Bible Quotation for today/The resurrection Of The Dead.

01 Corinthians 15/42–53: "So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.  It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.  But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.  The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.  As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.  Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. "
 

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Saudi Shi’ite Intellectuals and the Scandalous Statement/By: Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Alawsat/March 25/13

Policy Takeaways from Obama's Visit to Israel and the West Bank/Robert Satloff/Washington Istitute/March 25/13
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Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for March 25/13

New pope opens Holy Week at Vatican on Palm Sunday

'Mossad spy' spilled secrets to Hezbollah: report

Kerry Warns Iraq PM on Iran-Syria Overflights
Kerry to Suleiman: U.S. Salutes Efforts amid Regional Turmoil, Supports Electoral Law Agreed on at Parliament

Hezbollah slams Mikati, says resignation worsens paralysis

Intense fighting in n. Lebanon claims more lives

Residents snatch cameras off U.N. troops in s. Lebanon

Britain: Lebanon needs more ‘consensual government’
'Mossad spy' spilled secrets to Hezbollah: report

Hizbullah Official Says Resignation Was a 'Misstep': Those Who Resigned Will No Longer Be Assigned

Rai calls for new Cabinet to draft new electoral law
Al-Rahi Urges Resumption of Dialogue, Formation of Cabinet Capable of Holding Polls on Time

Cabinet resignation is “disgusting,” LDP chief says
Bassil: Cabinet’s resignation could lead to strife
Adwan Announces LF Will Take Part in National Dialogue, Geagea Will Personally Participate

Assir urges self-restraint after attack on his followers
Reciprocal kidnappings hit Arsal area
Three Men Kidnapped in Arsal as Response to Jaafar Clan Member Abduction
Kassar 'Permanent' Candidate to Premiership, Says Consensus Important

Kataeb leader calls for national dialogue
Sadr was murdered, Libyan official tells NOW
France's Le Point Magazine: Rumor about Assad's Death Invades the Internet
Arab League says Syrian opposition to attend summit

Syria opposition in disarray as head resigns

Syria opposition in disarray as head resigns

Activists report Syria clashes near Jordan border

Iran denies link to group arrested in Saudi Arabia
Israel fires into Syria after Golan attack on troops
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Mursi warning stirs fears in Egypt opposition

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New pope opens Holy Week at Vatican on Palm Sunday
March 24, 2013/By Frances D'emilio/Daily Star
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis celebrated his first Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square, encouraging people to be humble and young at heart and promising to go to a youth jamboree in Brazil in July, while the faithful enthusiastically waved olive branches and braided palm fronds. The square overflowed with a crowd estimated by the Vatican at 250,000 people. Pilgrims, tourists and Romans jostled each other in an eager effort glimpse Francis as they joined the new pope at the start of solemn Holy Week ceremonies, which lead up to Easter, Christianity's most important day.
Keeping with his spontaneous style, the first pope from Latin America broke away several times from the text of his prepared homily to encourage the faithful to lead simple lives and resist the temptation to be sad when life's obstacles inevitably come their way. "Don't let yourselves be robbed of hope! Don't let yourselves be robbed of hope!" Francis told the crowd, in an apparent reference to the economic difficulties people are grappling with as they try to find adequate work amid a poor job market in much of the world. At the end of the two-hour Mass, Francis took off his red vestments, and wearing his plain white cassock and skull cap, climbed into an open-topped popemobile to circle through the excited crowd. He leaned out to shake hands, kissed and patted the heads of infants passed to him by bodyguards, and often gave children the thumbs-up sign. His security detail seemed to be reluctantly dealing with this get-close-to-the-people pontiff, scrambling around the vehicle to pick up this child or that one. At one point, the chief bodyguard, Domenico Giani, was sent back to the mother of a child he had greeted to convey a message from the pontiff, and the ever-tense Giani broke into a smile after his mission was accomplished.
Francis even climbed down from the vehicle, kissed a woman in the crowd and chatted briefly with her, and another man in the crowd leaned over a barrier to squeeze the pontiff on a shoulder - an unheard of familiarity in the previous pontificate of the reserved Benedict XVI. In keeping with his stress on giving examples of humility, Francis kissed the hand of an elderly woman who had outstretched an arm to him. "There is no doubt that there will be a new spring for the church, a renewal" with this pope, said Sister Emma, an Argentine nun in the crowd. Palm Sunday recalls Jesus' entry into Jerusalem but its Gospel also recounts how he was betrayed by one of his apostles and ultimately sentenced to death on a cross. Francis presided over the Mass at an altar sheltered by a white canopy on the steps of St. Peter's Basilica.
Recalling the triumphant welcome into Jerusalem, Francis said Jesus "awakened so many hopes in the heart, above all among humble, simple, poor, forgotten people, those who don't matter in the eyes of the world."
Cardinals, many of them among the electors who chose him to be the Roman Catholic church's first Latin American pope, sat on chairs during the ceremony held under hazy skies on a breezy day. He quoted from Benedict when he told the cardinals that while they are "princes" of the church, their leader is the crucified Christ, a further admonition against attachment to temporal power.
The pope ticked off a litany of evils afflicting the world, including wars, "economic conflicts that hit the weakest" as well as corruption. In the final stretch of Benedict's papacy, the Vatican was embarrassed by a leak of documents from the papal apartment, indicating corruption, ambition and rivalries among upper ranks of the Holy See's management.
Francis told an off-the-cuff story from his childhood in Argentina. "My grandmother used to tell us children, 'burial shrouds don't have' pockets," the pope said, in a variation of "you can't take it with you."
Since his election on March 13, Francis has put the downtrodden and poor at the center of his mission as pope, keeping with the priorities of his Jesuit tradition. In his homily, Francis said Christian joy "isn't born from possessing a lot of things but from having met" Jesus. That same joy should keep people young, he said. "Even at 70, 80, the heart doesn't age" if one is inspired by Christian joy, said the 76-year-old pontiff.
The pontiff said he was joyfully looking forward to welcoming young people to Rio de Janiero for the Catholic Church's World Youth Day. So far, that is the first foreign trip on the calendar of Francis' new papacy. "I'm coming in July," Francis said in remarks after Mass from the esplanade of the basilica.During Mass, at the point when the Gospel recounts the moment of Jesus' death, many faithful knelt on hard cobblestones paving the square, and Francis knelt on a wooden kneeler. A few young olive trees were inserted in dirt placed around the central obelisk in the square. Holy Week will see at least one break from tradition with this new papacy. Instead of washing priests' feet in a basilica in a symbolic gesture of humility on Holy Thursday, Francis will wash the feet of young inmates at a juvenile detention center in Rome. Other appointments in public will include the Way of the Cross procession at the Colosseum on Good Friday night. Next Sunday, Francis will celebrate Easter Mass in the square.

Kerry to Suleiman: U.S. Salutes Efforts amid Regional Turmoil, Supports Electoral Law Agreed on at Parliament
Naharnet/U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry informed President Michel Suleiman on Sunday that the American administration hails efforts made to shield Lebanon from the regional turmoil, particularly Syria's conflict, through the adoption of the Baabda Declaration. "President Barack Obama salutes Suleiman and the United States appreciates preventing the spill over of Syria's conflict into Lebanon,” Kerry told Suleiman during a phone conversation. "We support Lebanon's stability and sovereignty.” In the Baabda Declaration, rival March 8 and 14 alliance leaders have affirmed their commitment to the Taef Accord and agreed to distance Lebanon from the policy of regional and international conflicts. Kerry noted: “The U.S. Is ready to provide all the support needed to help Lebanon bear the cost of hosting Syria's refugees.” Meanwhile, Suleiman expressed that “the issue of refugees has become a burden on Lebanon”: “A serious consideration should be given through a redistribution of their numbers on nations that are capable to host Syria's people.”"Lebanon will suggest hosting an international conference on this issue, through which we will request increasing aids to Syrians residing in the country,” Suleiman revealed. "We will also demand a support for Lebanon's political stand in this concern.” He stressed: “We support a political solution in Syria without any foreign military interference.”"This includes preventing safe havens for insurgents in Lebanon as well as the transfer of weapons and gunmen through Lebanese territories to Syria.”The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees revealed earlier in March that the number of Syrian refugees that have left the neighboring war-torn country has exceeded 300,000.
Concerning the parliamentary elections, Kerry expressed America's support for all “the work done towards holding the parliamentary elections based on a law over which consensus is reached at the parliament.”

