LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

Bible Quotation for today/ “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.
The Letter from James: "4/13-17: "Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city, and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.” Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.” But now you glory in your boasting. All such boasting is evil. To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin."

Netanyahu Vows to Keep Weapons from Hizbullah
Naharnet/Israel's prime minister insisted Sunday that he will not allow "dangerous weapons" to reach Hizbullah, following reports that Israel recently carried out an airstrike in northern Syria against a shipment of advanced missiles. The airstrike in Latakia reportedly targeted Russian Yakhont anti-ship missiles, one of the types of advanced weapons that Israeli officials have previously said they would not allow to reach Syria. It would be the fourth known airstrike against Syria this year. Asked about the reports on the CBS-TV show "Face the Nation," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to confirm or deny Israeli involvement in the latest airstrike.
"My policy is to prevent the transfer of dangerous weapons to Hizbullah ... in Lebanon and other terror groups as well. And we stand by that policy," he said. Israel has been carefully watching the Syrian conflict since it erupted in March 2011. While it has been careful not to take sides in the civil war, Israel has repeatedly said it would take action to prevent what it calls "game changing" weapons, including chemical weapons and advanced guided missiles, from reaching Hizbullah or other hostile groups. Syria's President Bashar Assad is a key backer of Hizbullah. In January, Israeli aircraft destroyed what was believed to be a shipment of advanced Russian anti-aircraft missiles in Syria that were bound for Lebanon. In May, a pair of Israeli airstrikes near Damascus targeted advanced Iranian ground-to-ground missiles also thought to be headed for Hizbullah. Israel has never confirmed involvement in any of the airstrikes. Following the May attack, Assad vowed to retaliate if Israel struck his territory again. He has not commented on the latest alleged airstrike. Hizbullah has also been quiet. The group's Al-Manar TV station reported on its website on the day of the July 5 explosions that blasts were heard in the area. It said the blasts were most likely caused by shells from rebel-held areas that crashed into an army base. It quoted a "military expert" as denying reports that the attack originated from the air or sea or that any "enemy" aircrafts were involved. Yakhont missiles are powerful anti-ship weapons launched from the shore that are difficult to defend against. They travel at twice the speed of sound close to the surface of the water, making it hard for radar to detect them. Israel sees them as threatening its military and commercial installations along the coast, including its offshore natural gas reserves. Hizbullah used a less-advanced Iranian surface-to-sea missile to hit an Israeli warship during a monthlong 2006 war. That attack killed four Israeli sailors.Source/Associated Press

Netanyahu Says May Have to Act before U.S. on Iran
Naharnet/Iran is moving "closer and closer" to building a nuclear weapon and Israel may have to act before the United States does, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday. "They're edging up to the red line. They haven't crossed it yet," Netanyahu said on CBS News's "Face the Nation." "They're getting closer and closer to the bomb. And they have to be told in no uncertain terms that that will not be allowed to happen."
Netanyahu went on to say that Israel had a more narrow timetable than Washington, implying it may have to take unilateral action to halt Iran's controversial nuclear program. "Our clocks are ticking at a different pace. We're closer than the United States. We're more vulnerable. And therefore, we'll have to address this question of how to stop Iran, perhaps before the United States does," he said. Netanyahu said Tehran has been building "faster centrifuges that would enable them to jump the line, so to speak, at a much faster rate -- that is, within a few weeks." Netanyahu said Iran's nuclear policies were unlikely to change under its next president, moderate cleric and former nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani, who will assume power on August 3. "He's criticizing his predecessor (President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) for being a wolf in wolf's clothing. His strategy is be a wolf in sheep's clothing. Smile and build a bomb," Netanyahu said. He urged the United States to make clear to Rowhani that it will not allow Iran to build a nuclear weapon, and that military force "is truly on the table.""We've spoken many times, President Obama and I, about the need to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said. "What is important is to convey to them -- especially after the election -- (is) that (the) policy will not change," he said. "If sanctions don't work, they have to know that you'll be prepared to take military action -- that's the only thing that will get their attention," he added. Iran for years has been at loggerheads with world powers over its nuclear drive, which Western nations believe is aimed at developing an atomic weapon capability. Tehran insists its nuclear program is entirely peaceful, but the sanctions imposed over the standoff have isolated it internationally.
An Israeli official warned, meanwhile, that Iran could try and strike a deal ahead of a meeting Tuesday of six world power to discuss Tehran's nuclear drive. Tehran could propose "a temporary cessation" of their uranium enrichment or even "possibly converting some of the 20 percent enriched uranium to a lower level" in return for a "partial lifting of sanctions," the official told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity. "This is an insignificant and meaningless concession," he said, calling it "another example of the deliberate policy of the Iranian regime to deceive the international community."
"Israel will totally oppose such an Iranian idea, and we will reject all proposals that do not include the following: a complete cessation of all uranium enrichment; the removal from Iran of all enriched materials; the closure of the illicit underground facility in Qom; and the total cessation of work at the plutonium reactor," the official added. Netanyahu declined to comment on reports that Israel had carried out air strikes on July 5 near the Syrian port city of Latakia to destroy Russian-supplied anti-ship missiles. "Oh God, Every time something happens in the Middle East Israel is most often accused. And I'm not in the habit of saying what we did or we didn't do," he said.
"My policy is to prevent the transfer of dangerous weapons to Hizbullah and other terror groups," he said.SourceAgence France Presse

Divided EU in Fresh Talks on Blacklisting Hizbullah
Naharnet/European Union nations are divided going into fresh talks this week on whether to add the military wing of Hizbullah to its list of "terrorist" groups, diplomatic sources said Monday. EU ambassadors are set to discuss the issue on Thursday after counter-terrorist experts from the bloc's 28 member states twice failed last month to reach a unanimous decision to blacklist the party. Unanimity is required to add Hizbullah to the dozen people and score of groups currently on the EU international "terrorist" list and subject to an asset freeze -- including Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Colombia's FARC guerrillas. EU diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity said Austria, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Malta and Slovakia had not signed on so far to a push led by Britain, France and the Netherlands to blacklist the group. A diplomat from a country supporting the move said a "consensus is clearly building" given that "the evidence that it committed terrorism on EU soil is strong". But others were not so sure. One EU source said the new Czech foreign minister had offered no indication so far of Prague changing its mind, and a diplomat said Austria was still mulling the issue. Concerns over Hizbullah have mounted in Europe since an attack last year on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria which Sofia blamed on the party. In March, a Cyprus court sentenced a Hizbullah member to four years behind bars for planning attacks there. Hizbullah's growing involvement in the Syrian conflict in recent months has further worried EU nations. Should ambassadors fail again to reach agreement this week, the matter could go to foreign ministers who gather on Monday in Brussels. EU counter-terror specialists first met on the issue on June 4 but failed to reach unanimity after several countries objected that this could destabilize Lebanon. Hizbullah has been on a U.S. "terror" blacklist since 1995. Britain and the Netherlands are the only EU nations to have placed Hizbullah on their own lists of "terrorist" groups.
Source/Agence France Presse

