LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
July 06/14

Bible Quotation for today/But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Matthew 10,1-7/Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, "The kingdom of heaven has come near."

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources For July 06/14

Christian Leader Appeals for Missing Iraq Nuns
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/137582-christian-leader-appeals-for-missing-iraq-nuns
Naharnet/Iraq's most senior Christian leader appealed Saturday for the release of two nuns and three orphans who have been missing for several days in militant-held areas of northern Nineveh province. The group went missing on Tuesday in Mosul, the first city to fall in a major militant offensive last month that overran swathes of territory across five provinces north and west of Baghdad, and have not been seen since. "We are appealing for scholars in Mosul and tribal sheikhs to help us release two nuns and three orphans," said Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako. "Christians are not party to these events."Sako added: "We lived together side-by-side (with Muslims) for 14 centuries. We still want to communicate and live together." Iraq's Christian community is a shadow of what it used to be -- once numbering more than a million nationwide, with upwards of 600,000 in Baghdad alone, there are now fewer than 400,000 across the country. Many of those left still lived in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital.
But militants led by the jihadist Islamic State group overran Mosul and parts of the surrounding province in an offensive that began June 9, alarming world leaders and displacing hundreds of thousands.
Earlier, an employee at Mosul's Chaldean cathedral said militants had occupied both it and the Syrian Orthodox cathedral in the city after finding them empty. They removed the crosses at the front of the buildings and replaced them with the Islamic State's black flag, the employee said. Agence France Presse

The Syndicate Coordination Committee (SCC) Announces Wednesday General Strike, to Continue Boycotting Exam Correction
Naharnet/The Syndicate Coordination Committee vowed on Saturday to continue boycotting the correction of the official exams until the adoption of the contentious new wage scale. "We will continue boycotting the correction of exams until the new wage scale gets adopted and all sectors secure their employment rights without any exception,” the SCC said after a meeting. It also announced a general strike on Wednesday in all ministries, public administrations and institutions, municipalities and at the Grand Serail in all the nation's governorates and districts. And a 24-hour sit-in will also take place on Wednesday near the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Beirut, with the participation of representatives of parents and students' councils, the SCC added. "This sit-in will be the first of similar protests to be held at all other ministries,” it noted. The SCC, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, explained that not adopting the new wage scale or other pending drafts with a social character “serve the policy of causing tension in the country and of supporting extremism and sectarian divisions... and aim at harming the Committee and its struggle for Lebanese people's” rights. It continued: “Officials' neglect of thousands of Lebanese people's rights point out their decision to eliminate what is left of the welfare state...and of eliminating public employment.” The SCC assured that it is holding talks with parents and students' councils and stressed its rejection of putting them in confrontation with teachers. More than a dozen of public sectors employees held a sit-in near the Value Added Tax building in Beirut on Tuesday, reiterating their demand for the approval of the controversial wage hike. Several SCC activists spoke at the protest, urging the parliament to agree on the salary raise. Speaker Nabih Berri has decided to keep legislative sessions on the wage scale open-ended after lawmakers failed to approve the raise. Parliamentary blocs have expressed their support for the employees' rights but have warned that Lebanon's ailing economy would suffer if the total funding was not reduced from LL2.8 trillion ($1.9 billion) to LL1.8 trillion ($1.2 billion). They have also disagreed on how to raise taxes to fund the scale over fears of inflation and its affect on the poor. Their differences have been exacerbated by the boycott of the March 14 alliance's MPs of the sessions aimed at discussing the draft-law under the excuse that parliament should not legislate in the absence of a president.

S.Lebanon’s Christian edifices scrutinized by Elie Abi Nassif
Chirine Lahoud| The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Among the myriad of religious communities that have peopled the Eastern Mediterranean coast over the millennia, the Christian ones have been prominent in the popular imagination.
With the book “Patrimoine Religieux en Orient Chretien” (Religious Heritage in Christian Orient), Elie Abi Nassif explores the patrimony of the Christian community of Sidon and its environs.
An architect and instructor at Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA), Abi Nassif assembled the volume with the help of some of the university’s architecture students.
The project’s aim was to trace South Lebanon’s ruined religious edifices, with the aim of determining when the first Christians arrived there and scrutinizing signs of Jesus’ presence in the country.
To pinpoint Sidon’s architectural treasure trove, Abi Nassif and his young collaborators employed historical and archeological studies, as well as scripture.
The first site Abi Nassif and his students scrutinized was Bosten Ech-Cheikh, northeast of Sidon, which includes a church, a Byzantine mosaic and three temples (Interior and exterior photos of the site are augmented by blueprints and digital recreations).
Sources suggest that in antiquity Echmoun – the Phoenician god of healing – was venerated there. The main part of the site was an “outdoor pyramidal construction.” Atop this a podium in tribute to Echmoun, said to be among the best-preserved Phoenician monuments in Lebanon, was erected. The temple adjacent the podium was destroyed by Achaemenid emperor Artaxerxes III Ochus (425 BC-338 BC).
“Patrimoine” is rich in photos from the sites Abi Nassif discusses, used to illustrate his and his collaborators’ arguments. At times it seems the number of photos has trumped quality, however, and some may find the book looks less like a scholarly archeological study than a catalogue of artifacts.
At one point the book references Beirut’s National Museum – whose design, overseen by architects Antoine Nahas and Pierre Leprince Ringuet, has been described as “Egyptian Revival.” A caption suggests the Babylonian-style columns could have “possibly belonged to Echmoun’s temple.”
The site of Bosten Ech-Cheikh bears witness to changes born of the growing influence of Hellenistic material culture. Among the vestiges of Greek influences on site are a sculpted tribune and a paved pool of the Throne of Astarte, reputed to cure the ill.
Later, during Roman imperial suzerainty, the creation of streets, basilicas and hippodromes saw the site further elaborated.
The Church of Anane is quite a different sort of site, said to be typical of “Byzantine villages.” The church may have been constructed on what had been a Roman temple, but this is uncertain.
The abandoned site and isolated location made it difficult to excavate. Pictures give a general view of the site and the village itself, while blueprints suggest how it used to look. The only part of the ruin that is truly identifiable is what residents call the “Hermitage,” a “vernacular structure ... [where] a few monks lived for an undetermined period.”
The church’s original mosaics have been removed and relocated to Sidon’s Greek Catholic Cathedral, but have lost all their symbolism since they have been “appended the one to the other like a patchwork of stones.”
Though it can hardly be included in an oriental Christian patrimony, Abi Nassif points out that a synagogue can be found inside Harat al-Yahoud, Old Sidon’s ancient Jewish neighborhood. The synagogue can be difficult to find but, once inside the structure, Hebrew script can still be found on some of its walls.
Located inside Sidon’s old souk, Saint Nicolas Church is as hard to find as the synagogue. “The entrances to the edifice are separated by 30 meters of souks.”
Not knowing how it looks now makes it hard to know how it looked before. The book includes blueprints suggesting the church’s former appearance and they also show the wall that has been added to separate the space into two – the Orthodox Church and the Catholic one.
Next to Fakhreddine’s castle can be found Saint Elias Church. Built in the 17th century, it is the only Maronite church in old Sidon. Abi Nassif explained that the space’s design is less that of a church than a space renovated to respond to “the needs of a cult.”
The study also examines Saint Nicolas Cathedral and Sidon’s Latin Church.
With detailed blueprints, “Patrimoine” may be useful for beginner students in archeology or architecture. General readers curious about the area may find it less interesting.
The pictures and blueprints comprise much of the book, leaving little space for text. A more interesting study would have included more detailed discussions of the sites, and analysis of the architectural and design details of these historic structures.
“Patrimoine Religieux en Orient Chretien” is published by ALBA.

http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2014/07/04c.aspx
July 4, 2014 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:
“On behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and all Canadians, I would like to extend our warmest wishes to the American people on the occasion of their 238th Independence Day.
“Canadians and Americans share a special bond that is unmatched by any relationship on earth. Our belief in democratic values, our commitment to the freedom of our people and those around the world, and our quest for a prosperous future for Canadians and Americans alike solidifies our bond.
“May our people continue these great traditions.
“Today, I wish all Americans a happy Fourth of July.”

