LCCC ENGLISH DAILY
NEWS BULLETIN
October 06/2013
Bible Quotation for today/“
Question: "What does the Bible say about
contentment?"
GotQuestions.org/ Answer: One dictionary defines contentment as “the state of
being mentally or emotionally satisfied with things as they are.” Today it is
rare that we find anyone who is truly content with his or her condition in life.
The Bible has a great deal to say about contentment—being satisfied with what we
have, who we are, and where we’re going. Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, do
not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what
you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important
than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25). In essence, Jesus is telling us to be content
with what we have. Moreover, He has given us a direct command not to worry about
the things of this world. Then He adds, “For the pagans run after all these
things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his
kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as
well” (Matthew 6:32-33). From Jesus’ words, we can deduce that lack of
contentment is sin and it puts us in the same category as those who do not know
God.
The apostle Paul was a man who suffered and went without the comforts of life
more than most people could ever imagine (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). Yet he knew
the secret of contentment: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it
is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every
situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I
can do everything through Him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:12-13). The
writer to the Hebrews adds, “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be
content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never
leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will
not fear. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6). Yet people continue to seek
after more of the things of this world, never contented with their lot in life.
The bumper sticker that reads “He with the most toys wins!” epitomizes the
world’s cravings for more and more. The latest global statistic shows that if
one has a roof over his head and a meal on his table he is richer than 93
percent of the world’s population. If a person wears a pair of shoes he is
richer than 75 percent of the people in the world. In the United States alone,
credit card debt averages more than $16,000 per household, and we are still
discontented. Solomon, the wisest and richest man who ever lived, said, “Whoever
loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with
his income. This too is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources For October 06/13
Interview with Jeffrey Feltman: The View from the
UN/Asharq Alawsat/October 06/13
The
Return of Terrorism/By: Huda Al Husseini/Asharq
Alawsat/October 06/13
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources For October 06/13
Suleiman Expresses Relief over Near
Return of Australia-Bound Boat Tragedy Survivors
Naharnet /President Michel Suleiman expressed relief on Saturday over the
expected return of the Lebanese who survived the Australia-bound boat tragedy.
He voiced hope that the Indonesian authorities would continue its measures to
swiftly return the bodies of the victims to their relatives, the state-run
National News Agency reported. Lebanese Charge d'Affaires in Indonesia Joanna
Qazzi announced on Thursday that around 42 bodies were retrieved from the sea.
Meanwhile, LBCI reported that the buses carrying the 18 Lebanese survivors of
the Indonesian boat left Sukabumi city heading towards Jakarta airport. The
survivors are expected to arrive in Beirut on Sunday. The same source said that
the six Lebanese that were detained in Indonesian prison for not possessing the
necessary legal documents were freed. "All necessary procedures to insure their
legal return to Lebanon were completed."Speaking to Lebanese channels at the
airport in Indonesia, several survivors criticized the Lebanese delegation for
not contacting them since their arrival to the Asian country. "No one reached
out to us or congratulated us on surviving the tragedy," a survivor said. Later
on Saturday, the NNA said that caretaker State Minister Ahmed Karami informed
President Suleiman that the first group of the boat tragedy survivors has left
Indonesia heading to Lebanon. "The Lebanese delegation will continue to work
with concerned Indonesian authorities to complete all pending procedures and
assure the retrieval of the remaining bodies," the NNA added. Concerning
identifying the retrieved bodies, DNA expert Dr. Fouad Ayoub, who's in Indonesia
with the delegation said Indonesian authorities should start their tests on
Monday. "The results of the DNA tests should be ready within 3 weeks," he added.
MTV remarked that not all bodies were retrieved, but that some remain in the
sea. The boat, which was estimated to be carrying between 80 and 120 Middle
Eastern illegal immigrants, went down on Friday in rough seas off Indonesia's
main island of Java. It was headed for Australia's Christmas Island. The
Lebanese foreign ministry said Sunday there were 68 Lebanese, including
children, on board the ill-fated vessel and that 18 survived the ordeal while at
least 28 were still missing. However, six other Lebanese remain detained by the
Indonesian authorities after failing to obtain residence permits.
March 14 to Push Forward Cabinet Formation Process, Rejects
Hizbullah Participation
Naharnet/The March 14 alliance is mulling a new plan to push
forward the formation of the new cabinet that would be based on the Baabda
declaration. “The coalition will form a political-media pressure bloc to form a
neutral cabinet,” March 14 forces general-secretariat coordinator Fares Souaid
said in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday. He noted that
“those who reject to include the Baabda declaration in any ministerial statement
should form another cabinet according to its own perceptions.”The Baabda
Declaration was approved unanimously during a national dialogue session in June
2012. It calls for Lebanon to adopt a policy of disassociation from regional
developments. A source close to the March 14 camp reiterated to An Nahar
newspaper that the alliance insists on the formation of a cabinet that excludes
Hizbullah.“We will not sit on the same table with Hizbullah as long as it's
fighting battles in Syria, wants to impose its conditions on the Lebanese and
foreign countries consider it a terrorist organization,” the source added.
Hizbullah has dispatched fighters to battle alongside the Syrian regime against
rebels seeking the overthrow of President Bashar Assad. The conflict, pitting a
Sunni-dominated rebel movement against Assad, has raised sectarian tensions in
Lebanon and Lebanese Sunni fighters have also been killed while fighting
alongside Syrian rebels.Souaid called on President Michel Suleiman and Prime
Minister-designate Tammam Salam to assume their responsibilities and for a
cabinet immediately. Six months after caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati's
government resigned, the feuding parties have so far failed to agree on a new
cabinet.
