LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

Bible Quotation for today/Jesus Speaks about His Suffering and Death
Mark 08/31-38: "Then Jesus began to teach his disciples: �The Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. He will be put to death, but three days later he will rise to life.� He made this very clear to them. So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But Jesus turned around, looked at his disciples, and rebuked Peter. �Get away from me, Satan,� he said. �Your thoughts don't come from God but from human nature!� Then Jesus called the crowd and his disciples to him. �If any of you want to come with me,� he told them, �you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me. For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for me and for the gospel, you will save it. Do you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life? Of course not! 37 There is nothing you can give to regain your life. If you are ashamed of me and of my teaching in this godless and wicked day, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.�

Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 10 and 11/14

Relatives of Captive Troops Rally in Beirut: Political Exploitation Will Not Lead to their Release
Naharnet/The relatives of soldiers and policemen held captive by Islamists since August staged a sit-in on Wednesday in Beirut's Martyrs' Square, demanding that the government exert all possible efforts to ensure the release of their loved ones. Mustaqbal bloc MP Khaled Zahraman declared from the square: �Political exploitation of this file will not help their cause.��The government should do its utmost to free them and this issue should be the only article on the cabinet's agenda,� he added. Cabinet is scheduled to convene on Thursday.
MP Hadi Hbeish meanwhile said: �This rally is a Lebanese stand aimed at asserting our keenness on the dignity and security of the captives.�Mufti of Akkar Sheikh Zeid Zakaria urged the cabinet to �mobilize immediately� and hold emergency meetings to tackle the case.
�We should not reject solutions under any condition,� he said from the square where the demonstrators set up tents. The soldiers and policemen were abducted by Islamist militants from the northeastern border town of Arsal in August in light of clashes in the area between the army and the gunmen from Syria. A few of them have since been released, while two others were beheaded, prompting a backlash against Syrian refugees in Lebanon. A ministerial panel tasked with following up on the case of the captives is mulling all the available options in coordination with a Qatari delegation, which is negotiating the release of the hostages with the Islamist kidnappers. Later on Wednesday, the March 14 General Secretariat condemned the ongoing abduction of the troops and the recent tit-for-tat kidnappings, urging all political powers �to stand united behind the government in order to put an end to this phenomenon.��The abduction of the troops should be tackled wisely, not with attacks against Lebanese or Syrian people,� it added, while warning that the retaliatory kidnappings threaten civil peace. It also urged the lawmakers of the Bekaa to mobilize immediately to contain the unrest.

Amin Gemayel Says March 14 Tacitly Adopted His Nomination: President Must 'Satisfy Hizbullah, Reassure Christians'
Naharnet/Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel on Wednesday announced that the March 14 camp had implicitly endorsed his presidential bid in its recent initiative, calling for the election of a president who would �satisfy Hizbullah, tackle extremism and reassure Christians.�
�The presidential vote is unfortunately being impeded by domestic parties, that's why we cannot speak of nominations while the parliament's doors are closed and quorum is obstructed,� Gemayel said during an interview on Future TV.
�The Lebanese, not others, must be held accountable, as they are the ones impeding quorum and shutting state institutions amid circumstances in which we critically need a president,� Gemayel added, noting that �this president must be an interlocutor� who would talk to all parties. He accused Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and his alliance of blocking the parliamentary quorum needed for the election of the new president. �My nomination was declared in Bkirki when the names of four candidates were announced. Everyone knows that my nomination has been on the table from the very beginning,� Gemayel said. �How would my nomination be beneficial if the parliament is closed?� he added. �Aoun is asking us to choose between agreeing on him and procrastination, but in the end the country must move forward according to a three-point solution that satisfies Hizbullah, tackles extremism and reassures Christians,� Gemayel went on to say. Turning to the presidential initiative that was recently announced by the March 14 forces, Gemayel said: �My nomination can only happen through consensus and the issue is not a challenge.��During March 14's latest meeting, the parties agreed that if there is a window of opportunity to nominate Amin Gemayel he will be nominated, and this window of opportunity is the issue of quorum. (Former prime minister Fouad) Saniora then telephoned me and said the same thing,� Gemayel added. The March 14 coalition had proposed an initiative around two weeks ago that calls for reaching consensus over a president between the rival camps. Gemayel said the initiative must not be taken lightly because �March 14's statement is an openness statement and a reasonable statement if we want to reach a solution.� Asked about remarks by al-Mustaqbal movement chief MP Saad Hariri who has recently called for consensus among Christian forces over a presidential candidate, Gemayel said: �These remarks are totally unacceptable, wherever they may come from, as the quorum is not only being impeded by the votes of General Aoun, who is part of a broader coalition.��This means this is not an inter-Christian conflict,� Gemayel underlined. �There is a political conflict in the Lebanese arena that is bigger than the inter-Christian conflict,� he added.Turning to the issue of Hizbullah's controversial arsenal of weapons, Gemayel said: �Our stance on weapons is clear but Hizbullah will not suddenly hand over its arms.� �We will discuss this issue with it and we will say that the Lebanese state must be in charge of the decisions of war and peace. We'll also discuss its fighting in Syria,� added Gemayel. He said Hizbullah joined the fighting in Syria for �certain interests,� adding that he expects these interests to change in the near future.On the issue of the troops and policemen abducted by the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front, Kataeb's chief said he has confidence in �Qatar's role� in the negotiations, hoping its efforts in the case will lead to results. �That must happen while totally preserving the army's dignity and the country's sovereignty and without any bargaining,� he said. Addressing the threat posed by the Islamic State to Christians in the region and Lebanon, Gemayel added: �We can be reassured over the future of Christians in Lebanon as long as we know how to protect our existence, but that must not happen through arms.� �I'm totally against calls for autonomous security,� he said. Asked whether Lebanon must coordinate with Syrian authorities to control the situation on the border, especially in Arsal's outskirts, Gemayel said �it is normal to maintain communication between Lebanon and Syria because there are issues that must be addressed, such as the issue of refugees and the situation on the border.�

Mashnouq Says Crisis Cell Mulling Available Options, Considers Security Situation Under Controls
Naharnet/The ministerial panel tasked with following up the case of abducted Lebanese soldiers and policemen is mulling all the available options in coordination with a Qatari delegation, which is negotiating the release of the hostages with Islamist kidnappers.
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq said on Wednesday in statements published in several local newspapers that �all options are being discussed without any exception, with negotiations at the forefront.�He considered the �negotiations option the best� amid the recent developments,� describing the ministerial panel meeting as �excellent.�Mashnouq stressed that the security situation is �under control,� adding that there is a political decision to prevent the country from slipping into sedition. The Mustaqbal official noted that the Qatari delegation is carrying out its mediations with the Islamist gunmen alongside General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, in coordination with Prime Minister Tammam Salam. �Negotiations are ongoing but the demands of the kidnappers remain vague.�Ibrahim was officially tasked on Tuesday by the crisis cell to intervene in the case of the abductees. A ministerial source denied to al-Liwaa newspaper that Ibrahim will head to Qatar soon before the demands of the abductors are clear. The hostage crisis and beheading of two Lebanese soldiers by Islamist gunmen have inflamed tensions in Lebanon, which is hosting more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees, and where tensions were already soaring over the four-year conflict in Syria. There has been growing resentment by the Lebanese people against Syrian refugees after Islamist militants from the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front abducted in August a number of soldiers and policemen from the northeastern town of Arsal while withdrawing from the village after fierce clashes with the Lebanese army. Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said in comments published in al-Akhbar newspaper that the ministerial panel tasked the army with controlling the security situation in Arsal, clarifying that the military is ready and capable of carrying out such a task.
He reiterated that the government rejects the establishment of official camps for Syrian refugees, pointing out that other options are being debated to reduce the tension in Arsal. The crisis in Arsal has prompted a backlash against Syrian refugees in parts of Lebanon, with tents in informal camps being set alight and hundreds of Syrians sheltered in the Bekaa valley fleeing for fear of attack. In southern Lebanon, Syrian refugees hosted in some 100 tents near the city of Tyre were given 48 hours to evacuate their camp.

