Bible Quotation for today/The Judgment Day
Matthews 25/31-46: "But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in.  I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’  “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you?  When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’  “The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’  Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;  for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;  I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’  “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’  Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’  These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

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

Walid Phares to Newsmax: U.S. Agreement on Syria 'Won't Work'/By: Paul Scicchitano/September 16/13

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources For September 16/13

Lebanese Related News

2 Syrian Businessmen Kidnapped at Gunpoint in Bekaa

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Hezbollah warns against dropping resistance formula
Hizbullah Says It Asked State to Protect Dahieh before Taking Own Measures

Rahi Inaugurates 1st Maronite Church in Eastern Europe, Rejects Unilateralism

Army Hunting for Palestinian over Sidon Attack on Syrian Refugees

Many Lebanese Bolstering Paris Property Market 3

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Miscellaneous Reports And News

Steinitz: Israel can see if Assad is moving Syria's chemical weapons
SNC rejects US–Russian agreement on Syria

Obama: Tehran should not look at Syria and assume US won't attack
Obama says Syria deal could offer lesson for Iran talks

Kerry: Assad has one week to declare where chemical arms are located

Syria Opposition Demands Ban on Regime Air Power
Obama Says He Exchanged Letters with Iran's Rowhani
Damascus Hails U.S.-Russia Chemical Arms Deal as 'Victory for Syria'
Netanyahu gives guarded response to Syrian chemical weapons deal

Kerry Meets Netanyahu, Says Threat of Force against Syria 'Remains Real'

Canada's foreign minister says Assad should not be given time to hand over chemical weapons
Assad's forces on attack after U.S.-Russia arms deal

France calls Syrian chemical weapons deal an important first step

Leading MP: Russia, U.S. May See Syria Accord Differently

British, Iranian top diplomats to meet in NY this month

Syria opposition names new interim prime minister

Back to school in Syria as US threat subsides

Assad forces launch military offensive against Syrian rebels a day after US-Russia deal
Obama: Chemical weapons deal a plus for all

Egyptian aircraft continue attacks in northern Sinai
Liberman offers tentative support for Syria arms deal
 

2 Syrian Businessmen Kidnapped at Gunpoint in Bekaa
Naharnet/Armed men have kidnapped two Syrian gold traders in the eastern Bekaa Valley, the state-run National News Agency reported late Saturday. NNA said the driver of the businessmen – Joseph Ltaf and Yehya Suleiman Marzouq - informed police in Beit Shama that he drove them to the area of Tamnin al-Tahta after one of them received a phone call from a person allegedly wanting to do business with them. The driver told police that when they reached the destination, eight men in two Grand Cherokees kidnapped Ltaf and Marzouq at gunpoint and took them to an unknown location. NNA said that Ltaf has a jewelry shop in Syria while Marzouq works at a similar store owned by a person named Bilal Haymour in Jeb Jenin. Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) also said that the army intelligence released a Syrian kidnapped four days ago in the industrial city of Zahle.
The army arrested Ahmed Yazbeck and Hassan Noun involved in the kidnapping of the Syrian from Hassoun family, it said.

Hizbullah Says It Asked State to Protect Dahieh before Taking Own Measures
Naharnet /Hizbullah on Sunday noted that it had asked state authorities to protect its Dahieh stronghold and other areas following the deadly Rweiss blast, rejecting accusations that it was seeking “autonomous security.”
“Hizbullah is not with autonomous security, but with all due honesty, we openly asked security forces and the highest-ranking officials to shoulder their responsibilities regrading security and no one responded,” Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek, head of Hizbullah's Juristic Committee, said. “What do you want us to do while you are saying that there are booby-trapped cars? Have you ever learned of a state that abandons the security of its people?” Yazbek told mourners during a commemoration ceremony in the Bekaa town of Ansar. Addressing “those who keep mentioning self-dissociation,” the top Hizbullah official said: “Does self-dissociation involve turning Lebanon into a corridor for sending gunmen and arms to Syria?” Meanwhile, Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said: “We believe that security is the responsibility of Lebanese security authorities and we also believe that the law is the responsibility the Lebanese judiciary.”But Qassem revealed: "We communicated with the Lebanese security agencies and tasked a Hizbullah official to meet with the chiefs of security agencies, and we openly asked them to perform their duties and role.”“But they declared their impotence and said they could not provide the needed personnel or protect Dahieh and some other areas,” Qassem added.
"We said that we do not accept such an answer and that authorities cannot say that they are powerless and that they must seek a solution. If the solution lies in increasing the number of personnel, then beef up the numbers. If the solution lies in boosting the budget, request the needed budget, and if the solution lies in a political decision, let us discuss how to take that political decision,” Hizbullah's number two went on to say.
He stressed that security agencies “are exclusively responsible for people's security and they must find the solution.”
“But until that happens, what should we do? Should we keep our regions vulnerable? Should we give a chance to criminals and Takfiris to stage hostile acts against people?” Qassem asked rhetorically.
“To those saying that the state is the answer – while it is admitting its incapacity – we say: Should we keep the streets open to booby-trapped cars … and allow them to cause casualties? What kind of logic is this?” he added.
Hizbullah had beefed up its security measures in and around Beirut's southern suburbs in the wake of bomb attacks that targeted the Bir al-Abed and Rweiss areas and left dozens of people dead and scores others wounded.