Salam is seeking to form a cabinet divided equally between the Lebanese foes and
the centrists and rejects to grant the veto power to any party.
Military Court Sentences in Absentia Army Officer to Death
over Collaborating with Israel
Naharnet/The military court sentenced in absentia on Saturday a
Lebanese army officer to death for collaborating with Israel and a Palestinian
was sentenced to 10 years in prison over the same charges. The court condemned
Brigidair Ghassan al-Jidd, demanding the death penalty over spying for Israel.
While the Palestinian, Asaad al-Khatib was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
According to al-Mustaqbal newspaper published on Saturday, al-Khatib confessed
to the charges. More than 100 people have been arrested on suspicion of spying
for the Israeli Mossad since April 2009, including members of the security
forces and telecom employees. Several have since been sentenced to death,
including one found guilty of aiding Israel during its devastating 2006 war with
Hizbullah.
Safadi Urges Miqati to 'Exceptionally' Approve Funding of
STL in Installments
Naharnet /Caretaker Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi called on
Saturday on caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati to “exceptionally” approve the
funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon despite the resignation of the
cabinet. According to the state-run National News Agency, al-Safadi sent a
letter to Miqati urging him to “exceptionally approve the payment of Lebanon's
share to fund the STL for 2013 in three installments.”Miqati said in May that
his cabinet cannot pay Lebanon's share of the STL funding. “The caretaker
cabinet cannot be responsible for the matter as it falls under current
expenditure,” Miqati explained at the time, implying that the succeeding cabinet
should deal with the matter. Lebanon is obligated to pay around $33 million,
which is 49 percent of the STL's budget. Earlier on Saturday, a source close to
the Tribunal said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper that Lebanon's
failure to provide the STL with its share of the funding of the tribunal for
2013 will tarnish its image internationally and will constitute further burden
on the country. According to the source, Lebanese officials pledged to pay the
country's percentage after the cabinet is formed as the resigned government
lacks the mechanism to carry out the matter. The source didn't rule out that the
resignation of Miqati's cabinet was linked to the funding of the STL. The source
said that the STL could as the United Nations Security Council to pressure
Lebanon to pay its shares. If Lebanon failed to pay the funds on time then the
U.N. could pay from its allocations until the new government is formed. “Lebanon
will commit to its obligations and pay its shares,” the source added. The
tribunal was formed in 2009 to investigate the suicide attack that killed Hariri
and 22 others in Beirut in February 2005.
UNHCR: 779,000 Syrians Taking Refuge in Lebanon
Naharnet/The United Nations’ refugee agency announced on Saturday
that the number of Syrians who have fled their war-torn country and came to
Lebanon has reached 779,000. “13,000 new refugees were registered during this
week,” the U.N. high commissioner for refugees said in a released statement. It
elaborated: “And by this, the number of Syrians receiving aid in Lebanon from
the UNHCR and its partners has reached 779,000. 678100 of them are officially
registered while 101000 are awaiting to be enlisted.” According to the
statement, 217,200 refugees reside in northern Lebanon, 226,600 are in the Bekaa,
144,000 are spread between Beirut and Mount Lebanon while 90,000 are living in
South Lebanon. Caretaker Minister of Social Affairs Wael Abou Faour had said
from Geneva that Lebanon counted by Monday evening some 769,000 Syrians
registered or in the process of registering as refugees, pointing out that on
Monday morning the number had been 763,000. Including all the unregistered
Syrians, the actual number is around 1.3 million, he said, or about 30 percent
of the Lebanese population. Lebanon's ambassador to the U.N. Nawaf Salam
reiterated earlier on Saturday calls on the international community to share the
burden created by the exodus of Syrian refugees into Lebanon.
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim warned recently that Lebanon is heading
towards a “disaster” over the alarming influx of Syrian refugees into its
territories. An international meeting in New York recently announced $339
million in additional humanitarian aid in response to the Syria crisis,
including $74 million for Lebanon to support Syrian refugees that stood at
914,000, or nearly 21 percent of the country's population according to the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.Source/Agence France Presse.
Acute Discord over Petroleum File Delays Bidding on Oil
Blocks
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat
denied on Saturday reports saying that he is preventing the cabinet from holding
an extraordinary session to discuss two decrees essential to award the oil
blocks for the oil companies. “If the issue requires an extraordinary session to
resolve it then I don't mind but the recommendations of the petroleum authority
should be taken into consideration,” Jumblat said in comments published in As
Safir newspaper. The Druze leader pointed out that he had previously warned of
“the delay in cabinet formation... will deprive Lebanon from basic issues
including the exploitation of its gas and oil reserves.”
Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil postponed again on Friday the oil and
gas tenders from December 10, 2013 to January 10, 2014 after the cabinet failed
once again to convene to approve the two decrees.
The country's oil and gas wealth attracted around 46 Arab and international
companies in the second pre-qualification round of the tenders process. Bassil
said in a statement that he had urged President Michel Suleiman and Caretaker
Prime Minister Najib Miqati to hold an extraordinary session to approve the two
decrees, which are essential to award the oil blocks in order to protect the
country’s gas and oil wealth. The decrees call for demarcating 10 maritime oil
exploration blocks and setting up a revenue-sharing model. Sources close to
Miqati told As Safir that he “expressed his readiness to call for a government
session to discuss the two decrees.”“If there was a unanimous political
agreement and there were no constitutional violations then Miqati will call for
the extraordinary session after he return to Lebanon,” the sources added. Miqati
is currently in New York. The sources called on the political foes to swiftly
form a new cabinet to demolish any “fears that the extraordinary session is to
reactivate the resigned cabinet.”
