Israel dismisses Iran’s nuclear concessions as ‘cosmetic’

http://www.jpost.com/Iranian-Threat/News/Jlem-dismisses-reports-of-Iranian-willingness-to-end-high-grade-uranium-enrichment-as-cosmetic-concession-328313

By HERB KEINON 10/09/2013/J.Post: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will flood the European media in coming days with interviews trying to sway public opinion against easing sanctions on Iran in return for what Jerusalem views as cosmetic concessions. Netanyahu’s media blitz comes as The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that Iran will come to talks in Geneva next week with the world powers – the US, Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain – willing to stop enriching uranium to 20-percent purity, which is close to weapons-grade capability.According to the report, the Islamic Republic – in exchange for scaling back the sanctions – will also be willing to open up its nuclear facilities to more invasive international inspections, and is considering closing the underground uranium enrichment facility near Qom.Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz, who met on Wednesday with the head of the French team to the negotiations with Iran, called what Iran was reportedly willing to bring to the table “laughable.”“Closing the facility in Qom means that Iran will be able to produce in its first year of nuclearization five bombs instead of six,” he said. “Giving up on enriching to 20% is less significant at a time when Iran already has 20,000 centrifuges.” Steinitz said that Israel was amenable to a “true and serious diplomatic solution” whereby Iran’s nuclear capabilities would be similar to those of Canada or Mexico – it would be able to generate electricity from a reactor, but would need to buy the nuclear fuel to work the reactors from another country. Netanyahu stressed at the UN last week and in numerous interviews afterward that Iran must do four things: stop all enrichment, remove from its control all its stockpiles of enriched uranium, close down the facility at Qom, and stop all work on the heavy water reactor at Arak aimed at producing a plutonium path toward a bomb. Netanyahu, quoting from what Iranian President Hassan Rouhani himself said in 2005, explained that a country that can enrich uranium to 3.5% will also have the capability to enrich to weapons grade 90%, and that having the fuel cycle capability “virtually means” that a country possesses the capability to produce nuclear weapons. For that reason, he said, Iran must not be left with any capacity to enrich uranium at any level. An Israeli government official said that the Wall Street Journal report confirmed what Netanyahu said last week in New York: that the Iranians were angling for a deal that would relieve sanctions but keep the fundamentals of their program in place. “This is the Iranian strategy that we have warned about all along,” he said. “Cosmetic concessions that leave the heart of their program in place and gives them breakout capacity to build a nuclear weapon at a time of their choosing.” The official described “break-out capacity” as the Iranian’s ability – when they desire – to produce the necessary amount of fissile material for a bomb. With the number and advanced nature of the centrifuges they have in place, the official said that if they were not barred from all enrichment, “they can go from low enrichment to high [weapons-grade] enrichment in a matter of weeks.” The official said that Netanyahu’s message to the Europeans in the five days that remain before the start of the talks will be that “no deal is better then a bad deal,” and that the deal that the Iranians will apparently propose is a bad one."

Larijani: Iran and world powers must build relationship
By REUTERS 10/09/2013/GENEVA- Iran and world powers should focus on confidence-building at next week's talks on Tehran's disputed nuclear program, Iran's parliamentary speaker said on Wednesday.
Ali Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator, declined to say whether Iran would bring any concessions to the Oct. 15-16 talks in Geneva, but said: "It mostly concerns building confidence rather than a commercial give-and-take.
"The negotiations are indeed a window of opportunity, providing the parties are willing to use the window," he told a news conference in Geneva. Western diplomats are playing down any suggestion that Iran's new openness on the world stage will result in any immediate or broad loosening of sanctions. The talks are with six powers - the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany. "I look at the upcoming negotiations positively," Larijani said. "A handful of countries which until very recently were using sanctions and leveling threats against my country have now opted for a political solution to the whole matter. This change in itself is positive." "If the collective will is at work here, if it takes up a political solution over others, then finding a resolution to the whole problem would not be that difficult a task," he said, in remarks in Farsi translated into English by an Iranian diplomat. Larijani, asked what Tehran required in order to normalize relations with the United States, which were broken off following the 1979 Islamic revolution, replied with a broad smile: "They shouldn't sabotage the negotiations."

