LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

April 04/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.april04.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

The Angel Gabriel Appears To Virgin Mary
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 01/26-38: “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.”

But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Letter to the Galatians 03/15-22: “I give an example from daily life: once a person’s will has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it does not say, ‘And to offsprings’, as of many; but it says, ‘And to your offspring’, that is, to one person, who is Christ. My point is this: the law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise. Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring would come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained through angels by a mediator. Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God is one. Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law. But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 04/16
Bridging geopolitical gaps/Walid Phares/Face Book/April03/16
Turkey: The Business of Refugee Smuggling, Sex Trafficking/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/April 03/16
Why Are Christians Leaving the Holy Land/Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/April 03/16
The return of the Syrian revolution to its beautiful youth/Jamal Khashoggi/Al Arabiya/April 03/16
Barring Muslims would spell a US economic disaster/Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya/April 03/16
Before the last oil barrel ends/Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/April 03/16
What do ISIS want? Donald Trump/Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Al Arabiya/April 03/16
Syrian Alawites distance themselves from Assad/Caroline Wyatt Religious affairs correspondent/BBC/April 03/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on April 04/16

'At Least 12' Hizbullah Fighters Killed in Aleppo since Friday
Lebanese-Belgian Businessman Kidnapped in Angola Released
Report: Arab Embassies in Beirut Raise Security Measures
Six Turn Themselves in over Storming of Asharq al-Awsat's Offices
FPM Denies Link to Antelias Anti-Saudi Banners as Rifi Orders Arrests
Young Woman Killed in ISF Anti-Drug Chase
Franjieh Rejects from Tripoli Attempts to 'Eliminate Lebanon's Arab Identity'
Report: Fears Ain el-Hilweh Unrest May Spread throughout Camp

Siniora tours 'Souk el Akl' in Sidon: Circumstances not normal, but the Lebanese determination to live shall continue
Tashnag: International community should intervene to resolve Armenia, Azerbaijan conflict
UAE Ambassador back in Beirut
Mikati: For concerted efforts to thwart attempts to undermine Lebanon's relations with Arab brethrens
Fatah Movement: Committed to ceasefire in Ain elHilweh, will not defend violators

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 04/16

Indian priest kidnapped in Yemen “could be freed soon”

Reports: 'Sex Slave' Ring Busted after Hizbullah Tip-Off
Obama: World must prevent ISIS ‘dirty bombs’
Flights resume at Brussels Airport after attacks
Syria Opposition Sees U.S. 'Ambiguity' on Assad Future
Turkey Rejects Amnesty Claims over 'Forcibly Returning' Syrians

Yemen President Names New Premier, Vice President
Nagorny Karabakh Clashes Reported despite Azeri Ceasefire Claim
IS-Claimed Attack on Saudi Police Kills Foreigner
Syrian forces enter ISIS-held town near Palmyra
Saudi crown prince sees ‘progress’ in ending Yemen war
US Republicans back Egypt’s Sisi despite rights concerns
Iraqis displaced from western city of Ramadi begin to return home
Fire rips through Russian defense ministry
Tsunami waves possible after large quake hits off Vanuatu
Erdogan: US candidates target Muslims
Guards killed in attack on Libyan oil field
Air France stewardesses furious over order to wear headscarves on Tehran flights

Links From Jihad Watch Site for April 04/16
Scotland: Muslims threaten to kill Muslim who opposes jihad terror.
Sanders brings up Holocaust discussing Trump’s “intolerance” of Muslims.
Feds’ counterterror program failing: Hamas-linked CAIR opposes it.
Obama whines that Iran not following “the spirit of the agreement”.
NYC giving $10 million to Linda Sarsour, hate-filled supporter of Palestinian jihad.
Turkey’s Erdogan wants “Islamophobia” declared crime against humanity.
UK: Muslims plotted Islamic State jihad mass murder at beach resort.
Red carpets laid out for Muslim hate preachers at UK universities.
Hugh Fitzgerald: Obama Knows Best.
Pakistan: Public schools teach hatred of Jews and Christians, “passion for Jihad”.
Jihad terrorist refused to blow himself up during Paris jihad massacre.
Imam of Kaaba: Quran & Muhammad “against violence and terror. Islam has nothing to do with terrorism or terror acts”.
The Islamic State planted thousands of mines in Palmyra.
Can There Have Been Two Annunciations?.

'At Least 12' Hizbullah Fighters Killed in Aleppo since Friday
Naharnet/April 03/16/At least twelve Hizbullah fighters have been killed in clashes with al-Nusra Front-led militants in the southern countryside of the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, a monitor said on Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Hizbullah members were killed in “shelling and clashes.” “Al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida's Syria branch, and a number of Islamist and rebel factions had waged a fierce attack on Friday, in which they managed to recapture the strategic town of al-Eis in Aleppo's southern countryside,” the Observatory said. The attacking forces engaged in heavy fighting with the Syrian army and allied Hizbullah, Syrian, Arab and Asian militants, the monitor added. The fighting has resulted in the death and wounding of dozens of fighters from both sides, it said.

Reports: 'Sex Slave' Ring Busted after Hizbullah Tip-Off
A Hizbullah tip-off helped the Internal Security Forces dismantle the country's largest known sex trafficking ring, media reports said on Sunday. The ISF operation that freed 75 mostly Syrian women was carried out last Sunday and Tuesday. “A Syrian public passenger van driver was passing Friday night in a non-residential street in Beirut's southern suburbs when he noticed four scantily-dressed young women standing on the side of the road,” MTV said in a report on Sunday. “The driver convinced the women to get in the van after they told him that they escaped from a faraway place where they were locked up,” it added. The driver promised to help them and took them to an apartment in Beirut's southern suburbs where he lives with a number of Syrian compatriots, the TV network said. The women were later “sexually harassed in the apartment, which prompted them to start screaming, the thing that drew the neighbors' attention,” MTV added. “The neighbors then informed Hizbullah's 'security committee' in the area that something unusual was taking place in the apartment,” the TV network went on to say. “The members of the security committee arrived on the scene and detained all of those who were in the apartment,” it added. During interrogation, the young women said that they had escaped from a place in Jounieh “where they were suffering beatings and rape.”MTV said torture marks were visible on the women's bodies and one of them carried “flogging” bruises. “Faced by this situation, the members of the Hizbullah security committee telephoned the Mount Lebanon investigation department of the Internal Security Forces and handed it over the young women,” the TV network added. The women revealed to police investigators that other women are locked up at the Chez Maurice resort in Maameltein, which prompted the ISF to carry out the raids, MTV said. A doctor who was arrested in the operation has confessed to carrying out “nearly 200 abortions,” according to the ISF. "This is the largest sex trafficking ring we've uncovered since the outbreak of the Syrian war," a Lebanese security source told AFP on Friday. Ten male ring members, eight female workers and a nurse who worked for the traffickers were also arrested in the raids. A security source said "an eight-month-old baby, likely the child of one of the rescued women" was found during the raids. Even before the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011, Syrian women had been pushed into the illicit sex trade in neighboring Lebanon. "However, as with any war, conflict has made Syrian women and children even more vulnerable," the security source said. "They pay the highest price." On Thursday, the ISF said the members of the ring were arrested in the Jounieh region. It said the freed women had suffered “beating and psychological and physical torture” and were “forced to work in prostitution under the threat of having their naked pictures distributed, and other tactics.” “Detectives raided the nightclubs and apartments where the women were being held and liberated them, arresting 10 men and eight female workers,” the ISF said. It noted that the eight female workers were acting as “guards” and that they were “guarding and managing these apartments.”“Two of the ring's masterminds are still on the run while the freed women were handed over to a number of NGOs at the request of the relevant judicial authorities,” the ISF said.

Lebanese-Belgian Businessman Kidnapped in Angola Released
Naharnet/April 03/16/A Lebanese-Belgian businessman who was kidnapped in Angola earlier this week was released on Sunday. Acting charge d'affaires at the Lebanese embassy in South Africa Ara Khatchadourian announced that Michel Rizk was released by his captors after being abducted on Tuesday. The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of 500,000 dollars.It was not disclosed whether the ransom was paid or not.

Report: Arab Embassies in Beirut Raise Security Measures
Naharnet/April 03/16/The embassies of various Arab countries have increased their security levels in Lebanon in wake of the recent instability in the country, reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Anba on Sunday. It said that the measures were taken “as a precaution.” They were undertaken in coordination with Lebanese security agencies. Unrest in Lebanon has seen the eruption of clashes between rival factions in the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh and the storming by activists of the offices of the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat over a caricature that was deemed insulting to Lebanon. The embassy of Saudi Arabia in Beirut had taken precautionary security measures earlier this week in light of threats Saudi Ambassador Ali Awadh Asiri had recently received, media reports said. The measures around the embassy were taken before the Saudi owned al-Arabiya television news channel said on Friday that it has shut down its office in Beirut citing security reasons. Relations between Riyadh and Lebanon deteriorated in February, when Saudi Arabia halted a grant to the army in protest against Hizbullah's virulent criticism of the kingdom and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil's abstention from voting in favor of Arab League resolutions condemning attacks against the Saudi embassy in Iran in January. The kingdom urged its citizens against traveling to Lebanon. Gulf countries also issued similar advisories. Furthermore, in March the Arab League declared Iran ally Hizbullah a "terrorist" group, after Gulf monarchies adopted the same stance over the movement's support for the regime in Syria's war.

