LCCC ENGLISH DAILY
NEWS BULLETIN
May 06/2013
Bible
Quotation for today/Use Your
Bodies for God's Glory
01 Corinthians 06/12-20: " Someone will say, “I am allowed
to do anything.” Yes; but not everything is good for you. I could say that I am
allowed to do anything, but I am not going to let anything make me its slave.
Someone else will say, “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food.”
Yes; but God will put an end to both. The body is not to be used for sexual
immorality, but to serve the Lord; and the Lord provides for the body. God
raised the Lord from death, and he will also raise us by his power. You know
that your bodies are parts of the body of Christ. Shall I take a part of
Christ's body and make it part of the body of a prostitute? Impossible! Or
perhaps you don't know that the man who joins his body to a prostitute becomes
physically one with her? The scripture says quite plainly, “The two will become
one body.” But he who joins himself to the Lord becomes spiritually one with
him. Avoid immorality. Any other sin a man commits does not affect his body; but
the man who is guilty of sexual immorality sins against his own body.
Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you
and who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God; he
bought you for a price. So use your bodies for God's glory."
Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
A look at arsenal of Israel, Hezbollah/By: Yoav
Zitun/Ynetnews/May 06/13
Iran’s Plans to Take Over SyriaBrig.-Gen. (ret.)/Dr.
Shimon Shapira/May 06/13
No 'Happy Easter in Egypt': The Muslim Brotherhood's
Bizarre Religious Intolerance/By:
Eric Trager/Washington Institute/May 06/13
Latest News Reports From
Miscellaneous Sources for May 06/13
Israeli attacks inside Syria risks widening war
Arab League Urges U.N. to Stop Israel Attacks on Syria,
Egypt Slams 'Aggression'
Israel strikes Syria again, rocking Damascus
Syrian rebel Coalition condemns Israel strikes
Officials: Israel Warplanes Hit Targets near Damascus,
Including Iranian Missiles Destined for Hizbullah
Syria Says Israel Strike 'Opens Door to All
Possibilities', Confirms Israel Coordinating with
'Terrorist Groups'
Israel Deploys Rocket Defense System in North amid
Stepped up Activity on Lebanon Border
Faisal al-Meqdad Says Syria to Respond to Israel's
'Declaration of War'
Syrian Observatory: Commander of Besieged Minnigh
Airport Killed
Tensions spike after new Israeli strikes in Syria
FSA: Our Operations Not Related to Israeli Attacks
Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut Elias Audeh Calls
for Unity Around Suleiman, Holding Polls on Time
Orthodox Christians Mark Jerusalem Holy Fire Rite
Hezbollah buries two members killed in Syria
'
Iran Ready to 'Train' Syria Army, Condemns Israeli
Airstrike
Suleiman Reiterates Calls on Lebanese to Abide by
Dissociation Policy
Salam Rejects Veto Power in New Cabinet, Says it Equals
Paralysis
Lebanon condemns Israel's use of airspace to strike
Syria
Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour Calls for
'Decisive' Arab League Stance on Israeli Airstrikes in
Syria
Lebanese Pilgrims Appear in Video, Families Say 'We
Don't Want to See Any Turk after May 22'
Hague: Lebanon is Constantly Threatened by Being
Destabilized
Berri to Force MPs to 'Sleep in Parliament' over Vote
Law Row
U.S. Generals Discuss Military Cooperation with Qahwaji
Arslan: From Now on, We're All Concerned with Defending
Syria
Aoun's Envoy Ferzli Says Orthodox Plan Remains Number 1
Proposal after Meeting Geagea
Mesqawi Calls for Extraordinary HIC Meeting as Qabbani
Holds Meeting for Newly-Elected Council
Lebanon Hands Over to ICRC Israeli Man who Crossed
Technical Fence
At Least 30 Wounded in Blast at Tanzanian Church
Denmark, Finland to Upgrade Palestinian Diplomatic
Status
Syria: Israeli attack equals declaration of war. Iron Domes at Haifa and Safed
DEBKAfile Special Report May 5, 2013
Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said Sunday, May 5, that the
strike at Syria overnight represented a "declaration of war" by Israel. Russian
and Iranian media earlier predicted full-scale Middle East hostilities involving
Israel erupting in the coming hours, in the wake of Israel’s renewed strikes
against Iranian missiles bound for Hizballah and other targets around Damascus.
Russian sources reported rumors that President Bashar Assad was on the point of
declaring war on Israel. Russia Today claimed that an Israeli rocket strike
Sunday caused heavy Syrian casualties – according to rumors, at least 300
members of the Syrian Army’s 501st Unit dead and hundreds filling four Damascus
hospitals. DEBKAfile: If this is confirmed, then the unit which operates the
chemical weapon facility at the Barzeh district north of Damascus at the foot of
Mt. Qassioun was hit. Israel’s security cabinet holds emergency session. The
same Russian source reported that Syrian security forces cordoned off the sites
of the explosions against entry. Residents reported after the blasts that the
ground moved with the force of a 4 magnitude earthquake. Shortly after the
Israel attacks in the Damascus area Sunday, the IDF posted additional Iron Dome
anti-missile batteries in Haifa and Safed to defend those northern towns against
incoming Syrian and Hizballah rockets. Low-ranking Syrian and Iranian officials
responded to the Israeli attacks on Syria: Deputy Information minister His Al-Yiftah
commented by saying that “a new foreign element had entered the Syrian conflict
overnight and this would cause war.”In Tehran, an Iranian foreign ministry
official condemned “Israeli aggression on Syria and accused Israel of fomenting
instability and ethnic discord in the region. The commander of the ground forces
asked if the war was not about to burst out of Syria’s borders, without
answering the question. An Israeli official confirmed to AFP that Israeli had
Sunday conducted a second round of strikes in three days on advanced weapons
including Iranian F-110 weapons bound for Hizballah in transit at Damascus
international airport. Syrian TV reported only an attack on the Jamraya military
research center just north of Damascus. This was the same facility which Israeli
planes attacked in January.
Israeli attacks inside Syria risks
widening war
By Christa Case Bryant, Nicholas Blanford |
Christian Science Monitor –
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/israeli-attacks-inside-syria-risks-widening-war-144151469.html
Israel as well as Syria and its Lebanese-ally Hezbollah all have little interest
in a wider conflict. But as Israel grows more assertive across its borders, the
chance of a miscalculation is on the rise.
The sudden and dramatic escalation in Israeli air strikes against suspected
military targets in Syria risks turning Syria’s two-year civil war into a
regional conflict. Israel as well as Syria and its allies have an apparent
interest in avoiding an escalation in the short-term, but a miscalculation on
either side could ramp up the fighting.
“We are coming very close to it,” says Timur Goksel, a university lecturer in
Beirut who served with the United Nations peacekeeping force in south Lebanon
from 1979 to 2003. “A severe case of brinkmanship is being played at the
moment.”
Syria and the Lebanon-based Shiite movement Hezbollah, which has long relied on
Syria’s Assad regime to funnel weapons from Iran, appear to have been drawing
into a closer alliance as the Syrian civil war intensifies. If Israel continues
to launch air strikes into Syria, says Mr. Goksel, “they will have to react.…
The Israelis are pushing it to the edge.”
A series of strikes on a military facility just outside Damascus last night has
been widely attributed to Israel, which would make it the second Israeli attack
on Syria in less than 48 hours and the third this year. Among the reported
targets of the two latest attacks were consignments of Iranian Fateh-110
missiles reportedly intended for Hezbollah, which would allow the Syrian ally to
launch precise attacks on Israeli targets such as Ben Gurion Airport or the
defense ministry in Tel Aviv from launch pads as far north as central Lebanon.
