LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 07/2013

Bible Quotation for today
Proverbs 24/19-25: "Don’t fret yourself because of evildoers; neither be envious of the wicked: for there will be no reward to the evil man; and the lamp of the wicked shall be snuffed out. My son, fear Yahweh and the king. Don’t join those who are rebellious: for their calamity will rise suddenly; the destruction from them both—who knows? These also are sayings of the wise. To show partiality in judgment is not good. He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous”; peoples shall curse him, and nations shall abhor him but it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and a rich blessing will come on them."

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources

Washington: Hizballah has got hold of chemical weapons
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report March 6, 2013
For the first time in many years, voices in the US administration were criticizing the Israeli defense forces for under-reacting and, in this case, also underestimating the chemical weapons threat emanating from Syria and neglecting to pursue counter-measures. This is what visiting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak heard when he met US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon Tuesday, March 5, as the new defense secretary’s first foreign visitor.DEBKAfile’s military and Washington sources disclose that Barak was berated for “inadequate and cursory” military preparations which failed to take into account that a chemical attack on Israel would make it necessary for the IDF to enter Syria – most likely for an offensive operation coordinated against the common threat with the Turkish and Jordanian armies.
Present at the meeting between Hagel and Barak were also Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Chiefs of Staff and Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren. Our sources add that the conversation ranged over the Syrian crisis with no reference to a nuclear Iran.From the defense secretary, Barak heard intelligence estimates confirmed for the first time by an American official that Hizballah has been able to procure a quantity of chemical weapons from Syria – a development which Israel’s leaders have vowed to prevent. The proliferation of chemical weapons to HIzballah and other armed bands on Israel’s borders was apparently in the mind of Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin, UN Security Council president for March, when he cautioned Monday that trouble was building up between Israel and Syria.
Read DEBKAfile’s earlier report:
At UN Center in New York, Israeli and Russian delegates separately warned Monday, March 4, of a dangerous situation developing in the area of separation on the Golan captured by Israel in the 1967 war. Syrian troops were forbidden to enter this area under a ceasefire formalized in 1974 between Syria and Israel.
Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor complained to the Security Council about five shells fired from this very area which landed in Israel Saturday, March 2. "Israel cannot be expected to stand idle as the lives of its citizens are being put at risk by the Syrian government's reckless actions," Proser wrote in a Note to the council. "Israel has shown maximum restraint thus far."
Russia’s UN Ambasador Vitaly Churkin then spoke of “a very new and dangerous phenomenon” of armed groups operating in the Golan area of separation. “It’s something which potentially can undermine security between Syria and Israel,” said Churkin, who is acting Security Council president for March. He pointed out that the UN peacekeeping force is unarmed and unable to cope with this new situation. Israel and Syria are technically in a state of war. DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources note that the exchange of warnings between Israel and Russia touched two sensitive nerves:
1. It occurred the day before definitive talks open in Moscow between the Syrian government and opposition. The Russians fear Israel might embark on military action in response to the round of shells fired from the Syrian Golan Saturday, and force a delay in the talks. The last time this happened, in late January, Israel reacted with a cross-border attack on Syrian military installations.
2. Saturday, too, DEBKAfile exposed the no-man’s lands unfolding along Syria’s borderlands with Israel and Jordan following the withdrawal of the bulk of Syrian forces from these areas. Moscow fears additionally that Israel’s armed forces will seize strategic points in the abandoned territory to clear out armed bands of the pro-al Qaeda Jabhat al Nusra, which are believed responsible for the latest round of shelling into the Israeli Golan.
Churkin’s warning referred to “armed groups” as the potential troublemakers, but he was also cautioning Israel to desist from fighting back so as not to upset Moscow’s diplomatic initiative for resolving the Syrian civil war.

Shi'ite terror network targeting Israelis overseas'
By YAAKOV LAPPIN03/07/2013/J.Post
Counterterrorism bureau warns ahead of Passover holiday that Iranian Quds Force, Hezbollah network plotting attacks.A global Shi’ite terrorism network made up of Iranian Quds Force operatives and Hezbollah continues to target Israelis overseas, the National Security Council’s counterterrorism bureau warned on Wednesday, ahead of the Passover vacation season.
Twenty-seven countries have been designated by the bureau as being under a travel alert of varying severity.The Sinai Peninsula is designated as a place with a very high, concrete threat level, and the bureau is urging Israelis to stay away from the area due to a plethora of intelligence leads pointing to kidnapping plots and terrorist threats.
Turkey, Kenya, Nigeria and Azerbaijan have been classified under the “ongoing potential threat” category, which is the third most severe warning type.Dozens of terrorist attacks around the world have been thwarted this year, a bureau source said on Wednesday, adding that Iran and Hezbollah have clearly divided up attacks between them. In this way, Iranian agents target Israeli embassies and official state symbols – as they did in New Delhi in 2012 – while Hezbollah attempts to murder less protected Israeli civilian tourists – as occurred in Burgas, Bulgaria, last year, when a Hezbollah terrorist cell bombed a tour bus, killing five Israelis and a Bulgarian bus driver.
The source stressed that the travel alerts are based on information made available from Israel’s intelligence services, adding that some terrorist attacks have been abandoned by the plotters after alerts have been issued exposing the threat. “Shi’ite terrorism is a threat to Israeli citizens and Diaspora “Shi’ite terrorism is a threat to Israeli citizens and Diaspora Jews. The threat is being sponsored by Iran and Hezbollah. Over the past two years, there has been an increased effort to carry out attacks,” the source said. “We are identifying a systematic campaign operating with the greatest vigor... They are fully coordinated. It is one axis.”Additionally, Israel has been in touch with foreign government and local police officials in countries such as Cyprus (where a Hezbollah operative is on trial for gathering intelligence ahead of an attack on tourists), Greece, Turkey, Thailand and India.
The source said any country hosting a large amounts of Israeli tourists has been contacted by Israel in order to request a stepped-up security presence. One such meeting was held last month in India, where some 45,000 Israeli tourists head every year. Overall, the threat level has remained static in recent years, the source added. He stressed that the bureau was not telling Israelis to stay at home, but rather to be aware of safety tips as they enjoy their vacations abroad. In February, Nigeria’s domestic intelligence service announced the arrest of an Iran-backed terrorist cell plotting to launch attacks on Israeli and American targets in the African state.
The State Security Service named Abdullahi Mustapha Berende and two other Nigerians as the suspects, after Berende made several suspicious trips to Iran and interacted with Iranians in a “high-profile terrorist network” there.
“His Iranian sponsors requested that he identify and gather intelligence on public places and prominent hotels frequented by Americans and Israelis to facilitate attacks,” SSS spokeswoman Marilyn Ogar said in a statement.
“There is conclusive evidence that Berende, in collaboration with his Iranian handlers, was involved in grievous crimes against the national security of this country.”
In 2010, Nigerian security officials intercepted an Iranian arms shipment containing 13 containers of weapons, including artillery rockets and rifle rounds. An investigation found that the shipment had originally come from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. Those arrested in connection with the incident included an alleged Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps member and three Nigerian suspects.
In Syria, the source said, Sunni global jihadi groups were becoming a stronger force, and have been placed under the watch of intelligence services and the IDF.
“We’re not under the illusion that they won’t direct their fire toward Israel in the future,” the source said

