LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 19/07

Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5,38-42. You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.

Free Opinions
Axis of evil states, Syria and Iran are behind the firing of- By: Elias Bejjani- World Forum - USA. June 19/07
The Arab League can help, but not if the Lebanese don't get serious. Daily Star. June 19/07
The region is mute amid Iraqi violence-By Alia A. Toukan. June 19/07

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 19/06/07
Three Lebanese Soldiers Killed in Nahr al-Bared-Naharnet
Shadowy Group Claims Responsibility for Rocket Attack on Israel-Naharnet
UN urges restraint after rocket attack on Israel-ReliefWeb (press release)
Islamists claim responsibility for Lebanon rocket attack on Israel-Ya Libnan
Breaking News: 2 killed and 1 wounded in explosion in Lebanon camp-Ya Libnan
Syria denies report of meeting with Israeli officials in Washington-Monsters and Critics.com
Finland to Withdraw from UNIFIL on Schedule-Naharnet
Army, U.N. on Full Alert Following Rocket Attack On Israel-Naharnet
Olmert Proposes to Ban Expanding UNIFIL's Mandate-Naharnet
Fatah al-Islam Cornered in Small Segment of Nahr al-Bared-Naharnet
Saniora Asks U.N. to Help in Probe of Eido's Assassination-Naharnet
Lebanon 28th in 'Failed States' Index-Naharnet
Moussa Once Again to Lebanon to Renew Dialogue-Naharnet
Israel Fires 5 Shells into South Lebanon after Rocket Attack-Naharnet
Lebanon seeks UN help in Eido killing probe-Gulf News
Olmert wants more action from UN peacekeepers in Lebanon-Monsters and Critics.com
Will new attacks go before the Special Court?International Justice Tribune
Moussa starts another mediation mission in Beirut-Daily Star
Lebanese lurch into new brawl over by-elections-Daily Star
Army tightens noose on Fatah al-Islam-Daily Star
Two rockets hit Israel from South Lebanon-Daily Star
Clashes break out between Fatah, Hamas in two camps-Daily Star
Police arrest four men over punch-up in southern suburbs -Daily Star
UN envoy visits Beirut for security talks-Daily Star
UAE pledges $5 million to Palestinian refugees-Daily Star
Some American citizens shrug off new travel warning-Daily Star
Life goes on in Tripoli despite battle raging up the road-Daily Star

Army, U.N. on Full Alert Following Rocket Attack On Israel
The Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers went on full alert Monday, a day after unidentified militants fired Katyusha rockets into northern Israel, drawing retaliatory Israeli shelling on a mountaninous area of south Lebanon. Armored vehicles of both the Lebanese army and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrolled the road running parallel to the border with Israel. The Lebanese army also set up snap checkpoints in the border zone right after the 5 pm rocket attack in search of a civilian vehicle from where the Katyushas were apparently fired into the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, causing no injuries and minor damage.
UNIFIL said the rocket attack from Lebanese territory on Israel was a "serious breach" to the cease-fire that ended last summer's Israel-Hizbullah war, and urged the parties to exercise maximum restraint to prevent an escalation.
Five shells landed in the mountainous areas of Birkat Naqqar and Jabal Saddaneh near the town of Shabaa in the eastern sector of the border with Israel, minutes after the rockets slammed into northern Israel. There were no reports of casualties. UNIFIL and Lebanese troops have intensified patrols of the area "in order to locate the perpetrators and prevent any further attacks," said UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane. The peacekeeping force urged the parties to exercise maximum restraint to prevent escalation. Hizbullah denied involvement, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the attack was mostly likely the work of "a small Palestinian movement." The Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, led by Ahmed Gibril, also denied it had carried out the rocket attack.
Israel's initial reaction was muted, but security officials were meeting to debate a response. An official with Olmert indicated Israel would not hit back.
Prime Minister Fouad Saniora said the attack aimed to destabilize Lebanon by casting doubts about the ability of the army and UNIFIL to protect the border zone.
"The state ... will spare no effort in uncovering those who stand behind this incident, which is aimed at attempting to undermine the stability" of Lebanon, Saniora said in a statement. Bouziane said that the Lebanese army "located the launching area and found four rocket launchers with time devices. There were three fired and the fourth failed to fire." The Lebanese army said in a statement three 107 millimeter Katyusha rockets were fired at Israel by "unknown elements" and that a search was underway to find the attackers. Troops sent to search the suspected launching area found a fourth rocket equipped with a timer.
A Lebanese security said that the rockets were launched using timers from an area between the villages of Adaisseh and Kfar Kila, a few kilometers from Israel's border.
Israeli Channel 2 TV's Arab affairs analyst, Ehud Yaari, said a splinter Palestinian group in Lebanon was probably behind the attack. There was no claim of responsibility. In the past, small Palestinian groups, like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, have fired a few rockets at Israel.
Late Sunday, a drone aircraft could be heard circling over the southern port city of Tyre, witnesses said. UNIFIL and the Lebanese army have no drones, and Israel has frequently flown such small aircraft to monitor movements on the ground in southern Lebanon.
The 2006 conflict started with a cross-border raid by Hizbullah in which three Israeli soldiers were killed and two captured. Israel launched an air offensive against Hizbullah targets and Lebanese infrastructure. The war ended inconclusively after 34 days.(Naharnet-AFP-AP)(AFP photo shows a Lebanese army officer speaking on his mobile as he stands near a rocket apparently left behind by guerrillas at the alleged site where rockets were fired into northern Israel)
Beirut, 18 Jun 07, 08:44