Speaker Nabih Berri urged on Friday Suleiman and Miqati to hold an extraordinary
government session meeting to assign 10 of the blocks. However, Bassil calls for
assigning only two for the meantime, warning that Israel would exploit the
Lebanese discord over the matter. Lebanon has been slow to exploit its maritime
resources compared with other eastern Mediterranean countries. Israel, Cyprus
and Turkey are all much more advanced in drilling for oil and gas. Lebanon and
Israel are bickering over a zone that consists of about 854 square kilometers
and suspected energy reserves there could generate billions of dollars.
Source/Agence France Presse.
World Bank Sets a Four Track Road-Map to Kick Start International Aid
Naharnet/Inger Andersen, World Bank vice president for the MENA region renewed
on Saturday the International commitment to support Lebanon to cope with the
influx of Syrian refugees and the need to translate aid to practical steps,
assuring that political stability would encourage committing funds. In an
interview to the An-Nahar daily, Anderson stressed the necessity to be aware of
the risks of spiking number of refugees on the economic and financial sectors as
well as on Lebanon's society. An international meeting in New York recently
announced $339 million in additional humanitarian aid in response to the Syria
crisis, including $74 million for Lebanon to support Syrian refugees that stood
at 914,000, or nearly 21 percent of the country's population according to the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Andersen said the World Bank was
working simultaneously on four tracks to secure and channel the resources to
contain the emerging crisis. The first track entails the necessity to benefit
from aid previously offered by donor countries and organizations, while the
second step is to create a trust fund to raise money. Approving development
projects and securing infrastructure financed by soft and long-term loans
(between 15 and 20 years old) with an interest that does not exceed 1.5 percent,
would constitute the third track. The fourth step would aim at encouraging the
private sector to join the investment projects to be funded. Moreover, and
regarding Lebanon's political instability in the absence of an effective
executive authority Anderson stressed that donor countries and the international
community prefer a stable and effective government, because it would encourage
investment. Whether the presence of Hizbullah in the government would impede aid
offered to Lebanon, Anderson said that the world bank is not interested in that,
“We work with 184 countries including Lebanon,” she said. World Bank VP
concluded that the funds will be marked for specific projects, and called for
distinction between the humanitarian aid handled by the United Nations
organizations ,which responds to the immediate needs of the displaced, and the
development side handled by the World Bank.
She concluded saying that even though Lebanon needs a lot of potentials,
expectations should not be pinned high since the aid offered in the first phase
will be modest awaiting the establishment of the trust fund.
Iran's Khamenei Criticises 'Some' of Rouhani's U.N. Trip
Naharnet /Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Saturday
criticized some aspects of President Hassan Rouhani's landmark U.N. visit in
which he spoke to his U.S. counterpart but voiced broad support.
The comments were the first public response by Khamenei, who wields ultimate
authority in Iran, to Rouhani's overtures to the West in New York last week,
which were capped by a historic 15-minute telephone conversation with U.S.
President Barack Obama. "We support the diplomatic initiative of the government
and attach importance to its activities in this trip," Khamenei told military
commanders and graduating cadets in remarks reported by his website,
Khamenei.ir.However he added -- without elaborating -- that "some of what
happened in the New York trip was not appropriate."
The telephone conversation on September 27 -- the first diplomatic contact
between Iranian and U.S. presidents -- broke 34 years of icy relations between
Tehran and Washington since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
For Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state including foreign
policy, the suspicion runs deep.
"We are pessimistic towards the Americans and do not put any trust in them. The
American government is untrustworthy, supercilious and unreasonable, and breaks
its promises," he said. Khamenei also lambasted Washington for its alliance with
Iran's number one regional foe, Israel.
The American administration "is a government that is seized by the international
network of Zionism, and has to put up with the usurper (Israeli) regime and show
flexibility towards it," Khamenei said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured a tougher line from Obama in
his public comments after their White House talks last Monday, sparking Iranian
accusations of "flip-flop" by the U.S. president.
In his address to the U.N. General Assembly last Tuesday, Netanyahu then warned
that Israel was ready to go it alone in taking military action to prevent any
possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapons capability.
Khamenei said any such action would be met with a "harsh" response. "We hear the
repetitive and disgusting threats of the Iranian nation's enemies. Our response
to any mischief will be serious and harsh," he said.
Source/Agence France Presse.
At Least 30 Killed in Baghdad Bombings
Naharnet /An attack targeting Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad killed
23 people and wounded at least 65 on Saturday, officials said.
Accounts differed as to whether the attack in the Adhamiyah area of north
Baghdad was a bomb followed by a suicide bombing, or a suicide bombing alone.
The attack came as pilgrims walked to a shrine in Adhamiyah to commemorate the
death of Imam Mohammed al-Jawad, the ninth Shiite imam.
Iraq is home to some of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam, and millions of
pilgrims visit the country each year.
But crowds of pilgrims thronging the roads are frequently targeted by Sunni
militants including those linked to al-Qaida, who consider Shiites to be
apostates.
In another attack, earlier on Saturday a suicide bomber struck a cafe north of
Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding 35, police and a doctor said.
The same cafe in the town of Balad was attacked by a suicide bomber in August,
when 16 people were killed.
Militants have carried out a number of attacks on cafes in Iraq in recent
months, and have also targeted other places where crowds gather, including
mosques, football fields, funerals and markets.
Violence has reached a level unseen since 2008, and there are fears Iraq may
relapse into the kind of intense Sunni-Shiite bloodshed that peaked in 2006-2007
and killed tens of thousands of people.