Lebanese patriarch: World obligated to end Christian persecution
The Daily Star/BEIRUT: The international community must protect Christians by taking firm measures against extremists responsible for their persecution, Eastern patriarchs told a conference held in Washington in solidarity with Christians in the Levant.
Speaking at the opening ceremony Tuesday, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai called on the U.S. and the U.N. Security Council to �take a clear stance and more aggressive steps to protect the Christians who are being slaughtered and displaced at the hands of ISIS and terrorist organizations.��We came to Washington, the hub of international decision, to say that it is not right to let down humankind as if we were thrown back into the Stone Age,� Rai said in reference to the flight of Christians in the face of advancing ISIS militants in Mosul and north Iraq.�The Orient is home for Christians who have been there for more than 2,000 years. Today Christians are threatened with extermination, and no power in the Arab or Western world has moved a finger,� Rai lamented. �How is it possible that no one could stop the advancing monster?�The Maronite prelate stressed that world powers should assume their responsibility in curbing extremist organizations and ensuring the safe return of displaced Christians to their homes in Iraq and Syria.
�The Muslim, Arab and international communities have no right to idly watch violations of human rights being committed. Either we have justice in this world, or we are living under the law of the jungle,� Rai said.
�We came here to say that we are humiliated not only as Christians, but as human beings. We say all the displaced should return to their homes and live in security and dignity.�The conference, which opened in U.S. capital Tuesday, was held upon the initiative of the Washington-based Association for the Defense of Christians in the Orient. The patriarchs of Oriental churches sounded the alarm last month over the persecution of Christians at the hands of ISIS, who have captured large swaths of land in north Iraq and Syria and forced non-Muslims to convert or face persecution and death. The patriarchs called on the international community to intervene militarily in Iraq and Syria to curb the militants and protect Christians who had fled their homes in the face of rampant ISIS violence.

Lebanon Army enjoys full backing of Sunni moderates: minister
The Daily Star/BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army enjoys the backing of moderate Sunnis in Lebanon as well as full cover from the country�s wide political spectrum in the military�s mission against militants, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said. �The Army's leadership is reassured of the political support that it is receiving, particularly from the forces of Sunni moderation and the prevailing majority of the Lebanese people,� Machnouk, who is also a Future Movement MP, told Al-Liwaa newspaper in an article published Wednesday. He said negotiations with the militants holding at least 22 soldiers and policemen were ongoing. �We are still in the process of collecting the demands of the militants that have not yet been finalized,� he said. �All options are on the table without exception, primarily the option of negotiating, although it is not the best of them.� The Army took control of a key, strategic hill near the border town of Arsal Tuesday, severing the supply lines of militants who continue to hold soldiers and policemen hostage. ISIS and the Nusra Front tried to overrun the embattled border town of Arsal last month, before withdrawing with more than 30 soldiers and police officers captive. At least 22 troops remain in captivity. Two soldiers have been beheaded by ISIS, prompting a wave of tit-for-tat kidnappings in the Bekaa Valley with a sectarian bent while Nusra Front has so far released seven. Machnouk said the release of Ayman Sawan, a resident of the town of Saadnayel who was kidnapped Monday after the beheading of an Army hostage, defused tensions in the Bekaa Valley. �There is a political decision by all political parties to prevent Lebanon from slipping into strife,� the minister told As-Safir in separate remarks. He said the Syrian mediator sent by Qatar to negotiate between the militants and the Lebanese government was still carrying out his mission. Machnouk noted that General Security head Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, who was tasked a day earlier by the government to take charge of the hostage crisis, had begun his mission when the gunmen captured the soldiers.

Ibrahim headed to Doha over Lebanese hostage crisis
The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The head of Lebanon's General Security will head to Doha Wednesday for talks with Qatari officials over the case of the captured soldiers held by ISIS and the Nusra Front since August.
Sources close to Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim told The Daily Star that the security chief would head to Qatar and was expected to meet with intelligence officials and those in charge of the Syrian crisis dossier there.
On Tuesday, the Cabinet officially tasked Ibrahim with following up on the case of the captured soldiers, although ministers have said that the General Security head had already been tasked with negotiations since the security personnel were taken hostage during clashes in Arsal between the Army and the militants last month.
Qatar has dispatched a Syrian mediator to negotiate the release of the soldiers. The man, whose identity has been kept under wraps, has met with the two radical groups and reportedly relayed their demands to the Lebanese government.
ISIS and the Nusra Front have demanded the release of Islamist detainees in Roumieh Prison, some of whom have been held since 2007 without a trial.
The groups are still holding at least 22 soldiers and policemen. Two soldiers have been beheaded by ISIS, prompting a wave of tit-for-tat kidnappings in the Bekaa Valley with a sectarian bent, while Nusra Front has so far released seven.
The Cabinet has urged the judiciary to speed up the trials and cases of some 92 Islamist detainees and release those who have been in prison longer than any sentence they face.
Ibrahim played a vital role in resolving two previous hostage crisis: 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims who were kidnapped by Syrian rebel groups and 13 Syrian nuns who were also abducted by separate rebel groups.

Israel pulls back from anti-Assad policy, as IDF redeploys against Islamist seizure of Golan
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report September 9, 2014/The Israeli government has radically changed tack on Syria, reversing a policy and military strategy that were longed geared to opposing Syrian President Bashar Assad, debkafile�s exclusive military and intelligence sources report. This reversal has come about in the light of the growing preponderance of radical Islamists in the Syrian rebel force fighting Assad�s army in the Quneitra area since June.
Al Qaeda�s Syrian Nusra front, which calls itself the Front for the Defense of the Levant, is estimated to account by now for 40-50 percent - or roughly, 4,000-5,000 Islamists - of the rebel force deployed just across Israel�s Golan border. No more than around 2,500-3,000 belong to the moderate Syrian militias, who were trained by American and Jordanian instructors in the Hashemite Kingdom and sent back to fight in Syria.
This shift in the ratio of jihadists-to-moderates has evolved in four months. In early June, the pro-Western Syrian Revolutionary Front-SRF, mostly deployed in the southern Syrian town of Deraa on the Jordanian border, was the dominant rebel force and Nusra Front the minority.
The balance shifted due to a number of factors:
1. Nusra Front jihadis fighting alongside insurgents on the various Syrian battlefronts made a practice of surreptitiously infiltrating their non-Islamist brothers-at-arms, a process which the latter�s foreign allies, the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan, either ignored or were unaware of.
2. These tactics began to pay off in the past month, when large numbers of moderate rebels suddenly knocked on the Nusra Front�s door and asked to join.
One reason for this was these militias� defeat and heavy losses of men and ground under the onslaught of the combined forces of Syria, Hizballah and Iran. Nusra Front was less affected. It was also the moderate rebels� preferred home, rather than the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, whose atrocities, especially the beheadings of hostages and prisoners, they find repellent.
3. Nusra deployment on the Syrian Golan further swelled of late as its fighters were pushed out of eastern Syria by IS in its rapid swing through the Syrian towns of Deir a-Zor and Abu Kemal to reach its ultimate goal � one which has so far not rated a mention in Western and Israeli media.
The Islamist extremists are on the way to conquering the Euphrates basin in Syria and Iraq before advancing on the place where the two great rivers of Mesopotamia, the Euphrates and Tigris, are in closest proximity � Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad.
Nusra fighters moved out of the way of the IS push through eastern Syria and made tracks for Quneitra to join the fight to seize this strategic Golan town and crossing into Israel from Assad�s forces.
The pro-Islamist cast of the Syrian rebel force on Israel�s Golan border is reflected in the turnaround in Israel�s military position and attitude toward the insurgents on the other side of the Golan border fence. The IDF will henceforth be less supportive of the rebel struggle and more inclined to help Syrian troops in fending off rebel attacks.
This calls for a delicate balancing act in Jerusalem. While definitely not seeking an Assad victory in the long Syrian war, Israel has no desire to see Al Qaeda�s Syrian branch, Al Nusra, seizing control of the Syrian sector of the Golan, including Quneitra.
Israel therefore finds itself in a quandary much like that of US President Barack Obama, who has promised to unveil his strategy for fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Wednesday, Sept. 10. He too is strongly reluctant to throw US support behind Bashar Assad, but he may find he has no other option.