Question: "How should a Christian respond to unanswered prayer?"
GotQuestions.org
Answer: How many Christians have prayed for someone, only to see their prayers go unanswered? How many have prayed and perhaps have “given up” because either they have become discouraged through a weakness of faith or have come to the conclusion that whatever they have been praying for isn’t God’s will? Nevertheless, how we deal with unanswered prayer is not just for our own benefit but for the benefit of others as well. When we pray, we are engaging in the most precious and God-given act of communication with the One to whom we are accountable in all our affairs. We have been truly bought at a steep price—the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ—and therefore we belong to God. Our privilege of prayer is from God, and it is as much ours now as when it was given to Israel (Deuteronomy 4:7). Yet, when we pray or speak to the One in Heaven, there are times when He seems not to answer. There can be many reasons for this, and the Scriptures suggest why and how our prayers are being dealt with by the One who is so tender and loving, who Himself loves our communing with God the Father, for He, Himself, is our representative (Hebrews 4:15).
A primary reason why prayer is unanswered is sin. God cannot be mocked or deceived, and He who sits enthroned above knows us intimately, down to our every thought (Psalm 139:1-4). If we are not walking in the Way or we harbor enmity in our hearts toward our brother or we ask for things with the wrong motives (such as from selfish desires), then we can expect God not to answer our prayer because He does not hear (2 Chronicles 7:14; Deuteronomy 28:23; Psalm 66:18; James 4:3). Sin is the “stopper” to all the potential blessings that we would receive from the infinite “bottle” of God’s mercy! Indeed, there are times when our prayers are heinous in the Lord’s sight, most notably when we clearly do not belong to the Lord either because of unbelief (Proverbs 15:8) or because we are practicing hypocrisy (Mark 12:40). Another reason why prayer seems to go unanswered is that the Lord is drawing out of our faith a deeper reliance and trust in Him, which should bring out of us a deeper sense of gratitude, love and humility. In turn, this causes us to benefit spiritually, for He gives grace to the humble (James 4:6; Proverbs 3:34). Oh, how one feels for that poor Canaanite woman, who cried out incessantly to our Lord for mercy when He was visiting the region of Tyre and Sidon (Matthew 15:21-28)! She was hardly the person a Jewish rabbi would pay attention to. She was not a Jew and she was a woman, two reasons that Jews ignored her. The Lord doesn’t seem to answer her petitions, but He knew all about her situation. He may not have answered her stated needs immediately, but still He heard and granted her request. God may often seem silent to us, but He never sends us away empty-handed. Even if prayer has not been answered, we must rely upon God to do so in His own time. Even the exercise of prayer is a blessing to us; it is because of our faith that we are stirred to persist in prayer. It is faith that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6), and if our prayer life is wanting, does that not reflect our spiritual standing also? God hears our impoverished cries for mercy, and His silence inflames us with a sense of persistence in prayer. He loves us to reason with Him. Let us hunger for the things that are after God’s heart and let us walk in His ways and not our own. If we are faithful to pray without ceasing, then we are living in the will of God, and that can never be wrong (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18).

Iran offers to help Lebanon fight terrorism
The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Fathali, said Tehran will lend a hand to Lebanon in its fight against the rise of terrorism. “With our experience in combating terrorism, we offer countries in the region all weapons, equipment and training by technicians required, especially to fight terrorism,” Fathali told Press TV. “We are ready to fully cooperate with the Lebanese military and security personnel under no conditions.” He said the aim of the cooperation is to combat “extremism and violence.” The Lebanese Army and security forces have launched a preemptive crackdown against possible terror cells operating in the country, and militants who might have infiltrated Lebanon with aim of carrying out terrorist attacks. Authorities have arrested a number of terror suspects linked to Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria. Last week, General Security apprehended a would-be suicide bomber at a Beirut hotel after his partner blew himself up to evade arrest.

Two Syrians Robbed at Gunpoint in Baalbek
Naharnet /Two Syrian nationals were robbed at gunpoint on Saturday in Baalbek's town of Douris, the state-run National News Agency reported. Three armed men in a white Mercedes, robbed Hussein Ahmed al-Wahsh and his brother Yassine, thieving 300,000 Lebanese pounds in addition to their identity cards, NNA said. The assailants hit and threatened the two men, who hail from the Syrian town of Safira in Aleppo province, and left them them behind the Dar al-Amal University Hospital near the international highway, it added.

'Free Sunnis Brigade' under Prosecution, Azzam Brigades Say Twitter Account Run by Hizbullah Affiliates
Naharnet/While ambiguity continues to surround the so-called Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade, Sheikh Sirajeddine Zouraykat of the Abdulllah Azzam Brigades said on Friday that the group's Twitter account as “fake” one run by sides affiliated with Hizbullah. "The Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade is a fake account run by sides affiliated with Hizbullah and we should be cautious and avoid communicating with it,” Zouraykat wrote on his own account on the social media website Twitter. Soon after, the Brigade replied to Zouraykat's claims. “You describe us as an intelligence body just because we announced war on Lebanon's Christians,” the group tweeted. “You are the ones working for the interest of foreign powers,” it added. Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade then announced its “readiness to fight any group in Lebanon that dares to harm our principles and believes.” The Brigade had vowed earlier this week to task gunmen to attack churches in Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa valley in particular.
It said on its twitter account that a “specialized group of free jihadists were tasked with cleansing the Islamic state of Bekaa in particular and in Lebanon in general from the churches.”Following these alarming tweets, Lebanese authorities contacted Twitter's administrators to communicate these threats with them and try to identify who is behind the account. In the same context, the Internal Security Forces' cyber crimes bureau announced on Friday that the Twitter account of the vague Brigade is under prosecution. "(Lebanese) authorities informed Twitter's administrators about the Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade account following its latest tweets on attacking churches,” Maj. Suzan al-Hajj, chief of the ISF cyber crime bureau told LBCI television.
"Authorities did not give much attention to this account before, but decided to act after its latest tweets on attacking churches,” she pointed out. She said Lebanese authorities will coordinate with the Interpol to prosecute those operating the account, explaining that their doings are a punishable crime. Al-Hajj revealed that the account was first activated on a Blackberry device on July 22, 2013 in London, but was later operated in several Arab countries. According to the cyber crimes bureau's chief, two fake names have operated the account and they are Omar al-Shami, a former Syrian inmate who died in the Adra prison in the neighboring country, and Saifullah al-Shayyah, who does no exist. The mysterious Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade recently pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, previously known as the Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant. In the past, the Brigade announced its affiliation with ISIL but the extremist group denied it. On March 16, the Brigade engaged in a war of words with the al-Nusra Front in Lebanon, believed to be a local franchise of the Syria-based, Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front. The dispute erupted after both groups claimed responsibility on Twitter for a deadly suicide bombing that rocked the Bekaa town of al-Nabi Othman. The Brigade has claimed responsibility for several rocket and bomb attacks inside Lebanon, the last of which were the suicide blasts in Dahr al-Baydar and Raouche's Duroy Hotel.

Broad campaign in solidarity with Palestine: Hezbollah
The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Hezbollah called for a broad campaign in solidarity with the Palestinian people Saturday, urging all Arab states to stand by them and offer all possible support in light of their current plight. “We must stand by the Palestinian people and provide all forms of support in their battle, in which they defend everyone else from the Zionist danger,” said a statement released by the party Saturday.
Hezbollah condemned the “surprising silence of the Arab world and the globe alike,” which, according to the statement, was getting heavier by the day. The party blasted Arab regimes for being distracted with controversial issues and derailing from the central issue to the Arab and Islamic nation -- that of the usurped and oppressed Palestine. "The Zionist crimes that affect Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, are a continuation of a series of crimes that have not stopped since the occupation of Palestine. [Palestinians] are witnessing an escalation every time, each crime more egregious than the one preceding it," said the statement. Hezbollah released the statement after the initial autopsy on Mohammad Abu Khdair -- a 16 year old Palestinian from occupied east Jerusalem who was kidnapped and killed in a suspected revenge attack Wednesday -- found that he was burned alive. Clashes continued across the occupied West Bank overnight, spreading into Arab-Israeli towns.
This week tensions had erupted between Israeli and Palestinian factions, with Israeli ground forces mobilizing outside Gaza in a threat to invade, after the bodies of three kidnapped Israeli teenagers were found dead in a field near Hebron Monday.