With the latest violence, more than 70 people have been killed in attacks so far
this month, and over 4,750 since the beginning of the year, according to Agence
France Presse figures based on security and medical sources.
Source/Agence France Presse.
Statement by Minister of State Yelich on Two Canadians Detained in Egypt
October 5, 2013 - The Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State (Foreign
Affairs and Consular), today issued the following statement:
“Canada welcomes the decision to release Tarek Loubani and John Greyson.
“I look forward to Dr. Loubani and Mr. Greyson being reunited with their
families and friends, who have shown tremendous strength during this difficult
time.
“Minister Baird and I were in contact with senior Egyptian officials on numerous
occasions concerning this case, and the Embassy of Canada to Egypt worked
tirelessly to secure their release.
“We are facilitating Dr. Loubani and Mr. Greyson's departure from Egypt, and
Canadian officials will continue to offer consular services to them and their
families as needed.
“I wish to express our appreciation to the Egyptian authorities for providing
consistent consular access.”
Jeffrey Feltman: The View from the UN
The United Nations Under-Secretary for Political Affairs talks Syria, Geneva II,
and Iran
Mina Al-Oraibi
New York, Asharq Al-Awsat—The United Nations renewed efforts to bring the Syrian
government and opposition together for peace talks for the first time in Geneva.
After the Security Council unanimously passed UNSC Resolution 2118 last week,
the Geneva process has become the focal point for political endeavors to end the
fighting after over two-and-a-half years of killing and displacement. In an
exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, the United Nations Under-Secretary for
Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, explained the significance of the Geneva
process and the need to move on from preconditions like pre-determining the fate
of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad or trying to tilt the military balance in
Syria before the talks. Feltman also made it clear that he believes the
international community “should be engaged with Iran” on Syria, as a solution is
“hard to imagine” without the Iranians.
Having served in the United States Foreign Service for over 30 years, with his
last position being Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs,
Feltman is no stranger to the Middle East. Since taking on the position of
Under-Secretary General of the UN in July 2012, Feltman’s portfolio has
broadened to include Africa and Central Asia, yet the Middle East appears to be
taking up much of his agenda, with visits to Iran, Lebanon and Iraq in the last
few weeks, in addition to wide discussions with the key regional players.
This interview has been edited for length.
Asharq Al-Awsat: Let us start by discussing Syria and the resolution that the UN
Security Council passed last week. How significant was it in terms of bringing
the possibility of a political settlement closer?
Jeffrey Feltman: It is significant in several ways. First, there is the issue
itself, which is chemical weapons, an abhorrent class of weapons that the Syrian
government had never confirmed that it had. Those weapons now have to be
destroyed; that is significant in of itself. It takes that class of weapons out
of the Syrian arsenal. The second significant matter is that it has broken the
paralysis in the Security Council, the paralysis that has haunted us for
two-and-a-half years as Syrians are being butchered. I think that is really
significant, because now we can say, ‘Yes, the Security Council can come
together on Syria,’ and within that resolution, you would have seen the
paragraph calling for the convening of the Geneva Conference as soon as
possible. So we have a bit of momentum behind the political process. We have to
translate this into an actual conference, an actual move by the Syrians and
their regional and international backers to focus on political, rather than
military approaches, but we are in significantly better shape than we were two
weeks ago in dealing with the Syrian crisis. I don’t want to under-estimate the
challenges that we face, but for all of those that said the Security Council
can’t act, that the UN is irrelevant when it comes to the Syrian crisis, last
week’s resolution proved that theory wrong.
Q: The resolution makes reference to Chapter VII, but was not passed under its
remit. If the Syrian government was not to comply, the Security Council could go
back to that old wrangling. Some would argue that the resolution gave breathing
room to the Syrian government not to comply with some of its other obligations,
including the need to stop killing civilians.
The resolution doesn’t give us the tool on how to stop the flow to, or use of,
weapons inside Syria—you are right. It is dealing with one category of weapons
that are particularly bad. But look at what we have: We have a Russian–American
agreement that these weapons should not be used in Syria; they should not be
available in Syria; they should not be available to anyone fighting in Syria or
who could take them from Syria. That is significant. And we have a
Russian–American agreement that dates from May 7, on the fact that we need to
bring the Syrians together around the table with the purpose of implementing
that communiqué that was signed in Geneva last year. We did not have any of this
a few months ago. We did not have acknowledgement from the Syrians that they had
chemical weapons a few weeks ago. So if you look at this as a step-by-step
process, we have moved from a completely divided Security Council to one where
there is unanimity.
Q: This unanimity over Syria’s chemical weapons has allowed an opening for the
political track. Yet the Geneva Conference, if it happens, is just the start of
a process. Can you see that process succeeding with Syrian president Bashar
Al-Assad remaining in power?
There are two things that people seem to argue about a lot when it comes to
conditions for the Geneva Conference: One is what is the military balance on the
ground, who controls what plot of land, and the other is what is the role of
President Al-Assad. In my view, when I look at the Geneva communiqué from last
year and I think about a way forward, I think both of those points are almost
irrelevant, they are not the essence of what’s supposed to be done in Geneva.