March 14 Slams Mansour: His Statements Threat Lebanese Interests, Serve Assad's Regime
Naharnet /The March 14 General Secretariat slammed on Wednesday Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour's statement that called for withdrawing the suspension of Syria's membership from the Arab League, warning that “the positions of the Syrian chargé d'affaires in Lebanon are a real threat to Lebanon”.“His statements given under the title of the foreign ministry are a real threat to Lebanese people and their interests, especially in the light of the countries of Gulf Cooperation Council's reactions,” March 14 remarked in a released statement. It urged: “We call on concerned authorities to take all necessary measures and lift the political cover-up under which Mansour works to serve the interests of (Syrian President Bashar) Assad's regime”.Mansour had called earlier on Wednesday during a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to “return the Syrian government its seat at the Arab League after Arab states failed to resolve the Syrian crisis”.Qatar's Foreign Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, snapped back at him, saying “Bashar (Assad) is responsible for the bloodshed in Syria.”
Prime Minister Najib Miqati responded to Mansour in a released statement, confirming that “the cabinet is still abiding by the disassociation policy”.

Jumblat Sides with Al-Nusra Front against Assad
Naharnet/Druze leader Walid Jumblat has sided with the rebel Al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group which Washington lists as a "terrorist organisation', in the Syrian conflict. "I support Al-Nusra Front against the Syrian regime," Jumblat said in an interview with Al-Akhbar newspaper published on Wednesday."The Syrian people has the right to side with the devil -- except with Israel -- against the regime," said Jumblat, a fierce foe of President Bashar Assad. "I am acting to protect the (Syrian) Druze. The Alawites (Assad's community) will go back to their mountain, but the Druze live in a sea of Sunnis," the Progressive Socialist Party leader said.While most anti-Assad rebels -- like the majority of Syria's population -- are Sunni, the country's minorities have mostly stayed on the sidelines of the two-year-old conflict in Lebanon's neighbor.Among them are Syria's Druze, many of who live in the south, next to the majority Sunni area of Hauran. The Alawites, meanwhile, come from the mountains of northwest Syria.Agence France Presse

Hariri, Geagea Slam Mansour's Syria Remarks: Govt. Asking Lebanese to Cover up Assad Crimes
Naharnet/Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned on Wednesday Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour's request that Syria's seat at the Arab League be restored, saying that the regime has “found a spokesman to speak at the League.”He said in a statement: “The Lebanese government is requesting all Lebanese to participate in covering up the crimes of Syrian President Bashar Assad.” “The Lebanese people are not employees for Assad, Iran, and their political and military proxy in Lebanon,” he declared. “The Lebanese people demand that this government reveal its real nature and announced to the Arabs and the world that it is the government of Bashar Assad and Hizbullah in Lebanon,” he added. Furthermore, Hariri said: “Mansour's request to restore Syria's seat at the Arab League is the culmination of the true ugly role the Lebanese go vernment is playing regarding the bloody developments in Syria.” “Does this minister truly speak on behalf of the Lebanese republic, its president, government, and prime minister?” he wondered. “Or are we faced with the foreign minister of Iran or that of a minister who abides by the political orders of a political power that has imposed on Lebanon positions that only serve to harm the country's national interests?” asked the former premier. “We not only condemn Mansour's remarks, but we consider them part of his following of foreign orders,” Hariri noted. “We urge all political powers that are keen on Lebanon's safety and Arab ties to completely reject the government's random policies,” he said.
Mansour called on Wednesday for scrapping a decision to suspend the membership of Syria from the Arab League
Prime Minister Najib Miqati soon criticized the call, saying: “The foreign minister does not express the stance of the government.”The Arab League suspended Syria in November 2011 as a sharp rebuke for Assad's leadership over its brutal crackdown on demonstrators seeking to topple his regime. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea later issued a statement to condemn the foreign minister's remarks, saying: “He should have first taken into consideration the positions of the majority of the Lebanese people before issuing a stance on the Syrian crisis.” “He should have at least taken the approval of the government before proposing restoring Syria's seat at the Arab League in an attempt to regain some legitimacy to the regime on the Arab scene,” he stated. “Does Mansour realize that his position places the whole of Lebanon and the Lebanese before grave dangers that may drag them from oppressive Arab isolation to a fatal international one?” he continued. “Where is the commitment to the policy of disassociation that this failed and corrupt government has constantly advocated?” he asked.
“This is the same government, which includes a team that is fighting alongside the Syrian regime and whose foreign minister is allowed to insult the Lebanese people and who has become an official spokesman for Bashar Assad,” Geagea added. “We ask the president and prime minister about the brand of shame that the minister has printed on the forehead of every free Lebanese citizen and we renew our demand for the resignation of this government,” declared the Lebanese Forces chief. “We ask what has remained of liberals and for how long will this silence last?” he wondered.“Is it not time for this failed and corrupt government to resign after it threatened to tarnish Lebanon's reputation all over the world after it distanced itself from all of its duties and the rights of Lebanese and only served to cover up the crimes of the Syrian regime?” continued Geagea.

