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

Will Lebanon be Held Accountable for its Pro-Assad Bias/By: Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Alawsat/March 13/13
Lebanon Foreign Minister Creates Stir Over Syria/By: Elie Hajj /Al-Monitor Lebanon Pulse/March 13/13
Wanted: new Christian leaders/By: Hussain Abdul Hussain/Now Lebanon/March 13/13

EU blacklisting may force Hezbollah to choose/By: Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/March 13/13

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for March 13/13
Al Qaeda forms volatile 1,000-km chain from Baghdad to Damascus

World waits as papal election begins

Israel's Peres urges Arab intervention in Syria

President Michel Sleiman visits Africa under shadow of hostage situation
Baalbek-Hermel voices slam Hezbollah’s Syria involvement

Libya frees arrested Egyptian Christians, Cairo says
General Security Officer Michel Maalouf killed in Beqaa
Berri discusses electoral law with Jumblatt delegate
Miqati: Ministers’ opinions not representative of cabinet’s stance
Kataeb MP says elections might be postponed
Future: Hezbollah openly violating impartiality policy
Sunni Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir supporters briefly cut roads in Beirut’s Tariq al-Jedideh

New unrest rocks the southern Palestinian camp of Ain el-Helweh in Lebanon
Future’s Siniora: Orthodox law unlikely to be put to vote

March 14 in limbo ahead of uprising anniversary
Hezbollah expanding its telecom network, sources tell NOW
Miqati reiterates rejection of Orthodox Gathering’s electoral proposal
1960 electoral law “still valid,” Future bloc MP says
Aoun declares Orthodox rule to be only option
France will not interfere in Lebanon electoral crisis, envoy says
Protest held in Beqaa against accused killer's release

Britain could sidestep EU ban on arming Syria rebels, PM says
France, Russia, US identifying Syrian officials for talks

UN rights monitor alarmed by Iran media crackdown 

Our People who are taking refuge in Israel Are Heroes, and not agents
By: Elias Bejjani/For those who accuse our people in Israel to be agents: Your stance is wrong, not fair and not informed. Dear, our beloved people who took refuge in Israel in year 2000 are patriotic and heroes. They never ever betrayed Lebanon or the Lebanese cause. For 25 years they were abandoned by all Lebanese governments and left alone to fight and defend their lives, honor, properties, existence and land against all sorts of Islamists, Terrorists, and Arabists. They accepted the Israeli help and had no other choice as did all the Christians in Lebanon during the war era. They were never puppets or agents for Israel or any other regional powers. Meanwhile Hezbollah, Amal, the Arabists groups, the Fundamentalists etc were and still are mere mercenaries for Syria, Iran, and other countries.. In year 2000 Israel withdraw from S. Lebanon and was not forced to do so. The withdrawal was unilateral and for domestic Israeli reasons and not because of the terrorist Iranian Hezbollah. 6000 Southern Lebanese took refuge in Israel because Hassan Nasrallah threatened to cut their neck. Since than they are not allowed to return and those who did were put on trial for treason charges. In this patriotic context all those who pass away in Israel have all left a will to be buried In Lebanon because they love their land and want to embrace its soil till the Judgment Day. Our people in Israel deserve to be awarded the highest medals of appreciation and honor and not evilly and unfairly tagged with treason and betrayal

Baalbek-Hermel voices slam Hezbollah’s Syria involvement
March 12, 2013/By Rakan al-Fakih/The Daily Star
BAALBEK-HERMEL, Lebanon: Concerns are rising among Shiite residents in Baalbek-Hermel over the ongoing border clashes between Hezbollah members supporting Shiites in Syrian villages and Syrian opposition fighters.
As clashes continue along the border, rumors about the dangers posed by the Syrian extremist groups fighting alongside the Syrian opposition are causing anxiety among the district’s Shiites, who look to Hezbollah for protection.A new political movement is beginning to coalesce in light of the tense situation, one that is not only openly critical of Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian war, but advocates on behalf of the impoverished region, which is on the brink of economic crisis.Those at the forefront of the nascent movement are in the midst of making contacts and holding meetings, though some members acknowledge their limited powers of influence in the district, as the majority of Shiite residents consider Hezbollah the only capable protector in the face of extremist groups within the Syrian opposition. Political Shiite activist Hasan Mazloum criticized Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian crisis and said it would negatively impact Shiites in Baalbek-Hermel because they are surrounded by a Sunni majority. He said he believed Hezbollah was defending the Syrian regime with all its military and financial capabilities for self-preservation. According to Mazloum, the new movement consists of four major groups that include former Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Sobhi Toufeili, who has many Shiite supporters. The second party in the movement is Baalbek-Hermel Choice, a group of notables from the region that has already reached out to other prominent figures, Mazloum said.
The third party is Baalbek’s Residents Gathering, which is currently working to organize meetings with representatives from the Lebanese Forces and the Future Movement. The fourth party in the movement, according to Mazloum, is the Al-Jaafari Al-Imami Gathering, which includes prominent clan figures from the Jaafar, Meqdad, Tlais and Nassereddine families. This particular group is working to form a religious Shiite school in the region.
Mazloum was not convinced an effective coalition could be formed to counterbalance Hezbollah and convince the party to reconsider its role in the Syrian crisis largely because the Shiite majority would consider their critical stance an act of disloyalty. He added that the political parties currently working to confront Hezbollah don’t have the financial means and don’t enjoy credibility among Shiites in Baalbek-Hermel. He said these political parties were better off criticizing Hezbollah for not developing the region despite the fact that its MPs have been representing it for over 20 years.
Residents are not only concerned over the fighting along border towns, but also about the deteriorating economic situation in Baalbek-Hermel, an impoverished area where 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The worsening economic conditions in the area, which lacks essential infrastructure, has been overlooked by the government for decades.
Baalbek’s Residents Gathering member and former Mayor Ghaleb Yaghi considers Hezbollah’s support for the Syrian regime contradictory to core Shiite beliefs that reject acts of injustice, including those endured by the Syrian people. He said their support would cost Hezbollah’s reputation, which was formed when fighting against the Israeli occupation in the 1980s and 1990s.
“Hezbollah’s role in the Syrian crisis will have immense negative implications for the Shiite sect in Lebanon, especially in Baalbek-Hermel, where residents are suffering from deteriorating economic conditions and internal instability, which has been reflected in a recent wave of kidnapping-for-ransom schemes,” he said.
Baalbek-Hermel Choice member Ali Hamadeh, the son of late former Speaker Sabri Hamadeh, who hails from Hermel, also criticized Hezbollah’s actions in Syria since the uprising began two years ago.
“These actions have been the cause of the hostility between the Syrian people and the Shiites in Lebanon, especially because Hezbollah not only expressed its political stance [in support of the Syrian regime] but was also involved in the bloodshed of the Syrian people.” He described Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian war as a “grave mistake,” one that would have devastating implications for the Baalbek-Hermel region and the Shiite sect in general because it undermines Lebanese-Syrian social and economic relations. Hamadeh added that taking a neutral stance toward the Syrian crisis was best because it would salvage relations between both countries and those between Muslim sects in Lebanon. Neutrality would also protect Lebanon from the dangerous consequences of the Syrian crisis. Hamadeh voiced his belief that many Lebanese who lived through the Civil War also shared his sentiments, as did some Shiite notables in Baalbek-Hermel. “This stance should be expressed vigorously to force Hezbollah to withdraw its involvement in the Syrian crisis,” he said.
According to Hamadeh, there are a number of Shiite figures in the region exerting efforts to openly express their criticism of Hezbollah’s role in the Syrian war and to demonstrate that there are other opinions within the Shiite sect. However, he maintained that the lack of adequate state-sanctioned security that could effectively protect residents against attacks remained the main barrier for the new movement to make headway.
“Because they are absent, residents resort to the protection of sectarian forces,” Hamadeh said, referring indirectly to Hezbollah.
The head of the Reconciliation Committee for the Border Villages Ali Zeaiter said the main concern of his committee was to preserve coexistence among Lebanese and Syrians, minimize losses and ensure dialogue was ongoing among residents from both sides of the border. “There are citizens from both sides of the border who are making efforts to restore stability and [restore] peace whenever clashes erupt,” he said, “although I am doubtful whether these efforts will suffice because the real decision-making power rests in the hands of the fighting forces on the ground and their political leaderships, which operate outside the region.”He added that Hezbollah had informed him that its fighters would not interfere in the clashes between the Syrian opposition and the Syrian regime as long as the armed groups affiliated with the opposition did not attack Shiite villages near the border.Zeaiter emphasized that the presence of the Nusra Front among the opposition fighters was the main problem and accused them of instigating clashes with Shiite villages within Syria, prompting Hezbollah to intervene.
 