Six Turn Themselves in over Storming of Asharq al-Awsat's Offices
Naharnet/April 03/16/Six young men have turned themselves in to police after they were summoned by the judiciary over their storming of the Beirut offices of the Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat, the Internal Security Forces announced on Sunday.
In a video posted online Saturday, the young men arrive on foot at a police station in Ashrafieh, in what resembles a small demo, chanting the national anthem and carrying a Lebanese flag. “We are here to turn ourselves in. We are not terrorists, we were defending this flag and the country's sovereignty,” one of them tells a police officer outside the station. “We are not thugs. We restored Lebanon's dignity by what we did yesterday,” another one adds. “We did not attack anyone and we did not harm anyone,” one of the young men says. Four of them were identified in the video as Bilal Allaw, Hussein Nassereddine, Mohammed Hirz and Hassan Qteish. The six young men were detained at the judiciary's request as a search and arrest warrant was issued for social media activist Abbas Zahri who is still at large. An ISF patrol had on Saturday arrested the activist Pierre al-Hashash in the northern city of Batroun. According to an ISF statement issued Sunday, Hashash led the attack on the newspaper's offices and incited the other protesters to join him. The young men stormed Asharq al-Awsat's office on Friday in protest at a cartoon deemed insulting to Lebanon. A video posted on social media shows the protesters arguing with Lebanese employees and asking them to stage a strike to condemn the published cartoon, which contains the Lebanese flag and the phrase “The Lebanese State: An April Fools' Lie”. Some of the protesters then move to the office's desks and start pushing stacks of newspapers to the ground, unfazed by the employees' appeals. In a statement, the newspaper voiced regret over “the controversy that accompanied the cartoon,” noting that “some people have interpreted it in a wrong way.” “Asharq al-Awsat stresses its respect for Lebanon and notes that the cartoon was aimed at highlighting the situation that the State is going through in a country that is living a big lie caused by the attempts to impose hegemony on it and push it away from its Arab neighborhood,” the daily added. The incident came hours after the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel shut down its Beirut offices, citing “difficult circumstances” and “safety” concerns. The developments also follow tensions between the kingdom and Lebanon's Hizbullah and a series of Saudi measures against Lebanon and the Iran-backed party.

FPM Denies Link to Antelias Anti-Saudi Banners as Rifi Orders Arrests
Naharnet/April 03/16/Security forces removed Sunday banners containing insults to Saudi Arabia that were pinned on a footbridge on the coastal highway in Antelias, state-run National News Agency reported. The Free Patriotic Movement meanwhile issued a statement denying any link to the banners, after media reports said an FPM official was involved in the move. “The FPM stresses that it has nothing to do with the insulting banners and it condemns this insult and emphasizes its respect for the brotherly kingdom and its keenness on Lebanon's ties with it and with all brotherly and friendly countries,” it said. Later on Sunday, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi asked State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud to prosecute and arrest those who installed the banners and to hand them the “harshest penalties.” Rifi also called on the judiciary to maintain “continuous readiness to follow up on any insult against the kingdom or against any brotherly or friendly country,” vowing that Sunday's incident will be followed up “until the end.”The incident comes two days after a group of young men stormed the Beirut offices of the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat in protest at a cartoon deemed insulting to Lebanon. The cartoon published Friday by Asharq al-Awsat shows Lebanon's flag and the words “The Lebanese State: An April Fools' Lie.” The developments coincide with tensions between the kingdom and Lebanon's Hizbullah and follow a series of Saudi measures against Lebanon and the Iran-backed party.

Young Woman Killed in ISF Anti-Drug Chase
Naharnet/April 03/16/A young woman was killed and a fugitive was wounded in an exchange of gunfire between police and drug dealers in the Nahr el-Mot area, the Internal Security Forces announced on Sunday. “Shortly before midnight, a patrol from the Judicial Police's Anti-Terrorism and Serious Crimes Bureau came under gunfire near City Mall in Nahr el-Mot from a car carrying individuals suspected of selling narcotics in the Dora and Nahr el-Mot areas,” an ISF statement said. “The police vehicle was hit by two bullets, which obliged the policemen to respond in kind,” it added. The police gunfire “pierced the chased vehicle's tires, forcing it to stop and prompting the two individuals who were in it to flee as a young woman who was with them was wounded in the legs and back,” the ISF said. The woman, 20-year-old Lebanese national T. W., succumbed to her wounds after being rushed to a hospital in the area, the ISF added. The two suspects were arrested several hours later in the al-Jamaa neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs, the ISF said, identifying them as Syrian nationals R. H., 30, and F. L., 22. “The 9mm pistol they used in the incident was seized in their possession and it turned out that the first detainee was lightly wounded in the lower back in the exchange of gunfire,” the ISF added. The two suspects had been wanted by the judiciary on charges of “theft and the possession of firearms.” “They also confessed that they got rid of the drugs that were in their possession during their escape, handing them over to a Lebanese person called Z. Z.,” the ISF said, adding that the two suspects were referred to the Jdeideh judicial police department for further investigations.

Franjieh Rejects from Tripoli Attempts to 'Eliminate Lebanon's Arab Identity'
Naharnet/April 03/16/Head of the Marada Movement MP Suleiman Franjieh emphasized Lebanon's role in the Arab world, while highlighting its Arab identity and rejecting attempts to eliminate it, reported al-Mustaqbal daily on Sunday. He made his remarks during his visit to the northern city of Tripoli on Saturday, of which he said: “I feel at home here.” He paid a visit to Mufti of the Northa nd Akkar Sheikh Malek al-Shaar, who threw a banquet in his honor. “It is normal for me to be among my people in Tripoli as distance is foreign to us,” continued Franjieh. Furthermore, he ensured to raise Lebanon's “Arab voice at a time when the nation is coming under the deceitful campaigns aimed at tarnishing its image.” “Arabism is our history and we are all Arab.”

Report: Fears Ain el-Hilweh Unrest May Spread throughout Camp
Naharnet/April 03/16/Tensions remained high at the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in wake of clashes between rival factions in the southern camp. Lebanese and Palestinian circles expressed their concerns that the unrest may spread on a larger scale in the camp. The unrest has so far been limited to a few neighborhoods and machineguns and mortars were used. Dozens of families were displaced. A series of meetings were held between army intelligence in the South and Palestinian factions, including Islamist ones, to contain the tensions. Media reports said that the Ain el-Hilweh clashes involved the Fatah and Islamist militants. At least three people were killed in the unrest. NNA said the fighting broke out in the wake of a brawl between young men from the al-Sifsaf and al-Braksat neighborhoods. Such incidents have become frequent in recent years in Ain el-Hilweh, the largest of Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps. By long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the Palestinian camps in the country, leaving the Palestinian factions themselves to handle security.That has created lawless areas in many camps, and Ain el-Hilweh has gained notoriety as a refuge for extremists and fugitives.

Siniora tours 'Souk el Akl' in Sidon: Circumstances not normal, but the Lebanese determination to live shall continue
Sun 03 Apr 2016/NNA - Former PM Fuad Siniora toured on Sunday the various sections of "Souk el Akl," organized for the first time in the South by the "No Garlic, No Onions" Initiative and Rotaract Club, stating that "the Lebanese people's will of life shall continue, despite the difficult and odd circumstances."
Siniora praised the efforts in organizing such an event, the proceeds of which will go to the Lebanese Red Cross Association. "This is a blessed move by all those who worked to make this occasion a success, bringing people together from all parts of Lebanon," said Siniora, adding that "the Lebanese strong will, persistence to overcome obstacles and faith in their country shall eventually lead them to safety shore."

Tashnag: International community should intervene to resolve Armenia, Azerbaijan conflict
Sun 03 Apr 2016/NNA - Tashnag Party Central Committee denounced, in a statement on Sunday, Azerbaijan's dangerous attacks along the border line with Karabakh targeting residential areas, and urged the international community to intervene decisively to stop all military operations. It also called for finding appropriate solutions to resolve the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan by peaceful and diplomatic means, in accordance with international conventions on the right of self-determination.

UAE Ambassador back in Beirut
Sun 03 Apr 2016/NNA - United Arab Emirates Ambassador to Lebanon, Hamad Said Al Shamsi, returned to Beirut on Sunday, following a visit to the Emirates capital, Abu Dhabi.

Mikati: For concerted efforts to thwart attempts to undermine Lebanon's relations with Arab brethrens
Sun 03 Apr 2016/NNA - Former PM Najib Mikati warned via "Twitter" on Sunday against "malicious attempts to undermine the strength of brotherly and friendly relations between Lebanon and Arab States," calling for "rigorous efforts to fail such attempts.""A bright history of brotherhood and friendship connects us with Saudi Arabia, which cannot be shaken by temporary stands and disagreements, nor affected by political and media transient positions," he added. "Lebanon cannot but maintain excellent relations with its Arab brethrens, and history is the best witness to that," Mikati concluded.

Fatah Movement: Committed to ceasefire in Ain elHilweh, will not defend violators
Sun 03 Apr 2016/NNA - Fatah Movement leadership declared on Sunday that "it would commit to cease-fire and would not defend any person attempting to violate it," while confirming "its full attachment to all agreements by the factions political authorities and the national and Islamic forces in Lebanon."The Movement saluted "all efforts exerted by various parties and national, Islamic Palestinian and Lebanese forces, to set the cease-fire and restore normal daily life following the past two days' tragic events in Ain al-Hilweh, which resulted in the fall of several martyrs, casualties and material damages." It also denounced, in the strongest terms, all attempts to hamper security in Ain el-Hilweh, expressing "its keenness on preserving security, safety, and stability of the camp and its people," which it considered a "red line." Furthermore, the Movement stressed on the important role of the joint security forces in maintaining security and stability within the camp. Fatah leadership concluded by praying for the souls of the fallen martyrs, while wishing the wounded a speedy recovery.

Indian priest kidnapped in Yemen “could be freed soon”
Reuters, Mumbai Sunday, 3 April 2016/An Indian priest abducted by gunmen in Yemen last month is safe and could be released soon, a Catholic group said on Sunday, quoting the Indian foreign minister. Father Tom Uzhunnalil was captured from the southern Yemeni city of Aden by gunmen who killed at least 15 people at an old people’s home in an attack that was condemned by Pope Francis. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) said a delegation met Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj who said the government was working to secure the priest’s safe return. “She has assured us Father Tom is safe and negotiations are on for his release which could happen very soon,” said Father Joseph Chinnaiyan, deputy secretary of the CBCI.Media reports last week said the priest was killed by ISIS militants on Good Friday, although no one has claimed responsibility for last month’s attack in which gunmen killed four Indian nuns, two Yemeni female staff members, eight elderly residents and a guard. Father Chinnaiyan said the reports were inaccurate. Aden has been racked by lawlessness since Hadi supporters, backed by Gulf Arab military forces, drove fighters of the Iran-allied Houthi group from the city in July last year. International aid groups have pulled most of their foreign staff from Yemen due to security concerns.