Israel has stated that it will not allow “game-changing” weapons systems to fall
into Hezbollah’s hands. But Hezbollah is believed to have acquired by 2009 a
Syrian-engineered version of the Fateh-110, known as the M600. Both Syrian and
Iranian versions carry a 1,100-pound warhead and have a range of some 150 miles.
The M600 reportedly has a basic guidance system that allows it to strike within
500 yards of its target at maximum range, enabling more accurate strikes than
Hezbollah’s other long-range missiles afford.
It is not clear whether Israeli jets have actually flown into Syrian airspace,
or attacked from the nearby Lebanon border by firing at an angle into Syria. But
Syria’s deputy foreign minister Faisal al Mekdad called Israel’s latest attack a
“declaration of war” in an interview with CNN.
Despite longtime enmity between Israel and Syria, the two neighbors have not
directly come to blows for almost four decades other than battling each other
briefly in Lebanon in 1982. Israel has staged military moves inside Syria on a
few occasions in the past decade – assassinating militants in Damascus, bombing
a Palestinian training camp, and most notably by destroying a suspected nuclear
reactor in northeast Syria in 2007. On each occasion, the Syrian regime has
either ignored the incident or vowed a retaliation that was never fulfilled.
ISRAEL EYEING RED LINES
The uptick in Israeli strikes on Syria follows a week of intense debate in the
United States over whether Syria’s regime has crossed President Obama’s red line
of using chemical weapons against its own people. In Israel, there is a certain
degree of apprehension over whether the US will follow through on this red-line
threat to Syria. It’s seen in part by Israelis as a sort of litmus test for
whether the US will uphold its promise to Israel in the event Iran crosses the
red line Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified at the United
Nations in September 2012.
Last week Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, head of the Research Division of Israel’s
military intelligence, said at a security conference that the Assad regime had
used chemical weapons on at least two recent occasions, but Obama has cautioned
against hasty action before determining whether the evidence is indeed
definitive.
“This is part of this idea that Israel signals – [albeit] not officially – to
the States: ‘How can we trust you if you’re not intervening in Syria after you
drew the red line? How can we trust you on Iran?” says Israeli security analyst
Reuven Pedhazur.
That said, Israel’s priorities diverge somewhat from the stated US threshold for
intervention. Israel’s concern is not whether Assad is using chemical weapons to
kill his own people, but whether Hezbollah is acquiring more advanced missiles
and other weapons, and also whether Syria’s significant chemical-weapons
stockpile may fall into the hands of militants.
“We don’t care if they kill each other,” says Prof. Efraim Inbar, director of
the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University. “We are
more concerned about Hezbollah.”
ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER QUIET
Since the end of the month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in summer 2006,
the Lebanon-Israel border has enjoyed its longest period of calm since the mid
1960s. Hezbollah has used the past seven years of quiet to expand its military
capabilities both in terms of new recruits and more advanced weapons systems.
But neither Hezbollah not Israel appear to desire a fresh conflict, mindful that
the next encounter promises to be much more destructive than the 2006 war.
The number of Israeli overflights in Lebanese airspace so far this year is
roughly double the rate of the same period in 2012, according to security
sources in Lebanon. The rumble of Israeli aircraft over Beirut has become a near
daily event along with the sight of twin white contrails in the sky marking the
path of patrolling jets. The United Nations has repeatedly called on Israel to
end the overflights above Lebanon, calling them “provocative.”
One possible way Hezbollah could retaliate against Israel’s air strikes is by
attempting to shoot down an Israeli jet, analysts say. Little is known about
Hezbollah’s air defense capabilities, although the group was reportedly trained
on Russian mobile SA-8 Gecko anti-aircraft missiles from 2009. The target of the
January Israeli air strike in Syria this year was reportedly a consignment of
SA-17 Grizzly anti-aircraft missiles destined for Hezbollah. Shooting down an
Israeli jet would be an unprecedented step by Hezbollah and risk a further
escalation with Israel. On the other hand, Hezbollah would be able to justify
such an act as the Israeli jet was illegally breaching Lebanese sovereignty.
Israelis, for their part, remain cautiously optimistic that neither Syria’s
Assad regime nor its allies will risk opening a new front with Israel at a time
of such upheaval. Nor could Syria or Hezbollah launch some sort of warning
attack to deter Israel from further action, says Mr. Pedhazur.
“Israel will not back off,” he says. “If they respond, Israel will respond on
the other side.”
Israel strikes Syria again, rocking Damascus
By Dominic Evans and Oliver Holmes
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israel carried out its second air strike in days on Syria
early on Sunday, a Western intelligence source said, in an attack that shook
Damascus with a series of powerful blasts and drove columns of fire into the
night sky. Israel declined comment but Syria accused the Jewish state of
striking a military facility just north of the capital - one which its jets had
first targeted three months ago. Iran, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad and an arch-enemy for Israel, urged states in the region to resist the
Israeli attack. People living near the Jamraya base spoke of explosions over
several hours in various places near Damascus, including a town housing senior
officials: "Night turned into day," one man said. The Western intelligence
source told Reuters the operation hit Iranian-supplied missiles headed for
Lebanon's Hezbollah, a similar target to the two previous strikes this year,
which have been defended as justifiable by Israel's ally the United States:
"In last night's attack, as in the previous one, what was attacked were stores
of Fateh-110 missiles that were in transit from Iran to Hezbollah," the
intelligence source said.
An Israeli official had confirmed a similar raid on Friday. In Lebanon,
Hezbollah declined immediate comment.
Video footage uploaded onto the Internet by activists showed a series of
explosions. One lit up the skyline of Damascus while another sent up a tower of
flames and secondary blasts.
Syrian state media accused Israel of attacking in response to Assad's forces'
recent successes against rebels who, with Western approval, have been trying to
topple him for two years.
In 40 years since a war with a Syria then ruled by Assad's father, Israel has
been locked in a cold standoff with Damascus, fought Hezbollah in Lebanon in
2006 and is threatening to attack Iran, accusing Tehran of trying to develop
nuclear weapons.
But it is wary of instability in Syria, has long viewed Hezbollah as the more
immediate threat and has shown little enthusiasm for U.S. and European calls for
Assad's overthrow.
The raid follows intense debate in the United States over whether the use of
chemical weapons by Syrian troops might push President Barack Obama to intervene
more forcefully on the rebel side, but Western powers remain concerned at the
presence of anti-Western Islamist fighters among Assad's opponents.
It was unclear whether Israel sought U.S. approval for the action; in the past,
officials have indicated that Israel sees a need only to inform Washington once
a mission was under way.
At a routine public appearance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made
no direct reference to the strikes but spoke pointedly of his responsibility to
ensure Israel's future.
He maintained a plan to fly to China later in the day, suggesting a confidence
that, as with the raid in January, Assad - and Hezbollah - would limit any
reprisal. However, an Israeli military source said the army had deployed more
anti-missile defence systems near the northern borders in recent days.
NIGHT OF EXPLOSIONS
"The sky was red all night. We didn't sleep a single second. The explosions
started after midnight and continued through the night," one man told Reuters
from Hameh, less than a mile from the Jamraya military research facility.
"There were explosions on all sides of my house," he added, saying people hid in
basements during the events.
Another witness spoke of fire near Qura al-Assad, a town around 5 km (3 miles)
west of Jamraya where many high-level government officials live. In the centre
of Damascus, people said their first thought was that there was an earthquake.
Identified by Syrian media as the Jamraya military research centre, the target
was also hit by Israel in another assault on January 30. Jamraya, on the
northern approaches to Damascus, is just 15 km (10 miles) from the Lebanese
border.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the blasts hit
Jamraya as well as a nearby ammunition depot.
Other activists said a missile brigade and two Republican Guard battalions may
also have been targeted in the heavily militarised area just north of Damascus.
