LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
JANUARY 14/2006

Below news from miscellaneous resources for 14.1.06
Lebanon lawyers boycott Damascus meeting-UPI 14.06
Bush, Merkel Urge U.N. Action on Iran - AP 14.1.06
Syria says UN cannot question Assad about slaying.boston.com 14.1.06
Lebanon says al Qaeda suspects planned attacks-Reuters 14.1.06
Syria may aid UN inquiry into Hariri murder -mg.co 14.1.06
Below New from Naharnet for 14.1.06
Assad in the Eye of the Storm: Lebanon, West Reject Compromise over Hariri Probe
Qaida Ring Arrested, Arms Smuggled Across Border
U.S. Accuses Syria of 'Destabilizing and Intimidating' the Lebanese
Syria Wavering on Assad's Cooperation with U.N.
Annan Urges Syrian Cooperation, Says Brammertz' Priority is Making Early Contact with Damascus
Aoun Says Syria is 'Prime Suspect' in Hariri's Assassination
New 'Hit List' of Prominent Lebanese Delivered to ISF
Two Pilots Killed in U.S. Helicopter Crash in Iraq

Lebanon lawyers boycott Damascus meeting
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Reflecting growing tensions between Lebanon and Syria, a syndicate of lawyers in north Lebanon said it will boycott a meeting of Arab attorneys in Damascus.
A statement Friday said the syndicate was surprised by the decision to hold the congress of the Union of Arab Lawyers in Damascus between Jan. 18-22 and decided to boycott it.
It explained that at the last meeting, held in May in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, the Union did not discuss the agenda, venue or date of the next meeting.
The Lebanese lawyers also said their decision was dictated by the congress' agenda, which they opposed for failing to mention dramatic developments in Lebanon, including assassinations and bombings which many Lebanese blamed on Syria.
"Although we stress the importance that the Union of Arab Lawyers contributes to easing tensions between Lebanese and Syrian authorities, we were disappointed by the Union's secretariat general for being bluntly biased in preparations for the congress by failing to mention the threats, assassinations, and bombings to which Lebanon is exposed," the statement said.
Lebanon has been rocked by assassinations and bombings since October 2004, including the Feb. 14, 2005, killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, for which many Lebanese blame Syria.
Hariri's assassination sparked anti-Syria protests, forcing Damascus to pull out from Lebanon in April last year in line with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559.

Assad in the Eye of the Storm: Lebanon, West Reject Compromise over Hariri Probe
Naharnet 13.1.06: Lebanese and Western resolve to bring Syria to fully comply with U.N. resolutions has undermined an Arab-authored compromise to put to rest demands that Syrian President Bashar Assad testify before international investigators probing the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. French President Jacques Chirac told Hariri's son and political heir, Saad, during talks in Paris Thursday that he would not agree to a deal that compromised Lebanon's sovereignty. Separately in Egypt, Premier Fouad Saniora said after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that Lebanon would not interfere in the international investigation, but that Syria needed to cooperate. "There are no deals and this is what the French, the Americans as well as Saudi Arabia are saying," said Hariri after meeting Chirac at the Elysee palace on Thursday.
"The world community and the United Nations are committed to international resolutions regarding the investigation," he added referring to the U.N. probe into the assassination of his father Rafik Hariri.
Hariri spoke after a briefing by Chirac about an Egyptian-Saudi initiative aimed at easing the crisis between Lebanon and Syria and finding a way out for Assad from facing embarrassing questioning by the U.N. over Syria's alleged role in Hariri's murder.
Lebanese newspapers reported Friday that the Arab initiative actually originated in Damascus that sought Saudi and Egyptian intervention. An Nahar quoted Lebanese sources as saying the Syrian offer included five main points. They are ceasing Beirut's media campaign against Damascus, forming a joint security committee between the two countries, demarcating the border, opening embassies in the two capitals and coordinating foreign policy.
"The ideas that were proposed by Damascus are a maneuver to reestablish a foothold in our country. This Syrian maneuver has failed and the file is closed," Druze leader Walid Jumblat told AFP. "Saudi Arabia has good intentions towards Lebanon," he added.After talks with the Egyptian President in Sharm el Sheikh, Premier Saniora urged Syria to cooperate with the international investigation and to cease its support to armed Palestinians outside refugee camps.
"We want the international commission to carry out its investigation without any impediments and we... hope that Syria cooperates with the international investigation commission," Saniora told reporters. He stressed the need for "an end to Syrian support for Palestinian gunmen outside the camps" if Damascus was truly concerned about Lebanon's stability and wanted to see an improvement in relations. Beirut, Updated 13 Jan 06, 14:58