Obama: World must prevent ISIS ‘dirty bombs’
Reuters, Washington Sunday, 3 April 2016/US President Barack Obama urged world leaders on Friday to do more to safeguard vulnerable nuclear facilities to prevent “madmen” from groups like ISIS from getting their hands on an atomic weapon or a radioactive “dirty bomb.” Speaking at a nuclear security summit in Washington, Obama said the world faced a persistent and evolving threat of nuclear terrorism despite progress in reducing such risks. “We cannot be complacent,” he said. Obama said no group had succeeded in obtaining bomb materials but that al-Qaeda had long sought them, and he cited actions by ISIS militants behind recent attacks in Paris and Brussels that raised similar concerns. “There is no doubt that if these madmen ever got their hands on a nuclear bomb or nuclear material, they would certainly use it to kill as many innocent people as possible,” he said. “It would change our world.” Obama hosted more than 50 world leaders for his fourth and final summit focused on efforts to lock down atomic materials to guard against nuclear terrorism, which he called “one of the greatest threats to global security” in the 21st century. Obama has less than 10 months left in office to follow through on one of his signature foreign policy initiatives. While gains have been made, arms-control advocates say the diplomatic process – which Obama conceived and championed - has lost momentum and could slow further once he leaves the White House in January.
‘Dirty bomb’ threat
Deadly bomb attacks in Brussels last month have fueled concern that ISIS could eventually target nuclear plants, steal material and develop radioactive dirty bombs. Militants were found to have videotaped the daily routine of a senior manager of a Belgian nuclear plant, Obama said. Obama said the required 102 countries have now ratified an amendment to a nuclear security treaty that would tighten protections against nuclear theft and smuggling. “We have measurably reduced the risks,” he said. But he acknowledged that with roughly 2,000 tons of nuclear material stored around the world, “not all of this is properly secured.”

Flights resume at Brussels Airport after attacks
AFP, Brussels Sunday, 3 April 2016/A Brussels Airlines flight to the Portuguese city of Faro became the first plane Sunday to take off from Brussels Airport since its departure hall was wrecked in Islamic State suicide attacks 12 days ago.
In an emotional ceremony at the airport, tearful employees and government officials marked the departure with a minute’s silence and a round of applause, AFP reporters saw. On the tarmac, fire engines and police vehicles lined up on either side of the aircraft to form a guard of honour for the plane. “We’re back,” said Brussels Airport chief executive Arnaud Fei. The passengers on board were the first to undergo the airport’s strict new security regime after the coordinated March 22 attacks, which also struck a Brussels metro station and killed 32 people. Passengers for the first three flights that were part of the airport’s symbolic reopening on Sunday, were asked to come three hours early and by car only. They were ushered into large white tents outside the terminal serving as a makeshift check-in facility, where they passed through metal detectors and had their bags screened. Heavily armed police and soldiers were manning the access roads to the airport and were widely deployed throughout the temporary zone as well, AFP reporters saw. The number of flights will be stepped up gradually in coming days, although the airport will only be able to work at 20 percent capacity at best using the temporary facilities, handling 800 to 1,000 passengers an hour. It will take months for the blast-damaged departure hall to be repaired, the airport operator has said.
 

Syria Opposition Sees U.S. 'Ambiguity' on Assad Future
Naharnet/April 03/16/A Syrian opposition figure on Sunday criticized perceived "American ambiguity" on the future of President Bashar Assad and urged Washington to confirm he will not be "rehabilitated" in a future government. "We have American ambiguity that is very damaging for us," Bassma Kodmani, member of the main opposition High Negotiations Committee which attended last month's peace talks in Geneva. The committee has rejected Assad's demand for any transitional government to include his regime as Syria struggles to emerge from five years of civil war. The White House last week indicated Assad should not feature in a transitional unity administration, White House spokesman Josh Earnest dubbing his participation a "non-starter" for Washington. But Kodmani said the committee wanted confirmation of that stance two days after high level U.S.-Russian discussions on ways of strengthening a fragile ceasefire. "We don't know what the United States are discussing with Moscow," Assad's long-time ally, said Kodmani. "We are awaiting confirmation that the USA are maintaining their position to refuse to rehabilitate Assad," she told French media. Kodmani stressed "Assad's departure must be negotiated. The end of the regime must be a controlled, not a chaotic, transition operation."But she warned that if Moscow "continues to think Assad should continue to govern then we shall not have a solution in Syria. He cannot remain in power. "The opposition's position is clear -- negotiation will occur while Assad is still in power, but the transition cannot happen with him." U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura wants fresh peace talks to start next week in Geneva on ending a conflict that has killed more than 270,000 dead with a transitional government being formed in six months to draft a new constitution ahead of presidential elections in 18 months time.

Turkey Rejects Amnesty Claims over 'Forcibly Returning' Syrians
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 03/16/Turkey on Saturday vehemently rejected accusations by Amnesty International that it was forcibly returning Syrian refugees to the conflict-torn country, as Ankara prepares to take back, under an EU deal, Syrians who traveled illegally to Greece. "The allegations do not reflect reality in any way," the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement. "It is sad that this kind of news was shared with the public (by the media) in such an intense way," it added. Amnesty International accused Turkey on Friday of illegally forcing groups of some one hundred Syrians a day to return home, saying the alleged expulsions showed the "fatal flaws" in the migrant deal agreed with the EU. Greece is due on Monday to start sending back to Turkey all migrants, including Syrians, who crossed the Aegean Sea illegally. Amnesty said its revelations showed Turkey was not a "safe country" for Syrian refugees to return to.But the Turkish foreign ministry insisted there was "no change" in the open-door policy that for the last years has allowed any Syrian fleeing the civil war there to seek refuge in the country. "Turkey is committed to continue to provide protection to Syrians fleeing violence and instability under its international obligations," it added.

Yemen President Names New Premier, Vice President
Agence France PresseYemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has relieved prime minister and vice president Khaled Bahah of his duties in government, a presidency source told AFP on Sunday. Hadi appointed Ahmed bin Dagher, former secretary general of the General People's Congress party to which the president once belonged, as prime minister, the source said. He appointed veteran General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar as vice president, according to the same source, who said Bahah would now serve as a presidential adviser. There was no immediate explanation behind Bahah's dismissal, which comes just a week ahead of a U.N.-brokered ceasefire planned between Yemen's warring parties, which is expected to pave the way for peace talks in Kuwait on April 18. But government sources have in the past spoke of differences between the president and Bahah, who had served as Yemen's envoy to the United Nations before Hadi appointed him as foreign minister and then prime minister. In December, Hadi reshuffled his cabinet, naming new foreign and interior ministers in a move that was understood to be aimed at smoothing his relations with Bahah. Hadi has also recently been involving Ahmar more actively in decision-making, appointing him in February as armed forces deputy commander in a bid to rally support from tribes and troops in the rebel-held region around Yemen's capital. Ahmar's troops played a prominent role in the 2011 uprising that ousted strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose loyalists are now allied with Iran-backed Shiite rebels in control of Sanaa.

Nagorny Karabakh Clashes Reported despite Azeri Ceasefire Claim
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 03/16/Azerbaijan on Sunday announced a unilateral ceasefire after the worst outbreak of violence in decades over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region but Armenian forces insisted clashes were continuing despite international pressure to stop fighting. The defense ministry in Baku said "Azerbaijan, showing good will, has decided to unilaterally cease hostilities", but threatened to strike back if its forces came under attack. Baku also pledged to "reinforce" several strategic positions it claimed to have "liberated" inside the Armenian-controlled region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan. But the spokesman of the Armenia-backed separatist presidency in Karabakh, David Babayan, told AFP that fighting has never been halted along the frontline. "Fierce fighting is under way on southeastern and northeastern sectors of the Karabakh frontline," he said. Armenian defense ministry spokesman, Artsrun Hovhannisyan also dismissed the the Azeri ceasefire claim as a "trap that does not mean a truce." Fierce clashes left at least 18 Armenian and 12 Azerbaijani soldiers dead Saturday and reportedly claimed the lives of two civilians after both sides accused each other of attacking with heavy weaponry across the volatile frontline. Armenia's President Serzh Sarkisian called the clashes the "largest-scale hostilities" since a 1994 truce ended a war in which Armenian-backed fighters seized the territory from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan said one of its helicopters was shot down as its forces took control of several strategic heights and a village in Armenian-controlled territory. Karabakh forces on Sunday claimed they took back the strategic Lala-Tepe height in Karabakh which was captured by Azeri troops on Saturday. Baku denied the report, saying that the height remained under its control and that rebel troops sustained "serious manpower losses." Both Russia and the West appealed to all sides to show restraint, with key regional power broker President Vladimir Putin calling for an "immediate ceasefire". Moscow has supplied weaponry to both sides in the conflict, but has much closer military and economic ties to Armenia and Yerevan is reliant on Russia's backing. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged the arch foes to return to peace talks under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), reiterating "there is no military solution to the conflict".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meanwhile vowed to back traditional ally Azerbaijan "to the end" in the conflict. "We pray our Azerbaijani brothers will prevail in these clashes with the least casualties," Erdogan said. Ethnic Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of the mountainous Nagorny Karabakh region in an early 1990s war that claimed some 30,000 lives and the foes have never signed a peace deal despite the 1994 ceasefire. The region is still internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan and the two sides frequently exchange fire, but the latest episode marked a surge in violence and sparked frantic appeals for peace from international powers. Energy-rich Azerbaijan, whose military spending has in the past exceeded Armenia's entire state budget, has repeatedly threatened to take back the breakaway region by force if negotiations fail to yield results.
Moscow-backed Armenia says it could crush any offensive. The last big flare-up occurred in November 2014 when Azerbaijan shot down an Armenian military helicopter. While the reasons for the sudden surge remain unclear, analyst Thomas de Waal of Carnegie Europe wrote that the "potential for a serious outbreak of fighting has never been greater" as both sides have bolstered their arms. "It is more likely that one of the two parties to the conflict -- and more likely the Azerbaijani side, which has a stronger interest in the resumption of hostilities —- is trying to alter the situation in its favor with a limited military campaign," de Waal wrote in a blog posting. "The dangerous aspect to this is that, once begun, any military operations in this conflict zone can easily escalate and get out of control."

