Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources For September 27/13
Lebanese Related News
U.N. Says Lebanon Faces Social Explosion over Syria Refugees, Suleimen Asks for Major Financing
Saniora Holds 2-Hour Meeting with Berri, Says Trying to Find 'Common Ground'
Hale Says Lebanon Can Count on U.S. Support if It Continues Responsible Approach on Refugees
Ban pushes for support to Lebanon's economy and Army
Rai helps pope with Mass, thanks him for peace call
U.S. to continue Lebanon aid if country stays 'responsible'
Siniora meets Berri, hopes for progress in Cabinet formation
Lebanon calls for 'safe zones' to accommodate Syria refugees
Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X Yazigi, Ibrahim discuss kidnapped Syrian bishops
Geagea Says Hizbullah Holds onto Plan to Control State's Strategic Decisions
Syrians Arrested in Kfarshouba over 'Suspicious Security Activity'
General Security Busts Nabatiyeh Money Counterfeiting Cell
Report: Abducted Turks Moved from Dahieh ahead of Security Deployment
Miscellaneous Reports And News
Iran's Rouhani says he seeks nuclear deal with West in 3-6 months
US Congress skeptical over Obama-Rouhani overtures
Rouhani: Holocaust was a 'reprehensible' crime against the Jewish people
Iran says it wants to 'kick-start' nuclear talks to quickly reach deal
Iran's president tones down anti-Israel rhetoric
Jihadists torch statues, crosses in Syria churches: NGO
Syrian rebel groups break with Western-backed opposition, dealing major blow to the coalition
Al Qaeda, Kurdish militia clash on Syrian border with Turkey
Western envoys tout deal on core of U.N. Syria draft; Russia denies
Report: Al-Qaida-linked terrorists destroy Jewish graves in Syrian city
UN inspectors return to Damascus as Putin ally calls for US shift to reach Syria peace deal
Kenya blames US, Israeli intelligence for no heads-up on Nairobi attack
'Kenyan gov't used chemical gases in mall'
Israel aids Kenya terror probe as Shabaab leader confirms mall attack
Kenya launches probe as Shabaab leader confirms mall attack
Israeli-Palestinian talks to intensify, greater U.S. role
Kerry: Israel, Palestinians agree to intensify peace talks with increased US role
Jewish leaders urge Abbas to publicly state his opposition to right of return
Indian police advise Jewish establishments to tighten security amid terror threat
Israel says Iran diverting attention from bomb

Siniora meets Berri, hopes for progress in Cabinet formation
September 26, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Future MP Fouad Siniora said Thursday forming a new Cabinet was a Lebanese affair and hoped progress would be made in that endeavor, after a two-hour meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri. The meeting came amid a political deadlock that has made Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam’s task of forming a new Cabinet next to impossible.
“The Cabinet formation is a Lebanese affair and should be resolved in Lebanon, and we will continue this dialogue in hopes of progressing in that direction,” Siniora said following talks with Berri in Ain el-Tineh.
“It is a step in the right direction, an attempt to find common ground between us,” he added. Although he declined to give details about the meeting, Siniora said the talks centered on public affairs, which he said concerns most Lebanese. “We discussed various matters and the dialogue was serious, useful and productive and we agreed to follow it up in the coming days,” he said. “I sought to address the Lebanese with realistic and serious talk to establish productive development,” Siniora added. According to An-Nahar, Siniora's visit came in response to the delegation Berri dispatched earlier this month to discuss his own dialogue initiative aimed at ending the political paralysis. The initiative would see rival parties meet for a series of dialogue sessions to discuss the makeup and the ministerial statement of the upcoming Cabinet and a national defense strategy, which addresses Hezbollah's arsenal. Although the Future Movement agreed to attend the sessions, it maintained that the formation of a Cabinet should coincide with all-party talks and that forming a government was the prerogative of PM-designate Tammam Salam. Salam has been struggling for months to form a Cabinet lineup in the face of conditions and counter conditions by rival groups. While Hezbollah seeks representation in a political Cabinet which adopts the resistance group’s defense strategy, the Future Movement and its allies in the March 14 coalition demand a neutral government. The March 14 argues that the “Army, the people and the resistance” formula was rendered invalid after Hezbollah sent its members to fight alongside regime forces in Syria. During talks with MPs Wednesday, Berri said talk about a de facto government should end because it does not serve anybody’s interest.

Saniora Holds 2-Hour Meeting with Berri, Says Trying to Find 'Common Ground'
Naharnet/Head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc Fouad Saniora on Thursday said he agreed with Speaker Nabih Berri to continue their talks on the thorny domestic issues, following a meeting that lasted more than two hours in Ain al-Tineh. “The discussions tackled all the topics that are of interest for the Lebanese and the dialogue was serious,” Saniora told reporters. “We agreed to continue this dialogue in the coming days,” he revealed. Answering a reporter's question, Saniora said: “We look for the interest of the Lebanese on the short and long terms.” “We are trying to find points that represent common ground for everyone,” he added.
Saniora's visit comes after Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat called for avoiding an “unconstitutional” government in response to President Michel Suleiman's announcement that the new cabinet might be formed before the beginning of October. In this regard, Mustaqbal sources played down Jumblat's remarks, telling al-Manar television that “the ball is in the court of Suleiman and (Premier-designate Tammam) Salam.” “March 8 sources lauded Jumblat's 'wise' stances after he rejected the formation of an unconstitutional cabinet,” al-Manar said. In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Suleiman had expected that he and Salam would form a cabinet before October. On Monday, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah described the so-called 8-8-8 formula as "unrealistic," saying "it is technically a 10-6-8 formula since the premier-designate is a member of the March 14 forces and the minister he is supposed to name would abide by the same political agenda."

U.S. to continue Lebanon aid if country stays 'responsible'
September 26, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Washington will continue to provide support for Lebanon to address the growing challenges of the Syrian conflict as long as the country addresses the crises in a “responsible and practical way,” U.S. Ambassador David Hale said Thursday. Hale held separate talks with Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam aimed at following up on the meeting between President Michel Sleiman and U.S. President Barack Obama in New York. “I think it is very important to bear in mind, that as I said, over just the last 48 hours, the United States has announced an additional $112 million of support for Lebanon,” Hale said after his meeting with Salam in Msaitbeh. “That is a tangible commitment, and I think you can count on our continued support so long as Lebanon continues to address these crises in a responsible and practical way that we’ve seen it do so today,” he said. Obama and Sleiman met on the sidelines of the General Assembly meeting Tuesday when the former announced $8.7 million to support the Lebanese Army in protecting the borders against terrorism and the transfer of illicit goods. The meeting came after the U.S. president announced $339 million in additional humanitarian aid in response to Syria's crisis, including $74 million for Lebanon to support the refugees. Hale said his consultations with the Lebanese officials Thursday were aimed at discussing how to follow up on “the very good meetings that were held in New York” including Wednesday’s meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon. The envoy added that the group demonstrated the political support the international community feels for Lebanon particularly for the Lebanese Army for its efforts in managing the many spillover effects of the Syrian conflict. “Words of support alone, of course, we know, are never enough, and so that is why we are discussing today how to follow up on these important meetings,” Hale said. “It is also why in the last 48 hours between President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, the United States, in fact, has announced over $112 million in assistance for Lebanon,” he said. Hale also noted that the U.S. announced late Wednesday another $30 for immediate direct assistance to help the local communities that are dealing with the impact of the refugee crisis. During the meeting for Lebanon's support group which included the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, U.N. Chief Ban Ki-moon called on the international community to help boost Lebanon's economy and assist its military amid growing threats to security inside the country and along its borders as a result of the crisis in its neighbor.The main task of the group is to shield Lebanon against repercussions from the war in Syria through supporting Lebanese state institutions.