Will Lebanon be Held Accountable for its Pro-Assad Bias?
Written by : Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed /12 Mar, 2013 /Asharq Alawsat
Lebanese foreign minister Adnan Mansour confused everyone at the Arab League because while the league itself was trying to offer Syria’s empty seat to the Syrian National Coalition, Mansour requested the reinstatement of the Assad regime’s representatives. What happened to the dissociation policy, whereby Lebanon pledged to be neutral with regards to the Syrian conflict? And why did Mansour also choose to ignite a battle with Saudi Arabia, souring relations between the two countries? Lebanon is now in the firing line because of the war in neighboring Syria. The domestic atmosphere is also tense because of the forthcoming parliamentary elections, which may not even be held. These two reasons alone are suffice to explain why certain individuals are intent upon stirring up problems between Lebanon and the Gulf. The reports of Lebanese employees being deported from the Gulf states, and the rumors of their financial deposits being withdrawn, are all part of psychological warfare. Lebanon now seems like a country awaiting its turn on death row.
The only ones who stand to benefit from pushing Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states towards a dispute with Lebanon are the regime in Syria and its allies in Lebanon. For example, Hezbollah believes that the fall of Assad in Damascus is almost inevitable, and one alternative is to expand the party’s role in Lebanon and further impose its dominance on Lebanese soil, as well as on nearby Syrian towns and areas that are mainly Shi ‘ ite or Christian.
As the final hours are ticking away for Assad’s regime in Syria, ridding Lebanon of Saudi influence will make it easier for parties like Hezbollah and Aoun’s Christian movement to expand and fill the developing vacuum.
The controversy over Syria that exists among Lebanese parties has now taken root within local affairs, especially with regards to any involvement with Assad’s regime. Hezbollah has begun to speak openly and has admitted that its militias are crossing the border and fighting in Syria, responding to the call to protect nearby Syrian Shi ‘ ite towns. The situation has been made even more dangerous with the withdrawal of Syrian troops from border areas with Lebanon, in an attempt to allow Hezbollah militias to occupy these areas and impose a new reality.
Samir Geagea, one of Hezbollah’s prominent rivals and head of the Lebanese Forces, has publicly sought to confront Hezbollah, which claims to be fighting the Jabhat Al-Nusra in Homs so as not to fight it in Beirut. Geagea said that the Lebanese state is responsible for fighting against the Jabhat Al-Nusra, or any other extremist group, in Beirut, Hermel, Nabatieh, Zahle, Akkar or any other area of Lebanon. In doing so, the state would be supported by the Lebanese people, with the exception of Hezbollah, as was the case with the confrontation against Fatah Al-Islam in Nahr Al-Bared.
Geagea also warned that “Hezbollah’s actions in Syria will drag the Jabhat Al-Nusra into Lebanon.”Leaving Lebanon to the desires of one party means only one thing: a remapping of western Syria in the interests of Assad, Iran, and Hezbollah.

President Michel Sleiman visits Africa under shadow of hostage situation
March 12, 2013/By Meris Lutz, Wassim Mroueh/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman departs Tuesday on a historic visit to West Africa, home to a large Lebanese expatriate community, under the shadow of concerns over the fate of two Lebanese hostages feared dead in Nigeria.Ansaru, the militant Islamist group that kidnapped the Lebanese from a Lebanese-Nigerian construction company compound last month, announced Saturday it had killed all seven abducted foreigners.While the governments of Britain, Greece and Italy said their citizens had likely been killed, Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that the two Lebanese did not appear to be among the executed hostages featured in a video released by the group. A source from Baabda Palace told The Daily Star that the president would be following up on the matter with the Nigerian government but did not elaborate. Sleiman’s weeklong visit to Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire is a first for a Lebanese president and will place emphasis on improving business ties between Lebanon and those countries.
Sleiman will be accompanied by some 60 people, the source said, one of the biggest delegations ever to escort the president on an official visit.
The group includes prominent businessmen from the banking, advertising and industrial sectors, particularly those with investments in African countries, as well as security personnel and journalists.“This [trip] aims at encouraging mutual investment,” the source said. Talal Makdisi, a well-known advertising executive who will join the convoy, said he was looking forward to accompanying the president on such an important visit.
“This is the first trip ever by a [Lebanese] president to this part of the world, where we have a community of Lebanese that are contributing hugely to the reconstruction of the country, and I believe that such visits are absolutely necessary to link those expats that are supporting our economy [to Lebanon],” Makdisi said. “This is the minimum a president can do and I praise him for it.” Lebanon’s economy depends heavily on remittances, which reached $7 billion in 2012, approximately 18 percent of GDP, according to the World Bank’s latest figures. Another report by the Migration Policy Institute indicates that 10 percent of these funds, some $700 million, originate in Africa.
Makdisi said the delegation had already been in contact with Lebanese business communities in West African host countries, and he hopes the trip will lay the groundwork for future partnerships.
Regarding the Setraco hostage crisis and its implications for Lebanese-Nigerian relations, Makdisi said: “I feel for their families and I trust the president will take proper action.”
Makdisi concluded by saying he hoped the president’s meetings with Lebanese expatriates would encourage the Lebanese government to grant Lebanese living abroad voting rights, “because we need them.”

Israel's Peres urges Arab intervention in Syria
March 12, 2013/By Martine Pauwels/Daily Star/STRASBOURG, France: Israel's Shimon Peres called Tuesday for Arab intervention "to stop the massacre" in Syria as he delivered the first speech by an Israeli head of state to the European Parliament in almost three decades.The free world "cannot stand by when a massacre is carried out by the Syrian president against his own people and his own children.
It breaks all our hearts," he said.Saying "the intervention of Western forces would be perceived as foreign interference," Peres said the best option to end two years of tragedy in Syria "might be achieved by empowering the Arab League, of which Syria is a member, to intervene." The 22-member Arab League pulled out its observer mission to Syria after only a month in January last year amid controversy after failing to halt the regime's campaign against the rebels. "The Arab League can and should form a provisional government in Syria to stop the massacre, to prevent Syria from falling to pieces," Peres told the 754-member European Parliament.
"The United Nations should support the Arab League to build an Arab force in blue helmets," he said.Asked at a news conference immediately afterwards whether he was indeed calling for military intervention by an Arab force, Peres said he did mean "a force" but that its actions could be as a peacekeeping force and "not necessarily military". Peres warned that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was a threat to the entire region because of his arsenal of chemical weapons which must be prevented from falling into the wrong hands. Winding up an eight-day tour of Europe, the 89-year-old leader also called for peace in the Middle East, saying the upcoming formation of a new Israeli government "is an occasion to resume peace negotiations." Reiterating a message delivered several times over the past days, Peres said Europe's historic achievement in turning a continent at war into one at peace could be mirrored in the Middle East.The Nobel peace laureate singled out Iran as the world's 'Number One' enemy. "The greatest danger to peace in the world is the present Iranian regime," he said, attacking Tehran not only for "aiming to build a nuclear weapon" but also for violating human rights by hanging people and discriminating against women. He also slammed Iran for supporting global terrorism, notably via "its main proxy", Hezbollah, blaming the group for dividing Lebanon, supporting Assad and sowing terror across the world, including in Europe. The EU is already under pressure from Israel and the United States to put Hezbollah on a terrorist blacklist and Peres added his voice to the calls. "We appeal to you -- call terror, terror," he said. "Save Lebanon from terrorist madness. Save the Syrian people from Iran's proxies. Save your citizens and ours from Hezbollah."
The last Israeli head of state to address lawmakers from the bloc's then 10 nations was Chaim Herzog 28 years ago.

Libya frees arrested Egyptian Christians, Cairo says
AFP/Fifty-five Egyptian Christians arrested last month in Libya for allegedly seeking to convert Muslims have been freed, while four others are still behind bars, the Egyptian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
"Our embassy has been assured of the release of 55 people and is actively working to seek the release of four others who are still in detention," deputy spokesman Nazih al-Naggary told AFP.
His comments come a day after a human rights lawyer said that one of those jailed had been tortured to death in custody, prompting demonstrators to attack the Libyan embassy in Cairo.
Ezzat Hakim Attallah "died after being tortured with other detainees" in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, said Naguib Guebrayel, a Coptic Christian lawyer who heads the Egyptian Union for Human Rights watchdog.
On March 1, a Libyan security official said some 50 Egyptian Copts were arrested on illegal immigration charges, although they were suspected of proselytizing in Libya's second city, Benghazi.
He said they were found in possession of a quantity of Bibles, texts encouraging conversion to Christianity and images of Christ and the late Pope Shenuda of Egypt's Coptic Christians, none of which were for "personal use."
But the main charge was illegal entry into Libya, he said. Four foreigners -- an Egyptian, a South African, a South Korean and a Swede with a US passport -- were also arrested in Benghazi in mid-February on suspicion of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, something Islam strictly prohibits.
The reported death of Attallah sparked angry protest Monday outside the Libyan embassy in Cairo, as dozens of demonstrators threw stones at the building, tore down Libyan flags and broke the name-plaque of the mission.
And they chanted slogans hostile to the Egyptian government, accusing authorities of having done nothing to assist the Copts jailed in Libya.
Since the 2011 revolution that ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi, Libya's small Christian minority has expressed fears over Islamic extremism in the North African nation.
Coptic Christians comprise up to 10 percent of Egypt's 83 million people and constitute the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.
Libya had as many as 100,000 Christians before the 2011 revolution but a only a few thousand remain, according to church officials.