Reports by activists and state media are difficult to verify in Syria because of
restrictions on journalists operating there.
People living in southern Lebanon said they heard frequent sounds of jets
overhead and believed they were Israeli.
The streets of central Damascus were almost empty of pedestrians and traffic on
Sunday morning, the start of the working week. Only a few shops were open.
Checkpoints that have protected the government-controlled zone from rebel attack
appeared to have been reinforced with additional men.
Syria's state television said the strikes were a response to recent military
gains by Assad's forces against rebels: "The new Israeli attack is an attempt to
raise the morale of the terrorist groups which have been reeling from strikes by
our noble army," it said.
Speaking shortly before Sunday's attack, President Obama said Israel had a right
to act: "The Israelis justifiably have to guard against the transfer of advanced
weaponry to terrorist organisations like Hezbollah," he said.
In Israel, a military spokeswoman said of the attack in Syria: "We don't respond
to this kind of report."
Netanyahu appeared at the dedication of a highway junction in memory of his late
father. He made no reference to raids but said his father "taught me that the
greatest responsibility we have is to ensure Israel's security and guarantee its
future."
MISSILE "BETTER THAN SCUD"
Israel has repeatedly made clear it is prepared to use force to prevent advanced
weapons from Syria reaching Hezbollah guerrillas, who fought a 34-day war with
Israel seven years ago.
Uzi Rubin, an Israeli missile expert and former defence official said the
Fateh-110 missile "is better than the Scud, it has a half-ton warhead". Iran has
said it adapted the missile for anti-ship use by installing a guidance system,
he added. With Assad battling the revolt, Israelis also worry that Islamist
rebels among the majority Sunni Muslim population could loot his arsenals and
eventually hit the Jewish state, ending four decades of relative cross-border
calm. There was no immediate indication of how Syria would respond to Sunday's
attack. After Israel's January raid, Damascus protested to the United Nations
and the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon promised a "surprise decision", but no
direct military retaliation followed. Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi was
quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying on Sunday: "The Zionist regime's attack
on Syria, which occurred with the U.S.'s green light, revealed the relationship
between mercenary terrorists and their supporters and the regime occupying
Jerusalem ... The evil actions of the Zionist regime can threaten the security
of the entire region."
The uprising against Assad began with street protests that were met with force
and grew into a bloody civil war in which the United Nations says at least
70,000 people have been killed.
Assad has lost control of large areas of north and eastern Syria, and is
battling rebels on the fringes of Damascus.
But his forces have launched counter-offensives in recent weeks against the
rebels around the capital and near the city of Homs, which links Damascus with
the Mediterranean heartland of Assad's minority Alawites, who have religious
ties to the Shi'ite form of Islam practised in Iran. Opposition activists said
hundreds of Sunni families fled the coastal town of Banias on Saturday after
fighters loyal to Assad killed at least 62 people and left bloodied and burned
corpses piled in the streets. It was the second such alleged massacre in the
area in the recent days. (Additional reporting by Mariam Karouny in Beirut,
Marwan Makdesi in Damascus, Maayan Lubell and Dan Williams in Jerusalem and
Arshad Mohammed and Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Andrew Heavens and
Alastair Macdonald)
Officials: Israel Warplanes Hit Targets near Damascus, Including Iranian
Missiles Destined for Hizbullah
Naharnet/Israeli warplanes struck areas in and around the Syrian capital Sunday,
setting off a series of explosions as they targeted a shipment of highly
accurate, Iranian-made guided missiles believed to be on their way to Hizbullah,
officials and activists said. The attack, the second in three days, signaled a
sharp escalation of Israel's involvement in Syria's bloody civil war. Syria's
state media reported that Israeli missiles struck a military and scientific
research center near the Syrian capital and caused casualties.
An intelligence official in the Middle East, who spoke on condition of anonymity
in order to disclose information about a secret military operation to the media,
confirmed that Israel launched an airstrike in Damascus early Sunday but did not
give more precise details about the location. The target was Fateh-110 missiles,
which have very precise guidance systems with better aim than anything Hizbullah
has in its arsenal, the official told The Associated Press. A diplomatic source
in Beirut told Agence France Presse three sites were targeted -- a military
facility, a nearby weapons depot and an anti-aircraft unit in Sabura, west of
the capital.
Israel has said it wants to stay out of the brutal Syria war, but Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated the Jewish state would be prepared to
take military action to prevent sophisticated weapons from flowing from Syria to
Hizbullah or other groups. On Sunday, Netanyahu delayed his departure on a trip
to China by two hours, reportedly to attend a security cabinet meeting.
Syria's state news agency SANA reported that explosions went off at the Jamraya
military and scientific research center near Damascus and said "initial reports
point to these explosions being a result of Israeli missiles." SANA said there
were casualties but did not give a number. "This new Israeli aggression is a
clear attempt to alleviate the pressure on the armed terrorist groups after our
army beat them back in several regions and after the army's victories on the
road to recovering security and stability in Syria," SANA said. "This attack
proves the direct involvement of the Israeli occupation in the conspiracy
against Syria and its links with terrorist groups in the aggression supported by
Western countries and some Gulf countries," SANA said of the latest strike.
An airstrike in January also targeted weapons apparently bound for Hizbullah,
Israeli and U.S. officials have said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, also
reported large explosions in the area of Jamraya, a military and scientific
research facility northwest of Damascus, about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the
Lebanese border.
Hizbullah's al-Manar TV said the research center in Jamraya was not hit. It
added that an army supply center was targeted by the strike.Al-Manar quoted
unnamed Syrian security officials as saying that three sites including military
barracks, arms depots and air defense center were targeted by the strike.
Al-Mayadeen TV that has several reporters around Syria said one of the strikes
targeted a military position in the village of Saboura, west of Damascus and
about 10 kilometers (six miles) from the Lebanon border.
An amateur video said to be shot early Sunday in the Damascus area showed fire
lighting up the night sky. The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other
AP reporting.
Uzi Rubin, a missile expert and former Defense Ministry official, told the AP
that if the target were Fateh-110 missiles as reported then it is a game changer
as they put almost all Israel in range and can accurately hit targets.
Rubin emphasized that he was speaking as a rocket expert and had no details on
reported strikes.
"If fired from southern Lebanon they can reach Tel Aviv and even (the southern
city of) Beersheba." He said the rockets are much five times more accurate than
the scud missiles that Hizbullah has fired in the past. "It is a game changer
because they are a threat to Israel's infrastructure and military
installations," he said. Israel's first airstrike in Syria, in January, also
struck Jamraya.
At the time, a U.S. official said Israel targeted trucks next to the research
center that carried SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles. The strikes hit both the
trucks and the research facility, the official said. The Syrian military didn't
confirm a hit on a weapons shipment at the time, saying only that Israeli
warplanes bombed the research center.
Israeli lawmaker Shaul Mofaz, a former defense minister and a former chief of
staff, declined to confirm the airstrike but said Israel is concerned about
weapons falling into the hands of the group amid the chaos of Syria's civil war.
"We must remember that the Syrian system is falling apart and Iran and Hizbullah
are involved up to their necks in Syria helping Bashar Assad," he told Israel
Radio. "There are dangers of weapons trickling to the Hizbullah and chemical
weapons trickling to irresponsible groups like al-Qaida." Likud lawmaker and
former Defense Committee chairman Tzahi Hanegbi also stopped short of confirming
that Israel struck Syrian targets, but warned that the Jewish state would not
tolerate a situation in which Hizbullah profited from the civil war in
Syria.Source/Agence France PresseAssociated Press/Naharnet.
Iran Ready to 'Train' Syria Army, Condemns Israeli Airstrike
Naharnet /Iran is ready to help "train" the Syrian army if Damascus seeks such
assistance, the commander of the Islamic republic's army ground forces, General
Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, was quoted as saying on Sunday.