The Geneva communiqué lays out a political approach to solving the crisis in
Syria, a political approach that is implemented by mutual consent. That means it
does not matter who controls what village, if people gather around the table in
good faith to try to implement the Geneva communiqué. This action plan talks
about putting the full executive powers into a transitional governing body that
would be formed by mutual consent, which means that the role of President Assad
also shouldn’t be a deal breaker in terms of sitting around the conference table
figuring out a way forward. The elements that we need for Geneva to have a
better chance of success is for people to look at that communiqué from last year
and come to Geneva prepared to negotiate its implementation. In some cases, that
means the Syrian parties themselves—whether the opposition or the
government—coming seriously intending to work by mutual consent to implement the
Geneva communiqué. In some cases, it means the regional and international
partners must make sure that they too are committed to this, so that when the
Syrians sit at that table they see that there is no other option, there is no
other exit except to work on implementation.
Q: As you said, the transitional governing body has to include representatives
from the current Syrian government and the opposition. How concerned are you
about the internal divisions within the opposition, and whether those who attend
Geneva II actually control factions on the ground?
I am concerned from both sides. I am concerned that the government believes that
you simply add a few new faces to the existing cabinet and call it the
transitional governing body, and then you are done. That is clearly not going to
change the situation on the ground, and that is clearly not going to give the
people who want to see change a feeling that there is a new Syria and a new
Syrian understanding of how governance would operate. And I am concerned that
the opposition, because of how diverse it is, won’t be able to come with a
unified delegation that is seen as representative and authoritative. So part of
our homework is to work with the government and opposition forces so they all
see what they are really supposed to do in Geneva.
Now, you are right, the likely representation of the opposition will not include
all of the groups that are fighting on the ground—I can’t imagine that the Al-Nusra
Front will be at Geneva nor can I imagine that any of us would want to see them
there. But if you have a process by which people in Syria are seeing that there
is real hope for a political settlement, I would imagine that those who are
still fighting on the ground are going to start feeling isolated. Right now,
there seems to be no alternative to the fighting, and we are seeing Syria being
destroyed before our very eyes. However, once you start a political process,
then any popular support for the fighting is going to start to erode. Now that
is a theory, it remains to be proven, but it is far better that we move in this
direction than to simply continue to watch Syria be destroyed before our eyes.
One of the things that we have said is that for the opposition delegation in
particular, on that first day of the conference, when the cameras are panning
the room, the Syrians who are at home watching in desperation and hope that
something is going to finally improve should see that the delegation looks like
Syria.
Q: Some worry that this ‘looking like Syria’ is being devised on a sectarian
basis, that having an Alawite, a Kurd, a Christian, a Sunni, etc., is
representation, yet many Syrians refuse that principle for fear of it being a
tool of division. What’s your view?
The basis of the Geneva action plan is that you will first of all have the
Syrians themselves deciding how to put this transitional body together, but the
basic presumption is that the transitional governing body would include people
from the current governing structures and the opposition. It does not say that
explicitly, but the philosophy behind it is that you have people from both sides
sitting around the table deciding what a transitional governing body that could
oversee Syria through the transitional period would look like.
Q: President Assad has said repeatedly that he believes the Syrian people will
decide who governs them in elections in 2014. Do you see elections in 2014 as a
viable way for a transition in Syria?
Right now, we are operating in the UN under the direction of the Security
Council, that included in UNSC 2118 a paragraph on Geneva, and what we are
hearing from key members states is that the way to move forward is based on last
year’s Geneva communiqué. That is what we are working on. Our basic philosophy
is that the Syrians are gathering in Geneva not to talk about “what,” they are
talking about “how” and “who.” I don’t see how you can have national elections
that would be seen as credible in the conditions that currently exist inside
Syria.
Q: Speaking of Geneva, there are many questions about whether Iran will be
invited or not. Do you think it would be useful to have Iran at the table in
Geneva?
It is hard for me to imagine having a solution in Syria that works if Iran isn’t
somehow engaged and involved in this, in one form or another. But as I said, we
are focused on how you would implement the Geneva action plan from last year, so
we would want to make sure that whoever accepts the secretary-general’s
invitation to participate understand that they are there to show support for a
political solution based on the Geneva communiqué. So whether they are the
regional, international, or Syrian parties, they need to make sure that they are
there to implement Geneva. So should we be engaged with Iran or not? Yes, I
think we should be engaged with Iran.
Q: During your August visit to Iran, did you sense that the Iranian leadership
was willing to be involved in a political solution in Syria?
The reason why the secretary-general sent me to Iran in the first place was to
discuss Syria, so that was the primary objective in my visit to Iran. This was
to discuss with officials there the need to move as quickly as possible toward a
political settlement for Syria and a move away from the military logic that has
caused so much damage to Syria. So I would say that three quarters of my time,
at least, when I was in Iran was discussions about Syria.
Q: And were those discussions productive? Are the Iranians willing to be part of
that political process?
The talks were good; they were constructive and deep. We had enough time to
really go into detail about our thinking. And, of course, the secretary-general
saw President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif here in New York to give his
own views about the need to move to a political solution and exchange ideas with
the Iranian leadership. The Iranians have stated publicly what they have said
privately, which is a deep concern about a terrorist threat inside Syria that
they see as posing a danger not only to Syria but potentially a danger to the
region and beyond. I was there to really emphasize the secretary-general’s
conviction that as long as we look at military approaches, the suffering is
going to continue. We do not see the opposition being able to overthrow
President Al-Assad’s government by force, nor do we see President Assad’s
government able to defeat the opposition by force. We have to have a political
solution. That was my message to the Iranians.
Q: History was made recently in the unexpected phone call between Presidents
Obama and Rouhani, in addition to all the diplomacy with Iran over the last few
weeks. The implications are not only for the nuclear file, but for the region
also. Do you think this can be a time of de-escalation after all the recent
troubles in the region?