Rahi Inaugurates 1st Maronite Church in Eastern Europe, Rejects Unilateralism
Naharnet /Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi inaugurated on Sunday the first Maronite church in eastern Europe, calling for an end to the confessional conflict in Lebanon and rejecting the political hegemony of one sect on the others. During his sermon at Saint Charbel church in the Romanian capital, al-Rahi said: “We ask for an end to the current political-sectarian conflict and the attempt of any of the sects to impose political hegemony on the others and to act unilaterally in decision-making.” He reiterated the need to form a new all-embracing and capable Lebanese government, which has the ability to confront challenges mainly political and security stability.
“Lebanon has an important role to play in the region to achieve peace and stability through its political system that is based on the separation of religion from the state and the full respect for all religions,” he said.
Al-Rahi said the system is further based on pluralism, coexistence and the balanced participation in governance. “Our political leaders don't have the right to obstruct the role that Lebanon plays through its location in the heart of the Mediterranean Union,” he said. The patriarch urged officials in the Arab World to guarantee political stability and security through diplomatic means away from violence, war and terrorism. Al-Rahi will return to Beirut from Bucharest on Sunday but he is scheduled to travel to the Vatican on Tuesday to attend a meeting of cardinals presided by Pope Francis.

Hezbollah warns against dropping resistance formula

September 15, 2013/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Caretaker State Minister Mohammad Fneish warned Sunday against attempts to eliminate the tripartite formula of the “army, people and resistance.”
“The formula proved its usefulness and effectiveness in facing and deterring Israeli aggression when it liberated land and defeated Israel in the [July-August 2006] war,” Fneish, a Hezbollah official, said during a ceremony in south Lebanon. “Therefore we cannot compromise it because that would in turn compromise Lebanon's strength,” he added. He warned that doing away with the tripartite formula would serve the interests of the “Zionist project and its expansionist aspirations” in the region.  The formula of the “Army, the people and the resistance” has been one of the several contentious points obstructing the formation of a new Cabinet under Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam.Hezbollah, which has repeatedly described the formula as the viable defense mechanism against Israel, insists the formula be included in any future government ministerial statement as has been the case for previous Cabinets. The March 14 coalition argues the formula lost relevance when Hezbollah sent fighters to Syria to fight alongside the regime of President Bashar Assad against rebels seeking the ouster of the Syrian leader.
“We were never saboteurs in relation to Cabinet formations, state institutions or to [National] Dialogue because we are keen on the nation’s interests, stability and civil peace,” Fneish said.
He added that his party was just as keen “on [the nation’s] immunity and strength which is represented in the formula that was carved by the sacrifices of people, towns and cities and the blood of the martyrs, the prisoners, the handicapped and the detainees.”Salam has been struggling to form a new Cabinet for a little over five months, faced with conditions and counter conditions from the rival March 8 and the March 15 coalitions.
Fneish reiterated his party’s demand for an “all-encompassing” government lineup with each party represented based on its parliamentary weight.
“[We should] seriously think about eliminating conditions regarding the Cabinet formation and act with humility in order to help the PM-designate form a government capable of at least addressing the people's needs according to a main principle of preserving balance and respecting coexistence,” he said. He also urged sides in the country no to wager on foreign intervention in neighboring Syria.
"We need to return to adopting rational rhetoric and for some to realize that the country cannot be managed by such speech or by appealing to foreign powers to strike this country or the other,” he said.
Fneish stressed on the importance of returning to national principles, improving political practice and putting an end to wagering on foreign events.

SNC rejects US–Russian agreement on Syria
FSA commander Gen. Salim Idriss says there can be no ceasefire with the Assad regime
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Syrian opposition has said it rejects the US–Russian deal to set a framework for the Bashar Al-Assad regime to destroy its chemical arsenal, pledging to continue steps to bring down the regime.
Following three days of intense negotiations, the US and Russia agreed to give the Assad government seven days to provide data about its chemical weapons and allow UN inspectors into the country to supervise, seize and destroy its chemical stockpile. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) representative in Washington, Najib Al-Ghadban, said: “A meeting will be held soon between the US and SNC officials to explain why we reject the agreement.” He added that the head of the SNC, Ahmad Al-Jarba, is “in a direct contact with US officials.” Ghadban said that he considered the agreement to be “insufficient to deter the Assad regime from using chemical weapons and killing the Syrian people.” He added that Washington will “understand our rejection . . . and continue to support us on the grounds that there can be no Geneva II without the opposition.”
“The Syrian opposition attaches importance to three points: That the US, France and Britain confirm that Damascus was responsible for the use of chemical weapons, refer the perpetrators to the International Criminal Court, and implement the agreement according to Chapter VII [of the UN Charter],” Ghadban added. Ghadban’s statements to Asharq Al-Awsat were followed by a similar rejection from Salim Idris, commander of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).  Idriss told reporters: “We do not recognize the Russian initiative and we think the Russians and the Syrian regime are playing games to waste time and to win time for the criminal regime in Damascus.”
“We will facilitate the mission of the investigators in the country but very clearly and frankly there will be no ceasefire with the regime,” Idris said.
Ghadban agreed that “Russia’s intervention to move the issue away from punitive strikes on the Syrian regime did not please us.”
Ghadban expressed fears that Syria’s chemical weapons issue would turn into another version of Iran’s nuclear program in terms of procrastination and time-wasting, adding that the regime agreed to relinquish its chemical arsenal in a like-for-like attempt to secure Assad’s grip on power. Speaking during a news conference in Turkey, FSA commander Gen. Salim Idris asked: “Are we Syrians supposed to wait until mid-2014, to continue being killed every day and to accept [the deal] just because the chemical arms will be destroyed in 2014?” “We respect our friends [in the international community], and we hope our friends understand our position. . . . We cannot accept this initiative because it ignores the massacre of our people,” he added. “We have told our friends that the regime has begun moving part of its chemical weapons arsenal to Lebanon and Iraq. We told them do not be fooled,” Idris told reporters.