Security Raids in Search for Terrorists Carried Out Discreetly
Naharnet /Security forces are carrying out raids away from media spotlight in several areas across the country in search for suspects, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Saturday. The newspaper reported that raids are ongoing in an attempt to fortify “preventive” security in Lebanon and avert any possible threats. The army has been actively raiding several Lebanese regions in search of fugitives involved in the planning and execution of terrorist operations around the country. Al-Joumhouria said that security reports obtained by the Lebanese state showed that terrorist operations will increase in the upcoming period despite the exerted efforts to uproot dormant terrorist cells. The army had raided the Afif al-Tibi street in the Beirut neighborhood of Tariq al-Jedideh two days ago in search of terrorist fugitives. Strict security measures have been enforced recently after obtaining information on a plot to target hospitals and high-ranking security officials. Lebanon was once again hit by a series of deadly blasts recently, the latest of which was on June 25 when a Saudi suicide bomber blew himself up at the Duroy Hotel when he detonated his explosives during a security raid. His accomplice, also a Saudi citizen, survived the blast and is being questioned. Troops had also raided the Napoleon Hotel in Beirut's Hamra street after obtaining information on the presence of the members of a cell planning terrorist attacks around Lebanon. Over one hundred people were detained and questioned, but only a French national was kept in custody.

Palestinian Factions Agree on Forces Deployment in Ain el-Hilweh Camp
Naharnet/Palestinian factions in Lebanon agreed on Saturday to start the deployment of Palestinian security forces in the southern Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp as of Tuesday afternoon. The decision was announced after an expanded meeting held at the headquarters of the Palestinian National Security Forces in the camp, with the participation of representatives of all Islamic and Palestinian factions in Lebanon. The leaders said they have decided to “deploy joint a Palestinian security forces comprising 150 troops in different areas in the camp,” and set Tuesday, July 8, a date for starting the deployment.
"The forces will have presence in four fixed positions which are the vegetable market area, al-Barksat (in the northern part of the camp), al-Safsaf-al-Shohadaa mosque region and the Bustan al-Yahoud area,” they detailed. "Today we are sending a message of security, peace and stability from the (Ain el-Hilweh) camp to protect Palestinians' presence in Lebanon based on the recent initiative announced by the national and Islamic factions,” Fathi Abu al-Ardat, the representative of both Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon, said after the meeting.
The Palestinian leader stressed that the “bitter experience” in the northern Nahr al-Bared camp and other camps around Lebanon “will not be repeated.”
"We insist on a unified Palestinian stance because we are one people, despite the presence of different factions. Our goal is one and it revolves around how to protect the Palestinian presence in collaboration with the Lebanese state. "The security of the camp is part of this country's security.”He noted that the plan also aims at strengthening Lebanese-Palestinian relations. Abu al-Ardat continued: “We want security and stability for our people through this deployment. We want them to enjoy a decent life, and this is their right. The plan comes as a response to people's wishes”
"The forces will include all factions and national and Islamic forces, and will be a result ofjoint cooperation to protect the security of the camp,” he said. "Ain el-Hilweh is our home until we return to Palestine.” Located near the southern city of Sidon, Ain el-Hilweh is the largest Palestinian camp in the country and is home to about 50,000 refugees.
It is known to harbor extremists and fugitives. Tension frequently surges in the camp as a result of armed disputes between the different Palestinian factions. On May 14, clashes erupted in the camp between armed groups after news of the death of Fatah al-Islam official Alaeddine Ali Hujair broke out. At least four people were injured in the fighting. Also in May, Fatah Movement official Colonel Talal al-Ordoni survived an attempt against his life in Ain el-Hilweh. And in April, a tensed atmosphere reigned over Ain el-Hilweh after unknown assailants shot dead the bodyguard of Jund al-Sham official Oussama al-Shahabi. On March 10, unknown assailants assassinated a high-ranking Fatah Movement official, Gen. Jamil Zeidan, in the southern camp. By long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the country's 12 refugee camps, leaving security inside to the Palestinians themselves.

Lebanese Judiciary Dismisses beIN's Lawsuit against TL
Naharnet/Lebanese judicial authorities on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the beIN Sports TV network against state broadcaster Tele Liban over its airing of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. “Judge of Urgent Matters Zalfa al-Hassan has ruled on the lawsuit filed by the beIN Sports firm against Tele Liban over its broadcast of the World Cup matches, dismissing the case for lack of jurisdiction,” state-run National News Agency reported. TL started its broadcast of the World Cup on June 16, although a deal reached between the government and SAMA, beIN Sports' sole agent in Lebanon, did not involve granting TL the rights to air the tournament. On that same day, Telecommunications Minister Butros Harb had announced that the Lebanese would be able to watch the Brazil-hosted FIFA World Cup, which had already kicked off a week earlier, without paying any additional fees. TL director Talal Maqdessi said Monday that the state broadcaster “will defend its rights and the rights of Lebanese citizens.”
Maqdessi said a decision was issued in Europe in 2012 saying World Cup matches should not be given exclusive broadcasting rights. “This is not piracy. Those who had usurped the Lebanese people's right to watch the World Cup are the ones practicing piracy,” Maqdessi had said earlier in June. According to MP Simon Abi Ramia, head of the youth and sports parliamentary committee, local cable providers “only cover 15% of the total number of TV viewers in Lebanon.” beIN Sports is a global network of sports channels jointly owned and operated by Qatari Sports Investments, an affiliate of Al-Jazeera Media Networks. It has purchased the rights to broadcast the World Cup in the Middle East. Many people had not been able to afford the fees imposed by SAMA to purchase receiver cards that allow them access to the World Cup matches. In the absence of laws regulating the telecommunications sector, most Lebanese get their subscriptions from mostly illegal cable companies that operate through piracy and charge about LBP 20,000 ($13) a month.

Berri, Jumblat Agree to Extend Parliament's Term amid Presidential Vacuum
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri agreed with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat that parliamentary elections shouldn't be staged ahead of the election of a new president. According to al-Akhbar newspaper published on Saturday, the two officials reject parliamentary elections amid the ongoing situation in the country. Berri and Jumblat are reportedly preparing the extension of the parliament's term for two years and a half or even three years. In May 2013, the parliament voted to extend its own mandate for 17 months after the rival political parties failed to reach a new electoral law. Around 100 MPs from all blocs, except the Change and Reform bloc, voted to extend parliament's term until November 20, 2014. The decision marked the first time that parliament has had to extend its term since the country's own 15-year civil war ended in 1990 and underlines the growing turmoil in Lebanon spilling over from the conflict raging in the neighboring country. Lebanon has been plunged into a leadership vacuum after Michel Suleiman's presidential term ended on May 25 with rival political blocs still divided over a new leader. Over the past two months the parliament convened eight times to try to elect a successor to Suleiman but failed during the last four sessions due to a lack of quorum.

Shiite Charities Negatively Affected by Decision to Cancel Iftars
Naharnet/A decision by Shiite parties Hizbullah and AMAL to cancel daily iftars held throughout the holy month of Ramadan over security fears angered charities, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Saturday. The daily said that charities complained about the decision, in particular those that follow Shiite scholar Sayyed Ali Fadlallah and Higher Shiite Islamic Council Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan. There are fears that terrorists may infiltrate such events and blow themselves up. Charities usually depend in their work on the donations offered during iftars. The newspaper said that the relations between Hizbullah and Fadlallah and Qabalan deteriorated due to the decision, citing the party's intervention in the war raging in neighboring country Syria. This the first time in several years that these organizations have canceled the iftars that were held even during the worst years of the civil war. Last week, AMAL Movement announced that it is canceling all iftars that were scheduled to take place in different Lebanese regions “to preserve the safety” of the attendees. However, no official statement has been issued by Hizbullah to confirm the decision. A group calling itself the state of Damascus-Qalamoun recently vowed to carry out more attacks against Hizbullah and its agents. Syria's civil war has spilled into Lebanon on numerous occasions and inflamed sectarian tensions. A series of car bombs have struck Shiite areas across Lebanon, killing dozens of people. Sunni militants have claimed responsibility for the attacks to avenge Hizbullah, which has sent its fighters to Syria to help President Bashar Assad's troops in their fight against the rebels seeking to topple him.