I hope so. If you look over the last couple of years, you see this incredible
increase in Sunni–Shi’ite tensions, for example, that poses real dangers for
countries that have more than one community—I think of Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and
others. The Sunni–Shi’ite tensions have the potential to pose real dangers in
the region, and I don’t see how you de-escalate such tensions as long as the
fighting in Syria continues. The fighting may not have started out this way, but
it has taken on a deeply sectarian color. So I believe that engagement with all
of the regional actors to try to alert them to just how risky this Syria
conflict is beyond Syria, plus responding to President Rouhani’s clear interest
in engagement, can help reduce tensions and move towards de-escalation. It won’t
be automatic—it won’t be easy at all. But yes, there is a potential now to use
diplomacy.
Q: Lebanese president Michel Suleiman received much support here at the UN. Is
he now seen as the main player to maintain the fragile stability in Lebanon, in
the absence of forming the new government. And at the same time, how can Lebanon
cope with Hezbollah playing such an overt role in the Syrian conflict?
President Suleiman deserves a lot of credit for the relative stability that
Lebanon enjoys. Lebanon has certainly had problems; we have seen what has
happened in Tripoli, we have seen bombs in the Dahiya, the southern suburbs of
Beirut. The risks of some kind of sectarian explosion in Lebanon are always
there. However, the fact that Lebanon hasn’t fallen over the cliff is a
significant accomplishment by the Lebanese people themselves. I think Michel
Suleiman has done a superb job in trying to keep Lebanon as immune as possible
from the political and security spillovers from Syria. The secretary-general
certainly recognizes the dangers that Lebanon faces and the incredible burden
that has been imposed on Lebanon by now something like 800,000 to 900,000
refugees, and that is why the secretary-general wanted to start a process with
President Suleiman that could attract support for the Lebanese armed forces.
This is a process that was launched that will take a number of forms in terms of
committees and needs, also working with the World Bank and others. We have a
real asset when it comes to Lebanon; we have continued Security Council unity on
Lebanon. One hopes that we not only preserve that unity regarding the need to
protect and support Lebanon, combined with UNSC resolution 2118 to allow us to
use the Security Council more effectively when it comes to the Syria problem
directly.
Q: Does this include dealing with Hezollah’s involvement there?
One of the reasons why the International Support Group is so committed to try
and help the Lebanese Armed Forces is because they have proven able to prevent
some of the fighting from Syria crossing into the country. Hezbollah’s
involvement inside Syria is not something that helps Lebanon.
Q: There are also issues about the lack of security along the Syria–Iraq border,
with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria [ISIS] growing in strength there. You
were in Iraq a few weeks ago: how much success did you have in urging the
government not to allow these fighters to cross the borders?
I was in Iraq in August, which has turned out to be the bloodiest month in five
years in Iraq. Every Iraqi leader spoke with great concern about the increase in
violence. There is, without question, spillover from Syria, as you note. However
there is also paralysis inside Iraq that is also contributing to the conditions
that leads to this violence, and there are also upcoming elections in Iraq. So
these three factors—Syria spillover, political paralysis and upcoming
elections—make it a particular challenge for the Iraqis to deal with the
security threat right now, because there are people interested in using the
violence for political means. But the security threat in Iraq is so severe that
we certainly are encouraging the Iraqis, whatever their political differences
are, to pull together to address what is a very real threat.
Q: There almost seems to be an agreement from just about everyone—Arabs,
Russians, Americans and Iranians—that terrorism might be a uniting factor to
work against what are seen as Al-Qaeda elements in Syria. That appears to be a
greater driving force than, sadly, efforts to stop the killing of innocent
civilians. Would you agree with this interpretation?
There is a growing recognition of how the longer this fighting goes on, not only
more people are killed and displaced, but the more likely it is that you have a
very long-term terrorist problem emanating from Syria. So I think there has been
a focus on this terrorist threat, which again takes us back to Geneva, because
if you get a transitional governing body together that includes people from the
government and opposition, you can have a united approach on how to pull Syria
back together and isolate those groups that really can’t be part of any new
Syrian republic.
Q: The Palestinians and Israelis have resumed direct negotiations, with the aim
of reaching an agreement within nine months. Do you think the nine-month time
frame is realistic—and if this fails, what is the alternative?
I don’t know what Plan B is. The Americans are so committed to Plan A, and the
Israelis and Palestinians have also said they are committed to Plan A, that
no-one is talking about a Plan B. What has impressed me about the talks is the
respect that the Israelis and Palestinians have for the rules of the game. I
have seen previous iterations of talks where the Israelis and Palestinians will
immediately run out the room from talks—run to the media and give their side of
the story and denounce the other side’s positions. That is not what is happening
now. Yes, you have the Israelis and Palestinians who state their own positions,
sometimes forcefully, to the press, but they are not talking about the other
positions. They are not talking about what is happening in the negotiating room.
That was one of the understandings they had with the Americans, but the fact
that they are living up to the understanding suggests to me that both sides are
taking this quite seriously. I don’t know what is happening behind closed doors,
so I can’t really comment on whether nine months is realistic or not, because I
do not know how far they have gotten or where they have to go. But I can say
that surely after 20 years of talks, you don’t need lengthy negotiations, what
you need is decisions.
In Depth: Iranian espionage plot uncovered by Shin Bet
shows a new level of sophistication
By LIOR AKERMAN 10/05/2013/J.Post
The incident cleared for publication this week, in which the Shin Bet (Israel
Security Agency) arrested alleged Iranian intelligence agent Ali Mansouri in
Israel differs from previous cases which have occured in the last decade.