Miqati: Ministers’ opinions not representative of cabinet’s stance
Now Lebanon/Prime Minister Najib Miqati said that Lebanese ministers’ personal convictions do not reflect the position of the cabinet concerning a number of issues. “Any personal opinion expressed by [a minister] does not bind the government which only commits to its declared policy,” the National News Agency quoted Miqati as saying on Tuesday following an ordinary cabinet session that he headed in the Grand Serail.The premier also warned about the gravity of voicing one’s own political views in the light of the “dangerous” developments taking place in the region. “The imminent [dangers] surrounding Lebanon… do not allow any one of us to express a personal opinion… that might [open the door to a] questioning the government’s credibility or its commitment to the disassociation policy.” Minister of Information Walid Daouk later stressed the importance of respecting the Baabda Declaration, which stipulates keeping Lebanon away from the policy of axes as well as regional and international struggles. He also highlighted the necessity to remain impartial on the Syrian crisis. Last week, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour called on Arab foreign ministers gathered in Cairo to reinstate the Syrian government to its seat at the Arab League, from which it was suspended in 2011. March 14 leaders slammed the statement, saying it violated Lebanon’s dissociation policy, and some also requested that the FM be dismissed. The impartiality policy was also put in doubt after Hezbollah was accused of providing military support to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and fighting against the rebels in border towns. These claims triggered severe criticism from Lebanese opposition political figures, who warned from “importing the Syrian violence into Lebanon,” especially after two Lebanese citizens were killed in clashes that erupted on the northern and eastern border with Syria.

General Security Officer Michel Maalouf killed in Beqaa
Now Lebanon/Sources told NOW that one Lebanese General Security officer was killed and two others wounded from gunfire that targeted their patrol in Beqaa’s Shtoura. Officer Michel Maalouf passed away on Tuesday due to bullet wounds, while inspector Alain Merheb and warden Hussein al-Shaweesh were taken to the hospital for medical treatment, according to the same sources. Preliminary information to NOW explained that a group of men, identified as Mohammad Jaafar, Mohammad Ismail Shoucair, Tarek Adnan, Haidar Ali Yahsoufi and Ali Yaghi, were heading towards Shtoura in two vehicles with the aim of kidnapping a resident of the Beqaa town. However, an army patrol blocked their way, which triggered a gunfire exchange. The Directorate of the General Security released a statement later in the day, confirming the death of inspector Michel Maalouf at 5 p.m. and added that security units are carrying out investigations into the shooting.

Britain could sidestep EU ban on arming Syria rebels, PM says
AFP/Britain would consider ignoring a European Union arms ban and supplying weapons to Syrian rebels if it would help topple President Bashar al-Assad, Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday.
The EU last month amended its embargo to allow member nations to supply "non-lethal" equipment and training to the opposition but stopped short of lifting the embargo entirely.
Asked by a parliamentary committee whether Britain would veto the arms embargo when it comes up for renewal in three months' time, Cameron said he would "like to continue with an EU approach."
"I hope that we can persuade our European partners if and when it becomes necessary [to provide weapons] they'll agree with us," he told the House of Commons Liaison Committee.
"But if we can't, then it's not out of the question we might have to do things in our own way. It's possible. "We are still an independent country, we can have an independent foreign policy." Pressed on whether Britain could sidestep the arms ban, Cameron said: "If for instance we felt that action needed to be taken to help bring about change in Syria, to help end this appalling bloodshed, and if we felt our European partners were holding that back, then we'd have to change the approach." When the committee said that arming the rebels could be risky the British premier replied: "That is not a decision we've taken and I hope we don't have to break from a collaborative approach across the EU. "I was just making a point that if we thought that was the right thing to do, we would do it." The 27-member EU is split over whether to supply arms to the Syrian rebels, with Britain, France and Italy tipping in favor of eventual military aid for the opposition and Germany and others warning against it. The EU is the largest humanitarian donor for the Syrian crisis, with more than 428 million euros ($556 million) sent to help distressed Syrians inside and outside the country.

Kataeb MP says elections might be postponed
Now Lebanon/Kataeb bloc MP Elie Marouni pointed out to the fact that a technical delay of the upcoming parliamentary elections may occur because of the lack of consensus on a new electoral law. The opposition lawmaker’s remarks came following a Tuesday meeting with his ally, Lebanese Forces bloc leader Samir Geagea, in the Maarab residence. Marouni also stressed his party’s keenness to “preserve the unity of the March 14 coalition as well as the good relationship the LF has with the Kataeb. Future lawmakers as well as Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumbaltt said that the electoral proposal they will present is in its final stages of preparation. The mixed electoral law they will propose is based on majoritarian voting in 26 districts and proportional voting in 9 other constituencies, according to sources. The draft under discussion is meant to serve as an alternative to the controversial Orthodox law which has been endorsed by the country’s four major Christian parties – including the Kataeb Party and the LF - but was rejected by the Future Movement, the PSP and independent Christian MPs on the grounds that it would trigger sectarian divisions. Elsewhere, the Kataeb MP commented on Lebanese foreign minister’s controversial call for the Arab League’s reinstatement of Syria’s membership.
“The FM’s stance… confirmed that he is the foreign minister of Iran and Syria and that he does not [respect] the president and does not coordinate with him,” Marouni said. He went on to say that dismissing the minister is “the least” of what action should be taken against him. Last week, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour called on Arab foreign ministers gathered in Cairo to reinstate the Syrian government to its seat at the Arab League, from which it was suspended in 2011. March 14 leaders slammed the statement, saying it violated Lebanon’s dissociation policy, and some also requested that the FM be dismissed.The FM’s stance confirmed that he is the foreign minister of Iran and Syria.

Future: Hezbollah openly violating impartiality policy
Now Lebanon/The Future Movement strongly condemned Hezbollah’s alleged involvement in the Syrian war because of the grave repercussions it may have on Lebanon. “[Hezbollah’s actions] are considered a flagrant breach of the disassociation policy,” the opposition party said in its weekly statement released on Tuesday. The Future Movement also warned about the consequences of the Shiite party’s military participation in the Syrian conflict could have on both Lebanon and Lebanese nationals living in Gulf countries. “Involvement in the Syrian conflict [puts] Lebanon at the forefront of highly dangerous confrontations, and poses a threat to the relationship the Lebanese have with the Arab countries.” Hezbollah has been accused of providing military support to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and fighting against the rebels in border towns.
These claims triggered severe criticism from Lebanese opposition political figures, who warned from “importing the Syrian violence into Lebanon,” especially after two Lebanese citizens were killed in clashes that erupted on the northern and eastern border areas with Syria. However, Hezbollah’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has denied these allegations. The Future’s statement came ahead of the opposition March 14 coalition’s yearly ceremony, which will be held on Sunday in Beirut’s BIEL exhibition hall.

Sunni Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir supporters briefly cut roads in Beirut’s Tariq al-Jedideh
Now Lebanon/Supporters of Sunni Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir on Tuesday night briefly cut roads in Beirut’s Tariq al-Jedideh after the cleric called on his supporters to block streets to protest the Lebanese army's alleged encirclement of his mosque in South Lebanon’s Sidon. “[We] call on followers in various regions of Lebanon to take to the streets and [block roads],” a statement issued by his press office said late Tuesday.
Following the press release, dozens of supports of the firebrand cleric gathered in Beirut’s Tariq al-Jedideh area, after which they started burning tires in the Kola roundabout leading into the neighborhood, a NOW contributor said. Media reports added that his supporters also blocked the road leading into the neighborhood further east in the Qasqas area of Lebanon’s capital. However, about an hour after Assir's supporters gathered near the Kola roundabout, security forces arrived to the scene to end the tire burning, NOW's contributor added. The cleric's supporters dispersed from the area shortly afterward. Earlier in the day, Assir’s press office said that the Lebanese army surrounded his Bilal bin Rabah Mosque in the Sidon neighborhood of Abra. However, the National News Agency reported that there was no truth to the reports that the army had surrounded the mosque, adding that troops had stopped a car with fake license plates. Assir rose to prominence for his anti-Hezbollah stances, and in recent weeks has stirred controversy with his calls for protests outside apartments near his Sidon mosque that he claims house Hezbollah fighters. The leader of Lebanon’s Shiite party warned against inciting action in the southern Lebanese city.