Presidential Elections In A Troubled Arab World
Randa Takieddine/Al Hayat
Wednesday 09 October 2013
The spring of 2014 will see presidential elections that involve problems and complications in the Arab world, in Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, and Algeria. As long as the war rages in Syria with Bashar Assad as president, in practical terms no presidential election can result from a transitional government with full executive powers, as stipulated by the Geneva communiqué of last year. Likewise, the traditional type of election by the Assad regime, in which the president’s mandate is renewed by receiving the support of 99 percent of Syrian voters, is no longer possible. If a Geneva 2 peace conference actually takes place, there could be a suspicious deal between Russia and the United States over presidential elections. These could take place based on the Russian approach followed by President Vladimir Putin, who gave way to his prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, in a tragi-comic experience for Russian democracy. This saw Putin exit the presidency and then return to it later, with the agreement of the entire world. It is not unlikely that President Barack Obama, who is unconcerned with the domestic situation in Syria, will allow such a horrific model to come to pass for the future of Syria and the region. Such a solution would suit Israel, especially if Syria gets rid of its chemical weapons arsenal. Obama’s friends in the region should prepare themselves for further disappointments with his policy in the Middle East. The Syrian opposition should bolster its strength on the ground, because the only political solution will be at its expense under such a White House, which one day demands that Assad leave office, followed by praise for his destruction of chemical weapons at record speed – just as he used them to kill at record speed.
Another important presidential election will take place in Egypt, where all eyes are on the minister of defense, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Sisi. Some say that he will be a candidate, while others are a bit more hesitant, saying that it is not in his interest at present – on the contrary, he is now in a position of strength. In this view, it would be better for the military to remain a protector of democratic political parties in Egypt, because of the difficult economic situation and the huge dangers to the country’s social and political situation.
As for the election of a new president for Lebanon, this also presents a conundrum, just like the formation of a new government in that country. Lebanon is divided between Hezbollah and its local and regional allies (Syria and Iran), and groups that want an independent, sovereign country, unconnected to the fighting in Syria of the wishes of Iran.
President Michel Suleiman does not want an extension of his term or an amendment of the Constitution. He also is not welcome by Hezbollah and its allies, who believe that with a caretaker government, they can elect a new president from among their supporters. The election of Suleiman followed the Doha Accord, which was done away with by the Syrian regime. Which other Arab country will be concerned about the presidency in Lebanon, with all eyes on what is taking place in Egypt and Syria? This is a mistake, because Iran and the Assad regime (despite its weakness) are allies of Hezbollah and are very concerned with the party's retaining its influence over everything that happens in Lebanon. No doubt, the presidential election in Lebanon is an additional problem, added to the current political vacuum and deterioration.
In Algeria, newspapers have begun to talk about the possibility of prompting President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika to amend the new Constitution to give him another presidential term. This is a just a rumor for now, but in Algeria rumors are often trial balloons put forward by a faction in the military. The situation is foggy when it comes to the military, but how can Bouteflika’s term be extended when he is still recovering from a stroke, which has affected his movement and speech? When he chaired a meeting of the Cabinet, his remarks were written, and the people were unable to hear his voice. How can his term be extended when he is in such a state, while there are plenty of competent figures who could run for president? Algeria is rich in oil and gas and has large financial reserves, but it continues to suffer from poverty and backwardness on all fronts, because of large-scale corruption. The presidential race has now kicked off in earnest, with the announcement by former Minister Ahmad Benbitour that he is running, while there is the possibility that former Prime Minister Ali Benflis will run also. In the end, the military, represented by five or six generals, will select one of these individuals, with whom they can agree, and thus that person will become Algeria’s next president.
Bouteflika’s declining health has not prevented those close to him, and those in the military who are opposed to military intelligence chief General Toufik Mezian, whose influence is dominant, from hinting at the possibility of a constitutional amendment to renew the mandate of a president whose health does not allow him to carry out his duties. This news reflects disputes within the military, but it will end up in an agreement on a president that suits the military. Without such an agreement, the Algerian military is aware that in a time of popular uprisings and changes in the Arab world it would be better to stand together, because showing division will threaten the institution’s future. Thus, the developments surrounding presidential elections in the Arab world in 2014 are part of the uprisings and the deterioration of political and social conditions, which are a common feature in these countries. And anyone with the means to leave these countries is ready to emigrate.