"As a Muslim nation, we back Syria, and if there is need for training we will
provide them with the training, but won't have any active involvement in the
operations," he said in remarks reported by the official IRNA news agency.
"The Syrian army has accumulated experience during years of conflict with the
Zionist regime (Israel) and is able to defend itself and doesn't need foreign
assistance," he added. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman also condemned an
Israeli airstrike in Syria on an alleged shipment of Iranian-made missiles.
Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted by the semiofficial Fars news agency as denouncing
the attack on the missiles, which were believed en route to Hizbullah. It's the
first Iranian comments since Israel launched a first round of airstrikes on
Friday, then another round on Sunday. Mehmanparast urged countries in the region
to remain united against Israel, but gave no other suggestions of possible
further action in response. Source/Agence France PresseAssociated Press.
Arab League Urges U.N. to Stop Israel Attacks on
Syria, Egypt Slams 'Aggression'
Naharnet/Egypt on Sunday condemned Israeli air
strikes on Syria, with the Arab League also demanding that the U.N. Security
Council act to stop what it called Israeli "attacks" against the war-torn
country. The Egyptian presidency said in a statement the air strikes "violated
international law and principles that will further complicate the situation."
The raids reportedly targeted rockets destined for Lebanon's Hizbullah. The Arab
League, which like Egypt sides with rebels against Syrian President Bashar
Assad, demanded the Security Council "act immediately to end Israeli attacks on
Syria," which it called a "dangerous violation of an Arab state's sovereignty."
The presidency in Cairo affirmed "its extreme opposition" to the Syrian regime's
bloody crackdown on rebel-held areas, but accused Israel of "exploiting its
internal conflict." A senior Israeli source said an overnight aerial assault hit
Iranian weapons destined for Hizbullah, which is closely allied to the Syrian
regime. A diplomatic source in Beirut told Agence France Presse three sites were
targeted -- a military facility, a nearby weapons depot and an anti-aircraft
unit in Sabura, west of the capital Damascus.Source/Agence France Presse
Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour Calls for 'Decisive' Arab League Stance
on Israeli Airstrikes in Syria
Naharnet/Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour urged the Arab League on
Sunday to take a “decisive stance” from the recent Israeli airstrikes in Syria.
Mansour condemned “the assault and the silence of the international community on
the repeated Israeli aggressions on more than one Arab country.” He called on
“the Arab League to take a decisive stance from this dangerous development to
avoid” further escalation. Mansour accused Israel in his statement of “preparing
for a largescale invasion to blow up the region and push it to a destructive
confrontation.” Israel carried out on Sunday what an intelligence official said
was an airstrike in Damascus that allegedly attacked a shipment of Iranian-made
missiles bound for Hizbullah. It was the second Israeli strike in three days.
But the Syrian state news agency SANA reported early Sunday that explosions went
off at the Jamraya research center near Damascus, causing casualties. "Initial
reports point to these explosions being a result of Israeli missiles that
targeted the research center in Jamraya," SANA said.
Syria Says Israel Strike 'Opens Door to All
Possibilities', Confirms Israel Coordinating with 'Terrorist Groups'
Naharnet/Israeli strikes on Syrian military sites
have opened the door "to all possibilities" and made the situation in the region
"more dangerous," Syria's government said on Sunday. "The government of the
Syrian Arab Republic confirms that this aggression opens the door wide to all
possibilities," the cabinet said in a statement read at a news conference by
Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi. "The international community should know
that the complex situation in the region has become more dangerous after this
aggression," the statement added. Syria "has not just a right but a duty to
protect the homeland and the state and the people from any attack, whether
internal or external, by all ways and means and capabilities available," it
said. The comments came after the cabinet held an emergency meeting to discuss
what the foreign ministry described as at least three Israeli strikes on Syrian
military sites overnight. In letters to the United Nations Security Council, the
foreign ministry accused Israel of coordinating with "terrorist groups"
including the al-Nusra Front rebel group that has pledged allegiance to
al-Qaida. A senior Israeli source said the attacks early on Sunday hit Iranian
weapons destined for Lebanon's Hizbullah. "The blatant Israeli aggression
against military sites in Syria confirms the coordination between Israel and
terrorist groups and the takfiris of al-Nusra Front, which is a branch of
al-Qaida," the ministry said in a letter to the United Nations. The ministry
said the support was intended to boost "terrorist groups after the failure of
their recent attempts to achieve control on the ground.""This leaves no doubt
that Israel is the beneficiary, the engine and sometimes the executor of the
terrorist attacks taking place in Syria against the state and the people," the
letter added. The letter said allegations that Syria was transferring anything
outside its borders were "unfounded," in reference to claims that Israel was
targeting weapons bound for Hizbullah in Lebanon. It said the Jewish state
targeted three sites from Israeli and Lebanese airspace. "Around 01:40am,
Israeli military aircraft over the occupied territories and south Lebanon
launched an aerial aggression by firing missiles against three positions
belonging to the armed forces of the Syrian Arab Republic," the letter said.
Syria uses the term "occupied territories" to refer to Israel, and the occupied
West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights.
"This aggression caused deaths and injuries and serious destruction at the sites
and in the surrounding civilian regions," the letter said. Source/Agence France
Presse.
A look at arsenal of Israel, Hezbollah
By: Yoav Zitun/Ynetnews/05.05.13,
While details into strike on Damascus still examined, expert analyzes Israeli
weapons versus Hezbollah ammunition; from Spice-2000 to Fateh-110 missile
Jets which struck Syria did so while flying above Lebanese airspace and using
missiles operated under stand-off technology, according to Reuters and other
sources. These missiles allow for high accuracy while launching dozens of
kilometers from a target.
Though Israeli confirmation of the strike was only done anonymously, analysts
note that IAF arsenal includes several stand-off missile variations, among them
the Popeye and the Spice-2000 – both manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense
Systems. The Spice became operational in 2003 and its use went public over the
last six years.
The Spice system allows for "drop-and-forget" launch mode, meaning that once it
is launched, it requires no additional guidance. The Spice can hit targets at up
to 60 km.
Spice-2000: Autonomous operations, visual targeting
An autonomous missile, the Spice can be pre-programmed with a photograph of its
target, and knows to hone itself in on it. The Spice is known for its
destructive capabilities, its ability to perform accurately under any weather
conditions, and its ability to remain neutral to attempts at disruption or
deception by the enemy.
A missile expert who spoke with Ynet estimated that the Air Force used the
Spice-2000 in its most recent strikes on Syria. According to the source, the
Spice-2000 provides “high accuracy at low risk. It is immune to disruption, due
to the fact that you provide early visual intelligence, thus making it
unnecessary to use the GPS, which can be distorted.”
The missile has another benefit, in the form of a reduced radar signature. While
the Popeye has a rocket motor which burns fuel and makes it detectable, the
Spice glides toward its target using wings. “This is a missile which saves on
the preliminary flight over a target, makes visual contact with its target, and
also avoids anti-aircraft systems,” the source said,
Popeye: Sends video to operator
The Popeye is considered one of the big development successes of Israel’s
military industry. Since its development in the 1970s and its introduction to
the Air Force in 1985, it has been sold to foreign militaries including the US,
India, Turkey, South Korea and Australia. Its use was first publicized in the
media during the Gulf War, when a US B-52 bomber was photographed carrying it.
The missile can reach land targets, including missile launchers, without being
exposed to enemy anti-aircraft systems. The Popeye missile has been upgraded
over the years, with one of its versions, according to foreign reports, enabling
launch from a submarine.
The missile head carries a television camera, allowing for it to be directed by
its operator and locked onto its target, even after launching from the plane.