Foreign Affairs Minister Adnan Mansour’s Syria stance at Arab meet draws ire
March 07, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: March 14 leaders including former Prime Minister Saad Hariri blasted Foreign Affairs Minister Adnan Mansour after he called for the reinstatement of Syria’s membership in the Arab League at a ministerial meeting of the body in Cairo Wednesday. Hariri accused Mansour of acting as a mouthpiece for the Syrian regime. “The Syrian regime has found someone to speak on its behalf at the Arab League. Lebanon’s foreign minister has executed this dark mandate, which is incompatible with the fundamental basis of Arab solidarity, and erases all claims related to the policy of disassociation,” Hariri said in a statement.
“I call for Syria’s membership in the Arab League to be unblocked. Communication with Syria ... is essential for a political solution,” Mansour said following the meeting.
Hariri said Mansour’s request “summarizes the ugly role played by the Lebanese government in its approach to the bloody events in Syria.”
Although Mansour denied it took place, he reportedly engaged in an argument with his Qatari counterpart during Wednesday’s meeting in Cairo over who was responsible for the ongoing bloodshed in Syria.
The argument was sparked by Mansour’s criticism of the Arab League’s focus being placed on replacing the Syrian regime while the country’s stability continued to deteriorate.
“We have held meetings for over two years and have taken decision after decision. [We thought] that with these decisions we will be providing Syria with security and stability by removing the regime and replacing it with another, while Syria sank into blood and destruction,” Mansour said.
Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani hit back at Mansour and accused the Syrian president of being behind the bloodshed. “It was not the decisions of the Arab League that drowned Syria in a sea of blood. Bashar Assad is the one who killed his people and drowned Syria in a sea of blood,” bin Jassem was quoted as saying.
A day after the Cabinet was divided in its support of President Michel Sleiman’s decree to hold elections on time, Prime Minister Najib Mikati once again criticized Mansour for unilaterally taking a stance on behalf of the Lebanese government at the meeting. “The Lebanese government is still committed to the policy of disassociation from events in Syria. This is the same stance it took when the decision to suspend Syria’s membership was issued by the Arab League,” Mikati said, referring to the position the Cabinet took after the start of the Syria uprising.
Mikati added that Lebanon was still committed to its policy of disassociation from the developments in Syria.
In Cairo, Mansour requested the reinstatement of Syria as a member of the organization after Damascus’ membership was suspended last year due the regime’s refusal to implement the Arab League’s peace plan.
Mansour added that he opposed the Arab League’s decision to give a permanent seat to the Syrian National Coalition. “Syria is a state and a government. The idea that a state could be replaced by a political party is a very dangerous precedent in the world,” he told reporters after the meeting. Mansour’s comments came under fire from opposition leaders in Lebanon who said that the foreign minister was no longer representing the country.
Separately, the general secretariat of the March 14 coalition described Mansour as “the charge d’affaires of the Syrian regime in Lebanon,” and warned that his behavior was becoming a “real danger” to the country and the region. In a statement issued Wednesday, the coalition called for lifting Mansour’s diplomatic immunity and accused the minister of using his position to serve the Syrian regime’s aggressive policies.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea described Mansour’s comments as shameful and reiterated his call for the government to resign. “We ask the president and the prime minister about the ongoing silence toward the [foreign] minister at the expense of every free Lebanese [citizen]. We reiterate our call for the government’s resignation,” Geagea said in a statement.

Drawing a line in the sand on elections
March 07, 2013/By Michael Young/The Daily Star
Prime Minister Najib Mikati said two things of importance in his interview with MTV on Monday night. He backed the formation of a neutral Cabinet to oversee the upcoming parliamentary elections. And he said the government was committed to holding the elections on time, on the basis of the 1960 law if no consensus was reached on an alternative. Mikati made it clear that the so-called Orthodox proposal was not consensual, and affirmed the law would not be passed. A day later, both the prime minister and President Michel Sleiman signed a decree calling for elections to be held starting on June 9 on the basis of the 1960 law. The move angered the March 8 coalition, which complained that the maneuver was not only a violation of the separation of powers, but also sought to impose the 1960 law, which, various parliamentarians insisted, had lost all legitimacy.
How does one read Sleiman’s and Mikati’s action? Mikati’s most powerful weapon has always been the threat of resignation, which would leave Hezbollah hanging, having to forge a new government with a credible Sunni prime minister at its head, all to cover for the party’s continued retention of its weapons. And yet now Mikati has gone a step further, announcing that he intends to resign anyway and force Hezbollah to accept a neutral Cabinet to oversee elections, perhaps on the basis of a law it vehemently opposes.
Mikati says that the 1960 law is not one he favors. But as Michel Aoun opted for the Orthodox scheme rather than reiterate his backing for the proportional law passed by the government, the prime minister believes he is under no obligation to accommodate his partners’ U-turns. The Orthodox proposal is widely perceived by Sunnis as directed against them, and Mikati has no intention of paying a political price for endorsing a project that he finds abhorrent.
Sleiman and Mikati also sought to underline that they would not accept being held responsible for a vacuum come election time. The chances that a consensual law will replace the 1960 law are very low. If such a law happens to pass, the president and prime minister can always modify their decree. However, if no agreement is reached, as is likely, then both men can say they prepared a fall-back position to avert a void, shifting the burden of delaying elections onto others. Particularly unhappy with their effort is Nabih Berri. The parliament speaker had insisted that the rival political groups arrive at a consensus law. Left unstated in his choreography was that continued deadlock would make more likely the adoption of laws that favored his interests and those of Hezbollah: the Orthodox proposal, the government’s proportional law, or Berri’s own mixed election project, all of which in one way or another are to the political advantage of March 8. Sleiman and Mikati undercut his strategy.
Why each man did so merits examination. Mikati, it is obvious, does not want to go into the history books as someone who harmed Sunni interests and alienated the Gulf states. What he promised on Monday was effectively what the Future Movement had sought for some time: an impartial government at election time and neutralization of the Orthodox proposal in favor of a 1960 law that is almost certain to bring victory to March 14. Beyond that, any measure that weakens Hezbollah can be sold to the Gulf states as containment of Iran, at a moment when Mikati needs Saudi approval to bolster the economy.
