LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
APRIL 27/2006

Below news from the Daily Star for 27/04/06
Bush sets stage to freeze assets of Hariri assassins
Sinai blasts target peacekeepers, police
Tehran threatens to strike U.S. interests if attacked
Syria still acting like Lebanon's caretaker
Tensions mar Syrian pullout anniversary
Qandil breaks silence, wants name cleared by UN team
Deepening split between Lebanon and Syria is a senseless waste
French ambassador tours projects in North
Fneish briefs Cabinet on plan to revamp electricity sector
Kidnapping victim recounts eight years in Syrian torture camps
Kidnapping victim recounts eight years in Syrian torture camps
Fadlallah insists parties must focus on public good
A question for Egypt: What went wrong?
Iran loses out with the new Iraqi prime minister.By: David Ignatius
Below news from miscellaneous sources for 27/04/06
Bush blocks assets related to Hariri killing-Reuters - USA
Sinai Bombed Again, Two Multinational Force Members Injured
Meet the new Osama, Imad Mughniyah-uruknet.info
Syria Still Haunts Lebanon, One Year After Pullout-Naharnet
Syria still haunts smaller neighbor Lebanon-San Diego Union Tribun
A year after pullout, Lebanon still politically divided-Middle East Online
A Year After Pullout Lebanon Still Wary of Syria 'Timebombs'-Naharnet
A year on, some Lebanese lament Syria's withdrawal-Reuters
Hezbollah vowed to secure the release of a terrorist imprisoned -Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Syria pours cold water on weapons claims-Independent Online
Jordan says Hamas leaders in Syria ordered attacks-Dose.ca
Musab's Happy Video Fun Time-Jawa Report
UN Hariri sleuth queries Syria president-United Press International
Lebanese Housewife Tells of Horrifying 8 Years in Syrian Torture Camps-Naharnet
Iraqi leader scraps alias-CNN International
Syrians, Jordanian on trial over Aqaba rocket attack-Reuters
Iran Bolstering Alliance With Syria, Hamas-CNSNews.com
SYRIA: UN investigator meets with president-Reuters

Bush blocks assets related to Hariri killing
Wednesday 26 April 2006, 1:32pm EST
WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Wednesday issued an order blocking the assets of anyone connected with the Feb. 14, 2005, assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Bush in a statement said the new order blocks the property and interest of anyone determined to have been involved in Hariri's assassination and that additional steps were being taken "concerning certain actions of the government of Syria."

Sinai Bombed Again, Two Multinational Force Members Injured
By Ezra HaLevi-Arutz Sheva -26.4.06
Two more bombs have been detonated in Sinai, this time outside an air base of the Multinational Force stationed there. The triple attack two days ago may have been carried out by Bedouins.
The bombing was carried out by two suicide terrorists in northern Sinai, near Rafiach and the Gaza-Egypt border. The blast lightly wounded Multinational Force soldiers from New Zealand and Norway, as well as two Egyptian policemen.
Shortly after the blast, the PA police force reported apprehending three terrorists near the Karni Crossing between Gaza and Israel. The bombing comes less than 48 hours after the Monday night triple attack that killed at least 24 people and injured 85 in the Dahab resort area. According to foreign press reports, twenty-one of those killed were Egyptians and three were foreigners. Three Israelis were injured. The Multinational Force in the Sinai was established as part of Israel's withdrawal from the peninsula in 1981. It is funded by the US and staffed by soldiers from countries such as Canada, New Zealand, Norway and others.Egyptian authorities said they have identified two of the three Dahab suicide bombers as Bedouins from the northern Sinai. Cairo originally reported that the three blasts were caused by time bombs and not suicide bombers. Thirty suspects have been arrested and Egyptian media are reporting that area residents were behind the bombings. Foreign security experts said that the killers are probably connected to Al Qaeda. Three of those arrested arrived the day before the attack and tried to leave immediately after the bombing in a car with counterfeit license plates.