Police arrest suspects behind ISIS graffiti in n. Lebanon
The Daily Star
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Police Wednesday arrested two Lebanese believed to be behind the outbreak of ISIS-related graffiti threats in various neighborhoods in the northern city of Tripoli.
The two men, identified as Mohammad S. and Mahmoud K., were detained for spraying "The Islamic State is coming" on the walls of churches and other buildings over the past two weeks.
Earlier in the day, Tripoli residents woke up once again to the message graffitied on walls of a shop in the seaside Mina area and on the car of a shop owner in the area.
Meanwhile, residents discovered an unexploded rocket propelled grenade (RPG) in Al-Jisr area in Bab al-Tabbaneh. The Lebanese Army's military expert dismantled the RPG, which sources said was left over from clashes in the city earlier this year.

Bassil: Global cooperation needed to fight ISIS
The Daily Star
BEIRUT: International efforts must be mobilized to curtail the growing trend of Muslim extremism sweeping the Middle East and attracting militants from Europe, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and his Danish counterpart Martin Lidegaard said Wednesday.
Speaking at a joint news conference following talks on regional developments and the need to cooperate in countering ISIS, Bassil said a united global front should be set up to prevent the expansion of terrorism which, he warned, was bound to reach Europe and jeopardize the world�s stability.
�This dire reality puts our internal stability at risk. No one will be immune to the drastic changes happening in the Middle East,� Bassil said.He demanded the International Criminal Court hunt down and prosecute the criminals who have committed crimes against humanity in Iraq.Deploring the challenges posed by the large number of Syrian refugees, Bassil said: �The burden carried by Lebanon has gone beyond our bearing capacity. The existence of our country is now at threat.�He reiterated the call to support the Lebanese army at a time when troops were fighting against ISIS militants in Arsal.
Lidegaard acknowledged Lebanon�s concerns over rampant terrorism, which he said necessitated the creation of a large international alliance to combat it.
He also assured Lebanon of Denmark�s commitment to continue providing assistance to the Syrian refugees until they are able to return home.Denmark was among European countries that have heeded a U.S. call to form a coalition to fight the extremist militants in Iraq and Syria.
ISIS and the Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front captured more than 30 Army personnel and policemen during a brief battle in Arsal last month. The two groups are still holding at least 22 after ISIS had beheaded two soldiers and Nusra Front released seven.

OPCW confirms 'systematic' chlorine attacks in Syria
Agence France Presse/THE HAGUE: The world's chemical watchdog Wednesday confirmed the "systematic" use of chlorine as a weapon in Syria, according to a report by its team investigating alleged attacks there.
The fact-finding mission established "compelling confirmation" that a toxic chemical was used "systematically and repeatedly" as a weapon in villages in northern Syria earlier this year, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a statement.
"The descriptions, physical properties, behavior of the gas, and signs and symptoms resulting from exposure, as well as the response of patients to the treatment, leads the mission to conclude with a high degree of confidence that chlorine, either pure or in mixture, is the toxic chemical in question."The OPCW said that reports of chlorine attacks in Syria dropped off after the fact-finding mission was established in April, "but there was a spate of new allegations in August."
Spokesman Michael Luhan said the new claims would be investigated.The fact-finding mission's initial report in June said that evidence 'lends credence' to the view that chlorine had been used in attacks in the villages of Talmanes, Al-Tamana and Kafr Zeita.
President Bashar Assad's regime and rebels have both accused the other of using chemical agents, including chlorine, in the bloody uprising that began in March 2011 and in spite of Damascus promising to hand over all its chemical arms.
The OPCW team probing the allegations was attacked with a roadside bomb and gunfire in May, preventing them accessing the site of an alleged attack in the village of Kafr Zeita.
Despite not gaining access, the team interviewed victims, doctors and eyewitnesses about the attacks, and analyzed documentation including videos and medical records, the OPCW said.
Chlorine is a widely available chemical, that is non-persistent and so conclusively proving its use is a challenging task.
The chlorine probe came after France and the United States alleged that Assad's forces may have unleashed industrial chemicals rebel-held village in recent months.
Syria did not have to declare its stockpile of chlorine - a weak toxic agent that can be considered a chemical weapon if used offensively - as part of a disarmament deal agreed last year as it is widely used for commercial and domestic purposes.
U.N.-mandated human rights investigators said in the last month they believed the Syrian government dropped chlorine on civilian areas on eight different occasions in April.
"Reasonable grounds exist to believe that chemical agents, likely chlorine, were used on (northern Syrian villages) Kafr Zeita, al-Tamana and Talmanes in eight incidents within a 10-day period in April," the independent Commission of Enquiry on the rights situation in Syria said in a report.All of Syria's declared stockpile of dangerous chemicals has either been destroyed in country or exported for destruction as part of a deal agreed a year ago in a bid to head off U.S.-backed airstrikes on the Syrian regime following a deadly chemical weapon attack in a Damascus suburb.

Israel pulls back from anti-Assad policy, as IDF redeploys against Islamist seizure of Golan

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report September 9, 2014/The Israeli government has radically changed track on Syria, reversing a policy and military strategy that were longed geared to opposing Syrian President Bashar Assad, debkafile�s exclusive military and intelligence sources report. This reversal has come about in the light of the growing preponderance of radical Islamists in the Syrian rebel force fighting Assad�s army in the Quneitra area since June.
Al Qaeda�s Syrian Nusra front, which calls itself the Front for the Defense of the Levant, is estimated to account by now for 40-50 percent - or roughly, 4,000-5,000 Islamists - of the rebel force deployed just across Israel�s Golan border. No more than around 2,500-3,000 belong to the moderate Syrian militias, who were trained by American and Jordanian instructors in the Hashemite Kingdom and sent back to fight in Syria.
This shift in the ratio of jihadists-to-moderates has evolved in four months. In early June, the pro-Western Syrian Revolutionary Front-SRF, mostly deployed in the southern Syrian town of Deraa on the Jordanian border, was the dominant rebel force and Nusra Front the minority.
The balance shifted due to a number of factors:
1. Nusra Front jihadis fighting alongside insurgents on the various Syrian battlefronts made a practice of surreptitiously infiltrating their non-Islamist brothers-at-arms, a process which the latter�s foreign allies, the US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan, either ignored or were unaware of.
2. These tactics began to pay off in the past month, when large numbers of moderate rebels suddenly knocked on the Nusra Front�s door and asked to join.
One reason for this was these militias� defeat and heavy losses of men and ground under the onslaught of the combined forces of Syria, Hizballah and Iran. Nusra Front was less affected. It was also the moderate rebels� preferred home, rather than the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, whose atrocities, especially the beheadings of hostages and prisoners, they find repellent.
3. Nusra deployment on the Syrian Golan further swelled of late as its fighters were pushed out of eastern Syria by IS in its rapid swing through the Syrian towns of Deir a-Zor and Abu Kemal to reach its ultimate goal � one which has so far not rated a mention in Western and Israeli media.
The Islamist extremists are on the way to conquering the Euphrates basin in Syria and Iraq before advancing on the place where the two great rivers of Mesopotamia, the Euphrates and Tigris, are in closest proximity � Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad.
Nusra fighters moved out of the way of the IS push through eastern Syria and made tracks for Quneitra to join the fight to seize this strategic Golan town and crossing into Israel from Assad�s forces.
The pro-Islamist cast of the Syrian rebel force on Israel�s Golan border is reflected in the turnaround in Israel�s military position and attitude toward the insurgents on the other side of the Golan border fence. The IDF will henceforth be less supportive of the rebel struggle and more inclined to help Syrian troops in fending off rebel attacks.
This calls for a delicate balancing act in Jerusalem. While definitely not seeking an Assad victory in the long Syrian war, Israel has no desire to see Al Qaeda�s Syrian branch, Al Nusra, seizing control of the Syrian sector of the Golan, including Quneitra.
Israel therefore finds itself in a quandary much like that of US President Barack Obama, who has promised to unveil his strategy for fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Wednesday, Sept. 10. He too is strongly reluctant to throw US support behind Bashar Assad, but he may find he has no other option.