EU blacklisting may force Hezbollah to choose
Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/When the Prosecutor’s office in the Cypriot seaside resort of Limassol received the case of Swedish-Lebanese Hezbollah operative Hossam Yakoub, arrested by the police while surveying Israeli tourist flights, hang-outs, restaurants, and hotels, they called a Swedish terrorism expert to analyze the evidence. The expert who testified in court at the end of February was Magnus Norell, a Swedish scholar, adjunct fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and a Senior Policy Advisor for the European Foundation for Democracy (EFD), based in Brussels.
Previously, Norell was a senior analyst and project leader at the Swedish Defense Research Agency in Stockholm. According to his resume, between 1997 and 2000, he created a back channel between Hezbollah and Israel to facilitate the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Prior to joining the Swedish Defense Research Agency, Norell served as an analyst for the Swedish Secret Service and Swedish Military Intelligence.
He recently talked to NOW about Yakoub’s trial in Cyprus, and what it means for the law enforcement agencies in Europe, Hezbollah’s activities in Europe, and the efforts to label the Lebanese Shiite militant group as a terrorist organization in the European Union.
NOW: The government in Cyprus handled Hossam Yakoub’s case with a lot of discretion: small court in a town with scarce media coverage, no security whatsoever. Why do you think they did that?
Magnus Norell: One explanation for that is they are consciously downplaying the whole thing. Everybody knows that the stakes are pretty high, because this will be a factor in the European discussion on whether to designate [Hezbollah] as a terrorist organization or not. I think this is a very compelling case. I think the Cypriots, more than most people, are very well aware of this and they are downplaying this for precisely that reason. You don’t want to highlight it too much because it is sensitive enough as it is.
NOW: What was your impression of Hossam Yakoub at the trial in Cyprus?
Norell: It is difficult to speak about a man who I saw just once and I have never spoken to. But from the evidence I saw… He arrived in Sweden when he was 6 months old, he lived a number of years in Sweden. He moved back to Lebanon, as his mother I think lives in Lebanon. He has spent more time in Lebanon than in Sweden. Being careful about generalizing too much, he is a very young man and he was very explicit in court about why and how he got involved with Hezbollah. From what I’ve seen or heard he is in a sense the typical young man who would get caught up in this. I think his story is probably not unique. There are many people like him. The fact that he carries a Swedish passport is an advantage for the organization.
NOW: Why Sweden? There is a strong Hezbollah supporting community in Sweden. It was obvious in 2009, when they protested together with the Swedish opposition against the Gaza offensive.
Norell: It’s a good question. We got a couple of cases just last year of people getting arrested for various crimes, both involved with Hezbollah. I think, in one way, it may be a coincidence. And it just came at the wrong time. But I also think that the fact that they carry Swedish passports is a factor here. It’s a very advantageous passport to have: no one will suspect you of anything, you can travel everywhere. It’s good value. That is recent, that they are trying to recruit people with Swedish passports. And, of course, we have a considerable Lebanese minority in Sweden, as well. There is a community from which to recruit. Hezbollah was more active in Sweden the 1990s I think, but there are still a number of sympathizers, not only in Sweden, but primarily in Sweden. It’s the passport, it’s the fact that it’s a neutral country, you can travel anywhere. It all makes Sweden an interesting case.
NOW: Does this influence Sweden’s position in the European Union regarding listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization?
Norell: It’s a hard question to answer. I have been talking to people in the government about that. I think fear is part of it. You won’t hear people say that in public, of course, but I think fear is part of it. You don’t want to have great problems, unnecessary problems. Also, in Sweden, you can be part of any organization you like, and as long as you don’t do anything no one is going to touch you. Hamas is a terrorist organization in the EU, but we do have Hamas members living in Sweden without any problem, as long as they don’t do anything.
NOW: But even if a member commits a crime, the authorities in the EU countries don’t look for the connection with any of these groups like the United States authorities do…
Norell: That’s a very good point. If you don’t look, you will not find. If I don’t ask the question, I don’t have to be afraid of the answer. Which is pretty hypocritical. As you may know, Europol [the European Union's law enforcement agency that handles criminal intelligence] designated Hezbollah as a terrorist entity in their database, which is kind of interesting, because most governments didn’t. Only The Netherlands blacklisted the group. And the UK blacklisted the military wing, but they don’t even believe that themselves. It’s done for political reasons.
NOW: Why the hesitation?
Norell: The argument that you will hear in Europe is that Hezbollah is also a political party, it’s also a social movement, they do charity, health care, schools etc. And if we designate them as a terrorist organization is will be very difficult to deal with all this. I think that’s the fig leaf that you hide behind. The real reason is that you don’t want to risk getting any conflict there and you will make it difficult for the Lebanese government and the Lebanese polity to deal with it. But I think the opposite is true. If you did that, it would force Hezbollah to choose: are you a political party or not? If you are a political party, you don’t really need a militia. It would be an advantage to Lebanon. Maybe Lebanon is not that important for the EU and they will choose the easy way out. Maybe they will designate what they call ‘military wing’, which will not make any difference whatsoever. It will be a punch in the air.

New unrest rocks the southern Palestinian camp of Ain el-Helweh in Lebanon
Now Lebanon/Over 16 people were injured and one person killed in the southern Palestinian camp of Ain el-Helweh since clashes began Monday. The fighting pitted members of Palestinian Fatah and a new extremist group, accused by some Palestinian sources of having ties with the Syrian Jabhat al-Nusra. “I am worried about the camp’s new turn of events, things are going the wrong way,” an Islamic source told NOW last week. Tensions have been rising in recent months between factions within the secular Palestinian Fatah and a new extremist organization comprised of members of Fatah al-Islam, Osbat al-Ansar, and Jound al-Cham. Both the Jound al-Cham faction and Fatah al-Islam are terrorist organizations, the first having fought an armed conflict with the Lebanese army in the Taamir area in 2007, the second a deadly war that same year with the Lebanese army in the Nahr el-Bared camp which resulted in the death of 170 Lebanese soldiers, at least 120 militants and more than 200 civilians. Fatah sources have accused this newly formed radical group of being allied with the Syrian Salafi Jabhat al-Nusra, which has been blacklisted as a terrorist group by the US. The newly formed group has also been linked to the 18 Palestinian fighters who were recently sent to fight in Syria, of which 8 died two months ago alongside Syrian rebels. Hajj Maher Oueid, head of the Islamic group Ansar Allah, told NOW that the fighting started when a member of the Saadi family shot Bilal Badr and three others who were standing guard in the vicinity of the Safsaf mosque. Fatah sources denied this version of the story, alleging that Badr had attacked Saadi. “Yesterday and today’s clashes were an attempt by the new radical group to impose themselves on the camp’s scene. It failed miserably,” said the Fatah source. Islamic sources stressed that Saadi was close to the Fatah faction led by Mahmoud Issa, also known as al-Lino. In the past few years, a violent feud has pitted Issa against Islamists belonging to either Jound al-Cham or Fatah al-Islam, resulting in the killing of several Jound al-Cham members as well as an assassination attempt on Issa himself.
The gunmen used machine guns and mortar shells in the clashes on Monday and Tuesday, and bombed one house, located next to the Farouk mosque. Fatah sources said that six groups, one of which is led by Bilal Badr, were engaged in battles against Fatah. Last month sources within the camp mentioned the formation of five new jihadi groups, each comprising about 25 fighters. These new radical groups include fighters from the Abdullah Azzam Brigades (a transnational militant organization), Fatah al-Islam, Jund al-Sham, as well as the Haraka Islamiya Moujahida. The new nebula is led by Majed Majed (aka Abu Qatada), who, according to one Fatah source, is a Saudi national. The source added that additional Osbat al-Ansar fighters had augmented the ranks of the new radical group in recent weeks. During previous interviews, camp sources aligned with Fatah acknowledged that some fighters from Osbat al-Ansar and the Islamic Jihad Movement (Haraka Islmiya Moujahida) had defected due to disagreements with their leadership’s new ties with the Lebanese army, which they consider as “apostate”.
Oueid told NOW that the camp was once again peaceful, adding that a multi-factional force had intervened on the recent clashes. “The force includes Fatah fighters and various Islamic forces,” he underlined. “We are hoping that it will be able to enforce a truce”. Given the current polarization in Ain el-Helweh, this statement seems perhaps overly optimistic.