Qaida Ring Arrested, Arms Smuggled Across Border
Naharnet 13.1.06: Authorities have captured 13 suspected al-Qaida militants who were apparently planning attacks in the country and have received information of 5 trucks laden with arms and ammunition crossing into Lebanese territory.
Beirut's assistant military court judge Ahmed Oweidat charged the 13 on Friday with "establishing a gang to carry out terrorist acts, forging official and private documents and possessing unlicensed arms." The 13 -- three Lebanese, seven Syrians, a Saudi, a Jordanian and a Palestinian -- were arrested two weeks ago in various parts of Lebanon, court officials said.
An Nahar said police received information that the trucks entered Lebanon 10 days ago from the Hosh el Harimi crossing between Lebanon and Syria in the Bekaa Valley where they unloaded their cargo. Tensions are high between the two countries over Damascus' alleged role in providing arms to Palestinian gunmen outside the camps.
There was no clear indication of a link between the arrests and the arm smuggling operation.
As Safir reported Friday that Lebanese authorities were keeping the Qaida arrests under utmost secrecy until they contact the militants' countries of origin for more information.
It said police was also interrogating Khaled Taha, one of the arrested militants, in connection with the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. As Safir said the report issued by U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis mentioned Taha's role in recruiting Ahmed Abu Adas, who made a dubious taped confession about staging the bombing that killed Hariri. The paper also added that Taha was involved in recruiting fighters to join the insurgency in Iraq. Al-Qaida's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on Israel from Lebanon last month. He said the orders for the aggression came directly from the network's overall chief Osama bin Laden.(Naharnet-AP) Beirut, Updated 13 Jan 06, 19:48

U.S. Accuses Syria of 'Destabilizing and Intimidating' the Lebanese
Naharnet 13.1.06: Washington accused Syria of adopting a policy of destabilization and intimidation in Lebanon and reiterated that Damascus had to cooperate fully and unconditionally with the U.N. commission investigating Rafik Hariri's murder.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Assad regime was 'destabilizing and intimidating' the Lebanese at a briefing Thursday on the U.S. position on Iran's nuclear ambitions.
She added Iran and Syria "are outside of the direction that the Middle East is generally going, which is a direction toward reform." She also criticized Iran for providing support to 'Palestinian rejectionists' and Hizbullah which the U.S. labels as a terrorist organization. In comments about Syria's lack of cooperation with the U.N. investigation, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Damascus had no choice but to yield to international resolutions. "Syria is obliged to abide by the terms of Security Council resolutions. They are clearly not cooperating and this is a matter of serious concern," Ereli told reporters. He was firm about the necessity of a meeting between Assad and the U.N. commission. "The chief investigator asked for meeting with Assad. This means that Assad has to meet with the commission. That's the end of the story," Ereli told An Nahar's Washington Correspondent Hisham Milhem. Beirut, Updated 13 Jan 06, 19:48

Aoun Says Syria is 'Prime Suspect' in Hariri's Assassination
Naharnet 13.1.06: Gen. Michel Aoun has blamed Syria for the killing of ex-premier Rafik Hariri in the latest sign of his perceived rapprochement with the March 14 alliance.
"I hold Syria responsible for Hariri's assassination, because it was in full control of security at the time" of the bombing that killed the former prime minister and 22 others, Aoun was quoted as saying in a full-page interview with al-Balad Friday.
Asked if he accused Syria of masterminding the assassination, Aoun said: "Yes, of course. Syria is the prime suspect in Hariri's assassination."Since his fallout with the March 14 camp upon his return to Lebanon in May, Aoun has refrained from directly pointing the finger at Syria for its alleged role in the Hariri assassination. His accusation followed renewed talks with the anti-Syria camp that rekindled hopes of a reconciliation between them.
In the interview, Aoun blamed the Lebanese government for failing to prevent a series of bombings targeting politicians and journalists following the April withdrawal of Syrian troops and intelligence from Lebanon.
"I refrain from accusing Syria of being behind crimes that followed its withdrawal from the country and I place the blame on the government for falling short of fighting such crimes," he said. On Friday, Information Minister Ghazi al-Aridi held talks with Aoun in his residence in Rabieh just a few days after legislators from the Christian leader's parliamentary bloc visited Druze leader Walid Jumblat in his hometown of Mukhtara. Aridi is also a senior member in Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party.
The exchange of visits came shortly after Jumblat called on Aoun to rejoin the March 14 forces. The Free Patriotic Movement leader described Jumblat's initiative for dialogue as "positive." Aoun also said that Hizbullah must give up its arms sooner or later, but cautioned that the Shiite group's disarmament should be reached through dialogue.
"Hizbullah must abandon its arms, but we can negotiate a timeframe and ways to disarm," Aoun told the newspaper.
Beirut, Updated 13 Jan 06, 19:45