Beheaded corpse of alleged Israeli spy found in Sinai with note attached
ISMAILIA, Egypt - Residents in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula said on Wednesday they found a beheaded corpse bearing a note signed by an Islamist militant group linked to the Syria and Iraq-based Islamic State, accusing the victim of being an Israeli spy. The beheading is the eighth claimed by the group in Sinai in under a month in a surge of brutal killings seemingly inspired by Islamic State, which has been internationally condemned for its atrocities and has been the target of US air strikes. Residents from a village south of the town of Sheikh Zuweid in northern Sinai told Reuters by phone that the decapitated body bore a note signed by Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, saying he was an agent for Israeli spy agency Mossad. "This is the fate of all who prove to be traitors to their homeland," the group said in the note, according to the villagers. A senior Ansar commander told Reuters last week that Islamic State, an al-Qaida offshoot that controls large swathes of Syria and Iraq, had been advising the Sinai-based group on how to operate more effectively.
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, the most powerful and ruthless militant group in Sinai, said last month it had beheaded four Egyptians for providing Israel with intelligence for an airstrike that killed three of its fighters. The group posted a video on Twitter showing the beheadings which resembled images Islamic State posted on the Internet. Islamic State has caused international alarm over its rapid expansion and extreme violence, including the beheadings of two US journalists and the killing and burying alive of hundreds of Iraqis from the Yazidi minority.
Egyptian intelligence officials have said Islamic State is also influencing Egyptian militants based just over the border with Libya.
DAKAHLIA ATTACK
Hardline Islamist militants have stepped up attacks on police and soldiers since the army toppled President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood last year after mass protests against his rule. The government accuses the Muslim Brotherhood of turning to violence following Morsi's ousting, but the movement has publicly condemned violent extremism in the past and says it remains committed to peaceful means of bringing down the government. But with hundreds of Brotherhood members killed and thousands arrested in a crackdown now entering its second year, older members fear that the youth could turn to extremist groups that seem more effective than the silenced Brotherhood. In the north eastern Dakahlia province, a security officer's son was killed in an apparent attempt on the officer's life, the state news agency reported on Wednesday. Mahmoud Saad and his son were driving in the provincial capital of Mansoura when an unknown gunman opened fire on their vehicle, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported.
Militant attacks initially targeted security forces in Sinai -- a remote but strategic part of Egypt located between Israel, the Gaza Strip and the Suez Canal -- but they have since extended their reach, with bombings and shootings on the mainland.
The violence has hurt tourism, a pillar of Egypt's economy.

Kerry: Iraqi army will be rebuilt, ISIS to be defeated
Staff Writer, Al Arabiya News
Wednesday, 10 September 2014
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Baghdad on Wednesday that the Iraqi army would be rebuilt as part a White House strategy to be outlined by President Barack Obama in the coming hours.
The Iraqi army "will be reconstituted and trained and worked on in terms of a number of different strategies through the help not just of the United States but of other countries also," he said.
He added that neither the United States nor the rest of the world will stand by and watch the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militant spread its evil. �This is a fight that the Iraqi people must win, but it's also a fight that the rest of the world needs them to win," Kerry told reporters. �It's a fight the United States and the rest of the world needs to support every step of the way.� Kerry was in Baghdad to meet with Iraq's new leaders and pledge U.S. support for eliminating the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the threat it poses. "When the world hears from President Obama this evening, he will lay out with great specificity each component of a broad strategy of how to deal with ISIL," Kerry said.
Kerry did not reveal Obama's plans. But he predicted a coalition of at least 40 nations ultimately will eliminate the Islamic State.
With a new Iraqi government finally in place and a growing Mideast consensus on defeating insurgent threats, Kerry pressed Iraq's Shiite leader to quickly deliver more power to wary Sunnis - or jeopardize any hope of defeating the Islamic State group, according to Associated Press. Kerry landed in the Iraqi capital just two days after newly sworn Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi seated his top government ministers, a crucial step toward restoring stability in a nation where security has spiraled out of control since the beginning of the year. As Kerry and al-Abadi were meeting, two car bombs exploded simultaneously in the southeastern neighborhood of New Baghdad, killing 13 people, according to AP.
The trip marks the first high-level U.S. meeting with al-Abadi since he become prime minister, and it aimed to symbolize the Obama administration's support for Iraq nearly three years after U.S. troops left the war-torn country. But it also signaled to al-Abadi, a Shiite Muslim, that the U.S. was watching to make sure he gives Iraqi Sunnis more control over their local power structures and security forces, as promised.
Al-Abadi's predecessor, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, for years shut Sunnis out of power and refused to pay tribal militias salaries or give them government jobs - and in turn sowed widespread resentment that Islamic State extremists seized on as a recruiting tool.
Al-Abadi hosted Kerry in the ornate presidential palace where Saddam Hussein once held court, and which the U.S. and coalition officials later used as office space in the years immediately following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In brief remarks following their meeting, al-Abadi noted that Iraq's violence is largely a spillover from the neighboring civil war in Syria, where the Islamic State militants have a safe haven.
"Of course, our role is to defend our country, but the international community is responsible to protect Iraq, and protect the whole region," al-Abadi said, speaking in English. "What is happening in Syria is coming across to Iraq. We cannot cross that border - it is an international border. But there is a role for the international community and for the United Nations ... and for the United States to act immediately to stop this threat." Kerry praised the new Iraqi leadership for what he described as its "boldness" in quickly forming a new government and promising to embrace political reforms that would give more authority to Sunnis and resolve a longstanding oil dispute between Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdish government in the nation's north.
"We're very encouraged," Kerry said. He assured al-Abadi that President Barack Obama will outline plans later Wednesday "of exactly what the United States is prepared to do, together with many other countries in a broad coalition, in order to take on this terrorist structure, which is unacceptable by any standard anywhere in the world."Kerry also met with new Iraqi parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri, one of the country's highest-ranking Sunnis, who expressed hope that Iraq will overcome terror threats and establish a vital democracy - two issues that have dogged the nation for years.
"Very critical period"
"We are before a very critical and sensitive period in the history of Iraq," al-Jabouri told Kerry.
Kerry's trip comes on the eve of a meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he and Arab leaders across the Mideast will discuss what nations can contribute to an ever-growing global coalition against the Islamic State. The U.S and nine other counties - Canada, Australia and across Europe - agreed last week to create a united front against the mostly Sunni extremist group that has overrun much of northern Iraq and Syria. Thursday's meeting in Jeddah seeks to do much of the same and will gauge the level of support from the Sunni-dominated Mideast region. Kerry also was to visit Jordan.Meanwhile, in Paris, French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said all five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China - would take part in a conference in the French capital Monday that will focus on stabilizing Iraq. During a French Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius brought up the issue of whether Iran would be invited to the Paris conference, but it "has not yet been decided," according to Le Foll.The U.S. already has launched about 150 airstrikes on Islamic State militants in Iraq over the past month, a mission undertaken at the invitation of the Iraqi government and without formal authorization from Congress. And it has sent military advisers, supplies and humanitarian aid to help Iraqi national troops and Kurdish forces beat back the insurgents. It was not clear what, if any, military action Obama would be willing to take in Syria, where he has resisted any mission that might inadvertently help President Bashar Assad and his government in Damascus, which has so far survived a bloody three-year war against Sunni rebels. Obama has ruled out putting U.S. combat troops on the ground.
[With AP and AFP]