IS-Claimed Attack on Saudi Police Kills Foreigner
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 03/16/A bomb blast targeting Saudi police has killed a foreign resident in Riyadh, the interior ministry said Sunday, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group. The bombing targeted a security patrol vehicle parked near a police station in the Kharj area of Riyadh late on Saturday, the ministry said, quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency. It did not specify the victim's nationality but said two security patrols were damaged. The Islamic State group said in a statement on Twitter that two explosive devices were used and "three apostate police vehicles" set ablaze. IS has claimed previous attacks on Saudi security forces as well as deadly bombings and shootings that targeted the Sunni kingdom's Shiite minority.
 

Syrian forces enter ISIS-held town near Palmyra
Reuters, Beirut Sunday, 3 April 2016/Syrian and allied forces, backed by Russian air strikes, entered the ISIS-held town of al-Qaryatain on Sunday, having gradually surrounded it over the past few days, state media and a monitoring group said. Al-Qaryatain is 100 km (60 miles) west of Palmyra, which government forces recaptured from ISIS last Sunday. The town has been held by the militant group since late August. Syrian state media said government forces entered from a number of directions. A Syrian military source told SANA state news agency the army now controlled the northern district and was clearing the area of explosives planted by ISIS. ISIS militants retreating from Palmyra laid thousands of mines which the Syrian army is now clearing before civilians can return. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighting continued between ISIS and government forces in al-Qaryatain, which is surrounded by mountains. “Practically speaking, the town can be said to have fallen militarily, because the regime controls the surrounding hills,” the Observatory’s director Rami Abdurrahman told Reuters. The Britain-based Observatory, which monitors the five-year-old Syrian conflict through a network of sources on the ground, said more than 40 air strikes by Russian and Syrian planes hit areas near the town on Sunday.

Saudi crown prince sees ‘progress’ in ending Yemen war
By Staff writer Al Arabiya English Sunday, 3 April 2016/Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman said there has been "significant progress" in talks between the warring sides of the year-long Yemeni conflict and a resolution will be reached soon. “There is significant progress in negotiations, and we have good contacts with the Houthis, with a delegation currently in Riyadh,” said Prince Mohammed, who is also the kingdom’s defense minister, in an interview with Bloomberg. “We are pushing to have this opportunity materialize on the ground but if things relapse, we are ready.”Prince Mohammed conducted an interview with Bloomberg last week in which he announced plans to dedicate a $2 trillion budget for a a post-oil Saudi economy. His statements on the ongoing Yemeni war were published on Sunday. In March 2015, Saudi Arabia led a coalition to intervene via airstrikes in Yemen in support of its legitimate government after Iran-backed Houthi militias seized much of Yemen.

US Republicans back Egypt’s Sisi despite rights concerns
AFP, Cairo Sunday, 3 April 2016/A US Republican delegation visiting Cairo on Sunday said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was the "right man at the right time" for Egypt even as Washington criticizes alleged rights abuses in the country.
The six-member delegation led by hawkish senator Lindsey Graham backed Sisi in the fight against the militant ISIS group, but was cautious when asked to respond to growing accusations of human rights violations committed by Egyptian security forces. Graham said Sisi was "the right man at the right time" to lead Egypt as the ISIS group had become a "nightmare" for the entire region. "There is a desire that Daesh be destroyed in Sinai... the president has expressed his desire to destroy Daesh," Graham said using the Arabic acronym for the ISIS, which is spearheading an insurgency in the restive peninsula. When asked about the human rights situation in Egypt, Graham offered a response in stark contrast to the present US administration, which has regularly criticized reported human rights abuses in Egypt. "I understand that the country is a new democracy and coming out of chaos," told reporters in Cairo. "He (Sisi) has to balance security with the rule of law... there are elements that come to Egypt to disrupt the nation and there are many people coming here to help you. Don't treat them all in the same way," the senator added. Rights groups have accused Egypt's security services of carrying out illegal detentions, forced disappearances of activists and torture of detainees since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013. After his removal, a police crackdown targeting Mursi's supporters has left hundreds dead and tens of thousands jailed. Hundreds more have been sentenced to death including Mursi himself. In March, US Secretary of State John Kerry said there was a "deterioration in the human rights situation in Egypt in recent weeks and months".Ties between Washington and Cairo deteriorated after Mursi's ouster. The US froze its annual $1.3 billion of military aid to Egypt, which led Cairo to warm up to Russia and France to meet its arms requirements. But the aid was later released even as Washington remains critical of the government's rights record.

Iraqis displaced from western city of Ramadi begin to return home
Reuters, Baghdad Sunday, 3 April 2016/The displaced population of Ramadi has started to return to the western Iraqi city that was recaptured from ISIS militants in December, a provincial official said on Sunday. About 3,000 families have returned since Saturday to districts of Ramadi that have been cleared of mines and explosives, city governor Hameed Dulaymi told Reuters. Families are relying on electricity generators as the public grid has not been repaired, he said. Water for domestic use is being pumped from the nearby Euphrates river, he added. Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province 100 kilometres (62 miles) west of Baghdad, is the first major success for Iraq's army since it collapsed in the face of ISIS's lightning advance across the country's north and west about two years ago. Most of the city's population of nearly half a million fled before the battle, taking shelter in camps west of Baghdad.

Fire rips through Russian defense ministry
Reuters, Moscow Sunday, 3 April 2016/A fire ripped through a Russian Defense Ministry building in central Moscow on Sunday, sending plumes of smoke over the Russian capital as fire fighters battled to extinguish the blaze. Around 50 people were reported to have been evacuated from the administrative building, which dates from the end of the eighteenth century. Nobody was reported to have been hurt. Photographs from the scene showed fire fighters scaling ladders to access the building’s upper floors with fire engines pumping water through hoses placed on the ground floor. Traffic through central Moscow was diverted. Major-General Igor Konashenkov, on the scene, told the Interfax news agency that the flames had been put out, but that work was continuing to extinguish parts of the building that were still generating smoke and smouldering. A source told Interfax the fire may have started as a result of a short circuit involving old electrical wiring. The Emergency Situations Ministry said the fire had covered an area of at least 50 square metres. The Defense Ministry told Interfax the fire would not hamper its operations.

Tsunami waves possible after large quake hits off Vanuatu
Reuters, Sydney Sunday, 3 April 2016/A large 7.2 quake struck off the coast of the South Pacific islands of Vanuatu on Sunday and there was a possibility of tsunamis, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. The quake struck 151 km north northwest of Santo on Vanuatu and was 35 km deep, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The shallower a quake, the more damage it is likely to cause. USGS first measured the quake at 10 km deep. There were no immediate reports of damage. Earthquakes are common in the area and even large tremors often cause no tsunamis. A 7.3 magnitude quake struck off Vanuatu in October and a 6.3 quake struck in December without causing any damage.

Erdogan: US candidates target Muslims
Reuters, Lanham, Maryland Sunday, 3 April 2016/Islamophobia is on the rise in the United States and US presidential candidates have targeted Muslims during the election campaign, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday. Erdogan, a pious man who has styled himself as a champion for Muslims in Turkey and beyond, spoke at the opening of a Turkish-sponsored mosque near Washington, reportedly the largest Muslim house of worship in the United States. “There are still people walking around calling Muslims terrorists. I am watching with bewilderment and astonishment that some candidates still defend this position in the current presidential election in America,” Erdogan said. Republican candidates in the US presidential race have sparked accusations of Islamophobia. The party’s frontrunner Donald Trump has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, while his main Republican competitor Ted Cruz has said police should patrol Muslim neighborhoods in the country. “Unfortunately, we are in a period of rising intolerance and prejudice toward Muslims in the United States and the world,” Erdogan said. “It is absolutely unacceptable to make all Muslims pay the price for the pain and horror” of the attacks on America on Sept. 11, 2001, he said. Erdogan also said recent the recent attacks claimed by ISIS in Brussels and Paris paled in comparison to what Turkey had endured battling Islamist, Kurdish and left-wing extremists. “There is terrorism in Brussels and Paris now, but let’s not forget it is incomparable with the level of terrorism in Turkey,” he said. Erdogan also reiterated his claim that Turkey had notified the Belgian government of the identity of one of the perpetrators of the Brussels attacks last month that killed 35 people and that the authorities had dismissed Turkey’s warning. Erdogan also accused Europe of refusing to extradite militants sought by Turkey. ISIS has carried out four bomb attacks in Turkey since June that has killed about 150 people. Turkey has also fought a Kurdish insurgency that has claimed more than 40,000 lives since 1984. The Ottoman-style mosque where Erdogan spoke is part of a complex that Turkish media says is the largest campus of its kind, including a conference center, library, lodgings and a Turkish bath.

Guards killed in attack on Libyan oil field
Reuters, Benghazi Sunday, 3 April 2016/Two guards were killed in an attempted attack on an oil field in eastern Libya by suspected ISIS militants on Saturday, a guard’s spokesman said. Ali al-Hassi said guards had repelled the attack on Bayda field, about 250 km (155 miles) south of the major oil terminals of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf. A security official from the nearby town of Maradah said the militants were in a convoy of about 10 vehicles. Militants loyal to ISIS have carried out repeated attacks in the area, but have not taken control of any oil facilities.