Ban pushes for support to Lebanon's economy and Army

September 26, 2013/By Adla Massoud The Daily Star
UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the international community to boost Lebanon’s economy and fortify the Lebanese Army during special talks Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meetings. World leaders, including the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, met in New York to explore ways to help Lebanon maintain political stability and security, and cope with the continuous flow of Syrian refugees in light of the raging war in Lebanon’s biggest neighbor.
Ban who headed the inaugural meeting with Lebanon’s President Michel Sleiman of the International Support Group for Lebanon, highlighted the urgent need to boost the Lebanese economy. The UN chief also called for fortifying the Army. Ban addressed the growing threats to security within Lebanon and along its borders as a result of the Syrian crisis, and admitted that the Lebanese Army was “insufficiently” equipped in the face of a myriad of challenges. “The Lebanese Armed Forces are stretched and insufficiently equipped to address the myriad tasks. I welcome the adoption by Lebanon of a plan to ensure that the Armed Forces are equipped to respond effectively.” Ban also acknowledged the critical role played by the Army in conjunction with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon to help maintain calm on the Blue Line, the border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel. Participants at the meeting reiterated that the U.N.’s commitment to stability in Lebanon lies at the heart of resolution 1701 and other relevant resolutions.
Now collectively operated by a steering committee directly affiliated with the office of the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the International Support Group for Lebanon is the brainchild of France.
In addition to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Wednesday’s meeting was attended by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres. The primary mission of International Support Group for Lebanon is to shield the country against the war in Syria through supporting Lebanese state institutions.
The group’s threefold objectives include supporting Lebanon’s tormented economy and the poorly equipped Army as well as helping Lebanon cope with refugee pressure.
The biggest challenge facing Lebanon comes from almost one million Syrians who have fled the fighting. The refugees are burdening the country’s health and education sectors and increasing demand for utilities, when the Lebanese already suffer through daily electricity cuts and water shortages.
The U.N. says 748,000 refugees have registered or are awaiting registration in Lebanon.
The U.N. predicts that the number will rise to 1.6 million, or 37 percent of the country's pre-crisis population, by the end of next year - the biggest wave of refugees flowing into the smallest of Syria's neighbors.
Lebanese officials have complained that while international donors have helped fund the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, and other aid agencies in Lebanon, the country has received little direct international support to absorb the economic toll of the crisis. U.S. President Barack Obama announced that his country will contribute more than $74 million to support humanitarian assistance efforts in Lebanon.
A senior U.N. diplomat told the Daily Star that Lavrov has pledged to Sleiman during a bilateral meeting Tuesday on the sidelines of the General Assembly, a contribution of $6.5 million to help the government to accommodate the daily flow of Syrian refugees into Lebanon. In a recent report, the World Bank estimates the war and resulting wave of refugees into Lebanon will cut real GDP growth by 2.85 percent a year between 2012 to 2014, double unemployment to above 20 percent and widen the deeply indebted nation's deficit by $2.6 billion. The UK Foreign Secretary urged the Lebanese people to lead. “They, like we, are now looking to Lebanon’s politicians to embrace the politics of consensus and coexistence, so that Lebanon’s proud heritage of democracy and tolerance is maintained,” William Hague said.
In the absence of an active government for nearly six months now, Lebanon’s response to the Syria crisis has been inadequate. An inability to deal with the sheer scale of the crisis has been exacerbated by a lack of coordinated policy-making and long and short-term planning. Experts in handling refugee crises warn that trouble could lie ahead. U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Derek Plumbly, told the Daily Star, “Prospects for resettlement in 3rd countries don’t look great.”

Geagea urges Mideast Christians not to rely on West
September 26, 2013/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has called on Christians in the Middle East not to rely on the West amid increasing threats and attacks against the religious community in Egypt and Syria.
“The most appropriate solution today is not [seeking] the West’s protection for Christians in the Middle East ... but the right thing [to do] is to motivate Christians in the Middle East to assume responsibility and play political roles to establish a political weight,” Geagea said in an interview to published by Egypt’s Rose El Youssef magazine Saturday. “We have to realize that the 21st century is not an era of protection like in the Middle Ages,” Geagea said, claiming Washington and Europe were being silent over the burning of churches in Egypt. “This is why Middle East Christians need to depend on themselves and on each other,” he said, while urging the sect to engage in social and political life in order to overcome this crucial period. Nevertheless, Geagea was upbeat about the future. “Moderation, not extremism, will dominate the future,” he said. “The future is now better, contrary to the belief of some, as Muslims are more inclined toward moderation than extremism,” he said, citing examples in Arab countries. Turning to Syria, Geagea said he believed there was “no place” for President Bashar Assad in any future Syria. He said he believed that the much-anticipated Syria peace conference to be held in Geneva would seek to remove Assad and form a transitional government that will enjoy executive powers while stressing the need to abide by a cease-fire resolution. In the wide-ranging interview, Geagea also commented on Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s initiative to resolve Lebanon’s political crisis.
“How can we negotiate with Hezbollah after [the party] said its weapons are a red line,” Geagea said. “Negotiate with them over what?” he asked.
Berri proposed a five-day conclave of Dialogue sessions attended by March 8 and March 14 leaders in addition to Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam to address divisive issues including the makeup and the policy statement of a new Cabinet, a national defense strategy, means to end Lebanese intervention in Syria and talks on a new electoral law. Geagea also believed that dialogue was not in the best interest of Hezbollah. “All Lebanese political parties have intentions to respond to Berri’s initiative, except Hezbollah,” he said. Geagea said it was too early to discuss plans to run for president. “We still have eight months,” Geagea said in reference to the expiration of the term of President Michel Sleiman in May 2014. “We are used to submitting our candidacy eight hours before elections are due,” he said jokingly.