Top EU envoy slams Israel's land grab, warns of renewed Gaza violence
Itamar Eichner/Ynetnews /Published: 09.10.14/Israel News
Lars Faaborg-Andersen urges sides to resume Gaza talks to find long lasting political solution for Strip, says that despite anger at West Bank land appropriation by Israel, EU was not mulling sanctions. Europe's top diplomat in Israel has urged the government reverse its decision to recognize some 1,000 acres of the West Bank as State land, even though he stressed that the EU was not considering sanctions over the issue. He also warned that the in lack of a long term political solution, violence in Gaza could start anew Wednesday's remarks by Lars Faaborg-Andersen came two weeks after Israel announced the move, which garnered criticism from US and Palestinian officials, who see it as expropriation which undermines prospects for a peaceful land-for-peace solution to the conflict. Faaborg-Andersen told journalists in Jerusalem that the expropriation is "one of the worst signals to send in the current situation." He said that even if Israel refused to reverse it, economic sanctions are not "on the agenda now." Regarding the situation in Gaza, Faaborg-Andersen urged for a long term political solution which would see Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority governing the Strip, or at least its rehabilitation. "There is a need to go back to the Cairo talks as soon as possible," Faaborg-Andersen said. "If the situation in Gaza goes unaddressed there is a big potential for violence to resume. We must not return to the status quo," he said, adding that "We need to see a return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza in order to lead the reconstruction efforts. We don't want to go back to instability within a few months." John Gatt-Rutter, the EU's envoy to the West Bank and Gaza recalled his visit to Gaza, and said that after meeting with local officials the feeling was that "there is great despair and fear that the violence resume. Nothing has changed in the situation in Gaza and life there only got worse." He noted extensive damage to water and electricity infrastructure, and said Gaza's residents are looking for a change and want to feel that the world has not forgotten them. Gatt-Rutter there is anger at both Hamas and Abbas, as well as at Israel. The Associated Press contributed to this report

ISIS and Arab Unity
Ghassan Al Imam/Asharq Al Awsat
Wednesday, 10 Sep, 2014
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claims to have achieved in a few months what other projects seeking Arab unity have failed to do since Mustafa Kamal Atat�rk abolished the Ottoman Islamic caliphate in 1924. In a blink of an eye, ISIS has called on 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide to move to the new �land of Islam� after they have �purged� it from Shi�ites, Christians and Yazidis, and beheaded journalists and slaughtered �crusaders.�ISIS has called for divine governance and has taken it upon itself to ensure it is applied. It has imposed the burdens of allegiance, obedience and absolute loyalty on people in territory under its control. Without dialogue, institutions, or political parties, silence has descended on the �Islamic State.� The �caliphate� denies the need for politics, culture, or freedom. It has modified school curricula and banned the teaching of the humanities, physical education and music. It has shut down girls� schools and banned women from working or traveling, lest it distracts them from their domestic chores. It urges believers to receive the afterlife with satisfaction and joy, following the gloom of their temporary abode in this world. ISIS has abolished the colonial borders between Arab countries, and declared �jihad.� It has killed more Muslim civilians than Westerners and slaughtered captured soldiers. It has arrested people from all religions and creeds. Its actions have provoked the world against it, with religious and sectarian wars breaking out on our lands.
This view of ISIS which I have just given is not mine. It is a summary of the propaganda the group itself broadcasts extensively via electronic media to reach broad segments of Arab society, given that the Arab media is reeling under ever-stricter censorship.
Freedom of the press is an extensive topic and I do not wish to discuss it in this article. I will only say that ISIS does not pose a serious threat to Arab states� political systems, but it is winning the propaganda war by broadcasting misleading news to parts of society that lack political awareness and tools to process and analyze information.
What is more, allowing the press to offer a negative image of ISIS by shedding light on its ignorance in religion and its brutality in dealing with people and minorities is no longer enough.
Discussing the �achievements� of ISIS must be tolerated within the media in order to refute, criticize and review this group�s gains in light of logic and Islamic jurisprudence. This will help determine whether or not the caliphate it has declared complies with the teaching of Sunni Islam�s main schools of thought. ISIS�s achievements should be compared and contrasted against those of the Arab system since Arab countries achieved independence during the 1940s and 1950s.
Politically speaking, I said and continue to say that the Arab system was born through independence. Its ambitions were limited to establishing an Arab League for its states rather than creating a union of Arab societies. With time, the ambitions expressed in the rhetoric of the Arab League and the majority of Arab regimes declined, and they started talking about �Arab peoples� rather than the �Arab nation.� This rhetoric paved the way to social disruption, sectarian infighting, and the emergence of sectarian groups similar to ISIS.
ISIS�s caliphate does not live up to Arab nationalist ambitions. It is repeating the mistake of the historical Islamic caliphate (that is, the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates) whose inertia and undemocratic character led to the outbreak of a bitter power struggle between Arabs and non-Arabs. The struggle ended with the establishment of the Turkic Mamluk states on Arab lands, weakening the Arabs� sense of belonging to one nation. It almost destroyed their language, culture and literary heritage under the religious slogans these non-Arab rulers raised in a bid to protect their �legitimacy.�
The Arab system, along with Arab intellectuals, helped restore the Arabic language and rescue Arabs� cultural and literary heritage, preventing the dissolution of Arab national identity. Arab states in the Gulf and Maghreb must sense the danger posed to their national identity by the flow of African and Asian migrants. Those migrants, who came either to live, work or prepare to go to Europe or the US, will in the future demand equal rights with Arabs, who have become a minority in their own countries.
ISIS�s pursuit of the unity of the Muslim world puts the Arab world�s future at risk. No Islamic unity is possible without an Arab one. Otherwise, Arab Muslims will be lost in a sea of non-Arab Muslims. Without the Egyptian revolution that overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood government, former Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi would have reached a naive settlement with Turkey and Iran to achieve a �caliphate project� that simulates that of ISIS.
ISIS�s caliphate does not enjoy the legitimacy of the actual, historical institution. It has adopted an approach to state-building based on coercion and terror. It has not drafted a constitution or a charter explaining the purpose behind its establishment. Instead, it has called on Muslims to pledge allegiance to a man whose identity and name are unknown, and whose mental soundness cannot be verified. His policies tempt the superpowers to destroy the Arab world by bombarding its civilians from the air and invading it by land and sea.
The organization�s attempts to �purge� the land of Islam of its religious and ethnic minorities contradict the principles of the modern state and Islam itself, which bans Muslims from committing atrocities during wartime. ISIS has cast a gloom over Arab society. It is seeking to undermine coexistence between Muslim and non-Muslim Arabs, who over the course of 1,500 years have not posed any threat to Islam.
ISIS, which claims to be seeking revenge for Sunnis, is in fact�like Iran and Israel�seeking to establish sectarian and racist states in the Arab world to replace the Arab system.
Therefore, ISIS�s caliphate project cannot replace pan-Arabism or Arab states, even after it announced the abolition of colonial-era borders. Its project goes beyond the realistic goal of Arab unity, and into the nightmarish territory of a sectarian caliphate in a post-imperial world. But history has shown us that religion on its own is not enough for coexistence and reconciliation.
I am not worried about the threat ISIS poses to the Arab state system. Rather, I am afraid that the current political class in Egypt will try to restore their country�s influence and role in the Arab world by seeking a catastrophic settlement with the sectarian regime in Syria that has slaughtered a quarter of a million Arabs, or the Shi�ite regime in Iraq. Iran will not allow the Baghdad regime its independence.
I worked for Egyptian media outlets for 13 years. My heart ached when I left, by the time Anwar Sadat�s regime emerged. But I still love Egypt. The newspaper Akhbar Al-Youm almost tempted me to return to Egyptian media before the 2011 uprising erupted. I have enough courage to ask Egypt to forgive its former president, Hosni Mubarak, who restored Egypt to the Arab world and whose honorable military past cannot be erased by the mistakes of his bloated regime.