Syrian opposition: Hezbollah, Iraqi militia capture Damascus suburb
By REUTERS 10/09/2013/ AMMAN - Iraqi and Lebanese Shi'ite militia backed by Syrian army firepower overran a southern suburb of Damascus on Wednesday, opposition activists said, in a blow to Sunni Muslim rebels trying to hold onto strategic outskirts of the capital. At least 20 rebels were killed when Hezbollah guerrillas and Iraqi militiamen captured the town of Sheikh Omar under cover of Syrian army artillery and tank fire and aerial bombardment, the activists said, with tens of Shi'ite fighters killed or wounded. Sheikh Omar sits between two highways leading south of Damascus that are crucial to supplying President Bashar Assad's forces in the provinces of Deraa and Sweida on the border with Jordan. Syria's 2-1/2 year war has killed more than 120,000 people and forced millions from their homes into sprawling refugee camps in neighboring countries.
It began with peaceful demonstrations against four decades of iron rule by the Assad family. With regional powers backing opposing sides in the conflict and Russia blocking Western efforts to force Assad aside, there is little sign of an end to the bloodshed.
Regional security officials say up to 60,000 fighters from Iraq, Iran and Yemen and Hezbollah are present in Syria supporting Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
The country has also seen the influx of 30,000 Sunni Muslim fighters to support the rebels, including foreign jihadists and Syrian expatriates.
Hezbollah has acknowledged fighting openly in support of Assad, its main patron together with Shi'ite Iran, but the group does not comment on the specifics of its operations in the country. The deployment of the Iraqi and Lebanese militia has been vital in preventing all southern approaches to Damascus from falling into rebel hands, according to opposition sources and the regional security officials.
The foreign Shi'ite fighters together with soldiers and local paramilitaries loyal to Assad have been laying siege to rebel-held southern suburbs of the capital near the Shi'ite shrine of Saida Zainab for the past six months, residents say. The siege has squeezed rebels in areas further to the center of the city and caused acute shortages of food and medicine that have hit the civilian population.
FLOOD OF WOUNDED
Wardan Abu Hassan, a doctor at a makeshift hospital in southern Damascus, said the facility and another nearby received 70 wounded people, both fighters and civilians, since 4.00 a.m. The wounded came from Sheikh Omar and the nearby suburbs of al-Thiabiya and al-Boueida, where the rebels were trying to hold off the Shi'ite militia advance, he said. "Most of the casualties are from air strikes, and fire from tanks and multiple rocket launchers," the physician told Reuters. An opposition group, the Damascus Revolution Leadership Council, said a baby girl died on Wednesday in the southern district of Hajar al-Asswad from malnutrition caused by the siege. The report could not be independently confirmed. Rami al-Sayyed from the opposition Syrian Media Center mentoring group said rebel fighters were trying to hold off the Hezbollah and Iraqi fighters in al-Thiabiya and al-Boueida.
"It is tough because the regime is providing Hezbollah and the Iraqis with heavy artillery and rocket cover from high ground," he said. Sayyed said much of the fire was coming from the 56th army brigade in the hilly region of Sahya. That area was evacuated after the threat of U.S. strikes following a nerve gas attack in August on other rebellious Damascus suburbs that killed hundreds. The area became operational again after the threat receded following a deal to destroy Assad's chemical weapons arsenal, Sayyed said. Buoyed by the receding prospect of U.S. intervention, Assad has been seeking to tighten his grip on the center of the country, the coast, areas along the country's main north-south highway as well as the capital and its environs. Large areas of southern Damascus, including the areas of Hajar al-Assad and the Yarmouk refugee camp, are inhabited by poor refugees from the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, who have been at the forefront of the revolt against Assad, as well as Palestinian refugees.
 

Syrian tanks lay siege to key rebel-held town athwartDamascus-Golan highway

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report October 8, 2013/Two Syrian armored brigades set out from Damascus Monday night, Oct. 7, to link up with forces already fighting in southern Syria to reach Quneitra opposite the Israeli Golan border. debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report long convoys of around 200 tanks, APCs, armored vehicles and self-propelled artillery are heading for an assembly-point south of the Daraa in the south.
Large Syrian forces tightened their siege through Tuesday night, Oct. 8, on the rebel-held town of Khan Arnabeh which is the key to controlling the main highway from the capital, Damascus Syrian Golan.The town is expected to fall within a short time. Its capture also provides the key to the central crossroads around the Golan town of Quneitra and will enable the Syria army to return to its former positions along the disengagement zone dividing the enclave between Syria and Israel, which is patrolled by UN peacekeepers. The Syrian army is saturating Khan Arnabeh with concentrated fire from tanks, aircraft and self-propelled artillery. debkafile’s military sources report that rebel resistance is light – and not only on the Golan. Western military sources report that the rebels are fighting half-heartedly in other battle sectors across Syria with little spirit to do more than hold their ground.
During the day, as the battles came closer to the Israeli border, the IDF ordered the crews working on the Golan security fence to leave the area for their own safety.
debkafile reported Monday nigh that the Syrian air force bombarded rebel-held border villages to soften them up ahead of the offensive. The size and movements of the advancing Syrian forces indicate that the regime in Damascus has determined to root out the rebel presence in all parts of Syrian border with Israel - from the Hermon Mts. in the north, down to the Syrian-Israel-Jordanian border junction opposite the southern Israeli Golan. The main body is presently on the move in the area between the Yarmuk River which marks the Syrian Jordanian border and Quneitra.  The Syrian rebel forces clinging to small locations along the Israeli border are small and not expected to last long under a sizeable Syria military assault, one of whose objectives is undoubtedly to sever the links between rebel positions on the Golan and the IDF.The only outward sign of those links is the regular transfer of injured rebels to Israeli hospitals for medical treatment - an estimated 200 have so far been treated. Until now, the Syrian high command held back from a military operation in this region for fear of drawing forth an Israeli or Jordanian counter-attack. However, after consenting to the disabling of its chemical weapons, the Assad regime feels confident that neither Israel nor Jordan will dare fight back. Syrian leaders gained an even greater sense of immunity from the rare words they head from US Secretary of State John Kerry Monday, commending them for allowing UN experts to dismantle the chemical production equipment and stocks, even though it suddenly turned out Sunday, Oct. 6 that the international OPCW experts had relegated the work to the Syrian army.Jordan has responded to the heavy Syrian military movements in close proximity to its territory by putting on a state of preparedness the two army divisions, Nos. 60 and 40, which stand guard on its border with Syria.