Rai helps pope with Mass, thanks him for peace call

September 26, 2013/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The Maronite patriarch assisted Pope Francis during a Mass Wednesday at the Vatican and thanked the pontiff for his recent calls for peace in the Middle East. Cardinal Beshara Rai was accompanied by a number of Maronite bishops and heads of monastic orders during the morning ceremony, according to the National News Agency.  At the conclusion of the Mass, Rai thanked Francis for his efforts to promote peace in the region, and also spoke about the dispersion of Maronites throughout the world. Rai said that in June, a Maronite synod approved the establishment of two new dioceses, for Africa and Venezuela-Colombia, and expressed his hope the pontiff would formally endorse the move. On Sept. 7, Pope Francis called for an international day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria and the Middle East.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X Yazigi, Ibrahim discuss kidnapped Syrian bishops
September 26, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Greek Orthodox Patriarch John X Yazigi discussed recent developments Thursday in the case of two kidnapped bishops in Syria with head of General Security Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim. The two held talks at the Rafik Hariri International Airport for 20 minutes before Yazigi departed to The Vatican. “We thank everyone for their efforts particularly Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim for the efforts he has exerted in the case of the kidnapped two bishops and we will remain hopeful,” Yazigi told reporters at the Beirut airport in response to a question about the meeting with Ibrahim. “God willing, soon we will all celebrate the presence of bishops Yazigi and Yohanna among us,” he said. Aleppo’s Greek Orthodox Archbishop Boulos Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim were abducted in April by armed men while they were on their way to Aleppo from the Turkish border. Yazigi is scheduled to hold talks with the Pope and discuss the situation in Syria and the Christians in the Middle East. “Wherever we go, we carry the concerns of our people and the region so there will be deliberations about the situation in our countries in the east, Syria and Lebanon,” he said. He also thanked the Pope for the call for peace he made earlier this month for the world and in Syria.
Yazigi also discussed the situation of the predominantly Christian Syrian village of Maaloula which came under attack by radical rebel groups who reportedly destroyed and looted churches, forcing dozens of families to flee.
The patriarch said he made an appeal earlier this week for the sake of Maaloula in order to distance the village from ongoing clashes and spare it damage. The village is of great significance to Christianity as many of its inhabitants speak Aramaic, the language believed to be spoken by Jesus. “The appeal was also for all international organizations, the International Red Cross, the Red Crescent, and government and non-government organizations to help the village from a humanitarian aspect and provide it with water, electricity and food for the 40 individuals including nuns and orphans in the Mar Takla monastery,” Yazigi said.He noted that the nuns were not hostages but they refused to leave the monastery. Asked about the presence of Christians in the Middle East which many argue is under threat, Yazigi said Christians and Muslims of this region share a similar history and fate and “we have always lived side by side despite some circumstances.”

Have chemical weapons been entering Lebanon and Iraq?
September 25, 2013/By David Ignatius/The Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2013/Sep-25/232451-have-chemical-weapons-been-entering-lebanon-and-iraq.ashx#axzz2fcdN8Hcl
A high-level defector has provided a disturbing new account of Syrian chemical weapons operations – including an allegation that some of these weapons have been moved since Russia proposed an international monitoring scheme to destroy the toxic munitions. The revelations came in a lengthy telephone interview Sunday with Brig. Gen. Zaher al-Sakat, who was a chemical-weapons specialist for the Syrian army until he defected to the rebels in March. Sakat spoke by Skype from a city in Jordan. U.S. officials appear skeptical of allegations that chemical weapons have been moved outside Syria, to Iraq or Lebanon, as claimed by Sakat and others. So it’s best to treat the reports with caution. But Israeli officials are said to believe that the Syrian regime has been moving weapons inside the country to areas of greater regime control, for reasons of security or, perhaps, concealment.
Sakat’s most compelling information was his account of being ordered to use the toxic chemical phosgene in the Deraa area of southern Syria last year. The defector said that at the time, he supervised chemical weapons for the Syrian Army’s Fifth Division, based in Deraa, a stronghold of rebel support. Sakat was summoned in October 2012 by his commander, whom he named as Maj. Gen. Ali Hassan Ammar, and told to use phosgene to attack a region north of Deraa that included the villages of Sheikh Miskeen, Hirak and Busr al-Harir. Sakat said that according to standard procedures, any such order for using toxic gas would have originated with top military and intelligence commanders, who make up what he called the “crisis management cell.” The chain of command passes through Gen. Jamil Hassan, the chief of air force intelligence, whose bases Sakat said were often used to store the chemical stocks. The chain then passes to a group known as Unit 450, which coordinates logistics for chemical weapons, and to individual geographic commands, such as Unit 416 for Aleppo and Unit 417 for Damascus.
When handling the weapons, Sakat said he was instructed to use a simple word-substitution code, known as the “Khaled 4” template. An order to transport, say, sarin gas to a particular place would be conveyed with a phrase such as “Go bring the milk to Mohammad.” Sakat, a Sunni, said he didn’t want to carry out the orders to use phosgene against civilians. So he said he dug a pit and buried the odorless toxic gas and dispersed a nontoxic substitute that was mostly a bleach-like compound. But his commanders thought he had performed the mission as ordered.
After the feigned attack, Sakat said he was summoned by his commander, Ammar, who wasn’t aware of the sabotage and who proclaimed to a group of senior officers: “This is our hero who launched the chemical attack.” Sakat named a half-dozen Syrian officers who were present to hear this accolade. It’s impossible to verify Sakat’s claim that the regime during the past two weeks has sent chemical weapons east toward Iraq and west toward Lebanon. Sakat said planning for these movements began just before Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s Sept. 9 proposal for international control of Syrian chemical weapons, when Hafez Makhlouf, the Syrian chief of intelligence, met with representatives of Iranian and Iraqi intelligence at a location in the Yafour district of Damascus. Soon after the meeting, Sakat said, rebel intelligence sources spotted a convoy of specialized Mercedes and Volvo trucks moving east from Homs toward a village near Syria’s border with Iraq. The intelligence was provided by Syrian army defectors and an operative known as “Abu Mohammad the Octopus,” who briefly joined us by phone. Sakat charged another possible transfer of chemical weapons was made by a convoy of 22 trucks from Mezzeh military airport, southwest of Damascus, toward Lebanon. Just before reaching the frontier, the trucks veered north to the village of Kfer Yabous and then west along a smuggler’s route said to be used by Hezbollah. There’s reason to be skeptical this transfer took place, since it could probably be monitored by Israel and would immediately make Hezbollah a target for attack. Sakat said chemical weapons had also been transferred recently to four other locations inside the country, but he didn’t identify them.
In a separate Skype conversation Sunday, a Syrian source inside the country said that chemical weapons equipment had been moved recently from the Bahous Center for Scientific Research, in the area known as Barzeh, northeast of Damascus. The source said he didn’t know the destination. **David Ignatius is published twice weekly by THE DAILY STAR.