Bkirki, Hezbollah seek to defuse tension over statement on arms
July 15, 2013/By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Hezbollah’s ties with the influential Maronite Church have gone through ups and downs in the past years as the two sides have adopted conflicting attitudes toward key domestic and regional issues.
It was probably with these different political visions in mind that the Maronite Church and Hezbollah set up a joint dialogue committee tasked with narrowing the gap between the two sides on sensitive issues such as Hezbollah’s arms, the building of a strong state and Syria’s role in Lebanon before Damascus withdrew its army in April 2005, ending nearly three decades of control over its smaller neighbor. The four-member committee, set up by former Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir in 1993, includes Maronite Bishop Samir Mazloum and Hares Chehab representing Bkirki, the seat of the Maronite patriarchate, and Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, a member of Hezbollah’s political bureau, and Mustafa al-Hajj Ali, representing Hezbollah. The committee meets on a regular behind-the-scenes basis (at least once every month or so) to discuss urgent political and security developments in Lebanon as well as the impact of regional turmoil on the country’s security and stability. However, the committee’s meetings came to a halt after the church’s ties with Hezbollah were strained when Sfeir began launching scathing verbal attacks on Syria’s role in Lebanon and Hezbollah’s arms, accusing the party of running a state within a state and preventing the rise of one powerful nation.
Sfeir, an outspoken critic of Syria and Hezbollah, was fully embraced by the Christian community and anti-Syria Muslim groups for his brave stances against Syria’s interference in internal Lebanese politics – particularly Damascus’ attempts to impose its candidates for president of Lebanon, prime minister and members of the Cabinets formed since the end of the Civil War. This was in addition to Syria’s role in preparing tickets for its allies in parliamentary elections to ensure that the Parliament majority was always on its side.
However, Bkirki-Hezbollah ties began to improve with the election of Bishop Beshara Rai in 2011 as the new Maronite patriarch replacing Sfeir.“The dialogue committee’s meetings gained momentum under Patriarch Rai,” Abu Zeinab told The Daily Star. Since his election, Rai has made statements supporting Hezbollah’s right to keep its arsenal until an overall peace settlement for the Arab-Israeli conflict has been reached.
He also defended the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Hezbollah’s key ally, as a guarantee for the Christian minority in the face of extremist Muslim groups who have joined armed Syrian rebels in the war against the regime. Rai’s statements sparked a wide controversy within the Christian community and even drew criticism from some March 14 Maronite politicians.
As part of his tours of Lebanese areas, Rai has also paid visits to south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley – rare for a Maronite patriarch – in what appeared to be an attempt to expand his popularity to Hezbollah strongholds in the two regions. Since Rai took over as head of the Maronite Church, delegations of Hezbollah lawmakers and politicians have visited Bkirki to strengthen relations with the church.
Also, the dialogue committee has met regularly as the country faced threats to its security, stability and national unity posed by deep political divisions between the March 8 and March 14 parties as well as the repercussions of the more than 2-year-old civil war in neighboring Syria. However, the committee met last week amid tension following a strongly worded statement issued earlier this month by the Council of Maronite Bishops slamming the growing presence of illegitimate arms in the country in what was interpreted as a criticism of Hezbollah’s arsenal.
The local media described the statement as an unprecedented “high dose” of criticism by Bkirki, saying it was directed mainly at Hezbollah’s arsenal, blamed by many March 14 leaders for the proliferation of nonstate weapons. The statement has been praised by the Future Movement and its March 14 allies. In a statement following their monthly meeting chaired by Rai in Bkirki on July 3, the Maronite bishops urged the Lebanese to part ways with armed groups and rally behind security forces, saying illegitimate weapons would only bring chaos to the country.
“We call [on Lebanese] to abandon armed groups in favor of the legitimate security forces which are the only guarantor for civil peace,” the bishops said in the statement. “Any illegitimate weapons will only draw illegitimate weapons; and then the law of the jungle would prevail, something the Lebanese people reject.”
Referring to Hezbollah’s heavy involvement in Syria, the bishops condemned the intervention by any Lebanese group in the Syrian war.
The statement came a day before a car bomb exploded in a Hezbollah stronghold in the Bir al-Abed neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs, wounding 54 people in an incident linked to the unrest in Syria. The bombing followed repeated threats by Syrian rebels to retaliate for Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian fighting. Syria’s violence has increasingly spilled over into Lebanon since the uprising broke out in March 2011. Assad’s supporters and opponents have frequently battled each other in the northern city of Tripoli, claiming the lives of many Lebanese.
The Bkirki-Hezbollah committee’s meeting, which came five days after the bishops’ meeting, apparently sought to defuse tension caused by the statement. Both committee members Chehab and Abu Zeinab denied reports of tension between Bkirki and Hezbollah. “There is no strain in Hezbollah’s ties with Bkirki. Hezbollah does not consider itself to be concerned with the bishops’ statement,” Abu Zeinab told The Daily Star. He said Bishop Mazloum had declared that the bishops’ statement was not directed against Hezbollah.
Despite divergent viewpoints on key domestic issues, Abu Zeinab described his party’s relations with Bkirki as “good at all levels.”
For more than two hours, the committee reviewed “the political and security developments in Lebanon, the attacks on the Lebanese Army, the Cabinet formation efforts, and the repercussions of regional crises, especially the crisis in Syria, on Lebanon,” Abu Zeinab said. “The committee members discussed common issues and exchanged views on how to work together to help improve the situation in Lebanon at all levels,” he added.
“The Bkirki-Hezbollah dialogue is aimed at safeguarding stability and coexistence in line with Patriarch Rai’s slogan of ‘partnership and love,’” the Hezbollah official said. Chehab highlighted the significance of the committee’s meeting between the Maronite and Shiite sides “at a time when national dialogue between the rival political factions has been severed.” “The committee’s meeting, which is complementary to regular meetings, is aimed at building a common vision to guarantee the country’s survival,” Chehab told The Daily Star. In addition to political and security developments in Lebanon, Chehab said the committee also discussed “general principles, the outlook for future Lebanon and how to safeguard the state.”Mazloum said the meetings with Hezbollah had been taking place for over 16 years, describing Bkirki’s ties with the party as “excellent.”“Bkirki does not boycott any of the parties. It keeps contacts with everyone, but it has its own view on matters and it announces it,” he said in a statement published by An-Nahar newspaper Thursday.Commenting on the bishops’ statement, Mazloum added: “This statement was directed at anyone, other than the Army, who carries arms on Lebanese territories.”

Lebanese Citizen Kidnapped near Arsal
Naharnet/A citizen from Zahle was kidnapped on Monday near the Bekaa town of Arsal, reported the National News Agency. It said that Shan Foufian was kidnapped while he was inspecting a rock saw. Foufian, who works in reparing heavy machinery, frequently visits Arsal. He was transported to the region in a pickup truck and abducted shortly after inspecting the saw.

U.S. Embassy: Reports about Revoking Visas of 6,000 Lebanese Are Untrue
Naharnet/The United States' embassy in Lebanon denied in a released statement on Monday revoking the visas of several Lebanese nationals. "Media reports claiming that the visas of 6,000 Lebanese have been recently revoked are categorically untrue,” the embassy stressed in its statement, pointing out that “visa revocation is highly uncommon, especially in Lebanon where no more than 1% of U.S. visas have been revoked over the last four years.” It explained: “The United States State Department has broad authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act to revoke visas and this authority is most commonly exercised when subsequent to issuance of a U.S. visa, new information comes to light indicating that a visa holder may be inadmissible for entry into the United States or otherwise ineligible for a U.S. visa.” The embassy assured that when a visa is revoked, it makes “all attempts to notify its holder of the revocation and, when possible, to physically cancel the visa.” “Due to the confidentiality of visa records, the embassy cannot provide information on individual cases,” it noted.
LBCI television had reported on Saturday that the U.S. visas of many Lebanese nationals were revoked. The TV referred in its report to the cases Lebanese businessmen Khaled al-Rifai and Samer Hallab, whose visas were “revoked.”Meanwhile, the president of the American Lebanese Chamber of Commerce Salim Zeenni told the same source that “up to 6,000 visas have been successively revoked.”
"What matters in this case that these visas were revoked suddenly and without any prior notice or any given justification,” he remarked.

