out into the street in unprecedented numbers, against the Brotherhood, who seem to have learnt nothing from all that they have been through. Today we see a wave of tears over the Brotherhood amid a surge of distortion of facts, instead of a reflection on the lessons that Mursi’s downfall offers. Some say what happened in Egypt was a coup, when the reality is that the army, which stood by the Egyptians today, is the same army which stood by them against Mubarak yesterday. The army did not even issue ‘statement number one’ against Mursi, did not use violence, and did not monopolize power, instead, Genenral El-Sisi, showed political nous which the Brotherhood did not understand, where the army stood by the people, supported by the Al-Azhar and the Coptic Pope, and with the participation of the Salafists and the opposition forces. These were the Egyptians who the Brotherhood tried to exclude. To understand the Brotherhood’s mentality in running Egypt, the following story–which I heard from an Arab prime minister–must be told: “A senior Egyptian Brotherhood leader visited me and said a senior Turkish official visited Egypt after the fall of Mubarak and asked: We hope you did not suffer much until Mubarak’s fall? The Brotherhood official answered: We thank God, because we see this as a form of jihad. The Turkish official replied: This is a minor jihad, the major jihad is still to come [meaning the harder work of government lies ahead].” This story and others, prove that the Brotherhood everywhere looked at Egypt as a trophy, not as a country for all, therefore, we can only say: God save Egypt, which is bigger than any single group.

Diplomats: International Community Deeply Concerned over Army Leadership Vacuum
Naharnet /U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has tasked Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly to inform Lebanese officials about his deep concern over a possible vacuum in the army leadership, American and European diplomats said. The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Monday that Ban is “extremely concerned” that a vacuum in the army commander's post would have security and political repercussions on the role of U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon. UNIFIL coordinates with the Lebanese army that is deployed south of the Litani river to implement Security Council resolution 1701, which put an end to a 34-day war between Israel and Hizbullah in August 2006. The absence of an army chief would “hinder the mission of UNIFIL contingents in their coordination with the Lebanese army to implement the resolution,” the diplomats warned. The latest talks held between visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns and Lebanese officials dealt with the controversy on the extension of Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji's term, they said. But his questions on the matter remained unanswered, the diplomats added. Al-Hayat's sources said that the ambassadors of western countries have also expressed concern that a vacuum in the army leadership would lead to a similar crisis in the presidency next year. The extension, in addition to several other draft-laws, has been put on the agenda of a three-day parliamentary session that Speaker Nabih Berri has called for on July 16. But caretaker Premier Najib Miqati and the March 14 alliance stand firm on boycotting it over their claim that holding such a session with a resigned government was unconstitutional. The Change and Reform bloc, on the other hand, rejects the extension of the term of Qahwaji, who turns 60 this September – the retirement age for the army chief.

Suleiman Slams Turning Requests to Hold Army Accountable into Political Campaign
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman hit back on Monday at requests made by March 14 alliance officials to hold the army accountable over the clashes in the southern city of Sidon, saying such demands should not be turned into a political campaign that targets its patriotic role.In a statement released by Baabda palace, Suleiman lauded the military's patriotic role in preventing strife and confronting security tension to preserve civil peace and stability. The president also praised the sacrifices made by the army, including the death of soldiers during armed confrontations with gunmen and suspects accused of committing “massacres.” “Requests to hold it accountable on mistakes that happened during confrontations should not be equivalent to its patriotic role and should not be turned into a political campaign that targets such a role,” said the presidential statement. Suleiman stressed it was up to the military to hold accountable some of its members and to take disciplinary and judicial measures against them. The president's statement was a clear retort to the March 14 alliance that on Sunday considered a memo handed to Suleiman by Sidon MPs Bahia Hariri and Fouad Saniora as a “national memo.” It asks for the referral of the case of the Sidon clashes between the army and supporters of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir more than two weeks ago to the Judicial Council and the prevention of all armed activities in the city. It also calls for the removal of all political flags from the city and the closure of all offices belonging to “armed groups,” in reference to Hizbullah.During the meeting of March 14 personalities in Hariri's residence in Majdalyoun on Sunday, Saniora rejected what he said were some militia-like acts committed by soldiers in their battle with the gunmen after videotapes of alleged torture began emerging. Military Examining Magistrate Judge Fadi Sawan questioned on Monday an officer and four soldiers for violating military rules and causing the death of a suspect involved in the battles. He issued arrest warrants against them.

PM, designate Tammam Salam Says No Cabinet Formation Progress, Cites Option of Stepping Down
Naharnet /Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam said Monday that there was still no progress in the formation of a new government and that a decision to step down was one of the available options.
“There is still no progress in the cabinet formation but this will not stop me” from exerting further efforts, Salam said following talks with President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace. “I will not stand idle,” he said, adding he will not wait indefinitely. Salam cited several options, including the decision to step down. But said: “I hope we would be able to take the best option for the sake of the country.” The premier-designate reiterated that the rotation of portfolios in the new cabinet was essential and stressed that he continued to reject giving veto power to any side. This means Salam is holding onto his proposal for a 24-member government divided equally among the March 8 and March 14 alliances and the centrists. He denied in response to a question that he had received from the political parties the names of their candidates for the government. Salam met on Sunday with caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour, who is loyal to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, to discuss the cabinet formation. The PM-designate told reporters in Baabda that he appreciated the role played by Jumblat in trying to facilitate his mission. The PSP chief is part of the centrist camp that includes Suleiman and Salam.