Charbel Denies Imminent Release of Pilgrims, Talks About Ongoing Negotiations
Naharnet /Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel has denied reports about an imminent release of nine Lebanese pilgrims held captive by rebels in Syria since May 2012. In remarks to al-Liwaa newspaper published on Wednesday, Charbel said there has been “ huge optimism” that the nine men would be released “but we cannot set a date and time.” Media reports said Tuesday that the pilgrims, who were held in the town of Aazaz in the northern Aleppo province, have been moved to a safer area near the Syrian-Turkish border ahead of their imminent release. Charbel stressed however that their release “hinges on the ongoing contacts between us and the involved parties.” He did not give further details. Eleven Lebanese pilgrims were kidnapped in Aleppo in May 2012 as they were making their way back to Lebanon by land from pilgrimage in Iran. But two of them were later released. Their relatives have repeatedly held Turkey responsible for their abduction, and they have held protests near Turkish premises in Lebanon to pressure Ankara to exert more efforts to release their loved ones.
General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, who returned to Beirut at dawn Tuesday after visiting Damascus, Doha and Ankara, has reportedly discussed with officials there about a possible deal to release the pilgrims in addition to two bishops kidnapped in Syria in return for setting free two Turkish pilots abducted near Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut in August. Sheikh Abbas Zgheib, who has been tasked by the Higher Islamic Shiite Council to follow up the case of the abducted pilgrims, said that Ibrahim has informed him about positive steps in the case. Zgheib insisted however that “the media had exaggerated by saying the Lebanese (men) would be released within hours.” Daniel Shoaib, the son of captive Abbas Shoaib, also said that several obstacles have been removed. “The rate of optimism has grown,” he said, hoping for a happy ending in the coming days.

Army Chief: Hizbullah Could Choose to Strike Any Pinpoint Target in Israel
Naharnet/09 October 2013/The head of Israel's armed forces has painted a grim picture of a future war in which the country could come under simultaneous attack in many ways, including from Hizbullah. "The war could open with a surgical missile strike on the general staff building in the heart of the Kiriya (defense ministry complex) in Tel Aviv," Lieutenant General Benny Gantz told a conference in remarks broadcast by public radio on Wednesday. "It is possible that there will be a cyber attack on a site supplying the daily needs of Israeli citizens; that traffic lights would stop working or the banks would be paralyzed," he added. Gantz said that Hizbullah could pose a major threat. "The accuracy of their missiles will increase dramatically, and if Hizbullah chooses to strike a pinpoint target, almost anywhere in Israel, it could do so," the military's website quoted him as saying. Hizbullah fought the Jewish state in a 2006 showdown that killed some 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and nearly 160 Israelis, most of them troops. Gantz postulated that along with a missile hit on the military headquarters, patrols on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights could come under attack from Islamic militant groups. "The Chief of Staff will be told that there are three kidnapped soldiers, one of whom is a battalion commander," he said.
"Responsibility for the incident will likely be taken by a terrorist organization, either from global Jihad or another organization without a specific affiliation. "The pastoral landscape of the Golan Heights... could turn with a sudden bang into a battleground of blood, fire and pillars of smoke," Gantz added. Israel seized the strategic northern plateau from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move the international community does not recognize. The military website quoted Gantz as saying that while the scenarios he cited were all hypothetical, they were well within the realm of possibility. "Sound imaginary?" he asked the audience of academics. "I don't believe so." The remarks of Gantz came as an Israeli Minister announced that Hizbullah possesses more than 200,000 missiles capable of targeting any house in the Jewish state. “According to an Israeli army worst-case scenario, Israel could find itself under attack from thousands of rockets that could last three weeks,” Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan said at the same conference at Bar-Ilan University, according to Israel Radio. He pointed out that the “attack could last weeks if a war erupted in the region.”Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has previously warned that the party’s missiles are now “capable of reaching vital targets inside Israel,” pointing out that the “Israelis themselves acknowledge Hizbullah’s missile power.”
Source/Agence France Presse/Naharnet.

12 Charged with Plotting Terrorist Activities, Assassinations
Naharnet/09 October 2013/The State Commissioner to the Military Court charged on Wednesday 12 people, including a Lebanese and 2 Syrians who are in custody, with plotting terrorist activities, the state-run National News Agency reported. The charges include forming an armed gang to carry out terrorist operations, buying arms, rockets and bombs to plant them throughout Lebanese territories, and plotting assassinations against personalities in northern Lebanon who back the Syrian regime. NNA said that the suspects were also planning to booby-trap vehicles. The General Security Department announced on Tuesday that it dismantled a “terrorist cell” that was plotting assassinations and bombings in several areas across Lebanon. It said the three detainees were interrogated and referred to the military prosecution along with the explosives, weapons and communication devices that were seized from them. General Security stressed that it “will not hesitate to pursue terrorist groups, subversive gangs and illegal emigration networks -- in coordination with the rest of the security agencies – to preserve the safety of citizens and the security and stability of the country.”

Report: Hizbullah Dissolves Sidon's Resistance Brigades
Naharnet/09 October 2013/Hizbullah decided to dissolve its affiliated Resistance Brigades and to lift the cover off any member that breaches security, An Nahar newspaper reported on Wednesday. According to the newspaper, the party's decision came in light of the increasing disputes between the members of the Resistance Brigades and the residents and parties of the southern city of Sidon. The report pointed out that Hizbullah is “convinced that the Resistance Brigades in Sidon is tarnishing its image in the city.” “The decision to dissolve it achieves more than one positive goal for Hizbullah,” the report added.
Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir accused in June Hizbullah of using several apartments in Abra in Sidon to stockpile weapons and house fighters. Al-Asir supporters clashed several times with the members of the Hizbullah's Resistance Brigades in Abra. The Salafist cleric, a 45-year-old cleric who supports the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, is no where to be found after his supporters clashed in June with the army. Officials in Sidon have been demanding Hizbullah, after al-Asir's battle with the army, to withdraw its resistance brigades members from the city.