Fatah al-Islam Cornered in Small Segment of Nahr al-Bared
Lebanese troops on Monday continued to bombard Fatah al-Islam terrorists now cornered in what is known as the "old camp," a small segment at the southern tip of Nahr al-Bared. The Lebanese army said it has advanced further into Nahr al-Bared since Friday and driven the militants into the "old camp," as the battle against Fatah al-Islam entered its fifth week. Troops, vowing to crush the militants, blasted suspected Fatah al-Islam hideouts inside the camp on the outskirts of the northern port city of Tripoli, sending thick black and white smoke billowing into the air and starting fire in several shell-punctured buildings in the camp.
Shells were falling at a rate of every five minutes as army tanks and artillery fired at Nahr al-Bared, AFP said.
In Sunday's clashes, troops entirely destroyed the militants' main headquarters located on the edge of the camp, according to the state-run National News Agency. But the whereabouts of Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker Abssi and his top aides remain unknown. On Monday an army officer confirmed the army had blown up two major militant positions inside the camp the day before. Fatah al-Islam had used the buildings as firing points to target Lebanese troops besieging Nahr al-Bared since fighting erupted there on May 20. Lebanese flags flew over the two buildings on Monday.
After inspecting troops deployed around Nahr al-Bared on Sunday, Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman said that the decision to eliminate Fatah al-Islam militants was "final and irreversible." "There is no other way out for these terrorists except to lay down their arms and surrender to justice before it is too late," Suleiman said in a statement carried by the NNA. The fighting has killed at least 135 people, including 68 soldiers and 50 Islamists.(Naharnet-AFP-AP)(AP photo shows Lebanese army tanks inside Nahr al-Bared) Beirut, 18 Jun 07, 12:10