Phalange Party Rejects One-Sided Cabinet, Urges Tighter Border Control
Naharnet /The Phalange Party on Monday said the current situations in Lebanon and the region require an “extraordinary cabinet” and called for immunizing Lebanon's borders against infiltrations and violations.
“The Phalange Party warns against turning Lebanon into an open arena for fundamentalist groups and voices concern over possible new attacks similar to the Dahieh bombing,” the party's political bureau said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting. The party “sees in the incident a security alert that might be the beginning of a series of bomb attacks … and this can only be confronted through the endorsement by all political forces of the Baabda Declaration … and through forming a competent cabinet that is immunized by a broad political consensus,” said the statement. “The current situation does not bear neither a one-sided cabinet nor on ordinary cabinet and the aforementioned circumstances must be taken into consideration to form an extraordinary, competent cabinet whose line-up would respect the political weights of all parties, in order to confront the extraordinary situations in Lebanon and the region,” the statement added. The party called for “complementing the presidential statement issued by the U.N. Security Council through seeking to continue the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and to protect Lebanon from the political and security blaze that is engulfing Syria and the region.”The conferees also called for “protecting the Lebanese borders and turning them into a secure area that is immune to any violations and infiltrations -- whichever side they may came from and in any direction.”The party reiterated its support for the military institution and called for “keeping the army out of the political debate.”

Geagea Says March 14 Ready Not to Participate in Cabinet Line-up
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea expressed on Monday the March 14 alliance's readiness not to participate in the new cabinet's line-up so that it wouldn't be accused of obstructing the formation process. “Despite it's not fair but our coalition is ready to remain out of the new government like Hizbullah,” Geagea said in comments published in As Safir newspaper. He pointed out that Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam must not form a cabinet that includes Hizbullah in it “because the cabinet must not include a party that is deeply involved in the conflict in (the neighboring country) Syria.” Hizbullah fighters publicly intervened in the conflict in Syria in April, siding with President Bashar Assad's regime against the mainly Sunni rebels. Geagea warned if any Hizbullah was handed a portfolio in the newly-formed cabinet then it will give the image that “the government accepts or is covering up for its participation in Syria.”“The cabinet will give the impression that it's part of the ongoing turmoil, which will impose negative repercussions on Lebanon,” the LF leader said. Salam is seeking to form a cabinet divided equally between the Lebanese foes and the centrists and rejects to grant the veto power to any party. Concerning Tuesday's parliamentary session that Speaker Nabih Berri called for, Geagea reiterated that the session's agenda isn't “constitutional.” “Berri is allowing himself to take inaccurate decisions,” he pointed out. The Christian leader said that Berri considers himself as “the country's spoiled kid.” Geagea noted that the agenda set for Tuesday's session is usually adopted in normal conditions, when there's a cabinet, but we have a resigned cabinet... which obliges the parliament to hold an extraordinary session when there's a necessity.”Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati and the March 14 alliance stand firm on boycotting the parliamentary session over their claim that holding such a session with a resigned government was unconstitutional, unless it was set to discuss a “critical” draft law. Source/Agence France Presse.

Speaker Nabih Berri to Seek for 'Constitutional Fatwa' to Extend Qahwaji's Term
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri revealed on Monday that he was preparing for what he called a “constitutional fatwa” that would allow the extension of the army chief's mandate if parliament failed to take action. In remarks to several newspapers, Berri said the formula or the fatwa would pave way for the extension of Gen. Jean Qahwaji's term if the legislature failed to convene or a new government was not formed before the end of his mandate in September. The extension draft-law is on the agenda of a three-day parliamentary session that Berri has called for on Tuesday. But lawmakers from the March 14 alliance and the Change and Reform bloc are expected to boycott the session similar to its predecessor. March 14 lawmakers insist on linking the extension of Qahwaji's mandate to that of Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, who retired after turning 59 – the ISF’s maximum working age – on April 1. Change and Reform MPs on the other hand refuse the extension of the term of the army commander, who turns 60 in September – the age of retirement for military chiefs. Their boycott of a legislative session earlier this month was exacerbated by a dispute between Berri and Caretaker Premier Najib Miqati, who has claimed that the speaker is not entitled to call for a general assembly amid a resigned government.
But Berri was on Monday adamant to “keep calling for sessions” until the issue was resolved, and stressed that he wouldn't amend the agenda, which includes 45 draft-laws. Regarding the absence of a new government and the failure of Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam so far to put together his cabinet, Berri said he was waiting for other parties to propose the names of their candidates to do so as well.
His remark came after Salam said on several occasions that he was still waiting for Berri to implement his pledges of facilitate the cabinet formation process by proposing the names of the candidates of both Hizbullah and his Amal movement.

Syrian rebels say Hezbollah procrastinating over hostage crisis
July 15, 2013/By Wassim Mroueh, Dana Khraiche/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Syrian rebels holding nine Lebanese hostage said Hezbollah was delaying the negotiations for their release, urging the captives’ families to pressure the party to hasten the process. But the relatives of the kidnapped dismissed the accusations as “lies,” holding the captors responsible for the delay, saying that Hezbollah was not part of the negotiations. “It has become clear to us throughout this period that Iran’s party [Hezbollah] has been procrastinating at a time when the shelling in northern rural Aleppo, by Iran and its party, has intensified, placing the lives of the detained Lebanese in great danger,” the Azaz Northern Storm Brigade said in a statement posted on Facebook. “We say to their families that if you want to have iftar with them [the captives] in Lebanon, then you should pressure the party to speed up the exchange,” the statement added.
The group said previously that it would release the nine Lebanese Shiites in exchange for female detainees held in Syrian prisons. The rebels snatched the nine in May 2012, in the Azaz district of Aleppo, on their way back from Iran. Adham Zogheib, whose father is among the kidnapped, said the rebels were responsible for the prolonged negotiation process, because they did not deliver all the names of female detainees to be released and some they did provide were inaccurate. He denied that Hezbollah had anything to do with impeding the negotiations. “These people are liars. Hezbollah has nothing to do with this issue. Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and [head of General Security] Maj. Gen. [Abbas] Ibrahim are negotiating on behalf of Lebanon,” he told The Daily Star. “They [the kidnappers] said they want to hand Maj. Gen. Ibrahim the names of 1,500 female detainees, but they only gave about 500 names. So who’s obstructing the exchange?” Zogheib added that the rebels first presented a list of 371 detainees: “It turned out that only 72 of them were actually detained in the Syrian prisons. They then provided 150 names of which 60 are actual detainees.” Ibrahim has paid several visits to Turkey and Syria over the past few months to carry out the negotiations. Zogheib said that Lebanese authorities accepted the offer made by the Syrian rebels to exchange the elderly kidnapped for some female detainees in Syria, but that “till now, we’ve received no response from the rebels.”
Relatives of the kidnapped have held protests outside the Turkish Embassy, Turkish institutions and the Qatari Embassy to pressure counties supporting the Syrian opposition to press for the release of their family members.
There have been several attempts to secure the release of the Lebanese, negotiated by high-level officials. Zogheib said the families would target Turkish interests in Lebanon if any of the captives were harmed.
“If any of the kidnapped suffers any harm, we will consider them martyred. It will be at this point that anyone who supports the Syrian opposition will pay,” he said. “We will no longer listen to Charbel or Maj. Gen. Ibrahim or anyone else, it will be time to take revenge.” Sheikh Abbas Zogheib, tasked by the Higher Shiite Council to follow up on the case, also said the kidnappers were procrastinating.
“The kidnappers are responsible for procrastinating because they are giving the names [of female detainees they want released] in installments,” he told the National News Agency.
“Hezbollah and Iran have nothing to do with the negotiations between the [Syrian] regime and the kidnappers.”