Wanted: new Christian leaders
By: Hussain Abdul Hussain/Now Lebanon/
The approval of the "Orthodox Law", or any other electoral law, is irrelevant. No matter who wins the 2013 parliament, Hezbollah's "black shirts" will decide the coming president, prime minister, and cabinet. But the kerfuffle surrounding the law unveiled a dangerous line of thinking among Lebanon's Christians, whether followers of Michel Aoun, Samir Geagea, or the Gemayel family.
Lebanon is in a dire situation that is reflecting badly on both Christians and non-Christians. So how exactly will a law making Christian lawmakers unaccountable to Muslim constituents, and vice versa, make things better?
Christians who think electoral laws can arrest the waning of their influence should remember how the pre-Taif National Pact configuration, with its six-to-five ratio, failed to do so.
Christians who claim that they fear physical annihilation, in the absence of laws that favor them, should ask themselves why Christians like Aoun or Gebran Bassil can roam the country freely, while Muslims like Sunni Saad Hariri or Shiite Bassem Sabaa fear for their safety and live in exile.
Christian excuses for upholding the current skewed representation in which they, barely one third of the population, are guaranteed half of the seats in Parliament, cabinet, and the rest of the bureaucracy, do not cut it anymore.
Lebanon's 50-50 formula should be scrapped, not because Christians should be humiliated, but because such arrangement has proven inadequate in solving the nation's various security, economic, and political problems.
When Lebanon was put together in 1920, it was premised on two assumptions. First, that the two biggest minorities at the time – the Christians and their followers the Shiites – would outnumber the Sunnis, the region's majority, and guarantee Christian dominance.
Second, the French viewed the Levant, and perhaps rightly so, as an area with monolithic ethno-sectarian blocs, rather than individual citizens with varying interests and diverse views. The balance the French tried to strike was between the chieftains of the different groups, thus assuming that what was good for the tribal chief was also good for his followers, an idea that sticks with most of the Lebanese until today.
As such, Lebanon's Christians still obsess over sectarian balances and the national influence of their chieftains.
Other Christians want to revive an older dream, that of maintaining a purely Christian – albeit territorially smaller – Lebanon. Such arrangement, they believe, might be possible through federalism or a confederacy, which might in turn scrap their need to speak the language of their Muslim peers, literally and figuratively.
But all these ideas have been tried, unsuccessfully. Christians were once dominant by power of constitution. During the civil war, they ruled over their own enclave. Neither scenario stopped droves of Christians from emigrating year after year.
Lebanon's Christians need modernizers with visionary ideas. These need not necessarily be Christian but can be professionals, consultants if you will, who can look at the bigger picture, objectively assess Christian decline, and provide a blueprint for reversing it.
Christians should have a sense of reality. Over the past century, they have perceived of themselves as intellectually – and at times genetically – superior to Muslims. Sociopolitical and intellectual superiority was true at times when, thanks to their more fortunate economics and exposure to Western missionaries, the Christians showed a better understanding of modern trends.
And because they were economically ahead, Lebanon's Christians were able to project political influence. Yet – unlike innumerable Christians and their followers believe – Christian superiority never made them Westerners or non-Levantine.The Christians of Lebanon remained as culturally Arab as they could be. For instance, unlike the West, Levantine Christians have always failed to construct a single political organization that can call itself democratic. Christian parties, instead, remain tribal, and produce corrupt politics and politicians all too common in the developing world.
Perhaps instead of fighting to approve drafts like the so-called Orthodox Law, the Aoun-Geagea-Gemayel bloc should use whatever clout they have to pass a ‘Parties Law’ to replace the current ‘Organizations Law’ inherited from Ottoman times. Such a law would democratize political parties, limit the terms of their elected leaders, and force them to disclose their income. Maybe when the Lebanese can trace the money, they will better understand the agendas of the parties they send to parliament.
Perhaps when the Aoun-Geagea-Gemayel bloc, whose combined years in politics add up to over a century, should encourage Christians to allow younger leaders, with new ideas, to take over and run their respective parties for limited terms, and then hand them over to yet newer leaders with fresher ideas. And no, Bassil and Sami Gemayel don't count as the ‘younger generation.’
The Christians should create modern, transparent, and democratic political parties and offer them as a model for a new state. Until then, the current Christian parties with aged leaders cannot demand that the state be anything different from their own autocratic, corrupt, and non-transparent model.
The Christians can save themselves and Lebanon, but this can never happen with more of the same.
So it might be in Christians' best interest to start cultivating principles of democracy inside their parties and forget ‘unity’ or ‘the need for a strong leader.’ If Christians succeed in creating democratic parties that transcend tribal politics and endorse citizenship, then maybe their parties can recruit from all Lebanese sects and therefore gain the power needed for the construction of a modern state.
And only as a modern state that is blind to sect, that reinforces the ideas of liberty, the rule of law, and state monopoly of power does Lebanon stands a chance at retaining those Christians who remain.
Hussain Abdul-Hussain is the Washington Bureau Chief of Alrai newspaper. He tweets at @hahussain

Berri discusses electoral law with Jumblatt delegate
Now Lebanon/Speaker Nabih Berri met with Minister of Social Affairs Wael Abou Faour, who was sent on behalf of chief of the Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt to investigate the electoral law issue.
“There are constant deliberations between PSP leader MP Walid Jumblatt and Berri… and there is a possibility of reaching an understanding on the electoral law,” the National News Agency quoted Faour as saying on Tuesday following his meeting with the speaker in Ain al-Tineh. On Monday, Jumblatt said that talks are underway between multiple Lebanese parties on a mixed electoral law that would be acceptable to the Future Movement and its March 8 rivals, the Amal Movement and Hezbollah. This mixed electoral law is based on majoritarian voting in 26 districts and proportional voting in 9 other constituencies, according to sources.
This draft is meant to serve as an alternative to the controversial Orthodox law which was endorsed by the country’s four major Christian parties, but was rejected by the Future Movement, the PSP and independent Christian MPs on the grounds that it would trigger sectarian divisions.

Protest held in Beqaa against accused killer's release
Now Lebanon/Members of a Beqaa family on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Riaq-Ablah road in an act of protest against the release of the man accused of killing one of their relatives, NOW’s correspondent reported.
Protesters belonging to the Fouani family rallied against the release of a man identified as Ali Adel Moussawi, who is accused of participating in the 2009 murder of Majd Fouani.
Majd Fouani’s father held a press conference in his home, during which he accused powerful Shiite parties of pressuring the Lebanese judiciary into releasing Moussawi.
The report said that the road was reopened shortly after the protest began by security forces unit who arrived at the scene and intervened.
In 2009, 15-year old Majd al-Fouani from Ali al-Nahri was killed while his relative Abbas Ayyoub was injured after they clashed with members of the Al-Moussawi family in Raeet, a village in Beqaa, when the latter opened fire from his car toward Fouani’s car.

1960 electoral law “still valid,” Future bloc MP says
Now Lebanon/A Future bloc MP said on Tuesday that the 1960 electoral law was still valid. “The 1960 electoral law is still valid even though most political parties have announced its death,” MP Samir Jisr said during an interview with Future TV. Claiming that the 1960 law is dead “is only a political stance, because the law is still in force,” Jisr added. However, the MP said that his party was still in consultation with its allies in order to reach a final agreement over a new electoral law. “The Future Movement is coordinating with its allies, but nothing is final yet [because] each party [inside the alliance] has its own [concerns],” he said. Last week, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Future bloc leader MP Fouad Siniora met at the former’s Maarab residence and voiced their shared approval of a mixed electoral law. Sources have told NOW that the Progressive Socialist Party, Future Movement and independent March 14 Christian MPs have reached an agreement on a mixed electoral law, which is based on majoritarian voting in 26 electoral districts and proportional voting in 9 other districts.The Future Movement is coordinating with its allies, but nothing is final yet [because] each party has its own [concerns].

Miqati reiterates rejection of Orthodox Gathering’s electoral proposal
Now Lebanon/Lebanon’s Prime Minister reiterated his call for a consensual electoral law and his rejection of the sectarian-based Orthodox Gathering’s electoral draft law. “The Orthodox law will legalize federalism and cantons and will undermine the Taif Accord,” Najib Miqati said in an interview published Tuesday by As-Safir newspaper. The premier also suggested that the Orthodox proposal should be reversed.“Let us turn the equation, let us make the Muslims vote for Christian MPs and the Christians vote for Muslim MPs,” Miqati said.The Orthodox draft law, which calls for proportional voting along sectarian lines, had been endorsed by the country’s four major Christian parties. However, it was met with severe opposition from the Future Movement, the PSP, and independent March 14 Christian MPs, as well as President Michel Suleiman.