Tiger in sheep's clothing (Rouhani)
By: Hagai Segal 09.25.13, 14:12 / Ynetnews
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4433025,00.html
Op-ed: Israel's job is to convince world that Iran's conciliatory rhetoric is just another ploy
The Israeli response to the Iranian reconciliation offensive was quick and worthy. Even if there is some chance that Tehran is giving up on its nuclear adventure, we must assume that it isn't. A carnivorous tiger has to maintain a vegetarian lifestyle for at least five years before it achieves the status of a sheep.  Meanwhile, it is hard to detect any real vegetarian habits on the Iranian side. It is only the music that has been refined a little. The international sanctions are a burden on the ayatollahs' regime, and it is resorting to trickery in order to have them lifted. The first ploy was the election of Rohani as president by disqualifying candidates who posed a threat, and the most recent trick is the release of moderate statements the international community likes to hear. Rohani's remarks are aimed at allowing this tired and wavering community to determine that the Iranian president has climbed down from the nuclear tree. Iran is "loyal" to its pledge not to seek nuclear weapons, President Rohani said in a statement to the press before leaving for the display of peace at the UN General Assembly in New York. This is a lie. Even if Iran does not succeed in developing these weapons, it undoubtedly aspires to develop them. A homemade atomic bomb has been at the top of Iran's list of aspirations since the 1980s. It has never officially declared this, but history has taught us that insane countries are careful not to expose their claws before they are able to accomplish what they set out to do. Until that time, they try to confuse the enlightened world with conciliation initiatives and peace babble. Israel's job at this time is to make sure the enlightened world does not get confused. As long as Iran dreams out loud of annihilating Israel, we must not believe it when it claims its nuclear industry is meant for civilian purposes only. Since when is the regime in Tehran interested in its citizens?  Ever since the revolution of 1979, Iran has been run by a belligerent and cruel regime. Currently it is experiencing operational difficulties that are causing it to slow down the race toward a bomb, but this delay is merely part of the plan to accelerate the nuclear program. Iran is trying to show that it is extending its hand in peace, but we must continue to step on its thumb.
 

Israel says Iran diverting attention from bomb
September 26, 2013/Agence France Presse/UNITED NATIONS, United States: Israel on Thursday denounced Iran's call to acknowledge its nuclear weapons, accusing new leader Hassan Rouhani of diverting attention from the regime's own nuclear work.Rouhani, who is seeking a deal with the West on a nuclear standoff, called in a UN speech for the abolition of all nuclear weapons and urged Israel to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Yuval Steinitz, the head of the Israeli delegation at the UN General Assembly, said Rouhani was trying "to smile his way to the bomb." "The man is an expert with tricks," Steinitz, Israel's minister for strategic and intelligence affairs, told AFP. "Instead of saying that Iran will finally comply with the Security Council resolutions, it tries to shift attention to Israel," he said. "Israel is a very responsible country, a responsible democracy, that needs to survive and defend itself in one of the most difficult and hostile neighborhoods on the face of the earth," he said. Rouhani is hoping for a deal to end biting sanctions imposed over Iran's sensitive uranium work, which Western officials and Israel says could be used to develop a nuclear bomb. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called Rouhani, a self-described moderate who swept to power in June elections, a "wolf in sheep's clothing" and refused to rule out a military strike. Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons but does not publicly acknowledge its arsenal and, unlike Iran, has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty that allows for international regulation.

Western envoys tout deal on core of U.N. Syria draft; Russia denies
By John Irish and Louis Charbonneau | Reuters –.By John Irish and Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - After weeks of haggling, the United States, Russia, France, China and Britain have agreed on the core of a U.N. Security Council resolution to rid Syria of its chemical weapons, three Western diplomats said on Wednesday, but Russia denied such an agreement and insisted work was "still going on." The development came after the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the council met over lunch with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier in the day, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The three diplomats said a draft resolution could be presented to the full 15-nation council soon, and the five permanent members would also meet on Friday to discuss a proposed Syria peace conference in Geneva. "It seems that things are moving forward," said a Western diplomatic source, adding that there was "an agreement among the five on the core." "We are closer on all the key points," he said. A third diplomat also suggested that a deal on the draft resolution was within reach. But Russia rejected suggestions by the Western diplomats that there was an agreement on the core of a draft resolution. "This is just their wishful thinking," the spokesman for Russia's U.N. delegation said. "It is not the reality. The work on the draft resolution is still going on."
A U.S. official cited progress while cautioning that there was still work to be done. "We're making progress but we're not done yet," the official told Reuters. The five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council - Russia, the United States, France, Britain and China - have been negotiating a resolution to demand the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal in line with a U.S.-Russian deal reached earlier this month.
Negotiations on a draft in New York had come to a standstill while Russia and the United States struggled to reach an agreement acceptable to both. But it appears that after talks between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, the deadlock was broken.
STICKING POINT
A major sticking point between Russia and Western powers has been whether the resolution is written under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter, which covers the Security Council's authority to enforce decisions with measures such as sanctions or military force. Russia, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has made clear it would not accept an initial resolution under Chapter 7 and that any punitive measures would come only in the event of clearly proven Syrian non-compliance on the basis of a second council resolution under Chapter 7. A Western diplomat who had seen the latest draft before the Ban Ki-moon meeting said the only reference to Chapter 7 was at the end - a threat that in the event of non-compliance the council should "impose measures" under Chapter 7. To carry out that threat, a second resolution would be needed. There is, the diplomat said, no reference to Chapter 7 in the rest of the resolution, though the language is identical to what would normally be in a Chapter 7 resolution. Assad agreed to destroy Syria's chemical weapons in the wake of a sarin gas strike on civilians in the suburbs of Damascus last month - the world's deadliest chemical arms attack in 25 years. Washington blamed Assad's forces for the attack, which it said killed more than 1,400 people, and President Barack Obama threatened a U.S. military strike in response. Russia and Assad have blamed the attack on rebels who are battling to overthrow him in a civil war raging since 2011. (Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau and Michellen Nichols; Editing by Will Dunham