Obama: Tehran should not look at Syria and assume US won't attack
After reaching treaty with Russia on Syria chemical disarm, US hopes to implement similar model on Iran. In ABC interview, Obama confirms he corresponded with Iran's Rohani regarding Syria situation, says Washington will continue to pressure Tehran to give up nuclear program
Yitzhak Benhorin Published: 09.15.13, 18:21 / ynetnews
Obama confirmed for the first time in an interview that he had corresponded with Iranian President Hassan Rohani, due to the desire of both to help stabilize the situation in Syria. He said in an interview that he believed the US threat to attack Syria, plus the transition to a diplomatic solution in the form of the Russian initiative for chemical disarmament, signaled to the Tehran regime the reality of the potential threat over the dispute on Iran's nuclear program, and its possible solution. "They shouldn't draw a lesson ... to think we won't strike Iran,” Obama explained, but also said, "There is the potential of resolving these issues diplomatically."
In the interview, President Obama defended his policy toward Syria and said that although it did not seem clear, it worked. He said he believed that the conduct of America on the Syria issue increased the power of deterrence of the US, and reduced the chance that the Assad regime would use chemical weapons in the near future.
"I think that folks here in Washington like to grade on style," Obama said. "And so had we rolled out something that was very smooth and disciplined and linear, they would have graded it well, even if it was a disastrous policy."
He said a signed agreement signed had a better chance of achieving this goal, than a military attack. He added that “style points” were less important to him than “getting policy right.” According to Obama, his goal was to ensure that what happened on August 21, would not happen again. "What I've said consistently throughout is that the chemical weapons issue is a problem. I want that problem dealt with," Obama said.
Obama addressed the op-ed article written by Russian President Vladimir Putin and published in the New York Times, “I don't think that Mr. Putin has the same values that we do,” Obama said. He noted the Russian leader's support for the Syrian regime, adding, “I think, obviously, by protecting Mr. Assad, he has a different attitude about the Assad regime.”
And Obama dismissed Putin's charge that it was the Syrian rebels who launched the chemical weapons attack, instead of forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, as Washington believes. "Well, nobody around the world takes seriously the idea that the rebels were the perpetrators of this," Obama said.
Last week, the Los Angeles Times reported that the US administration and the new leadership in Tehran were in contact behind the scenes, to promote direct talks between Obama and the Iranian president. According to the newspaper, the talks began with discussions on the situation in Syria.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed after the 1979 American hostage crisis in Iran, when armed Iranian students supporting the country’s revolution, took over the US embassy in Tehran.
After years of the United States avoiding a meeting with Rohani's predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, American officials told the Los Angeles Times that the two country’s presidents might meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, set to take place at the end of the month. On September 24, Rohani is scheduled, for the first time, to give a speech to the forum.
WASHINGTON - Following the diplomatic solution in Syria, US President Barack Obama is setting his sights on Iran: the president Sunday compared policy on Syria to policy on Iran. In an interview with ABC, he said, "I think the new Iranian president will not make our job easier, but I think if you have a credible threat of force, along with strenuous diplomatic efforts ... it is possible to reach an agreement."