The Sunni Mufti, Qabbani, Urges during Ramadan Message for Solutions that Strengthen Lebanon
Naharnet/Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani criticized on Monday the “selfish and discriminatory” mentality of the Lebanese people and officials that has led to the current divisions in the country.
He therefore called for “solutions that would strengthen Lebanon,” while urging officials to assume their responsibilities towards the country. He made his remarks during an address to the people ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, which begins on Tuesday or Wednesday. Qabbani added: “The discrimination between us has turned us into pawns of foreign powers.” The people's allegiances to parties and their own sects has weakened Lebanon, “rendering us pawns for foreign agendas,” lamented the mufti. “These agendas will only bring about destruction and tragedies,” he tated. Moreover, he declared that the security unrest in Lebanon should prompt the people to unite in order to prevent strife. “Political powers would be able to avert strife should they take wise measures,” he stressed. “We have a religious and national duty to avert strife … and we call on officials to adopt moderate political rhetoric that would calm the Lebanese and restore trust among them,” Qabbani said.

Jumblat Warns of Vacuum in State Institutions, Questions Opposition to Extending Qahwaji's Term
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat voiced on Monday concerns over a number of local and regional issues, starting with the vacuum at state institutions, namely the army.
He wondered how some members of parliament's bureau had gone back on the decision to extend the term of Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji. He added in weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website that these powers “do not care for the position of the army commander because they are too busy making political theories.” “It is as if they are seeking to punish the commander for the army's role in maintaining peace and stability,” Jumblat stated. “We warn of the ongoing campaign against the army and the tarnishing of its achievements in the southern city of Sidon,” he continued. “We are also concerned with the political and popular campaigns that are seeking to tarnish the city's noble and glorious history in resisting Israeli occupation,” added the MP. “We fear the spread of extremism at the expense of moderation,” he said. Last month, Sidon witnessed two-day clashes between the army and Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir that left 18 soldiers dead and 50 wounded. 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. The Free Patriotic Movement led by MP Michel Aoun has openly opposed attempts to extend the tenure of Qahwaji, criticizing the Mustaqbal Movement for seeking an extension. Aoun said that since the post was reserved for the Maronite sect, then Christians before others should decide his successor. Qahwaji's term ends this September when he turns 60, the maximum age for the post of the army commander. Sharp dispute over this issue emerged between the FPM on the one hand and Hizbullah and the Mustaqbal Movement on the other. Commenting on Hizbullah, Jumblat said: “We warn of the resistance directing its weapons against any side except for the Israeli enemy that still exists and whose threats persist.”“We fear that resistance's participation in the Syrian crisis, at foreign orders, will eliminate all of its past achievements,” he noted. The PSP leader also voiced his concern over the ongoing governmental vacuum and the poor economic situation in the country.

Rockets Fired from Syria Land in Hermel
Naharnet/Two rockets fired from inside Syria hit the eastern city of Hermel on Monday without causing casualties, a security source told Agence France Presse. "Rockets fired from Syrian territory landed this afternoon on the city of Hermel, causing no injuries," the source said on condition of anonymity. Eastern Lebanon has seen repeated rocket attacks in recent weeks. Syrian rebels fighting pro-Assad troops just across the border have claimed some of these attacks, blaming Hizbullah for joining the fighting in Syria alongside loyalist forces. Officially neutral in Syria's conflict, Lebanon is deeply divided into pro- and anti-Assad camps. Hizbullah and its allies back Assad, while the opposition supports rebels seeking his ouster.Source/Agence France Presse.

Report: France to Provide Lebanese Army with Heavy Weapons
Naharnet /The French government decided to provide the Lebanese army with heavy weapons to boost its military performance, a local newspaper reported on Monday. According to al-Joumhouria newspaper, a recent meeting held between French and Lebanese Defense Ministry officials discussed the matter. France decided in light of the meetings to supply the Lebanese army with anti-tank missiles and sophisticated surface-to-air missiles. Informed sources told the newspaper that Paris is “confident that the Lebanese army command is controlling the institution despite what rumors said.” “France is positive that Hizbullah will not be able to receive the arms,” the sources said. In January, reports said that Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji was scheduled to visit Paris this to appeal for military aid and discuss ways to improve cooperation between the two countries. Qahwaji last visited France at the head of a military delegation in 2011.The army chief traveled to Britain in September to discuss ways to boost military cooperation between the two countries. The U.S. had continuously objected the transfer of heavy arms to the Lebanese army saying the missiles could end up being used against Israel given the influence of Hizbullah.