Air France stewardesses furious over order to wear headscarves on Tehran flights
April 03, 2016/ FoxNews.com/Air France stewardesses have caused an uproar over new uniform rules that will require them to wear headscarves on flights from Paris to Tehran when the airline resumes services there later this month. Female flight crew members have been told to cover their hair once they disembark for the Iranian capital, the UK Daily Telegraph reported Saturday. Unions are urging the airline that those flights should be made voluntary for women. Flights between Paris and Tehran will happen three times per week starting April 17. The resumption comes after an eight-year break, stemming from the completion of the Iran nuclear deal. Iranian women have been forced to cover their hair or face fines since the Islamic revolution in 1979. The Telegraph notes that public signs of religion have been “frowned upon” in France since the country enacted a law separating church and state in 1905.
“It is not our role to pass judgment on the wearing of headscarves or veils in Iran. What we are denouncing is that it is being made compulsory,” UNAC flight crews’ union chief Flore Arrighi told The Telegraph. “Stewardesses must be given the right to refuse these flights.”
Air France brushed off the uproar, saying that other airline staff members were obliged to comply with Iranian rules. The airline sees Tehran flights as an “excellent business development," the newspaper reported. “Tolerance and respect for the customs of the countries we serve are part of the values of our company,” an Air France spokesman said. The airline also noted that French law allows the restriction of some freedoms if “justified by the nature of the task to be accomplished.”Christophe Pillet, the deputy head of the SNPNC flight crews’ union, told the newspaper that the stewardesses were prepared to wear headscarves in Iran when out of uniform, but didn’t want it to become part of the uniform. “Female staff do not wish to have dress regulations imposed on them, especially the obligation to wear an Air France scarf that completely covers their hair as soon as they leave the plane,” he added.
Stewardesses normally can choose between wearing a skirt or trousers, but have been instructed to wear a long jacket and trousers specifically for Tehran flights.

"Bridging geopolitical gaps"
Walid Phares/Face Book/April03/16
Phares to BBC: "Trump's views on NATO and Saudi are bridging the gap with geopolitics"
In an interview on BBC TV Arabic, Dr Walid Phares the Foreign Policy advisor to Presidential candidate Donald Trump said "the views expressed by Mr Trump on the necessity to reorganize relations with NATO and with Saudi Arabia do not necessarily mean that the relations will be less, just the opposite, they will be more comprehensive and in the interest of the international campaign against terror and extremism. In short it is an attempt to bridge the gap with the current state of geopolitics"
Phares, who is the author of 'The Lost Spring: US Foreign Policy in the Middle East and Catastrophes to Avoid," said "regarding NATO, many of Mr Trump's critics assume on their own that if elected President he will simply withdraw from NATO. This is an immature understanding of the new approach he is proposing. NATO was launched as a transatlantic alliance to contain the Soviet Union. Then after 1991, it remained as a Western security bloc. What is needed now is a strategic rethinking of the organization to maintain its role as defender of Europe, with an increasing participation of Europeans and a repositioning so that it can put more resources to confront the various emerging Jihadi threats to its south and south east."On Saudi Arabia's relations with the US, Phares said "Riyadh and Washington need to reexamine the partnership in the goal of confronting the increasing regional and terror threats. In fact it is the Saudis who have been frustrated with the past few years of the Obama Foreign policies in the region. They are asking for this rethinking. Once the two parties will sit to reexamine the situation jointly, a stronger but more transparent realignment will reemerge."