Obama says Syria deal could offer lesson for Iran talks
US president admits exchanging letters with Iranian counterpart on Syrian crisis
Washington, Reuters—President Barack Obama disclosed in a television interview broadcast on Sunday that he had exchanged letters with new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and said diplomacy on Syria, backed up by a military threat, is a potential model for negotiating over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.In an interview on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Obama did not reveal details of the letter exchange, but made clear that US concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions are a “far larger issue for us” than Syria’s chemical weapons. He and Rouhani will speak at the UN General Assembly next week on the same day although there is no plan for them to meet. Obama said Iran should avoid thinking that the United States would not launch a military strike in response to Tehran’s nuclear program just because it has not attacked Syria.
“They shouldn’t draw a lesson that we haven’t struck, to think we won’t strike Iran. On the other hand, what they should draw from this lesson is that there is the potential of resolving these issues diplomatically,” said Obama.
Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons but the United States and Israel are working under the assumption that Iran is well along toward developing an atomic weapons program. Regarded as a relative moderate, Rouhani has made conciliatory statements toward Washington since coming to office last month. However, Obama said he doubted Rouhani would “suddenly make it easy” to negotiate with the Iranians. “My view is that if you have both a credible threat of force, combined with a rigorous diplomatic effort, that, in fact you can strike a deal,” he said. In the interview, Obama rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that Syrian rebels were responsible for an August 21 chemical gas attack, but he welcomed Putin’s diplomatic role in the crisis. Obama and Putin have become unlikely partners on Syria after US threats to launch a military strike over the chemical weapons attack prompted a diplomatic initiative that has led to a deal to secure Syria’s poison gas stockpiles. “I think there’s a way for Mr. Putin, despite me and him having a whole lot of differences, to play an important role in that,” Obama said. “And so I welcome him being involved. I welcome him saying, ‘I will take responsibility for pushing my client, the Assad regime, to deal with these chemical weapons.’”
Obama dismissed Putin’s charge that it was the Syrian rebels who launched the chemical weapons attack, rather than forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as Washington believes.
“Well, nobody around the world takes seriously the idea that the rebels were the perpetrators of this,” Obama said. Obama defended his handling of the Syria crisis, saying the steps he has taken had led to a situation where Assad has acknowledged he has chemical weapons and that his key ally, Russia, is pressuring Syria to give them up. “I think that folks here in Washington like to grade on style,” Obama said. “And so had we rolled out something that was very smooth and disciplined and linear, they would have graded it well, even if it was a disastrous policy.”

Damascus Hails U.S.-Russia Chemical Arms Deal as 'Victory for Syria'
Naharnet/A U.S.-Russian plan to remove Syria's chemical weapons is a "victory" that averts a war, a Syrian minister said Sunday, as Washington's top diplomat briefed Israel about the landmark deal.
"On one hand, it helps the Syrians emerge from the crisis and on the other it has allowed for averting war against Syria...," Minister of State for National Reconciliation Ali Haidar told Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
"It's a victory for Syria that was achieved thanks to our Russian friends."His remarks came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to brief him on the plan to eradicate Syria's chemical weapons. Washington is seeking to bolster international support for the agreement inked in Geneva on Saturday, which demands action from Damascus within days.
The ambitious plan to dismantle and destroy Syria's chemical arms stockpile -- one of the largest in the world -- by mid-2014 was thrashed out during three days of talks in Geneva between Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. It gives Syrian President Bashar Assad a week to hand over details of his regime's arsenal of the internationally banned arms in order to avert unspecified sanctions and the threat of U.S.-led military strikes.
It also specifies there must be immediate access for arms control experts and that inspections of what the U.S. says is some 45 sites linked to the Syrian chemical weapons program must be completed by November.
The deal won the backing of China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, which like Russia has vetoed several U.N. resolutions on Syria.
"This agreement will enable tensions in Syria to be eased," Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his visiting French counterpart Laurent Fabius who will meet Lavrov on Tuesday in Moscow.
Ahead of Sunday's meeting, Netanyahu said he hoped the accord would see a complete destruction of the Damascus regime's chemical weapons.
"We hope that the Russian-U.S. agreement on Syria's chemical weapons will bear fruit but the real test will be in its implementation: the full dismantling of the regime's chemical weapons stockpile," Netanyahu said at a ceremony marking 40 years since the Yom Kippur War. Israel has voiced alarm at the use chemical weapons inside its neighbor Syria because of the potential fallout for Israelis across the border.
Some Israeli commentators raised the question of whether Washington would lean on Israel to ratify the international treaty banning the use of chemical weapons.
"Kerry may tell Netanyahu the United States is working to remove one of the gravest threats on Israel's security, by combining a credible military threat with creative diplomacy," said Barak Ravid, diplomatic correspondent for Haaretz newspaper. "Now, Kerry may say, the U.S. needs Israel's help by ratifying the treaty prohibiting the use of chemical weapons," he wrote.
Israel signed the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1993, but never ratified it, despite demands to do so from Washington and Moscow.
The Syrian rebels, fighting to oust Assad since March 2011, have rejected the deal, warning it would not halt the conflict that has killed more than 110,000 people and displaced millions.
"Are we Syrians supposed to wait until mid-2014, to continue being killed every day and to accept (the deal) just because the chemical arms will be destroyed in 2014?" asked Free Syrian Army chief General Selim Idriss. But on the streets of Damascus there was a flicker of hope that the end of the devastating 30-month conflict may be in sight.
"We have more hope now, after this agreement. We might be able to see an end to terrorism and the troubles that we've had no part in creating," said beauty salon owner Muna Ibo.
After meeting Netanyahu for a few hours, Kerry flies to Paris for Monday talks with Fabius and British Foreign Secretary William Hague, as well as Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was also to meet Kerry in Paris on Monday after the two men talked during the flight to Jerusalem, a U.S. official said.
France has so far been Washington's closest ally as it has sought to build support to punish Syria for using chemical weapons.
The Paris leg of Kerry's diplomacy will come the same day as the United Nations is due to release its investigation of an August 21 attack near Damascus.
Washington says Assad's forces unleashed sarin gas on the suburb, killing some 1,400 people.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has accused Assad of multiple crimes against humanity and said the U.N. inspectors' report would provide "overwhelming" confirmation chemical weapons were used.
President Barack Obama welcomed the U.S.-Russian deal, but said the pressure was now on Assad to deliver. And he warned that Washington, which has threatened to launch military strikes against Syria in response to last month's chemical attacks, "remains prepared to act". Kerry said the joint plan would be encapsulated in a Security Council resolution drawn up under Chapter Seven of the U.N. charter, which provides for enforcement through sanctions, including the possible use of military force.But with Russia strongly opposed to the use of military threats against its long-term ally Syria, and also wielding a veto on the Council, Kerry acknowledged it would be up to debate in the Security Council over what sanctions to impose.Agence France Presse.