Alleged Al-Qaeda statement warns Sabra, Shatila
Friday, January 13, 2006
BEIRUT: "We have been trying hard to enter the Sabra and Shatila camp, which is considered the symbol of Palestinian camps in Lebanon ... Since this camp needs reform, you have to take these warnings seriously, because today we warn but tomorrow we will liquidate dozens of people," a statement issued by an Al-Qaeda military faction in Lebanon said Thursday.
The statement was distributed in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp and was signed by the "Black Leopards: Al-Qaeda Military Faction in Lebanon." "We warn Lebanese government officials against interfering in the refugee camp; do not make orphans of your children and widows of your wives," the statement said. "We warn the women who leave the camp for places of prostitution in Hamra or who work for Lebanese and foreign security bodies; those will be liquidated by gunshots," it said.
The statement also said alcohol shops and pharmacies which sell anesthetic medicine will be detonated and their owners murdered. "Our suicide bombings will target all the United Nations buildings inside and outside the camp, as well as agents such as [Palestinian officials] Abbas Zaki and Khaled Aref and several foreign embassies," the statement added.
"We warn [Saudi Prince] Walid bin Talal against entering the camps," it said.
"Our attacks will also target immoral religious men who stole our money, as well as Lebanese security
officers who took advantage of our brothers," the statement added. But camp residents such as Palestinian Nabil Shreh reject the statement. "The residents of Sabra and Shatila rise above such statements," he said. "I believe those who wrote the statement are strangers; they do not belong to the camp." Shreh added that Shatila is "the door" that would lead the refugees to their homeland in Palestine. "Osama bin Laden should go and fight the Zionists before coming here to reform the camps," he said. "We don't live in an extremist Islamic country; Shatila is the camp of the martyrs, the camp of the struggle," Shreh continued.
He added that the only United Nations buildings in the camp were medical clinics and schools. "Do they want to destroy them too?" he asked.

Syria says UN cannot question Assad about slaying
By Nadim Ladki, Reuters | January 13, 2006
BEIRUT -- Syria said yesterday that it would not let a UN team question President Bashar Assad about the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon.
But the information minister, Mahdi Dakhl-Allah, said Damascus had not ruled out a meeting between Assad and investigators. ''There is a difference between a questioning and an audience. The president receives visitors from Syria and outside Syria," he said.
In an earlier interview, Dakhl-Allah was asked whether Syria rejected a presidential meeting with the UN team. ''Certainly, because the issue is related to Syria's sovereignty. . . . This is a red line that cannot be crossed," he told Egyptian radio.
He said Syria would still cooperate with the UN inquiry into Hariri's assassination in a Beirut bomb blast Feb. 14.
The UN Security Council has threatened Syria with ''further action" if it does not cooperate fully with the investigators, who asked last month to interview Assad, his foreign minister, Farouq al-Shara, and other officials.
Diplomats say Syria has indicated it will let Shara meet with the UN team. He will not be among four Syrians that sources close to the inquiry said would be questioned in Vienna next week.
Abdel-Halim Khaddam, a former vice president of Syria, has accused Assad of ordering Hariri's killing. The inquiry has implicated Syrian officials and pro-Syrian Lebanese security chiefs. Syria has denied any role in the blast, which killed Hariri and 22 others.Asked whether he thought Assad was directly responsible for Hariri's assassination, Khaddam told Britain's Sky Television: ''In my belief, yes, my personal belief is that he ordered it." US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice threatened Wednesday to send the inquiry back to the Security Council if Syria's ''obstruction" continued.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.