ISIS battles al-Qaeda for leadership of global jihad
Yoram Schweitzer, Shani Avita/Ynetnews
Published: 09.10.14/Israel Opinion
Analysis: As the Islamic State gains prominence through its achievements, international terror groups reconsider their allegiance to al-Qaeda. Over the past six months, a fierce competition in the terror world has risen to surface as the Islamic State has seen its popularity skyrocket, threatening the old dominant force � al-Qaeda. The two groups are vying for the leadership of the global jihadi movement, which for nearly two decades was guided by Osama bin Laden. The infamous face of terror was succeeded by his number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who inherited leadership over the group's global terror operations. But following a heated exchange between Zawahiri and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi � the leader of the Islamic State in Syria and al-Sham � over the brutal behavior exhibited by the latter's group and its leader's insubordination, Zawahiri excommunicated ISIS from breaking their alliance. Baghdadi's challenge to Zawahiri's leadership reached its climax when the former unilaterally declared himself as Caliph, the political successor to Muhammad � thereby elevating his status above Zawahiri. The new reality forced international jihadi groups to pick sides in an internal conflict. So far, most of the large, organized groups � especially those already allied to al-Qaeda � like al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, al-Shabaab, and Jabhat al-Nusra have reasserted their allegiance to Zawahiri. But even within those loyal factions, dissenting voices of support for ISIS were heard, and some even provided advice on how the Islamic State can properly withstand the US attacks on the group.
Organizations which identify with global jihad, and have are not formally allied to al-Qaeda, have expressed both indirect and outright support of the Islamic State's methods and its aim to establish a global Islamic caliphate; the aura of success radiating from the organization has charmed many potential suitors. These statements of support also help contextualize the declaration of Boko Haram's leader, who announced the establishment of an emirate in Nigeria. At the same time, there are more signs pointing to a new alliance between Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, the Salafi jihadi group operating in the Sinai, and the Islamic State. This connection was revealed after the release of an investigation of a senior member in the group which was involved in the murder of 25 Egyptian soldiers in August 2013 and later in the beheading of Egyptian soldiers � much in the style of ISIS. The signs point to an organization, which originally declared allegiance to Zawahiri, on the cusp of changing its colors.
Information revealed during the investigations of the Egyptian group's members definitively cements the close operational and logistical ties between the organizations, and that the Sinai faction is expected to soon announce its allegiance to the Islamic State.
At this stage it is still too early to declare with certainty that ISIS has won the popularity contest. But there is no doubt that the possibility has weighed heavily on Zawahiri, who rushed to announce the establishment of a new al-Qaeda delegation in the Indian subcontinent in recent days. As far as Israel is concerned, there is cause for concern of a potential alliance between the global jihadi groups operating on its borders. An alliance between Ansar Bait al-Maqdis and the Islamic State poses a threat, as the Sinai group has launched several attacks on Israel, both on the border and by firing on Eilat. The existing alliance between Ansar Bait al-Maqdis and the Salafi jihadi Gazan group � the Mujahideen Shura Council of Jerusalem � has already raised the current threat level, and increased the importance of Israel's strategic partnership with Egypt in the war on terror. The Israeli-Egyptian cooperation will become more significant not only because of their mutual interest in utilizing the security gains achieved during Operation Protective Edge � which was intended to weaken Hamas in Gaza and rein in its operations against both countries � but also because of their joint efforts in the total war required to combat the new axis forming through Iraq, Syria, Sinai, and Gaza.
***Yoram Schweitzer is the Director of the Terrorism and Low-Intensity Warfare Research Project at the Institute for National Security Studies. Shani Avita is a fellow at the institute.

Turkey and the �Jihadist Highway�
Wednesday, 10 September 2014
Sami Zahed/Al Arabiya
Can you hear that creaking sound under the Bosphorus Bridge? Perhaps someone should alert President Barack Obama as he strides across it to build his coalition to confront the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The bridge, traditionally seen as the link between West and East, the Christian and Muslim worlds, NATO and the Arab states, may now be one that Washington should be treading on more cautiously. Those on both sides are waiting impatiently for Obama to comprehensively outline his strategy for dealing with ISIS on Wednesday. He declared on Sunday that Sunni states, including NATO member Turkey, will need to �step up� and play an enhanced role in this conflict. But in order for Ankara to be part of the solution to the tornado that is ISIS, the Obama administration would be wise to make clear that it was Turkey�s pro-Islamist policies in Syria (and Egypt) that paved the way for this catastrophe. �Ankara�s track record of controlling the flow of fighters and cracking down on ISIS activity in its border towns is not one that inspires confidence�
Ankara�s track record of controlling the flow of fighters and cracking down on ISIS activity in its border towns is not one that inspires confidence. The most common accusation is that Turkey turns a �blind eye� to the group�s activities along the �Jihadist Highway� that feeds the pool of extremism in Syria. Whether this was part of a planned strategy to support ISIS, or an inadvertent consequence of supporting rebels in general, is a matter of speculation. As the Washington Post suggests, an explanation may be that indirect support came as a result of an inability to differentiate between the various opposition groups on the ground, despite official rhetoric only claiming support for moderate factions.
But others, such as Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, believe that ISIS� ability to run riot along the Turkish border may not have been so uncontrollable for Turkey. Alterman said in June that some regional governments are taking the view that �it�s not that we�re really supporting them, we�re just turning the other way while other people support them� we�re not as aggressive going after financing as we need to be.� He went on to advocate that the U.S. should diplomatically push back against the idea that �a little bit of terrorism helps their strategic interests.�

Extremism-friendly policy
Such an extremism-friendly policy is likely to have factored into Turkey�s calculations, given its dedication to the removal of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. In this scenario ISIS could be seen less as an uncontainable force, but as potential lever to loosen the regime�s grip on Syria that, perhaps, could always be reined in later once Damascus falls.
Despite the growing international criticism, �Turkey will be and today is an asset,� according to James Jeffrey, former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Iraq. He did, however, state in an interview that Turkey will need to rise to the occasion and take steps to choke off the radicals, including �closing its borders to ISIS personnel and facilitating air operations from the U.S. and its allies.� Jeffrey even goes so far as to say that Turkey should take its own direct action, but acknowledges that the fate of the hostages from its captured Mosul consulate could severely limit its options towards a vicious foe.
It remains to be seen how Turkey�s policies will alter the Obama administration�s relationship with Ankara, but the president�s choice of language in recent months has been increasingly accusatory and underlies the West�s sense of frustration. In his August 28 speech, Obama said: �The truth is that we�ve had state actors who at times have thought that the way to advance their interests is, �Well, financing some of these groups as proxies is not such a bad strategy.��
Rather tellingly, the use of the term �state actors� is not limited to American officials. United Nations Security Council Resolution 2170 �reiterates further the obligation of Member States to prevent the movement of terrorists or terrorist groups,� referring to foreign fighters crossing borders to join ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other al-Qaeda-affiliated groups. This language indicates that the international community is in agreement that ISIS has probably benefited from the policies of implied state actors, or at least their wealthy citizens.
The rising pressure on state-facilitators is a welcome development because, in the long term, it is essential to stemming the tide of extremist Islamist groups. In this case such pressure should be brought to bear on the ruling Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP) to abandon its policy of expanding its influence in the Arab world through supporting Islamist proxies. According to Soner Cagaptay in the Wall Street Journal, this policy has been so disastrous that �Turkey has lost all access to the Middle East.� Perhaps most significantly, Ankara�s strong opposition to the new Egyptian government following last year�s ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood-oriented presidency of Mohammad Mursi has caused even more damage to its regional standing. With very few friends left in the Middle East following these diplomatic disasters, Turkey may now be in retreat.
That is why the moment is now for Obama to lay down the law with his NATO ally and insist that Ankara amend its expansionist foreign policy and steer away from what seems to be attempts to exert its influence by using extreme Islamist proxies. Two years ago, such demands would have been unworkable given Turkey�s diplomatic gains, but since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi�s rise in Egypt, Turkey has lost favor with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and is now incurring the dismay of the West. Given their regional isolation, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu may now be more receptive to adapting their Middle East strategy.
On Wednesday, those on both sides of this divide must see whether Obama�s comprehensive strategy will involve crossing the bridge in its current, questionable state, or whether efforts will be made behind the scenes to strengthen the Bosphorus� moorings before utilizing its familiar path once again.