Al-Rahi Urges Resumption of Dialogue, Formation of Cabinet Capable of Holding Polls on Time
Naharnet /Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi called on officials on Sunday to resume the national dialogue and form a government capable of holding the parliamentary elections on time and maintaining the country's security.
“Officials should realized the critical conditions the country is passing through after the cabinet resigned ,” al-Rahi said during a Palm Sunday mass at Bkirki. Prime Minister Najib Miqati announced his resignation on Friday night in light of the cabinet's failure to approve the decisions to form of an authority to oversee the parliamentary elections and extend the term of Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi. Reactions to Miqati's step were mixed with some sides calling for the formation of a salvation government and others condemning his step at such a critical time in the region and ahead of the parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for June 9. Al-Rahi urged the political foes to resume the all-party talks and to form a new cabinet capable of carrying out elections on time. Lebanon plunged in a political crisis in October after the opposition blamed the government for the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch chief Wissam al-Hasan. The opposition boycotted dialogue despite President Michel Suleiman's extensive efforts to resume talks between the rival factions. The last dialogue session was held on September 20. Al-Rahi said that the cabinet should also be capable of controlling the security situation locally and along the border with neighboring country Syria.
“A government keen to safeguard the country and ensure that it's not a pathway for arms,” the Patriarch added. Conflicting reports have emerged over whether Lebanese territory was hit in an airstrike by Syrian forces. Suleiman instructed Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour on Tuesday to send a message of protest to the “Syrian side” so that such operations are not repeated. He also condemned Syria for carrying out the "unacceptable" air strikes. But Damascus, in its first comments on the attacks, denied it was involved. Concerning the situation in the northern city of Tripoli, al-Rahi called on residents to end battles and reach common ground by disassociation the city from the developments in Syria. Gunfight erupted in Tripoli when a soldier was wounded along with his brother after gunmen entered the state hospital in the area of al-Qobbeh and opened fire at him. Tripoli has been witnessing deadly clashes between supporters and opponents of the Damascus regime for several years now. The majority of Bab al-Tabbaneh residents are Sunni and back the revolution against Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Jabal Mohsen's residents are mainly Alawites from Assad's sect.

Shock was needed to end deadlock: Mikati
March 24, 2013/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in comments published Sunday his decision to resign was aimed at ending the political deadlock in Lebanon, while Speaker Nabih Berri urged the opposition to return to National Dialogue to discuss the formation of a government and a new elections law. “My decision was personal and the result of deep contemplation over the interests of the country,” Mikati told An-Nahar newspaper. “More than one reason led me to my decision,” he added. He said that in the last session of Cabinet Thursday he genuinely felt “there were no options on the horizon but more divisions instead, with the country nearing the elections and constitutional deadlines, whether on the matter of Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi’s retirement or the deadline for the parliamentary polls.”
“For me there needed to be a shock that could break the [political] deadlock in the hope of reshuffling the deck and pushing toward a new arrangement for the situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Berri, who also spoke to the local newspaper, called on the March 14 coalition to return to National Dialogue, given that their demand Mikati step down has been met.
“I say to them [March 14]: My brothers, the road is [now] clear for Dialogue under the auspices of President [Michel] Sleiman.”
According to the paper, Berri expressed hope that at least one National Dialogue session be convened ahead of Sleiman’s launching of parliamentary consultations during which only two items would be addressed: the formation of a new government and the elections law. The March 14 coalition suspended participation in National Dialogue in October 2011, months after its relaunch by Sleiman in June of the same year.
The opposition’s decision came soon after the assassination of a top security official. It accused Syria of being behind the incident and also held the government responsible for providing what it described as “political cover” for the assassination to take place. The March 14 alliance stipulated it would only return to National Dialogue after Mikati’s government resigned. It also called for the formation of a “neutral salvation cabinet” to oversee the 2013 elections. The opposition coalition insists that only one item remains on the agenda of the National Dialogue Committee: Hezbollah’s weapons, which it deems illegitimate. Hezbollah regards its arsenal as essential for the defense of Lebanon against aggression from Israel, the group’s sworn enemy.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said the refusal of the March 8 coalition to extend Rifi's term, and in turn that of the Army commander, was the last straw that prompted Mikati to step down.
In an interview with a Saudi newspaper, Geagea said “Mikat's resignation demonstrated how he could no longer continue with the current ministerial majority given the way they are behaving.”
“This majority pretended to be good with Mikati in the first year in an attempt to create a Sunni post in the face of [former] Prime Minister Saad Hariri,” he added. He argued that the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition had allowed Mikati to have his way by agreeing to fund the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) as well as keeping Rifi and slain Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan in their posts.
“The other group thought it was time for Mikati to repay them,” Geagea said, noting that Hezbollah and its ally Syrian President Bashar Assad sought to deliver a blow to the Internal Security Forces and the Lebanese Army.
“What has been circulating is that Hezbollah was preparing Ali Hajj [to take over Rifi's post] and one of Michel Aoun's relative to lead the Army and it seems these two things represented the last straw that broke the camel's back and forced Mikati to submit his resignation,” he said. In 2005, Hajj, a former police chief, and three other senior security officials were detained and later released by the STL, which is probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Geagea also said that the resignation of the government had tipped the balance of power in favor of the March 14 coalition.
“As for the domestic balance of power, I think in all cases the March 8 forces will be in a weaker position while the March 14 alliance will become stronger,” he said.

Mossad spy' spilled secrets to Hezbollah: report
March 24, 2013 /Daily Star/BERLIN: A man identified by media as an Australian-Israeli Mossad agent and found hanged in a Tel Aviv jail had passed secrets to Hezbollah before his death, an influential German magazine reported Sunday. News weekly Der Spiegel said Ben Zygier, a man known as "Prisoner X" who died in 2010 in an allegedly suicide-proof cell, had handed tips to the Lebanese group that led to the arrest of at least two people spying for Israel. After conducting its own "internal investigations", the report found that Zygier had started working for Mossad in 2003, investigating European companies doing business with Iran and Syria.
It said Zygier -- who was raised in Melbourne but moved to Israel about a decade before his death -- was ordered back to Israel in 2007 because his bosses were unhappy with his work.
In 2008 he took a leave of absence, Spiegel said, and returned to Melbourne to finish his studies after trying to recruit new agents for Israel in a bid to restore his standing with his bosses.
In the process he came in contact with Hezbollah supporters, Spiegel said, and while trying to convince them to work for Mossad, disastrously spilled highly sensitive information.
This included the names of Lebanese nationals Ziad al-Homsi and Mustafa Ali Awadeh, who were arrested in May 2009 on charges of spying for Israel and later sentenced to several years of hard labour.
The report said Israeli security authorities had told Zygier after his arrest that they wanted to make an example of him and demanded a prison sentence of at least 10 years.
Zygier was found dead in his cell in December 2010 at the age of 34.