A year after pullout, Lebanon still politically divided
Lebanese political leaders try to end long-running deadlock over Lahoud’s fate, disarming of Hezbollah.
By Salim Yassine - BEIRUT
Syrian "timebombs" are still littering the political landscape in Lebanon a year after Damascus's dramatic troop withdrawal from the neighbouring state it dominated for years, analysts say.
Despite the initial euphoria of a popular uprising dubbed the "Cedar revolution" Syria continues to wield huge influence in Lebanon, playing on deep political divisions that have resurfaced in a country still bearing the scars of the 1975-1990 civil war.
Damascus pulled out its troops on April 26 last year in the face of intense domestic and international pressure heightened by the February 2005 murder of Lebanon's former billionaire prime minister Rafiq Hariri, ending a 29-year military presence.
"But the Syrians left many timebombs behind, and these are paralyzing the Lebanese government," said Nadim Shehade, researcher at Britain's Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House.
Lebanese political leaders have been locked in talks to try to end a long-running deadlock that has left the government, led by an anti-Syrian coalition headed by Hariri's son Saad, effectively impotent with Damascus still holding several trump cards.
At issue is the fate of pro-Damascus President Emile Lahoud, who has so far resisted calls by the anti-Syrian bloc to step down, and the disarming of the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Shiite fundamentalist Hezbollah movement.
Lahoud, a Christian Maronite whose term in office was controversially extended under a constitutional amendment pushed through by Damascus, retains enough power to stall any government action he opposes.
And as well as Hezbollah and its smaller rival Amal, Syria can also count on the support of the armed pro-Damascus Palestinian movements operating in Lebanon.
Syria has faced increasing isolation by the West, with a UN probe implicating top officials in the Hariri killing, and accusations led by the United States that it is playing a role in the insurgency in neighbouring Iraq.
But Damascus has benefited from a shifting of the international spotlight to the crisis over its top regional ally Iran's nuclear programme and the Middle East conflict after a Hamas-led government took power in the Palestinian territories, an Arab diplomat said.
Political analyst Michel Hasher said the anti-Damascus bloc that now commands the majority in the Lebanese parliament fears it could be let down by allies in Washington, Paris and pro-Western Arab regimes, despite repeated US assurances there will be no deals with Syria at Lebanon's expense.
Shehade noted that Syria was still able to resist Lebanese demands, despite strong pressure from Western powers and the United Nations, which adopted a resolution in 2004 calling for the disarmament of militias in Lebanon.
"At first, the Lebanese tried to use confrontation through popular mobilisation, but the anti-Syrian camp could neither pursue this mobilisation nor maintain its unity, and is now paralysed," he said.
After winning legislative elections in May and June last year by a narrow margin, the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority was not able to form a government on its own.
Under the country's confessional political system, the coalition had to seek the participation of Hezbollah and Amal, but their ministers have since boycotted the government.
The anti-Syrians have also been hard hit by a series of bomb attacks against prominent figures critical of Damascus's dominant role, and the defection of Christian leader Michel Aoun to the rival camp.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, a former close aide to Hariri who was warmly received by US President George W. Bush last week, has also expressed his desire to visit Damascus to mend ties, but that door has not yet been opened.
The coalition has also failed to reach an agreement with Syria to demarcate their borders in the disputed Shebaa Farms area, a move which could force an Israeli pullout from the zone, and thus deprive Hezbollah of its justification to retain its arms.
Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon in 2000 but keeps a presence in the Shebaa farms area, which it seized from Syria along with the Golan Heights in 1967 but is claimed by Lebanon with Damascus's approval.
"Damascus wants to keep a bone of contention in Shebaa in order to keep Lebanon hostage and use the deterrent force of Hezbollah, which still has rockets pointed toward northern Israel," said a Western diplomat.