France will not interfere in Lebanon electoral crisis, envoy says
Now Lebanon/French envoy Patrice Paoli said that his country will not meddle in Lebanon’s internal affairs, specifically in the ongoing disagreement over a new electoral law for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
“France will not interfered with proposals related to the electoral law or the Lebanese conflict [resulting from] this issue,” the National News Agency quoted Paoli as saying on Tuesday following a meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri in the latter’s Ain al-Tineh residence. The French Ambassador to Lebanon added that the electoral law crisis is “a Lebanese internal matter” and that his country “will not meddle in this issue.” Meanwhile, the envoy commended some political parties’ endeavors to develop an electoral draft that would ensure the elections are held on time, and extended special praise to the speaker and the president.
“Berri is keen on respecting and encouraging the constitutional process,” Paoli said. The French envoy and the Lebanese speaker of parliament addressed in their meeting the different political matters concerning the region. Both also tackled the issue of Syria’s refugees and its impacts on Lebanon. Lebanon has been facing difficulties dealing with the increasingly high number of refugees fleeing Syria’s violent uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which has killed more than 70,000 people since its outbreak in March 2011. The number of refugees on Lebanese territory has now exceeded 325,000 according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ latest report.

Future’s Siniora: Orthodox law unlikely to be put to vote
Now Lebanon/Future bloc leader MP Fouad Siniora said that it is not likely that the Orthodox Gathering’s electoral proposal will be put to a vote in parliament.
“The president is the biggest opponent of this draft and has expressly stated that he will completely stand against it, and will rescind it before the Constitutional Council,” Siniora said on Tuesday during an interview on Al-Jazeera television. The Future MP slammed the sectarian-based draft, on the grounds that it violates the Lebanese Constitution as well as the principle of coexistence. “The constitution does not stipulate that the MPs must be elected based on their religious confessions,” Siniora said. He added that the Orthodox law “causes many problems for Lebanon and the region,” and that it “pushes the region towards [becoming] a religious state.”The opposition official later expressed his surprise at the advocation of this law by two of his allied parties. “Previous discussions should have taken place among the components of the March 14 [coalition],” Siniora said. The Opposition Lebanese Forces and Kataeb Party endorsed the Orthodox law which calls for proportional voting along sectarian lines. Their decision, however, countered that of their ally the Future Movement, independent Christian MPs from the same alliance and the Progressive Socialist Party as well as President Michel Suleiman who all opposed this proposal. Siniora went on to accuse Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun of backing this controversial draft for his own political interests. “[Aoun’s] primary concern is to achieve gains through mounting tensions within the Lebanese community, especially the Christian community.” He also lashed out at the FPM’s ally Hezbollah, claiming that the party's "sole concern is to reinforce its grip over the Lebanese government… in order to ensure [that it keeps] its weapons.”
Meanwhile, the Future lawmaker said that the upcoming elections will not necessarily take place according to the 1960 law. His comments came amid concerns over this current law being adopted after the country’s president and prime minister inked an electoral decree calling for June elections. Last week, Premier Najib Miqati and President Michel Suleiman signed off on a decree to hold the elections on June 9, a move that would have the elections take place based on the current 1960 law if the country’s political parties fail to reach a consensus on a new electoral draft. March 8’s Change and Reform bloc party has called for the Orthodox law to be brought up for a vote in a general session of the parliament, but Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he would not convene the legislature until consensus can be reached on a law. Elsewhere, the Future official addressed the disassociation policy officially adopted by the government with regard to the violence taking place in Syria. “The current government is implementing this policy in a selective way… It is [doing] the opposite of what it states [it is doing].” Siniora later reiterated his party’s stance on remaining impartial on the Syrian conflict. A number of MPs have accused the cabinet of not respecting the impartiality policy, after claims militarily linked Hezbollah to the war tearing neighboring Syria. The criticism grew severer following a call made by Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour before Arab foreign ministers to reinstate Syria to its seat in the Arab League.
Also, concerns over Lebanon being involved in the Syrian conflict were highlighted when the Gulf Cooperation Council sent a letter to the Lebanese president last week to urge him to abide by the disassociation policy.

March 14 in limbo ahead of uprising anniversary
March 13, 2013/By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The opposition March 14 coalition this week marks its eighth anniversary as it strives to remain relevant in the run-up to parliamentary elections amid criticisms of its “lofty slogans” and an incorrect wager on developments in war-torn Syria.But internal rifts over a voting system to govern the June 9 polls have apparently dealt a blow to the group’s efforts to face major domestic and regional challenges, particularly the divisive issue of Hezbollah’s arsenal and the repercussions of two years of turmoil in Syria. Furthermore, security threats have restricted the movements of March 14 leaders and kept others, notably former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, out of the country. Hariri, who has been living abroad for nearly two years, told a delegation from Lebanon’s private sector at his residence in Riyadh Sunday that he would not return to Lebanon “because there is a decision to kill me.”
Hariri’s absence has doubtless adversely affected the coalition’s unity and its political decision-making. But the biggest challenge facing March 14 is the elections, which could allow the coalition to form the next government as well as play a decisive role in electing a new president in 2014. Summing up the March 14 coalition’s predicament, former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, head of the Future Movement’s parliamentary bloc, said in a speech in Sidon recently: “The March 14 coalition is not in good shape. But it will eventually emerge stronger.”A similar view was echoed by Fares Soueid, coordinator of the March 14 Secretariat-General.Soueid said the upcoming commemoration event – a rally Sunday at the BIEL complex in Downtown Beirut – would highlight the themes of unity and civil peace. “The Lebanese will see at the BIEL rally the unity of the March 14 coalition. The coalition will emerge stronger,” Soueid told The Daily Star. He said the dispute within the March 14 parties over a new electoral law was being tackled and a solution would be found.
Soueid added the rally would issue an important political message to the Lebanese underscoring the need for “civil peace and [national] peace.”
The coalition was born when hundreds of thousands people rallied on March 14, 2005, in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square to condemn the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and demand the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon. The protesters shouted slogans in support of freedom, sovereignty and independence that have since become the coalition’s main objectives.
March 14 leaders boast that the Syrian army’s withdrawal from Lebanon after nearly three decades of domination, and the establishment of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon to uncover Hariri’s killers were the coalition’s two biggest achievements. They also boast that the March 14 movement inspired Arabs to fight for freedom and revolt against their authoritarian leaders.
However, both supporters and critics of March 14 say the coalition has experienced frustrations both at home and regionally, mainly due to mistakes and miscalculations by its leaders that have reflected badly on the coalition’s performance and its popular base.
Critics point to March 14’s lofty slogans, centered on disarming Hezbollah and toppling the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, as some of the coalition’s blunders.Similarly, the March 14 leaders’ wager on the downfall of Syrian President Bashar Assad last year, which would have given a major boost to the coalition, did not materialize. “The March 14 coalition has effectively expired. Its component parts have little in common. The only thing that brought them together was their hostility to Hezbollah and Syria,” Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut, told The Daily Star. “An alliance cannot be based on hostility. Its constituent parts must have something to pursue together. They must have a vision, or a plan of action in order for their alliance to endure,” he said. Khashan said the slogans of “freedom, sovereignty and independence” were beyond the March 14 coalition’s capabilities. “The March 14 coalition lacks serious self-direction,” he said.
Simon Haddad, also an AUB professor of political science, concurred. “The March 14 coalition is in limbo, waiting for the situation in Syria to clear up because they have wagered on regime change in Syria,” Haddad told The Daily Star. “The March 14 coalition is at its worst stage and in its weakest point because the other side is more united,” he said. Haddad also blamed March 14 leaders for failing to offer their March 8 rivals “a national partnership program.”“They [March 14 leaders] put forward electoral slogans, such as ‘toppling Hezbollah’s arms and toppling the government,’ which they knew beforehand couldn’t be achieved,” Haddad said.
“These slogans can’t lead to the country’s building and civil peace.”
Beirut MP Ghazi Youssef, from Hariri’s Future bloc, acknowledged that March 14 was experiencing a loss of momentum within its own popular base.
He said compromises made by March 14 leaders with the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance since 2005, such as accepting an alliance in a national unity Cabinet headed by Hariri following the 2009 elections, had led to “frustrations” among the group’s supporters.
“The March 14 movement has lost its momentum. This year’s anniversary must address the March 14 people. The main challenge facing March 14 is how to regain its people who became apathetic toward participation in the movement’s rallies,” Youssef told The Daily Star. “The coalition must regain the Lebanese people, especially independents.”
He said the March 14 coalition had achieved “a sublime goal”: The liberation and independence of Lebanon from the Syrian regime.
“But there are other goals that have not been achieved yet, like the transition to the state and institutions. Therefore, the March 14 movement must turn to its people, whose dream is to move on to a civil state that guarantees public freedoms,” Youssef added.
Tewfic Hindi, who is close to March 14, said the its leaders had committed “mistakes” and “failures” and their management of the political process was not up to people’s expectations.
“The March 14 failures had their roots in the troubled situation in Lebanon which is basically linked to regional and international struggles, particularly the situation in Syria which greatly affects the situation in Lebanon,” Hindi told The Daily Star.“Certainly, there are contradictions among March 14 members on an election law and shares” of parliamentary seats, Hindi said.
“March 14 is at odds over how to manage the political process, the stance on the parliamentary elections, the post-election period and the formation of a new Cabinet.”
Hindi said March 14’s slogan of “freedom, sovereignty and independence” was partially achieved eight years ago.
“But the demand for the building of a strong state and state sovereignty has not been fulfilled, because National Dialogue sessions on Hezbollah’s arms did not produce any results.”