This time, it appears that the recruitment and running of the agent was carried
out by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's special operations unit (Quds Force),
rather than by the Iranian intelligence agency.Among other things, the role of
the Quds Force is to execute terror attacks against Israel and additional
targets in the West and in the Middle East. The signifigance of this is that
Mansouri was not sent to Israel to spy and collect intelligence like his
predecessors, but rather to establish an infrastructure to carry out terror
attacks within Israel.
It warrants noting that the Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force was behind the
February 2012 terror attack in which an employee of the Israeli embassy in Delhi
was wounded, and was also responsible for attempted terror attacks in Bangkok
and Tblisi, Georgia, as well as previous plots in Azerbaijan, Kenya and Nigeria.
An additional important fact, which displays a new pattern in Iran's strategy
against Israel, is that the process was completely compartmentalized from Iran's
general intelligence establishment, and it was reminiscent of Western
intelligence operations. The Iranians identified Mansouri based on his
characteristics and skills, which included Iranian origins, Belgian citizenship
and a worldwide business background. The recruitment of Mansouri was a prolonged
process, and he was provided with an intricate cover story with all of his
movements and actions effectively disguised. These measures were taken in order
to hide the fact that he had repeatedly entered and left Iran, and that he had
Iranian citizenship. Mansouri was arrested during his third visit to Israel,
however, that does not necessarily mean that he was not discovered beforehand.
The eternal dillema of preventative intelligence is deciding at what stage to
arrest a suspect in order to best serve the ultimate interest: collecting the
maximum amount of information about the agent and his actions, particularly in
regard to his connections with additional operatives.
The arrest of Mansouri while he was attempting to depart Israel at Ben-Gurion
Airport was not random, nor was it solely the result of the airport autorities'
security procedures.
The Shin Bet uses many tools to identify suspicious patterns of activity,
including information provided by foreign intelligence sevices, intercepted
signals, monitoring of computer communications, detection and identification of
suspicious activity, tips from the public, and a suspect profile.
The methods employed by the Iranians in the Mansouri case, which differ from
Tehran's previous operations, require Israel's intelligence establishment to
adjust accordingly.
Intelligence officials must now understand that the Iranians have shown
themselves to be a sophisticated, patient and calculating adversary that acts
and plans for the long-term.
Nevertheless, the Iranians likely made a number of errors in running the agent
which led to his being discovered, arrested and prevented from carrying out his
mission. The Iranian operation was patterned after Western intelligence methods
which are very familiar to the the Shin Bet and Mossad.
During the 1990s, and in the last decade, quite a few European passport holders
sent to Israel as tourists by Hezbollah and Iran were arrested. Many Israelis,
both Jews and Arabs, were detained and questioned after being pressured by
Iranians, usually while trying to organize trips to visit family in Iran at
Iran's embassies in Turkey and in other nations.
The most recent Iranian attempt failed, like most of their previous efforts.
Most of the previous recruitments were carried out in Iranian embassies or in
Iran, sometimes in a violent and blunt fashion. However, it turns out that in
this instance as well, despite the great caution and strict
compartmentalization, the Shin Bet succeeded in discovering the agent and
thwarting his actions.
It bears reminding that the Iranians also use Hezbollah as an additional long
arm for collecting intelligence and kidnapping Israelis (such as Elhanan
Tenenbaum). In this area as well, Israel has succeeded in stopping most of the
plots. Identifying this kind of undercover, secret agent is not easy. The
foreign citizenship, the business cover and the personal background make it
difficult to uncover suspects. It is probable that Iran, as well as other
countries, will continue trying to send spies to Israel in order to collect
high-value intelligence information, either for civilian or military purposes.
The Shin Bet's real challenge is to identify suspicious signs, patterns and
activities suggestive of espionage or terror, collect intelligence and use it
properly in order to both prevent the activities themselves and glean
information for thwarting future plots.The writer is a former brigadier-general
who served as a division head in the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).
The Return of Terrorism
Huda Al Husseini/Asharq Alawsat
A Kenyan victim says: “This is not Islam. Islam is a religion of mercy and
charity.”
Kenyan Islamic scholar Abubakr Sharif Ahmed, better known as Makaburi, says:
“I’m not a moderate. . . . Moderate Islam is that of Obama and Tony Blair. The
Al-Shaba’ab operation is justifiable. I’m not affiliated to the group, but do
support its ideology.” These two comments came following the terrorist
attack on Westgate Mall in Nairobi in which 67 people were killed.
But just who are Al-Shaba’ab? Ali and Khalid, two people who were held captives
in the mall and managed to escape with their lives, related what happened during
the Al-Shaba’ab siege to BBC’s Panorama. Ali said: “They forced me to ‘watch’
another captive who tried to escape. They shackled his feet and hands and
blindfolded him, and then they stabbed him to death while he screamed in pain.”
Khaled said: “They brought two kids in front of me and put explosive belts on
them, and sent them in a suicide operation, and we never saw them again. They
were only six and seven years old.”
Among the documents discovered in Osama Bin Laden’s lair in Abbottabad,
Pakistan, was a document that called for the ties between his organization and
Al-Shaba’ab to be kept a secret. Bin Laden was conscious that publicly
acknowledging this link would draw the West’s attention to the Somalia-based
organization. As a result, Al-Shaba’ab remained relatively free in terms of
their orchestration and implementation of terrorist operations in eastern
Africa. The claims that the threat represented by Al-Qaeda is waning are simply
not true. Al-Qaeda’s decentralization and fragmentation in no way means that the
terrorist group no longer represents a threat. Its mere ideology is a threat.