Turkey: The Business of Refugee Smuggling, Sex Trafficking
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/April 03/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7756/turkey-refugees-sex-trafficking
Professional criminals convince parents that their daughters are going to a better life in Turkey. The parents are given 2000-5000 Turkish liras ($700-$1700) as a "bride price" -- an enormous sum for a poor Syrian family.
"Girls between the ages of twelve and sixteen are referred to as pistachios, those between seventeen and twenty are called cherries, twenty to twenty-two are apples, and anyone older is a watermelon." — From a report on Turkey, by End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT).
Many Muslims have difficulty with, or even an aversion to, assimilating into the Western culture. Many seem to have the aim of importing to Europe the culture of intimidation, rape and abuse from which they fled.
Although the desperate victims are their Muslim sisters and brothers, wealthy Arab states do not take in refugees. The people in this area know too well that asylum seekers would bring with them problems, both social and economic. For many Muslim men such as wealthy, aging Saudis, it is easier to buy Syrian children from Turkey, Syria or Jordan as cheap sex slaves.
On International Women's Day, March 8, Turkish news outlets covered the tragic life and early death of a Syrian child bride.
Last August, in Aleppo, Mafe Zafur, 15, married her cousin Ibrahim Zafur in an Islamic marriage. The couple moved to Turkey, but the marriage ended after six months, when her husband abruptly threw out of their home. With nowhere to sleep, Mafe found shelter with her brother, 19, and another cousin, 14, in an abandoned truck.
On 8 March, Mafe killed herself, reportedly with a shotgun. Her only possession, found in her pocket, was her handwritten marriage certificate.
Mafe Zafur is only one of many young Syrians who have been victims of child marriage. Human rights groups report even greater abuse that gangs are perpetrating against the approximately three million Syrians who have fled to Turkey.
A detailed report on Syrian women refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants in Turkey, issued as far back as 2014 by the Association for Human Rights and Solidarity with the Oppressed (known in Turkish as Mazlumder), tells of early and forced marriages, polygamy, sexual harassment, human trafficking, prostitution, and rape that criminals inflicted upon Syrians in Turkey.
According to the Mazlumder report, Syrians are sexually exploited by those who take advantage of their destitution. Children, especially girls, suffer most.
Evidence, both witnessed and forensic, indicates that in every city where Syrian refugees have settled, prostitution has drastically increased. Young women between the ages of 15 and 20 are most commonly prostituted, but girls as young as thirteen are also exploited.
Secil Erpolat, a lawyer with the Women's Rights Commission of the Bar Association in the Turkish province of Batman, said that many young Syrian girls are offered between 20 and 50 Turkish liras ($7-$18). Sometimes their clients pay them with food or other goods for which they are desperate.
Women who have crossed the border illegally and arrive with no passport are at high risk of being kidnapped and sold as prostitutes or sex slaves. Criminal gangs bring refugees to towns along the border or into the local bus terminals where "refugee smuggling" has become a major source of income.
Professional criminals convince parents that their daughters are going to a better life in Turkey. The parents are given 2000-5000 Turkish liras ($700-$1700) as a "bride price" -- an enormous sum for a poor Syrian family -- to smuggle their daughters across the border.
"Many men in Turkey practice polygamy with Syrian girls or women, even though polygamy is illegal in Turkey," the lawyer Abdulhalim Yilmaz, head of Mazlumder's Refugee Commission, told Gatestone Institute. "Some men in Turkey take second or third Syrian wives without even officially registering them. These girls therefore have no legal status in Turkey. Economic deprivation is a major factor in this suffering, but it is also a religious and cultural phenomenon, as early marriage is allowed in the religion."
Syrian women and children in Turkey also experience sexual harassment at work. Those who are able to get jobs earn little -- perhaps enough to eat, but they work long and hard for that little. They are also subjected to whatever others choose to do to them as they work those long hours.
A 16-year old Syrian girl, who lives with her sister in Izmir, told Mazlumder that "because we are Syrians who have come here to flee the war, they think of us as second-class people. My sister was in law school back in Syria, but the war forced her to leave school. Now unemployed men with children ask her to 'marry' them. They try to take advantage of our situation."
If they are Kurds, they are discriminated against twice, first as refugees, then as Kurds. "The relief agencies here help only the Arab refugees; when they hear that we are Kurds, they either walk away from us, or they give very little, and then they do not return."
The organization End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) has produced a detailed report on the "Status of action against commercial sexual exploitation of children: Turkey." ECPAT's report cites, from the 2014 Global Slavery Index, estimates that the incidence of slavery in Turkey is the highest in Europe, due in no small measure to the prevalence of trafficking for sexual exploitation and early marriage.
The ECPAT report quotes a U.S. State Department study from 2013: "Turkey is a destination, transit, and source country for children subjected to sex trafficking."
The ECPAT report continues,
"There is a risk of young asylum seekers disappearing from accommodation centres and becoming vulnerable to traffickers.
"It is feared that reports from the UN-run Zaatari refugee camp for Syrians in Jordan are equally true for camps in Turkey: aging men from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states take advantage of the Syrian crisis in order to purchase cheap teenage brides.
"Evidence indicates that child trafficking is also happening between Syria and Turkey by established 'matchmakers' who traffic non-refugee girls from Syria who have been pre-ordered by age. Girls between the ages of twelve and sixteen are referred to as pistachios, those between seventeen and twenty are called cherries, twenty to twenty-two are apples, and anyone older is a watermelon."
Apparently, 85% of Syrian refugees live outside refugee camps, and therefore cannot even be monitored by an international agency.
Many refugee women in Turkey, according to the lawyer and vice-president of the Human Rights Association of Turkey (IHD), Eren Keskin, are forced to engage in prostitution outside, and even in, refugee camps built by the Turkish Prime Minister's Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).
"There are markets of prostitution in Antep. Those are all state-controlled places. Hundreds of refugees -- women and children -- are sold to men much older than they are," said Keskin. "We found that women are forced into prostitution because they want to buy bread for their children."
Keskin said that they have received many complaints of rape, sexual assault and physical violence from refugees in the camps in the provinces of Hatay and Antep. "Despite all our attempts to enter those camps, the officials have not allowed us to."
The Human Rights Association of Turkey has received many complaints of rape, sexual assault and physical violence from Syrian refugees in camps in Turkey. (Image source: UNHCR)
Officials at AFAD, however, have strongly denied the allegations. "We provide refugees with education and health care. It is sad that after all the devoted work that AFAD has done to take care of refugees for the last five years, such baseless and unjust accusations are directed at us," a representative of AFAD told Gatestone.
"The number of refugees in Turkey has reached to 2.8 million. Turkey has twenty-six accommodation centers in which about three hundred thousand refugees live. Those centers are regularly monitored by the UN; some UN officials are based in them."
"Many refugees could have been provided with jobs suited to their training or skills," Cansu Turan, a social worker with the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV), told Gatestone.
"But none of them was asked about former jobs or educational background when they Turkish officials registered them. Therefore, they can work only informally and under the hardest conditions just to survive. This also paves the way for their sexual exploitation.
"The most important question is why the refugee camps are not open to civil monitoring. Entry to refugee camps is not allowed. The camps are not transparent. There are many allegations as to what is happening in them. We are therefore worried about what they are hiding from us."
"At our public centers where we provide support for refugees," Sema Genel Karaosmanoglu, the Executive Director of the Support to Life organization, told Gatestone.
"We have encountered persons who have been victims of trafficking, sexual, and gender-based violence.
"There is still no entry to the camps, and there is no transparency as entry is only possible after getting permission from relevant government institutions. But we have been able to gain access to those camps administered by municipalities in the provinces of Diyarbakir, Batman, and Suruc, Urfa."
A representative at AFAD, however, told Gatestone that "the accommodation centers are transparent. If organizations would like to enter those places, they apply to us and we evaluate their applications. Thousands of media outlets have so far entered the accommodation centers to film and explore the life in them.""The number of current refugees is already too high," said the lawyer Abdulhalim Yilmaz, head Mazlumder's Refugee Commission. "But many Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, have not taken in a single Syrian refugee so far. And there are tens of thousands of refugees waiting at the borders of Turkey."If these women and children knew what was possibly awaiting them in Turkey, they would never set foot in the country.
This is the inevitable outcome when a certain culture -- the Islamic culture -- does not have the least regard for women's rights. Instead, it is a culture of rape, slavery, abuse and discrimination that often exploits even the most vulnerable.
The horror is that Turkey is the country that the EU is entrusting to "solve" the serious problem of refugees and migrants.
The international community needs to protect Syrians, to cordon off parts of the country so that more people will not want to leave their homes to become refugees or asylum seekers in other countries. Perhaps many Syrians would even return to their homes.
The West has always opened its arms to many beleaguered individuals from Muslim countries -- such as 25-year-old Afghan student and journalist Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, who was beaten, taken to prison, and sentenced to death in 2007 for downloading a report on women's rights from the internet and for questioning Islam. It was Sweden and Norway that helped Kambaksh to flee Afghanistan in 2009 by helping him get access to a Swedish government plane. Kambaksh is now understood to be in the United States.
Several European countries, however, have become the victims of the rapes, murders and other crimes committed by the very people who have entered the continent as refugees, asylum seekers or migrants.
Europe is going through a security problem, as seen in the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels. Many Muslims have difficulty with, or even an aversion to, assimilating into the Western culture. Many seem to have the aim of importing to Europe the culture of intimidation, rape and abuse from which they fled.
It would be more just and realistic if Muslim countries that share the same linguistic and religious background as Syrian refugees -- and that are preferably more civilized and humanitarian than Turkey -- could take at least some responsibility for their Muslim brothers and sisters. Although the desperate victims are their Muslim sisters and brothers, wealthy Arab states do not take in refugees. We have not seen any demonstrations with signs that read "Refugees Welcome!" People know that asylum seekers would bring with them problems, both social and economic. For many Muslim men such as wealthy, aging Saudis, it is easier to buy Syrian children from Turkey, Syria or Jordan as cheap sex slaves. Women and girls are not, to many, human beings who deserve to be treated humanely. They are only sex objects whose lives and dignity have no value. Syrians are there to abuse and exploit. The only way they can think of helping women is to "marry" them.
**Uzay Bulut born and raised a Muslim is a Turkish journalist from the Middle East.
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Why Are Christians Leaving the Holy Land?
Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/April 03/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7754/christians-holy-land
People who reflexively blame the wrong party for criminal acts are either misinformed or disingenuous.
The sad truth is that in the Palestinian territories, Christians are forced to live like dhimmis -- second-class citizens who survive largely by the protection-money they are required to pay to buy their daily safety. These barely-tolerated citizens exist only at the whim and pleasure of the ruling Muslim majority. Muslim Arab discrimination against non-Muslims includes economic and socially prejudicial behavior that makes it difficult or impossible for Christian Arabs to run a profitable business or for their families to be fully integrated into society.
It is also appropriate for Catholics to raise with Vatican authorities the issue of Father Twal's continued representation of the Faith in the Holy Land: Who is he serving first, God or man?
No one of good will, especially Catholics, wants to accuse a prominent member of his faith of being knowingly untruthful. The truth rarely is found in the Palestinian public narrative. But in case of the latest repetition of Father Fouad Twal, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, falsely blaming Israel for the ongoing spate of Palestinian violence against Israeli civilians, it appears certain from his consistent record of non-nuanced criticism of Israel, that he is motivated by a political bias.
Twal proclaimed that Israel's alleged "occupation" of "Arab Palestine" is the cause of the murderous violence visited on Israeli civilians by Arab attackers -- apparently "forgetting" that the Jews have lived in the region for nearly 4000 years. He was also apparently forgetting that the leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) have been glorifying such "acts of resistance" since the autumn of 2014. How can Twal ignore the reality that Palestinian media has been glorifying these knife attacks as "glorious feats." In Palestinian schools, in fact, the attackers are hailed as heroes.
Outright lies are also part of the PA and Hamas propaganda campaigns. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud Abbas, for instance, has claimed that a Palestinian boy, who was hit by a car after stabbing an Israeli child, was executed by Israeli troops, when it was well known that the perpetrator was alive and being cared for in an Israeli hospital.
Twal's position is one that appears driven by ideological loyalty to a political cause, rather than that of a shepherd who attends to the spiritual needs of his flock. Even if Twal were concerned merely with the physical needs of his faithful, one would think that his focus would be on the real primary concern of his Catholic communities in the Holy Land -- which is security. Twal also "forgets" the basic reason for the accelerating departure of Christians from Palestinian areas: the principal cause for this negative pattern is Islamic intolerance of religious minorities, not the Israeli occupation of Arab Palestinian territory.
Twal will be hard pressed to find many Palestinian Christians ready to accuse Israel or the actions of Israel Defense Force (IDF) personnel as the reason for Christian emigration. Many have already have voted with their feet by settling in Israel, where they can practice their faith without restriction. Thousands of Catholics now work in Israel, where they enjoy complete religious liberty. One has only to see how difficult it is to find a seat in the crammed Catholic Churches at Sunday Masses in Tel Aviv.
The sad truth is that in the Palestinian territories, Christians are forced to live like dhimmis -- second-class citizens who survive largely by the protection-money they are required to pay to buy their daily safety. These barely-tolerated citizens exist only at the whim and pleasure of the ruling Muslim majority.[1] Muslim Arab discrimination against non-Muslims includes economic and socially prejudicial behavior that makes it difficult or impossible for Christian Arabs to run a profitable business or for their families to be fully integrated into society. Why has not Twal, as President of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinances in the Holy Land, felt an obligation publicly to denounce this record of intolerance by political Islamic extremists? If Twal does not, it appears that he places in jeopardy his role as guardian of the rights of Catholic Christians in the Holy Land. Consequently, the Israeli government is likely to be more dismissive of his legitimate concerns such as the defacement of Church property by anti-Christian Jewish youth.
It is also appropriate for Catholics to raise with Vatican authorities the issue of Twal's continued representation of the Faith in the Holy Land. The instances involve Twal himself, which may help Catholics to discern whom Twal serves first: God or man. There was no hint of gratitude from Twal after IDF personnel rescued him from a jeering mob of Muslim Palestinians who hurled rocks at his car on the way to Bethlehem last Christmas. And there is no acknowledgement from him that the only reason these Christian holy sites are safe for pilgrims to go to and worship in is that they are protected by the State of Israel, and not by the Palestinian Authority. All we have to do is to observe how Christian holy sites are being demolished throughout the Middle East, to realize that without the Israel protecting Jerusalem's and Bethlehem's Christian holy places, there would, at some point, be no Christian holy places, period.
Father Fouad Twal, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem (right), consistently defames Israel, whose soldiers rescued him when he was attacked by rock-throwing Muslim Palestinians on the way to Bethlehem in December 2015. Pictured at left: Muslim Palestinians in the Bethlehem area, among them men dressed in Santa Claus costumes, hurl stones at Israeli soldiers while yelling "Allahu Akbar," on Dec. 18, 2015.
There are many examples of why Christian leaders have a duty publicly to express gratitude to Israeli security personnel. For example, during the 2002 occupation of the Church of the Nativity by more than 200 armed Palestinian terrorists in the now-Muslim-dominated city of Bethlehem, Israel Defense Force (IDF) personnel conducted themselves with impressive restraint, rather than risk damaging a holy site sacred to Christians. After the 39-day occupation of this holy site, the Israeli government acceded to the Vatican's desires, permitting the occupiers safe passage out of Bethlehem.[2] After the departure of the terrorist-occupiers from the vicinity and their hostages released, booby-trapped explosive devices were discovered in the Church. Further, altars, religious objects, and furniture were discovered fouled by urine, cigarette butts and human excrement.
Just last month, there were a series of incidents involving Palestinian terrorists just inside Jerusalem's Damascus Gate. After one such incident, on February 14, Israeli border guards killed two terrorists from Nablus who had infiltrated Jerusalem. The target of the terrorists was probably a group of affluent American Christian pilgrims enjoying "happy hour" as they milled about the lobby of the Notre Dame Pilgrim Complex, unaware of the danger just a short distance from them. These Christian pilgrims might well have been grateful to the thin line of Israelis that protected them.
How grateful are you, Father Twal?
Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve, where he was a Military Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Israel.
[1] Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, "The Beleaguered Christians of Palestinian-Controlled Areas" by David Raab, 1-15 January 2003. Also see "Why Are Christians Really Leaving Bethlehem?" by Julie Stahl, CBN News, 8 May 2012; and "Why are Palestinian Christians Fleeing?" by Robert Nicholson, Providence, 1 March 2016.
[2] PBS Frontline, "The Siege of Bethlehem", 13 June 2013.
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The return of the Syrian revolution to its beautiful youth
Jamal Khashoggi/Al Arabiya/April 03/16
While attending the annual conference of the Syrian American Association in Washington DC, I came to realize the new reality of the Syrian revolution following a series of mistakes and distortions. Among the activities organized was the screening of Little Gandhi, a film that tells the story of a young Syrian dreaming of freedom. He thinks he could achieve peace by offering a bottle of water and a white rose to Bashar al–Assad’s soldiers to convince them of their unity. The soldiers, however, kill him in the beginning of the revolution. Ghaith Matar – called the “little Gandhi” by his admirers – was indeed killed but was among those who sparked the revolution, an armed struggle against the brutality of the regime, despite the fact that his colleagues, in the film, were still debating whether it was possible to return to a peaceful revolution. Obviously, most of them wanted a peaceful revolution.
This is no longer a choice after the brutal bombings of Daraya. The city is holding fort despite the siege, the starving of its people and lack of weapons to put up a fight. While the regime was able to expel ISIS from Palmyra last week, it could not enter into Daraya. The regime never believed in peaceful protests nor in Ghaith’s dream of a democratic and diverse Syria.
While watching the film, three facts seemed almost certain to me about the future of the Syrian revolution: first, the revolution will return, in all its freshness and vitality, to the places tyrannized by either the regime or ISIS. Second, eventually the true nature of al-Nusra will be exposed and it will become clear that neither the outfit nor the regime nor ISIS can have anything to do with any lasting peace and prosperity in Syria. Third, in spite of Russia’s initial powerful support to the regime the true heart of the revolution continues to beat as evidenced by Russian withdrawal, the ceasefire, and the Geneva negotiations.
Because of all the killings, denunciation, and international conventions, we are led to forget about the Syrian revolution’s original objectives
Ghaith Matar offers a bottle of water and a white rose to Assad’s soldiers in the first scene. Other scenes show his speech, his dreams, his death, his funeral and the pain of the people of Daraya. They capture the entire nation’s longing for freedom.
In the movie, young people are seen talking about the need for an armed revolution, others about the need for peaceful revolution and places liberated from regime control. There are also those who want territories liberated, signifying the vision of Gaith Mattar.
The regime describes the protesters as armed gangs, speaks about foreign conspiracies, terrorism, and interventions by the Saudis, Turks and Qataris. The regime, on the other hand, is presented as a murderer who wants to hide the image of thousands of people killed in the country. Because of all the killings, denunciation, and international conventions, we are led to forget about the Syrian revolution’s original objectives.
Images of freedom
Images of freedom and white roses fade only to be replaced by opposition’s discussion of war maps and strategies. Black images of ISIS cast a dark cloud over the entire country. The Syrian Revolution captures the headlines and is described as an “indirect war” between Saudi Arabia and Iran causing further confusion in the mind of the US President Barack Obama. In the third or fourth year of the revolution, no one remembers Ghaith, or Hamza al-Khatib or other such figures, but awaits a meeting between Kerry and Lavrov and Adel al-Jubeir and Shawish Oglu, the foreign ministers of the most important countries concerned about the crisis. The revolution switches to anger and revenge in the writings of some journalists. Bashar al-Assad describes Arab leaders as “half-men” in an important Arab summit. Others speak only about an international conflict over oil and gas. Suddenly Syria comes back to the forefront with the innocent demands of the Arab Spring, as a wonderful dream of Ghaith. Ghaith reminded me of another young man named Wael Ghanim, one of the driving forces behind the January 25 Egyptian revolution as he appeared as a guest of Mona Shazli after being released from prison. As he watched the killings of so many people that were aired on the show, he collapsed and declared that he did not want anyone to die. At that time, Egypt was full of hope and love, which is very different from the Egypt of today.
Today after all the killings, and the destruction of our cities and villages, we no longer cry; our stronger fear is that our nation will die.