Hezbollah expanding its telecom network, sources tell NOW
Now Lebanon/Sources claimed that Lebanon’s Shiite party Hezbollah is publically broadening its special network of telecommunications in southern towns along the border with Israel.
“Hezbollah is expanding its telecommunications network in southern border towns without any interference from the Lebanese army or UNIFIL troops,” sources told NOW on Sunday.
They added that Hezbollah has been “on full alert in the border area for three weeks.”
Hezbollah has been the center of a longtime controversy surrounding its possession of weapons as well as the independent communication network that the party has developped.
This issue has been previously addressed by Radio Free Lebanon, which mentioned that the Shiite party has established a wiretapping network in several towns along Lebanon’s western mountain range. It added that part of the data Hezbollah collects from this network is immediately sent to Iran. Kataeb bloc MP Elie Marouni addressed this issue publicly, saying that his party has already exposed Hezbollah’s telecommunications network in Beqaa’s Tarchich and Mount Lebanon’s Sannine. However, “the government did not respond [because] Hezbollah has the authority [in this instance].” In previous years, Tarchich residents stood against the establishment of infrastructure for Hezbollah’s network in their town. This was one of many incidents that took place in the area along the western Lebanese mountain range, although some towns in the region are loyal to the Shiite party.

Aoun declares Orthodox rule to be only option
Now Lebanon/Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun said that the upcoming parliamentary elections must take place according to the Orthodox draft because there are no other viable alternatives. “If the Orthodox Gathering’s proposal is not adopted, it [will remain] impossible for us to reach [consensus on] a new law,” Aoun said on Tuesday following the bloc’s weekly meeting. He also said that if the electoral draft he is advocating fails to pass, all the parties who rejected it would be “criminals against the country.” The Free Patriotic Movement chief added that the party responsible for any future political vacuum is the bloc “boycotting the parliament,” in reference to the Future Movement. The Orthodox law was approved by the parliamentary joint commissions in February, but sparked angry responses from the Future Movement, independent March 14 Christians and the Progressive Socialist Party who refuse it for its sectarian nature. Aoun also called for the establishment of a “special tribunal” that will look into the alleged embezzlement he accuses the opposition of partaking in. “Whoever [touches] the state’s treasury must be held judicially accountable.” In February, Aoun released a book entitled “The impossible Exoneration” in which he claimed having presented documentation proving the opposing political party in Lebanon was embezzling state funds. The FPM leader also urged public employees and teachers that are holding nationwide protests to join his call for the establishment of this special tribunal that looks into “financial crimes.” He said that the reason behind the deficit that is obstructing the raising of these employees’ salaries is “the corruption that we are [aiming to] address.”
He also announced that his party is preparing a list of financial resources that the government could use in order to finance the wage increases, in case the issue does not get referred to parliament.
Lebanese school teachers and government employees are engaged in an ongoing open strike that began on February 19 and has seen general protests across the country demanding the government speed up its approval of salary raises. In early September 2012, the Lebanese cabinet approved a new ranks and salaries system. However, a debate is ongoing regarding the requisite funds to cover the wage increase for public employees.
Elsewhere, the FPM chief commented on the upcoming March 14 ceremony which is to take place on Sunday at Beirut’s BIEL exhibition hall. “March 14’s motto ‘freedom, sovereignty, independence’ is ours,” Aoun said. He also claimed that Lebanese citizens are concerned over the “increasing and unmonitored presence of Syrian refugees,” and reiterated the importance of “limiting the refugees’ [exodus].” Lebanon has been facing difficulties dealing with the high number of refugees fleeing Syria’s war, with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimating in their latest report that they have now exceeded 325,000.

World waits as papal election begins
AFP/Now Lebanon/The historic conclave to choose a successor for the first pope to resign in over 700 years begins on Tuesday, with the world in suspense over a secret election with no clear front-runner.
The 115 cardinal electors—including Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rai—who will choose the next leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics move into a residence inside the Vatican walls where they will sleep and eat for the duration of a conclave expected to last no more than a few days. The cardinals will be completely cut off—banned from any communication with the outside world and bound by a strict oath of secrecy on pain of excommunication—until they have chosen one in their midst to be pope. The prayers will begin with a special mass called "For the Election of the Roman Pontiff" in St Peter's Basilica starting at 9:00 am GMT.Cardinals will later file into the Sistine Chapel from 3:30 pm GMT chanting in procession to invoke the Holy Spirit to inspire their choice. The cardinals are set to hold a first round of voting later on Tuesday—but the Vatican has already said it expects the smoke from the burning of the ballots to be black indicating no papal election has taken place.
Ballots on subsequent days will be burnt at around 11:00 am after two rounds of voting in the morning and at around 6:00 pm after two rounds in the afternoon—the smoke is famously turned white if there is a new pope.
Among the possible candidates, three have emerged as clear frontrunners—Italy's Angelo Scola, Brazil's Odilo Scherer and Canada's Marc Ouellet, all of them conservatives cast in the same mold as "pope emeritus" Benedict XVI.But the rumor mill in the Vatican has thrown up many more names in recent days including cardinals from Austria, Hungary, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa and the United States—including inspiring pastors and communicators.The field is wide open but a few key aims unite many of the cardinals after Benedict's troubled eight-year papacy—reform the intrigue-filled Vatican bureaucracy, counter rising secularism in the West and find new inspiration for Catholics.  The scandal over decades of sexual abuse of children by pedophile priests—and the efforts made by senior prelates to cover up the crimes -- has cast a long shadow over the Church that will be an urgent task for any new pope.
There have been calls from within the Church too for a rethink of some basic tenets such as priestly celibacy, the uniform ban on artificial contraception and even allowing women to be priests as in other Christian denominations.
The tradition of holding conclaves goes back to the 13th century when cardinals were locked into the papal palace in Viterbo near Rome by the angry faithful because they were taking too long to make their decision.
That conclave still dragged on for nearly three years but the rules have been reworked since then and the longest conclave in the past century—in 1922—lasted only five days. Benedict's election took just two days.
Benedict stunned the world on February 11, announcing that he no longer had the strength of body and mind to keep up with a fast-changing modern world shaken by vital questions for the Roman Catholic Church.
In a series of emotional farewells, 85-year-old Benedict said he would live "hidden from the world" and wanted only to be "a simple pilgrim" on life's last journey.
Vatican experts have said the German's decision, which makes him only the second pope to resign by choice in the Church's 2,000-year history, could mean future popes will also step down once their strengths begin to fail them. Cardinals prayed for divine guidance at their last Sunday masses before the conclave in churches across Rome.
Ouellet told parishioners that this was a "unique time in history for the Church", adding: "The whole world is waiting.”
"We pray that the Holy Spirit may indicate to the cardinals the one that God has already chosen," he said.US Cardinal Sean O'Malley said in his homily: "Let us pray that the Holy Spirit enables the Church to choose a new pope who will confirm us in our faith and make more visible the love of the Good Shepherd."

France, Russia, US identifying Syrian officials for talks
AFP/France, Russia and the United States are trying to draw up a list of Syrian officials with whom the opposition can negotiate, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Tuesday. "We worked together on an idea... of a list of Syrian officials who would be acceptable to Syria's opposition National Coalition," he told the foreign affairs committee of the National Assembly. Fabius said Syria's opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib had said in a "very brazen manner" that he was willing to negotiate with some regime officials but not President Bashar al-Assad. "We have discussed this with the Russians and the Amercans... There have been exchanges to seek a political solution," he said. The Syrian conflict, approaching its third year, has claimed more than 70,000 lives, according to the United Nations.

UN rights monitor alarmed by Iran media crackdown
AFP/The United Nation's monitor for human rights in Iran sounded the alarm Tuesday over a rise in arrests of journalists, saying this was part of a pattern of increasing violations as presidential elections loom.
Seventeen journalists were arrested in the space of one week in January, Ahmed Shaheed told reporters. In addition, some 50 journalists were already behind bars, he said. "I'm increasingly alarmed about the plight of journalists, bloggers and others who are defenders and practitioners of freedom of expression in Iran," he said. "They have been charged with communicating with international news organizations or communicating with human rights organisations, both of which should be protected under law rather than being penalized." Iran's 2009 elections were marked by a crackdown on opposition and Shaheed noted that there had been little effort to offer redress for the victims and hold perpetrators to account. The media also faced sharpened state pressure in the 2102 parliamentary elections. "I am concerned that with elections around the corner in June, these actions against journalists do not bode well for the prospects of a free and fair election in the country," he said. Shaheed, a former foreign minister of the Maldives who is now a human rights academic in Britain, was named the UN's Iran monitor in 2011. On Monday he presented a report on Iran to the United Nations Human Rights Council. He spotlighted repression of freedom of speech and a slew of other abuses, including torture, forced confessions, secret executions and the jailing of members of the political opposition. He also pointed to violations of the rights of women and of religious and ethnic minorities.