Seven Charged in Connection to Smuggling Explosives into Roumieh
Naharnet/09 October 2013/Seven people have been charged on Wednesday with attempting to smuggle explosive material into Roumieh prison, reported the National News Agency. State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged six inmates and a security guard in the case of smuggling carbide, hidden in a sandwich, into the jail. The suspects were charged with forming an organization aimed at carrying out terrorist activity and bombing the prison in order to escape. Saqr said a security guard and inmate Charbel Shalita were responsible for smuggling the carbide through the sandwich ahead of sending it to other inmates. Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) identified the inmates as Khaled Youssef, Mohammed Merhi, Bilal Ibrahim, Salim Saleh, and Nouri al-Hajji. It added that they bribed Shalita and the security guard, identified as Patrick Haddad, to smuggle the carbide into the prison. The suspects have since been referred to First Military Investigation Judge Riyad Abou Ghida. On Thursday, the Internal Security Forces thwarted an attempt by a prison guard to smuggle 150 grams of carbide hidden inside a sandwich that was being delivered to Shalita. Investigations revealed that the smuggled substance was later going to be delivered to Fatah al-Islam inmates held in Roumieh.

Chemical Watchdog Seeks Temporary Syria Truces
Naharnet Newsdesk 09 October 2013/ The head of the world's chemical weapons watchdog called Wednesday for temporary ceasefires in Syria's raging civil war in order to meet tight disarmament deadlines.
"I think if some temporary ceasefires can be established, I think those targets could be reached," Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons chief Ahmet Uzumcu told journalists in The Hague.
The OPCW has been charged with dismantling Syria's chemical arsenal and facilities by mid-2014 under the terms of a U.N. Security Council resolution drawn up after deadly nerve gas attacks in August. Uzumcu said during a rare public briefing on the state of Syria's disarmament that the timeline "is extremely tight". He denied however that the deadlines, including the destruction of all production facilities by November 1, were unrealistic.
"Much depends on the situation on the ground, that's why we have urged all parties in Syria to be cooperative," Uzumcu said. "The elimination is in the interest of all."
The OPCW said on Tuesday it was sending a second wave of inspectors to bolster the disarmament mission in the war-ravaged nation. Uzumcu said that another 12 experts were being sent to Damascus. Syria has won rare international praise for its cooperation with the chemical disarmament mission, deployed in Damascus since October 1. "The cooperation with Syria has been quite constructive. The Syrian authorities are cooperative," said Uzumcu. Inspectors have already visited one chemical site in Syria and are visiting another on Wednesday, with some weapons already destroyed. "There are 20 sites to be visited in the coming weeks," Uzumcu said. Speaking at the same press conference, Uzumcu's political adviser Malik Ellahi said "at the moment there are certain sites that are located in areas which are dangerous." He told Agence France Presse afterwards: "Ceasefires are very important." Ellahi added that most sites to be inspected at this stage were in Syrian government-controlled areas.
"You can't treat security as a static concern. It's a dynamic and fluid situation. That's why we work very closely with the United Nations." "For any particular move that the team has to undertake, the security situation is assessed. Unless we get the clearance from our U.N. colleagues, we don't move."
Because of the nature of its work, the OPCW rarely communicates in detail about its activities.
It is currently holding a regular closed meeting of its 41-member Executive Council, during which Uzumcu discussed progress in Syria.
Some 19 OPCW arms experts and 16 U.N. logistics and security personnel are in Syria and have started to destroy weapons production facilities, with footage of their work broadcast on Syrian television.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has warned that the weapons inspectors face unprecedented danger, saying it would take 100 foreign experts to complete "an operation the likes of which, quite simply, has never been tried before".
The mission will have bases in Damascus and Cyprus.Syria has already made a declaration of its weapons facilities, and the U.N. resolution set a November 1 deadline for the eradication of production and chemical mixing facilities. The Russian-U.S.-inked disarmament document agreed on by the OPCW and the U.N. says that inspectors in Syria can take the unusual step of visiting suspect sites not mentioned by Syria in its inventory.
But Uzumcu said that so far no country had requested that an undeclared site be visited. "We are at the beginning of a difficult process and there are significant challenges. Nevertheless our organisation is well equipped in terms of knowledge expertise and experience to fulfill this mandate," he said.
Source/Agence France Presse.