Barring Muslims would spell a US economic disaster
Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya/April 03/16
Republican contenders for the White House manipulating voters’ fears for their own ends by threatening to shut America’s door to Muslim visitors while subjecting American-Muslims to intensive monitoring have failed to count the cost of such an immoral, bigoted policy.
Current front-runners, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, are shamefully vying with each other to attract xenophobes and Islamophobes into their respective camps in a no-holds barred fashion.
The real shock is the result of a Bloomberg Politics/Purple strategies poll indicating 65 percent of Republican primary voters support the idea and even more concerning, 37 percent of all voters are in agreement with a ban on Muslims. Clearly, they have no clue that such an unprecedented action would shoot America in the foot in more ways than one.
Firstly, it would contravene the constitution that outlaws “religious tests”. Secondly, it would create a ‘them-and-us’ climate within the US and is guaranteed to alienate many of America’s traditional allies. Thirdly, it would serve as a gift to terrorist recruiters and America-haters.
And, fourthly, it is wholly impractical when most passports do not mention its holder’s faith. It is likely, too, that some, if not most, predominately Muslim states would institute reciprocal rules whereby American citizens and corporations would be deemed unwelcome.
However, even when those negative consequences are set aside, placing such a “Keep Out” sign with respect to all Muslims would, undoubtedly, have devastating consequences for America’s economy whose ripples would trigger yet another global economic downturn because, as is well known, when Washington sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold.
For a start, America’s tourism industry would suffer a major hit. A study conducted jointly by Singapore-based Crescent Ratings and the US firm Dinar Standard reports that Muslim travellers spend an average of $2,000 more than people of other faiths and forecasts taking into account growth that by 2020 the overall spend relating to Muslim tourism worldwide will reach more than $192 billion.
An article in the Telegraph, substantiated with statistics from Travel and Leisure magazine and the US National Travel and Tourism Office, suggests a ban on Muslims could cost the US more than $18.4 billion a year “not accounting for the necessary overhaul to border infrastructure to implement such a plan”.
No wonder the Economist Intelligence Unit has rated a Trump presidency high among its Top Ten Global Risks, higher than the UK quitting the EU or a major clash in the South China Sea
American airlines, airports, transport systems, cabs, restaurants, entertainment venues and retailers would certainly feel the pinch. Gulf Arabs are also among the biggest purchasers of luxury goods.
Economy Watch asserts that GCC states make up the majority of the Middle East’s travel spend and together represent 37 percent of all Muslim travellers worldwide. Data from the US Department of Commerce, which does not base its statistics on religion, shows that Saudis spent $14.6 billion in the United States between 2005 and 2014.
Let us not forget, too, that there are over 100,000 non-American Muslim students (80,000 of them Saudi nationals) attending US colleges and universities whose fees, accommodation and living expenses contribute billions to the US coffers and go to subsidise the fees of American students from poor families. On average annual tuition and fees charged by private universities are in the region of $32,599, which means they gain approximately $130,396 over a four-year period from a single student. Untold numbers of Muslims also travel to the US to seek private specialist medical treatment; many arrive with their families so as to combine their health care needs with a family vacation.
Exports and investment
American exports could also be affected simply because human nature would dictate that Muslim consumers – all 1.7 billion of them – would be far less likely to purchase “Made in the USA” automobiles, computers and other high-end items. US exports to Saudi Arabia and the UAE alone exceed $57 billion. Over 1,000 US firms have a presence in the UAE and 120 operate in Qatar. Many thousands more are based throughout the Middle East and Asia. What impact a Muslim ban would have on investments is incalculable but defense contracts and multi-billion dollar weapons and aircraft orders could be at risk. Would Qatar proceed with its plans to invest $35 billion in the US over the coming five-year period? Would billionaire investors liquidate their assets and transfer their funds to more Muslim-friendly markets? It is worth noting that according to the US Treasury as of 01 January 2015 oil exporting countries (including Muslim or predominately Muslim) held $290.8 billion in Treasury Securities. Moreover, as the Aspen Institute highlights, “In 2015, four out of the top ten sovereign wealth funds in the world are situated in the GCC” which manage over $2.28 trillion “historically directed towards North America and Europe”. Would a President Trump’s ban also be applied to Muslim diplomats I wonder. In that event the embassies, consulates and educational centres of over 30 Muslim-majority countries, numbering more than 108 diplomatic facilities around the country would be shuttered. Diplomats and other staff who are nationals make up around five percent of those working in foreign missions; the rest are locally employed US nationals. In that case, thousands of Americans would lose their jobs. Plus restaurants, catering companies, care hire firms, hotels and apartment complexes in areas in which those embassies and consulates are located would suffer losses. More importantly, Muslim heads of state, foreign ministers and ambassadors would be unable to attend United Nations General Assembly meetings or international conferences taking place on US soil, threatening world peace as well as America’s leading role in global affairs.
Risk and reward
Neither Mr Trump nor Mr Cruz has thought through the implications that banning Muslims would have on their own country in terms of potential bankruptcies and job losses not to mention the tremors that would surely rock the financial sector and stock markets, even supposing Muslim countries declined to implement retaliatory measures. No wonder the Economist Intelligence Unit has rated a Trump presidency high among its Top Ten Global Risks, higher than the UK quitting the EU or a major clash in the South China Sea. He presents the same risk level to the global economy as the rising threat of terrorism. How ironic is that. However, one thing is indisputable. A ban on Muslims would punch a hole in the US economy to the tune of hundreds of billions annually in terms of losses to the aviation, transport and hotel industries, investments, real-estate, retailing, university and medical fees, defence purchases, exports, notwithstanding the potential for sovereign funds to seek greener pastures and wealthy Muslim companies and individuals transferring their capital out of US banks. From the US perspective it would be madness especially since its loss would be others’ gain. I will bet that European financial institutions, manufacturers and businesses will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Before the last oil barrel ends
Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/April 03/16
Over a five-hour-long conversation with Bloomberg, Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed exceptional programs, which will gradually transform Saudi Arabia into a country that does not depend on oil revenue. The prince, who is leading the country’s economic reforms program, spoke about a plan that restructures the Public Investment Fund, which will eventually control more than $2 trillion and help wean the kingdom off oil. “So within 20 years, we will be an economy or state that doesn’t depend mainly on oil,” said the prince as he detailed his economic vision for the kingdom. Several countries are currently altering ways to manage their resources and programs. Recent years have shown that remaining completely dependent on oil, and on the regular pattern of relations between the state and the society, do not establish a solid framework to confront the challenges plaguing the region and the world.
Strategic transformation
The prince talked about means to increase non-oil revenue by undertaking a strategic transformation program in the country. People have already heard about this program and will witness its tangible results soon. Making a shift from being completely dependent on oil to being partially dependent is essential for guaranteeing a strong economy and sustainable development. Oil is not an everlasting commodity as there will come a time when it will get depleted. Its value has a history of declining while the world’s need for it has a limited duration. Therefore, making a shift from being completely dependent on oil to being partially dependent on it is essential for guaranteeing a strong economy and sustainable development that meets the needs of upcoming generations. The prince’s vision of the future is sharp and clear as he is well aware of the challenges and of the importance of these transformations. It’s an interview that shapes the future for upcoming Saudi generations before the last oil barrel ends.