A year on, some Lebanese lament Syria's withdrawal
25 Apr 2006 11:50:57 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Alaa Shahine
CHTAURA, Lebanon, April 25 (Reuters) - Taxi driver Zakaria Ahmed lost count of the number of times Syria's intelligence agents beat him for refusing to drive them for free, but a year after the Syrians left he rues the cost of withdrawal.
"I was against them then and against them now because they are dictators, but I would rather tolerate a bit of oppression and live comfortably than be free and suffer from poverty," said Ahmed, from Chtaura in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
"I used to work a lot with Syrian merchants crossing the border for business here. Now they rarely come after the withdrawal and my business has been really hit," added the 37-year-old.
A year after residents of Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley celebrated the end of Syria's 29-year military presence, complaints about tough living conditions are replacing initial tales of torture and notorious detention centres.
Dozens of shops on the road leading to the main Masnaa border crossing to Damascus have closed as the number of Syrian customers fell sharply in the aftermath of the killing of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in February 2005.
Syrians, military and civilian alike, used to swarm to these shops, buying everything from imported clothes to Chinese-made electronics that were not available in their socialist country.
Many in Lebanon blame Hariri's killing on Syria despite the repeated denials from Damascus, the dominant force in its smaller neighbour from the middle of the 1975-1990 civil war. The murder sparked mass protests in Beirut that forced Syria to withdraw its troops and strained ties between the neighbours.
MORE OF THE SAME?
Elections in May and June ushered in a parliament dominated by opponents of Syria and was seen as a new era free of Syrian tutelage. But fighting among rival leaders has dimmed hopes that much-needed economic and political reforms are within reach.
"We were all against the Syrian hegemony. But now they are gone and the government has not done anything to improve our deteriorating economic situation," said Abdou Abdel-Rahman, 38, who owns a small grocery store at the town of Majdal Anjar.
"The Syrians were the ones who brought this gang of politicians who are now busy fighting with each other," he said as he arranged his half-empty shelves stocked with Syrian-made products.
Nedal Khaled, 30, said splits between pro- and anti- Syrian forces has allowed "informants working for Syrian intelligence to resurface here and openly say they go there (to Damascus) to see officers".
During the Syrian presence, the area was home to a detention centre infamous for tales of torture and interrogation, before detainees were sent on to jails in Syria.
But at least, say residents of the neighbouring village of Anjar, once the headquarters of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon, they spent money in the area.
"The Syrians developed the town and paved the roads," said 57-year old Zohrab Toslakaian, who runs a small grocery store which the Syrians had confiscated and turned into a checkpoint.
"We didn't meddle in politics and they did us no harm," said Toslakian, who is of Armenian origin like most Anjar residents.
Before the Syrian withdrawal, Anjar had uninterrupted power supplies, but that is now history.
Asked what he misses a year after the withdrawal, Karam Assaf, who works at a gift shop, replied with a smile: "The Lebanese politicians who used to come to meet Syrian officers. They brought good business for restaurants here."
(Additional reporting by Afif Diab)

Meet the new Osama, Imad Mughniyah
Xymphora
April 25, 2006
The Bush Administration needs a new terrorist attack before the fall. It has to keep control of Congress to avoid any impeachment problems, but must keep the polls close enough to be able to continue to use the crooked voting machines without the American public becoming suspicious and trashing them before the next presidential election (the Republicans haven't honestly won a presidential election since 1988, and won't be winning another one soon without a little electronic help). In order to sell the terrorism 'product' they need a new scary guy to front the operation. Bin Laden is past his sell-by date, and Al Zarqawi has been officially retired and really only worked the market for Iraq anyway. I think we now know who the new Osama is, a name from the past.
Michael Ledeen introduced the name in a column in January. The President of Iran visited Syria, and Ledeen wrote:
". . . it should not have surprised anyone that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flew to Damascus last Thursday to meet with Bashar Assad, nor was it surprising that among his entourage were key Iranian officials in charge of Hezbollah, probably including the operational leader, Imad Mughniyah."
Note that Ledeen didn't really have any information that Ahmadinejad had brought Mughniyah, just that Ahmadinejad had brought Iranian officials with him, and Mughniyah was 'probably' with them. It actually seems highly unlikely that Ahmadinejad would brought Mughniyah along, especially given that Mughniyah is still a wanted criminal, and Syria would not want him around. Mughniyah is thought to be responsible for a number of attacks against Americans, including the 1983 bombing in Lebanon. Actually, only a raving Zionist would find it plausible that the President of Iran would pay an official visit to another country with an entourage which includes an internationally-wanted terrorist. In fact, Ledeen begs lots of questions in assuming Ahmadinejad brought officials with him who were 'in charge of Hezbollah', and the whole article is just more typical Ledeen lies and spin and innuendo.
Ledeen's unlikely guess is then repeated (full article here) in the New York Sun (note the completely misleading headline), and cites the meeting as a fact based on foreign (no doubt Israeli) 'diplomatic sources'. Finally, the story arrives fully developed, and as a certainty, in the London Sunday Times (with yet another wild headline). It is now supported by 'senior government officials', who Ledeen says, are convinced Mughniyah was there, despite the fact they don't know what he looks like and don't have his fingerprints. Must be identification by magic.
Mughniyah is perfect, as the story now ties together Iran, Syria and Hezbollah with a terrorist known to have a long involvement in attacks against Americans. The new Osama is ready to be held responsible for the next terrorist attack against Americans, and will be able to help the Republicans keep control of Congress without too much electronic help, and point the blame to whatever patsy the Israel Lobby wants to attack next.