Saniora Asks U.N. to Help in Probe of Eido's Assassination
Prime Minister Fouad Saniora has asked the U.N. Security Council to authorize U.N. investigators to help investigate the assassination of anti-Syrian MP Walid Eido in a massive car bombing in Beirut. Saniora asked the U.N. commission investigating the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri and 22 others in February 2005 to provide technical assistance to the Lebanese investigation into Wednesday's "heinous terrorist act" that killed Eido, his son, two bodyguards and six bystanders.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent the letter from Saniora to the council on Thursday, according to copies circulated on Friday. The council is expected to give its approval this week. Eido was the latest victim in a string of bombings to have shaken Lebanon since fighting erupted in the northern Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp on May 20. His assassination was a further blow to the stability of the country, which has been mired in a political power struggle between the anti-Syrian government and the Hizbullah-led opposition, supported by Damascus. Eido was a close friend of the late Hariri. He also was a political ally of Hariri's son, Saad, who now leads the anti-Syrian majority in the Lebanese parliament. Five other anti-Syrian figures have also been assassinated the past two years.
Many in Lebanon blame Syria for the killings, but Syria denies any involvement. The chief investigator of the U.N. commission probing Hariri's assassination, Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz, visited the scene of the bombing that killed Eido near Beirut's popular seafront promenade. His visit Friday came as a team of U.N. experts was expected in Beirut soon to survey the bombing site and collect clues on the circumstances of the blast.
The commission is also providing technical assistance to Lebanese authorities in 16 other cases including the November assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel.(AP-Naharnet) Beirut, 18 Jun 07, 09:31

Moussa Once Again to Lebanon to Renew Dialogue
Arab League chief Amr Moussa is to travel to Lebanon on Tuesday in a bid to ease the political crisis through dialogue between anti- and pro-Syrian camps.
Moussa and his delegation, grouping Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia, will meet the two sides "to try to bring Lebanon out of its crisis," said a statement by the Cairo-based organization. Arab foreign ministers at a meeting on Saturday urged the feuding Lebanese political camps to return to negotiations, following the murder of anti-Syrian lawmaker Walid Eido in Beirut. They also decided to form the delegation to consult with Lebanese leaders as well as regional and international parties to "work towards creating an atmosphere conducive to resuming a Lebanese national dialogue."
The contacts will cast "light upon the terrorism, crimes, assassinations, arms trafficking and infiltration of armed men that Lebanon has been subjected to," the ministers said in a statement released after their talks. Prime Minister Fouad Saniora asked on Wednesday for the special meeting, just hours after Eido was murdered by a seafront bomb. Eido's killing, reminiscent of the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, drew a fresh chorus of accusations against Damascus, which itself condemned the murder and denied involvement. Lebanon's political system has been deadlocked since November when six pro-Syrian ministers quit the cabinet charging that it was riding roughshod over the power-sharing arrangements in force since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Pro-Syrian House Speaker Nabih Berri has since refused to convene MPs to ratify government legislation, including flagship proposals for an international tribunal to try suspects in Hariri's murder.(AFP)

Olmert Proposes to Ban Expanding UNIFIL's Mandate
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday discussed with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon the situation in southern Lebanon hours after militants fired a salvo of rockets against northern Israel. The attack caused no casualties and little damage but added further tension to the Middle East crisis.
Olmert described the rocket attack as "very disturbing." His office quoted him as telling Ban the assault was possibly carried out "by al-Qaida or a Jihad movement wanting to create a provocation in order to deflect attention from the events in Gaza.""Lebanon has been very quiet in the last nine months and hopefully will continue to be so," Olmert was quoted as saying. Ban and Olmert also discussed the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended last year's war between Israel and Hizbullah. The Israeli prime minister urged Ban to expand the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to include blocking arms shipments from Syria to Lebanon, a senior Israeli government official said. Olmert pressed Ban on information over the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah in a deadly cross-border raid on July 12, the official said. Hizbullah's attack sparked the 34-day Israeli offensive on Lebanon.
Olmert's visit to New York also came after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas swore in his new cabinet led by a Western-backed politician and immediately outlawed fighters of the rival Hamas movement, which took over the entire Gaza Strip on Friday, routing Abbas' Fatah forces.
The international community has welcomed the new cabinet led by Salam Fayyad. Olmert said that Israel was ready to normalize ties with the government, adding that "a Palestinian government that is not a Hamas government is a partner and we will work with them accordingly."(AFP-AP-Naharnet) Beirut, 18 Jun 07, 08:58
Beirut, 17 Jun 07, 22:20