Intense fighting in n. Lebanon claims more lives
March 24, 2013/By Misbah al-Ali/The Daily Star
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Intense fighting over a period of three days in the northern city of Tripoli has claimed the lives of 12 people, security sources said Sunday, as the Lebanese Army continued its drive to end the deadly clashes between supporters and opponents of President Bashar Assad.
The sources said most of the fatalities, including a Lebanese solider, were the result of sniper fire, adding that some 25 others were wounded.
Saturday night saw intense clashes between the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, ending a tenuous cease-fire put in place a day earlier. The fighting between Bab al-Tabbaneh, a neighborhood with a majority Sunni population that supports the Syrian uprising, and Jabal Mohsen, where Lebanon’s Alawite community resides, tapered off in the early hours of Sunday. At around 9 p.m. Saturday, the Lebanese Army carried out several raids in the two neighborhoods, as part of their plan to clear the streets of gunmen. While not apprehending any of the combatants, soldiers did confiscate large quantities of weapons used in the battles, including rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns. Clashes between the two sides renewed at around midnight and continued for a period of two hours before tapering off.
Residents said the situation in the city was dire.
“People here are living in tragic circumstances,” one resident told The Daily Star Sunday. “My 12-year-old daughter could not sleep all night because of the sound of gunfire,” the father said. The once bustling streets of Downtown Tripoli were deserted Sunday morning with the sound of intermittent sniper fire keeping many residents away from shops and public places.
Despite the tension in city, Christian families celebrated Palm Sunday at ceremonies held in different churches throughout the city, amid a heavy security presence.
Residents who spoke to The Daily Star voiced particular alarm over the violence on the previous day, saying that unlike previous rounds of clashes, Salafist militants had joined fighters in Bab al-Tabbaneh.
They linked the appearance of Salafist fighters to the recent fallout in Cabinet over extending the term of police chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, who hails from the city and retires on April 1.
Lebanon was without a government Saturday after President Michel Sleiman accepted the resignation of the Cabinet.
Now caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, who also hails from Tripoli, said his decision to quit came after ministers failed to pass Rifi’s extension and the formation of an elections supervisory committee.
Meanwhile, the Army vowed to apprehend the “killers” of the slain soldier, Hassan Diab. His funeral was held Sunday in his hometown in south Lebanon.
Reading a statement on behalf of Army head Gen. Jean Kahwagi during the procession, Col. Adnan Ezzeddine said the Army “would not rest until it captures the criminal killers and bring them to justice.”
“[Hassan’s] martyrdom was for the sake of every citizen in these difficult circumstances that the nation is going through,” he said.
Ezzeddine, quoting Kahwagi, also called on the Lebanese to remain committed to the culture of openness and coexistence.
Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, who visited Tripoli Saturday, warned that the situation in the northern city was dire and urged Parliament to take steps to help curb the violence there.
“There are some who want trouble in Lebanon, some media being among them, but there is something more important and what is happening in Tripoli is [grave] and is linked to regional [developments],” he said, in a reference to the conflict in Syria. “We hope there will be a genuine understanding. I have faith in Speaker Nabih Berri and urge him to convene a session of Parliament to sign a pact that has the headline ‘Security in Lebanon’, particularly in Tripoli,” he added. Residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen have been fighting on and off since 2008. However, tensions and clashes between both the sides have increased in frequency and intensity since the Syrian uprising began in 2011.

Residents snatch cameras off U.N. troops in s. Lebanon
March 24, 2013/The Daily Star/SIDON, Lebanon: South Lebanon residents obstructed Sunday a unit belonging to the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the village of Yatel, Bint Jbeil, and took their electronic devices, security sources told The Daily Star. The sources said that a group of people from the Bint Jbeil district blocked the path in front of a unit of Ghanaian and Malaysian peacekeepers after the UNFIL members took photographs in the area.Cameras and mobile phones belonging to the peacekeepers were stolen, the sources said, adding that there was no physical confrontation between U.N. personnel and the residents. The head of UNIFIL, Maj. Gen. Paolo Serra, has warned against the confiscation of equipment belonging to the U.N. peacekeepers.

Hezbollah slams Mikati, says resignation worsens paralysis
March 24, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Hezbollah slammed Sunday Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati for throwing in the towel, saying the country now faced further paralysis.
Meanwhile, the opposition Future parliamentary bloc reiterated its praise for Mikati, saying his decision was a step toward the reactivation of National Dialogue. “The resignation was not a surprise to any of us because we had already said, way back during the [government’s] formation, that it would only last until the beginning of the elections,” Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammad Raad said.
However, the Hezbollah official still criticized Mikati’s move to step down, saying the Tripoli lawmaker had run out of ways of preserving security.
“The issue was not about the refusing to extend [the mandate] of an employee at an institution but rather the prime minister exhausted what he was able to offer in terms of maintaining stability in Lebanon,” he told a gathering in south Lebanon.“Or maybe he sensed hurricanes on the horizon and wanted to distance himself from them, given that he is the author of the self-disassociation theory,” he said, referring to the country’s self-avowed policy of remaining neutral on regional development and crises, particularly in Syrian. Mikati announced the resignation of his Cabinet Friday, citing fallout in the government over the extension of Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi’s mandate as police chief as well as the formation of an elections committee to oversee the upcoming parliamentary polls. Hezbollah has voiced objections to extending the term of Rifi, who they view as close to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Future Movement, which heads the country’s opposition. The resistance party and its allies in the March 8 coalition also oppose the formation of the elections supervisory body, viewing its approval as a step toward holding the elections under the 1960 law. Raad was also critical of Mikati’s justification for throwing in the towel. “The prime minister, who sought to avoid a paralysis at a security institution, has created a political and security vacuum by resigning,” he said.In a separate speech also Sunday, Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad warned his rivals in the March 14 coalition not to view the resignation as an opportunity to set conditions, “as that would be a grave mistake that will prevent solutions.”Mikati’s resignation also drew the ire of Lebanese Democratic Party Talal Arslan, one of President Bashar Assad's closest allies in Lebanon.
"I will not talk today about the result of the disgusting Cabinet resignation where personal interests were combined with the global game which prove the level of recklessness and short-sighted [thinking] of those who were supposed to be at the level of responsibility in the country,” Arslan told visitors.Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, head of the Future parliamentary bloc, reiterated Sunday his praise of Mikati’s decision to step down, describing it as a positive step toward restarting the stalled National Dialogue and the drafting of a new electoral law to govern the upcoming polls.
“The government resigned and paved the way to a return to the Dialogue table but on the basis that the Dialogue's previous decisions are implemented,” Siniora told reporters in Sidon, south Lebanon.
He added that decisions made during previous Dialogue sessions should be carried out in order to encourage politicians to continue in the inter-party talks.“The president will call for parliamentary consultations [to name a prime minister-designate to form a new Cabinet] and explore the potential of restarting National Dialogue but [we should] implement what we agreed on previously, including the Baabda Declaration ... and agree on a new electoral law that will govern the elections,” he said. President Michel Sleiman relaunched the National Dialogue committee in June 2012 when rival leaders agreed to the so-called “Baabda Declaration” to keep Lebanon at a distance from turmoil in the region, particularly Syria. However, the Future Movement suspended its participation in the talks following the October assassination of a top security official and demanded the formation of a “neutral salvation Cabinet” to oversee the polls.Siniora, who described Mikati’s decision to quit as a “sound” one, said inflexibility on the part of the March 8 coalition had led to Friday’s announcement. “When he did not find anyone supporting this stance [concerning Rifi], which is a normal result given the nature of this one-party government that does not represent a big part of the Lebanese ... the resignation was the result of [government's] stubbornness in refusing to find the means to guarantee the continuity of this [security] agency.”He added that Rifi’s term could still be extended once and on an exceptional basis via a petition signed by half of the MPs in order to hold a legislative session and approve the appeal. “In a new government, we could reappoint Rifi to his post given that he would have become a civilian eligible for that,” he said.