Jihadist Chief Baghdadi Orders Muslims to 'Obey' in Surprise Sermon
Naharnet /The leader of a brutal jihadist group addressed worshipers in the militant-held Iraqi city of Mosul, ordering Muslims to "obey" him and calling for global jihad, in a video distributed online Saturday.
The appearance by the hitherto elusive Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at a mosque in Mosul for Friday prayers marks a significant change for the shadowy jihadist whose group has led a swift offensive that has overrun swathes of territory across five provinces north and west of Baghdad.
The IS-led onslaught has alarmed world leaders, displaced hundreds of thousands and piled pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as he seeks a third term in office following April elections.
A video posted on social media on Saturday showed a portly man clad in a long black robe and a black turban with a long graying beard addressing worshipers at weekly prayers at Al-Nur mosque in central Mosul. "I am the wali (leader) who presides over you, though I am not the best of you, so if you see that I am right, assist me," said the man, purportedly Baghdadi.
"If you see that I am wrong, advise me and put me on the right track, and obey me as long as I obey God."
Text superimposed on the video identified the man as "Caliph Ibrahim", the name Baghdadi has gone by since the group on June 29 declared a pan-Islamic "caliphate," a system of governance last seen in Ottoman times. The video is the first ever official appearance by Baghdadi, according to Aymenn al-Tamimi, an expert on Islamist movements, though the jihadist leader may have appeared in a 2008 video under a different name. Baghdadi is believed to have been born in the Iraqi city of Samarra in 1971, and joined the insurgency against the U.S. military following the 2003 invasion that ousted executed dictator Saddam Hussein. He spent time in a U.S. military prison and eventually took over leadership of the group, which was then affiliated with al-Qaida and known as the Islamic State of Iraq, in 2010.
At the time, it was believed to be on the ropes, but Baghdadi led it back to prominence, with the jihadist organization expanding into Syria last year and cutting all ties to al-Qaida, and Baghdadi's influence now rivals that of the group's global chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. The group is known for its brutality, executing and crucifying opponents, while photographs emerged on Saturday depicting IS militants demolishing Sunni and Shiite mosques and shrines in Mosul and the surrounding Nineveh province.
Iraqi security forces wilted when faced with the initial IS-led onslaught, and while they have since performed more capably, they have struggled to retake territory from insurgents.
An assault on Saddam's hometown of Tikrit has gone on for more than a week without retaking the city, while a suicide car bomb killed 15 people on Friday evening near the sensitive shrine city of Samarra.
The crisis has polarized Iraq's Shiite Arab, Sunni Arab and Kurdish communities, just as their leaders look to form a new government following April elections.
Maliki, who faces charges at home and abroad of sectarianism and authoritarianism, insisted on Friday he would not give up on his quest for a third term in office, pointing to his strong mandate from elections where his bloc won nearly three times as many seats as the next closest challenger. His remarks came after a farcical parliament session in which Iraq's various factions -- many of which strongly oppose him staying -- failed to unite and choose a speaker, sparking international criticism and from the country's top Shiite religious leader. Further highlighting the disunity of Iraq's communities, meanwhile, the leader of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region has called on Kurdistan's lawmakers to work on an independence referendum.
Washington has reacted coolly to the announcement, which comes with the Kurds' long-held statehood dream having been advanced by one of Iraq's worst political and security crises since the U.S.-led invasion. Since the crisis began, Kurdish forces have moved into a swathe of disputed northern territory that they want to incorporate over Baghdad's strong objections.
Agence France Presse

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas Denies Rift with Bassil, Says Syrian Refugees Camps to be Erected in Buffer Zones
Naharnet/Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas denied on Saturday any rift with Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, stressing that the cabinet had agreed to establish camps for Syrian refugees outside Lebanese territories or in buffer zones along the border with Syria. Derbas ruled out in remarks published in local newspapers the differences with Bassil over the appropriate ways to resolve the crisis.
The cabinet is mulling the establishment of camps in buffer zones between the Lebanese border crossing al-Masnaa and Jdeidet Yabous crossing on the Syrian side. “Bassil's stance doesn't oppose the government's policy,” the minister said. On Friday, the foreign minister warned of the rising tensions between the Lebanese people and Syrian refugees due to the burden the latter is posing on Lebanon, rejecting the establishment of camps for the displaced within the country. He said during a press conference: “Legitimizing Syrian refugee camps is a violation of the constitution, which speaks against nationalization.” “We request that the Syrian authorities set up camps for the displaced within Syrian territories,” he added. Lebanon currently hosts 1.1 million refugees, the highest number at 38 percent of Syrian refugees fleeing the war-torn country for other countries in the region. The U.N. says the country needs $1.6 billion (1.2 billion euros) for 2014 to be able to cope with the refugee crisis, but that only 23 percent of this has been gathered. According to Central Bank of Lebanon statistics, the country faces a financial burden of $4.5 billion because of the refugee crisis.
In May, the Lebanese authorities took a decision to ban Syrian refugees from heading to their country or lose their status.

Syrian National Coalition (SNC) to Bassil: Press Your 'Terrorist Ally' Hizbullah to Withdraw so that Syrians Can Return Home
Naharnet/The opposition Syrian National Coalition on Friday snapped back at Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, calling on him to press Hizbullah to withdraw from Syria “instead of launching verdicts against Syrian refugees.”“Once again Lebanese Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil comes up with a number of fallacies that contradict with the living situations of Syrian refugees in Lebanon,” Coalition member Alia Mansour said in a statement. “He has gone too far to criticize the deliveries of pregnant Syrian women in Lebanese hospitals and to voice concerns over the education of Syrian children fleeing the death verdicts issued by the Assad regime, with which Bassil has allied against the entire Syrian people,” Mansour added. Earlier on Friday, Bassil warned of a “veiled attempt to naturalize the refugees" through creating camps inside Lebanese territory. But Mansour called on the Lebanese minister to “press his terrorist ally Hizbullah to withdraw its militias from Syria so that Syrians can return home instead of launching his verdicts against Syrian refugees.” “Despite the bill that is being paid by the Lebanese people, we remind that Syria's people are being killed on daily basis at the hands of the Syrian regime,” Mansour said, wondering if it's logical to “deprive these people of their natural right to escape this death.”She reassured that the Syrians do not want to be naturalized in Lebanon. “They have a homeland and they insist to return to it to rebuild it after it was destroyed by the Assad regime,” Mansour said, noting that setting up camps on the Lebanese border would “alleviate the burdens of the refugee influx on the Lebanese, organize aid and help obtain greater assistance.” Bassil had warned that the Syrian refugee crisis may lead to "strife" in Lebanon between Syrians and Lebanese should it remain unsolved.
"We believe the situation has reached breaking point, and I am echoing the words of security officials," he said. To highlight the scale of the influx, Bassil compared it to transferring the entire population of Romania to Britain or France. Hosting more than 1.1 million Syrians fleeing their country's three-year war, Lebanon is home to the highest number of Syrian refugees in the region, and also to the highest refugee population per capita in the world. Bassil spoke at a news conference focusing on the refugee crisis a day after the United Nations warned that Syrian refugees will comprise more than a third of Lebanon's population by the end of 2014. Calling for the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to be reduced, Bassil said they should not be helped financially because "that encourages them to stay." He also said the number of Syrian children in public sector primary and middle schools stands at 88,000 -- 3,000 more than that of Lebanese and other foreigners combined. Most Lebanese children attend private schools. The medical sector has also been affected, Bassil said, noting that in one of Beirut's biggest hospitals, "80 Syrian children were born in May, compared with 40 Lebanese children."
He bemoaned the financial burden borne by Lebanon because of the refugee crisis. "Lebanon pays $100 million a month to provide free electricity to Syrian refugees," said Bassil. He also said an international fund set up to help Lebanon get through the crisis has only been given limited support, and that "even if funding reaches $100 million, that will barely be enough to pay for a month's power."

Egypt Court Sentences Brotherhood Leader, 36 Islamists to Life
Naharnet/An Egyptian court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and 36 other Islamists to life in prison Saturday, and confirmed death sentences for 10 others, most of them on the run. Badie, convicted of involvement in deadly protests, had already received death sentences in two other cases in a crackdown on Islamist opposition after last year's military ouster of president Mohamed Morsi. Of the 10 defendants condemned to death last month in the same case, whose sentences were confirmed, an Islamic cleric has since been arrested. Another defendant was sentenced to three years.Egyptian courts have sparked international concern over a spate of death sentences for more than 200 people in several mass trials. On Saturday, presiding Judge Hassan Farid said the defendants were involved in violence and murder during protests last July after the army overthrew Morsi, who belonged to the Brotherhood. He said the defendants had committed the violence "to achieve terrorist goals." The Brotherhood has been designated as a terrorist movement, with much of its leadership imprisoned, including the former president.
Agence France Presse