Aoun to meet Nasrallah, visit Saudi Arabia: FPM source
July 15, 2013/By Jana El Hassan/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement head MP Michel Aoun is set to meet in the coming days with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah to discuss domestic disagreements, a FPM source said Monday, adding that the Change and Reform bloc leader would also later visit Saudi Arabia. “There is a meeting soon between Gen. Aoun and Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah: it shouldn’t be more than 10 days before the two meet,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Star, adding that the talks would be before Aoun departs on a trip to Paris. The expected visit comes amid reports of tension and disputes between the two allied parties over domestic issues, mainly the extension of Parliament’s mandate in May and the controversial issue of extending the term of Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi.
Aoun’s party has boycotted Parliament over a draft law that calls for raising the retirement age of senior security and military officials, which would include Kahwagi. Hezbollah, according to the source, has been hinting to the FPM of a possible compromise over the extension of the military chief’s term. “They [Hezbollah] are signaling that they may not let the extension pass,” he said.
“If they [Hezbollah] were with the [principle] of extension, they could have approved the extension of [now retired police chief] Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi’s term and we would have kept the previous government in which we had 10 ministers instead of bargaining now on ministerial portfolios,” the source added.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced the resignation of his Cabinet in late March, citing internal disputes among ministers, mainly over the failure to approve extending Rifi’s term and the issue of establishing a committee to oversee the elections. According to the source, the FPM has recently decided to change its policy and open up to rival local and regional political forces to prevent a deadlock in the country and keep the wheels of political life turning.
“This was the framework of the recent meeting between Gen. Aoun and the Saudi Ambassador [Ali Awad Asiri],” he said, adding that Aoun plans on visiting Saudi Arabia after a visit to the French capital.
Asked about rapprochement between the FPM and the Future Movement, the source said: “ The FPM is ready to work with any group willing to try to bring the political deadlock in the country to an end.”
He also denied that his party’s recent openness to Saudi Arabia or to other political groups in Lebanon aimed at pressuring Hezbollah into the FPM’s demands. “We are not teasing Hezbollah: things are way more serious to us. We want to rescue the country from the vacuum it had fallen into and spare it from a further void,” the source said. Although Aoun said over the weekend he would welcome dialogue with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Future Movement MP Hadi Hobeish dismissed Monday reports of a rapprochement between his party and the FPM. “There are no concrete developments in terms of communication between Gen. Michel Aoun and the Future Movement,” MP Hadi Hobeish told the Voice of Lebanon radio station. “I believe things will return to normal between the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah,” he added. The source said that although his group understands Hezbollah’s “links to the regional battle,” referring to the resistance group’s military engagement in Syria, the FPM objects to the disruption of Lebanon’s political life under the pretext of the regional situation. “We were always tolerant of Hezbollah’s links to the regional battle, although we did have reservations to the flagrant involvement in Qusair,” he said, referring to the former rebel-held town of Homs that fell to troops loyal to President Bashar Assad backed by Hezbollah fighters. “But we cannot accept that Lebanon’s institutions remain disrupted under the pretext of being affected by the regional crisis ... We are definitely affected by what is going on around us, but when was it that conditions in the country were any better? Were they better in 2005 after the assassination of [former Prime Minister] Rafik Hariri?” he asked. Hezbollah’s involvement in the war in Syria, announced publicly by Nasrallah in May, has come under intense criticism both locally and internationally. The source stressed that the FPM remained committed to its understanding with Hezbollah over issues related to Israel and supported the resistance group in its stances against the Jewish state. Hezbollah and the FPM base their alliance on a memorandum of understanding signed in 2006. The MOU primarily stipulated the safe return of Lebanese who collaborated with Israel prior to the withdrawal of the Jewish state from south Lebanon and the elaboration of a defense strategy to protect Lebanon from Israeli aggression.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel Calls for Kicking off Trials at Roumieh Courtroom
Naharnet/Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Monday that the Higher Judicial Council should inspect Roumieh prison's courtroom, which he said was ready to start the trial of inmates. “I urge the Higher Judicial Council and specifically the caretaker Justice Minister (Shakib Qortbawi) to start the trials in the prison rather than taking the inmates to the Justice Palace,” Charbel said during a press conference.
The courtroom “saves us the effort to transport the prisoners and provide security protection,” he said. “It also speeds up the trials of not just the Islamists but all the inmates.” He made his remarks after he inspected the courtroom and restoration work at the prison along with Acting Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous and other police officers. Charbel warned that if the authorities failed to use the trial room, then he would turn it into a prison cell. The caretaker minister lamented that the government had paid millions to rehabilitate the prison and that no major change was made. “We won't pay an additional lira before the first building is fixed,” he said. He also warned the contractor that he would reject to fund the repair project unless he carries out a clear study on the plan. Last week, Charbel said that the “crisis in Lebanon's central prison is chronic.” The caretaker minister pointed out that there are no doors inside the prison, saying: “We have been demanding for the last two years for the installation of modern doors and gates but no response was given.” “We're currently focusing on keeping inmates calm and insure that no one flees,” Charbel said. Roumieh, the oldest and largest of Lebanon's overcrowded prisons, has witnessed sporadic prison breaks and escalating riots in recent years as inmates living in poor conditions demand better treatment.

Berri to Seek for 'Constitutional Fatwa' to Extend Qahwaji's Term
Naharnet /Speaker Nabih Berri revealed on Monday that he was preparing for what he called a “constitutional fatwa” that would allow the extension of the army chief's mandate if parliament failed to take action.
In remarks to several newspapers, Berri said the formula or the fatwa would pave way for the extension of Gen. Jean Qahwaji's term if the legislature failed to convene or a new government was not formed before the end of his mandate in September. The extension draft-law is on the agenda of a three-day parliamentary session that Berri has called for on Tuesday. But lawmakers from the March 14 alliance and the Change and Reform bloc are expected to boycott the session similar to its predecessor. March 14 lawmakers insist on linking the extension of Qahwaji's mandate to that of Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, who retired after turning 59 – the ISF’s maximum working age – on April 1. Change and Reform MPs on the other hand refuse the extension of the term of the army commander, who turns 60 in September – the age of retirement for military chiefs.
Their boycott of a legislative session earlier this month was exacerbated by a dispute between Berri and Caretaker Premier Najib Miqati, who has claimed that the speaker is not entitled to call for a general assembly amid a resigned government. But Berri was on Monday adamant to “keep calling for sessions” until the issue was resolved, and stressed that he wouldn't amend the agenda, which includes 45 draft-laws.
Regarding the absence of a new government and the failure of Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam so far to put together his cabinet, Berri said he was waiting for other parties to propose the names of their candidates to do so as well. His remark came after Salam said on several occasions that he was still waiting for Berri to implement his pledges of facilitate the cabinet formation process by proposing the names of the candidates of both Hizbullah and his Amal movement.

Jumblat: Excluding Parties, Veto Power in Cabinet Have Proved their Failure
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stressed on Monday the need to form a new government in Lebanon in order to end the suffering of the people who are laboring under economic and social problems. He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website: “Veto power in government and excluding parties from cabinet have proved their failures in the past.”“Excluding any power from cabinet is useless,” he said in reference to some demands within the March 14 camp that Hizbullah not be included in a new government. “Granting a bloc veto power in cabinet has also proved its ineffectiveness because the concept was created at a time when disputes were ongoing over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon,” added the MP. Veto power has played out its purpose, remarked Jumblat in reference to the March 8 camp's demand that it be granted such an authority in a new government. “The concept of excluding others should not be kept out of the government formation process,” he stated. “Aren't the political powers noticing that the public debt is growing while a serious plan to confront it has not been devised?” wondered the PSP leader. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said earlier on Monday that the new cabinet must not include Hizbullah “because the government must not have a party that is deeply involved in the conflict in Syria.” Hizbullah fighters publicly intervened in the conflict in Syria in April, siding with President Bashar Assad's regime against the mainly Sunni rebels. The March 8 alliance has meanwhile been demanding that it be granted veto power in cabinet. Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam has repeatedly rejected the proposal, saying that such a power will render the government ineffective.