Zarif: Iran is against extremism and religious dogmatism
Wednesday, 10 September 2014
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya
We agree with Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in his criticism of the U.S.�s hesitation to confront extremist organizations in Iraq and Syria. However, it is difficult to digest his televised statement that Iran had previously warned of the threats of extremism and religious dogmatism and his statement that Iran has, from the beginning, stood against this barbaric orientation.
Everyone blames Saudi Arabia for the spread of Islamic extremism across the world and there is some truth in this. However, it is not the result of official state policy but a product of social activity. This is contrary to Iran, who as a state, is the major reason behind the institutionalization of Islamic extremism, and taking radicalization beyond the basis of individual cases. Iran contributed to establishing and spreading extremist Islamic organizations under the slogan of exporting the Islamic revolution. It is only after the genie escaped the bottle that the Iranians felt the gravity of the threat against them and against their allies in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
Iran is also responsible for supporting extremist Sunni groups in northern Lebanon since the 1980s. It supported these groups against Saudi Arabia�s allies. Iran also established and supported extremist Palestinian groups to firstly weaken Fatah and then to weaken the Palestinian Authority. This fell within the context of regional competition over controlling Palestinian decision-making. Since the 1980s, Iran has been a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, particularly in Egypt and Sudan. It�s for the sake of glorifying Sunni terrorists that it named a street in Tehran after Khaled Islambouli, the terrorist who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat. There�s plenty of evidence regarding Iran�s mistakes in sponsoring Sunni and Shiite religious extremism and activities.
Therefore, the brothers in Iran must not throw stones at the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the al-Nusra Front and other brutal Sunni groups when Iran itself is producing such groups! Religious extremism as an institution is a direct product of the Iranian revolution which brought an extremist Shiite religious group to power in 1979. It is since then that the Islamic world leaned towards religious extremism and radicalism. I don�t know if Zarif forgot Iranian leaders� threats against prominent authors and television producers in Iran and Europe under the excuse of defending Islam when in fact these threats were political moves made within the context of the struggle with the West. There also exists a long list of moderate figures, reformists and intellectuals who were either jailed or who fled Iran.
�Iran must not throw stones at the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the al-Nusra Front and other brutal Sunni groups when Iran itself is producing such groups�
Abdulrahman al-Rashed
Hasan Eshkevari is in exile in Germany, along with other Iranian intellectuals, because the Iranian regime pursued such people for their ideas. Eshkevari wrote against the principle of velayat-e-faqih and did not consider that it was obligatory for women to wear headscarves. He was thus sentenced to death and the verdict was commuted in absentia. Aren�t these the same ideas that ISIS upholds? Isn�t this radicalism?
Similar extremism
Sunni extremism and Shiite extremism are similar. Proponents of both sides tend to bid over which is more brutal and which exceeds its bounds more often. They practice continuous suppression against civil intellect. Iranian religious moderates lost and most of them were eliminated from the fields of media, education and politics until the regime became an exclusive extremist Shiite party which now controls all aspects of the Iranian people�s lives. The regime did not settle at eliminating moderate figures inside Iran but also supported extremists abroad as a basic pillar of its policies. It thus supported religious groups in Shiite communities in Lebanon, Iraq and the Gulf and it marginalized civil Shiite parties. This is how Hezbollah was born in Lebanon.
Therefore, Zarif cannot just overlook history and decide who is extremist and who is moderate. Yes, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, is a terrifying extremist figure and so was Hezbollah�s Imad Mughniyah, who was notorious for his brutality. Both of them abducted civilians and killed civilian hostages. Both falsely used the name of God and Islam to justify their crimes. Iran raised and trained such people and currently supports the Houthis in Yemen - a tribal group which follows the Zaydi sect and whose members converted to Shiism. They are currently, like ISIS, raising the caliphate flag, labeling their leader a caliph, declaring disobedience against the state and looting cities and towns which oppose them. Despite this, Iran supports them and helps them!
However, even if we disagree with Iran over what defines extremism, we do agree with it on the importance of working together to fight terrorist groups, mainly ISIS. It�s also important for the Lebanese party Hezbollah to end its religious war against Syrians and other Lebanese parties. The world must realize that fighting extremism and terrorism requires Muslim countries, mainly Saudi Arabia and Iran who represent the Sunni and Shiite sects respectively, to cooperate. Saudi Arabia and Iran must first begin to admit the problem that extremism has infiltrated their societies. They must confront this on the educational, media and religious levels without exception as extremist groups which raise the slogan of religion are all alike, whether they are Sunnis or Shiites.
We hope that Iran changes its policy and stops supporting extremist Sunni and Shiite groups and that we open a chapter of Islamic cooperation that spreads moderation and respect for others.

14 Million Refugees Make the Levant Unmanageable
by David P. Goldman
PJ Media
September 8, 2014
http://www.meforum.org/4800/14-million-refugees-make-the-levant-unmanageable
There are always lunatics lurking in the crevices of Muslim politics prepared to proclaim a new caliphate; there isn't always a recruiting pool in the form of nearly 14 million displaced people (11 million Syrians, or half the country's population, and 2.8 million Iraqis, or a tenth of the country's population). When I wrote about the region's refugee disaster at Tablet in July ("Between the Settlers and Unsettlers, the One State Solution is On Our Doorstep") the going estimate was only 10 million. A new UN study, though, claims that half of Syrians are displaced. Many of them will have nothing to go back to. When people have nothing to lose, they fight to the death and inflict horrors on others.
That is what civilizational decline looks like in real time. The roots of the crisis were visible four years ago before the so-called Arab Spring beguiled the foreign policy wonks. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrian farmers already were living in tent camps around Syrian cities before the Syrian civil war began in April 2011. Israeli analysts knew this. In March 2011 Paul Rivlin of Tel Aviv University released a study of the collapse of Syrian agriculture, widely cited in Arab media but unmentioned in the English language press (except my essay on the topic). Most of what passes for political science treats peoples and politicians as if they were so many pieces on a fixed game board. This time the game board is shrinking and the pieces are falling off.
The Arab states are failed states, except for the few with enough hydrocarbons to subsidize every facet of economic life. Egypt lives on a$15 billion annual subsidy from the Gulf states and, if that persists, will remain stable if not quite prosperous. Syria is a ruin, along with large parts of Iraq. The lives of tens of millions of people were fragile before the fighting broke out (30% of Syrians lived on less than $1.60 a day), and now they are utterly ruined. The hordes of combatants displace more people, and these join the hordes, in a snowball effect. That's what drove the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648, and that's what's driving the war in the Levant.
When I wrote in 2011 that Islam was dying, this was precisely what I forecast. You can't unscramble this egg. The international organizations, Bill Clinton, George Soros and other people of that ilk will draw up plans, propose funding, hold conferences and publish studies, to no avail. The raw despair of millions of people ripped out of the cocoon of traditional society, bereft of ties of kinship and custom, will feed the meatgrinder. Terrorist organizations that were hitherto less flamboyant ("moderate" is a misdesignation), e.g. the Muslim Brotherhood (and its Palestine branch Hamas), will compete with the caliphate for the loyalties of enraged young people. The delusion about Muslim democracy that afflicted utopians of both parties is now inoperative. War will end when the pool of prospective fighters has been exhausted. That is also why ISIS is overrated. A terrorist organization that beheads Americans and posts the video needs to be annihilated, but this is not particularly difficult. The late Sam Kinison's monologue on world hunger is to the point: they live in a desert. They may be hard to flush out of towns they occupy, but they cannot move from one town to another in open ground if warplanes are hunting them. That is what America and its allies should do.
More dangerous is Iran, as Henry Kissinger emphasized in a recent interview with National Public Radio. Iran's backing for the Assad regime's ethnic cleansing of Syrian Sunnis set the refugee crisis in motion, while the Iraqi Shi'ites' alliance with Iran persuaded elements of Saddam Hussein's military to fight for ISIS. Iran can make nuclear weapons and missiles; ISIS cannot. If we had had the foresight to neutralize Iran years ago, the crisis could have been managed without the unspeakable humanitarian cost.
We cannot do the killing ourselves, except, of course, from the air. We are too squeamish under the best of circumstances, and we are too corrupted by cultural relativism (remember George W. Bush's claim that Islam is "a religion of peace"?) to recognize utterly evil nihilism when it stares us in the face. In practice, a great deal of the killing will be done by Iran and its allies: the Iraqi Shi'a, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Assad regime in Syria. It will be one of the most disgusting and disheartening episodes in modern history and there isn't much we can do to prevent it.
**David P. Goldman is Senior Fellow at the London Center for Policy Research and Wax Family Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Christians in the Middle East
Position Statement by the Lebanese Information Center Presented to the IDC Inaugural Summit in Washington DC
09-04-2014
Christianity was born, raised, persecuted, and celebrated in the mountains and deserts of the Middle East. As their faith spread to all corners of the world, Christians have remained an integral part of the evolution of the Middle East, its populace, and its political systems. Throughout centuries of hardship and prosperity, suffering and jubilation, conquest and liberation, the Christians have persevered and have established themselves as true partners in that land. In Lebanon, in particular, the Christians have taught the whole world the true meaning of perseverance and have managed to make of their mountains a sanctuary for all those persecuted around them.
In recent years, the �Arab Spring� has shaken the region and the world. The peoples of the Arab world have awoken and have decided to rid themselves of the dictatorships that have abused them and hindered their progress and freedom throughout their modern history. Decades of oppression, however, had also created a very fertile ground for extremist ideologies to flourish under the guise of religious fervor. These fanatics are no better than the dictators themselves. They teach hatred, brand all who do not share their radical line, whether non-Muslims or Muslims, as �infidels� and promote the spilling of their blood as a religious duty.
The rise of these extremists in the Arab World especially in the Levant has led many to argue that Christians have lost all prospects of security and that their future in the region is bleak at best. In Syria, Christians are led to believe that they have two options: (a) support Assad because he will protect them or (b) surrender to the extremists who would �inevitably� replace him. In Iraq, Christians are left with even bleaker options: (a) submit to the Caliphate State, pay the �Jizya� and live in complete submission; (b) convert to Islam; (c) flee and abandon their ancestral homes, culture and heritage or (d) die.
What the propagators of such arguments fail to acknowledge is that, be it in Iraq or Syria, all religious minorities as well as Muslim moderates are suffering alongside the Christians. What they also fail to point out is that a radical religious regime is not the foregone alternative to dictatorships. In fact, the Syrian revolution was sparked by people who wanted nothing but freedom and the right to self-determination. Excessive deferment, the horrendous brutality of the regime and a shamefully lethargic international community are what allowed the extremists to become more prominent in the struggle.
The defeat of these virulent extremists is an absolute must, but their defeat will come neither from alignment with other forms of dictatorships, be it Assad in Syria or the Ayatollahs in Iran nor from the so-called �coalition of minorities.� Their defeat can only come from the moderates in these countries aided by the international community.
Where does that leave the Christians in the Middle East and in Syria and Iraq in particular?
At its core, Christianity is bearing witness to the truth. True Christians, therefore, can never support or condone the brutal oppression of tyrannical regimes, such as that of Assad in Syria. Furthermore, the argument that dictatorships can protect religious minorities is utterly false and misleading. For more than three decades, the Lebanese, especially the Christians, had suffered death and destruction at the hands of the Baathist regime of the Assads and were subjected to the same savagery now being inflicted on the Syrian people. Indeed, far from protecting Christians � Iraqi Christians, for example � Bashar Assad harbored and aided the jihadists that incited chaos and inflamed sectarian divisions in neighboring Iraq. These very same jihadists have now metamorphosed into the Caliphate State.
What supporting the dictatorships might achieve, at the very best, is the delay but inevitable exacerbation of the problem.
Christians in Syria, Iraq and the rest of the Arab World have no option but to persevere, as have their ancestors before them. They have to side with justice and bear witness to the truth because that is at the very core of what defines them. They cannot support the oppressor nor can they stand idly by on the sidelines and wait for things to work in their favor. They must take an active role, stand with the moderates among their compatriots and rebuild their respective countries together.
The only real guarantee for the Christians and other minorities in the Middle East is in the establishment of democratic systems of government based on fundamental freedoms, equality and human rights. These systems can never exist under self-proclaimed �secular� dictatorships or under religious extremist rule. But these systems would also never come to be if the stakeholders stand on the sidelines, or worse, on the wrong side of history.
Meanwhile, the international community, particularly the United States, cannot remain mere observers while appalling crimes against humanity are committed in Syria and Iraq nor can they simply issue bland statements while allowing extremists to further consolidate their power and oppress the moderates. The longer the atrocities continue, the easier it becomes for the extremists to radicalize more people and the longer the extremists maintain power, the harder it becomes for the moderates to replace them.
The international community, with the United States at its helm, has a moral obligation and a critical interest in the matter. No effort must be spared to bring an end to the massacres in Syria and Iraq and to actively support the voices of moderation and inclusiveness in the Arab world. Failing to do so will ultimately result in a geographically and demographically massive breeding ground for radicals and terrorists. Then, not only would the Christians and minorities in that region suffer, but the rest of the world as well.