Kassar 'Permanent' Candidate to Premiership, Says Consensus Important
Naharnet /Head of the Economic Committees Adnan Kassar said on Sunday that he is a “permanent” candidate to the premiership, considering that he is able to take the country to safety. “Whenever the country enters political vacuum, parties propose my name to the premiership as they have confidence that I can guarantee the country's safety,” Kassar said in an interview with the Saudi Okaz newspaper. The former minister said that he would accept the post if all the Lebanese parties agree on the matter. Media reports said that consultations to form a new government are expected to kick off after the Easter holidays.
“I am not seeking to become a Prime Minister but I will not evade any national consensus over my candidacy,” Kassar said.He stressed that he rejects any condition imposed on him to assume the tasks of the prime minister.
Prime Minister Najib Miqati announced his resignation on Friday night in light of the cabinet's failure to approve the decisions to form of an authority to oversee the parliamentary elections and extend the term of Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi. He said that all political powers “must assume their responsibilities in order to steer Lebanon away from the unknown.”Reactions to Miqati's step were mixed with some sides calling for the formation of a salvation government and others condemning his step at such a critical time in the region and ahead of the parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for June 9. Kassar told the newspaper that the current political situation will not be rectified unless a national salvation government is formed.He hailed the efforts exerted by Miqati to safeguard the country.“Lebanon can not endure any political void,” Kassar added.He considered the the economy situation is stable despite the resignation of the government

Reciprocal kidnappings hit Arsal area
Now Lebanon/Armed men in Beqaa’s Hermel on Sunday abducted a man in the town of Al-Bustan, after which members of his family reportedly kidnapped a number of people in retaliation. Thirty-year-old Hussein Kamel Jaafar was kidnapped near the Beqaa town of Arsal, the National News Agency reported, adding that the the family of the abducted man threatened to block the Al-Labwa road connecting Arsal to the Beqaa International Highway in case he is not released. The Jaafar clan also kidnapped two men and threatened to carry out further counter-abductions, according to MTV.
Arsal residents blamed the incident on the Free Syrian Army, and told MTV that gunmen stepped out of a black four-wheel-drive car and headed towards Jaafar’s pick-up truck, after which they kidnapped him and took him to the Syrian town of Fleeta. The Jaafar family is one of the larger clans in the Beqaa. Abductions have greatly multiplied over the course of the past months, which prompted Lebanon’s President Michel Suleiman to discuss the issue with the Supreme Defense Council in February. Speaker Nabih Berri also commented on this matter and urged the country’s political forces to counter this recurrent phenomenon.

Assir urges self-restraint after attack on his followers
Now Lebanon/Sunni Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir called on his supporters across Lebanon to refrain from retaliating after gunshots were fired near his Sidon Mosque. The Sunni cleric’s press office released a statement explaining that “around seven in the evening, a number of Sidon residents assaulted some Assir supporters near the Bilal Bin Rabbah Mosque… and fired gunshots.”The statement added that one of the assailants was apprehended and handed over to the security forces.  Assir has been at the center of controversy in recent weeks, especially after causing disturbances in Sidon following calls to hold sit-ins in protest against the alleged deployment of gunmen affiliated with the Shiite party Hezbollah in apartments near his mosque in Abra. The firebrand Sunni cleric rose to prominence for his outspoken opposition to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his calls for disarming the Shiite party Hezbollah.

Sadr was murdered, Libyan official tells NOW
Now Lebanon/A Libyan official told NOW on Sunday that Shiite Imam Moussa Sadr was killed, ending thus a controversy on the spiritual leader’s mysterious disappearance in 1978.
“Sadr was murdered, and his killers are now detained in a Libya prison,” Political Advisor of the First Deputy of the National Conference for the Libyan Opposition Khaled al-Tarjaman told NOW contributor Salama Abdul Latif in an exclusive interview. The official explained that investigations have revealed the identity of the murderers, who turned out to be “former officials and symbols of the regime” of slain President Moammar Kadhafi.
Tarjaman added that the first deputy will “unveil some facts concerning this issue” after a period of time, without adding further details.
Sadr, a charismatic and revered Shiite spiritual leader and founder of Lebanon’s Amal Movement, had been officially invited to Libya in 1978 during the rule of former Libyan leader Moammar Kadhafi, along with an aide and a journalist. However, the three men have not been seen since. Kadhafi was the last person to have met with Sadr, making him the primary suspect in the Shiite leader’s kidnapping. Nevertheless, the Libyan dictator had always maintained that the cleric had left Libya for Italy; a claim that had never been proven true.

Kataeb leader calls for national dialogue
Now Lebanon/Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel called on Lebanon’s political parties to convene at the national dialogue table in the wake of the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s cabinet.
“The situation is critical… National dialogue has become an urgent necessity,” Gemayel’s press office quoted him as saying on Sunday following discussions with Future Movement leader Saad Hariri and Future bloc leader MP Fouad Siniora. The opposition official also urged the country’s political figures to “refrain from negatively approaching Miqati’s resignation.” Lebanon’s government fell on Friday evening after Prime Minister Najib Miqati resigned from his office, dropping a political bombshell on a country suffering a week of sectarian strife that saw intense clashes explode in Tripoli. This resignation came after the cabinet failed to approve the formation of a supervisory electoral body and did not vote on the extension of the tenure of Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi.

Three Men Kidnapped in Arsal as Response to Jaafar Clan Member Abduction
Naharnet/Three men were kidnapped on Sunday in the Bekaa town of Arsal, the National News Agency reported. This incident comes after Baalbeck's thirty-years old Hussein Kamel Jaafar was abducted earlier on Sunday.
"The three man are Mohammed Rayed, Ashraf Rayed and Malek al-Hojeiri,” the NNA detailed. “Gunmen in Arsal have kidnapped a Hermel resident,” al-Mayadeen television said Sunday afternoon, adding that he was handed over to the Free Syrian Army. "Gunmen in a black SUV have kidnapped Jaafar and headed to the Syria town of Fleita,” MTV detailed. "Arsal residents have accused the FSA of kidnapping Jaafar,” said MTV. "The Jaafar clan urged their family member's immediate release,” the NNA said. Meanwhile, MTV reported that they have threatened to execute tit-for-tat abduction operations following Hussein's abduction. OTV said: “The number of kidnapped people in Arsal has increased to five.”The NNA noted that the army has heavily deployed its forces in the region while radio Voice of Lebanon (93.3) pointed out to a remarkable presence of Jaafar gunmen in the area.

Hizbullah Official Says Resignation Was a 'Misstep': Those Who Resigned Will No Longer Be Assigned
Naharnet/Hizbullah's Bekaa chief Mohammed Yaghi considered on Sunday that Prime Minister Najib Miqati's resignation was a “misstep”, revealing that “he will no longer be nominated to head a cabinet”.
"Those who have submitted their resignation will not be nominated to head the future cabinet because we want to protect Lebanon in these tough times,” Yaghi said at an event celebrating Mother's Day in the Bekaa town of Shmestar "We did not force them to form a cabinet before.”"Miqati's resignation came at a time when Lebanon is facing a huge challenge,” he expressed, saying that the step was made “in a hurry and entails many considerations behind it.”He stated: “This is not how states are protected and statesmen should safeguard people's fates.” "He (Miqati) shouldn't have justified the resignation through citing disagreements over assigning a public employee or the formation of an electoral committee.”Yaghi added: “We are looking towards nominating a new premier and forming a national unity cabinet that would work through and fix the crises.”
Miqati announced the resignation of his government on Friday, citing divisions on several domestic issues, and called for the formation of a national unity government. The resignation came after the cabinet's session failed to approve the decisions to form of an authority to oversee the parliamentary elections and extend the term of Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi.