Hezbollah vows to release Kuntar
Hezbollah vowed to secure the release of a terrorist imprisoned in Israel.
“The day of Samir Kuntar’s release is very close,” Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese militia, said Monday at a rally marking 28 years since Kuntar’s capture after he attacked a town in northern Israel.
Kuntar, a Lebanese Druse, was not included in a 2004 prisoner swap in which Israel freed hundreds of Arab terrorists in exchange for an Israeli businessman kidnapped by Hezbollah and the bodies of three soldiers killed in a border clash.
Israeli officials hinted that Kuntar could be released in exchange for word from Hezbollah on the whereabouts of Ron Arad, an Israeli airman missing since he bailed out over Lebanon in 1986.
With uncertainty remaining about whether Arad is even alive, Hezbollah has not yet delivered on its side of the German-mediated deal.

Syria pours cold water on weapons claims
April 26 2006 at 02:51AM
Damascus - Damascus on Tuesday rejected accusations that the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas had smuggled weapons into Jordan through Syria.
"Pretending that a Hamas military leader in Syria was behind the operation is completely false. Syria is not aware of any Hamas military leader inside its territory," said a foreign ministry official to the Sana state news agency.
"All the Hamas officials in Syria are political leaders who accomplish their tasks only through politics and respect the position of the Syrian authorities which do not permit military activities inside their territory."
Separately, the Hamas-led Palestinian government's foreign minister Mahmoud Zahar reiterated his group's denial of smuggling any weapons into Jordan.
"We did not, and will not, undermine the security of Jordan or any other country. Jordan is our strategic gateway, as is Egypt," he told reporters in Qatar, where he stopped as part of a regional tour to raise funds for the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Jordanian government announced the arrest of an undisclosed number of Hamas members who it said received orders from a leader based in Syria to carry out attacks on officials in the kingdom.
Last week, the discovery of the arms cache, which included missiles and explosives, prompted Amman to cancel a fundraising visit by Zahar to Jordan.

Jordan says Hamas leaders in Syria ordered attacks
By Suleiman al-Khalidi
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan said on Tuesday a group of Hamas militants arrested last week were close to staging attacks inside the kingdom on orders from the Palestinian group's Syrian-based leadership.
Security sources said Jordan's intelligence community is checking whether the Hamas plot represented a shift in strategy away from the militant group's traditional policy of restricting attacks to Palestinian territory and Israel.
"Security interrogations with the detained suspects had proven they received instructions to execute operations from leaders of Hamas and specifically one of the military officials of Hamas currently based in Syria," said government spokesman Nasser Joudeh.
"They (the attacks) had reached a stage of implementation targeting installations and officials in Jordan," he added.
In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri denied the charges, saying the group did not have any armed group "either in Jordan or in any other country."
Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, has no track record of attacks outside the West Bank Gaza Strip and Israel.
A Syrian Foreign Ministry official denied the Jordanian allegations and said Damascus was "unaware of any Hamas military leadership within its borders" and that the militant group's presence in Syria was solely political.
A Hamas government, which took power in the Palestinian territories last month after winning January elections, has been under pressure to recognize Israel and embrace Middle East peace efforts. Jordanian officials privately support U.S.-led efforts to isolate it diplomatically and financially.
ROCKET LAUNCHERS AND EXPLOSIVES
Joudeh did not say how many Hamas activists were being held, but said one of the detainees had led security officials to a location in northern Jordan near the Syrian border where large quantities of weapons had been found.
"The pursuit is still going on and investigations into this are being conducted," Joudeh added without elaborating.
TNT explosives, rocket launchers and detonators were found in the safe house used by the Hamas activists, Joudeh said.
Jordan said last week that rocket launchers and highly combustible explosives seized from a secret Hamas arms cache in the kingdom had been smuggled from Syria, where the Palestinian militant groups' exiled leadership is based.
A security official told Reuters last week that while Amman was concerned the activists and the weapons had come from Syria there was no proof that Damascus condoned such activities.
A Jordanian security official said Amman was very concerned about the Hamas plot.
"Setting up a secret infrastructure network to plan activities against Israel from Jordan is one matter but targeting Jordan's own internal stability is a very different ball game," another security source said.
U.S. ally Jordan has over the years accused Damascus-based radical Palestinian groups opposed to Middle East peacemaking of either plotting attacks inside the kingdom or trying to smuggle arms to launch attacks
Hamas leaders have had a rocky relationship over the years with Amman, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 and has strong security cooperation with its western neighbor.
Hamas's politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, a Jordanian citizen living in Syria, was expelled in 1999 along with other leaders after accusations of illegal activities.
The militant group has a large following in refugee camps across Jordan, a country which hosts the largest number of Palestinian refugees outside the West Bank and Gaza.
(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Rasha Elass in Damascus)