Kerry Vows Global Coalition Will Defeat Jihadists
Naharnet /U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday in Baghdad that a global coalition will defeat jihadists in Iraq and Syria, hours before President Barack Obama is expected to announce expanded strikes against them. "We all know -- I think we come to this with great confidence -- that, ultimately, our global coalition will succeed in eliminating the threat from Iraq, from the region and from the world," Kerry said. The top U.S. diplomat said the Iraqi army would be rebuilt as part of the long-awaited strategy against the Islamic State (IS) to be outlined by Obama in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday night. Iraq's armed forces "will be reconstituted and trained and worked on in terms of a number of different strategies through the help not just of the United States but of other countries also," Kerry said. His remarks came after talks with Iraq's new leaders on their role in efforts to halt IS since its fighters spearheaded a lightning offensive in June seizing much of the Sunni Arab heartland north and west of Baghdad.Obama is widely expected to announce the expansion of the month-old U.S. air campaign in Iraq to neighboring Syria, where IS has seized a swathe of the northeast, bordering Iraq.
The U.S. administration has come under mounting criticism for not taking stronger action against IS militants who have committed a spate of atrocities, many of them paraded on the Internet. Kerry's visit to Baghdad was the first stop on a regional tour to build support for the new U.S. strategy which he has said would only work with the backing of the "broadest possible coalition of partners". He was to fly on to Saudi Arabia for talks on Thursday with 11 regional foreign ministers on a joint campaign against IS.
U.S. efforts to build a broad coalition had been complicated by the region's sectarian politics, with Saudi Arabia and other Sunni states deeply suspicious of Baghdad's Shiite-led government. But they were boosted Monday by the formation of a new government that Kerry says has the potential to unite Iraq's diverse communities. Kerry met new Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, a Shiite regarded as far less divisive than his predecessor Nuri al-Maliki, who was criticized for driving many in the Sunni minority into the arms of IS.
U.S. officials have hailed a more constructive approach from Abadi to recapturing Sunni Arab areas from the jihadists after the heavy-handed security tactics of Maliki's government.
Kerry praised the new premier's commitment to the sweeping reforms needed, and welcomed the military's readiness to reconstitute itself for the fightback. But the scale of the security challenge facing Iraq was underlined by bombs that killed at 19 people in east Baghdad during Kerry's visit. Much of the regular army is drawn from Iraq's Shiite majority who come from Baghdad and the south and are despised outsiders in Sunni areas. U.S. officials have welcomed the new government's acceptance that Sunnis need to take charge of the fightback against IS in their own areas. "Abadi has said repeatedly since he was named the prime minister that he is not going to... take military units from the south and go into areas in the north and west to take on (IS)," a U.S. official told journalists traveling with Kerry. Instead national guard units "grown from the provinces... locally recruited," will take the "primary security responsibility" for the fightback in the five provinces where IS fighters hold sway in Sunni areas. In his speech, Obama is expected to steel Americans for a prolonged battle against the jihadists, despite devoting much of his presidency to avoiding new entanglements in the Middle East. But wary of repeating what he believes were the mistakes of the past decade, Obama is expected to renew his pledge not to send ground troops back to Iraq. Both the New York Times and the Washington Post said Obama was preparing to authorize the expansion of the air campaign against IS that he launched in Iraq on August 8 to neighboring Syria. An opinion poll published on Tuesday suggested 65 percent of Americans would approve such an expansion of strikes, which would be without the authorization of the Damascus government. But Brussels-based think-tank the International Crisis Group warned "the resulting boost to IS recruitment might outweigh the group's tactical losses".Washington has pinned its hopes of pegging back IS in Syria on rebel groups opposed to the jihadists, baulking at cooperation of any sort with the regime of President Bashar Assad whose overthrow it has supported since 2011.
But the main anti-jihadist rebel alliance suffered a major blow late Tuesday when a blast in the northwest killed 47 of its top commanders. Agence France Presse