Lebanon says al Qaeda suspects planned attacks
Fri Jan 13, 2006 -BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon charged 13 suspected al Qaeda members on Friday with planning to launch terrorist attacks, military prosecutor Ahmed Awidat said. The charges also include possession of weapons and forging documents, Awidat said. He did not give further details, but said the suspects would appear before a military magistrate for questioning at a later date. Security sources said earlier on Friday that Lebanese security forces had arrested the suspects -- seven Syrians, three Lebanese, one Saudi, one Jordanian with Lebanese nationality and one Palestinian -- about two weeks ago. Al Qaeda has rarely launched attacks in Lebanon, although it has used allied factions to recruit scores of volunteers among Lebanese and Palestinian refugees who went to Iraq to fight.
One of the al Qaeda hijackers in the September 11 attacks in the United States was a Lebanese national.
A foiled attempt to bomb the Italian embassy in Beirut in 2004 was blamed on a small militant group with links to al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for firing three Katyusha rockets from south Lebanon into northern Israel on December 27. There has been no independent confirmation that the Sunni Muslim militant group was behind that attack.
Israeli warplanes bombed a Palestinian guerrilla base just south of Beirut in retaliation for the strike.
South Lebanon is largely controlled by Shi'ite Hizbollah guerrillas who have sporadically clashed with Israeli forces since the Jewish state ended 22 years of occupation in 2000.© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Syria may aid UN inquiry into Hariri murder
13 January 2006 12:23 -The Syrian government signalled on Thursday that it would allow United Nations investigators to talk to president Bashar Assad about the assassination of the Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri.
The UN investigators, who acquired a new head this week, Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz, are seeking to bring charges against senior members of the Syrian government suspected of implication in last year's murder.
Mahdi Dakhl-Allah, the Syrian information minister, was reported on Thursday to have ruled out an interview with Assad but he said later he had been misinterpreted. He said a meeting was possible: "There is a difference between a questioning and an audience," he said. The Syrian government also agreed that its Foreign Minister, Farouq al-Shara, and other officials can be interviewed in Vienna next week. The softening of tone was noted by the Bush administration but a US spokesperson at the UN said there would be no lessening of pressure on Syria to cooperate. "We feel this kind of obfuscation is unacceptable, and in the end it is not unfettered cooperation," he said. In an interview with Sky television, former Syrian vice-president Abdel-Halim Khaddam suggested Assad could have been involved in ordering Hariri's killing. "In my belief, yes, my personal belief is that he ordered it. But at the end of the day there is an investigation. They must give the final decision," he said. - Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

Syria under siege
13 January 2006
Khaleej Times Online
SYRIA'S woes seem to be mounting by the day. Since his devastating Al Arabiya interview last week that implicated President Assad in the Rafik Hariri assassination, former Syrian vice-president Khaddam has been on an offensive. Earlier this week, he called for a 'revolt' in Syria to bring down the regime and introduce democracy and reforms.
Now in an interview with UK's Sky TV, Khaddam has insisted that it is his personal belief that Assad ordered Hariri's killing. Khaddam's accusations against the Syrian leadership are being taken seriously in the region because the former vice-president, now in exile in Paris, had been an important part of the Baathist establishment for nearly three decades. He was picked up by Bashar's father, Hafiz Al Assad, and was a close confidant of the late leader. This is why the former vice-president cannot be accused of talking irresponsibly to settle old scores. It's not easy to dismiss him as someone who is exploiting the public opinion building up against the Syrian regime. His integrity is beyond doubt.
Not surprisingly, Khaddam's offensive has led to the calls by the US to bring Damascus to account. Secretary of State Rice has threatened to take Syria back to the Security Council if it doesn't 'cooperate' with the UN investigation into the Hariri killing. Syria must realise the seriousness of the predicament it finds itself in. It has to do everything to help the UN probe, now under a different investigator, into the Hariri affair. It's in its own interest.