Charbel Calls for Kicking off Trials at Roumieh Courtroom
Naharnet/Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Monday that the Higher Judicial Council should inspect Roumieh prison's courtroom, which he said was ready to start the trial of inmates. “I urge the Higher Judicial Council and specifically the caretaker Justice Minister (Shakib Qortbawi) to start the trials in the prison rather than taking the inmates to the Justice Palace,” Charbel said during a press conference. The courtroom “saves us the effort to transport the prisoners and provide security protection,” he said. “It also speeds up the trials of not just the Islamists but all the inmates.” He made his remarks after he inspected the courtroom and restoration work at the prison along with Acting Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous and other police officers. Charbel warned that if the authorities failed to use the trial room, then he would turn it into a prison cell.
The caretaker minister lamented that the government had paid millions to rehabilitate the prison and that no major change was made. “We won't pay an additional lira before the first building is fixed,” he said. He also warned the contractor that he would reject to fund the repair project unless he carries out a clear study on the plan. Last week, Charbel said that the “crisis in Lebanon's central prison is chronic.”The caretaker minister pointed out that there are no doors inside the prison, saying: “We have been demanding for the last two years for the installation of modern doors and gates but no response was given.” “We're currently focusing on keeping inmates calm and insure that no one flees,” Charbel said. Roumieh, the oldest and largest of Lebanon's overcrowded prisons, has witnessed sporadic prison breaks and escalating riots in recent years as inmates living in poor conditions demand better treatment.

Abu Ghida Questions 6 Detainees over Abra Clashes, Acquits One
Naharnet /First Military Investigation Judge Riyad Abu Ghida questioned on Monday six detainees for their involvement in last June's clashes in the southern town of Abra against the military institution. "Abu Ghida interrogated six detainees and issued arrest warrants against 5 of them,” the state-run National News Agency reported. The same source added: “Meanwhile, the sixth person was released.” "Investigation in this case will resume on Tuesday.”On Wednesday, the military judge issued eight arrest warrants against fugitives, including Salafist cleric Ahmed al-Asir and former singer Fadel Shaker over the clashes in the southern city of Sidon.
And on Tuesday, he issued arrest warrants against six other suspects. The total number of arrest warrants issued so far has reached 25. Last week, State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged 27 suspects, 10 of them in absentia, over the clashes against the Lebanese army in the southern port city. If convicted, the suspects face the death penalty. The fighting near Sidon was sparked late last month when Asir's supporters opened fire on an army checkpoint, leaving around 18 soldiers and more than 20 gunmen dead. The gunbattles concentrated in the area of Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque and nearby buildings in Abra. Asir, a 45-year-old cleric who supports the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, is no where to be found along with Shaker.Asir teamed up with Shaker, a onetime prominent singer, when around two years ago he began agitating for Hizbullah to disarm.

Northern Hospital Ejects Wounded Syrians
Naharnet /A hospital in the north of the country has "forcibly" ejected 30 Syrians patients wounded in violence in their country, an activist said on Monday, while the hospital said they were discharged over unpaid bills.
"The Alameddin hospital in Minieh threw out 30 wounded Syrians from (the border town of) al-Qusayr" on Sunday, Khaled Mustafa, director of an office helping refugees in the North, told Agence France Presse.
The northern hospital has hosted dozens of Syrians from the town of Qusayr, a former rebel stronghold that fell to government troops last month, prompting an exodus of residents. "They were forcibly expelled and were insulted," Mustafa said, adding that "80 percent of them were fitted with splints because of their serious fractures." "The splints were removed without any concern for their health." "They wouldn't even let them take their personal belongings or their x-rays," he added. Mustafa said the patients -- some of whom were observing the fasting month of Ramadan -- were left to sit on a pavement for two hours before Red Cross ambulances arrived to take them to another hospital in the nearby city of Tripoli. Contacted by AFP, the hospital management declined to comment, but an employee speaking on condition of anonymity said the patients were made to go because they failed to pay their bills. The employee also said the small hospital had become "a kind of center for refugees fleeing Syria." "The whole hospital was taken up with Syrians and was unable to assist Lebanese in the region in case of emergency," the employee said. Mustafa rejected those claims, insisting that hospital fees had been paid, and that his office had purchased medicine and equipment for the hospital worth 34,000 dollars. More than 600,000 Syrians have fled their country to Lebanon, according to the United Nations escaping a conflict now in its third year that has killed more than 100,00 people.Source/Agence France Presse

Many casualties in surging Egyptian army-Islamist Sinai hostilities. Two flashpoints near Israeli border

DEBKAfile Special Report July 15, 2013/The last ten days have seen dozens killed and hundreds wounded in battles between Egyptian security forces and a coalition of increasingly aggressive Islamist Salafists and Palestinian Hamas and Jihad Islami fighters, debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report. The Egyptian military has clamped a news blackout on the Sinai battlefield.
In the latest incident Monday, July 15, rocket-propelled grenades blew up a bus carrying workmen to the Multinational Force-MFO based at Al Gora near the North Sinai town of El Arish. According to official sources, three of the passengers were killed and 17 injured. Unofficial estimates were as high as 13-20 dead. The attackers shouted Allahu Akbar when the bus blew up.
debkafile reports that further, unknown numbers of Egyptian soldiers and Islamist assailants were killed in a gunfight nearby. The Salafists were trying to plant explosives along the road connecting the town of Sheih Zweid to the MFO encampment. Many of them died when gunshots detonated the explosives they were holding.
Our sources disclose that since the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo on July 3, Egyptian troops confront surging Islamist violence at four current flashpoints in Sinai, two near the Israeli border.
One is the Rafah area south of the Gaza Strip where the Salafists are tackling Egyptian forces engaged in blocking the smuggling tunnels running contraband into the Palestinian enclave.
The commander of Egypt’s Second Army, Gen. Ahmed Wasfi, is convinced by incoming intelligence that the Muslim Brotherhood unseated two weeks ago in Cairo and its Libyan allies are conniving with the Salafist Bedouin of Sinai and the Palestinian Hamas and Jihad Islami of the Gaza Strip to stage a violent uprising against the Egyptian army and security forces in Sinai.
The events of the past 24 hours confirm him in this conviction. Saturday, July 13, the Egyptian army intercepted and destroyed three arms convoys crossing from Libya into Egypt on their way to the Gaza Strip. The next day, armed Salafists conducted a multiple onslaught on Egyptian Border Police camps, checkpoints and patrols opposite the Israel region of Halutza.
The residents of Bnei Netzarim, Naveh, Yevul, Dekel, Avshalom and Sdeh Avraham were told to stay in protected areas and local security squads placed on alert, in case the Salafist assailants stormed across the border to attack Israeli targets.
Overnight, the IDF bolstered military units in the area. In the process, an Israeli Hermes 450 drone crashed while on surveillance duty over the embattled area. The Israeli Air Force reported that a technical fault caused the drone to fly out of control.
All Sunday, the Egyptian army sent extra forces to bolster the engineering units engaged in destroying the smuggling tunnels carrying arms, fighters and consumer goods into the Gaza Strip for more than a decade, which provided the Hamas-ruled regime with a major source of revenue. Orders from the high command in Cairo were to step up the pressure on Hamas and Jihad Islami. And so, the Egyptian army targeted a number of tunnels on the Rafah border used to smuggle fuel to Gaza. Without gas, their combat mobility will be sharply reduced.
Bulldozers were used to remove several machines pumping fuel into the Gaza Strip through the tunnels.
Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh tried appealing to Egyptian intelligence chiefs in Cairo to stop the operation. He was fobbed off with junior officers who said they were not competent to make decisions in the matter and would pass his request to higher authority.
The El Arish area has become the most dangerous of all the four flashpoints: There, the heavily concentrated Egyptian force is battered by constant assaults. They are hemmed in by thousands of Salafist gunmen. Any officer, soldier or vehicle trying to exit their fortified compound runs the gauntlet of roadside bombs, anti-tank weapons, hand grenades and heavy machine gun fire.Fighting is raging at two more locations: the central mountains of Jabel Halal and along the Egyptian-Israeli border opposite Israel’s southern air base