Phalange Demands 'Exceptional Extension' of Qahwaji's Term
Naharnet /The Phalange Party on Monday urged political factions to “exceptionally" agree on extending the retirement age of the army commander and the members of the military council "because of the critical security situation in the country."“We demand laying down a rescue plan to fill in official positions risked of becoming vacant, particularly the army's leadership,” the party said in a released statement following the political bureau's weekly meeting. The statement stressed: “We call on political factions to exceptionally reach consensus over changing the retirement age of the army commander in chief.” Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji's term ends this September when he turns 60, the maximum age for the post of the army commander. Sharp dispute over this issue emerged between the Free Patriotic Movement on the one hand and Hizbullah and the Mustaqbal Movement on the other. The politburo praised the political leaders' “unified stances" towards supporting the army, considering that these keep the military institution in "an area of consensus and outside political lineups.”
“We also urge the Lebanese people whatever was their religious or political affiliation to fully trust and support the army,” the statement said. It also demanded providing a permanent political cover for the army to allow it to monitor areas that frequently witness unrest. The political bureau noted: “This would prevent siding into disorder that can be hard to control and may cost the army further losses.”“We reiterate our condemnation to attacks against the army,” it said. "This is a treason against the country and its citizens.” Eighteen soldiers were killed and 20 others were wounded in the fierce clashes with gunmen loyal to Salafist cleric Ahmed al-Asir on June 23 and 24. Twenty members of Asir's armed group were also killed. The statement reiterated the party's calls to reconvene on the electoral law, and of choosing a proposal that takes into consideration “true representation and partnership in Lebanon.” "This would allow shortening the extension period of the parliament's term and holding the elections to preserve the voters' rights and the devolution of power,” it said. The parliament's extension was the result of the failure of the rival parties to agree on a new law to govern the polls and amid the rejection of the implementation of the 1960 law that was used in the 2009 elections. Source/Agence France Presse.

Shutting down the Brotherhood’s media is a mistake
Diana Moukalled /Asharq Alawsat
A well-known Egyptian anchorwoman enthusiastically presented scenes—which she described as exclusive—of the closure of one of the pro-Muslim Brotherhood channels in Egypt and the arrest of its employees.
Broadcasting the scenes with a satisfied smile, the anchorwoman attempted to justify shutting down the channels, saying that it was a necessary move after they incited supporters of Mursi to wreak havoc.
There was also an excessive commendation of the Egyptian army and the defense minister. The truth is, this over-the-top praise of military and security institutions is no less harmful than incitement, if not worse because it sometimes stirs certain parties to an extent which makes it difficult to hold them accountable for their actions. What do you think this anchorwoman would do, should the virginity tests on female protesters—carried out under army rule almost two years ago—be repeated? Following the military’s decision to topple Mohammed Mursi, shut down the Muslim Brotherhood’s media outlets and arrest party officials, a huddle of journalists and media figures in Egypt suddenly joined the group of people satisfied with their “revenge” against the Muslim Brotherhood media.
The fact that Muslim Brotherhood and religious channels in Egypt have, by and large, encouraged violence and deviated away from freedom of expression is not new. But these practices should have been contained via legal action. Do these accusations against Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated media—of stirring supporters and demonizing opponents—not also apply to many of the media outlets that oppose the Brotherhood?
A magnificent popular movement did indeed take place in Egypt, with millions announcing their rejection of the Brotherhood and its policies. But what sped up this quick collapse of the Brotherhood’s image? What made millions of Egyptians—who voted for this movement a year ago—realize that the Brotherhood is not fit for governance?
Is it not the Brotherhood’s media itself that helped push these millions of protesters to the streets?
During the past year, the Brotherhood’s politicians and media exhibited several failures. These were highlighted by opposition media figures, such as Bassem Youssef. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Bassem Youssef is to thank for many of the people who stopped supporting the Muslim Brotherhood exactly a year after they seized power. So why the military interference? And what is the use of making arbitrary decisions that take Arabs and Egyptians into a future of coups and marital law? Media supervision and censorship are more harmful to freedom of expression when they are selective. It is true that the content of Brotherhood’s own channels, and channels that support the Brotherhood, is provocative—but this is no justification for imposing an illegal ban on freedom of expression and carrying out arbitrary detentions.
Condemning the shutting down of Brotherhood channels is a test we must go through. To request democracy and freedom means to accept those we disagree with. The justification of incitement, which is true, can be used by the opposition since parallel incitements is practiced by the Brotherhood’s rivals. Yesterday, Brotherhood supporters took to the streets of Cairo and occupied the Rabia Al-Adawiya Square. Shutting down their channels and arresting their leaders is most likely to have been a catalyst that increased the number of protesters. Quickly reopening the channels is a corrective step that the second revolution in Egypt needs.