What do ISIS want? Donald Trump.
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Al Arabiya/April 03/16
The political and military machine of ISIS in the Levant is creaking at the seams. In the wake of the Russian intervention in Syria, and continued actions by the United States and their NATO allies in Iraq and the eastern areas of Syria, the group has lost somewhere between 20- to 25 percent of its territory, it is losing fighters, their recruitment efforts are faltering, and, as I have argued before, they seem to be making preparations to abandon the Levant altogether and move on to Libya and/or Afghanistan. The pressure they are being put under in their home base is the explanation for the escalation in overseas attacks against soft targets since last autumn. And it is for this very reason that we should expect more attempts of this kind in the West in the coming months. As ISIS get squeezed they will increasingly become more desperate to increase their terrorist operations globally. And the expectation that they will lose their base in the Levant also changes their strategic calculus: it stops making sense to sink resources and fighters in a battle they expect to lose, and it starts making sense to direct those resources towards global attacks which maximize the propaganda benefits for their ideology.
In these circumstances, in this period of flux where they are dependent more on volunteers from target countries than things that they have under direct and immediate control, recruits become the key strategic resource. If ISIS keeps finding the amounts of recruits it needs to execute its tactics, they will continue to be a threat long after we have destroyed their base in Raqqa. If, on the other hand, we manage to suffocate their inflow of recruits, they will wither away. Just as ISIS is about to implode in the Levant and lose credibility with sympathizers and potential recruits, Trump is proposing to do exactly what would restore their fate
It is based on these facts that the former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden has described Donald Trump as "the best recruiting sergeant for ISIS". What Donald Trump offers ISIS is a constant flow of recruits. And this is so for a number of reasons.
First of all, Trump has become a champion of the narrative of a global “clash of civilizations” which ISIS themselves are pushing, and on which their perverted ideology relies. ISIS has, from its very origins in Al-Qaeda, relied on a narrative of Muslims being systematically oppressed all over the world and Islam being held back from achieving its potential by the Crusader West and their Zionist allies. ISIS calls young, impressionable Muslims to arms on the premise that the entire West is already at war with them, and they need to defend themselves and their Muslim community from these aggressors.
Trump’s conclusion
What Trump does is to look at the ISIS propaganda against the West and says that all 1.5 billion Muslims in the world can be assumed to be similarly hostile to the West. His conclusion is that we therefore need to go to war with the entire Muslim world. Where once propaganda was just fabricated nonsense, Trump is proposing to make it true. Secondly, there is Trump’s recent proposal to send 30,000 troops to fight ISIS on the ground. This would be a huge coup for ISIS: as German journalist Jurgen Todenhofer who was embedded with the terror group observed, this would bolster ISIS back to undisputed leader of the global terror movement. You cannot be the number one terror group in the world unless you have fought the number one global power. But if “America” takes you seriously enough to fight a conventional war with you, then you become the focal point of all the hopes and dreams of the movement. Just as ISIS is about to implode in the Levant and lose credibility with sympathizers and potential recruits, Trump is proposing to do exactly what would restore their fate. Especially since all top military figures suggest that if we want to go in and actually win this, we need 90,000 troops, not 30,000.
And for the West to get itself dragged into this kind of war is nonsensical just in terms of cost-benefit analysis. US casualties will be the best piece of propaganda possible for ISIS and will take their social media operations to a new level which will result in more recruits coming to the region to fight the US. And of course, once you are on the ground, anything except a complete victory by Western powers would be seen as a victory for ISIS. It is possible to defeat ISIS. And what we are doing at the moment, building alliances around them and providing logistical and air support for groups who oppose ISIS on the ground is working. It is slow, but it is steady. It really is only a matter of time until the group gets degenerated to a critical point after which it will implode. What Donald Trump is proposing to do is to breathe a new lease of life back into ISIS, by doing every single possible thing wrong. Let us hope that if the people of the United States lose their sense and elect him, the military would nonetheless keep its senses and do what Michael Hayden said it would do: it would refuse to follow his orders.
 

Syrian Alawites distance themselves from Assad
Caroline Wyatt Religious affairs correspondent/BBC/April 03/16
In a deeply unusual move, leaders of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect in Syria have released a document, obtained by the BBC, that distances themselves from his regime and outlines what kind of future they wish for the country after five years of civil war. The community and religious leaders say they hope to "shine a light" on the Alawites after a long period of secrecy, at what they call "an important moment" in their history. In the eight-page document, termed a "declaration of identity reform", the Alawites say they represent a third model "of and within Islam". Those behind the text say Alawites are not members of a branch of Shia Islam - as they have been described in the past by Shia clerics - and that they are committed to "the fight against sectarian strife". They also make clear that they adhere to "the values of equality, liberty and citizenship", and call for secularism to be the future of Syria, and a system of governance in which Islam, Christianity and all other religions are equal. And despite Alawites having dominated Syria's government and security services under Mr Assad and his late father Hafez for more than four decades, they stress that the legitimacy of his regime "can only be considered according to the criteria of democracy and fundamental rights".
'Muslim quality'
The Alawites emerged in the 10th Century in neighbouring Iraq. Little has been confirmed about their beliefs and practices since then because, according to the leaders, they had to be hidden to avoid persecution. However, most sources say the name "Alawite" refers to their veneration of the first Shia imam, Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. Alawites are said to share the belief of members of the main branches of Shia Islam, of which Ithna Asharis or Twelvers are the largest group, that Ali was the rightful successor to Muhammad as leader of the Muslim community following his death in 632.
The Alawites purportedly differ from Twelvers in holding that Ali was a manifestation of God - a notion that some members of Syria's Sunni majority consider heretical. In the document published on Sunday, the Alawite leaders insist that their faith is "solely based on the idea of worshipping God". They add that "the Koran alone is our holy book and a clear reference to our Muslim quality". While acknowledging that they share some formal religious sources, the leaders stress that Alawism is distinct from Shia Islam, and decline previous legal rulings, or fatwas, by leading Shia clerics that seek to "appropriate the Alawites and consider Alawism an integral part of Shiism or a branch of the latter". The leaders also acknowledge that Alawites have incorporated elements of other monotheistic religions into their traditions, most notably Judaism and Christianity, but say they should "not be seen as marks of deviation from Islam but as elements that bear witness to our riches and universality".

'Liberation'
Speaking on condition of anonymity, two of the leading Syrian Alawites behind the document told the BBC that they were keen to make this statement of identity as many Alawites were being killed because of their faith. They wanted to make clear, they said, that members of all Islamic sects in Syria were "brothers and sisters" - and that the Alawites "should not be associated with the crimes the regime has committed". The Alawite leaders added that the future of Syria now lay in the hands of the international community.Those behind the document said that they hoped it would "liberate" the Alawite community, who made up around 12% of Syria's pre-war population of 24 million, and that their declaration of identity would cut the link or "umbilical cord" between the Alawites and the Assad regime. The Alawites, they pointed out, existed before the Assad regime, "and will exist after it".
'Very significant'
According to Michael Kerr, professor of conflict studies and director of the Institute for Middle Eastern Studies at King's College London, sectarian identity became a primary driver in the civil war in Syria, even though it was not the case at the beginning of the uprising there in 2011. In the recent book he edited, The Alawis Of Syria, Prof Kerr wrote that Bashar al-Assad "took the strategic decision to facilitate sectarian narratives and counter-narratives and... perhaps intentionally, exposed his community to the reductionist logic of the most extreme Islamist forces". Prof Kerr concludes that the future of Syria's Alawites "remains inimically linked to the Assad regime; it is hostage to Bashar's realpolitik approach to a zero-sum conflict that transcends Syria's borders, the outcome of which will have great significance for the future power balance in the region". Of the document itself, he says: "It is very significant that Alawi community leaders have stressed that they are not a branch of Shia Islam but a separate Muslim religious community that is of and within Islam. "This development marks an important shift from the regime's previous attempts to steer the community closer to Twelver Shia Islam, under Hafez al-Assad after the Cold War, and Bashar's attempts at 'Sunnification' after he inherited the presidency in 2000."They seem to be saying that they are an Abrahamic faith, that they want to be treated as such rather than as a minority Shia Islamic sect, and that they want this identity to be accepted and respected in a new secular Syria comprised of other Peoples of the Book."
'Assertion of belonging'
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Western diplomat who has seen the declaration of identity believes it is significant, and that it matters. He says nothing of this kind, "authentically Alawite", had been seen since 1971 from within Syria. "The language implies a dissociation from Iran and the regime there, but also something that seeks to disconnect the Alawite community from the Assad family," he says. "If this had come out during darker times, it would have been seen as a plea for mercy, but this is a time of strength for the regime, supported by the Russians, so this is a statement by Alawite leaders that says 'we are who we are'."It's an assertion of belonging to Syria, and an assertion of having an equal right to rights and duties within Syria independent of the regime system."