Al Qaeda forms volatile 1,000-km chain from Baghdad to Damascus
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis March 12, 2013/
Israel’s Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz rated war as a “low risk” for the foreseeable future, but credited the risk of escalation as “very high,” in a lecture he delivered Monday, March 11 at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Institute for policy and strategy. “Almost every week, some incident occurs that could drag the region into a conflagration,” he warned.
debkafile’s military sources: Gen. Gantz’s distinction between “war” and “conflagration” stems from the differentiation Israel’s senior policy-making and military circles have begun making of late to support a misconception that a full-blown war is no longer on the cards at present. They support this rationale by arguing that full-scale war can only be fought by large regular armies, while a “conflagration” or “escalation” entails smaller units and less terrain.
The Egyptian army, which would be the key to a major conflict, is held up in this regard as being in no state to go to war, given their country’s disastrous political and economic plight. The generals, according to this theory, wouldl take into account the low state of their units and lack of logistical preparedness and simply decline to issue any order to embark on war against Israel.
So when Gantz talked about a conflagration, he was thinking in terms of the Islamist militias in Syria, Hizballah in Lebanon and the Salafists allied with al Qaeda cells in Sinai – none of which are capable of launching war on the classical dimensions of the past.
What this kind of thinking omits to take into account is that, while the regular Arab national armies which attacked Israel in the past are indeed crumbling, the militias in their countries are mushrooming dangerously. They are bursting out of their national boundaries, nourished with arms, manpower and funding from distant sources in and beyond the Middle East.
debkafile’s military sources point to the example of the Syrian army’s 17th Reserve Division, whose recent defeat in the battle for the Euphrates River in eastern Syria established a regional landmark. It removed the last gap in the 1,000-kilometer long chain of command formed by Islamist forces identified or associated with al Qaeda, which now runs contiguously from the northern outskirts of Baghdad to the eastern fringes of Damascus. The Syrian Golan, since it fell to the Islamist militias fighting with Syrian rebels, forms part of that chain. The Battle for the Euphrates was a landmark event in that it opened the way for al Qaeda to conduct itself as a transnational force in combat. And indeed, in a recent encounter, al Qaeda in Iraq claimed victory over Syrian military units which, having crossed the border into that country, lost the battle at the cost of 48 soldiers and 9 agents dead.
Therefore, any “conflagration” in Syria, for instance, could quickly spread to Lebanon, Iraq or the Golan; and a violent incident in Egypt may emanate from or spill over into Libya, Israel or Algeria.
This eventuality was intimated in another part of the Gantz lecture: “The only permanent factor we are seeing in the last two years is that nothing is permanent. Egypt, too, which underwent a revolutionary process, has not achieved permanence; old and familiar arenas are changing and are being replaced by newer, weightier, ones,” said the chief of staff. “The threats have not gone, only assumed new shapes and when we encounter them in the future, will demand of us enhanced strength.”
Gantz went on to say: “True, we aren’t preparing to fight a regular army, but when next challenged, we shall still have to crawl through the burrows of Gaza and reach every building in Judea and Samaria.”
The general omitted reference to Iran. This may have been because a nuclear Iran represents the prospect of all-out war with a national army and is therefore the exception to the theory embodied in his lecture.
Regarding Syria, he said: “The situation in Syria has become exceptionally dangerous and unstable. Although the probability of a conventional war against the Syrian army is low, the terrorist organizations fighting Assad may next set their sights on us. The Syrian army’s tremendous strategic resources may well fall into terrorist hands.”

Lebanon Foreign Minister Creates Stir Over Syria
By: Elie Hajj for Al-Monitor Lebanon Pulse. Posted on March 12.
The political memory of the Lebanese people is too short. They are easily agitated and react strongly to and show extensive interest in any event. No matter what the topic is, it takes them three days to forget it and move on.
Categories : Originals Lebanon Syria Security
This is precisely what happened with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Adnan Mansour, who caused an uproar at the Council of Arab Foreign Ministers in Cairo by calling for the reinstatement of Bashar al-Assad’s Syria in the Arab League.
The position taken by the Lebanese minister during a meeting of Arab ministers in Cairo on Wednesday came as a surprise, as the ministers were looking to draft a request to the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces to form an executive body to occupy Syria's seat at the Arab League. The coalition would also participate in the league’s organizations and boards, in order to take part in the Arab Summit in Doha on the 26th and 27th of this month.
The Lebanese minister took an individual initiative and made a speech calling on the Arabs to reverse the decision to suspend Syria's membership in the league. He abstained from voting, however, on the decision to make the opposition the representatives of Syria [in the Arab League], pursuant to the Lebanese government's “self-distancing” policy regarding the Syrian conflict. The Lebanese are divided over the conflict in neighboring Syria, which threatens to bring tension to a country whose capital, Beirut, is less than two hours away from Damascus by car.
Mansour, who is affiliated with Hezbollah and the Amal movement, distanced himself and abstained from voting on the resolution or expressing reservations, as did his Iraqi and Algerian counterparts. Thus, the objection was against his speech, not his position. Officials in Beirut, especially the president and the prime minister, were seen not to receive well the speech of Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister, Sheik Hamad bin Jassim, which followed Mansour's speech. Hamad launched a fierce attack on the Syrian regime, accusing it of killing its people and not complying with Arab and international resolutions, bringing Syria to this current situation.
According to Mansour, Hamad’s speech was not a response to what he had said. The impression in Lebanon, however, was somewhat different. This is made more significant by the fact that the Gulf states — in which large numbers of Lebanese people work — have been hit by a wave of discontent expressed in a statement issued by the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council in protest at the positions of some Lebanese leaders, parties and movements, all of which are from the March 8 coalition led by Hezbollah. These positions are related to what is happening in Bahrain and other Gulf countries, and they mock the leaders of those countries. For example, a photo of the Saudi king depicting him as the king in a deck of cards was put up in the largely Christian eastern suburbs of Beirut.
A week ago, the resentment felt in the Gulf capitals led to the expulsion of Lebanese citizens with certain political affiliations, especially supporters of Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement headed by MP Gen. Michel Aoun.
As a result of this, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s anger has strengthened, as he continues to attempt to restore relations with the Gulf countries. The latter have banned their nationals from going to Lebanon and have largely suspended their investments in the country, which has contributed to the decline in economic growth from 5% to only 1%.
The fierce political and media campaign conducted by the opposition March 14 coalition — involving figures ranging from former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to the last news editor who supports the opposition — leaped on the point that Mansour was described as the “foreign minister of Iran and the Syrian regime,” and not that of Lebanon. Mikati has found himself in a critical situation, since he was looking forward to running again in parliamentary elections in his hometown of Tripoli — a Sunni majority city — even though he must submit the resignation of his government. This government, whose power has been exhausted, and in which contradictions and the inability to find solutions to countless crises have prevailed, is heavily burdening him.
Despite the fact that Hezbollah has provided Mansour with political and media support to confront the political and media campaign against him from both inside and outside the government, the prime minister seemed not to care. He seemed to be defending his image, after he announced through "sources close to him" that he had sent a letter to the foreign minister asking him to comply with the policy of the government, of which he is a member, regarding the Syrian conflict.
On the following day, Mansour said that he had not received any letters from Mikati. Immediately following this, the prime minister’s sources threatened to disclose the content of the letter, which pushed Mansour to admit that a letter was sent to the Foreign Ministry, but he did not know about it when he was asked. He explained that it was a political campaign designed to overthrow the government.
As usual, small and large government and political differences end at the hands of President Michel Suleiman, who has excelled in his role as "the referee of the Republic"; a republic that it is difficult to preside over and impossible to rule. He summoned the foreign minister and told him that every official in the state must comply with the policy of the state he represents.
As such, the page of a crisis was turned. This crisis was capable of overthrowing Mikati’s government, if Arabs, the West, and even the internal opposition actually want to do so prior to parliamentary elections, scheduled in June, under the constitution. Yet, the fate of the elections is still at stake, for the simple reason that there is no agreement on the law under which the elections will be held.
*Elie Hajj writes on politics for An-Nahar, Lebanon. He previously wrote for Al-Anbaa (Kuwait) and the online paper Elaph.
***About This Article
Summary :
Lebanon’s foreign minister, Adnan Mansour, draws criticism from both his own government and the Gulf states by calling for the reinstatement of Assad’s Syria in the Arab League, writes Elie Hajj.
Original Title:
Lebanese Foreign Minister Ruffles Feathers in Cairo Over Syria
Author: Elie Hajj
Translated by: Sami-Joe Abboud