Cairo clashes kill 51 Brotherhood supporters, an officer. Army set to defend oil pipeline, Suez shipping
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 8, 2013/Egyptian soldiers opened fire early Monday, July 8, on Muslim Brotherhood supporters at the Republican Guards Club in Cairo where deposed president Mohamed Morsi is held. Fifty-one demonstrators were killed and 300 were wounded. The army, who lost an officer and seven wounded soldiers, said “armed terrorists” tried to storm the compound. Egyptian media reported that the army and police forces opened fire after a group of demonstrators tried to climb the walls of the club. According to eyewitnesses, the army raided a quiet sit-in outside the Presidential Guards Club.
While events in Cairo following the Egyptian military takeover of power were the focus of media coverage, debkafile’s military sources report that the army was quietly getting set to secure the country’s primary assets – Suez Canal traffic, the oil facilities in the town of Suez, and the Sumed oil pipeline – all extremely sensitive targets.
According to intelligence reaching the military, a radical Islamist force - made up of a clandestine Muslim Brotherhood raider unit called El Giza Al Sidi, Sinai Bedouin Salafists linked to al Qaeda and the Palestinian Hamas - are conspiring to activate commando and missile units for sabotaging Suez shipping and the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean.
Hitting one ship transiting the canal or a single explosion at the pipeline would suffice to send world oil prices and insurance costs sky high.
This armed Islamist coalition also plans a major campaign of terror against Israel.
These concerns were underscored Sunday, July 7, when armed Salafists using at least 10 explosive devices blew up the Egyptian gas pipeline to Jordan rat a point south of El Arish in northern Sinai. The flow was brought to a halt. That night, the Israeli Counter-Terror Bureau strongly urged Israelis to avoid traveling to Sinai and travelers already there to leave at once amid a rising danger of attack and abduction.
The Egyptian military has been warned that the El Giza Al Sidi raiders have been directed by their Muslim Brotherhood masters to attack the Sumed oil pipeline, which starts at Ain Sukhna on the Gulf of Suez, runs 320 kilometers through the Western desert and ends at Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean coast south of Alexandria.
This attack would not just target the Egyptian EGPC, but also lash out at its Saudi and UAE co-owners, whom the Brotherhood accuses of abetting the military coup ousting them from power: the Saudi Aramco, and the International Petroleum Investment Co. of Abu Dhabi. The fighting between Egyptian military and armed Islamists in Sinai went into its third day Monday with the eruption of a fierce battle close to the Israeli border not far from the Israeli Red Sea resort and port-town of Eilat. The sounds of gunfire and explosions reached the Ovda Israeli Air Force base 40 kilometers north of the town. As a precaution, the Israeli army closed to civilian traffic the section of Route 12 from northern Israel to Eilat which runs close to the Sinai border. Armed Salafists tearing around in minivans continued to attack Egyptian army and police positions and checkpoints at El Arish and Sheikh Zweid, firing the heavy machine guns and missile launchers mounted on their vehicles. Some used Grads. An Egyptian soldier and a policeman were killed Sunday.
debkafile’s military sources report that the Egyptian army has taken down some of its Sinai checkpoints and is relocating a smaller number on main intersections and manning them with larger contingents.