Al-Qaeda wants Muslims to feel separate and distinct from non-Muslims, namely in
that they should not feel like they are potential targets of terrorist attacks.
Al-Qaeda also wants non-Muslims to be suspicious and hostile towards Muslims,
which further alienates and isolates the Muslim community. Most terrorist
operations are carefully organized and orchestrated, with the people carrying
them out having a distinct plan of action and specific grievances. In Nairobi,
the plan was: “If you are a Muslim, you are safe,” meaning that non-Muslims were
the target of the operation, although many Muslims were killed. What Al-Qaeda
and its affiliates are trying to do is divide people and society, creating
splits within states and communities in order to accomplish their ultimate
objective of creating a world of division and strife.
Will they succeed?
The problem is that the areas where groups like Al-Shaba’ab and others are
situated also attract foreign youths who are neither deprived nor poor, but who
have fallen prey to this terrifying ideology. These angry young men, often
called “intellectuals,” believe that through such violent actions they can
avenge themselves on the world, and that their actions will have long-term
consequences.
The Westgate Mall terrorist attack is painful not only due to the number of
people killed, but also who were killed and how, including the brutal butchering
of young children. This was a terrorist operation and so its aim was to terrify
the watching world. Some international economies are harmed by what is
happening in neighboring states. For example, Lebanon shares a border with
Syria, while Pakistan is adversely affected by the close proximity of
Afghanistan. As for Kenya, it unfortunately finds itself sharing a border with
Somalia.
These states are harmed by their proximity to an unruly neighbor, in addition to
their own failure to implement national security.
Today, this state of instability is able to traverse broad geographic regions,
starting from eastern Africa to Sudan, Somalia and then to Kenya. The question
that must be asked here is: Why didn’t Al-Shaba’ab carry out a single terrorist
operation against Ethiopia, despite the historic hostility between the two
countries?
This could be due to the tight security situation in Ethiopia and the weakening
security in Kenya. Al-Shaba’ab announced their arrival on the international
scene in 2006, initially seeking to take control of Somalia and turn it into an
Islamic emirate before African troops were deployed, dashing these Islamist
dreams.
During internal clashes last month, Al-Shaba’ab leaders who wanted to keep the
group’s activities domestic were killed, including Omar Hamami, a US citizen of
Syrian parentage. Those who wanted to expand the terrorist group’s operations
have since taken over.
Following the Westgate terrorist operation, Al-Shaba’ab movement issued a
statement signed by its emir, Sheikh Mokhtar Abu Zubair. The statement read: “On
Saturday, September 21, 2013, which was just 10 days after the anniversary date
of the blessed 9/11 operations, a battle which is among the epic battles in the
history of Islam began in Nairobi, and in which some of the Mujaheddin
Martyrdom-Seekers have written with their blood. Allah has honored the
Mujaheddin fighters to write this epic battle—the Badr of Nairobi [a reference
to the Islamic Battle of Badr]—with their blood and to change the course of
history and avenge the deaths of the weak, oppressed Muslims.”
On July 12, two months before the Westgate operation, a report by the UN in
Kenya warned that Al-Shaba’ab’s major ally, Al-Hijra, was orchestrating new and
more complex operations.
Among the rumors that spread following Westgate was that one of the group’s
leaders was a Kenyan national who embraced Islam and who had been a former
soldier in the Special Forces. According to the same report, while Al-Hijra and
Al-Shaba’ab were strengthening their ties, the Kenyan group had also suffered a
number of setbacks, with many of its senior leaders being killed in
counter-terrorist operations, including Sheikh Abboud Roghou Mohamed. However,
the report also highlighted the continuing threat posed by Al-Hijra, in addition
to that of Al-Shaba’ab.
Al-Hijra did not hide its loyalty to Al-Qaeda. In February 2012, only one day
after Al-Qaeda and Al-Shaba’ab announced their merger, Al-Hijra announced that
it was part of Al-Qaeda in East Africa. The report also mentioned two names of
Al-Qaeda loyalists who were being consulted by Al-Hijra, including Abubakr
Sharif Ahmed, who was placed on the UN and US terrorist watch list. He is
believed to be very close to the Al-Shaba’ab leadership, with the report also
saying that Makaburi exerted a “growing influence over Al-Hijra,” adding he was
“determined to redirect the group’s resources and manpower from hitting ‘soft
targets’ to conducting complex, large-scale attacks in Kenya on behalf and in
support of Al-Shaba’ab.”
The second name mentioned in the UN report is that of British national Jermaine
John Grant, who was reportedly planning to attack a tourist resort in Mombasa in
2011. According to the report, Grant admitted being a member of Al-Qaeda, not
Al-Shaba’ab, to Kenyan authorities.
In his book, The World’s Most Dangerous Place: Inside the Outlaw State of
Somalia, James Ferguson tells an anecdote about Somali youth being lured into
joining the terrorist Al-Shaba’ab organization in return for a single piece of
fruit per day. There are those who say that Somalia is hungry and poor and that
as long as there is poverty and starvation, Al-Shaba’ab will have no shortage of
recruits. But where does their money come from?
Today, a hardline movement is rising in Kenya. A state of inequality is
prevailing across the world; distrust in government and unemployment are rife.
This state of division and fragmentation, if it remains unaddressed, will only
serve to strengthen Al-Qaeda and its affiliates. Indeed, Al-Qaeda draws strength
from such circumstances in order to create more division and strife in a vicious
circle.
If this state of affairs continues, then Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al-Shaba’ab in
Somalia, Al-Hijra in Kenya, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Al-Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula will see a new era of interaction and collaboration.
Huda Al Husseini