In this light the decision of the Gulf Cooperation Council states to send a letter to Sleiman warning that Lebanon was not abiding by the policy of disassociation in Syria’s conflict was worrisome. The GCC was, plainly, referring to Hezbollah, but Mikati’s and Sleiman’s stance could be held up as proof that the party is being resisted in Lebanon.
But what motivates Sleiman? The president presumably would gain from a delay in elections, since it would mean that his mandate is extended as well. Yet by setting a deadline for elections, he lessened the chances of this happening. Nor does his revival of the 1960 law help him among Christians, since most of his coreligionists regard the law as bad for Christian fortunes. Sleiman has taken the right decisions, but certainly not the ones that will buy him a political extension and communal popularity. If his overriding motive is principle, then perhaps we have a better president than we know.
Could it be that both Mikati and Sleiman are thinking of their legacy, and that this drives their blocking Lebanon’s mad drive toward communal and institutional breakdown? Amid the scheming surrounding an election law, and with each party floating proposals that advance their interests at the expense of the general welfare, the president and prime minister have laid down a marker to the contending political alignments: If you disagree with us, then bear full responsibility for reversing what we did.
One can protest that Mikati is pursuing a political agenda of his own. Perhaps he is, but he is no worse than Hezbollah or Aoun, who will vote in favor of government decisions, only to turn around and condemn them when this suits their aims. Aoun has become skilled at hammering governments in which his bloc is represented. Hezbollah has been just as duplicitous, for example approving of the disassociation policy in Syria, then ignoring it in practice.
The fate of the 1960 law is still in the air. Hezbollah parliamentarians have hinted that elections will not be held on the basis of the law, suggesting the party may resort to violence to prevent them from happening. But come June, Lebanon needs to vote and the only logical outcome is to do so according to a broadly accepted new law or, barring that, the law in place. On this issue, Saad Hariri has an ally in the prime minister. March 14 should take note.
Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Arab League agrees to arm Syria rebels
March 07, 2013/Daily Star
BEIRUT: Arab League ministers decided Wednesday to let member nations arm Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar Assad, and invited an opposition coalition to take the League seat formerly occupied by Damascus.
The Arab League’s decision came as Syrian rebels abducted more than 20 U.N. peacekeepers in the Golan Heights cease-fire zone.
Previously the League had stressed that the Syrian political opposition and rebels should be supported by humanitarian and diplomatic means during the civil war, which has cost an estimated 70,000 lives.
However, a final statement issued at the end of a ministerial meeting in Cairo said they had “stressed the right of each state according to its wishes to offer all types of self-defense, including military, to support the resilience of the Syrian people and the Free [Syrian] Army.”
Qatar has led a push against Damascus at the League, but Wednesday’s decision was not unanimous. Lebanon, Iraq and Algeria refused to endorse the final statement’s sections on Syria.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told a news conference that the ministers had invited the opposition Syrian National Coalition – an umbrella body of anti-Assad political and rebel groups – to occupy the Syrian seat at the League held by Damascus until it was suspended from the organization two years ago.
Walid al-Bunni, spokesman for the opposition coalition, welcomed the Arab decision as “better late than never” and said the organization now wanted U.N. representation.
On the ground, a group of armed fighters linked to the Syrian opposition detained more than 20 U.N. peacekeepers in the increasingly volatile zone separating Israeli and Syrian troops on the Golan Heights.
The U.N. Security Council demanded their immediate and unconditional release.
The capture of the peacekeepers marked a new escalation in the spillover of Syria’s civil war. It followed the Feb. 25 announcement that a member of the peacekeeping force, known as UNDOF, was missing.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current Security Council president, said talks were under way between U.N. officials from the peacekeeping force and the captors.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, who briefed the council behind closed doors, identified the captors as being from a group associated with the Syrian opposition, Churkin said. “There was no fighting, according to his briefing to us,” he added. “My understanding is they took over the trucks in which the UNDOF personnel [were] moving around.” U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said about 20 U.N. observers had been on a regular supply mission when they were stopped by approximately 30 armed fighters near an observation post that was damaged in heavy combat last weekend and had been evacuated.
A video posted online by activists showed a group of armed rebels standing around at least three white U.N. vehicles with the words UNDOF on them, allegedly in the village of Jamlah bordering Israel in Deraa province.
The video, circulated by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the peacekeepers held by the rebels were 20 Filipinos. It accused the peacekeepers of assisting the Syrian regime to redeploy in an area near the Golan that the fighters had seized a few days ago in battles that left 11 fighters and 19 regime troops dead.
A man identified as Abu Qaed al-Faleh, spokesman for the Martyrs of Yarmouk Brigades, announced the group was holding the peacekeepers until Assad’s forces withdrew from Jamlah.
Elsewhere, rebels completed their capture of Raqqa, the first major city to fall completely into rebel hands, activists said. “Raqqa city is now out of the army’s control, after military intelligence troops surrendered to rebels following fierce clashes that raged for two days,” the Observatory told AFP.
“It is the first provincial capital out of regime control.”Earlier, an air raid on Raqqa killed and wounded dozens of people, the Observatory said. Warplanes also bombarded Homs in central Syria, on the fourth day of a major offensive in the country’s third-largest city. Near Damascus, the air force bombarded several rebel enclaves, said the Observatory which relies on a vast network of activists and medics on the ground.
In Belgium, the top rebel commander renewed an appeal to the international community to send weapons to the opposition. Gen. Salim Idriss, head of the rebels’ Supreme Military Council, asked for anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to protect Syrian civilians from Assad’s warplanes. “The people don’t understand why the international community just looks at the news on their TVs,” he said. “They just speak in the media and say, ‘That is not good and the regime must stop and must go, Bashar must go.’ And they don’t act.”But Britain seemed to be stepping up its support. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said his country would provide armored vehicles, body armor and search-and-rescue equipment to the opposition. But he said Britain was sticking to the EU’s sanctions against Syria, which include an arms embargo.