Additionally, the Popeye's internal navigation system leads it directly to its
target. The missile carries 350 kg of explosives. It weighs 1,320 kg and is 4.5
meters in length. The Popeye can be launched against targets at sea, and is
effective even at night or under adverse weather conditions.
Fateh 110: Precise, deadly, reaches Tel Aviv
A shipment of Fateh 110 missiles manufactured by Iran and meant for the
Hezbollah was the target of the Israeli Air Force in an attack on Damascus
International Airport on Friday, and a later attack at a military research
facility north of the capital city, said Western intelligence sources Sunday
morning, following the second strike.
The Fateh 110 is manufactured by Iran, and first came to view in 2001. The
initial version was operational at a distance of 170 km, carrying a head of 250
kg of explosives. Since its introduction, three upgrades have taken place, all
powered by solid fuel and capable of longer ranges and increased precision.
The current version shows substantial improvements over earlier productions. It
went on display in Iran in 2010. According to the Iranians, it can reach a
distance of 300 km and its warhead carries a half ton of explosives. In 2007,
Arab and Israeli media sources reported that Hezbollah had received a number of
these missiles, though the specific model was not identified.Hezbollah members
were reported to have visited Iran to train in the maintenance and launch of
Fateh missiles, before returning to Lebanon. According to reports, the Hezbollah
also received copies of the Fateh missile, manufactured in Syria under the
sponsorship of Iran. The Syrian version of the Fateh 110, known as the M-600, is
considered to be the most evident threat to the Israeli home front.
It is likely that the recent shipments of arms to Syria was of this version of
the missile, which possess high accuracy at up to 100 meters or less of a
target. According to reports, the latest Fateh missiles are capable of reaching
Tel Aviv and even further south, when launched from neighboring Lebanon.
Fateh missiles are capable of “course correction,” via small wings found on
their head. Running on solid fuel, they can be launched stealthily, remaining
virtually hidden almost to the moment of operation. This makes the Fateh 110
difficult to target from the air.
With these qualifications, the Fateh missile is highly coveted by the Hezbollah,
and Damascus has high motivation to provide them. It is likely that these
missiles are also being used by the Syrian army against the rebels.
*Ron Ben-Yishai contributed to this report
Iran’s Plans to Take Over SyriaBrig.-Gen.
(ret.)
Dr. Shimon Shapira, May 2, 2013
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Vol. 13, No. 10 5 May 2013
■In mid-April, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah paid a secret visit to Tehran
where he met with the top Iranian officials headed by Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei and Gen. Qasem Suleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the
Revolutionary Guard Corps. Suleimani prepared an operational plan named after
him based upon the establishment of a 150,000-man force for Syria, the majority
of whom will come from Iran, Iraq, and a smaller number from Hizbullah and the
Gulf states.
■Suleimani’s involvement was significant. He has been the spearhead of Iranian
military activism in the Middle East. In January 2012, he declared that the
Islamic Republic controlled “one way or another” Iraq and South Lebanon. Even
before recent events in Syria, observers in the Arab world have been warning for
years about growing evidence of “Iranian expansionism.”
■An important expression of Syria’s centrality in Iranian strategy was voiced by
Mehdi Taaib, who heads Khamenei’s think tank. He recently stated that “Syria is
the 35th district of Iran and it has greater strategic importance for Iran than
Khuzestan [an Arab-populated district inside Iran].” Significantly, Taaib was
drawing a comparison between Syria and a district that is under full Iranian
sovereignty.
■Tehran has had political ambitions with respect to Syria for years and has
indeed invested huge resources in making Syria a Shiite state. The Syrian regime
let Iranian missionaries work freely to strengthen the Shiite faith in Damascus
and the cities of the Alawite coast, as well as the smaller towns and villages.
In both urban and rural parts of Syria, Sunnis and others who adopted the Shiite
faith received privileges and preferential treatment in the disbursement of
Iranian aid money.
■Iran is also recruiting Shiite forces in Iraq for the warfare in Syria. These
are organized in a sister framework of Lebanese Hizbullah. Known as the League
of the Righteous People and Kateeb Hizbullah, its mission is to defend the
Shiite centers in Damascus. It is likely that Tehran will make every effort to
recruit additional Shiite elements from Iraq, the Persian Gulf, and even from
Pakistan.
Iran Cannot Afford to Lose Syria
In mid-April, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah paid a secret visit to Tehran
where he met with the top Iranian officials headed by Supreme Leader Ali
Khamenei and the commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard Corps,
Gen. Qasem Suleimani, who is in charge of Iranian policy in Lebanon and Syria.
The visit was clandestine and no details were divulged on an official level –
except for the exclusive posting on Hizbullah’s official website of a photograph
of Khamenei with Nasrallah beside him in the former’s private library, with a
picture of Ayatollah Khomeini above them.1
Suleimani’s involvement in the meeting with Nasrallah was significant. He has
been the spearhead of Iranian military activism in the Middle East. In January
2012, he declared that the Islamic Republic controlled “one way or another” Iraq
and South Lebanon.2 He now appeared to be prepared to extend Iran’s control to
all of Syria.
A media source normally hostile to Iran and Hizbullah but which nonetheless
contains accurate information, reported that Iran has formulated an operational
plan for assisting Syria. The plan has been named for Gen. Suleimani. It
includes three elements: 1) the establishment of a popular sectarian army made
up of Shiites and Alawites, to be backed by forces from Iran, Iraq, Hizbullah,
and symbolic contingents from the Persian Gulf. 2) This force will reach 150,000
fighters. 3) The plan will give preference to importing forces from Iran, Iraq,
and, only afterwards, other Shiite elements. This regional force will be
integrated with the Syrian army. Suleimani, himself, visited Syria in late
February-early March to prepare the implementation of this plan.3
In the past, senior Iranian officers, like Major General Yahya Rahim-Safavi, the
former commander of the Revolutionary Guards who is an adviser to Khamenei, have
said that Lebanon and Syria gave Iran “strategic depth.”4 Now it appears that
Tehran is taking this a step further, preparing for a “Plan B” in the event
Assad falls.
Nasrallah rarely makes such trips. The last time he went on a visit outside
Lebanon was in February 2010 when he met in Damascus with Syrian President
Bashar Assad and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Nasrallah has taken
great care not to appear in public since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and
even more so since the assassination of the head of Hizbullah’s military wing,
Imad Mughniyeh, in Damascus in February 2008. Even in Iran itself Nasrallah
maintained total secrecy for fear of becoming an assassination target there.
After the visit, he gave a speech in Lebanon on April 30, but did not say
anything about his visit to Iran. He did remark that Syria “has real friends”
that wouldn’t let it fall, implying that, if necessary, he would redouble his
efforts to defend Iranian interests, which has always been one of the missions
of Hizbullah.
It appears that Hizbullah’s ongoing involvement in Syria, and the extent of this
involvement, formed the main issue on the agenda during Nasrallah’s visit to
Tehran. The more time passes, the more Iran appears to regard Syria as a
lynchpin of its Middle Eastern policy, in general, and of leading the jihad and
the Islamic resistance to Israel, in particular. Hizbullah’s inclusion in the
armed struggle in Syria is intended first and foremost to serve the Iranian
strategy, which has been setting new goals apart from military assistance to the
Syrian regime. Iran already seems to be looking beyond the regime’s
survivability and preparing for a reality where it will have to operate in Syria
even if Assad falls. Even before recent events in Syria, observers in the Arab
world have been warning for years about growing evidence of “Iranian
expansionism.”5
An important expression of Syria’s centrality in Iranian strategy was voiced by
Mehdi Taaib, who heads Khamenei’s think tank. He recently stated that “Syria is
the 35th district of Iran and it has greater strategic importance for Iran than
Khuzestan [an Arab-populated district inside Iran]. By preserving Syria we will
be able to get back Khuzestan, but if we lose Syria we will not even be able to
keep Tehran.”6 Significantly, Taaib was drawing a comparison between Syria and a
district that is under full Iranian sovereignty. What was also clear from his
remarks was that Iran cannot afford to lose Syria.