Clashes outside Egypt army headquarters kills 51 protesters, 3 security
By Sarah El Deeb And Maggie Michael, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press –CAIRO - Egyptian soldiers and police clashed with Islamists protesting the military's ouster of the president in bloodshed that left at least 51 protesters and three members of the security forces dead, officials and witnesses said, and plunged the divided country deeper into crisis with calls by the Muslim Brotherhood's political party for all-out rebellion against the army. The carnage outside the Republican Guard building in Cairo — where toppled President Mohammed Morsi was first held last week — marked the single biggest death toll since massive protests forced Morsi's government from power and brought in an interim civilian administration.
Even before all the bodies were counted, there were conflicting accounts on how the violence began. The pro-Morsi protesters said the troops attacked their encampment without provocation just after they had performed dawn prayers. The military said it came under a heavy assault first by gunmen who killed an army officer and two policemen, though its account of the events left many questions unanswered.
Witnesses from outside the protest camp said troops appeared to be moving to clear the days-old sit-in and were firing tear gas when gunfire erupted. One said she believed the fire came from the protesters' side, though others could not tell.
Whatever the spark, clashes went on for three hours, with protesters hurling stones and molotov cocktails from rooftops and gunshots ringing out. Nearby clinics run by Brotherhood supporters were swamped by wounded protesters, some with gaping, bleeding wounds. More than 400 were wounded in the mayhem, officials said.
The violence is almost certain to draw sharper battle lines between Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, who say the military has carried out a coup against democracy, and their opponents, who claim Morsi squandered his 2012 election victory and was wrecking democracy by bolstering his and the Brotherhood's grip on the state.
In a move that is likely to further inflame the situation, the Freedom and Justice party, the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm, called on Egyptians to rise up against the army. Morsi has been a longtime leader of the Brotherhood.
The party also called on the international community to stop what it called the massacres in Egypt and accused the military of pushing Egypt toward civil war, warning the country was in danger of becoming a "new Syria."
"The only thing the military understands is force and they are trying to force people into submission," said Marwan Mosaad, speaking at a field hospital run by Morsi's supporters. "It is a struggle of wills and no one can predict anything."
The bloodshed opened cracks in the grouping of movements that backed the military's removal of Morsi.
Egypt's top Muslim cleric warned of "civil war" and said he was going into seclusion until the violence ends — a rare and dramatic show of protest directed at both sides. He demanded a process immediately be set up for reconciliation, including the release of Brotherhood detainees.
Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, head of Al-Azhar Mosque, said he had "no choice" but to seclude himself at home "until everyone shoulders his responsibility to stop the bloodshed instead of dragging the country into civil war."
The ultraconservative Al-Nour Party, the sole Islamist party that had joined talks on a new government and a post-Morsi political process, announced it was suspending its support for the transition plan in response to the "massacre."
The party was struggling whether to fully bolt from the new leadership in the face of a possible revolt by its own members angry over what they see as a a massacre against fellow Islamists. One lawmaker from the party said it's unclear how long party leaders can keep their control, with some members breaking ranks to join the Brotherhood. The lawmaker spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the group's internal situation.
In a statement, Al-Nour and the Dawa Salafiya, its parent group of hard-line clerics, issued a statement saying the military's response in the violence was "exaggerated." It denounced what it called incitement against fellow Islamists and appeared to be trying to find a compromise stance short of outright breaking ranks with the post-Morsi leadership.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera TV, the party's chief Younes Makhyoun raised the possibility of calling a referendum on Morsi.
Pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei, a top secular and liberal figure who backed the military's removal of Morsi, condemned the violence and called for an investigation, writing on Twitter that "peaceful transition (is) the only way."
The escalating chaos will also further complicate Egypt's relations with Washington and other Western allies, which had supported Morsi as the country's first freely elected leader and now are reassessing policies toward the military-backed group that forced him out. Still, the White House said Monday that cutting off the more than $1 billion in annual aid to Egypt was not in the U.S.'s best interests, though it was reviewing whether the military's moves constitute a coup — which would force such a measure under U.S. law.
The morning's violence left at least 51 protesters dead and 435 wounded, most from live ammunition and birdshot, emergency services chief Mohammed Sultan, according to the state news agency. Two policemen and one soldier were also killed, according to the military.
The Morsi supporters had been camped out for days at the site in tents around a mosque near the Republican Guard complex, where Morsi was initially held but was later moved to an undisclosed Defence Ministry facility.
Spokesmen for the military and police gave a nationally televised press conference to give their version of the morning's bloodshed.
Army Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said police and troops guarding the Republican Guard complex came under "heavy gunfire" at around 4 a.m. and attackers on rooftops opened fire with guns and molotov cocktails. Along with the soldier and two policemen, 42 in the security forces were wounded, eight critically, he said.
He underlined that the troops had the right to defend the installation and that the protest "was no longer peaceful." He pointed out that suspected Islamists have carried out co-ordinated armed attacks on several military facilities in recent days in the Sinai Peninsula.
One witness, university student Mirna el-Helbawi, watched from her apartment overlooking the scene, prompted when she heard protesters banging on metal barricades, a common battle cry. El-Helbawi, 21, said she saw troops and police approaching the protesters, who were lined up on the street behind a make-shift wall. The troops fired tear gas, the protesters responded with rocks, she told The Associated Press.
Soon after she heard the first gunshots and saw the troops initially retreat backward — which she said led her to believe the shots came from the protester side. She saw Morsi supporters firing from rooftops, while the troops also opened fire.
Supporters of Morsi, however, said the security forces fired on hundreds of protesters, including women and children, at the sit-in encampment as they performed early morning prayers.
"They opened fire with live ammunition and lobbed tear gas," said Al-Shaimaa Younes, who was at the sit-in. "There was panic and people started running. I saw people fall."
A Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, Mourad Ali, denied any Morsi supporters fired first and said the military had warned protesters it will break up the sit-in.
Abu Ubaida Mahmoud, a religion student from Al-Azhar University, said he had been praying when the sit-in's security teams began banging on metal barricades in warning. He then saw troops coming out of the Guard complex.
"The number of troops that came from inside was stunning," said Mahmoud, who was wounded in the hand. The troops opened fire and "I saw injuries in the chest, the neck, the head and the arm," he said.
A guard at a nearby bank said security forces first moved in on the encampment firing tear gas, then he heard gunfire, though who couldn't tell who was firing. He said that over recent days the Morsi protesters had imposed their control on the surrounding district and were clearly armed.
At field hospitals set up by Morsi supporters, at least six dead bodies were shown laid out on the ground, some with severe wounds, in video aired by Al-Jazeera TV. The bodies had been draped with an Egyptian flag and pictures of Morsi. Pools of blood covered the floor and doctors struggled to deal with gaping wounds among some of the hundreds injured.
Egyptian state TV showed images provided by the military of the scene of the sit-in amid the melee. Dozens of protesters were shown pelting troops with rocks and setting tires on fire. Soldiers in riot gear and carrying shields formed lines a few meters (yards) away.
A fire raged from an apartment in a building overlooking the clashes. Images showed men throwing spears from atop nearby building rooftops. Other protesters were lobbing fire bombs at the troops. It was not clear at what stage in the melee the footage was filmed. Security officers were showing cameras bullet casings, and troops were carrying injured colleagues.
By the afternoon, the sit-in site was cleared along with blockades that had been set up on roads. The site of the early morning clashes, a strip of road about a kilometre long (about half a mile), was covered with rocks, shattered glass, shoes, clothes, prayer rugs and personal photographs. A big Morsi banner remained hoisted in front of the Republican Guards' building. On the ground below it, graffiti read: "Where are our votes?"
Interim President Adly Mansour ordered a judicial inquiry into the killings. Significantly, the statement from his office echoed the military's version of events, noting that the killings followed an attempt to storm the Republican Guard's headquarters.
Prosecutors in Cairo also ordered the closure of the Brotherhood party's headquarters amid investigations into a cache of weapons found there, according to the official Middle East News Agency.
Morsi supporters have been holding rallies and a sit-in outside the Republican Guard building and elsewhere around Cairo since the military deposed Morsi on Wednesday. The military chief replaced Morsi with an interim president until presidential elections are held. The transition plan is backed by liberal and secular opponents of Morsi, and had been also supported by the Al-Nour Party and Muslim and Christian religious leaders.
*Associated Press correspondent Paul Schemm contributed to this report.