Al Qaeda, Kurdish militia clash on Syrian border with Turkey
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis | Reuters –
AMMAN (Reuters) - Seven al Qaeda-affiliated rebels were killed in a battle with a Syrian Kurdish militia on Wednesday, as violence between Syria's Arabs and Kurds increased, opposition activists said.
The fighting in Atma, a town on the Turkish border which is a main escape route for refugees fleeing the civil war, shows how the region has become a battleground for a myriad of armed groups in a scramble to grab territory, opposition sources said. As well as the seven members of the al-Qaeda linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant killed in fighting with the PYD, the Syrian arm of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), two women PKK recruits were also killed by mortar fire on the outskirts of the nearby town of Jandaris, the sources said. Since the start of the revolt, President Bashar al-Assad's forces have pulled out of Kurdish regions, including Ifrin, where Atma is located, handing de facto control to the PKK. While fear is widespread among Kurds of a possible Islamist takeover if Assad falls, the PKK has come under criticism from other Kurdish groups for having ties with Assad's forces and has also been accused of killing peaceful Kurdish activists, charges the group denies. Opposition activist Mohammad Abdallah said officers from Assad's army visited PKK leaders in Jandaris in the last week to discuss military cooperation, prompting the rebels to launch a pre-emptive strike. "There is a feeling that the Kurds were fortifying Jandaris as part of a plan to carve a Kurdish zone in Ifrin with the help of the regime," Abdallah said. "Fighting has been heavy all day, and rebels have brought heavier guns to defend Atma and to target the PKK." Another activist in the town said the PKK had taken positions in high ground around Atma. "Most of Atma is now within site of PKK snipers. Clashes with rocket-propelled grenades are taking place on the hills," he said. Kurds comprise around 10 percent of Syria's 21 million population. They are concentrated in Ifrin and other areas of the northwest, in parts of Damascus and in the northeastern oil producing area of Qamishli, where there has also been intense fighting between Kurds and rebel units and Arab tribes opposed to de facto Kurdish autonomy. Seeking to mend ties with the Kurdish community, Syrian opposition leaders in exile attempted, at a meeting in Istanbul this month, to expand the Syrian National Coalition to include members of the Kurdish National Council, a grouping of the main Kurdish parties that does not include the PYD. But the effort was put off as the coalition debated at length a joint declaration with the Kurdish Council that defines the Kurds as a separate people in a united Syria. (Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Syrian rebel groups break with Western-backed opposition, dealing major blow to the coalition
By Zeina Karam, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press BEIRUT - Nearly a dozen of Syria's powerful rebel factions, including one linked to al-Qaida, formally broke with the main opposition group in exile Wednesday and called for Islamic law in the country, dealing a severe blow to the Western-backed coalition.
The new alliance is a potential turning point, entrenching the schism within the rebellion and giving President Bashar Assad fuel for his long-stated contention that his regime is battling Islamic extremists in the civil war.
The Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition — the political arm of the Free Syrian Army rebel group — has long been accused by those fighting inside Syria of being a puppet promoted by the West and Gulf Arab states supporting the Syrian rebellion.
Wednesday's public rejection of the coalition's authority will likely be extremely damaging for its future in Syria, particularly at a time when the U.S. and Russia are pushing for peace talks.
"If the groups involved stand by this statement, I think this could be a very big deal — especially if it develops into a more-structured alliance instead of just a joint position," said political analyst Aron Lund.
"It basically means that some of the biggest mainstream Islamist forces within the so-called FSA are breaking up with the political leadership appointed for them by the West and Gulf states, to cast their lot with more hard-line and anti-Western Islamists," he said.
The announcement came less than two weeks after the coalition elected an interim prime minister, Ahmad Touma, charging him with organizing governance in opposition-held territories that have descended into chaos and infighting.
In a joint statement, 11 rebel groups that are influential in Aleppo province in the north, including Jabhat al-Nusra, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, said they rejected the authority of the Syrian National Coalition as well as Touma's appointment.
A video on the Internet showed Abdel-Aziz Salameh, political chief of the Liwaa al-Tawheed brigade that is particularly strong in the northern city of Aleppo, reading the statement.
"These forces call on all military and civilian forces to unite under a clear Islamic framework based on Sharia law, which should be the sole source of legislation," the signatories said.
Ominously, the rebel groups' statement was titled "Communique No. 1," a term used in Arab countries following military coups that suggests the creation of a new leadership body. It said the rebels do "not recognize" any future government formed outside Syria, insisting that forces fighting inside the country should be represented by "those who suffered and took part in the sacrifices."
The statement highlighted the growing irrelevance of the coalition and its military arm headed by Gen. Salim Idris, who leads the Supreme Military Council supported by the West, amid increasing radicalization in Syria. The group is seen by many as being out of touch.
Veteran opposition figure Kamal Labwani, a member of the coalition, said the U.S. decision to back away from military intervention in retaliation to the Aug. 21 chemical weapons attack near Damascus and the perceived Western indifference to Syrian suffering was turning fighters in Syria into "monsters."
"We as a coalition are very removed from the ground now. There is no geographic spot we can enter in the liberated areas. The situation is worse than you can ever imagine," he said. Najib Ghadbian, the Syrian National Coalition's U.N. representative, acknowledged in an interview with AP Television News that there was a "growing rift" between the mainstream FSA and extremist groups. He said Idris had cut short a trip to Paris to deal with the rebel announcement.
The U.S. decision had created "a lot of frustration," he added.
"The longer we wait, the more ... difficult it is going to become," Ghadbian said in New York. "Nothing is going to be, in fact, left to save of Syria."
For many rebels, the realization that even a chemical weapons attack would not trigger military intervention by the West has led to more radicalization. Last week, al-Qaida militants expelled FSA fighters from a town near the Turkish border after some of the worst clashes between the two sides. An al-Qaida commander in the north was assassinated by FSA fighters a day later.
Wednesday's statement came hours after a delegation from the coalition, headed by Ahmad al-Jarba, met U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in New York. It also came as a team of experts arrived in Damascus to continue investigating allegation on the use of chemical weapons in the civil war.
The U.S. and Russia have been pushing for a peace conference in Geneva. One opposition figure said the rebel announcement breaking from the coalition may be related to concerns it may agree to go to the talks. "It is part of political jostling for representation ahead of any talks," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the he was not authorized to talk about the discussions under way in New York. Al-Jarba met Wednesday with U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in New York. Al-Jarba said the coalition expressed readiness to attend talks in Geneva aimed at establishing a transitional government with full executive powers and a clear timetable for an agreement that those in Assad's regime responsible for war crimes against civilians would be held accountable and not be part of a future democratic Syria. "The time has come to end the conflict in Syria," said al-Jarba, according to a coalition statement. It was not immediately clear if the coalition was relinquishing its previous demand that Assad step down ahead of such talks.
A U.S. official said the United States and its allies were discussing the rebel announcement, adding it's too early to tell what the impact will be. Another U.S. official said the U.S. and its allies are increasingly concerned by infighting between the FSA and al-Qaida militants in northern and eastern Syria.
Both spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss Kerry's meetings.
The opposition has long been hobbled by divisions between those in exile and the disparate rebel groups fighting Assad's regime in Syria's civil war, which has killed over 100,000 since March 2011.
The insurgency has increasingly drawn jihadis from all over the world, further adding to the West's reluctance to get militarily involved in the Syrian conflict or send advanced weapons to the rebels. There is growing concern among moderates that the dominant role the extremists are playing is discrediting the rebellion. Among the signatories of Wednesday's statement are the Islamist-leaning Ahrar al-Sham and Liwaa al-Islam brigades, both powerful rebel factions with large followings on the ground, as well as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front. Three of them — the Liwaa al-Tawheed, the Liwaa al-Islam, and the Suqour al-Sham — have until now been part of the Free Syrian Army, considered to be the Coalition's military wing.
Growing rebel infighting may further complicate the work of U.N. chemical weapons inspectors who face enormous challenges on the ground, including manoeuvring between rebel- and government-controlled territory.
A team of experts arrived Wednesday in Damascus to continue investigating what officials from the world organization have described as "pending credible allegations" of the use of chemical weapons.
The visit of the six-member team, led by Swedish expert Ake Sellstrom, follows a report by the inspectors after a previous trip. The report said the nerve agent sarin was used in an Aug. 21, attack near Damascus.
The U.S. and its allies say Assad's regime was behind the attack that killed hundreds of people. Damascus and its ally, Moscow, blame the rebels for the attack.
The U.N. experts will be investigating three alleged uses of chemical weapons earlier this year and seeking information on three alleged incidents last month.
U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said the mission will discuss with the Syrian government "information that it may possess regarding allegations it reported on the use of chemical weapons" in incidents on Aug. 22, 24 and 25.
He said the inspectors will visit the village of Khan al-Assal near Aleppo to probe a March 19 incident, as well as two other sites. The inspectors identified them in last week's report as Sheik Maqsood and Saraqueb.
Also Wednesday, activists said Kurdish gunmen captured the village of Hmaid in the northeastern province of Hassakeh after heavy fighting with members of al-Qaida's Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and Nusra Front. It came nearly an hour after Kurdish gunmen took the nearby village of Dardara. Omar Mushaweh, a spokesman for Syria's Muslim Brotherhood group which is part of the coalition, blasted the rebel statement and said the infighting is dividing the rebellion at a critical time. "The only one who benefits from these side wars is the regime," he said. *Associated Press writer Mathew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Kenya launches probe as Shabaab leader confirms mall attack
By Richard Lough and Abdi Sheikh | Reuters –
NAIROBI/MOGADISHU (Reuters) - U.S., British and Israeli agencies are helping Kenya investigate an attack claimed by Somali Islamist militants on a Nairobi shopping mall that killed at least 72 people and destroyed part of the complex, officials said on Wednesday. President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Tuesday that troops had defeated the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group after a four-day siege at the shopping center popular with prosperous Kenyans and foreigners. He declared three days of mourning. The attack has highlighted the reach of al Shabaab and the capabilities of its crack unit which claimed responsibility for the bloodshed in the Westgate mall, confirming international fears that Somalia would remain a recruiting and training ground for militant Islam as long as it remained in turmoil. The militants stormed the mall, known for its Western shops selling iPads and Nike shoes, in a hail of gunfire and grenades at lunchtime on Saturday. Late on Wednesday night, al Shabaab's leader for the first time confirmed claims by his group's members that it was behind the attack on the mall.
In an audio posted on the al Shabaab-linked website www.somalimemo.net, Ahmed Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu al-Zubayr, said the attack was in retaliation for Kenya's incursion in October 2011 into southern Somalia to crush the insurgents. "Take your troops out or prepare for a long-lasting war, blood, destruction and evacuation," Godane said in the message delivered in the Somali language and apparently directed at the Kenyan government. Kenyan troops are fighting alongside African peacekeepers against the militants in Somalia. Al Shabaab had threatened revenge since Kenyan troops joined the conflict, warning that they would bring the "flames of war" to a country that is east Africa's biggest economy. The group has created funding, recruiting and training networks in Kenya. "You are part of the massacre Kenya carried out in Kismayu and in other towns because you had elected your politicians. The tax you pay is used to arm Uhuru (Kenyatta) forces that massacre Muslims. You had supported the fight against us," Godane said in the message apparently directed to Kenyans.
Kenyatta has said Kenyan forces would not leave Somalia. The attack on the mall ended on Tuesday when Kenyan troops detonated explosives to get through locked doors inside the mall as they searched for militants or booby traps. "We have moved to the next phase," Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku told a news conference.
He said that alongside U.S., British and Israeli agencies, Kenya was also receiving help from Germany, Canada and the international police agency Interpol in the investigation. He said he did not expect the death toll of 61 civilians, six members of the security forces and five attackers to rise significantly, and that the only bodies still likely to be found were those of slain assailants. Three floors collapsed after the blasts and a separate fire weakened the structure of the vaulted, marble-tiled building. Officials said the blaze arose from militants lighting mattresses as a decoy. Kenya has said 10 to 15 attackers launched the raid. Ole Lenku said the investigation would seek to ascertain if there were any females among the assailants, as some witness accounts suggested, and would also see if the groups had rented a store in the mall prior to the attack as part of their preparation. Al Shabaab said hostages were killed when Kenyan troops used gas to clear the mall, an allegation that officials dismissed as "propaganda". "We have ashamed and defeated our attackers," Kenyatta said in his televised address on Tuesday.
U.S. President Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan, said he believed the country - scene of one of al Qaeda's first big attacks, the 1998 bombing that devastated the U.S. embassy in Nairobi - would continue to be a regional pillar of stability.
IDENTIFICATION
"The investigators will be looking to see what information they can extract to identify the terrorists and their nationalities, including DNA tests," a senior official from the National Disaster Operation Centre told Reuters, after officials described the attack as a "multinational" operation. Eleven people suspected of involvement with the well-planned assault are in custody, but Kenyan officials have not said if any were gunmen who may have been taken alive by security forces. It was unclear whether intelligence reports of American or British gunmen would be confirmed. Al Shabaab denied that any women took part, after British sources said the fugitive widow of one of the 2005 London suicide bombers might have had a role. In Washington, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday there had been no verification that Americans were involved in the mall attack.
A thin trail of smoke still drifted up on Wednesday above the Israeli-built shopping complex, a symbol of Africa's economic rise that has drawn in foreign investors.
Faster growth has also created wider wealth gaps, adding to grievances tapped by several violent Islamist groups from Mali to Algeria and Nigeria to Kenya. All have espoused an anti-Western, anti-Christian creed.
"If #Westgate was Kenya's symbol of prosperity, it is now a symbol of their vulnerability, a symbol of defeat and overall Kenyan impotence," al Shabaab said on its Twitter account, one of several taunts it sent after the attack.
The group, which derided Kenya as it was battling militants inside the mall, said action by Kenyan troops using gas were responsible for the "lives of the 137 hostages who were being held by the mujahideen (fighters)."
PLOY
Ole Lenku said he could not confirm intelligence reports of British and American militants. One cabinet minister had earlier denied speculation that women were among the guerrillas, but said some had been dressed as women, a possible ploy to get weapons past the mall's unarmed private security guards. It is unusual, if not unknown, for Islamist militants to use female fighters: "We have an adequate number of young men who are fully committed & we do not employ our sisters in such military operations #Westgate," al Shabaab said on Twitter. The group dismissed comments by one Kenyan minister that two or three of the militants were young Somali or Arab Americans.
A British security source said it was possible Samantha Lewthwaite, the widow of one of the London suicide bombers of July 7 2005, was involved in the Nairobi siege. "It is a possibility. But nothing definitive or conclusive yet," the source said. Lewthwaite is wanted in connection with an alleged plot to attack expensive hotels and restaurants in Kenya. Kenyatta thanked other leaders, including Obama, for their support and used his address to praise the response of the Kenyan people and call for national unity, six months after his election was marked by ethnic tensions. Many Kenyans agree that the bloodshed has helped foster a greater sense of national unity.
"We are all talking about it. The one good thing is that the whole of Kenya has become one, except for al Shabaab," said Vipool Shah, who helped pull bodies out of the mall.
Kenyatta's focus on Kenya's troubles, and of his role in a global campaign against terrorism, was a reminder that he faces trial at The Hague in a few weeks time for crimes against humanity over violence that followed a 2007 election. The International Criminal Court adjourned the trial of his vice president this week because of the Westgate attack. Kenyatta and his government have urged the ICC to drop the case. Warm words for the Kenyan leadership from Western allies during the siege may have boosted their hopes that the court might be pressed to shelve proceedings in the interests of shoring up an important partner in the fight against al Qaeda.
Shabaab's Godane, however, warned of the danger that lay ahead for Kenya if it did not withdraw from Somalia. "Kenyan people, you have entered a war against your interest. You will lose your security and economy," he said. (Reporting by James Macharia, Duncan Miriri, Matthew Mpoke Bigg, Kevin Mwanza and Pascal Fletcher in Nairobi and Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu; Writing by Edmund Blair and James Macharia; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Paul Simao)