U.N. Hariri sleuth queries Syria president
UNITED NATIONS, April 25 (UPI) -- The head of the U.N. panel looking into last year's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The head of the United Nations' International Independent Investigation Commission, Serge Brammertz, also met Tuesday with Vice-President Farouk al-Shara in Damascus, the Syrian capital, Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman at U.N. World Headquarters in New York, said. He had no further details about the investigator's operational work.
UNIIIC has already reported finding evidence pointing to both Lebanese and Syrian involvement in the bomb attack that killed Hariri and 22 others in Beirut Feb. 14, 2005.
In a report to the U.N. Security Council in March, Brammertz said he had been promised a meeting with Assad during the upcoming month. In contrast to earlier problems with Syrian cooperation, he reported progress in this "critical area," with a common understanding reached regarding access to individuals, sites and information.
The Security Council set up UNIIIC after an earlier U.N. mission found Lebanon's own investigation seriously flawed and Syria primarily responsible for the political tension preceding Hariri's slaying.
In the latest report, Brammertz wrote that UNIIIC intended to request "full, unhindered and direct access" to documents, facilities and sites, as well as interviews with Syrian citizens.
Despite the cited progress, "it is important to note that the commission will ultimately judge cooperation of the Syrian authorities on the merits of the information provided and promptness with which its requests are being accommodated," he added.

A Year After Pullout Lebanon Still Wary of Syria 'Timebombs'
Syrian "timebombs" are still littering the political landscape in Lebanon a year after Damascus's dramatic troop withdrawal from the neighboring state it dominated for years, analysts say.
Despite the initial euphoria of a popular uprising dubbed the "Cedar revolution" Syria continues to wield huge influence in Lebanon, playing on deep political divisions that have resurfaced in a country still bearing the scars of the 1975-1990 civil war.
Damascus pulled out its troops on April 26 last year in the face of intense domestic and international pressure heightened by the February 2005 murder of Lebanon's former billionaire prime minister Rafik Hariri, ending a 29-year military presence.
"But the Syrians left many timebombs behind, and these are paralyzing the Lebanese government," said Nadim Shehade, researcher at Britain's Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House.
Lebanese political leaders have been locked in talks to try to end a long-running deadlock that has left the government, led by an anti-Syrian coalition headed by Hariri's son Saad, effectively impotent with Damascus still holding several trump cards.
At issue is the fate of pro-Damascus President Emile Lahoud, who has so far resisted calls by the anti-Syrian bloc to step down, and the disarming of the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hizbullah.
Lahoud, a Christian Maronite whose term in office was controversially extended under a constitutional amendment pushed through by Damascus, retains enough power to stall any government action he opposes.
And as well as Hizbullah and Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal movement, Syria can also count on the support of the armed pro-Damascus Palestinian movements operating in Lebanon.
The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has faced increasing isolation by the West, with a U.N. probe implicating top officials in the Hariri killing, and accusations led by the United States that it is playing a role in the insurgency in neighboring Iraq.
But Damascus has benefited from a shift of the international spotlight to the crisis over its top regional ally Iran's nuclear program and the Middle East conflict after a Hamas-led government took power in the Palestinian territories, an Arab diplomat said.
Political analyst Michel Hasher said the anti-Damascus bloc that now commands the majority in the Lebanese parliament fears it could be let down by allies in Washington, Paris and pro-Western Arab regimes, despite repeated U.S. assurances there will be no deals with Syria at Lebanon's expense.
Shehade noted that Syria was still able to resist Lebanese demands, despite strong pressure from Western powers and the United Nations, which are calling for the disarmament of all militias in the country and the extension of the government's sovereignty over all Lebanese territory in compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559.
"At first, the Lebanese tried to use confrontation through popular mobilization, but the anti-Syrian camp could neither pursue this mobilization nor maintain its unity, and is now paralyzed," he said.
After winning legislative elections in May and June last year by a narrow margin, the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority was not able to form a government on its own.
Under the country's confessional political system, the coalition had to seek the participation of Damascus allies Hizbullah and Amal.
The anti-Syrians have also been hard hit by a series of bomb attacks against prominent figures critical of Damascus's dominant role, and the walk out of Gen. Michel Aoun to the rival camp.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, a former close aide to Hariri who was warmly received by U.S. President George W. Bush last week, has also expressed his desire to visit Damascus to mend ties, but that door has not yet been opened.
The coalition has also failed to reach an agreement with Syria to demarcate their borders in the disputed Shabaa Farms area, a move which could force an Israeli pullout from the zone, and thus deprive Hizbullah of its justification to retain its arms.
Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon in 2000 but keeps a presence in the Shabaa farms area, which it seized from Syria along with the Golan Heights in 1967 but is claimed by Lebanon with Damascus's approval.
"Damascus wants to keep a bone of contention in Shabaa in order to keep Lebanon hostage and use the deterrent force of Hizbullah, which still has rockets pointed toward northern Israel," said a Western diplomat.(AFP-Naharnet)