Syria Baath Party Leadership Replaced, including VP Al-Sharaa
Naharnet /Syria's ruling Baath party, headed by the country's embattled President Bashar Assad, announced on Monday that its top leadership would be replaced, including Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa.
Assad, meanwhile, called on the party to "develop" and work more closely with the people in order to help end the country's 27-month war, state media said.
The party's central committee "held a lengthy meeting... on Monday morning," at which "a new national leadership was chosen", the Baath party website said.
It published the names of 16 members of the new leadership, which included none of the party's old chiefs with the exception of Assad. The website said Assad would remain the party's secretary general. Sharaa, who has been Syria's vice president since 2006, will remain in office despite his removal from the party leadership.
Among those newly elected to the party leadership are parliament chief Jihad al-Laham and Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi. "The party must develop in step with reality on the ground, and promote a culture of dialogue and voluntary action by the people," Assad said at the meeting, according to state news agency SANA. He said the party needed "to put in place new... criteria for the selection of party representatives, in order for them to be able to achieve (society's) objectives... and to strengthen citizens' roles in order to overcome" the current crisis. Bassam Abu Abdullah, director of the Damascus Center for Strategic Studies, said the overhaul was the result of deep-seated discontent within the Baath party.
"There has been a lot of criticism from within the base towards the leadership, which has been accused of being inflexible, both before and since the crisis," he said, referring to the Syrian uprising.
"A complete change indicates the failure of leadership and the dissatisfaction from within the Baath party base," he told Agence France Presse.
A second Syrian analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the reshuffle was as a result of "the old leadership's inability to take the initiative and confront the crisis". He noted that the newly appointed leaders include a former ambassador, ex-Syrian envoy to Egypt Yussef Ahmad, for the first time.
"They've decided to bring in a younger leadership that is seen as more open to the international community," he told AFP. The overhaul means that for the first time none of the members of the party's leadership is a member of the Syrian intelligence forces.
The Baath party has been in power since March 8, 1963 and is the most powerful political party in Syria.
Monday's meeting of the party's central committee was the first since 2005, when much of the previous old guard was replaced. The move comes against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in Syria, which began in March 2011 with peaceful anti-government protests but has become a bloody civil war estimated to have killed more than 100,000 people. Source/Agence France Presse.

Egypt and the Poisoned Chalice
By: Ghassan Charbel/Al Hayat
Egypt is in a profound crisis, one that is open to all kinds of possibilities. But perhaps the most difficult characteristic of the crisis is the inability of any side to back down. Indeed, doing so in a situation like this is no less bitter than drinking from a poisoned chalice.
Can we imagine, for example, President Mohamed Morsi returning to his post in the palace? What about the millions who descended to the streets on June 30, overwhelming the public squares, and settling the question of who commands a majority? What about the millions of signatures collected by Tamarrod? And above that, what about the armed forces and the ultimatum it issued to the president, before making its move after the deadline expired? There is no more room for half solutions or cosmetic ones. The president’s return to the palace would mean the defeat of half of the people, if not more. It would also entail a resounding defeat for the military establishment, members of whom controlled the presidential palace for the last six decades.
Neither would those behind June 30 accept a defeat of this kind, nor would the military establishment be able to bear such as blow. To be sure, Morsi’s return would not mean at all that Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will be the one drinking from the poisoned chalice, but it will be the entire institution that he represents doing so. Such a victory for the Muslim Brotherhood would be immensely more significant than even their victory in the presidential election.
It is also difficult to back down for the other side. The Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie cannot drink from the poisoned chalice either. At any rate, he would not be drinking the poison alone, and the Brotherhood would share his symptoms and pains. If he were to accept a defeat of this magnitude, people both inside and outside the group will revisit the records of the recent past, when the Brotherhood said it would not contend in the presidential election. That short-lived position was seen as a sign of realism and prudence, and as a message of reassurance for both internal and external actors. Near the end of March, the members of the Brotherhood’s Shura council rallied around the Supreme Guide. The issue was grave and decisive: Should the Brotherhood put up a candidate in the presidential election, and what are the opportunities, risks, and costs of that? Opinions were divided during that meeting. Some feared that the move could be more than the Brotherhood could bear. Essam el-Erian, vice president of the Freedom and Justice Party – the Brotherhood’s political arm – spoke for a full half an hour during the meeting. He said, “I was against putting up a presidential candidate, because it was very risky.” The divergence was clear among the participants. In the end, the camp in favor of participating in the election, with Khairat al-Shater as candidate, won by 56 votes out of 110.
I asked Erian, who was a member of the Guidance Bureau during the revolution, about the reports claiming Khairat al-Shater was the ‘strongman’ inside the bureau. He said, “There is no such thing as a strongman for us. The Brotherhood’s major strength is its institutional nature.”I asked him who was leading the Brotherhood in that fateful period, and he replied, “The Supreme Guide. There is no one else. The Muslim Brotherhood, throughout its history, had only one leader who was in charge. Everyone would take whatever information or suggestions to him. But what is customary for the Brotherhood, unlike what people may believe, is that the Supreme Guide does not act alone, and must make decisions through the institutional frameworks.”
I do not mean at all that members of the Brotherhood have no right to run in the presidential race. But some decisions entail severe risks, because they go beyond an arena’s ability to tolerate them. Prudence would have required the burdens of a transitional phase to fall on the shoulders of a neutral figure, and for the Muslim Brotherhood to content itself with seats in parliament and the government. This would have been better both for them and for Egypt. The Brothers’ refusal to drink from the poisoned chalice may push them to gamble their fate and the fate of Egypt as well. I hope Vladimir Putin was wrong when he said that Egypt was sliding into a civil war, similar to the one taking place in Syria. I hope that Egypt would not slide into an Algerian-like scenario either, where the whole country would be drinking from the poisoned chalice.
Meanwhile, the reader may ask whether Hezbollah’s decision, too, was an extremely risky gamble. Who knows, he may ask about who would drink from the poisoned chalice later in that case as well.