President Michel Sleiman prepares for first state tour of Africa
March 07, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman will kick off a weeklong visit to Africa next week during which he will visit countries home to a large number of Lebanese expatriates.
The state-run National News Agency said Wednesday that Sleiman would start his trip on March 12 and would return to Beirut on March 20 after wrapping up official visits to four African countries: the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal. In preparation for the upcoming visit, Sleiman chaired a meeting of a delegation of ministers and officials who will accompany him during his seven-day visit to the continent, the NNA said.
They discussed the schedule of the tour and the important agreements that will be signed. Sleiman is the first post-Civil War president to tour African countries with large concentrations of expatriate Lebanese.

Religious summit to unite Middle East’s Christians
March 07, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: A religious summit between Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs of the Middle East will take place in the next few months, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai announced Wednesday.
Speaking to the Fides Agency in Rome, Rai said that preparations were under way to hold an “important summit” that would address the challenges facing Christians in the Middle East.
“We are preparing a meeting of all Orthodox and Catholic Patriarchs of the Middle East, to promote unity among Christians and deal with the problems and sufferings that we share in this difficult moment in history,” Rai said.
The cardinal arrived in Rome earlier this week to attend the religious conclave at the Vatican to elect a new pope to replace Pope Benedict XV

Jumblatt hands opposition poll proposal to Berri
March 07, 2013/By Wassim Mroueh/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Deliberations between political groups gained momentum Wednesday in a fresh bid to reach consensus over an electoral law to govern June’s parliamentary elections, with the option of a hybrid system dominating talks.Future Movement MP Ahmad Fatfat said the Kataeb Party, the Lebanese Forces, the Future Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party had finalized talks on the districting and distribution of seats in a draft law that combines proportional representation with a winner-takes-all system. “The draft law would divide the country into 26 districts and nine governorates,” he told The Daily Star, refusing to give more details.
Fatfat said the draft law was very close to the one proposed by Speaker Nabih Berri under which 64 MPs would be elected in a winner-takes-all system and another 64 through proportional representation. Berri, however, withdrew his proposal, saying it had become a point of contention. “[PSP leader] MP [Walid] Jumblatt’s visit today to Speaker Berri is an attempt to involve the other side in discussions,” Fatfat said, in reference to a visit Jumblatt paid to Berri Wednesday. Jumblatt told reporters that Berri reiterated polls would only be held based on a voting system supported by the rival parties.
“Speaker Nabih Berri repeated to me that ... we will have elections only based on a law that wins consensus,” he said, describing his talks with the speaker as fruitful.
“This means that all groups should work together to agree on a law that combines a winner-takes-all system with proportional representation to bring us out of the contradiction between the 1960 law and the Orthodox proposal,” he added. Sources close to Jumblatt and Berri could not be reached by The Daily Star. Future Movement MP Nuhad Mashnouk held talks with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea Tuesday evening. Mashnouk said Future still adhered to the strategic alliance with all March 14 parties. MPs attending Berri’s weekly meeting said he expressed annoyance that President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati signed the decree which calls for holding elections on June 9 based on the 1960 law.
According to the MPs, the speaker explained that the “Orthodox proposal is the only draft law on the legislative agenda now and [I am still] waiting for consensus on an electoral law.”
Berri then said the 1960 law contained 34 articles about the instrumental role of the election supervisory committee, which was employed during the 2009 elections, and stressed it would have an equally important role for the upcoming elections. “Thus, this means that not forming [the supervisory committee] implies that the 1960 law is dead,” Berri was quoted as saying. Sleiman has insisted that the committee be created within the constitutional deadline, but his move to do so was opposed by the March 8 coalition, which argued that its formation would lead to holding the elections under the 1960 law, which it opposes. A political source from Baabda Palace said Sleiman would put the formation of the committee on the agenda of the first Cabinet session after he returns from a visit to four African states. He will begin his tour on March 12 and is scheduled to return March 20. Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem slammed what he called the “the order from the U.S. for Lebanon to hold elections based on the 1960 law.” “This is a farce, this is a great humiliation for Lebanon that its legal path is determined by instructions from the U.S. ambassador. National issues should have been dealt with from a different perspective, and joint efforts should have been taken into consideration,” he said during a ceremony in the south. U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly said Monday elections should be held on time regardless of whether politicians reached a consensus on a new electoral law. Just hours after Connelly’s remarks, Sleiman and Mikati signed the decree calling for elections to be held on June 9. “It wasn’t appropriate that Connelly gave orders and then steps were taken,” Qassem said, adding, “this is a humiliation to the Lebanese state regardless of justifications.”Sleiman and Mikati argued that signing the decree was in line with their constitutional obligations and added that there was still a chance to reach consensus on a new law.
Qassem said Hezbollah supported any fair electoral law that provided fair representation for all sects that was proportional to their size.U.K. Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher said the need for elections in Lebanon was particularly important given “regional uncertainty.”“It is more important than ever to uphold the principle that citizens should be able to hold their leaders to account,” Fletcher said following talks with Mikati at the Grand Serail, according to a U.K. Embassy statement.

Former PM, Fouad Siniora : Transparent oil sector key to strong Lebanon position
March 07, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called for Lebanon’s natural resources to be controlled with transparency and accountability in order for the country to strengthen its position in the international community. “Natural resources could make us [Lebanon] rich. This does not necessarily mean that we can strengthen our position on the global level,” Siniora said in a speech in Doha Tuesday.
“Today Lebanon has started its oil exploration in the Mediterranean. I hope we remain committed [to transparency and accountability] throughout the different stages, whether in tenders, granting of exploration rights and the management of the resources,” Siniora added. Siniora’s speech came during a ceremony to launch the Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah International Energy Award. The Future Movement MP presented the award to the chairman of the Administrative Control & Transparency Authority, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, for his achievements in the international energy industry.
“When I was prime minister, I always asked Abdullah [Attiyah] for his advice in matters related to the building of new refineries in Lebanon,” Sioniora said. Siniora added that Attiyah had played a significant role in the building of the modern Qatari state that has proved successful in a range of sectors in the global markets. “Abdullah has always expressed readiness to provide support to Lebanon and to help it reinforce its peace and stability,” he said.
“His support made me wonder if any of the Phoenicians ever sailed to the Arab Gulf thousands of years ago, and if Abdullah himself is a stem [descendant] of the great Phoenicians,” Siniora added. The former prime minister said that the recent discoveries of natural resources should also be an asset for future generations who might live in “a less generous and different world.”
“This is a fact that we often ignore. The returns of the natural resources that we have discovered today are not only the property of the current generation but also the property of the generations to come,” Siniora added.
Regarding the global demand for oil, Siniora warned that the U.S. was likely to become energy-independent by 2020 due to the discoveries in shale gas, a key source of natural gas in the past decade.
“The demand for Middle Eastern oil and gas may be affected because of this. Higher demand exists in fast-growing economies such as China and India as well as other markets that are energy-hungry,” Siniora said.

Aoun urges slow move to democracy in Arab world
The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun called Wednesday for the gradual implementation of democracy in the Middle East.
“The chaos that has prevailed in the Arab countries following the recent transitions, the instability and the economic recession doesn’t indicate that an Arab Spring really took place,” Aoun said in a TV interview.
“Killing and terrorism has swept through the Arab countries that witnessed the [popular] uprisings.” Aoun stressed that Arab regimes should introduce democratic principles in a gradual manner and not impose it on citizens unfamiliar with such practices. “Unilateral world order lead by America has proved its failure.
That’s why the Syrian crisis will not end unless the redistribution of power is conducted among the major international players, notably Russia and the U.S.,” Aoun added.

The Next Pope: International and in touch with the youth: Is Scola the one?
Agencies/March 07, 2013/EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the third installment in a series the Associated Press in running on possible successors to Pope Benedict XVI, seen as “papabili” – contenders to the throne. In the secretive world of the Vatican, there is no way to know who is in the running, and history and yielded plenty of surprises. But these are the names that have come up time and again in speculation. Today: Angelo Scola.
VARESE, Italy: To illustrate that life is a journey, one of the Italian cardinals touted as a favorite to be the next pope doesn’t just turn to the Scriptures – but also to writers Jack Kerouac and Cormac McCarthy.
Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan, is seen as Italy’s best chance at reclaiming the papacy, following back-to-back popes from outside the country that had a lock on the job for centuries.
For one night last month, during the historic week that saw the shock resignation announcement of Pope Benedict XVI, Scola came across as a simple pastor leading a flock of 20-somethings in a discussion about faith.
The powerful cardinal displayed not only an ease with youth but also a desire to make himself understood, a vital quality for a church that is bleeding membership. Quoting from Kerouac’s iconic Beat Generation novel “On the Road,” Scola invited his audience of students to reflect on whether they “were going to get somewhere, or just going.” And he cited McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic father-son journey in “The Road,” urging youths to consider the meaning of “destination” – a key theme in McCarthy’s work. “The destination is a happy life, an accomplished life that doesn’t end with death but with eternal life,” the archbishop said.
Scola, 71, has commanded both the pulpits of Milan’s Duomo as archbishop and Venice’s St. Mark’s Cathedral as patriarch, two extremely prestigious church positions that together gave the world five popes during the 20th century.Scola was widely viewed as a papal contender when Benedict was elected eight years ago. His promotion to Milan, Italy’s largest and most influential diocese, has been seen as a tipping point in making him a hot favorite for the papacy. But while Italy has the most cardinals – 28 – participating in the conclave, the Italian contingent is also said to be fractured among those inside the Roman Curia – the Vatican’s bureaucracy – and those outside, where Scola enjoys more support. Crucially, the Milan and Venice posts have allowed Scola to polish his pastoral credentials, adding human outreach to his already considerable intellectual achievements.
After being ordained in 1970, Scola spent two decades studying in Europe’s renowned Catholic universities and theological training grounds. His ties with Benedict, who named him to Milan, date from that academic period, when he began writing contributions for the Communio magazine cofounded by the future pope.
While Venice’s cardinal, he founded a think tank – Oasis – that seeks dialogue with Islam, reflecting the lagoon city’s historic position as a gateway between the East and the West. As Oasis has developed into a platform for dialogue, Scola has traveled frequently, making him one of the few Italian cardinals known abroad.
He speaks fluent English, French and German as well as his native Italian – along with the Lecco dialect from the corner of Lake Como where he grew up. He also understands Spanish.
“Scola is one of the personalities that presents diverse talents and certain gifts that are to his advantage,” said Sandro Magister, a Vatican analyst who closely monitors the institution’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering.
“He is certainly a solid theologian, formed along the same lines as [Benedict] ... This is already something to his advantage.”
Scola is recognized as a conservative in the Church, rejecting the idea of female priests and denouncing consumerism. His association with the conservative Italian movement Communion and Liberation has raised eyebrows.
Scola was a theology student when he was invited to join the group, which blends political activism with faith-based fervor as it seeks to influence Italy’s decision-making.
Many prominent Italian politicians have been associated with the movement; In the 1970s Scola is said to have instructed former Premier Silvio Berlusconi, then a real estate developer, in philosophy.
More recently, however, he has sought to distance himself from the movement, especially as a number of officials linked to it have been swept into scandal. The Vatican’s official biography of Scola says he stopped active participation in 1991, when John Paul II appointed him bishop of Grossetto in Tuscany. The son of a truck driver and a homemaker, Scola is proud of his humble origins. He grew up in a small apartment in the town of Malgrate, on Lake Como.