REUTERS07/15/2013 /BEIRUT - Syria's main rebel group said on Monday that it wanted an Islamic court to investigate the killing of one of its top commanders at the hands of foreign Islamist fighters last week.
The call is the first official reaction by the Western-backed Supreme Military Council to the killing of Kamal Hamami, also known as Abu Bassir al-Ladkani, which has set liberal rebels and Islamists at each other's throats.Rebel sources said Abu Ayman al-Baghdadi, the main suspect, is in hiding and there is no sign that he will be handed over to the court in the northern city of Aleppo by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, an al-Qaida-linked group in Syria to which he belongs. "The Sharia court will look into the case ... all sides have been informed about this, the military council wants the killer to be handed over to the Sharia court," Qassem Saadeddine, spokesman of the Supreme Military Council, said after a meeting of the body. "The Council also took a decision to ban checkpoints on main roads and also to ban masked gunmen from being present or manning checkpoints."
It was not immediately clear how the Council would be able to implement its decisions, which appeared to target Islamist militants who often wear black masks.
Rebel sources said the Council was trying to avoid direct confrontation with radical groups who are known to be fierce fighters and better trained and equipped than its own soldiers.
More than two years since the start a revolt-turned-civil war against Syrian President Bashar Assad, Syria has become a magnet for foreign Sunni Muslim fighters who have flocked to the Middle Eastern nation to join what they see as a holy war against Shi'ites.

Furious Turkish denial to reports Israel launched Latakia attack from Turkish base
By HERB KEINONLAST/J.Post/ 07/15/2013/Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, considered by many in Jerusalem as hostile to Israel, found himself in the unusual situation Monday of having to deny a Russia Today television report that Turkey cooperated with Israel in an attack 10 days ago on three Syrian arms depots in the port city of Latakia.
The Russian report quoted a source as saying the IAF launched the attack, which allegedly destroyed three depots containing state-of- the-art Russian-supplied Yakhont anti-ship missiles, from a Turkish military base."Israeli planes left a military base inside Turkey and approached Latakia from the sea to make sure that they stayed out of Syrian airspace so that they cannot become a legitimate target for the Syrian air force," RT quoted "a reliable source" as saying.
Israeli officials declined to comment on this or any reports about the blast at the Latakia depots.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in a CBS interview Sunday, said when asked about reports of Israeli responsibility, "Oh God, every time something happens in the Middle East Israel is accused. I’m not in the habit of saying what we did or we didn’t do. I’ll tell you what my policy is. My policy is to prevent the transfer of dangerous weapons to Hezbollah and other terror groups. And we stand by that policy.”This was echoed Monday by International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz who, when asked about reports of Israeli involvement in the attack, said that the Yakhont missiles –with a range of 300 kilometers -- are a threat to Israel. He added thatt these missiles were among the best, if not the best, of their kind in the world.
"We set a policy,' he told Israeli Radio. "That policy is not to intervene in the civil war in Syria. With that we also set a rule, that we will make an effort to prevent the leakage of quality weapons, game changing weapons, to organizations like Hezbollah. That is our position and our policy."
The Hurriyet Daily news quoted Davutoglu as furiously denying any Turkish involvement.
"Turkey will neither be a part nor a partner of such ‘attacks.’ The ones who claim this want to damage Turkey’s power and reputation,” he said. “It is out of the question that Turkey and Israel are part of a joint military operation.”
According to Today's Zaman, the Turkish foreign minister said that Turkish media outlets spreading those reports were committing "an act of betrayal."
Davutoglu and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have in the past ridden barely hidden animosity toward Israel to wide popularity in the Arab world.
According to foreign reports, when Israel allegedly attacked a Syrian nuclear facility in 2007, IAF planes on the way back to Israel jettisoned fuel tanks over Turkish territory. Indeed, it was the discovery of those fuel tanks that led to the disclosure of the attack, an attack neither Israel nor Syria were interested in revealing: Syria because of embarrassment, and Israel because it thought it could prevent a Syrian reaction if it did not "rub Damascus' nose" in the attack..The Russia Today story added yet another layer of fog to the Latakia attack. The Sunday Times had previously quoted Middle East intelligence sources as saying that Israeli Dolphin-class submarines had been behind the attack, while CNN quoted US officials as saying the strike was the work of the IAF.
Israel Radio, meanwhile, quoted a Syrian rebel website as saying a senior former officer in the Syrian navy defected to the rebels and passed on information about the location of the Yakont missiles, making contact with US intelligence through a Turkish intelligence intermediary.
This information, according the rebels, allowed Israel to attack the depots through missiles fired from the sea.
Relations between Israel and Turkey remain tense despite Netanyahu having apologized to Erdogan in March for the 2010 IDF raid on the Mavi Marmara flotilla ship.
Following Netanyahu’s apology in March for any operational errors on the Mavi Marmara that might have led to a loss of life, Israel and Turkey launched talks for compensation to be paid to the families of the nine Turks killed on the boat trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Those talks have stalled, as has the normalization of relations that were expected to be capped by an exchange of ambassadors.
Turkey has been a vocal proponent of removing Syrian President Bashar Assad from power. Following the apology to Erdogan in March, Netanyahu said that the volatile situation in Syria had been behind his decision to make an apology, something he had previously avoided.
"The fact that the crisis in Syria is getting worse by the minute was the central consideration in my eyes,” Netanyahu said.
“Syria is disintegrating, and the huge advanced weapons stockpiles are beginning to fall into the hands of different forces,” he added.
The Syrian reality, which includes global jihadist elements on its border with Israel on the Golan, creates tremendous security challenges for Israel, he stated. “It is important that Turkey and Israel, which border Syria, can communicate with each other, and this is true regarding other challenges as well.”While the PMO had no comment on the matter, International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio that he was convinced Netanyahu was "working for the benefit of Israel's interests."
Israel's interests, he said, were "certainly complex" and include an uncompromising fight against terrorism, the best possible relationship with the US, and relations with China -- which he characterized as strategically and economically important.
The Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report