Israeli-Palestinian talks to intensify, greater U.S. role
By Arshad Mohammed | Reuters –
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to intensify their peace talks and to increase the U.S. role, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday in a rare comment on the negotiations.
Speaking to donors who support the Palestinian Authority, Kerry said the two sides have met seven times since the talks resumed on July 29 although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have not met. "We have agreed now, in the last week, when I have met with both President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu, we have agreed now to intensify these talks," he said. "And we have agreed that the American participation should be increased somewhat in order to try to help facilitate."
Kerry described two tracks to the talks: one among the negotiators - Israel's Tzipi Livni and Yitzhak Molcho and the Palestinians Saeb Erekat and Mohammed Shtayyeh - and another among Abbas, Netanyahu, Kerry and U.S. President Barack Obama. Speaking of the second track, Kerry said: "As we think appropriate, as we need to move the process, we will be consulting among each other and working to move this process forward." A U.S. official played down the idea of U.S. President Barack Obama increasing his role for now, although Obama had described the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, along with trying to curb Iran's nuclear program, as two top diplomatic priorities in his speech at U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the increase in U.S. engagement during the short term was likely to take the form of lower-level U.S. officials taking part in the Israeli-Palestinian meetings more frequently.
Kerry's comments offered a rare glimpse at the talks, which the United States initiated but has tried to keep under wraps on the argument that public discussion makes it harder to reach an agreement to end the more than six-decade conflict. Abbas told Obama in a meeting on Tuesday on the fringes of the U.N. General Assembly that the Palestinians will exert every effort possible to try to ensure the peace talks are a success. Obama, as well as Kerry, are due to meet Netanyahu next week in Washington as they try to keep up the momentum in the negotiations.
The key issues to be resolved include borders, the future of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Christopher Wilson, Eric Beech and Cynthia Osterman)