Israel Struck by Rockets from South Lebanon
by Nisha Chittal
Two rockets launched from South Lebanon today rocked the Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona. According to officials, no one was hurt, although there was some damage. These are the first rockets fired from Lebanon to Israel since the war last summer between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas, according to the Associated Press.
A Hezbollah TV station in Lebanon, Al-Manar, denies any involvement in the attack. It is suspected that a splinter Palestinian group in Lebanon may be behind the attack. The town of Kiryat Shemona, where the rockets exploded, was hard hit during the war last summer. The town’s mayor, Haim Barbivai, commented: "Heaven help us if we have another summer like the last one. That would be a tragedy."The attack raises the possibility of renewed conflict between the two countries, who ended last summer’s war inconclusively after 34 days.

Israel shells southern Lebanon
Sun, 17 Jun 2007 20:53:49
Israeli troops have fired five shells at the mountainous areas of Birkat Naqqar and Jabal Saddaneh near the town of Shebaa in south Lebanon.
The shelling came moments after two rockets allegedly fired from Lebanon hit a town in northern Palestine. There were no reports of casualties, security forces said. Lebanese troops carried out patrols and erected checkpoints in search of a vehicle from which the rockets were fired into the region, according to an AFP correspondent. Israeli media quoted military officials as saying the rockets were fired by a Palestinian organization in Lebanon, but gave no details. Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the attack.

LIC (Lebanese Information Centre) Statement on the Assassination of MP Walid Eido
June 15, 2007
The silencing of the voices of freedom continues in Lebanon. MP Walid Eido paid with his life the cost of his brave opposition to the Syrian and Iranian criminal conspiracy against Lebanon. His assassination is a part of the evil scheme to shift the political power balance in favor of Syria’s and Iran’s allies by physically eliminating members of the parliamentary majority, members of the cabinet (council of ministers) or the Prime Minister himself. And those in the so-called Lebanese opposition are knowingly or unknowingly playing in the hands of the regional murderous regimes.
It is no coincidence that MP Eido’s murder happened at the time when a bombing of a Shiite shrine is aimed at reigniting the Sunni and Shia strife in Iraq, when extremist Palestinians are taking over the Gaza strip and when battles are raging between the “Fateh Al Islam” terrorists and the Lebanese army. Clearly, what happens in Lebanon is part of the malicious plans of the regimes of Syria and Iran to spread their regional clout in order to advance their radical and destructive agenda. If they succeed, the whole Middle East will be in turmoil rendering the war on terror more costly and difficult and hindering any chances for global peace and stability.
The ominous threats of Bashar Al Assad and Ahmadinejad are tragically materializing all over the region. This reality should leave no illusions in the minds of those who are still promoting to engage Syria and Iran as peacemakers. These two countries’ gruesome regimes are conducting, through their terrorist proxies, a war of attrition against the forces of moderation in the Arab World. Any time wasted in negotiating will give them more opportunities to expand their areas of influence and to violently eliminate any voice that opposes them. An immediate action is needed from the US, Europe and the Arab World to confront them with all available means and to completely neutralize their menacing capabilities before it is too late.
The Lebanese Information Center believes that the following measures need to be immediately implemented to stop Lebanon’s plunge into complete chaos:
1. The Cedar Revolution Movement and the March 14th Coalition, duly elected in the majority, are to revive the country’s democratic institutions, principally the Parliament and the Council of Ministers to conduct the affairs of the Nation. Specific actions include:
· Opening legislative sessions;
· Organizing By-Elections to replace the assassinated MPs Gemayel and Eido;
· Lifting the illegal blockade and sit-in from downtown Beirut and the areas surrounding the Parliament and the Office of the Prime Minister;
· Holding the Pro-Syrian opposition, Aoun, Berri, Hezbollah and Lahoud legally and morally responsible for endangering Lebanon’s national security and contributing to the wave of bombings and killings.
2. The Government of Lebanon is to boost security and intelligence capabilities and activities with the utmost urgency taking the following steps:
· shutting down Lebanese borders with Syria at once and until adequate security measures are completed;
· isolating all areas inside Lebanon which are outside state authority-the so-called security enclaves- specifically Palestinian camps and Hezbollah strongholds;
· initiating a wide security crackdown looking for weapons caches, suspects, and establishing if necessary a state of emergency nationwide;
· targeting Syrian Regime operatives and collaborators in Lebanon with enhanced monitoring, surveillance, house arrests...
· accelerating all on-going investigations with the detainees involved in the latest terrorist crimes to uncover accomplices and plots;
· requesting foreign assistance in implementing the above steps.
3. The friends of Lebanon worldwide, the Arab countries, and the International Community are to instantly provide the necessary assistance for:
· pursuing the international investigation into all the killings, bombings and other acts of terror targeting the Lebanese;
· implementing the Lebanese Security plan, especially controlling borders with Syria, monitoring pro-Syrian groups in Lebanon, aiding the LAF and ISF with material and technology, and providing military and security forces wherever the GOL is in need. The United Nations Security Council should be ready to expand the role and presence of UNIFIL to ensure security and stability are enforced on the Lebanese territory.
Meanwhile, we offer our deep condolences to the family of MP Eido and to the families of all who have perished in this gruesome act. We pray that all the Lebanese resort back to their national conscience and unite against their real enemies and that the international community take immediate and effective actions to make the late MP Eido the last victim in a long line of martyrs of the bloody fight for Lebanon’s freedom.