Obama Says He Exchanged Letters with Iran's Rowhani
Naharnet /U.S. President Barack Obama has said he and Iran's new President Hassan Rowhani have exchanged letters, and warned his reluctance to strike Syria had no bearing on U.S. threats of force to thwart an Iranian nuclear bomb.Obama, in an interview aired on ABC News Sunday, confirmed the outreach to Rowhani for the first time, and said he believed the Syria chemical arms drama showed that diplomacy could work if backed by threats of military action. Obama was asked on the ABC News "This Week" program whether he had reached out to Rowhani, a moderate conservative elected in June. "I have. And he's reached out to me. We haven't spoken-- directly," Obama said. Asked by interviewer George Stephanopoulos whether the contact was via letters, Obama replied : "Yes." The president was careful to draw a distinction between U.S. behavior over Syria after freezing military action to negotiate a deal with Russia to secure the regime's chemical arms, and Washington's approach to Iran as a nuclear showdown reaches a critical point.
"I think what the Iranians understand is that -- the nuclear issue -- is a far larger issue for us than the chemical weapons issue," Obama said. "The threat against ... Israel, that a nuclear Iran poses, is much closer to our core interests. "A nuclear arms race in the region is something that would be profoundly destabilizing. "My suspicion is that the Iranians recognize they shouldn't draw a lesson -- that we haven't struck (Syria) -- to think we won't strike Iran." Obama said that on the other hand, the lesson from the showdown over Syria's chemical weapons, should show that "there is the potential of resolving these issues diplomatically."
Washington has repeatedly warned Iran that it has the option of military action, if diplomacy and crippling sanctions do not convince the Islamic Republic to stop short of building nuclear weapons.
Iran denies that its nuclear program has a military use.Agence France Presse.

Chapter 7 a Breakthrough in U.N.'s Syria Drama
Naharnet/Making Russia agree to take U.N.-backed action against Syria if President Bashar Assad breaches a chemical weapons deal announced Saturday is a victory for the United States, diplomats said.
"Russia has been so hostile to U.N. action on the Syria war that this is a breakthrough by itself," said one U.N. diplomat.
However while Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter was cited in the U.S.-Russia deal announced in Geneva, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quick to stress "there is no talk of using force."
Chapter VII can also impose mandatory economic sanctions against a target government.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry did not immediately say whether he believes force could be used. A U.S. threat of a military strike against Syria over its suspected use of chemical weapons on August 21 sparked the current crisis."Lavrov knows he needed U.S. support for this accord and there was a price," added a second U.N. diplomat. "But the Russians will fight tooth and nail to make sure that the phrase 'all necessary measures' does not appear in any Security Council resolution against President Bashar Assad."
Russia and China have vetoed three previous western-drafted Security Council resolutions on Syria since the uprising against Assad started in March 2011.
Article 42 of Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter has been a worry for dictators and totalitarian regimes since it was agreed in 1945.
Chapter VII was a key part of the script when the United States led a U.N. force in the 1950-53 Korean War and to build a coalition against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
"All necessary measures" under Chapter VII were also allowed to justify the NATO no-fly zone over Libya in 2011 and in conflicts such as in the Ivory Coast the same year when Laurent Gbagbo refused to hand over the presidency after losing an election.
Article 41 of Chapter VII allows for sanctions, including economic and transport measures or the severing of diplomatic relations.
If the Security Council decides those measures are not strong enough then Article 42 states "it may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security.
"Such action may include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land forces of members of the United Nations."
Among the five permanent Security Council members, Britain, France and the United States have backed tougher U.N. action under the "responsibility to protect" civilians doctrine agreed by world leaders after the 1994 Rwanda genocide and 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia.
In the other camp, Russia and China are worried about what they consider growing "unjustified interference". In the Syria case, Russia is Assad's last major defender on the international stage.
Russia has led complaints that western nations bamboozled others over Libya. Russia takes every opportunity to complain that NATO used a no-fly zone to protect civilians to launch strikes that brought down Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi.
The United States, Britain and France insist their action was legal and that the Security Council was fully warned of the strongarm measures that would be taken.
Emerging powers such as India, Brazil and South Africa are nervous about Chapter VII -- taking sides with Russia over the Libya case but also shocked by the horrors of the Syria war.
The United States had been ready to strike without Security Council approval on Syria, but U.S. diplomats admit that President Barack Obama had wanted to be able to justify any action under international law.
Agence France Presse.