Lebanese Housewife Tells of Horrifying 8 Years in Syrian Torture Camps
Naharnet 26/4/06: On the occasion of the one-year anniversary of Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon, An Nahar published the horrifying story of Hala el Hajj, a Lebanese housewife who spent 8 years of hell in Syria's torture camps.
Hajj was kidnapped in Beirut in 1992 and then disappeared for 8 years during which she was transferred to three detention centers run by the Syrian intelligence services in Lebanon and Syria where she was tortured, almost starved to death and thrown in an underground cell hardly big enough for a dog.
Hajj, who now lives with her family in France, is married to Gaby Karam, a Lebanese intelligence officer. She says Syrian agents, who were after her husband, seized her near the Beirut Museum after they failed to capture Karam.
Her four assailants immediately handcuffed her, placed a black bag over her head and drove her to the notorious Syrian intelligence command center near the Beau Rivage Hotel in Beirut.
For three days, she was beaten with sticks while the bag was still covering her head and her hands were in cuffs. The beatings were so severe that her face was mangled and covered with blood while she slipped in and out of consciousness.
When her tormentors failed to make her confess that she was gathering information about the Syrian army in Lebanon, Hajj was transferred to Syrian intelligence headquarters at Anjar in the Bekaa Valley where she met Ghazi Kanaan, the head of Syria's security operations in the country at the time.
"We will strip off the skin of anyone in Lebanon who dares to say anything (negative) about Syria," Hajj recalls Kanaan as saying to her and the 8 other people who arrived at Anjar on that fateful day.
After their short stop in the Bekaa, Hajj and her fellow detainees were hauled into truck and taken across the border to the Mazzeh detention in Damascus where political prisoners are usually interrogated before being sent to jails in other parts of Syria.
As soon as the group got off the truck they were received with more beatings and insults, recalls Hajj.
"I will crush the biggest head in Lebanon with this boot," Hajj quotes one of her tormentors Munir el Abras as saying to them.
Of all her long ordeal, Hajj seems to have been particularly marked by her arrival at Mazzeh.
"I will never forget this night. We called on all the prophets and saints to show their mercy but (our prayers) were in vain," she said.
The worst was yet to come. The prisoners were then led to their cells which Hajj said were 40 meters underground. She described them as dim boxes that were no bigger than 80x180cm with a ceiling height of 1.5 meters.
Hajj recounts the torture methods used at Mazzeh which included whippings, removal of finger nails, beatings of genital areas, electric shocks to the nose and ears, burning with cigarettes and hanging from the ceiling sometimes for days. Their injuries were covered with salt to make them even more painful and when they passed out from the pain, they were drenched with ice cold water to wake them up.
Hajj miraculously survived 150 days of unbearable torture during which she was fed handfuls of stale bread mixed with unrecognizable particles and forced to defecate and urinate on herself.
When Hajj's torturers realized she had no information to give them, they allowed her to bathe, change into a Syrian army uniform and then they transferred her to a cell with other Lebanese and Jordanian women. They were all charged with "threatening Syrian security."
Hajj says she was released after interventions on her behalf. Ironically, after she was handed over to Lebanese intelligence, she was beaten again during a debriefing session.
"Weren't eight years of torture in Syria enough? I now speak Arabic with a Syrian accent and cannot remember the names of my own family members. What do you still want from me?" Hajj said she told her Lebanese interrogators. -Beirut, 26 Apr 06, 11:31