Cabinet resignation is “disgusting,” LDP chief says
Now Lebanon/Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan expressed his discontent with the recent stepping down of caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati from his post. “The cabinet’s resignation is disgusting. Selfish and personal interests have become intertwined with [politics],” Arslan said in a statement issued by his press office on Sunday. He also questioned the real reason behind Miqati’s move. “There is a [hidden goal] behind the resignation of Najib Miqati’s cabinet,” Arslan added. Lebanon’s government fell on Friday evening after Miqati resigned from his office, bringing an end to a cabinet that was created less than two years ago, after March 8 toppled former Premier Saad Hariri’s national unity government. This resignation came after the cabinet failed to approve the formation of a supervisory electoral body and did not vote on the extension of the tenure of Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi.

Bassil: Cabinet’s resignation could lead to strife
Now Lebanon/Caretaker Energy Minister Gebran Bassil commented on the recently resigned Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s move, saying it could lead to grave consequences.“The cabinet’s resignation… has taken us to [a situation] close to strife,” Bassil said in a conference he held on Sunday in his Batroun residence. The March 8 official said that he was “not surprised by the government’s fall,” citing the end of its mandate as the major reason behind this event. “This cabinet had a certain term, and it was normal that it ended when the time to hold the elections came.” “It is strange [though] that the government would quit because of [Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf] Rifi and the supervisory electoral body, while all the security problems failed to [topple] it,” Bassil added. He later expressed his “sadness as a minister” about the cabinet’s resignation, saying that “we had reached a stage when the results of my ministry’s works were about to show.” Lebanon’s government fell on Friday evening after Prime Minister Najib Miqati resigned from his office, dropping a political bombshell on a country suffering a week of sectarian strife that saw intense clashes explode in Tripoli. The escalating tension also saw a controversy surrounding the tenure of the ISF chief, who like Miqati is a prominent Sunni figure from Tripoli. This resignation came after the cabinet failed to approve the formation of a supervisory electoral body and did not vote on the extension of the tenure of ISF chief Ashraf Rifi. Bassil also tackled the issue of the controversial 1960 electoral law, blaming the government for opening the door to the adoption of this law in the upcoming parliamentary elections. “How can the cabinet take the country towards [adopting] the 1960 law when the majority of its members openly object to it?” He went on to criticize President Michel Suleiman for “overruling the Christian consensus over refusing the 1960 law.” Earlier this month, Suleiman and caretaker Premier Najib Miqati signed a decree to hold the elections on June 9, a move that would have the elections take place according to the current 1960 law if the country’s political parties fail to reach a consensus on a new electoral draft. This decision sparked angry responses from the March 8 coalition, who refuse to contest an election under the 1960 law and advocate for the adoption of the sectarian-based Orthodox proposal, which was approved by the joint parliamentary commissions in February.

Adwan Announces LF Will Take Part in National Dialogue, Geagea Will Personally Participate
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan announced on Sunday that his party will participate in the national dialogue sessions through which agreements over an electoral law and the formation of a new cabinet could be reached. "(LF leader) Samir Geagea will personally participate at the dialogue session,” Adwan revealed in an interview on al-Jadeed television. Adwan noted, however, that the LF has not taken a decision yet concerning their nominee to head the future cabinet, awaiting discussions with its March 14 allies. He stated: “There is a big chance the elections might not take place before June 20. But there is a huge difference between extending the parliament's term for few months awaiting an agreement over an electoral law and between a long-term extension that could last up to two years.” In a statement he gave to MTV, Adwan remarked that a hybrid electoral law “is the best option to be adopted.”The Lebanese Forces has suspended its participation in the national dialogue sessions, explaining that it is because “Hizbullah did not commit to the Baabda Declaration.” In the Baabda Declaration, rival March 8 and 14 alliance leaders have affirmed their commitment to the Taef Accord and agreed to distance Lebanon from the policy of regional and international conflicts./Naharnet

Britain: Lebanon needs more ‘consensual government’
March 24, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Britain expressed concern over the weekend on the situation in Lebanon following the resignation of the government and called for the formation of a “consensual government.”
“We are monitoring the situation in Lebanon carefully, following Prime Minister [Najib] Mikati’s offer of resignation,” Foreign Secretary William Hague said, according to a press release on the Foreign Ministry’s website Saturday. “I am also very concerned about the violence in Tripoli in recent days,” he added, referring to the recent clashes in Lebanon's second largest city. Recurrent fighting in the port city between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad has led to scores of fatalities and hundreds of wounded since the uprising began in 2011. Hague praised Mikati, while noting the “mounting challenges” facing Lebanon from the conflict in its neighbor. The British official called on all parties to prioritize national interests and work to form a “more consensual government.”“It is also critical that they reach a broad consensus to enable parliamentary elections to take place within the legal and constitutional framework and to support the work of the Lebanese security forces to maintain peace and protect Lebanon’s territorial integrity,” Hague said. “We fully support the efforts of President [Michel] Sleiman in this process,” he added. Mikati, who formed his 30 member Cabinet in June 2011, tendered his government’s resignation to Sleiman Saturday. The Tripoli lawmaker cited disagreement among ministers over extending the term of the country’s police chief and an elections committee to oversee the June 9 parliamentary polls. Mikati said he hoped the resignation of the government would pave the way for the resumption of the stalled National Dialogue in an effort toward the formation of a national “salvation Cabinet.”

Iran denies link to group arrested in Saudi Arabia
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's foreign ministry said the country was not linked to a group of alleged spies arrested in Saudi Arabia, Iranian media reported on Sunday.Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that it had detained an Iranian, a Lebanese, and 16 Saudis for spying. Political analysts and media in Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia have accused Shi'ite Iran of being behind the alleged espionage. The two countries are locked in a struggle for influence across the region, backing opposing sides in Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. Gulf Arab foreign ministers, meeting in Riyadh last month, condemned what they said was Iranian "meddling" in their countries - an accusation Tehran rejects.Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, denied that an Iranian national was involved in the alleged spy ring and called the allegations a "repetitive scenario", according to Iran's English-language Press TV on Sunday. "Raising such baseless issues at the media level is merely for domestic consumption," he said, according to Press TV. A spokesman for Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry said on Sunday the alleged spies were "collecting information, vital information about a number of installations" but did not specify what these were or whether they were connected to oil output. Leaders of Saudi Arabia's Shi'ite minority have also criticized the arrests of 16 members of their community, which they said sought to exploit sectarian tension.The Saudi government has previously blamed unrest among Shi'ites in the Qatif district of oil-producing Eastern Province on an unnamed foreign power, which officials privately acknowledge means Iran - a charge local Shi'ite activists have denied. Sixteen people have been killed in Qatif in clashes with police in the past two years. Riyadh also accuses Tehran of having masterminded an alleged plot to assassinate its ambassador in Washington that was announced by U.S. police in late 2011. Iran denies this. Kuwait said in 2010 it had uncovered an Iranian spy ring, Yemen said last year it had arrested Iranian spies and that Tehran was backing rebels in the north, and Bahrain has accused Iran of plotting attacks on its territory. Tehran has denied all these charges. (Reporting By Yeganeh Torbati; Additional reporting by Angus McDowall in Riyadh; Editing by Stephen Powell)