By REUTERS07/15/2013/AMMAN/J.Post/ - Syrian troops backed by tanks and artillery moved into a rebel-held district of Damascus on Monday, stepping up efforts to drive opposition fighters from the capital and build on battlefield gains elsewhere in the country, a rebel commander said. Opposition sources said troops loyal to President Bashar Assad advanced into the neighborhood of Qaboun after subjecting the Sunni Muslim district to heavy shelling. Two adjacent rebel-held neighborhoods have been under sustained fire in recent weeks to cut off the movement of rebel fighters. Diplomats and security sources said Assad appeared intent on securing the capital from rebels that pose a threat to his troops, who are dug into positions in the center of the city. Backed by guerrillas from the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, Assad has recaptured important regions in central Syria in the past two months, linking Damascus to his Alawite heartland on the coast. His troops now appear focused on eliminating the rebel threat to the capital. Assad's gains, after more than two years of a war that has killed more than 90,000 people, come amid growing signs of rebel infighting that has pitted Islamist fighters against the Western- and Arab-backed Free Syrian Army. In Qaboun, Republican Guards troops detained hundreds of people in public places to prevent rebel fighters from hitting government troops as they breached rebel defenses and entered the district, activists said.There was no immediate comment on the fighting from the Syrian government and Reuters was not able to verify opposition accounts.
REPUBLICAN GUARDS
Qaboun contains an industrial area through which rebels had been linking up with opposition units in the north-eastern suburb of Harasta. Republican Guards units overran the industrial area and besieged Qaboun with T-72 tanks while units on high ground in the centre of the capital hit Qaboun with rockets and artillery, according to a rebel commander there. "They made inroads into Qaboun. We are still on the high buildings but they took lots of civilians to prevent us from hitting them," said Mohammad Abu al-Hoda of the Free Syrian Army. He said the hostages were being held in a mosque and two schools. The Qaboun Coordination Committee, an activist group, said at least 60 people had been killed in Qaboun over the last few days by the shelling and subsequent clashes. A working class district, Qaboun was one of the first areas of Damascus to demonstrate against four decades of rule by Assad and his late father before becoming a center of armed resistance after security forces killed dozens of Sunni Muslim protesters. The conflict has taken on a sectarian dimension seen elsewhere in Syria, with Sunni Qaboun pitted against an adjacent neighborhood inhabited by members Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that has dominated the state since the 1960s. The opposition Syrian National Coalition said in a statement that 200 people were trapped in a mosque in Qaboun and 40,000 civilians in Qaboun and nearby Barzeh have been under siege for the last seven months and face the threat of being wiped out by indiscriminate shelling. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group, said that the detained residents were able to flee the mosque on Saturday. But it said locals were struggling to cope with shortages of food and medicine and the presence of snipers.

Syrian Observatory: Shelling, Air Raids Kill 29 in Northwest
Naharnet/Shelling and air raids by Syrian government forces against a string of villages in the northwestern province of Idlib killed at least 29 people late on Sunday, a watchdog said. The military carried out five separate strikes, including a rocket attack on the village of Maghara that killed 13 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday. The attacks all came shortly before iftar, the meal at which Muslims break their daytime Ramadan fast, according to the Britain-based group, which relies on a network of activists, lawyers and doctors on the ground across Syria. The attack in Maghara was the deadliest, but the Observatory also reported six killed in the village of al-Bara, four in Basamis, three in Kfar Nabl in an air strike and three in Iblin. The dead included at least eight women and six children, the Observatory said. Video footage posted online by activists showed harrowing scenes of death and destruction, including fires started by what they said was the rocket strike on Maghara. The screams of survivors were heard as the camera panned over the rubble. "God is great. Where are our Muslim brothers? Where are our Arab brothers?" the activist says as he films residents trying to dig out people trapped beneath the wreckage of their homes. "This is the iftar of the Muslims in Jabal Zawiya," he said, referring to the hill district where the village lies. "A massacre in the village of Maghara."A second video showed smoke billowing over the village and residents lifting a dust-covered older man, his stomach torn open, onto a flat-bed truck. Another man lay dead on the ground, his body and clothes covered in grey dust flecked with blood, his mouth open, his arm curled upwards and his hand lying on his chest. Residents scooped water into bowls and buckets to try to put out the fires. Source/Agence France Presse

Egypt Army Plans Sinai Operation after Militant Attacks Kill Three
Naharnet/Militants killed at least three people Monday and wounded 17 when they fired on a bus carrying workers in the North Sinai town of Al-Arish, security and medical sources said.
Military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Aly said in a statement that a "terrorist group" had been targeting a police vehicle but hit the workers' bus by mistake. "The bus was attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade near Al-Arish airport. Three people died and 17 were injured in the attack," a security official said.
A medical source confirmed the toll, adding that "many of those injuries are critical." The bus was carrying workers from a cement factory.
The attack came hours after gunmen clashed with the Egyptian army near the Israeli border. The fighting broke out in the area of Al-Wifaq, in northern Sinai, after militants tried unsuccessfully to blow up a police vehicle with explosives.
The restive Sinai peninsula has been hit by a surge of violence since president Mohammed Morsi's ouster on July 3, with militants killing a police officer early on Friday.
A Coptic Christian man found decapitated a day earlier, while two people died in an attack on a checkpoint in the peninsula on Wednesday.
With an insurgency threatening its sensitive border with Israel, Egypt's military is preparing to go on the offensive against Sinai militants who have escalated attacks since Morsi's ouster.
A senior military official confirmed to Agence France Presse that the Egyptian army "will carry out an operation" in the Sinai, without giving further details.The army knew the militant leaders by name and their location, he said, adding that most of the militants "live with their family, in villages".The army would approach the operation carefully, he said, as it is keen to avoid friction with civilians, "but we don't want things to take us to a stage that affects our national security".
Analysts said the Sinai violence could be down to Islamist extremists seeking to take advantage of the political insecurity in the country after Morsi's ouster. Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center, said the attacks could be by militants already sworn to fighting the state.
Militants "who are already radical are emboldened and see it as an opportunity to move more aggressively," he said.
Hamid said there was already sympathy in the Sinai for agitation against the government. "When there was significant anger over Morsi's ouster, they took advantage of that situation," he said.
Armed extremists in north Sinai could also exploit the military's focus on securing the political transition, Oliver Coleman, a senior risk analyst for London-based Maplecroft, said in a report.
Coleman added that "it is possible, though at this point not especially likely, that Sinai militants will link up with newly disaffected Islamists in the Nile Valley".However, he warned it was "all the more likely if (Muslim) Brotherhood members continue to be arrested or the group is excluded from the political process".The Egyptian army has called on the Brotherhood, the group from which Morsi hails, to participate in the political transition it has launched since ousting the Islamist president on July 3. But the influential Islamist movement has refused and insisted on Morsi's reinstatement, accusing the army of plotting a "coup against him".
In what appeared to be a message to the Brotherhood, army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Sunday that he hoped all political parties were aware that "the opportunity was available to all political sides", of all ideologies. Controversy erupted in Egypt last week over alleged links between the Brotherhood and armed groups in the Sinai.
Television stations broadcast verified footage of one of the Islamist group's senior leaders Mohammed al-Beltagui saying "what is happening in the Sinai will stop the second president Morsi returns" to office.
Beltagui qualified his statement by saying the Brotherhood did not call the shots in the Sinai. Opponents of the Brotherhood said the video was evidence of the strong links between the Islamist group and militants in the restive peninsula. Beltagui categorically denied ties between his organisation and the Sinai violence. In comments to Al-Jazeera, he said the Brotherhood has "no relation with what is happening in the Sinai".
Source/Agence France Presse