Ruinous rivalries
October 09, 2013/The Daily Star
Once again, Lebanon’s 49 percent share of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon funding is due. And once again, the procedure – which should be a simple, if expensive, international legal matter – has fallen victim to domestic political squabbling and infighting. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati might still decide to seek Cabinet approval to pay Lebanon’s 2013 dues, but in the absence of a government, this might take time. But it has been paid without Cabinet approval before, so there no reason this cannot happen again. Those opponents of funding the court, and of the STL in general, namely Hezbollah and its March 8 allies, are using the Cabinet issue as one reason why Lebanon’s 2013 dues cannot be paid. They are also citing the admittedly dire financial state of the country, and the rapidly rising costs of hosting a growing refugee population.
Eight years after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri – an event larger than Lebanon itself, and thus requiring the investigative backing of an international court – and the procedures and funding of the STL should be routine. But still they are subject to the dangerous political bickering that is increasingly appearing to define Lebanon.
For its part, Hezbollah has shown little to no cooperation with the court: consistently opposing its funding, preventing access and refusing to hand over four of its members, indicted in the 2005 crime. And as the years go on, justice seems to be ever further away. A series of different prosecutors has lengthened every proceeding, and the mechanics of the trial itself seem eternally hazy.
But for such a crucial time for Lebanon, when it needs all the international support it can get, it is vital that all of its political actors work together to help create an image of a strong, united country, not one beset by endless disagreements and crisis after crisis. Any country is judged by its dealings with the international community, its ability to play by the rules and to work alongside and respect global norms and systems of justice. With these endless delays and bargaining over the STL, used by political parties in attempt to score minor, perceived victories at home, Lebanon is being tarnished. And not just the reputation of those groups responsible for the delays and the bickering, but all groups, and all of its citizens. For the country comes to be seen as a failed state, one not worthy of concerted efforts to maintain stability or provide assistance to. If the country cannot look after itself, the international community will likely be more inclined to ask, “Why should we help it out?”Personal and political vendettas must be removed from all Lebanese dealings with the STL. For the country cannot – at this very delicate time – afford to pick and choose in its relations with international standards and systems.