Netanyahu gives guarded response to Syrian chemical weapons deal
By Jeffrey Heller and Warren Strobel
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry briefed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday on a U.S.-Russian deal to remove Syria's chemical weapons, an accord that drew a guarded response from the Israeli leader. Netanyahu, in a speech before the meeting, said the agreement would be judged on whether it achieved "the complete destruction" of the Syrian government's chemical weapons stockpiles, and he pointed toward Iran's nuclear program as another test of world resolve. The deal that Kerry reached with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Saturday called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to account for his chemical arsenal within a week and let international inspectors eliminate it all by the middle of 2014. Israel has largely stayed on the sidelines of Syria's civil war, a two-and-a-half-year conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people and pits the Iranian-allied Assad government against rebels who include Islamist militants deeply hostile toward the Jewish state.
Kerry and Netanyahu convened at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem to discuss the agreement and U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, which have shown little sign of progress.
Israeli officials had expressed dismay in private about U.S. President Barack Obama's handling of the Syria crisis, fearful possible failure to follow through with threatened military action would embolden Iran.
In his speech, Netanyahu drew an analogy between the Syria deal and international efforts to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran. "Here, too, the determining factors will be actions and results - not words," said Netanyahu.
"In any case, Israel must be poised and ready to defend itself, by itself, against any threat - and this capability and readiness are more important now than ever," he said.
Netanyahu has repeatedly hinted at the possibility of Israeli military strikes on Iran should Western sanctions and diplomacy fail, and has called on Tehran to hand over all its uranium enriched above 3.5 percent and to stop any further purification of the metal toward possible weapons-grade level.Iran says its nuclear work is for peaceful purposes only.
VERIFICATION
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, who is close to Netanyahu, said the deal on Syria had "disadvantages and advantages"."On the one hand, it lacks the necessary speed (in removing chemical arms from Syria). On the other hand, it is much more comprehensive, as it includes a Syrian commitment to dismantle the manufacturing facilities and to never again produce (chemical weapons)," Steinitz told Army Radio.The United States blames the Syrian government for an August 21 poison gas attack in the Damascus suburbs that killed some 1,400 people. Assad denies the allegation. Also on Army Radio, Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, said intelligence that Israel has gathered on neighboring Syria could help verify Assad's compliance with the accord. "We will understand Assad's intentions only in a week when he is meant to hand over a full list of all the chemical weapons at his disposal, and I think Israel has a not bad idea of what chemical weapons he has," Lieberman said.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu said Assad must be stripped of his chemical arsenal and that the outcome of the Syrian crisis would resonate loudly in Iran.
And, on Sunday, Steinitz said, "I don't know how the Iranians are reading the deal, because it is also problematic as far as they are concerned. Here is their ally, Assad, forced to give up his chemical weapons."
(Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Assad's forces on attack after U.S.-Russia arms deal
By Oliver Holmes | Reuters –
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian warplanes and artillery bombarded rebel suburbs of the capital on Sunday after the United States agreed to call off military action in a deal with Russia to remove President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons. President Barack Obama said he may still launch U.S. strikes if Damascus fails to follow a nine-month U.N. disarmament plan drawn up by Washington and Assad's ally Moscow. But a reluctance among U.S. voters and Western allies to engage in a new Middle East war, and Russian opposition, has put any attacks on hold. Syrian rebels, calling the international focus on poison gas a sideshow, dismissed talk the arms pact might herald peace talks and said Assad had stepped up an offensive with ordinary weaponry now that the threat of U.S. air strikes had receded. International responses to Saturday's accord were guarded. Western governments, wary of Assad and familiar with the years frustrated U.N. weapons inspectors spent in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, noted the huge technical difficulties in destroying one of the world's biggest chemical arsenals in the midst of civil war. Assad's key sponsor Iran hailed a U.S. retreat from "extremist behavior" and welcomed its "rationality". Israel, worried that U.S. leniency toward Assad may encourage Tehran to develop nuclear arms, said the deal would be judged on results.China, which like Russia opposes U.S. readiness to use force in other sovereign states, was glad of the renewed role for the United Nations Security Council, where Beijing too has a veto.
The Syrian government has formally told the United Nations it will adhere to a treaty banning chemical weapons but made no comment in the day since U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov patched over bitter differences between Washington and Moscow to set a framework for the United Nations to remove Assad's banned arsenal by mid-2014.
BOMBARDMENTS
Air strikes, shelling and infantry attacks on suburbs of Damascus through Sunday morning offered evidence in support of opinions from both Assad's Syrian opponents and supporters that he is again taking the fight to rebels after a lull following the August 21 gas attack that provoked the threat of U.S. action. "It's a clever proposal from Russia to prevent the attacks," one Assad supporter told Reuters from the port of Tartous, site of a Russian naval base. "Russia will give us new weapons that are better than chemical weapons," he added. "We are strong enough to save our power and fight the terrorists." An opposition activist in Damascus echoed disappointment among rebel leaders: "Helping Syrians would mean stopping the bloodshed," he said. Poison gas is estimated to have killed only hundreds of the more than 100,000 dead in a war that has also forced a third of the population to flee their homes since 2011.