Arab League says Syrian opposition to attend summit
DOHA (Reuters) - Leaders of Syria's main opposition group will attend an Arab League summit this week, the Qatari prime minister said on Sunday, looking for more support for the armed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. The Arab League has suspended Assad's membership and recognized the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) as the legitimate representative of the people of Syria where a two-year civil conflict has killed more than 70,000 people. Qatar's prime minister welcomed the SNC's appointment of Ghassan Hitto as provisional prime minister - an appointment which upset liberals in the coalition who said the SNC was becoming dominated by foreign influences and the Muslim Brotherhood. "We look forward to their participation in the Arab summit the day after tomorrow (Tuesday)," Sheikh Hamad in Jabr al-Thani said at the opening of an Arab foreign ministers meeting in Doha, the Qatari capital where the summit will also take place. Arab League foreign ministers agreed March 6 to let member nations arm Syrian rebels, and invited the opposition coalition to take the League seat formerly occupied by Damascus.Previously the League had said only that the Syrian political opposition and rebels should be supported by humanitarian and diplomatic means.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia have championed Syrian rebels, and called on the U.N. Security Council to adopt resolutions to end the conflict that has also displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
(Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by William Maclean and Robin Pomeroy)

Israel fires into Syria after Golan attack on troops
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said it fired into Syria on Sunday and destroyed a machinegun position in the Golan Heights from where shots had been fired at Israeli soldiers in a further spillover of the Syrian civil war along a tense front. It was not immediately clear whether Israel held Syrian troops or rebels responsible for what a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said had been a deliberate attack on Israeli patrols in the occupied territory. Israeli forces "destroyed a Syrian machine gun nest that fired twice in the last 24 hours on Israeli patrols operating to safeguard the border," the spokesman, Ofir Gendelman, said on his Twitter page.
Shells have fallen several times inside Israeli-controlled territory during Syria's civil war. Some of the incidents have drawn Israeli return fire.
Syria's southern provinces bordering Jordan and Israel have become an increasingly significant battleground as the capital Damascus - in Syria's south - comes into play and President Bashar al-Assad's forces fight hard to prevent rebel advances. The Israeli military said one of its vehicles was hit late on Saturday by shooting from across the Israeli-Syrian ceasefire line on the Golan Heights, but no one was hurt.
Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, said, "Our understanding is that it wasn't stray fire." After a second incident on Sunday, Israeli soldiers "responded with accurate fire toward the Syrian post from which they were fired on", the military said. Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement that Israel viewed shooting from Syria "with severity" and would not allow "the Syrian army or any other element to violate Israeli sovereignty by firing at our territory". Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed the strategic plateau in 1981 in a move that has not won international recognition.
"Any ... fire from the Syrian side will be answered immediately by silencing the sources of fire when we identify them," Yaalon said. Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli Defence Ministry official, said battles between Syrian government forces and Syrian rebels sometimes take place just a short distance from Israeli lines. "At times, shells or bullets are fired at Israel. Usually the shooting (from Syria) is not deliberate, but it doesn't matter," he told Army Radio.
"Israel should not be the target of any attack, whether intentional or unintentional - because after all, if you accept something that was unintentional, that could lead to something intentional in the end," Gilad said.
Israel has said for months that it expects Assad's government to fall and has voiced concern that its chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas and al Qaeda.
Israeli President Shimon Peres has called for Assad to step down.(Reporting by Dan Williams and Jeffrey Heller Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Police confirm second Canadian linked to Algeria gas plant attack
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian police said on Saturday that they had identified a second Canadian among the dead suspects in a January attack and hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant. Around 70 people died when Algerian troops stormed the Tigantourine desert gas plant near the town of In Amenas and ended the siege. Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said at the time that a Canadian gunman had coordinated the operation. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were dispatched to Algeria to investigate. A spokesman for Canada's national police force said in an e-mail on Saturday that a second Canadian had been identified from the remains of the alleged attackers. "Our investigation into this matter continues and no further information will be given at this time," the spokesman said. U.S. intelligence officials had said in January that signs that Canadian citizens were involved in the attack by Islamist militants were of great concern to American authorities. The possibility that Canadian citizens were involved in the attack on the facility in the Algerian desert raised concerns among security officials about a worrying nexus between North America and North African militants. (Reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Jeffrey Hodgson in Toronto; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

Syria opposition in disarray as head resigns
March 24, 2013/By Serene Assir/BEIRUT: Opposition chief Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib on Sunday announced his resignation from the National Coalition, throwing Syria's divided opposition into disarray ahead of an Arab summit. "I announce my resignation from the National Coalition, so that I can work with a freedom that cannot possibly be had in an official institution," Khatib said in a statement posted on his Facebook page.
Neither the Coalition's presidential office nor its general assembly has yet accepted Khatib's resignation, the group said in a statement.
"Some Coalition members have asked Khatib to return to his post," an opposition source told AFP, adding that the group had yet to decide whether to accept Khatib's announcement.
And key opposition backer Qatar called on Khatib to reverse his decision, the official news agency QNA reported, citing Prime Minister and top diplomat Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani.
Hamad said he "hoped Khatib will reconsider his decision to resign, because it has come at a critical and important moment", QNA said.
Khatib's announcement threw Syria's divided opposition into chaos just two days before Arab heads of state were due to decide in Doha whether to give it Damascus's vacant seat in the Arab League.
Set up in Doha in November, the Coalition is a dissident group recognised by dozens of states and organisations as legitimate representative of the Syrian people. Khatib's surprise resignation came just days after the first election in Istanbul of a rebel prime minister, Ghassan Hitto, and just over two years on from the outbreak of a popular revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.
"For the past two years, we have been slaughtered by an unprecedentedly vicious regime, while the world has looked on," Khatib said. "I had made a promise to our great people that I would resign if any red lines were crossed." An opposition source in Doha, where the Arab League is to hold a summit on Tuesday, told AFP that Khatib accused "certain countries, notably Qatar, of wanting to control the opposition" and of having imposed Hitto. US Secretary of State John Kerry, reacting to the resignation while on a visit to Baghdad, said: "It is not a surprise ... It's almost inevitable, in the transition of a group such as the opposition, for these kinds of changes to take place." Coinciding with the resignation, an official in the rebel Free Syrian Army which has been fighting the regime for the past two years told AFP it does not recognise Hitto as rebel premier.
"We in the Free Syrian Army do not recognise Ghassan Hitto as prime minister," said FSA political and media coordinator Louay Muqdad.
"I speak on behalf of the (rebel) military councils and the chief of staff when I say that we cannot recognise a prime minister who was forced on the National Coalition, rather than chosen by consensus," Muqdad said.
Hitto himself on Sunday, after having pledged to set up a government based inside Syria, visited the northern province of Aleppo, large swathes of which are under rebel control, according to the Syrian interim government's Facebook page. He "held a two-hour meeting with a delegation bringing together (anti-regime) Aleppo province local council officials and representatives of the judicial council", said the statement.
Hajji al-Bab, the No 2 of the Liwa al-Tawhid rebel brigade in Aleppo, said Khatib's resignation would make no difference on the ground.
The resignation "has no impact on the ground because we didn't vote for him. It concerns those who elected him, not the fighters," he told AFP.
Hitto won an election in Istanbul after 35 out of 49 Coalition members voted for him following 14 hours of discussion in a closed meeting between key dissidents from inside Syria and abroad.
In Doha, with the opposition fragmented, Arab foreign ministers meeting ahead of a summit on Tuesday made no announcement on who would take up Syria's seat, vacant since the League's suspension of Damascus in November 2011. According to a League official who declined to be named, the decision has been left to the full summit. Before Khatib's announcement, the National Coalition's envoy to Doha, Nizar al-Haraki, said his group has has been invited to the summit, and that Khatib and Hitto were expected to arrive soon. The Arab League on March 6 called on the coalition "to form an executive body to take up Syria's seat" and attend the summit, although Iraq and Algeria have expressed reservations, while Lebanon has distanced itself from the decision.