U.S. envoy walks out of Iran nuclear talks over Israel remarks
March 07, 2013 /Agencies
VIENNA/DUBAI: The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations nuclear watchdog stormed out of an agency meeting Wednesday in protest when Iran’s representative accused Israel of “genocide,” diplomats said.
Officials from Canada and Australia also left the closed-door meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation governing board when Iran’s Ali Asghar Soltanieh made his statement during a debate on Syria, they said. Soltanieh was not immediately available for comment. Iran has often criticized Israeli policies toward the Palestinians. It has also said Israel would be wiped “off the face of the earth” if the Jewish state attacked it.
U.S. envoy Joseph Macmanus’ walkout highlighted tensions with Tehran a few hours after he accused the Islamic Republic of a “commitment to deception, defiance, and delay” in addressing IAEA concerns about possible nuclear weapons-related research.
The European Union also used the meeting to call on Iran to stop obstructing an IAEA investigation and give the agency access to sites and documents, regardless of broader talks between Iran and world powers that resumed last week. Some diplomats say Iran is using its meetings with the IAEA merely for leverage in negotiations with world powers which, unlike the U.N. agency, have the power to ease sanctions that they have recently tightened on the major oil producer. “Iran is inviting further isolation, pressure and censure from the international community ... until it meets its obligations and addresses the board’s concerns,” Macmanus said.
During the debate on Iran, Soltanieh said the allegations over his country’s nuclear work were “baseless” and suggested the IAEA, not Tehran, was to blame for the failure so far to revive the stalled inquiry.
Macmanus accused Iran of “provocative actions,” particularly the installation of advanced centrifuges that would enable it to speed up its uranium enrichment.
Western countries fear Iran is enriching uranium to develop the capacity to build nuclear weapons and have imposed several rounds of sanctions. Iran says the program is legitimate and intended for purely peaceful purposes.
Israel – widely assumed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal – says Tehran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons and has threatened pre-emptive strikes if it deems diplomacy ultimately futile. Yukiya Amano, the 65-year-old Japanese diplomat appointed to a second four-year term as head of the IAEA Wednesday said he his aim was to help resolve the Iran nuclear issue through diplomatic means.
“For that I need cooperation from Iran,” he told reporters. The Vienna-based IAEA has been trying for over a year to persuade Iran to give it the access it says it needs for its probe, so far without progress.
Iran has refused IAEA requests to visit the Parchin military site, where inspectors suspect explosives tests relevant for nuclear weapons development took place, possibly a decade ago.
Iran says it first needs to agree with the IAEA on how the inquiry is to be conducted before allowing any Parchin visit. Former U.N. inspector Hans Blix warned warned world powers to avoid committing the same mistakes as Iraq by going to war against Iran based on fears it is developing nuclear weapons. “It is true that diplomatic negotiations [with Iran] have dragged over the years with little results so far ... Some people assume that a war action will solve the problem,” Blix said. “I think others should examine what is the merit of that and find that there is much more demerit,” he said, adding that “a war could develop into a terrible conflagration in the region.”
“If Iran has not made up its mind to make weapons of mass destruction before a war, I think they will come to that conclusion after a war,” said Blix, who wants international pressure on Iran to be eased.
“Threats can back up diplomacy but threats can also undermine diplomacy,” he said. “Memories of the failure and tragic mistakes in Iraq are not taken sufficiently seriously,” he said.
Blix, former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, led the U.N. weapons inspection team in Iraq from March 2000 to June 2003, charged with finding the WMD that London and Washington were convinced former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was concealing.Following the 2003 invasion, the White House dispatched a team of 1,000 inspectors who failed to find any prohibited weapons in the country.