Wave of Attacks on Egypt Copts, State Failing to Act
Naharnet /Egypt's Christians have been targeted in a wave of attacks since the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, and the state is failing to protect them, an NGO said Monday. Sectarian violence since the latest political upheaval in Egypt began has killed four Coptic Christians in Luxor governorate, with churches elsewhere torched and looted, said the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.A Coptic man was also found decapitated on Thursday, five days after being kidnapped in the restive Sinai, where gunmen killed a Coptic priest the week earlier. "What is disturbing is the failure of the security apparatus to act -- which at times looks like collusion -- to protect citizens and their property who are being targeted on the basis of their religion," the EIPR's Ishak Ibrahim said in a statement. "Copts are paying the price of the inflammatory rhetoric against them coming from some Islamist leaders and supporters of the former president, who accuse Coptic spiritual leaders of conspiring to foment army intervention to remove Dr Morsi," he added. In the worst violence cited by the rights group, in the two day's after Morsi's ouster, revenge attacks over the killing of a Muslim man in Al-Dabaiya, a town west of Luxor, left four Copts dead and several homes torched and looted, the NGO said. It accused the police of taking no action to protect them or escort them from their homes, which were surrounded, despite the fact they repeatedly calls the security services for help. The EIPR said it was troubled by the "disregard" of state institutions for these incidents and called on the interim authorities to take swift action to protect Egyptians and "end inflammatory campaigns targeting citizens on the basis of religion". Sectarian tensions in Egypt have risen since an Islamist came to power for the first time in 2012, following the country's first free elections. Egypt's Coptic Patriarch Tawadros II accused Morsi of "negligence" over his response to clashes outside Cairo's Coptic cathedral in which two people died and many were wounded. The funeral service was for four Christians killed in a gun battle with Muslims in a town north of Cairo in which one Muslim also died.Source/Agence France Presse

U.N.'s Ban Warns against 'Revenge' and 'Retribution' in Egypt
Naharnet/U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned Monday against "revenge" and "retribution" in Egypt, which has been hit by large-scale protests since President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown.
The country's first freely elected president was deposed on July 3, and a military-installed caretaker government has since tightened the screws on the Islamist leader's backers. "This is not the time of revenge or retribution", Ban told reporters after holding talks with French President Francois Hollande, denouncing the arrests of officials from Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. "This is a time for inclusion and reconciliation. "It is important that Egyptian authorities should include all the parties in managing the current difficult situation." Hollande said "clashes must be avoided" and order restored, and called for "a political solution as rapidly as possible". Their comments came as U.S. Undersecretary of State Bill Burns visits Cairo to press for a return to an elected government following Morsi's overthrow. Egypt's new leaders are pushing ahead with a transition plan for an interim government and fresh elections, but Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood defiantly insists on his reinstatement. The Brotherhood has refused to join the new, interim government headed by caretaker prime minister Hazem al-Beblawi, as has the ultra-conservative Islamist party Al-Nur. The situation has triggered mass, sometimes deadly protests by opponents and supporters of Morsi. Critics accuse Morsi of concentrating power in Brotherhood hands, sending the economy into freefall and failing to protect minorities during his single year of turbulent rule. But his supporters say his overthrow is an affront to democracy. Source/Agence France Presse

Opinion: Syria is dying
Hussein Shobokshi/Asharq Alawsat
The awful humanitarian crisis gripping all Syrian villages and cities has been overshadowed by the political and military aspects of the Syrian revolution that, for more than two years, has killed over 100,000 people. All attention has been given to conferences, coalitions, rebels, mercenary battalions, funding, international polarization, and mad sectarian obsession. In Homs, an important city, for example, some Muslim scholars have issued a fatwa to permit eating cat meat in emergencies, in a clear sign to the seriously deteriorating humanitarian situation in the city and all over Syria. There are tens of thousands of people injured amid unbelievable shortages of medical supplies. What is more dangerous, however, is the fact that Assad regime deliberately targets all hospitals and clinics, murdering medical doctors and nursing staff. Health conditions cannot be worse. Some health aid workers who have been to Syria have talked about experiences and scenes beyond belief. They said they performed operations without sterilization, anesthesia or lighting, using primitive medical techniques despite the terrible injuries, and deformities, in a definite sign to the atrocities committed by the Syrian regime. Furthermore, the food situation is just as bad. Despite being an agricultural country, Syria suffers from severe shortages in vegetables, fruits and wheat. In fact, most crops cannot be gathered or distributed, leading the country towards a catastrophe which saw the most basic of commodities hitting record prices. This has led the Syrian currency to collapse against the US dollar in a manner that made it difficult for people to afford the rare commodities which are smuggled to the points of sale. Education in Syria poses an enormous challenge. Due to absence of schools, books and teachers, more than two millions and a half million children in Syria are denied the right to education. This will have serious repercussions which will be more tangible with the passage of time. This is not to mention the ever-deteriorating situation of refugees which, according to several political organizations, has the potential for being the worst in history. Charity aid is in a state of disorder because the criminal regime forcibly blocks all commodities and equipment from Syrians and instead gives them to its supporters and shabeeha. There is an urgent need for a state of emergency to be declared in the rebel-held areas. The deafening silence of international aid organizations, such as the United Nations, Red Cross, Red Crescent and Doctors Without Borders is something bizarre and suspicious. It seems that the silence of the international community is something deliberate to allow the criminal regime achieve as many gains as possible on the ground. Moreover, this seems to be in line with efforts made by the pro-Israel lobby in the US congress, which is still convinced that the survival of Assad ensures the security and protection of Israel. In fact, it managed to persuade the congress to overrule Obama’s decision to arm the rebels. The humanitarian situation in Syria remains to be a different story. Unfortunately, those who never cease to praise humanitarian aid seem to have no pang of conscience. To put it simply, Syria is dying!

Egypt is at the center of regional rivalries
Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Alawsat
Traces and imprints of regional rivalries over the conflict in Egypt are obvious. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait provided billions of dollars in emergency aid to Egypt after the ouster of Mohammad Mursi.
Meanwhile, there was condemnation from Turkey against the swift power change in Egypt, sorrow in Qatar over the loss the Brotherhood, rage in Iran, and the panic in Gaza and Tunisia was felt by Hamas and Ennahda. Beyond the region’s borders, Washington appeared in a state of alarm and confusion in the same manner that its institutions disputed the approach to Bahrain and Syria. Some congressional leaders have welcomed the ousting of President Mursi and considered him a fascist even if he was democratically elected. President Barack Obama, however, has greeted Muslims for the holy month of Ramadan, made statements seen as favoring the Muslim Brotherhood and began carrying out penalties, such as halting military aid to the Egyptian army. Many breathed a sigh of relief after the Brotherhood was eliminated. Egypt, under the slogan of democracy, was hijacked by people who don’t believe in democracy. Events during Mursi’s administration proved that the Brotherhood did not only intend to change Egypt internally, but to alter a regional formula followed since the era of late President Anwar Al-Sadat—a formula that divided the region into a Gulf camp against an Iranian camp.
No one can allege that toppling Mursi’s cabinet was carried out with foreign support. Toppling Mursi’s came as a natural result of the local struggle among Egyptian parties. The army favored the opposition’s stance, and the Brotherhood administration’s bad governance along with the Brotherhood’s bad relations with the opposing parties were the major reason millions took to the streets to spark a second revolution.
The repercussions of toppling the Brotherhood’s rule were huge. The cries we hear from Brotherhood’s supporters in the Gulf, Jordan and Tunisia are due to the substantial disappointment felt by groups who had thought they had a strong supporter and therefore strengthen their presence and plans. The floundering and screaming of the Brotherhood’s orphans expresses the size and of the hopes built on the rule of Mursi.
Since today’s Brotherhood is not a rational and pragmatic group, we don’t expect it to return to power because it has lost its most politically competent leaders, like Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, and has become one that is run by an extremist party, with leaders like Khairat El-Shater, Mohammad Badie and Mursi. If they had been smart politicians, they would not have committed a series of mistakes that built enmities with their allies and facilitated the eruption of both a second revolution and a coup—happening together in a rare concurrence.