Lebanon to Extend U.N. Commission Mandate for One More Year
Naharnet 26/4/06: Lebanon is expected to extend for one more year the mandate of chief U.N. investigator Serge Brammertz who is leading the probe into former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination, As Safir said Wednesday. The newspaper quoted Justice Minister Charles Rizk as saying that the government came to the conclusion that the extension was necessary after talks at U.N. headquarters in New York last week between Prime Minister Saniora and U.N. officials including Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Rizk's announcement came as Brammertz held a landmark meeting with President Bashar Assad and a separate one with his vice president Farouk al Sharaa.
SANA, the official Syrian news agency, said the meeting on Tuesday with Assad lasted one hour and was attended by Assistant Foreign Minister Ahmed Arnous and the ministry's legal advisor Riyad al Dawoudi.
A U.N. spokeswoman in Beirut confirmed that two separate meetings had been held without disclosing any details about the results of the encounters.
Rizk, who accompanied Saniora on his U.S. trip and attended the talks at the United Nations, said two main reasons were behind the expected extension request.
The minister, who had previously stated that an agreement between Lebanon and the United Nations over the international court to try Hariri's assassins was almost ready, said it is now apparent that more time is needed to finalize the accord.
One of the major issues that still need to be addressed is the exclusion of the death penalty that is applicable under Lebanese law but not admissible as punishment in international tribunals. Rizk said this would require parliament to meet and issue a law to this regard, which would take some time.
The second important consideration concerns Brammertz's investigation. Rizk said that when he met with the probe chief in New York he asked him if his mission would be accomplished by June 15, the day that his present mandate expires. Brammertz said he was unable to commit to a deadline.
In light of these two issues, Saniora "indirectly" asked during his speech at the United Nations last week for an extension of the commission's mandate, the minister said.
He said Lebanon would ask for a year's extension this time as opposed to six months to avoid having to make such a request again.
The one-year extension would give ample time for the conclusion of the investigation and the formation of the international tribunal, Rizk said. He also raised the possibility that Brammertz may be appointed during this period as prosecutor general in the trial considering his experience with the case.
Brammertz, a Belgian prosecutor succeeded his predecessor German Judge Detlev Mehlis as head of the U.N. commission in Jan. He has kept his work secret and refused to make statements to the press about progress in the investigation.
In his first report submitted in mid-March to the U.N. Security Council, Brammertz said he has made significant advance in his work but that more progress depends on further Syrian cooperation with the probe.
Since he took over the investigation, his main goal has been to secure the meeting with Assad who had declined two previous requests for interviews filed last year by the commission, which is based in Beirut.
Beirut, 26 Apr 06, 07:59

Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia and Qatar Seek to Fund Hamas
By Ezra HaLevi-Arutz Sheva 26.4.06
Iran, Saudi Arabia and others are eager to fund the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority, but are having trouble passing the money over due to banks' fear of US retribution, Hamas officials say.
According to the PA, more than $120 million has already been raised from donor countries, but the money is not being transferred due to Arab banks' fear of retribution by the US.
Iran was one of the first countries to declare it would help Hamas, offering $50 million and a promise to continue assisting the Islamist group in its efforts to wipe out the Jewish State.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya called Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to thank him for his aid Tuesday. "I have called the president of the Iranian Islamic republic to thank him for the support that he has shown towards the Palestinian people and I told him of our desire to have strong relations with all Arab and Muslim countries," Haniya said.
US ally Saudi Arabia pledged $90 million in aid to the PA. Qatar pledged $50 million.
Though Kuwait was saved by the US, from invasion by Iraq in the first Gulf War, the oil kingdom offered $7.5 million when visited by the Hamas finance minister, Mahmoud al-Zahar. In a bizarre twist, however, al-Zahar reported that $450,000 in cash was stolen from his hotel room during his visit.
It is unclear why so much cash would be on al-Zahar's person, due to the claim that the PA's coffers are nearly empty.