The Brotherhood: Either Us or Civil War
By: Abdullah Iskandar/Al Hayat
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt: will it drive towards full-blown confrontation in order to fulfill the slogan of its Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie that blood would be shed to bring it back to power? Political indications, as well as indications on the field, confirm doubts that the Brotherhood will not hesitate to make the choice of “let me die with the Philistines”, after power was taken away from it by force. Indeed, the group has been, ever since it was formed nearly a century ago, working for this purpose, and has used all possible means in order to achieve it, along with the groups and organizations of Islamist violence that were issued from the Brotherhood – groups and organizations that allied themselves with the latter as soon as circumstances allowed, and especially after one of its members had reached the presidency.
Along with its allies, who publicly abandoned imposing their political orientation by force of arms only a short while ago, after they had murdered and pillaged for many long years in Egypt and abroad, the Muslim Brotherhood’s propaganda has launched the most extensive process of political deception by claiming to defend democracy and pluralism. Where was such talk when Morsi sat in Ittihadiya Palace, refusing, along with his group’s Supreme Guide and its Guidance Bureau, to listen to any Egyptian voice that called for reshaping the transitional period in such a way as to include everyone’s participation? Where was the voice of reason when the Muslim Brotherhood was engaged in everything unreasonable in order to consolidate its rule and prevent the possibility of alternation of power?
The Brotherhood hopes that such deception will fool the West, which considers, for cultural reasons, that the ballot boxes should determine who rules. That is why the Brotherhood is playing on this issue, in order to bring the West to reject the current transitional phase as the product of a “military coup”. Ambiguity once prevailed in Algeria, when the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) considered Western condemnation of the results of the legislative elections, in which it had won the majority, being struck down to represent a pass for it to confront the regime with weapons. Similarly, ambiguity is now prevailing in Egypt once again, in a manner that could encourage the Brotherhood to embark on a similar adventure, even if it is one that is so far not as bloody as its Algerian counterpart.
The Muslim Brotherhood knows from experience that many political battles are won through international human rights groups and organizations that monitor violations. Indeed, the best way to turn the Brotherhood into a victim that would earn the sympathy of such organizations would be to drive towards portraying the authorities of the transitional period, along with the military institution, as the ones committing human rights violations, in the form of arbitrary or collective campaigns of arrests, or of opening fire on protesters. And that is what Egypt is currently witnessing, as a result of incitement by the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, as took place after Badie’s speech before protesters in Rabia Al-Adawiyya Square.
If there is a favor the West, and especially the United States, can do Egypt, its people, its future and its stability, it would be to refrain from meeting Muslim Brotherhood propaganda halfway. Indeed, democracy in its current “Brotherhood” form means once again monopolizing power or initiating armed disobedience, of which the signs can be seen in the streets of Egyptian cities or in terrorist attacks against symbols of the Egyptian state in the Sinai, openly carried out by supporters and allies of the Muslim Brotherhood, and perhaps even by members of the group itself. Such escalation also holds a threat for the domestic scene in Egypt, whose people have historically tended towards peace and stability, as well as the abhorrence of bloodshed, and have never known violence and terrorism on a broad scale, except at the hands of Islamists. Widening the scope of threats also includes targeting what is most precious to Egyptians, i.e. civil peace, with the threat this would entail to the possibility of restoring the country’s normal economic cycle and improving the standard of living. Thus the acts of violence committed by the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies fall under a new strategy that aims at placing the country before two options: either us or civil war.