The murky depths of the mysterious Nusra Front
March 07, 2013/By Misbah al-Ali/The Daily Star
ISTANBUL: As Islamists gain ground in the fight against Syrian President Bashar Assad, the radical Nusra Front has emerged at the forefront, yet little is known about the group aside from its power and its affiliation with Al-Qaeda.Despite the mystery – leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani is never seen in public – those acquainted with the Nusra Front paint a picture of a highly organized group known for the discipline of its fighters and well-liked by the people in the territory it controls. The military leader of the Salafist Al-Islam Brigade, a sharp-witted man in his 40s who goes by the nom de guerre Hazem, explains that the Nusra Front operates differently than the other Islamist brigades active in Syria. “It is an underground organization and its members are always in disguise; Its cells are dispersed everywhere,” he says, noting that neither Julani nor other Nusra Front members speak to the media.Julani uses the honorific “Al-Wali,” a term used by governors of the last Islamic caliphate. This is a nod to the leanings of the Nusra Front, who Hazem and others say hope to build an Islamic caliphate in Syria.
In fact, there are now small-scale beginnings of this structure on the ground, according to Hazem. Julani rose to power after gaining the support of 48 “emirs,” brigade leaders who were given the term after conquering an area and having it designated an emirate. Hazem recounts a conversation in which Julani told him “now it is time for jihad and ousting Assad’s army. When we announce the governance of Islam then we will make everything about us public, but we will never abandon our dream of establishing an Islamic caliphate on Syrian land.”
Hazem himself doesn’t agree with the Nusra Front’s aspirations toward a caliphate, but it is happy to have them as an ally against Assad’s regime. But these aspirations have brought up divisions among Islamist fighting brigades, says Sheikh Hassab al-Jalil, a dissident Syrian cleric who is now based in Turkey. As Jalil explains, the Nusra Front wants to establish a caliphate immediately after Assad is ousted. Other Islamist movements, including the Syrian Liberation Front and the Islamic Syrian Front, believe a civil state must come first, and that there can be no caliphate without a state that can control Syria’s territory and restore the rights of its people.
And then there are the Al-Qaeda links. They don’t bother Hazem, but a go-between the Nusra Front designated to speak to The Daily Star says ties have led some groups to accuse the group of being a creation of the Syrian regime, allowing it to accuse the rebels of terrorism. It has also been labeled a terrorist group by the United States. Ahmad Fawzi al-Khalif, a Salafist figure in the Syrian opposition, believes the Al-Qaeda influence “is very normal among Salafists and jihadists, and Al-Qaeda’s principles are deeply rooted with a large number of armed men who believe that jihad against nonbelievers is a religious duty and a sacred mission.”Khalif, also known as “Abu Akram,” adds that the Nusra Front shies away from the press not because of its terrorist designation, but because it discovered spies disguised as journalists in the territory it controls.
One thing that’s sure is the group’s fighting power. Hazem says it is known for its ability to create improvised explosive devices and the readiness of its men to take part in suicide attacks. “More than 18,000 foreign fighters inside Syria await the orders of the Nusra Front to blow themselves up.”Jalil believes the Nusra Front has some 10,000 fighters in its ranks.
The group’s gunmen are also known for their discipline. As Hazem notes, “they are forbidden from looting, from theft, and from attacking civilians. When they attack a military target they withdraw and let civilians take whatever they want.”Jalil says the Nusra Front largely rose to prominence due to the mistakes of the Free Syrian Army. “They have invested in organizing the flow of arms, financing, and built a popular base among the Syrian people in the regions they control,” he says.“Now the Nusra Front is progressing, not only because of its military power but because of its widespread popularity. When it takes over gas and oil tanks from the regime it gives this to the people without asking for anything in return.”According to Hazem, events on the ground are leading toward majority Islamist control of the land not under Assad’s control. He rattles off the areas now under Islamist control, listing them by brigade: the Islam Brigade from Palmyra until rural Aleppo; the Tawhid Battalion in rural Idlib and Damascus; and the Farouq Brigade in Homs and Hama.
Mocking the FSA, Hazem says: “All that is left of the so-called Free Syrian Army are about 85 officers without soldiers, drinking tea [in one village].”

Gun culture, tragic mishaps go arm-in-arm
March 07, 2013 /By Niamh Fleming-Farrell/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Almost everyone has a story, but the one Khodor tells is among the saddest. Almost two years ago, 27-year-old Imad, Khodor’s neighbor and friend in Beirut’s southern suburbs, accidentally shot and killed his teenage brother. Imad had been sitting on the main staircase of his building, casually toying with a 9mm pistol – not an unusual possession for a young man in his neighborhood. Somehow, as his brother Suhail (then 18 or 19, Khodor says) approached the building’s entrance gate, Imad’s pistol discharged, the runaway bullet devastatingly finding Suhail’s head.
With estimates for the number of privately held arms in Lebanon ranging from 500,000 to 2 million, and in the absence of stringent oversight of the issuance and terms of personal weapons permits, Lebanon’s gun culture not only represents an oft discussed security threat to the nation but also puts lives at risk every day in Lebanese homes and recreational spaces. Yet, the issue remains far from the top of the agenda of Lebanon’s civil society.
Official statistics for accidental gun death and injuries in Lebanon are not readily available; however, an Internal Security Forces source assures The Daily Star that such deaths are not uncommon. Some, like in Imad’s case, involve pistols or assault weapons, but the ISF source says the vast majority of accidents happen with hunting rifles.
Because hunting is considered a sport, families allow children from the age of 11 or 12 to hold and use these guns, he says, a practice which often results in accidents, between fathers and sons or friends.
He mentions a recent relatively high-profile incident that took place in Baaqline. In the early hours of the morning on Feb. 2, Claudia Theophilus, a 42-year-old Malaysian Al-Jazeera English journalist, was accidentally killed while on vacation with Lebanese friends.
Theophilus was, reportedly, “playing with a rifle.”
Guns, both hunting and assault weapons, are common household objects and more often than not are casually stored.
Paul, who hails from a small village in Khanshara, is now in his mid-20s. Like many Lebanese children, guns were a part of his upbringing.
Today, Paul has two AK-47s and two markarov pistols, all of which he inherited from his father.
He stores these arms in a regular closet. The guns are unloaded, although the ammunition is kept in a box next to them. The closet is unlocked.
Is Paul worried about curious children exploring these weapons?
“I’m not worried about kids,” he says. “I don’t have kids at home.”
However, Paul does acknowledge that “accidents happen.”
Like everyone else, he can list off examples: some near misses, others unnecessary tragedies.
“Once my neighbors were playing with a small gun. There were two brothers and seven or eight guys in total there. One brother was pointing [the gun] at the head of each guy, just playing. He pointed it at his brother, his brother pushed the gun away with his hand, and it went off. The bullet hit the floor and then the kitchen cupboard door.”Other stories from Paul’s area have less happy outcomes. “Two years ago a 16-year-old died. He was playing with an automatic hunting rifle, he accidentally shot it, and he died,” Paul explains. But, he marvels: “When kids die no one talks about what the f**k they were doing with guns. There was anger over the death, but guns weren’t the main thing.”The starting point for any discussion on gun culture and small arms proliferation in Lebanon is unfailingly its unique context: a sectarian society that has lived through 15 years of civil war followed by occupations, invasions, assassinations and other security incidents. Held perhaps originally for protection, weapons have become integral to the expression of emotion in Lebanon. “If we are happy or sad, in both situations we use shooting to express [ourselves],” says Fadi Abi Allam, president of local NGO Permanent Peace Movement. Yet, while its gun culture is certainly in some ways distinctive, in others it is typical of the region, says Aaron Karp, a senior consultant with the Small Arms Survey in Switzerland and lecturer in political science at Old Dominion University in the United States.
“For a lot of men ownership of a firearm is an important sign of personal completeness,” Karp told The Daily Star by telephone.
Paul makes a similar point. “Guns are associated with manliness,” he says, describing how as a young teenager he was fascinated with his father’s weapons, wanting to see them, know about them, carry them.
“My father taught me about guns when I was 16,” he says, adding: “I first fired a gun on New Year’s Eve with my dad.”Perhaps because gun culture is so complex and so embedded, Permanent Peace Movement is one of few organizations actively taking on the issue of arms control in Lebanon. Seated behind his desk in an office overcrowded with books and binders, Abi Allam pulls out a folder. Inside are press clippings, which he proceeds to leaf through one by one, reading aloud as he goes. It is a sorrowful accounting of the country’s recent history of unnecessary death: accidents, arguments that escalate into gunfights and celebratory gunfire gone tragically wrong all feature. Abi Allam does not have official figures for the number of deaths resultant of each of these contexts. However, he says that in the first nine months of 2011 there were some 1,200 crimes involving guns in Lebanon.
“I think this is a very high ratio for a country of less than 4 million,” he says, adding that the gun crime appears to be worsening nowadays, with an increase in armed kidnappings and repeated outbreaks of clashes between rival neighborhoods in Tripoli and with the Lebanese Army.
“What’s disappointing nowadays,” Abi Allam says, “is that there is no initiative to address the situation [of arms] in Lebanon.”Law 137 covering arms trading and possession in Lebanon dates from 1959 and is therefore outdated, he adds.A study conducted by PPM and presented to Parliament several months ago points out that under this law private citizens are only permitted to possess “arms and ammunition that are not considered military.”
But, the study adds, “the law does not explicitly mention small arms and light weapons, nor does it define them.”It also notes that citizens should have a one-year renewable permit from the Army Command and Defense Ministry weapons falling into the above category. Moreover, civilians are only allowed permits for a maximum of two weapons. However, the PPM study states: “What is happening is that permits allowing their holders to carry various arms are being provided, in violation of the law and without specifying the number of weapons every person is allowed to carry.”
Lebanese citizens have come to expect such selective doffing of the law. “They give permits to people close to the state, party, dealers, etc.,” Paul says casually.
Of course, with nonstate actors claiming a legitimate right to bear arms, the issue of complete disarmament, while clearly a desirable endpoint, is not realistic in the short term, Abi Allam explains.
Indeed, its political sensitivity may be one reason there is not more activism from civil society groups on the issue. Speaking to The Daily Star anonymously, one activist articulates why she thinks there is reluctance to address the matter. Arms control is “kind of a monster of an issue,” she says, adding that civil society groups have so many issues to deal with that there’s already a “bit of an overload.” But, “more importantly,” she notes that “it is just so politically sensitive that taking a position on it [arms] puts you on one side or the other of the political spectrum.” Taking up a position that places an activist organization firmly in either of Lebanon’s rival political camps, may ultimately “distract from its purpose” and “limit beneficiaries.” But Abi Allam says the answer isn’t to ask for complete disarmament today or tomorrow. (In any event, disarmament wouldn’t address the danger posed by the careless handling of hunting guns.) Rather, the solution is to take small steps.Abi Allam lists among these steps the study his organization submitted to Parliament, which makes several recommendations for regulating gun ownership, as well as a number of initiatives it has undertaken to raise awareness about gun safety. He mentions a documentary PPM made on the misuse of arms before producing a brochure, distributed in 20 schools across the country, about arms safety in the home. First you encourage people not to have arms within the home, he says, then, if arms are considered necessary, you teach them how to use and store them safety.
Somewhat ironically, however, you would be more likely to come upon this brochure in Libya than Lebanon. While approximately 2,000 copies are in circulation here, a Libyan organization that spotted the document at a regional conference held in Lebanon on the misuse of small arms has printed and distributed some 200,000 copies in the North African country. – Additional reporting by Wassim Mroueh