Operation al Qaeda: Rule the Mideast
By George Thomas
CBN News
June 18, 2007
CBNNews.com - AMMAN, Jordan - From Cairo to Riyadh to here in Amman, Jordan, Arab governments kept a close eye on the civil war in Gaza.
On the streets of Amman, there was shock and disbelief at the level of brutality between Hamas and Fatah fighters.
"No one could have imagined the violence and killing we saw on television. It was bad," one resident of Amman said.
More than half the population of Amman is Palestinian and support for the terrorist group Hamas is high.
Another resident said, "They should not be fighting each other they should be fighting Israel, the enemy."
But a leading Jordanian terrorism analyst worries that this latest struggle has been more than just a power struggle for Gaza and the West Bank territories. He believes it also signals a renewed campaign by al Qaeda to infiltrate the regimes of the Middle East.
"I think there is a strategic decision within al Qaeda to get closer to the Arab-Israeli conflict to be involved in this conflict and there are many signals, by the way," said Oraib al-Rantawi of the al-Quds Center for Political Studies.
"Look for example in Gaza nowadays," he said. "Since the winning of Hamas in the last elections in Palestine, at least five to six new organizations have emerged in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. All of them have the same names of al Qaeda in its early beginning stages."
Today, al Qaeda and the global jihadists' goals are to topple and destroy the moderate Arab and Muslim nations, beginning in Egypt, then Jordan and finally Saudi Arabia.
"There are no illusions about what the global jihadists want to establish once they bring down the 21 Arab states, the 52 Muslim states both moderate and religious. They want to re-establish in their own mind the caliphate, the Khalifah, that would be a religious empire stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to China," Middle East expert Walid Phares said.
In just the past six months, there've been deadly attacks or foiled plots by al Qaeda-linked groups against Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Morocco, and Lebanon.
"In fact, it is truly a global assault and it will unfortunately… jeopardize governments of various kinds that have any to do with resistance to these islamofascists," terror analyst Frank Gaffney said. "If we neglect the danger to any of these countries we wind up almost certainly facing an increased danger to our own society inevitably down the road."
The war in Iraq has been a big boost to the global jihadists.
A couple of months ago, Ayman Al-Zawahiri issued a call to his followers to take the experience gained on the battlefield in Iraq and to bring it back to places like Amman, Jordan.
"We will witness in the coming few months a new phenomenon: the returnees from Iraq. We are talking about at least 5,000 militants - most of them may go back home. They will create serious problems. I think they will start creating a new wave of violence and terrorism in the Middle East," al-Rantawi said.
It is a Middle East that many believe is becoming more violent, more extremist, more sectarian and more religious than ever before.