France's Le Point Magazine: Rumor about Assad's Death Invades the Internet
Naharnet /A rumor about the death of Syrian President Bashar Assad was massively shared on social media websites on Sunday, the French weekly magazine Le Point reported. "News about Assad being shot dead by his Iranian bodyguard have not been confirmed yet,” the magazine said, revealing that the opposition's Free Syrian Army has denied such reports. Noting that "tweets and Facebook comments helped in largely and rapidly disseminating the rumor”, Le Point remarked: “Social media websites were the primary source of this rumor.” The reported news shared that Assad was shot on Saturday and was transferred to a Damascus hospital, as roads were blocked and buildings surrounding the location were firmly seized by the Syrian army. Meanwhile, other websites said: “Israeli and Lebanese sources have confirmed the death of Syria's president.”/Naharnet

Kerry Warns Iraq PM on Iran-Syria Overflights
Naharnet/U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pressed Iraq to stop allowing Iranian flights apparently carrying military equipment through its airspace headed to Syria, on a surprise visit to Baghdad on Sunday.
Kerry warned Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that Washington was "watching what Iraq is doing", the highest-level criticism yet of Baghdad for not inspecting flights which Tehran insists are carrying humanitarian supplies.
The one-day visit, the first to Iraq by a U.S. secretary of state since 2009, also focused on American concerns that months of protests in the country's Sunni-majority provinces will give militant groups including al-Qaida room to manoeuvre. It comes just days after the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that ousted Saddam Hussein amid concerns of flagging American influence barely a year after U.S. forces withdrew.
"I made very clear to the prime minister that the overflights from Iran are in fact helping to sustain President (Bashar) Assad and his regime," Kerry told reporters in Baghdad after meeting Maliki.
He added that he told Maliki that American politicians were "watching what Iraq is doing" and noted that anything that helped Assad was "problematic".
"So my hope is we will be able to make some progress on this," he said.
For months, Washington has accused Baghdad of turning a blind eye as Tehran sends military equipment through Iraqi airspace, and has called on authorities to make random, unannounced inspections.
Although American officials have often expressed frustration with Iraq's lack of inspections, Kerry is the most senior official yet to criticize Baghdad.
Iraq announced two inspections of aircraft, both in October 2012, but the New York Times reported in December that Iran appears to have been tipped off by Iraqi officials as to when inspections would be conducted, so helping Tehran avoid detection. Iran has remained a steadfast ally of Assad's regime despite the conflict in his country which according to the United Nations has killed more than 70,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.
Kerry also pushed for Iraq's Shiite-led government to better engage with its Sunni Arab minority, who have been protesting since December over the alleged targeting of their community by the authorities.
In particular, he urged Maliki and his cabinet to "revisit" a decision to postpone provincial elections scheduled for April 20 in two large Sunni-majority provinces.
"We believe very strongly that everybody needs to vote simultaneously," he said. Kerry said Maliki told him it was "appropriate to revisit" the decision.
America's top diplomat also met Iraq's parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a senior leader of the Sunni-backed Iraqiya movement that is part of Maliki's national unity cabinet but has boycotted government meetings.
A Western diplomat warned this month that Washington was concerned by "the vacuum that it (the protest movement in Sunni Arab provinces) creates for al-Qaida to come in and play a role."
Kerry's visit comes amid claims of waning American influence in Iraq, particularly since the December 2011 withdrawal of U.S. forces, and concerns that Baghdad's Shiite neighbor Iran wields greater clout.
"The full withdrawal of the U.S. military ... reduced our leverage," Ryan Crocker, a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said in an address to the Carnegie Council in Washington on March 21.
"It is time to engage in a serious, sustained and high-level manner and, through that engagement, exert a greater influence with all the parties."
The American mission to Iraq, however, remains the biggest in the world and U.S. officials have consistently disputed arguments that Washington's influence is on the decline.
The visit to Iraq is Kerry's latest on a Middle East tour, the first part conducted alongside U.S. President Barack Obama, that has also taken him to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan.
Agence France Presse

Policy Takeaways from Obama's Visit to Israel and the West Bank
Robert Satloff/Washington Istitute
The president tilted U.S. policy toward Israel in substantive ways, especially with regard to resuming peace talks with the Palestinians and repairing Israel-Turkish ties.
The main news story of President Obama's Middle East trip was his intensive focus on engineering an emotional reset with both the leadership and people of Israel. His two prepared texts (the speech to Israeli youths at the Jerusalem Convention Center and his toast to President Shimon Peres upon receiving Israel's Medal of Distinction) stand alongside his 2011 UN General Assembly speech as the most powerful endorsements of Zionism ever delivered by an incumbent president -- not just a defense of Israel, but an embrace of its founding ideology.
But the visit was not limited to emotion and outreach -- it also provided a series of important policy takeaways:
A shift in U.S. policy on the requirements for resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. While Washington has been largely silent on this issue since talks last collapsed in 2010, the president firmly aligned himself with Israel's position that they should now proceed, immediately and without precondition. The fact that he aired this view standing next to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas was especially significant.
No change on pursuit of a "borders and security first" agreement. While he chose not to dwell on the details of his preferred approach to Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy, the president did reiterate his belief that the most effective way to proceed remains a negotiation over the delineation of borders, which he said would resolve the thorny settlements issue. This harkens back to his May 2011 speech outlining principles for a "borders and security first" approach. By implication, this approach is now likely to dominate U.S. diplomatic efforts, as opposed to focusing on interim arrangements or incremental changes to the current disposition of Israeli and Palestinian control over various West Bank zones.
Mutual blurring of U.S.-Israeli disagreement over the timetable of Iran's nuclear progress. Prior to his trip, the president stated that Iran would need at least a year to develop a nuclear bomb, an outcome that he has vowed to prevent. This appeared to suggest that diplomacy had much more time than the redline laid down last fall by Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who warned at the time that Iran would cross an unacceptable threshold by spring or summer 2013. When asked about the issue this week, Netanyahu chose to play the warm and polite host, endorsing the president's statement. In reality, they were talking about two totally different issues -- Netanyahu was focusing on the speed of Iran's production of medium-enriched uranium, while Obama was focusing on the speed of Iran's development of a fully operational nuclear weapon. While the details of the private Obama-Netanyahu talks on Iran have not been leaked, U.S.-Israeli disagreement on the appropriate moment for the expiration of diplomacy apparently lives on.
Agreement to open talks on an extension of U.S. military aid to Israel. It is not surprising that the United States will continue to provide Israel with substantial military support. Yet the fact that the administration could announce the opening of talks about long-term provision of U.S. aid at a time of deep budgetary disputes in Washington underscores the depth of bipartisan commitment to Israeli security.
Recognition of the contribution Israel makes to U.S. interests. Amid all the fanfare about the depth of U.S. commitment to Israel's security, it should be noted that President Obama added an entirely new dimension to his recent rhetoric in support of the bilateral relationship when he stated that "innovation" was as important a part of the partnership as "security cooperation." This comes very close to the idea -- so controversial in circles infected with the Walt-Mearsheimer school of thought -- that Israel is actually an asset to, not a ward of, the United States.
Projecting continued unease and reluctance about U.S. military involvement in the Syria conflict. The president's most unsure moment during the visit was his press conference response to a question charging him with inactivity in the face of slaughter in Syria. After explaining the significant financial support the United States has given Syrian refugees and the recognition Washington has extended to the opposition, he fell back on the idea that preventing the massacres is a "world" responsibility, not an American one -- a concept seemingly at odds with the thrust of his comments two days later at Yad Vashem.
Contributing to an important thaw in Israeli-Turkish relations. It is no coincidence that Netanyahu spoke by phone with Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan just as President Obama was departing Israel for Jordan, opening the door to a mutual return of ambassadors. Mending ties between the two leaders has long been a U.S. objective. The fact that Obama delivered a highly symbolic (if indirect) rebuke to Erdogan by visiting the tomb of Theodor Herzl -- implicitly endorsing the ideology that the Turkish leader recently called a "crime against humanity" -- almost certainly gave cover for Netanyahu to reach out to Ankara.
AN EARLY ASSESSMENT
On key issues, then, the president tilted U.S. policy toward Israel in substantive ways, especially with regard to resuming peace talks with the Palestinians and taking steps that facilitated an improvement in Israel-Turkish ties. Whether the shift on how peace talks should begin translates into a shift on how those talks should then proceed remains unclear. The president endorsed the importance of direct negotiations, long an Israeli desideratum, but also urged the people of Israel to pressure their leaders for progress, implying that his host was not sufficiently committed to the objective of peace with the Palestinians. (In this regard, Obama's rhetorical flourish about politicians never taking risks unless prodded by their publics earned applause, but it also turned peace process history on its head. Neither Menachem Begin nor Yitzhak Rabin, for example, faced public pressure to reach agreements with Egypt and the Palestine Liberation Organization, respectively; rather, each took a major risk and sought to build popular support for his initiative.)
On Iran, the president affirmed his position on prevention with powerful rhetoric but injected no additional measures to strengthen the credible threat of military force that, as Netanyahu said in their press conference, is a key component of a successful policy.
Beyond these individual issues, the most important takeaway from the president's trip is this: if the basic idea behind visiting Israel was to open the administration's second term on surer footing in terms of U.S.-Israeli relations than what characterized the opening months of the president's first term, he appears to have succeeded.
*Robert Satloff is executive director of The Washington Institute.