Venezuela bids farewell to Chavez as an era ends
March 07, 2013 /Agencies
CARACAS/WASHINGTON: The flag-draped coffin of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez was born through throngs of weeping supporters Wednesday as a nation bade farewell to the firebrand leftist who led them for 14 years. His mother Elena wept over his wooden casket as a band played the national anthem outside his military hospital. Presidential guards with red berets then placed his remains on top of a black hearse, surrounded by flowers.Chavez’s hand-picked successor, Vice President Nicolas Maduro, walked alongside the car through dense crowds, wearing a somber expression and a striking outfit in the color of the national flag.
Chavez’ death after a two-year struggle with cancer was a blow to his adoring supporters and the alliance of left-wing Latin American powers, and plunged his oil-rich country into uncertainty as an election is organized.
His body, surrounded by soldiers, was being taken to the military academy that the former paratrooper colonel once called a second home, where he will lie in state until an official ceremony with foreign dignitaries Friday.
People watched from their apartment windows, others climbed fences to get a better view of the hearse, many held or wore iconic images of Chavez.
The 58-year-old leader succumbed to a respiratory infection Tuesday. A new election is due to be called within what are sure to be 30 tense days.
Maduro, who tearfully broke the news to the nation that his mentor had lost his battle with cancer, was poised to take over as interim president and to campaign for election as Chavez’s chosen successor.
The death brought thousands of Venezuelans to public squares across the nation, weeping and celebrating the life of a divisive figure whose oil-funded socialist revolution delighted the poor and infuriated the wealthy.
Hundreds of people spent the night in front of his hospital, waving Venezuelan flags and chanting “we are all Chavez!” A banner was hung on the hospital fence, reading “Chavez lives, the battle continues!”
But not everyone in a country divided by Chavez’s populist style agreed.
“Hate and division was the only thing that he spread,” 28-year-old computer programmer Jose Mendoza told AFP in an eastern Caracas opposition bastion. “They want to make him a martyr. It made me laugh.”
The armed forces fired a 21-gun salute and “there will be a salvo every hour until his burial,” Defense Minister Diego Molero said. Some of Chavez’s closest allies had already arrived Wednesday ahead of the state funeral, including Argentina’s President Cristina Kirchner, Uruguay’s Jose Mujica and Bolivia’s Evo Morales.
Maduro said the nation’s security forces had been deployed but Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said calm reigned in Venezuela.
Venezuela’s closest ally, communist Cuba, declared its own mourning period, and dubbed Chavez a “true son” of revolutionary icon Fidel Castro.
But U.S. President Barack Obama – often a target of Chavez’s anti-American scorn – was circumspect, pledging the United States would support the “Venezuelan people” and describing Chavez’s passing as a “challenging time.”Shortly before Chavez’s death was announced, Maduro expelled two U.S. military attaches and accused Venezuela’s enemies of somehow afflicting the leftist with the cancer that eventually killed him, a claim the U.S. swiftly rejected saying it was “absurd” to assert Washington was behind Chavez’s cancer.
A U.S. official, who did not want to be identified, said that the United States would be expected to send a delegation to Chavez’s funeral, which will be held on Friday, in a move that could send a conciliatory message to Venezuela. Chavez was showered with tributes from Latin American leaders, Russia, China and Iran. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Chavez had fallen “martyr” to a “suspect illness,” while hailing his close ally for “serving the people of Venezuela and defending human and revolutionary values.”
And beleaguered Syrian strongman Bashar Assad took time off from attempting to crush a revolt against his brutal rule to dub Chavez’s death “a great loss for me personally and the Syrian people.”