Syria as a Shiite State
All in all, then, Iran will have to step up its military involvement in Syria.
Khamenei’s representative in Lebanon will have to take part in building the new
strategy in Syria, acting in tandem with Iran against the Sunni Islamic groups
that threaten Iran’s interests in Syria.
Tehran has had political ambitions with respect to Syria for years and has
indeed invested huge resources in making Syria a Shiite state. The process began
during the rule of Hafez Assad when a far-reaching network was created of
educational, cultural, and religious institutions throughout Syria; it was
further expanded during Bashar’s reign. The aim was to promote the Shiization of
all regions of the Syrian state. The Syrian regime let Iranian missionaries work
freely to strengthen the Shiite faith in Damascus and the cities of the Alawite
coast, as well as the smaller towns and villages.7 A field study by the European
Union in the first half of 2006 found that the largest percentage of religious
conversions to Shiism occurred in areas with an Alawite majority.8
In both urban and rural parts of Syria, Sunnis and others who adopted the Shiite
faith received privileges and preferential treatment in the disbursement of
Iranian aid money. The heads of the tribes in the Raqqa area were invited by the
Iranian ambassador in Damascus to visit Iran cost-free, and the Iranians doled
out funds to the poor and financial loans to merchants who were never required
to pay them back..9 The dimensions of the Iranian investment in Raqqa, which
included elegant public buildings, mosques, and Husayniyys (a Shiite religious
institute), were recently revealed by Sunni rebels who took over the remote town
and destroyed, plundered, and removed all signs of the Iranian and Shiite
presence there.10
As of 2009 there were over 500 Husayniyys in Syria undergoing Iranian renovation
work. In Damascus itself the Iranians invested huge sums to control the Shiite
holy places including the tomb of Sayyida Zaynab, the shrine of Sayyida Ruqayya,
and the shrine of Sayyida Sukayna. These sites attract Iranian tourism, which
grew from 27,000 visitors in 1978 to 200,000 in 2003.
Iran also operates a cultural center in Damascus that it considers one of its
most important and successful. This center publishes works in Arabic, holds
biweekly cultural events, and conducts seminars and conferences aimed at
enhancing the Iranian cultural influence in the country. The Iranian cultural
center is also responsible for the propagation and study of the Persian language
in Syrian universities, including providing teachers of Persian.11
Iran’s Sponsorship of Shiite Forces in Syria
At present, bloody battles are being waged over the centers of Iranian influence
in Syria, most of all the mausoleum of Sayyida Zaynab – sister of the Imam
Husayn – who in 680 carried his severed head to Damascus after the massacre at
Karbala. In Iranian historiography, the great victory over the Sunnis is marked
in Damascus in the form of a Shiite renaissance in the capital of the hated
Umayyad Empire. The Sunnis, however, are now threatening these Iranian
achievements. Hizbullah has been recruited to the cause, with hundreds of its
fighters coming to Syria from Lebanon. These fighters try to downplay their
Hizbullah affiliation and instead identify themselves as the Abu El Fadl Alabbas
Brigade, named after the half-brother of the Imam Husayn.
Iran is also recruiting Shiite forces in Iraq for the warfare in Syria. These
are organized in a sister framework of Lebanese Hizbullah. Known as the League
of the Righteous People and Kateeb Hizbullah, its mission is to defend the
Shiite centers in Damascus.12 Hizbullah fighters are also operating in other
areas, some of them beyond the Lebanese border in the Shiite villages in Syrian
territory on the way to Homs, thereby creating a sort of territorial continuity
for ongoing Alawite control under Iranian influence. This continuity is
strategically important to Iran since it links Lebanon and Damascus to the
Alawite coast.13 Iran aims to have a network of militias in place inside Syria
to protect its vital interests, regardless of what happens to Assad.14
The war in Syria persists with no decisive outcome on the horizon. Hizbullah’s
battle losses are growing. Subhi Tufayli, the first head of Hizbullah who was
dismissed from its leadership by Iran at the start of the 1990s, has been one of
the prominent critics of Hizbullah’s involvement in Syria. Tufayli claimed that
138 Hizbullah fighters had been killed there along with scores of wounded who
were brought to hospitals in Lebanon.15 Ceremonies for burial of the dead are
frequently held clandestinely, sometimes at night, so as to avoid anger and
resentment. These casualties, however, did not disappear from sight, and the
families have raised harsh questions about such unnecessary sacrifice that is
not in the sacred framework of jihad against Israel, which is Hizbullah’s raison
d’être.
Tufayli, for his part, asserted that Hizbullah fighters who are killed in battle
in Syria “are not martyrs” and “will go to hell.” Syria, he remarked, “is not
Karbala” and the Hizbullah men in Syria “are not fighters of the Imam [Husayn].
The oppressed and innocent Syrian people is Karbala and the members of the
Syrian people are the children of Husayn and Zaynab.” Tufayli went on to say
that he “lauds the fathers and mothers who prevent their children from going to
Syria and says to them that God’s blessing is with them.” Tufayli further
pointed out that, legally speaking, no fatwa has been issued that permits
Hizbullah’s participation in the war in Syria. He said he had appealed to the
supreme religious authority – the sources of emulation (Maraji Taqlid) in Najaf
and in Lebanon – not to issue such a fatwa.16
In the Lebanese Shiite community, Tufayli is not alone in leveling severe
criticism at Hizbullah’s role as an arm of Iran in Syria. Voices within
Hizbullah itself are increasingly casting doubt on the wisdom of involving the
movement on Bashar Assad’s side. Others refuse to go and fight in Syria, and
there have already been desertions from Hizbullah’s ranks. So far, though, it
does not appear that all this is deterring Hizbullah from persisting. At the end
of the day, Hizbullah is not a Lebanese national movement but a creation of Iran
and subject to its exclusive authority. Nasrallah was summoned to Tehran so as
to encourage him and order him to continue as a faithful and obedient soldier of
Velayt-e Faqih (literally: the Rule of the Jurisprudent, referring to Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei).
It is likely that Tehran will make every effort to recruit additional Shiite
elements from Iraq, the Persian Gulf, and even from Pakistan. For the Islamic
Republic, this is a war of survival against a radical Sunni uprising that views
Iran and the Shiites as infidels to be annihilated. This is the real war being
waged today, and it is within Islam. From Iran’s standpoint, if the extreme
Sunnis of the al-Qaeda persuasion are not defeated in Syria, they will assert
themselves in Iraq and threaten to take over the Persian Gulf, posing a real
danger to Iran’s regional hegemony. Khamenei does not intend to give in.
Hizbullah’s readiness to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with Iran against the
radical Sunnis could shatter the delicate internal order upon which the Lebanese
state is based and bring about a Hizbullah take-over of Lebanon in its entirety.
* * *
Notes
1. On the picture and its significance, see Ali al-Amin, Al-Balad, April 23,
2013, http://www.alahednews.com.lb/essaydetails.php?eid=74383&cid=76.
2. “Chief of Iran’s Quds Force Claims Iraq, South Lebanon under His Control, Al
Arabiya News, January 20, 2012, http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/01/20/189447.html.
3. A-Shiraa, March 15, 2013.
4. Nevvine Abdel Monem Mossad, “Implication of Iran Accepting Military Role in
Syria, Lebanon,” The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, October
7, 2012.
5. Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, “Iran and Its Expansionist Tendencies,” Arab News,
February 6, 2013, http://www.arabnews.com/iran-and-its-expansionist-tendencies;
“US Embassy Cables: Omani Official Wary of Iranian Expansionism,” The Guardian,
November 28, 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/165127.