Ukraine Hoists Flag over Pro-Russian Bastion
Naharnet/Resurgent government forces on Saturday hoisted the Ukrainian flag over pro-Russian rebels' main stronghold after a devastating shelling assault that leveled much of the city but delivered Kiev its biggest success of the campaign. The self-proclaimed mayor of Slavyansk confirmed to Agence France Presse that insurgents had abandoned the rustbelt city of 120,000. A local resident said by phone that barricades once manned by the camouflage-clad gunmen stood abandoned since the early morning. Ukraine's ability to win back Slavyansk -- home to one of the country's biggest weapons storage facilities that fell to the insurgents on April 6 -- marks a key turning point in three months of low-scale warfare that has threatened the very survival of the ex-Soviet state. Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a Facebook post that the withdrawal was led by senior militia commander Igor Strelkov -- alleged by Kiev to be a colonel in Russia's GRU military intelligence unit. Both Strelkov and Moscow deny any GRU link despite Western claims that the Kremlin is covertly funding and arming the uprising to destabilize Kiev's new pro-European leaders and retain control over Russian-speaking eastern regions of Ukraine. Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Geletey told President Petro Poroshenko that his forces had raised the national flag over city hall "in accordance with your order to liberate Slavyansk."Poroshenko stormed to victory in a May 25 election thanks to his vow to quickly resolve the country's worst crisis since independence in 1991. Most analysts think that the 48-year-old chocolate baron desperately needed an early success in the campaign to secure the trust of Ukrainians frustrated by their underfunded army's inability to stand up to what they see as Russian aggression.
"The departure of the fighters was a surprise. Nobody was aware it was happening," city resident Kolya Cherep told AFP by telephone. "This morning, I saw that there were no fighters in front of the town hall then I saw that there were none manning the barricades in town," he said.
- Symbolic heart of uprising -
Strelkov himself had told the pro-Kremlin LifeNews channel on Friday that his units "will be destroyed... within a week, two weeks at the latest" unless Russia helped secure an immediate truce or moved in its troops. Slavyansk is the symbolic heart of an uprising sparked by the February ouster of a pro-Kremlin administration in Kiev and fueled by Russia's subsequent seizure of Crimea. Relentless artillery and sniper fire across eastern Ukraine have since killed more than 470 people and left Western leaders frustrated by repeated mediation failures. Poroshenko on Friday agreed to immediate crisis talks with rebel commanders and Russia aimed at stemming bloodshed that has also inflamed East-West ties. Clashes in the economically-vital border regions of Lugansk and Donetsk have picked up with renewed vigor since Poroshenko tore up a 10-day ceasefire agreement earlier this week. His decision was immediately followed by the launch of a "massive" offensive by Kiev that led President Vladimir Putin to warn that Russia had the right to protect its compatriots in Ukraine. But Poroshenko's call for talks on Saturday have yet to be confirmed by either Moscow or mediators from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- a Vienna-based body first formed to preserve peace on the continent during the Cold War. Kiev has balked at the idea of holding round-table discussions in Donetsk -- a location preferred by Moscow who carries widespread influence there. But the insurgents refuse to travel to Kiev or EU member countries for fear of their immediate arrest.
- 'Russian colonel' -
The 43-year-old Strelkov remains one of the uprising's most mysterious but also powerful figures who effectively headed the new Kiev leadership's most-wanted list. He holds the title of "defence minister" of the Donetsk People's Republic and is also the chief of the Slavyansk militia. Strelkov was linked to the April capture and detention of seven OSCE monitors in Slavyansk who were eventually released after an eight-day ordeal following intervention from Moscow. Kiev has published what it says are intercepted conversations between him and Putin's special envoy Vladimir Lukin talking about the OSCE monitors. "We want to liberate Ukraine from the fascists," Strelkov told a Russian tabloid after his units had captured Slavyansk.
Agence France Presse

Jihadists Destroy Mosques and Shrines in Iraq
Naharnet /Jihadists who overran Mosul last month have demolished ancient shrines and mosques in and around the historic northern Iraqi city, residents and social media posts said Saturday. At least four shrines to Sunni Arab or Sufi figures have been demolished, while six Shiite mosques, or husseiniyahs, have also been destroyed, across militant-held parts of northern Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital. Pictures posted on the Internet by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group showed the Sunni and Sufi shrines were demolished by bulldozers, while the Shiite mosques and shrines were all destroyed by explosives. The photographs were part of an online statement titled "Demolishing shrines and idols in the state of Nineveh." Local residents confirmed that the buildings had been destroyed and that militants had occupied two cathedrals as well. "We feel very sad for the demolition of these shrines, which we inherited from our fathers and grandfathers," said Ahmed, a 51-year-old resident of Mosul.
"They are landmarks in the city." An employee at Mosul's Chaldean cathedral said militants had occupied both it and the Syrian Orthodox cathedral in the city after finding them empty.
They removed the crosses at the front of the buildings and replaced them with the Islamic State's black flag, the employee said. IS-led militants overran Mosul last month and swiftly took control of much of the rest of Nineveh, as well as parts of four other provinces north and west of Baghdad, in an offensive that has displaced hundreds of thousands and alarmed the international community.
The city, home to two million residents before the offensive, was a Middle East trading hub for centuries, its name translating loosely as "the junction." Though more recently populated mostly by Sunni Arabs, Mosul and Nineveh were also home to many Shiite Arabs as well as ethnic and religious minorities such as Kurds, Turkmen, Yazidis and other sects.
Agence France Presse

Iranian Pilot Killed Fighting in Iraq
Naharnet /An Iranian pilot has been killed while fighting in Iraq, state media reported Saturday, in what is thought to be Tehran's first military casualty during battles against Islamic State jihadists. Iran's official IRNA news agency did not say whether the pilot died while flying sorties or fighting on the ground. It said Colonel Shoja'at Alamdari Mourjani was killed while "defending" Shiite Muslim holy sites in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad. His death comes after Iran's declarations that it will provide its western neighbor with whatever it needs to counter the Sunni militants who are laying siege to the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Samarra is a major flashpoint in the fighting and is home to the Shiite Al-Askari shrine which was bombed by al-Qaida in February 2006, sparking a bloody Sunni-Shiite sectarian war that killed tens of thousands. The reports of the pilot's death came as Iranian officials insist their assistance is not in the form of troops, but rather of weapons and equipment if Iraq asks for them. President Hassan Rouhani vowed last month that Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, would protect Shiite holy sites in Iraq, including in Samarra. The Fars news agency appeared to confirm the IRNA report, publishing photos of a funeral service for the pilot on Friday in his home province of Fars, in southern Iran.
Fars did not give any details, but hinted that Alamdari Mourjani was a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, whose elite Quds Force is believed to be on the ground and assisting Iraqi forces, despite Tehran's denials. Earlier in the week, the Iraqi defense ministry said it had taken delivery of five Sukhoi Su-25 warplanes and released video footage of them being unloaded from a cargo plane.
The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said the jets came from Iran.

Al Qaeda-Iraq forces advance on Baghdad military air base. US ponders air strike ahead of Iran and Russia
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 4, 2014/Al Qaeda Iraq (IS) and its Sunni tribal allies are advancing on the al-Muthanna military air base at Baghdad international airport, according to the latest intelligence dated Friday, July 4. Three columns, of 1,000-1,500 fighters each, are descending on their target from the north and the west in US-made armored Humvees and APCs taken booty from the Iraqi army.
The air field is situated 16 km west of central Baghdad. The Islamist State’s military planners, many of whom were officers in Saddam Hussein’s army - the president ousted in 2003 by the US invasion of Iraq – have calculated that there was no need at this stage to conquer the Iraqi capital.
Seizing the military air field will afford them control of Baghdad air space and provide a forward base for bombing forays in different quarters of the city. The Islamists count on support in the Sunni suburbs of West Baghad. debkafile’s sources also reveal that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made the fatal mistake of withdrawing his army’s 4th Division from the southern Shiite town of Karbala and deploying it in defense of Samarra 125 km north of Baghdad. By this maneuver, he cleared the way for the IS columns to press forward toward the al-Muthanna air base with no obstacles in their path.
This alarming development may well force President Barack Obama to hurry up and issue the order for air or missile operations to stop al Qaeda’s forces in their tracks. Most of this week, intense discussions were taking place in the White House and Pentagon. It appeared that a final decision was impending.
Thursday, July 3, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, left open the possibility of an expanded role for US military advisers in Iraq. Air strikes are one of the options, he said.
More than ever before, speed is of the essence.
IS’s commanders have their eye on the assault planes stored at the Baghdad air base which Iran and Russia delivered in the last 10 days to help Maliki fight the Sunni Islamists. They are all designed for striking ground targets. Iran sent eight fighters - four Su-25UBKMs and four Su-25Kms with crews, and the Russians six Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoots, along with air and ground maintenance crews.
Since al-Muthanna is guarded by Iraqi special forces, IS reckons that the takeover of the base and its valuable prize of warplanes before they become operational will be a walkover, especially after they proved their mettle by commandeering a mountain of advanced US weaponry.
The Obama administration therefore needs to decide in the coming hours on a US air strike that will head off the Iraqi Islamists before they grab the strategic air base and acquire their first fleet of warplanes.
It is just as important for Washington to embark on this action before America is beaten to the draw by Tehran or Moscow