A Different Muslim Brotherhood
By: Mohammad Salah/Al Hayat
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is well aware that Colonel General Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi’s statement, by virtue of which Dr. Mohamed Morsi was deposed, was like a bullet fired from a gun that will never again return to it. Rather, the same gun could fire more bullets, and Morsi being reinstated as President is therefore out of the question from the start. Thus, the wheel will turn, even amid hills, mountains, plains and forests, and it will not stop. There is no way to even ask when Morsi will return or when Al-Sisi will back down. Rather, the more important question is the one regarding the future of the Muslim Brotherhood itself, in light of the failed experience of its rule of the greatest Arab country for a year. During that year, the Brotherhood has lost its once-abundant reserves of sympathy among the people, which had always allowed it to be present in every major political scene – if not at its forefront, then at least as one of its major components. The failure of its experience to rule Egypt after a single year, in light of the group’s insistence on dying for the sake of legitimacy, as mentioned by Morsi, and after him Supreme Guide Mohammed Badie, brings forth the question: what will the future of the Muslim Brotherhood be? Such a question applies not only to Egypt, where events, interest and spotlight are focused, but also to the world. Indeed, the Brotherhood’s ideology is a pan-Islamic one that transcends the borders of modern nation-states.
From the onset, the reaction of Islamists in general and of the Muslim Brotherhood in particular to Morsi being deposed and the army, along with competing forces, moving forward with its roadmap was only natural and unsurprising. Al-Sisi laid out the roadmap in agreement with the Salafists, who had for a while been allied to the Brotherhood, and with other political forces, in the presence of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and the Pope of the Coptic Church. Indeed, who would have imagined that the Muslim Brotherhood would accept the invitation to attend this meeting? Or believed that the group and its supporters would so easily accept the de-facto situation, and concede that a popular revolution had taken place against their failure to manage the affairs of the state throughout the year? Or that the Muslim Brotherhood’s crowds of supporters, its leaders and its prominent figures would, obediently and willingly, start with the democratic process all over again and wage presidential and parliamentary elections for the second time as per the said roadmap? Anyone who would so imagine or believe has surely not studied the history of the Muslim Brotherhood very well, not dealt with its prominent figures, and not realized that the group is not defending Morsi’s seat or demanding that he be reinstated. Indeed, that is what the scene looks like from the outside, but what the Brotherhood is actually defending is its long history, which has suffered a major relapse as a result of the recent revolution against its rule. It also seeks to whitewash its present, having done away with hopes and ambitions which generations of Muslim Brotherhood members had paid an exorbitant price to achieve, to preserve its future and to reserve a place for itself as one of society’s main constituents, not just in Egypt, but all over the world as well.
The Muslim Brotherhood also realizes that making an enemy of the West would diminish its popularity. It knows that confronting the army with weapons would not bring it victory, but rather the loss of what sympathy remains for it among the masses that are not affiliated to the Brotherhood. It is certain that Morsi will not be reinstated, and that promoting a replication of Venezuela’s Chavez scenario represents a form of mimicry that has nothing to do with the reality of the matter. Yet the Brotherhood has chosen to make such a wager and to take such a risk. This is because it is convinced that admitting the failure of Morsi’s management of the state over a year, the mistakes made by its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) in dealing with other forces, the clashes in which the group is engaged with state institutions, its efforts to exclude others, its focus on “Brotherhoodization” instead of growth, the creation and triggering of problems instead of resolving them, would all be detrimental to the history of the Muslim Brotherhood and would do away with its future – not in Egypt alone, but also in other countries which the leaders of the group had thought would certainly follow in the footsteps of Egypt and of its “Brotherhoodization”!
The reaction of the Muslim Brotherhood is consistent with the policies followed by its leaders during their rule of Egypt and is in tune with the methods of the generation that now governs the group. It unfortunately reflects their insistence on going all the way with more failure and a great deal of damage, which could harm Egypt and Egyptians at a certain stage but will later affect the Brotherhood as a whole. They are now seeking to preserve the group by promoting the notion of a military coup, as a message to regional and international forces, in hopes that they may exert pressure to reinstate Morsi, and to the domestic scene, in hopes of defections from an army that does not contain a single Brotherhood supporter, and of stirring the emotions of sympathizers who have in the first place lost all sympathy for the group. It would be preferable, from the viewpoint of Muslim Brotherhood leaders, for the group to have been driven out of power through military action, a conspiracy of intelligence or security services, a dark scheme by an Arab or foreign country or by an international organization, or as a result of the counterrevolution, the activity of the feloul (remnants of the former regime) and the dominance of the media, not as a result of its own failure or shortcomings. Everything that is happening in Egypt now is perfectly natural, but what will happen to the Brotherhood in the future will not in any way, after a year of it ruling Egypt, be natural. And whatever developments lead to in Egypt, the world will soon be introduced to a different Muslim Brotherhood, unlike the one it has known for over eighty years.