6. Ali-al-Amin, Al-Balad, February 17, 2013.
7. On the Shiization of Syria, see Khalid Sindawi, “The Shiite Turn in Syria,”
Hudson Institute, Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, vol. 8, 82-127, http://www.currenttrends.org/research/detail/the-shiite-turn-in-syria.
8. Ibid., 84.
9. Ibid., 89-90.
10. Martin Kramer, “The Shiite Crescent Eclipsed,” April 16, 2013, http://www.martinkramer.org/sandbox/2013/04/the-shiite-crescent-is-broken.
11. Nadia von Maltzahn, “The Case of Iranian Cultural Diplomacy in Syria,”
Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 2 (2009): 33-50.
12. Rabbiah Jamal, “Iraq’s Kateeb Hezbollah announces involvement in Syria,” Now
Lebanon, April 7, 2013.
13. See the excellent article by Hanin Ghadder, “Hezbollah sacrifices popularity
for survival: In Syria, The Party of God is struggling for an un-divine
victory,” Now Lebanon, April 10, 2013.
14. Karen DeYoung and Joby Warrick, “Iran and Hezbollah Build Militia Networks
in Syria in Event that Assad Falls, Officials Say,” The Washington Post,
February 10, 2013, http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-02-10/world/37026054_1_syrian-government-forces-iran-and-hezbollah-president-bashar.
15. www.metransparent.com, April 25, 2013.
16. Subhi Tufayli, interview, Al Arabiya, February 26, 2013.Publication:
Jerusalem Issue Briefs Filed Under: Hizbullah, Iran, Israeli Security, Radical
Islam, Syria, The Middle EastTags: Hizballah, Iran, Syria
Hezbollah buries two members killed in Syria
Now Lebanon/Hezbollah buried on Saturday two of its members “who
died in battles against the Free Syrian Army in Syria.”Wafiq Ali Hamiyeh was
buried in the Baalbek town of Tarayya and Ali Hassan Mortada was buried in the
Beqaa town of Temnin al-Tahta, sources added. Hezbollah has come under criticism
for fighting on the side of the Syrian regime against rebels in the Al-Qusayr
area and outside Damascus, with news outlets in the past weeks reporting that a
number of party members had been killed while fighting in Syria. However,
Hezbollah’s Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah denied on Tuesday that
large numbers of fighters affiliated with his party had been killed in the
fighting in Syria. Nevertheless, he vowed that “friends” of the Syrian regime
would not allow it to fall and that his party would defend Lebanese Shiites
residing in Al-Qusayr as well as the Sayyida Zainab Shiite shrine outside
Damascus. Elite fighters from Hezbollah are leading the fight against rebels in
the region of Al-Qusayr in the central province of Homs, the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights said last week.
Berri to Force MPs to 'Sleep in Parliament' over Vote Law Row
Naharnet /Speaker Nabih Berri has vowed to force lawmakers to hold intense talks
at the parliament for several days this month until they reach agreement on a
new electoral law. “You will see what I will do on May 15. I will let MPs sleep
at the parliament for three or four days until they come up with a law,”
pan-Arab daily al-Hayat quoted him as saying. “Until now, there isn't any law,”
Berri said after using the Turkish word Yok, which means nonexistent. But the
speaker will make “a new proposal” if the rival parties failed to reach
consensus on the vote law by the date he has set for a general assembly. He
refused to give any details, only saying that he will reveal his plan “at the
appropriate time.” Berri ruled out a prolonged postponement of the elections,
saying “as soon as we agree on a new electoral law in parliament, we could set
the timeframe of the postponement that the interior minister needs” to be able
to prepare for the polls. The rival parties have so far failed to agree on a new
law despite several proposals made by different blocs and leaders. Only the
so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal has been approved by the joint
parliamentary committees despite the rejection of al-Mustaqbal bloc, the
National Struggle Front and the March 14 independent lawmakers. Officials who
visited Berri quoted him as saying that the Lebanese Forces and the Phalange
party, who were among the proposal's staunch supporters along with their rivals
in the Free Patriotic Movement and the Marada movement, are no longer
enthusiastic about it. The plan considers Lebanon a single district and allows
each sect to vote for its own MPs under a proportional representation system.
But Berri has proposed a hybrid plan that combines the winner-takes-all system
and proportionality to appease all sides.
Lebanese Pilgrims Appear in Video, Families Say 'We
Don't Want to See Any Turk after May 22'
Naharnet/..Lebanese pilgrims, who have been held
hostage in Syria since May last year, appeared on a videotape broadcast by two
television stations on Saturday and Sunday, as their families warned that they
"do not want to see any Turk" in Lebanon after May 22 should Turkey fail to
secure the release of their loved ones. The men were seen talking in the footage
but the accompanying audio was inaudible when the video was broadcast by al-Jazeera
satellite TV station on Saturday.But on Sunday LBCI aired the video in which the
nine kidnapped men said they were doing well and sent regards to their
families.They said the video dated to April 30.
The pilgrims backed a demand by their kidnappers to set free Syrian women held
by authorities in Syria in return for their own release, al-Jazeera said.
Earlier this week, the pan-Arab television al-Mayadeen reported that the
abductors have demanded the release of 282 women detainees from Syrian prisons.
The kidnappers have reportedly submitted a list of the names of the detainees to
a high-ranking diplomatic figure and a Turkish official handed the list to
Lebanon's General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.
On Sunday afternoon, the relatives of the abductees staged a sit-in outside the
headquarters of the Turkish UNIFIL contingent in southern Lebanon to press for
the release of their loved ones.
Some of the relatives said the video published by Turkey's Anatolia news agency
did not reassure them, noting that the hostages appeared to be in bad shape and
that the video does not confirm that they are in good health.
The families warned that they will step up their protests against Turkish
interests despite the broadcasting of the video.
“We don't want to see a single Turk outside the headquarters of the Turkish
contingent after May 22,” the families threatened. They carried pictures of the
nine hostages and banners saying the Turkish government is responsible for their
safety and promising to escalate protests until their relatives are released.
“They were on a pilgrimage to the holy sites (in Iran), not on any other mission
like the kidnappers are claiming,” said one of the protesters. Protesters also
called on Colonel Hasan Erturk, the commander of the Turkish contingent, to
convey their demands to his government instead of breaking his promise “like he
did after the previous sit-in six months ago.”
During the sit-in, a number of the abductees' relatives advanced towards the
headquarters' gate and wrote slogans on the surrounding walls. Among the slogans
were “You are here to protect peace, but your mission turned into protecting
terrorism” and “O Ottomans, your presence provokes us.” “There are no red lines
in our protests,” Hayat Awali, representative of the Imam Sadr Tours, warned.
Meanwhile, a number of protesters started knocking on the gate of the Turkish
base, demanding that they be allowed to meet Colonel Erturk, who only let five
of them enter the base to meet him. Lebanese security forces accompanying the
sit-in dispersed the other protesters who approached the headquarters and kept
them away from its gate, the National News Agency reported.
Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped by armed rebels in Syria's Aleppo region
as they were making their way back home by land from a pilgrimage to Iran on May
22.
Two of them have since been released, while the rest are still reportedly being
held in the town of Aazaz. The families of the pilgrims have held Turkey and
Qatar responsible for their ordeal, while accusing the Lebanese government of
not exerting enough efforts to secure their release. They have held daily
sit-ins to press for their demands to set the nine men free.