 
Division over Hitto
Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Alawsat
“His origins are Kurdish and he was born in Damascus; this allows him to create good relations with all Syria’s communities. He could become the best mediator to resolve unsettled issues because he belongs to more than one community.”
This is how President of the Syrian National Coalition, Sheikh Moaz Alkhatib, described Syria’s newly-elected interim Prime Minister Ghassan Hitto. Alkhatib’s opinion of Hitto is optimistic and a strong response against many critical or rejectionist voices. A number of coalition leaders resigned in protest against Hitto’s election. This move has embarrassed the Syrians, and perhaps strengthened the view being promoted by the Damascus regime that the opposition is only interested in seizing power, and will fight to do so.
In fact, the Syrian National Coalition leadership has truly disagreed on everything to do with organization, hierarchy, and structure, not to mention who should be in charge. They first disagreed over who should preside over the Syrian National Council, following this who should run the National Coalition, while now they are disputing Hitto’s election. There were previous attempts to form similar entities and organizations, such as the Syrian Revolutionary Board of Trustees, which also announced a transitional government. However this project died just one day after its announcement.
The Syrian National Coalition, which is the huge umbrella group that is now representing all Syrian opposition groups, contains sixteen separate parties representing all Syrian groups and communities; while some of these parties themselves are unions of smaller parties and groups. This gives a clearer picture regarding the difficulties of managing the Syrian opposition, while also raising concerns about the future of Syria after Bashar Al-Assad’s regime has been toppled. Anybody who has monitored the history of countries that have passed through similar stages of unrest will see that the Syrian opposition is following the usual scenario. The Syrian regime has marginalized and excluded all sides in the country over the past 40 years; now that they have re-emerged following the start of the revolution, it is only natural for them to compete against each other. We can draw parallels with Iraq, because following President Saddam Hussein’s defeat in 1991 [in the first Gulf War] and his ouster in 2003, the country’s opposition lived in a perpetual state of rivalry and dispute which lasted 12 years.
However we do not expect the Syrian opposition in exile to quarrel with each other, particularly as this only helps the regime and expands the conflict. The most important thing is to work to establish a political regime that is fair. The Syrian people should not be concerned with choosing a president and government officials; now is not the time for this.
I do not know if Ghassan Hitto is the right choice for interim prime minister or not; we cannot judge him until he has been in the job for at least a few months. We must also bear in mind that whatever Syrian candidate had been chosen would have faced vetoes and withdrawals. Since there is no fair mechanism to represent the Syrian people in the coalition’s election, and this is an impossibility under the current circumstances, then those who believe in the Syrian people’s revolution must accept that Hitto received the majority vote.
It is a symbolic choice that demonstrates that the Syria of tomorrow is able to embrace all its citizens regardless of their ethnic and religious affiliation. Hitto’s election is a message to the sectarian Syrians who support the revolution, as well as those who oppose it. This is a message to the world responding to those who view the Syrian people’s demands for the overthrow of Assad as nothing more than a Sunni movement against the ruling Alawite ruler. This is a view that diminishes the reality behind the Syrian revolution that is being waged against a brutal regime that has ruled the country with an iron fist over the past 40 years.

Saudi Shi’ite Intellectuals and the Scandalous Statement
Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Alawsat
Some Saudi Shi’ite intellectuals have issued a statement rejecting the Saudi authorities’ announced arrest of an espionage cell consisting of 18 members, including 16 Saudi Shi’ites, accused of collaborating with Iran. It should be noted here that Riyadh did not mention the sect or Iran officially.
The least that can be said about the Shi’ite intellectuals’ statement is that it is scandalous and erroneous, especially as the signatories of the statement accuse their country of playing the sectarian card and trying to avoid the inevitability of internal reform. This rhetoric clearly falls in line with the statements of Muslim Brotherhood symbols in Saudi Arabia. However, it is a fatal mistake. If the signatories went to the trouble of actually considering what the Iranian intelligence services are doing within Iran itself, then they would not have committed this error and issued a scandalous statement that not only discredits them inside Saudi Arabia, but also in Iran. The signatories should have waited for more results to be revealed from the investigations, and they would have discovered that this is not a story of sectarianism, for this is a naïve interpretation. Let us not forget that Iran previously exploited Saudi Sunnis, affiliated to Al-Qaeda, against their own country.
In order to understand the full picture, let us consider recent events in the Iranian sphere. President Ahmadinejad previously dismissed intelligence chief Heidar Moslehi in 2011, accusing him of suppressing his men, at a time when political differences were rife between Ahmadinejad, the Revolutionary Guard, and the Supreme Guide. The latter ultimately intervened and instructed the Iranian president to either reinstate Moslehi or step down, and after Ahmadinejad secluded himself for one week inside his home, he was ultimately forced to retreat and accept Moslehi’s return as head of the intelligence services. Moslehi, strongly backed by Khamenei after previously serving as his representative to the Basij, went on to say in 2012: “We will never allow the troublemakers and opponents of the revolution to repeat the sedition of 2009.” Moslehi even threatened Rafsanjani himself! This tells us that the Iranian intelligence services, or SAVAK, established by the CIA during the era of the Shah, are not only guilty of foreign espionage, but they are also one of the most important tools for suppressing advocates of reform inside Iran itself. How, after all this, can anyone rush to the defense of those accused of spying for Tehran, and accuse the Saudi authorities of playing the sectarian card, while the Iranian intelligence services suppress their fellow countrymen and sect, with the help of Iranians loyal to the mullahs’ regime? Remember here we are not talking here about espionage cells in Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen, Libya, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Azerbaijan, but those within Iran itself.
If the signatories released this statement in support of their sect then they should be condemned for doing so, because many Shi’ite Iranians also suffer from the repressive Khomeinist regime. If the signatories wanted to exploit regional circumstances to provoke the international community against their own country, Saudi Arabia, as happened in Bahrain, then this is also a mistake. They have failed to realize that Washington considers Iranian intelligence to be one of the leading threats against it and our region, and a recent US report indicated that the Iranian intelligence services have approximately 30,000 spies across the Middle East.
Therefore, the Shi’ite intellectuals’ statement is reckless and scandalous. It is political maneuvering with sectarian motives. It does not serve to exonerate the defendants as much as it harms the rational Shi’ites among us.