Rouhani: Holocaust was a 'reprehensible' crime against the Jewish people
By REUTERS LAST UPDATED: 09/25/2013
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani tells CNN that the "Holocaust doesn't mean Israel can usurp land, occupy it."  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that the Nazis committed a "reprehensible" crime against the Jewish people, when he was asked in a television interview whether he accepted that the Holocaust occurred. "I am not a historian and when it comes to speaking of the dimensions of the Holocaust it is the historians that should reflect," Rouhani told with CNN's Christiane Amanpour during a visit to New York where he spoke to the United Nations General Assembly. "But in general I can tell you that any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime the Nazis created towards the Jews, is reprehensible and condemnable," he said, according to CNN's translation of his comments. "Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews we condemn," Rouhani told CNN. "The taking of human life is contemptible. It makes no difference if that life is Jewish life, Christian or Muslim. For us it is the same." But Rouhani went on to take a swipe against Iran's archfoe Israel, which was founded after World War Two as a Jewish state in part of what had been British-mandate Palestine. "This does not mean that on the other hand you can say 'Nazis committed crimes against a group, now therefore they must usurp the land of another group and occupy it,'" he said. "This too is an act that should be condemned. There should be an evenhanded discussion." In clips from the interview that is scheduled to air in full on Wednesday, Rouhani said the proposed meeting with US President Barack Obama at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York did not occur because there was not enough time for preparations.
He added that he was willing to pursue serious negotiations with the West over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, and that Iran is ready to take serious confidence-building steps toward the US, but added it is a two-way street. Finally, he had a message in English to the American people, "I would like to say to American people: I bring peace and friendship from Iranians to Americans."

Kenya blames US, Israeli intelligence for no heads-up on Nairobi attack
DEBKAfile Special Report September 26, 2013/President Uhuru Kenyatta is quoted as blaming the United States and Israel, in conversation with his confidants, for the failure of their undercover agencies to prevent the large-scale terrorist attack launched on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi on Sept. 21, DEBKA file reports. He said he had counted on them for a heads-up to thwart an attack, instead of which both the Americans and Israelis were as much in the dark as his own security agencies.After October 2011, when Kenyan forces entered Somalia to back the government’s war on the Al Shabaab insurgency, Israeli and American intelligence operatives were given broad license to operate in Kenya’s main cities and shield the country against Al Shabaab and Al Qaeda terrorist attacks.
Kenyatta was particularly bitter over the way US officials Wednesday, Sept. 25, poured public scorn on Kenyan police and military operations against the terrorists holding the mall. They said they were “mindful that Kenya… has become a precarious buffer zone between the US and Islamist militants.” The shopping mall siege was seen as “a direct threat” to America’s national security, said those US officials.
The Kenyan president takes the reverse view: He considers the US and Israel failed in their responsibility for setting up a buffer zone for protecting his own country’s national security.
In this regard, Al Shabaab Wednesday, Sept. 25, issued a “message to Westerners” to prepare for a “long war” unless foreign troops pulled out of Somalia.
US intelligence sources rebut Kenyatta’s charges. They say they undertook to train Kenyan forces up to a certain level, but then responsibility for warding off attacks devolved on the local authorities.
They had no answers for questions about another US intelligence failure to pick up word of yet another Al Qaeda attack on the way in Africa, just a year after US Ambassador Chris Stevens and four of his staff, all special US agents, were caught unready and murdered in the Libyan town of Benghazi.
After that disaster and, more recently, the Algerian gas field hostage siege targeting Western staff of Jan. 16, 2013, the US has beefed up its military and intelligence presence in Africa and overhauled the US Africa Command-AFRICOM.
Israeli security officials have refused to comment on their involvement in Kenya before, during or after the shopping mall attack, preferring to focus on rapidly rebuilding a strong security envelope in Nairobi.
In private conversation, Israeli police and intelligence sources admit they fell down badly in Kenya, their failure all the more galling in view of Al Qaeda having targeted a center which houses many Israel-owned and managed businesses.  Their most urgent task now is to find out how terrorist spies were able to conduct repeated surveillance excursions in the Westgate mall - and even smuggle in large stocks of ammunition for a long siege – undetected by Israeli security agents and without them sounding the alarm.

Jihadists torch statues, crosses in Syria churches: NGO
September 26, 2013/Agence France Presse
BEIRUT: Jihadist fighters linked to Al-Qaeda set fire to statues and crosses inside churches in northern Syria on Thursday and destroyed a cross on a church clock tower, a watchdog said. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters entered the Greek Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation in the northern city of Raqa and torched the religious furnishings inside, the Syria Observatory for Human Rights said. They did the same at the Armenian Catholic Church of the Martyrs, and also destroyed a cross atop its clock tower, replacing it with the ISIL flag, the Observatory said.
Most of Raqa, located on the banks of the Euphrates River and capital of the province of the same name, fell to anti-regime fighters in March.
Where the ISIL dominates in the city, it imposes a strict version of sharia (Islamic law) on the populace.
The London-based Observatory denounced these attacks "against the freedom of religion, which are an assault on the Syrian revolution."Not only have there been attacks on Christian places of worship in Syria, a predominantly Sunni Muslim country wracked by more than two years of civil war, but also on Shiite Muslim mosques.
Additionally, Christians clerics have been kidnapped, and some brutally murdered, by jihadists.
In January, the Middle East director of Human Rights Watch, Sarah Leah Whitson, said: "The destruction of religious sites is furthering sectarian fears and compounding the tragedies of the country. "Syria will lose its rich cultural and religious diversity if armed groups do not respect places of worship."
The New York-based group said that "while some opposition leaders have pledged to protect all Syrians, in practice the opposition has failed to properly address the unjustified attacks against minority places of worship."
At the outset of the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad, rebels welcomed the support of jihadist groups, largely made up of foreign fighters.
But the jihadists, where they have reached a position of dominance in specific parts of the country, are increasingly alienating the native population.
On Thursday, an ISIL commander from the United Arab Emirates was killed in fighting with Kurds in the north of Syria, the Observatory said.
 