Bush, Merkel Urge U.N. Action on Iran
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON - President Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel stood together Friday in urging U.N. intervention if Iran does not retreat from a resumption of its nuclear program. The world needs to "send a common message to Iran that their behavior ... is unacceptable," Bush said. Merkel used similar words, and she also condemned statements by Iran's leader challenging Israel's right to exist. "We will not be intimidated by a country such as Iran," she said.
At a joint White House news conference, Bush rejected a plea by Merkel that the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be shut down. He called the four-year-old camp "a necessary part of protecting the American people."
It was one of the few disagreements the two leaders voiced after their White House meeting. It was the German leader's first visit to the United States since taking office last November. Iran threatened earlier Friday to block inspections of its nuclear sites if confronted by the U.N. Security Council over its atomic activities. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reaffirmed his country's intention to produce nuclear energy.
Bush assailed what he called Iran's efforts "to clandestinely develop a nuclear weapon, or using the guise of a civilian nuclear weapon program to get the know-how to develop a nuclear weapon." Taking the matter to the Security Council, as Germany, France and Britain recommended on Thursday, is the logical next step, Bush said. "We want an end result to be acceptable, which will yield peace, which is that the Iranians not have a nuclear weapon in which to blackmail and-or threaten the world," Bush said. On Guantanamo, Merkel said she raised the issue with Bush, and she described it as one of the differences between the United States and Germany. Germany opposed the war in Iraq.
"There sometimes have been differences of opinion. I mentioned Guantanamo in this respect," Merkel said. Bush said, "I can understand why she brought it up because there's some misperceptions about Guantanamo."He disputed reports that detainees there have been mistreated. Bush said the prison camp would remain open "so long as the war on terror goes on, and so long as there's a threat." Ultimately, the U.S. courts will have to decide whether terror suspects can be detained in Guantanamo or must be processed through the U.S. judicial system, he said.
On another subject, Bush said he had "no idea" about the possible truth of reports that German intelligence agents actively helped U.S. forces in Iraq at the start of the war. It was a reference to German television and newspaper reports that the government of then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, an outspoken opponent of the war, helped identify a bombing target in Iraq. Germany's Federal Intelligence Agency said the reports were "wrong and distorted," although it did confirm that it had two agents in Iraq before and during the war.
"You did say 'secret intelligence,' right?" Bush said to the German reporter who asked the question. "The chancellor brought this up this morning, I had no idea what she was talking about. First I heard of it was this morning, truthfully." On Thursday, Germany, Britain and France, backed by the United States, said talks with Iran had reached a dead end and urged that the issue be referred to the Security Council. Trying to line up support, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke by telephone Friday to Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing. But at the United Nations, China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya, said referring Iran to the Security Council might toughen Tehran's position on its nuclear program.
What kind of sanctions the council might consider remained in dispute. Both Bush and Merkel said they discussed Iran at length. In two years of difficult negotiations between European nations and Iran, "Iran refused every offer we made," Merkel said. "It's very important for non-transparent societies to not have the capacity to blackmail free societies," Bush asserted.
Merkel took power last November after an extremely close and protracted race with Schroeder. Bush jokingly likened that race, which took almost two months to resolve, to his own victory in 2000 over Democrat Al Gore, which was decided only after weeks of suspense by a Supreme Court decision.
"We didn't exactly landslide our way into office," Bush said. Eschewing the motorcade that usually transports world leaders to the White House, Merkel made the short trip to the White House from the Blair House guest quarters across the street on foot. She and her sizable entourage walked through the White House gates trailed by empty black limousines and a fleet of silver German-made BMWs. Schroeder's opposition to the U.S.-led war that deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein so damaged the German's relationship with Bush that the president refused at times to speak to Schroeder on the telephone.
Merkel, by contrast, is more in tune with Bush's conservative politics. Merkel also was to meet with members of Congress and planned to attend a ceremony at the newly renovated headquarters of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Despite her calls for a partnership with Washington, she has demonstrated a strong streak of independence, including her criticism of the Guantanamo Bay camp. Germany rebuffed an appeal by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales not to release a terrorist accused of killing a Navy diver in a 1985 airplane hijacking.

Marcel Ghanem, the world famous TV personality,
is to be honored by the Maronites of Southern California .
January 13, 2006
Mr. Marcel Ghanem, the host of the popular TV program Kalam Al Nass, which is very widely watched by the Lebanese and Arab Community all over the world, is to receive the Life Time Achievement Award for Excellency in Journalism on February 12, 2006 at the Grand Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles . The Award will be given yearly to Maronites who excel in their profession and civil achievements.
Nobody is more deserving of the award this year than Marcel Ghanem, who has been the voice of freedom, democracy and independence of Lebanon . His program has been a forum for important Lebanese issues that need to be discussed and addressed and he has been described as the Walter Cronkite of Lebanon . This St. Maron's Spirit Award is one of the highlights of St. Maron Feast Day, which will take place on February 12. For ticket information, and a chance to see and listen to Marcel Ghanem, contact Amal Alwan at (323) 255-9191.