The deal, suggested by Russian President Vladimir Putin, resolved a dilemma for Obama, who found Congress unwilling to back the military response he prepared following the release of sarin gas in rebel suburbs of Damascus. Obama blames Assad for some 1,400 dead civilians; Assad and Putin accuse the rebels. Russia says it is not specifically supporting Assad - though it has provided much of his weaponry in the past. Its concern, it says, is to prevent Assad's Western and Arab enemies from imposing their will on Syria. And Moscow, like Assad, highlights the role of al Qaeda-linked Islamists among the rebel forces. Their presence, and divisions among Assad's opponents in a war that has inflamed sectarian passions across the region, have tempered Western support for the rebels. Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged followers not to work with other Syrian rebels.
The opposition Syrian National Coalition elected a moderate Islamist on Saturday as prime minister of an exile government - a move some members said was opposed by Western powers who want to see an international peace conference bring the warring sides together to produce a compromise transitional administration. Previous attempts to revive peace efforts begun last year at Geneva have foundered on the bitter hostilities among Syrians.
SCHEDULE
Assad has just a week to begin complying with the U.S.-Russian deal by handing over a full account of his chemical arsenal. He must allow U.N.-backed inspectors from the Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to complete their initial on-site checks by November. Under the Geneva pact, the United States and Russia will back a U.N. enforcement mechanism. But its terms are not yet set. Russia is unlikely to support the military option that Obama said he was still ready to use: "If diplomacy fails, the United States remains prepared to act," he said on Saturday. The Pentagon said its forces were still poised to strike.
Assad told Russian state television last week that his cooperation was dependent on an end to such threats and U.S. support for rebel fighters. It seems likely that Moscow can prevail on him to comply, at least initially, with a deal in which Putin has invested no little personal prestige. While Lavrov stressed in Geneva that the pact did not include any automatic use of force in the event of Syria's failure to comply, Western leaders said only the credible prospect of being bombed had persuaded Assad to agree to give up weaponry which he had long denied ever having, let along using. "It would have been impossible to obtain if there hadn't been a stick," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in Beijing. Paris had offered Obama military support against Assad. Fabius cautioned: "This agreement is not the be all and end all. We're very cautious about it. There is all the rest that has to be solved and there must be a political solution."Where such a political solution may come from is unclear. Kerry and Lavrov plan to meet the U.N. envoy on Syria at the end of the month to review progress toward peace talks. Lavrov spoke of an international peace conference as early as October.
ASSAD "REWARDED"
Fighting on the ground in a country divided between rebel and government forces shows little sign of slowing its descent into atrocity, with 1,000 people dying in any typical week.
Analyst Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Doha Center wrote in the Atlantic magazine: "If anything, Assad finds himself in a stronger position. Now, he can get away with nearly anything - as long as he sticks to using good old conventional weapons. "Assad is effectively being rewarded for the use of chemical weapons," Hamid added. "He has managed to remove the threat of U.S. military action while giving very little up in return."
There was heavy fighting overnight in Jobar, a rebel-held area just east of downtown Damascus, opposition activists from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday. Residents counted three air strikes on neighboring Barzeh and there were clashes in other parts of the metropolis, too. In the government-held centre, however, schools reopened on Sunday after the summer break and traffic was heavy - further signs the authorities see the U.S. threat has passed for now. Lavrov and Kerry, whose personal rapport played a part in breaking some of the Cold War-era ice that has chilled relations between the world's two biggest military powers, both welcomed their agreement as a victory for diplomacy. But Kerry warned it would not be easy: "The implementation of this framework, which will require the vigilance and the investment of the international community, and full accountability of the Assad regime, presents a hard road ahead." Having taken the surprise decision two weeks ago to seek congressional approval for, Obama faced a dilemma when lawmakers bridled - citing doubts about the rebel cause and wariness of new entanglements after wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those who back intervention blasted the deal with Moscow. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, Republican opponents of the Democrat Obama said it would give Assad months to "delay and deceive". They added in a statement: "It requires a wilful suspension of disbelief to see this agreement as anything other than the start of a diplomatic blind alley, and the Obama administration is being led into it by Bashar Assad and Vladimir Putin."
SANCTIONS
The agreement states that a U.N. Security Council resolution should allow for regular assessments of Syria's behavior and "in the event of non-compliance ... the UN Security Council should impose measures under Chapter VII of the UN Charter". Chapter VII can include force but can be limited to other kinds of sanction. Lavrov said: "There is nothing said about the use of force and not about any automatic sanctions."
Senior Kerry aides involved in the talks said that the United States and Russia agreed that Syria has 1,000 tonnes of chemical agents, including nerve gas sarin and mustard gas - one of the world's largest stockpiles of such material. But the officials said there was no agreement on how many sites must be inspected. Washington thinks it is at least 45. One U.S. official called the task "daunting to say the least". Another noted there were "targets ... not a deadline". The weapons are likely to be removed through a combination of destroying them in Syria and shipping some for destruction elsewhere, U.S. officials said. Russia is one possible site for destruction, but no final decisions have been made.The OPCW's experts have never moved weapons across borders before, because of the risk and have never worked in a war zone. (Additional reporting by Warren Strobel, Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles in Geneva, Steve Holland and Phil Stewart in Washington, Yeganeh Torbati in Dubai and Ben Blanchard and Dominique Patton in Beijing; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Alison Williams)