At Least 30 Wounded in Blast at Tanzanian Church
Naharnet /At least 30 people were injured including three seriously in an
explosion Sunday at a church in the northern Tanzanian city of Arusha, police
said. "There have been 30 people wounded, three in a serious condition, and one
person has been arrested," said regional police chief Liberatus Sabas. It was
not immediately clear what caused the explosion. "This is a sad day, our
security forces are mobilized, and the culprits will be arrested and brought to
justice," said Arusha's commissioner Magesa Mulongo. "For the time being we
don't know if it is a bomb," he added. The blast took place outside a Roman
Catholic church in Arusha, a town popular with tourists visiting the nearby
Serengeti national park and snowcapped Mount Kilimanjaro. Source/Agence France
Presse.
Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut
Elias Audeh Calls for Unity Around Suleiman, Holding Polls on Time
Naharnet/Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut Elias Audeh called on Sunday for
the elections to be held on time and for the Lebanese to unify around President
Michel Suleiman.
“Criticizing the president is similar to cursing your father,” Audeh said in his
Easter sermon at the St. George cathedral in downtown Beirut. “The elections
should be held on time ...There should be unity around the president to bring
life to the democratic life,” he said. “Most of the leaders in the country are
dictators but speak of democracy,” he mocked. Audeh rejected attacks on
religious sites and slammed the recent kidnap-for-ransom phenomena.
“Civilization is based on the respect of other people's freedoms,” he said.
“Civilization is not about wealth, cars and mansions. Civilization is not a
computer or a smartphone or social networking. It is dialogue, peace, justice
and values,” he added. Audeh hoped that all abductees would return home and that
Aleppo's Greek Orthodox Bishop Boulos Yaziji and Syriac Orthodox Bishop Yohanna
Ibrahim would be released. They were kidnapped last month by armed men en route
to the northern city of Aleppo from the Turkish border. Audeh also called for
dialogue, saying “the fire of extremism will harm everyone.”“Let us go back to
our humanitarian values and work for the benefit of the country. Every citizen
is a full partner but no one can impose his opinion on the other,” he stressed.
Audeh lamented that the economic situation is becoming worse and the security
situation has gone backwards.
No 'Happy Easter': The Muslim
Brotherhood's Bizarre Religious Intolerance
By: Eric Trager/The Atlantic/Washington Institute
President Morsi and the Brotherhood are deploying Islam primarily as a
rhetorical device for maintaining internal unity and distinguishing themselves
from their rivals.
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's decision not to attend this coming Sunday's
Coptic Easter mass was entirely predictable. Morsi, after all, declined to
attend Pope Tawadros II's November investiture and, during his previous stint as
chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood's political party, Morsi visited a church on
Christmas but made a point of emphasizing that he exited before services
started. Yet because Morsi's decision comes on the heels of a Brotherhood fatwa
prohibiting Muslims from wishing Christians a "Happy Easter," Morsi's coldness
towards Christians reflects a central paradox of the Brotherhood's Islamism:
despite its longtime promise to "implement the sharia" upon achieving power, the
Brotherhood only offers specific interpretations of Islamic legal principles
when it needs to justify its most intolerant impulses.
The fatwa, authored by Brotherhood leader Abdel Rahman al-Barr, is noteworthy
for its degree of analytical detail. In it, Barr quotes extensively from the
Qur'an to argue that Muslims should only greet Christians on their holidays "so
long as this greeting does not come at the expense of our [Islamic] religion."
In other words, Barr writes, Muslims cannot wish Christians a "Happy Easter,"
because "our belief as Muslims, which makes ambiguity impossible, is that
[Jesus] wasn't killed or crucified," though Muslims can greet Christians on
Easter with the non-sectarian Arabic salutation "kulu sana wa-entum tayyibun,"
which roughly means "hope you are well this year" and is used for all sorts of
occasions, including birthdays. By contrast, he adds, wishing Christians a
"Merry Christmas" is permissible, because Muslims view Jesus as a human prophet
and thus acknowledge his birth.
While this fatwa did little to assuage concerns regarding the Brotherhood's view
of minorities, the Easter ruling's specificity strikes a sharp contrast with the
Brotherhood's otherwise vacuous approach towards interpreting the sharia for
crafting policy. While the Brotherhood technically embraces the jurisprudential
doctrine known as istislah, in which Islamic legal principles are interpreted to
achieve "societal benefits," the vagueness of this outlook has long enabled
Brotherhood leaders to avoid explaining how they would "implement the sharia"
once empowered. This obfuscation has persisted even since Morsi's June 2012
electoral victory.
Indeed, compare the specificity of Barr's fatwa on greeting Christians on Easter
with the list of bromides that Brotherhood leader Farid Ismail threw at me
during a July 2012 interview, when I asked him what policies would change once
Morsi implemented sharia. "It means peace, security, equality, citizenship,
freedom, and giving rights for people despite their religion or ethics or color
or sex," said Ismail, declining to identify a single specific policy that would
change when I pressed further. It is the type of answer that even Muslim
Brothers in positions of executive authority continue to give nearly a year
later. "Everything I'm doing is sharia!" Kafr el-Sheikh Governor Saad al-Husseini,
a top Brotherhood figure, proclaimed to me this past February. "Justice is
sharia. War against corruption is sharia. Security is sharia...Improving the
economy is the sharia. This is the sharia. To preserve the dignity of Egyptians
is the sharia...Day and night we are with poor before rich. This is sharia!"
With such an ill-formed view of what the sharia implies for policy, it is no
wonder that the Brotherhood's tenure as Egypt's ruling party has yielded so few
distinctively Islamic laws. And the Brotherhood will likely continue to embrace
this content-free sharia, for two reasons:
First, by keeping its sharia approach vague, the Brotherhood is able to prevent
internal fissures from emerging that could potentially undermine its
organizational integrity, which it views as vital to consolidating its power.
The Brotherhood thus envisions itself as a disciplined vanguard, which --
according to former Brotherhood spokesman Ibrahim al-Houdaiby -- "focuses on
recruitment and empowering the organization while postponing all intellectual
questions." To prevent potential fissures, the Brotherhood thus frames its views
in specific sharia terms only when it seeks to justify certain theocratic ideas
on which its cadres broadly agree, such as in its calls for banning the sale of
alcohol, outlawing bikinis, and the "Happy Easter" prohibition.
Second, the Brotherhood's vague sharia approach allows it to justify everything
it does as Islamic, while casting its opponents as enemies of Islam who are
thereby deserving of punishment. Barr, the Brotherhood leader who issued the
fatwa prohibiting Muslims from wishing Christians a Happy Easter, was actually
quite explicit on this point when I interviewed him in July 2012. "When we
implement the sharia, we will first try to ease the concerns of the people,
implementing [it] through cooperation that safeguards freedom and dignity and
accomplishes justice," Barr said, echoing familiar cliches. "Then, if someone
comes and breaches this, punishments will be brought against him for not
accepting this, for the dignity of life and [based on] a correct [Islamic]
education," continued Barr, adding that sharia had penalties for all offenses,
including "attacking the finances or attacking the mind." Sadly, Barr's call for
punishing those who "breach" this broadly-defined sharia has been implemented
under Morsi: more journalists have been prosecuted for insulting the president
during Morsi's ten months in office than during Mubarak's thirty years in power,
and many of these individuals are also being tried for insulting Islam.
So while the Brotherhood is certainly an Islamist organization, the vagueness of
its Islamism reveals its most salient characteristic: namely, its
totalitarianism, which deploys Islam primarily as a rhetorical device for
maintaining internal unity and distinguishing itself from its potential enemies.
It interprets sharia coherently (even if offensively) only when it can emphasize
its differences with these enemies, such as through its current argument that
Muslims' theological differences with Christians should trump the harmless
pleasantry of wishing someone a Happy Easter. This is why Mohamed Morsi, the
Muslim Brotherhood's president, won't be a president for all Egyptians.
Totalitarianism has no room for tolerance.
*Eric Trager is the Next Generation fellow at The Washington Institute.