The Kurds: Victims and Oppressors
By: Augin K. Haninke
Assyrian International News Agency
(AINA) -- Recently I sat in the waiting room at Children's Hospital in Stockholm for a small ailment for my little son. While waiting I used my phone to connect to Facebook, where I saw a post by the famous Turkish writer Ismail Besikçi that one of my friends had shared. The post had received thousands of Likes and Shares, even by some Assyrian leftists who sympathize with the Kurdish struggle for freedom. Besikçi says the following in a video in Turkish:
Today Kurdish children in Kurdistan [Eastern Turkey] are forced every morning to shout that they sacrifice themselves to the Turkish existence. Why? Why should Kurdish children sacrifice themselves for the Turkish children's existence? Why are Kurdish children every day forced to shout 'I am Turkish, I am honest'? This is the worst racism in the world. We have to point this out. Such racism occurs neither in South Africa nor any other part of the world. It is the world's most backward racism. It is highly reprehensible to try to destroy a nation's language and culture and erase it from history. This is specific to Turkey. It is impossible to see such racism anywhere else in the world. When I heard Ismail Besikçis speech, I could not but agree. The Turkish Republic has done everything in its power to assimilate all non-Turks throughout the 20th century, under the banner of one people, one language, one religion. During World War One the country's Christian population (Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks), which represented approximately one third of the population, was eliminated through genocide. The majority of the Kurdish clans, who were promised Kurdish autonomy, participated in this genocide. They also became wealthy landowners after expropriating Christian property.
In July of 1923 the Lausanne Peace Treaty was signed and shortly thereafter the Republic of Turkey was born from the remnants of the Ottoman Empire. Kurds now realized that the Turks would not keep their promise of Kurdish autonomy. In 1925 the Kurdish leader Sheikh Said attempted to form an autonomous Kurdish government in the eastern part of Turkey, but Mustafa Kemal Atatürk crushed the insurrection mercilessly. In 1926 he murdered or deported thousands of Kurdish tribal leaders. The assimilation policy against non-Turkish citizens had started.
But when it comes to the Kurds the assimilation has failed, although their language and culture has been kept alive only through oral tradition (schools were banned). On the contrary, the assimilation policies fuelled Kurdish nationalism and new aspirations for self-government. In the 1980s, the Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK, The Kurdistan Workers' Party), took up arms in the struggle for Kurdish independence.
The few Assyrians who remained in Turabdin were caught in the middle of the fighting between Kurds and Turks and were forced to flee to Europe. Today, when a semblance of peace has returned to the area, some Assyrians are finding their way back to their ancestral homes but are encounterring difficulties (more on this below).
Despite the oppression the Kurds have suffered at the hands of the Turks, they have not learned to be tolerant. In the Kurdish autonomous of North Iraq, The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) are acting in the same way as the Turkish government has for 90 years against Kurds and Assyrians. Reports of systematic abuses against Assyrians within the Kurdish autonomy in Iraq are constantly increasing in number. There is organized harassment, sanctioned by the Kurdish authorities. The aim is obviously the same as that of the Turks, to assimilate or expel the Assyrian indigenous people who have lived in these parts of the country for more than 7,000 years.
Kurdish historians argue the Kurds are the indigenous people of Mesopotamia. But that's nonsense. The first time that the Kurds were given permission to settle in Mesopotamia was 500 years ago (1514) when the Turkish sultan Yavuz Sultan Selim aligned himself with them in his fight against the Persians. That was when Kurds were allowed to settle in Mesopotamia in larger groups. Their origin is the mountains of Zagros.
But now that the Kurds are in the process of forming their own state, they act just as racist as Turks, Arabs and other ruling powers in the Middle East. Recently the Assyria Council of Europe and Assyria Foundation released a report on human rights of Assyrians in Iraq 2013. According to the report:
Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, Iraq underwent Arabization. People were taught that the entire civilization of Mesopotamia is Arab. In the KRG-area history repeats itself, and the local Assyrian history is seen as Kurdish history. City names are changed to Kurdish names. Assyrian heritage is ruined and Assyrian history is not recognised in school books, museums and during memorial days.
Assyrian children are not allowed to learn their history in schools, but become indoctrinated as Christian Kurdistan residents. How is this different from Kurdish children in Turkey who must shout "I am Turkish, I am honest?"
The report also says that the Assyrians are discriminated against and kept out of civil and political offices, their villages and property are taken away from them, are subjected to threats, harassment and even attacked by armed Kurdish mob with help from the local police (AINA 9-3-2013, 6-17-2013).
The same morning as I sat in the emergency room Assyrians in the city of Mangesh released an appeal to ask the world for help against the KRG's chauvinism and harassment (AINA 9-20-2013). They say that the Assyrians who refuse to comply with the Barzani Clans dominion within the KRG face extreme difficulty. To draw attention to the Turkish readers on how the Assyrians in Iraq are treated by the Kurdish authorities, I wrote a comment to Ismail Besikçis Facebook post and pasted the entire appeal in English.
As to the Kurds in Turkey, they have yet no self-government, but they have dominated some political parties in both local councils and parliament. Right now the Kurdish legal party that stands closest to the PKK is called BDP (Baris ve Demokrasi Partisi).
I'm sure some Assyrian PKK sympathizers would oppose my comparison between the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey. They claim that the PKK Kurds are more democratic, more modern and friendly to minorities in the country. But there are confirmed reports of Assyrian lands in Turabdin that Kurds have expropriated. Large areas of valuable land of the monastery of St. Augin have been occupied for the last 30 years by Kurds belonging to BDP. Representatives of the St. Augin Association have repeatedly met with BDP 's management and local politicians asking them to return the lands to the monastery. But so far there are no concrete results. Similarly in the case of the St. Gabriel Monastery, it is the Kurdish mayors from neighbouring villages who are claiming the land of the monastery.
Kurdish rulers in Midyat have over the last few years tried to get valuable property through intimidation and harassment of returning and resident Assyrians. Turkish courts are now prosecuting a number of Kurds, including the mayor of the city. It appears that the Kurdish people in power in Turkey are no different than those in Iraq, and both are exercising the same assimilation policies that the Turks and Arabs have applied to them.
By Augin K. Haninke
Augin Kurt Haninke is an Assyrian journalist and author in Sweden.
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