France calls Syrian chemical weapons deal an important first step
Reuters – BEIJING (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said a Russia-U.S. deal to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons was an important first step and called for a political solution to address the mounting death toll in Syria. Fabius made the comments to reporters in Beijing after meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. After three days of talks in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday demanded Assad account for his secret stockpile within a week and let international inspectors eliminate all the weapons by the middle of next year.
(Reporting by Dominique Patton; Editing by Nick Macfie)
 

Canada's foreign minister says Assad should not be given time to hand over chemical weapons
By The Canadian Press, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – ISTANBUL - Canada's foreign minister John Baird is calling Syria's offer to begin providing information on its chemical arsenal 30 days after it signs an international convention banning such weapons "ridiculous and absurd."Baird said Syrian President Bashar Assad could not be given extra time. Baird said: "This is a man, who up until a week ago denied that they had any such weapons."Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who joined Baird at a news conference Saturday in Istanbul, also expressed skepticism, saying that Assad was playing for time while continuing to commit atrocities.
The comments come as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were in Geneva negotiating a Russian proposal to inventory, isolate and eventually destroy Syria's chemical weapons stocks. They announced an agreement on a framework to secure and destroy Syria's chemical weapons by mid-2014 and impose UN penalties if the Assad government fails to comply.
Davutoglu said Turkey welcomed the diplomatic initiative to remove Syria's chemical weapons, but it was still incumbent on the international community to bring to justice the Syrian officials responsible for crimes against humanity. Western countries blame Assad for the use of chemical weapons, although he denies the charge and has accused rebels engaged in a two-year-old civil war against his government of using lethal chemical agents.
Canada and Turkey have both called for a strong international response to the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb that U.S. President Barack Obama said killed more than 1,400 civilians, nearly a third of them children. Baird said on Friday that Turkey is a valued partner for Canada and shares a deep commitment to regional security. The minister will also hold talks with business leaders in an attempt to advance Canada's economic interests in Turkey. The two countries have begun exploratory discussions about a possible free-trade agreement. Foreign Affairs announced later in the day that Baird will visit Algeria on Sunday and meet with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal and Foreign Affairs Minister Ramtane Lamamra. Their discussions will focus on regional security and counterterrorism, governance and human rights, and economic co-operation.
The politicians will also discuss recent developments in Egypt, Syria and Mali. “Canada and Algeria have been strong partners in the Global Counterterrorism Forum as co-chairs of its Sahel working group,” said Baird in a statement. “Terrorism remains the great struggle of our generation, and it knows no states or boundaries.”Baird will also meet with business leaders to discuss ways of promoting Canadian interests in Algeria.
“There is significant potential for Canadian companies to intensify their activities in Algeria, particularly in the hydrocarbons sector,” Baird said.

Walid Phares to Newsmax: U.S. Agreement on Syria 'Won't Work'
By Paul Scicchitano
Middle East expert Walid Phares tells Newsmax that he is “strategically skeptical” of Saturday’s deal between the United States and Russia to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile and said that the agreement is destined to fail. “It won’t work because it is coming before the resolution of the Syrian conflict,” Phares said in an exclusive interview. “In the case of Syria there is a raging domestic civil war and weapons are all over the country.” In a joint news conference wrapping up three days of negotiations in Geneva, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday that Syria is obligated to submit a "comprehensive listing" of its chemical weapons stockpiles within one week. Arms inspectors must be on the ground in Syria by November with the goal of eliminating the country's chemical weapons by mid-2014.
“The U.S. and Russia are declaring that Syria has accepted to remove those weapons,” observed Phares. “I’m asking what process is possible to go inside a civil war without a cease fire and then remove those weapons? There are 1,000 landmines before this can be accomplished.” Phares, author of "Confrontation: Winning the War Against Future Jihad," insists that the agreement was in the best interests of President Barack Obama and Russian Russian President Vladimir Putin — even if it is fundamentally flawed. "It’s in the interests of both Washington and Moscow to state to the world that they have found an agreement,” he asserted, noting that Syrian President Bashar Assad will most likely appear supportive of the agreement in public. “Assad is going to abide by anything that will give him time without solving the problem. This is the Assad dynasty,” Phares predicted. “He will accept the principle. He will sign the agreement and then when you come to actually implement the agreement — for example gather all of the weapons — he is going to try to say ‘well there are areas where the rebels are shooting. I cannot go and move those weapons.’”He said that Assad is a “master of gaining time” and he will most likely to try stall the implementation as much as possible.
“He may at some point remit some of the obsolete weapons and then move the other part of the weapons. He’s not going to actually desist. This is a power. This is a strategic power. He’s never going to let go of it that easily,” said Phares, who has been critical of President Barack Obama’s handling of the Syrian crisis. “You don’t talk about red lines if you cannot enforce them. You don’t mobilize your ships and promise that there will be a strike if you actually don’t strike and you don’t call on Assad to step down if you are going to go back to Geneva.”He described the Obama administration’s handling of the crisis as “a series of mistakes based on the original mistake which is that the U.S. administration is on the path to withdrawal.”Phares also believes it is less likely that the Obama administration will resort to military force against Syria in the absence of a direct provocation.
“If the Obama administration continues in its retreat it is less likely that it will strike unless Assad, or Iran, or Hezbollah would actually go beyond the rational, acceptable and attack American interests directly,” Phares explained. “Even when we are attacked directly as in Benghazi we have not seen retaliation. So I’m very, very skeptical.”
Newsmax wire services contributed to this report.
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