'Sex Jihad' and Other Lies/Assad's Elaborate Disinformation Campaign
By Christoph Reuter/SPIEGEL ONLINE
Syrian President Assad's regime is waging a PR campaign to spread stories that discredit its rivals and distract from its own crimes. Aided by gullible networks and foreign media, it has included tales of rebels engaging in "sex jihad" and massacring Christians. Sex sells. And al-Qaida is eager to grab attention. But the combination of the two -- sex jihad -- is simply irresistible. Scores of young women are reportedly offering themselves to jihadists, according to one of the latest horror news stories coming out of Syria. A sheik from Saudi Arabia has allegedly issued a fatwa that allows teenage girls to provide relief to sexually frustrated fighters.
In late September, 16-year-old Rawan Qadah appeared on Syrian TV and gave a detailed account of how she had to sexually satisfy a radical insurgent. After the Tunisian interior minister stated that young women from his country were traveling to Syria for sex jihad -- and having sex with 20, 30 and even up to 100 rebels -- the story started to make headlines in Germany, as well. In Germany, the websites of the mass circulation Bild newspaper and Focus magazine have titillated readers with articles about this supposed "bizarre practice."
In the wake of the poison gas massacre on Aug. 21, the regime in Damascus has launched a major PR offensive. Beyond the official line of propaganda, though, there is a second campaign: a secret and elaborately staged effort to sow doubt and confusion -- and divert attention away from the Syrian government's own crimes. Like many of these bogus news stories, the sex jihad tales aim to convince supporters at home and critics abroad of the rebels' monstrous depravity. No other leader in the region -- not Saddam Hussein in Iraq, nor Moammar Gadhafi in Libya -- has relied as heavily on propaganda as Assad. His PR teams and state media are churning out a steady stream of partially or completely fabricated new stories about acts of terror against Christians, al-Qaeda's rise to power and the imminent destabilization of the entire region. These stories are circulated by Russian and Iranian broadcasters, as well as Christian networks, and are eventually picked up by Western media.
One prime example is the legend of orgies with terrorists: The 16-year-old presented on state TV comes from a prominent oppositional family in Daraa. When the regime failed to capture her father, she was abducted by security forces on her way home from school in November 2012. During the same TV program, a second woman confessed that she had submitted to group sex with the fanatical Al-Nusra Front. According to her family, though, she was arrested at the University of Damascus while protesting against Assad. Both young women are still missing. Their families say that they were forced to make the televised statements -- and that the allegation of sex jihad is a lie. An alleged Tunisian sex jihadist also dismissed the stories when she was contacted by Arab media: "All lies!", she said. She admitted that she had been to Syria, but as a nurse. She says she is married and has since fled to Jordan. Two human rights organizations have been trying to substantiate the sex jihad stories, but have so far come up empty-handed. It appears that the Tunisian interior minister had other motives for jumping on this rumor: Hundreds of Islamists have left his country and traveled to Syria, and he is apparently trying to stem the tide by discrediting these fighters. Furthermore, Sheikh Mohammad al-Arifi, the man who is allegedly behind the sex jihad fatwa, denies everything. "No person in their right mind would approve of such a thing," he says.
Disseminating Lies
It is difficult -- and, at times, even impossible -- to verify all the horror stories emerging from the civil war in Syria. This holds especially true when they are disseminated in a roundabout way, as is the case with most of the reports of persecuted Christians. For example, on Sept. 26, the German Catholic news agency KNA issued a report -- citing the Vatican news agency Fides -- stating that Muslim legal scholars in the opposition stronghold Douma, near Damascus, had called for "the property of non-Muslims to be confiscated." Fides said that it had a copy of a document that was signed by 36 Muslim religious figures. Yet although this appeared to be a serious story, it turned out to be based on a forgery: a fictitious text with real signatures. It actually came from a 2011 statement calling for civilians to be spared during the fighting. On a number of occasions, Fides has accepted as true propaganda fabrications released by regime-affiliated portals, such as Syria Truth.
This also includes the myth of the beheading of a bishop -- a story also spread by Assad in an interview with SPIEGEL. The fact of the matter is that a jihadist from Dagestan killed three men in this way, but they weren't Christians. After getting the stamp of approval from the official news agency of the Vatican, such rumors generated by Assad's propaganda machine are circulated around the world as bona-fide new stories.
The facts were twisted in a similar manner when an image of a woman tied to a pillar in Aleppo appeared on the LiveLeak video portal in mid-September. The website claimed that the woman was a Christian from Aleppo who had been abducted by al-Qaida rebels. In reality, although the photo was taken in Aleppo, it dates back to a period when Assad's troops still controlled the entire city. A video of the scene, posted on YouTube on June 12, 2012, shows regime-loyal militias berating the woman.
The regime also concocted the legend of the destruction of the Christian village of Maaloula. In early September, rebels belonging to three groups, including al-Nusra, attacked two military posts on the outskirts of town held by members of the local Assad-loyal Shabiha militias. Then the rebels withdrew. But the regime's version, which even managed to become an Associated Press story, was as follows: Foreign terrorists looted and burned down churches -- and even threatened to behead Christians who refused to convert to Islam.
This didn't match with reports from the nuns of the Thekla convent in Maaloula and the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Antioch. They said that nothing had been damaged and no one had been threatened on account of their beliefs. A reporter from the satellite news network Russia Today unwittingly cleared up the confusion. While accompanying the Syrian army, he filmed the tank attack on Maaloula -- in which the local monastery was shelled.
This ongoing reinterpretation of events reflects a conscious policy -- and bending the truth is much easier now that Syria has become such a confusing and chaotic theater of war. Most news publications shy away from the risks and efforts of verifying stories on the ground. Actual events, such as when jihadists burned down a church in the northern Syrian town of Rakka, are mixed together with trumped-up atrocities staged to sway global opinion.
Even blatant inconsistencies are often accepted without question. After all, tangible evidence to the contrary rarely exists. When state-run media reported that the prominent imam Mohammed al-Buti, a supporter of Assad, was killed by a suicide bomber at his mosque in the heart of Damascus on March 21, all rebel groups denied having anything to do with the attack. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean much. But even an untrained eye would have to notice that the photos showed no signs of an explosion: Chandeliers, fans and carpets were all intact. Instead, there were bullet holes clear across a marble wall, and pools of blood apparently showed where the bodies had lain. Many of the victims were wearing shoes, which is highly unusual for Muslims in a mosque. There were also no witnesses. All of this feeds the suspicion that the victims were forced into the building and murdered -- as a backdrop for an attack that never occurred.
Pinning the Blame
After the poison gas attack in August, though, the propaganda cover-up failed. Inundated by a global wave of indignation, the regime floundered in its attempts to explain the situation. First, Assad said that nothing had happened. Then state television showed images of an alleged rebel hideout containing a barrel with the blatantly obvious label: "Made in Saudia." The TV report maintained that this was sarin gas from Saudi Arabia for "terrorists" who had inadvertently gassed themselves to death. The source of the story was a little known news website called Mint Press, based in the northern US state of Minnesota. One of the authors later denied having anything to do with the research. The other, a young Jordanian who writes under a number of pseudonyms, merely responded to queries by saying that he was currently studying in Iran. In an online comment on an article in Britain's Daily Mail, though, he gave the following detail that was missing on Mint Press: "Some old men arrived in Damascus from Russia and one of them became friends with me. He told me that they have evidence that it was the rebels who used the (chemical) weapons." A few days later, the Russian foreign minister quoted the report from Mint Press as proof of Assad's innocence. An entirely different explanation for the alleged gas attack by the rebels was presented to British broadcaster Sky News by Assad's top media adviser, Buthaina Shaaban: She said that terrorists had abducted 300 Alawite children from Latakia, taken them to Damascus and murdered them so they could be presented to the world as victims. And now comes a new line of defense that neither relies on chemicals nor argues that the rebels killed themselves: In a SPIEGEL interview, Assad states that sarin is a "kitchen gas" because "it can be made anywhere." But this flies in the face of a United Nations report, which states that rockets carrying sarin gas could only have come from a military base run by government forces.
Although Assad likes to cover up his crimes with a crisis-driven media blitz, he actually prefers to meet with the press and directly tell his side of the story. This includes presenting his regime as a final bulwark against global terror, even though he has his agents carry out the very kinds of attacks he is warning the world about and attributing to his rivals. For example, police in Turkey and Lebanon have charged the Syrian intelligence agency with responsibility for the most devastating attacks in years. After two bombs in Tripoli killed 47 people on Aug. 23, a Lebanese court issued an arrest warrant against two Syrians -- for planning acts of terrorism.
Translated from the German by Paul Cohen
© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2013
All Rights Reserved
Reproduction only allowed with the permission of SPIEGELnet GmbH