East Jerusalem youth was burned alive, Palestinian official quoted as saying
Reuters/Published: 07.05.14/ynetnews

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4538111,00.html
According to Palestinians, autopsy findings from body of Mohammad Abu Khdeir show direct cause of death was burns that covered 90 percent of surface of body. The direct cause of death was burns as a result of fire and it's complications," Mohammed Al-A'wewy was quoted as saying by Palestinian official news agency Wafa late on Friday.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions have risen sharply after three Israeli teens were kidnapped on June 12 and later found dead in the West Bank. This was followed on Wednesday by the kidnapping of Mohammad Abu Khdeir, 16, in his neighbourhood in Arab East Jerusalem. His charred body was found hours later in a forest on the edge of the city.
Saber Al-Aloul, the director of the Palestinian forensic institute, attended the autopsy which was carried out by Israeli doctors in Tel Aviv.
Al-A'wewy said Al-Aloul had reported fire dust material was found in Khdeir's respiratory canal which meant "the boy had inhaled this material while he was burnt alive."
Burns covered 90 percent of the surface of the body. The head suffered a cut. Samples like liquids and tissues were taken for more lab examinations to complete the legal medical report. At Khdeir's funeral on Friday, furious Palestinians chanted "Intifada! Intifada", calling for a new uprising against Israel. Stones thrown at Israeli police were met by teargas, stun grenades and rubber bullets in one of the most highly charged displays of enmity in Jerusalem in years.
Clashes continued across the West Bank overnight with at least one Palestinian hurt in the city of Nablus, medical staff said. Clashes also erupted in Israeli-Arab towns, a police spokeswoman said.
Palestinian officials trying to calm tensions have said they would prevent any intifada, or uprising, and seek a solution to the crisis that began when the three Israeli teens were kidnapped.
The discovery of the young Israelis' bodies on Monday prompted an outpouring of national grief in Israel. Many Palestinians, including President Mahmoud Abbas, assert that Khdeir was the victim of far-right Jews incensed at the Israeli deaths. With Israel having mobilized ground forces outside Gaza on Thursday in a threat to invade, Egypt tried to mediate a truce. Israel and the Islamist Palestinian Hamas movement each said the other had to back down first.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Abu Khudair's killing, a day after the three Jewish seminary students were buried, "loathsome" and ordered a swift police investigation.
Israeli authorities said they did not yet know whether Abu Khudair was indeed the victim of a hate crime.

The political implications of ISIS’s Caliphate
Saturday, 5 July 2014
Eyad Abu Shakra?Al Arabiya
The declaration by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) of the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in Iraq should not go unremarked. Such a development should not be considered in terms of the presence, or lack thereof, of the elements necessary for the establishment of such a caliphate, or the timing of this, but rather in light of the general circumstances surrounding this announcement.
To start with, even those who are monitoring the affairs of the region and regional jihadism are not clear about ISIS’s real weight, and whether this is sufficient to allow it to even make such a declaration. Even when ISIS launched its ongoing assault on western and northern parts of Iraq, claiming responsibility for all military operations there, tribal and Sunni voices warned that some quarters were deliberately seeking to discredit and incite against the popular uprising against Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki—by portraying it as ISIS-led in an obvious bid to crush it.
Tehran’s ambitions in the Arab Gulf are longstanding; however, the way in which it is now dealing with the 'Fertile Crescent' entities is unprecedented.
A bloody conflict between ISIS and other ideologically similar groups, such as the Syrian-based Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, is raging already in the region. This is not to mention the major differences between ISIS and less-extremist Islamist groups, which are also seeking power via different routes.
In addition to this, there are some exceptional, geopolitical elements that are currently casting their shadows on the Middle East as a whole. Tehran’s ambitions in the Arab Gulf are longstanding; however, the way in which it is now dealing with the “Fertile Crescent” entities is unprecedented. Tehran is, in practice, ruling Iraq, Syria and Lebanon by proxy. Tehran is indeed controlling armed groups that had essentially transcended the borders set by the Sykes-Picot Agreement before ISIS declared an Islamic caliphate. It also has active hands in the Arabian Peninsula and strategic alliances in the Gulf, Yemen and North Africa.
Maliki’s call for support
At this point we should consider Washington’s speedy reaction to Maliki’s call for help and support compared to its “timid”—or even “conspiratorial”—position on the suffering of the Syrian people at the hands of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad for more than three years during which hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and millions more displaced. This perhaps highlights the true US strategic perspective on the region, which cannot be concealed anymore by misguided and sugar-coated words.
We should remember that US Vice President Joe Biden had previously suggested, when still a Senator in 2006, the partition of Iraq. Biden was of the view that Iraq should be partitioned into three entities: Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish. Before Biden, the Republic “neocons” who dominated US foreign policy in the Middle East during the era of former US President George W. Bush incessantly talked about their plans for a “New Middle East.” Despite the ambiguous nature of the “New Middle East,” at least for Arabs, nobody can deny that the invasion of Iraq, the toppling of the Saddam Hussein regime, the eradication of Iraq’s state institutions, including the police force and military, and the complete disregard of the sectarian, religious and ethnic conflicts boiling in the country paved the way for an “alternative Iraq” that is completely different from the pre-2003 incarnation of the country. This new state of affairs in Iraq, in the minds of US policymakers, complements a new regional system whose features are becoming increasingly clear. In this new system the Assad regime played the role assigned to it, namely, the creation and exploitation of Sunni fundamentalists, both inside and outside Syria.
The Assad regime was tasked with recruiting extremist fighters and sending them to fight in Iraq in a bid to unsettle US invading forces, thus forcing an early military pullout from the region. Among those the Damascus regime used to do this recruiting was Mahmoud Qul-Aghassi aka Abu Al-Qaqaa. This is exactly what Tehran had planned. After pushing the US to do their “dirty job” for them—i.e. getting rid of Saddam and Sunni dominance—the smart Iranians were keen to avoid direct confrontation with the US forces and the high cost of shedding American blood. Sure enough, Tehran’s plan proved a resounding success as the US administration eventually became convinced that the price of remaining in Iraq was unbearable. However, when Washington hurriedly pulled out of Iraq, it left the country under a de facto Iranian political and security control, with Sunni-majority areas left to the mercy of extremist jihadists. This remained the case until Sunni tribes could no longer put up with it, launched the Sahawat(Awakening) movements and succeeded in driving the jihadists out.
End Sunni dominance
In Lebanon the aim was to end the Sunni dominance represented by former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, by far the country’s leading Sunni politician. However, those entrusted with planning and executing his assassination miscalculated the ensuing public reaction. Despite this, the Tehran–Damascus axis soon retook the initiative and began working to eliminate Hariri’s legacy, which is Lebanon’s moderate Sunni leadership—a leadership that has been acceptable to both the Arab world and the wider international community. To achieve this, the Iran–Syria alliance resorted to creating extremist Sunni figureheads who strived to undermine the credibility of Hariri’s populist and service-oriented Future Movement which, in my view, has always lacked political “instinct” as well as firm ideological foundations. In effect the Iran–Syria alliance was trying to pull the rug from under the Future Movement by means of inventing firebrand competitors, and promoting their radical ultra-populist slogans.
Facilitating the access of Fatah Al-Islam to the Nahr Al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp north of Tripoli in northern Lebanon—a Sunni stronghold—was just the tip of the iceberg. The scenario of Iraq’s Awakening movements was repeated in Nahr Al-Bared where Fatah Al-Islam’s attempts to overtake the camp were thwarted by the mostly Sunni martyrs from the Lebanese army.
Iranian and Syrian leaders also tried to destroy from within the Future Movement-led March 14 Alliance, which was formed on the back of the anti-Tehran public momentum. They embraced Michel Aoun—an extremist Maronite leader— and went on to “rehabilitate” and use him as a means to drive a wedge between the ranks of the democratic, liberal and progressive forces in Lebanon. Aoun has thus far carried out his assignment to the last detail. Also—in coordination and mutual understanding with Hezbollah—Aoun has repeatedly blocked the election of a new president for Lebanon, and has recently proposed an initiative to electorally divide the country along sectarian lines in stark violation of the constitution and showing total disregard to the dangers of potential political and security vacuums, while Hezbollah is happily strengthening its position as a state within a state, capitalizing on the present political vacuum in Lebanon.
Last but by no means least, we can all see what Assad has done to Syria, redrawing the country’s geographical map through bloodshed and displacement and partitioning the country along sectarian and ethnic lines. Like Iraq, Syria today is different from Syria in early 2011.
The region faces the threat of being partitioned and parceled out in the name of containing ISIS’s declaration of a caliphate, which, had it not been announced, would have been fabricated to create just such a response.