An Invention of Assad’s Media Machine
By: Mshari Al-Zaydi/ASharq Alawsat
Ever since I heard the story of “sexual jihad” in Syria and, for example, the group of Tunisian girls who traveled there for this purpose and then returned home pregnant, I have been very skeptical of the authenticity of such stories. I suspect it not out of any conviction that there are no Takfirist groups in Syria, or because there is no one there who issues these idiotic fatwas. On the contrary, groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda are active in Syria, and brands anyone not affiliated with them as infidels. Even before it appeared in the Syrian arena, this writer expected Al-Qaeda’s appearance there for reasons I have discussed on prior occasions.
The existence of those Takfirists among Bashar’s enemies is something that does a great favor and pleases Bashar himself, for it strengthens the propaganda he is broadcasting to the West that he is fighting Al-Qaeda-linked groups on its behalf. Furthermore, the emergence of these groups is a direct result of the ignorant and feeble handling of the Syrian crisis by Obama and other western leaders.
Returning to the “sexual jihad” story, I wonder how this trick worked on those who must be well informed about the tools of Syrian, Iranian and Russian intelligence apparatuses and their “black propaganda.” How were people deluded into thinking that one of the “sexual jihad” girls had sexual intercourse with fighters from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, the Gulf and Syria and then returned home pregnant?
Anyone who is knowledgeable about Islamic fiqh must know that there must be “a prescribed period” of three Hijri months as a precondition for a divorced woman or a widow before she can enter into a second marriage, according to Islamic fiqh. I do not know which excuse can make such marriage permissible. Of course, there isn’t. So, “sexual marriage” must be an invention of Assad’s media.
Question: Is there something in Islamic fiqh called “sexual marriage”? Answer: no.
Question: Are the Al-Nusra Front and similar organizations considered Shari’a-reliant?
Answer: Yes, but only in their own minds.
So, then, where did such an idea come from? It came from inside Assad’s propaganda machine. The concept spread widely just because much of the international and Arab media are ignorant of fiqh idioms.
Does this mean that there are no sexual crimes among Takfirists? Perhaps, there are, but this has no origin in Islamic jurisprudence.
Writer Diana Moukalled did well in her most recent article in this newspaper, “The Collapse of the Sexual Jihad Lie.” In her article, Diana provided detailed explanation of how Assad’s media fabricated the story. She even drew attention to the reports of the fabrication in France’s Le Monde newspaper and the American magazine Foreign Policy. This is not meant to clear the Takfirists in Syria from the guilt, but is to draw the attention to Assad’s lies.

The Collapse of the Sexual Jihad Lie
Diana Moukalled/Asharq Alawsat
The “sexual jihad” lie is falling apart. Some celebrated this story when it went viral a few months ago and resorted to a cheap imagination to market tales in which sex mingles with fighting in the name of religion. They also depicted the Syrian regime as a “secular” fortress standing against this harm. All those who were involved in this cheap marketing are now silent towards this issue. An issue which all media outlets were attracted to an issue that later out turned out to be baseless.
Media outlets, rights organizations and activists did not find a single girl who could attest that she had granted her body as a gift to fighters in the name of religion. Perhaps what really cemented that this story was fake were the Syrian regime’s desperate attempts to circulate the story even after it was dropped by rights organizations and media due to the inability to prove it.
The Syrian regime published testimony by female teenager who was a purported victim. Rawan Qadah narrated a story of such proportions that only the Syrian regime could have fabricated it. Rawan narrated an incoherent story of how her father conspired against her and used her as a sexual commodity.
Perhaps the story which Rawan narrated is itself a crime committed by the Syrian regime; it doesn’t stop at anything for the sake of staying in power. The tragedy of Rawan, who was kidnapped months ago and whose father is an opponent of the regime, urged several media outlets to dig into this made-up phenomenon dubbed “sexual jihad.”
French daily Le Monde and American magazine Foreign Policy wrote articles and conducted investigation reports on this lie. After that, a torrent of Western and Arab articles were published in media outlets around the world in an attempt to compensate for falling in the trap of such a lie.
Perhaps the best means which Le Monde and Foreign Policy adopted in solving the case was beginning their investigation at the root of the issue. The sheikh whom the fatwa was attributed to has confirmed several times that he did not issue this fatwa. The media outlet which marketed this story for the first time was one that supports the Syrian regime. Not a single case of sexual jihad could be proven. Tunisian officials who spoke on the subject did not present solid evidence either. It later turned out that they had personal interests to achieve by making these statements.
Amena Qalali, a researcher at the Human Rights Watch in Tunisia, said that Tunisian officials failed to prove Tunisian females’ involvement in so-called sexual jihad. She added that Tunisian officials marketed this story of sexual jihad in order to help the regime evade its responsibilities towards women’s rights organizations and their demands for freedom. According to Qalali, the Tunisian government evaded the demands of such women’s groups by making up the sexual jihad stories.
Although some officials in Tunisia are criminally and morally guilty of accusing girls of committing such practices without proof, the Syrian regime’s responsibility over what it has done to Rawan is much more. But, with a regime like the Syrian one, words have no value or meaning.