Ode to America
Saturday, 5 July 2014
Hisham Melhem/Al Arabiya
On every Fourth of July, I sit down with Thomas Jefferson for a brief morning encounter. Reading the Declaration of Independence is part of an annual ritual where I celebrate my ‘becoming American’. I then take to the road, and drive through the rolling hills of my beloved Virginia, with the winds in my face telling me I am free, and the voice of Muddy Waters belting the blues and reassuring me that ‘Everything's gonna be alright this morning’. Truly, is there anything more quintessentially American than Jefferson, that sense of freedom and the quest for happiness you get from the Declaration and the blues? I always tell myself; It doesn’t get any better than this, I must have died and gone to heaven. I know, I know and before you say it, of course the great Jefferson was a bundle of complexes and he has his own dark side, just as America, but for now allow me to revel in my celebration, for I will address the other America later.
The audacity of Jefferson
I have spent seven years at Villanova and Georgetown Universities studying Western philosophy and political theory, but I have never encountered anyone writing something as original as ambitious and revolutionary as this audacious young American could dare write.” We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. Plato and Aristotle asked fundamental questions about Being, and how people relate to each other in the Polis, Thomas Aquinas and Machiavelli explained to us the nature of God and the nature, (and exercise) of power; Hegel and Marx taught us that world history should be interpreted as a dialectical progression, spiritual in the case of Hegel, and material in the case of Marx. But only an American from Virginia could write a document that enshrined what became the essence of the ideals on which America was founded; the consent of the governed, and the right to resist tyranny, which are derivative from the more fundamental rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I shuddered the first time I read “the pursuit of happiness” following the words; life and liberty. It was impossible for Aristotle or Aquinas or even the worldly Marx to write such a paragraph about fundamental rights that ends with the admonition that men should pursue happiness in the here and now.
Becoming American
I am often asked: Why do you like living in the United States? Or when people know of my infatuation with things American, from the civil war to the blues and ask; why do you love America? I say: because I feel free here; I am home where I am free. I did not come to America as an immigrant intending to settle down, but as a student who wanted my brief American journey to give me a feel of the big skies and endless vistas I watched mesmerized as a youngster in the old glorious American Westerns we loved so much growing up in Lebanon. I was fascinated by the rhythm, the music and the colors of New Orleans and Chicago, and the fast tempo of New York and dreaming of seeing the neon lights of Broadway, up close and personal and not in movies or television or photographs. I wanted to read American novelists, poets and playwrights in English not in Arabic translations.
I guess I felt instinctively from afar the vitality, creativity and the possibilities of America. I have always felt, and still do that America is beguiling in the simple and complex ways it draws you in. America’s bewitching power manifests itself first and foremost in its openness, hospitality and yes its egalitarianism. Of course there are classes in the U.S., but when I arrived in the early 1970’s I did not see class distinctions in the crass way you would see them in other countries.
The stretched hand with the smile, and the quintessentially American “hi” or “hello” would greet you almost everywhere and chip away at your strangeness. No one made fun of my poor English, and people would volunteer to help me say it right. I did not experience discrimination even when I was doing menial jobs, although some of my friends did. (It was ironic that I first heard the phrase ‘you don’t look much like an Arab’ from some other Arab students from the Gulf region who may have taken issue with a Lebanese sporting a blondish moustache, and whose real name was Richard, and who knew classical Arabic better than them to boot). Even as a foreign student and before I knew of something called the First Amendment I felt I could speak my mind without fear. When the 1973 war broke out we organized lectures, and exhibits, distributed leaflets explaining and defending the Arab side. You would think we were student activists on an Arab campus and not the campus of Villanova University on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And yet, and yet, consciously I resisted assimilation, without knowing for a considerable time, that I have already begun my long journey of becoming American.
A Lebanese lefty in America
In my first years in the U.S., I was conflicted about my life here, reluctant to surrender unconditionally to America’s seductive charms, holding on to my Arab identity, ambivalent about domestic politics and very critical of U.S. foreign policy particularly in the three areas that concerned us the most as self-proclaimed progressive and leftist students at that time; The Vietnam war, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Apartheid system in South Africa. When civil strife broke out in Lebanon in 1975, I knew that my plans for returning to the old country would have to be put on hold. It was during this period stretching to the late 1970’s as a graduate student at Georgetown University in Washington that I began to use the name Hisham as an activist, supporting the “leftist” Lebanese-Palestinian alliance in the war, hoping to hide my true identity so I could protect my family in Beirut which lived in an area controlled by right wing forces and militias.
Only in America could I say that I am a proud American, revel in its greatness and diversity, without forgetting that I am contributing to this diversity my own Lebanese background
All along, my Americanization was proceeding apace, something I did not fully realize until later. My infatuation with American music, particularly the blues, was boundless. My fascination with civil wars, born out of the tragedy of Lebanon particularly, the question; why people who know each other, and live in the same neighborhood would kill each other with abandon, led me first to study the Spanish civil war and then of course as a resident of Virginia, where many battles took place, I became totally engrossed in the American civil war. I got hooked on America; and there was no chance of turning back, even if I wanted to. I don’t recall when I moved from “you” Americans to the “we” Americans. There was no one single moment I could point to and say this is the moment I crossed the Rubicon. The crossing was a long time coming.
For years I tried as a journalist writing from Washington for Arab publications (later television stations) to explain first U.S. policies in the Middle East, how Washington works and later trying to provide a window on life in America. On American television and in lectures, I tried to analyze and interpret the Arab world to Americans. It took me a while to admit that I was being estranged from the Arab world following the self-inflicted calamities of the last few decades and deeply disillusioned with the inabilities of the ruling political classes and the oppositions to create inclusive, humane and accountable forms of governance. In the meantime, I was deepening my roots in America and became more entrenched in my American identity while retaining my deep interest in the welfare of the people that I hailed from. I am no longer suspended between two worlds, one foot in America and the other in the Arab world. That journey is over. I have arrived; I am home now.
Only in America could I say that I am a proud American, revel in its greatness and diversity, without forgetting that I am contributing to this diversity my own Lebanese background, the experiences of my childhood as a Christian Maronite (Catholic) who used to recite hymns and prayers in Aramaic, the language of Jesus, and as a young man growing up in Beirut and being steeped in my Arabo-Islamic heritage.
American patriotism
There is a thin line separating nationalism from chauvinism. And I have seen how brutal Arab dictators particularly Saddam Hussein used Arab Nationalism as an exclusionary, and discriminatory tool against non-Arabs in Iraq or against Iranians. Contrast that with the ideals of Jefferson’s and the founders of the American Republic. With all the imperfections of this great nation, because it is based on a set of ideals and the values of democracy, liberty and justice enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, someone like me can chose to be part of “We the people”, because becoming an American has nothing to do with ancestry, or blood and most importantly national, religious or ethnic identity.
The American world is astonishing in its mixture of peoples, cultures, civilizations and languages. In America, we pride ourselves on not partaking in American nationalism, because there is no such thing, but in American Patriotism which is the shared attachment and appreciation of the citizenry of the United States, its constitution, and other guiding texts, such as The Federalist Papers, Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address and the Gettysburg address, its institutions, its way of life, its uniqueness among nations, and yes its exceptionalism; not as an economic or military empire, but as the repository of the Jeffersonian ideals . This is supposedly, the political culture of the most diverse multicultural society in the world.
But I never felt more American, than on the morning of September 11, 2001.That day is seared in my memory like I am sure it is seared in our collective memory as Americans. An immense and unique tragedy united the country, and most of the world, including some countries not positively disposed towards the U.S., showed solidarity with us and had their own fleeting moment of “we are all Americans”.
Jefferson as the embodiment of American contradictions
Thomas Jefferson believed deeply that the American experiment with governance that is Republican self-government will influence the rest of the world, that the exercise of reason and liberty will lead men everywhere to reject tyranny, demand freedom and the right to pursue happiness while exercising self-rule.
Here-in lies America’s astonishing contradictions, with Jefferson as the embodiment and the most pronounced expression of these contradictions. For the crusader of liberty, the genius of enlightenment, the brilliant writer was also a slave owner. (Jefferson was willing to denounce slavery much more explicitly than other founders. His original draft of the Declaration contained a condemnation of King George for allowing slavery in the colonies, but the Continental Congress, deleted the reference) The founders of the American Republic had different and contradictory views on slavery and their decision to defer a resolution of this abomination, deepened America’s moral depravity and prolonged it for generations and scarred the Republic beyond recognition and almost tore it asunder in the bloodiest encounter Americans had with each other’s or with any foreign enemy since.
When the young Virginian wrote “all men are created equal” he did not include his slaves among them, and “all men” meant white male owners of property, not women, not blacks and not the indigenous populations. After generations of struggle, American women exercised their right to vote in 1920. It took a civil war to free the slaves, but the Emancipation proclamation of 1863 did not make full citizens of the former slaves, who were forced to go through the long purgatory of Jim Crow laws, racial segregation, and the lynchings before their civil rights movement led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, where many blacks exercised their right to vote for the first time.
Jefferson’s disciples
Yet the Jeffersonian ideals in the Declaration of Independence were always invoked by Americans, and later other peoples seeking freedom. Women’s rights activists meeting at Seneca Falls in 1848 modeled their demands in precisely the same language of the Declaration of Independence, boldly stating, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal”. Other Americans invoked the Declaration to support their struggles for equal rights; white working men, blacks, and others. All these groups were demanding to bridge the gap between the self-evident truths and reality. As the first successful declaration of independence in the world, it inspired many independent movements and revolutions throughout the world. For all his moral ambivalence, Jefferson’s influence was and still is immense.
Jefferson and the founders understood that the union they were establishing was not perfect, the Republic shall be a work in progress, to be improved and perfected constantly, hence the preamble of the constitution: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union….” Jefferson influenced Lincoln, just as Lincoln influenced Martin Luther King Jr. there is a long continuum obsession with perfecting the Union connecting Jefferson to all of his American disciples.
America in the world
Jefferson’s contradictions became America’s contradictions. The sacred American texts of freedom and equality were not always applied overseas. The U.S., contrary to what most Americans believe did engage in wars of expansion, and in the 20th century, particularly during the cold war, the U.S. coddled dictators from Latin America through the Middle East and all the way to south and East Asia, in the name of combatting communism. Iraq and the Middle East is still reeling from the effect of a war launched ironically to impose the ideals of Jefferson on a broken country, by a president who did not understand that Jefferson when he spoke about the appeal of the American system of government was not talking about invasions.
That un-Jeffersonian legacy cannot be denied, and yet the reality is that the American Revolution was unique and America was and still is an exceptional country among nations. The great scientific achievements in the last century cannot be imagined without the U.S.. American ingenuity revolutionized agriculture and irrigation and turned its great plains into the breadbasket of the world. America’s love affair with cars and planes changed transportation and the world. The incredible research and development that took place in its universities and labs in the last century improved medicine and communications beyond imagination. From Henry Ford, to Steve Jobs, from Thomas Edison to Einstein to Mark Zuckerberg, American inventors and entrepreneurs, whether born in the U.S. or naturalized keep changing and improving the world. America’s popular culture, its cinema and music entertained and enriched the world like no other civilization in history.
When there is a natural disaster, a calamitous civil war, or an epidemic, people ask what America will do
Politically, for all the complaints about American “Imperialism” (and at time the U.S. did indeed act like an empire) the U.S., saved Europe from itself more than once in the last century. The physical and political desolation of Europe after WWII would have lasted a long time had it not been for American leadership and aid that was so instrumental in rebuilding Western Europe. In the cold war the U.S. kept the hopes of the peoples of Eastern Europe alive. American pressure and support of dissident movements against communist rule, and the support for the Afghans under Soviet occupation, hastened the collapse of the Soviet Empire. In the 1990’s the U.S. and not the European powers put an end to the first mass killings of peoples in Europe because of their religious and ethnic backgrounds since the Holocaust, when it exercised decisive leadership in Bosnia and Kosovo. What made that intervention unique is the fact that the U.S. had no discernible economic or strategic interests in the Balkans. America saved Kuwait from oblivion, and prevented Saddam Hussein from committing further mass killings of Kurds. When China was signing lucrative contracts with the oppressive Sudanese regime, the U.S. was protesting genocide in Darfur and spending large sums of money on relief efforts. In the 1990’s America prevented a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan, and so on and so on.
The world will be poorer if the U.S. decides to act in the world like China or Russia, driven solely by narrow self-interests. Only the U.S. among major powers is still driven by the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. When there is a natural disaster, a calamitous civil war, or an epidemic, people ask what America will do. America, with all its problems and limitations is still the indispensable country. So, happy birthday America, and so long Thomas Jefferson - until we meet again next year.

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/137588-jihadist-chief-baghdadi-orders-muslims-to-obey-in-surprise-sermon
Naharnet /The leader of a brutal jihadist group addressed worshipers in the militant-held Iraqi city of Mosul, ordering Muslims to "obey" him and calling for global jihad, in a video distributed online Saturday.
The appearance by the hitherto elusive Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at a mosque in Mosul for Friday prayers marks a significant change for the shadowy jihadist whose group has led a swift offensive that has overrun swathes of territory across five provinces north and west of Baghdad. The IS-led onslaught has alarmed world leaders, displaced hundreds of thousands and piled pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as he seeks a third term in office following April elections. A video posted on social media on Saturday showed a portly man clad in a long black robe and a black turban with a long graying beard addressing worshipers at weekly prayers at Al-Nur mosque in central Mosul. "I am the wali (leader) who presides over you, though I am not the best of you, so if you see that I am right, assist me," said the man, purportedly Baghdadi. "If you see that I am wrong, advise me and put me on the right track, and obey me as long as I obey God."
Text superimposed on the video identified the man as "Caliph Ibrahim", the name Baghdadi has gone by since the group on June 29 declared a pan-Islamic "caliphate," a system of governance last seen in Ottoman times. The video is the first ever official appearance by Baghdadi, according to Aymenn al-Tamimi, an expert on Islamist movements, though the jihadist leader may have appeared in a 2008 video under a different name. Baghdadi is believed to have been born in the Iraqi city of Samarra in 1971, and joined the insurgency against the U.S. military following the 2003 invasion that ousted executed dictator Saddam Hussein. He spent time in a U.S. military prison and eventually took over leadership of the group, which was then affiliated with al-Qaida and known as the Islamic State of Iraq, in 2010.
At the time, it was believed to be on the ropes, but Baghdadi led it back to prominence, with the jihadist organization expanding into Syria last year and cutting all ties to al-Qaida, and Baghdadi's influence now rivals that of the group's global chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. The group is known for its brutality, executing and crucifying opponents, while photographs emerged on Saturday depicting IS militants demolishing Sunni and Shiite mosques and shrines in Mosul and the surrounding Nineveh province. Iraqi security forces wilted when faced with the initial IS-led onslaught, and while they have since performed more capably, they have struggled to retake territory from insurgents. An assault on Saddam's hometown of Tikrit has gone on for more than a week without retaking the city, while a suicide car bomb killed 15 people on Friday evening near the sensitive shrine city of Samarra.
The crisis has polarized Iraq's Shiite Arab, Sunni Arab and Kurdish communities, just as their leaders look to form a new government following April elections.
Maliki, who faces charges at home and abroad of sectarianism and authoritarianism, insisted on Friday he would not give up on his quest for a third term in office, pointing to his strong mandate from elections where his bloc won nearly three times as many seats as the next closest challenger. His remarks came after a farcical parliament session in which Iraq's various factions -- many of which strongly oppose him staying -- failed to unite and choose a speaker, sparking international criticism and from the country's top Shiite religious leader.
Further highlighting the disunity of Iraq's communities, meanwhile, the leader of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region has called on Kurdistan's lawmakers to work on an independence referendum.
Washington has reacted coolly to the announcement, which comes with the Kurds' long-held statehood dream having been advanced by one of Iraq's worst political and security crises since the U.S.-led invasion. Since the crisis began, Kurdish forces have moved into a swathe of disputed northern territory that they want to incorporate over Baghdad's strong objections.
Agence France Presse
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