New Page 5

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.february17.16.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

Bible Quotations For Today
An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 12/38-45: "Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.’ But he answered them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was for three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here! The queen of the South will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! ‘When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting-place, but it finds none. Then it says, "I will return to my house from which I came." When it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So will it be also with this evil generation.’'

The righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe
Letter to the Romans 03/19-27: "Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For ‘no human being will be justified in his sight’ by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 17/16
Imad Mughniyeh alleged to have found traces of Ron Arad/Roi Kais/Ynetnews/February 16/16
Hariri mends fences with March 14 allies/Joseph A. Kechichian,/Gulf News/February 16/16
Netanyahu in Berlin calls French plan ‘surprising’ as Merkel puts brakes on diplomatic efforts/Jerusalem Post/February 16/16/
From Israeli prime minister to prisoner/Ben Caspit/Al-Monitor/February 16/16
Saudi Arabia’s Plan B in Syria/Jamal Khashoggi/Al Arabiya/February 16/16
Why Yemen is more than a war project/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/February 16/16
Why are the Patriarch and Pope coming together on Levant crisis now/Dr. Theodore Karasik/Al Arabiya/February 16/16
To Russia, with Love: The dangerous Trump and Putin affair/Muddassar Ahmed/Al Arabiya/February 16/16
Do rumors spread our underlying prejudices/Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/February 16/16
Hezbollah is covertly watching us, waiting for the day of battle'/Yaakov Lappin/Jerusalum Post/February 16/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on February 17/16
Imad Mughniyeh alleged to have found traces of Ron Arad
Hariri mends fences with March 14 allies
'Hezbollah is covertly watching us, waiting for the day of battle'
Nasrallah Says Regime, Allies Don't Fear Saudi-Turkish Op in Syria: Israel's Ammonia is Lebanon's 'Nuclear Bomb'
Mustaqbal Urges Unity of March 14 against 'New Phase of Foreign Hegemony'
Change and Reform: Does Respecting the National Pact Stop at the Rights of Christians?
'All Types of Medium-Caliber Arms' Used in Renewed al-Taybeh Clashes
2 Held after Stabbing Young Man to Death in Ashrafieh
General Security Arrests Syrian Nusra Members Linked to Arsal Servicemen Executions
Russian Official: Documents on Waste Export Fake
Moqbel: EU Refugee Aid Needed Now, Not in a Year
Lebanese Army Seizes Drugs, Arrests Syrians in Fanar
Patriarch Al-Rahi Holds more Consultations on Christian Posts, Presidency

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 17/16
Canadian statement on bombing of hospital in Syria, killing and injuring humanitarian aid workers
Turkey Wants Syria Ground Operation with Allies
France's Sarkozy Quizzed over Campaign Finances
U.S. Says Three Americans Abducted in Iraq Have Been Released
Egypt Acquits Fourth Police Officer in Torture Death
Kremlin Denies Russian Strikes on Syria Hospitals
Israel Bid for New Powers against Dissident MPs Hits Trouble
Germany-Based Syrians Face Terror Charges in Bulgaria
Iran sticking to nuclear deal so far, says U.S.
Iran claims Saudi embassy attackers ‘on trial’
Turkey about to conclude a deal with Israel on ‘all issues’
Why Azaz is so important for Turkish forces
Egypt court clears policeman over 2011 torture, killing case
Boutros-Ghali, first UN chief from Africa, dies

Nasrallah Says Regime, Allies Don't Fear Saudi-Turkish Op in Syria: Israel's Ammonia is Lebanon's 'Nuclear Bomb'
Naharnet/February 16/16/Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday accused Saudi Arabia and Turkey of mulling a ground operation in Syria with the aim of shoring up embattled rebels allegedly allied with them, as he downplayed the possibility of any Israeli war on Lebanon in the near future.
“The militants' successive defeats have pushed Saudi Arabia and Turkey to consider sending ground troops under the excuse of fighting Daesh (Islamic State group) under the banner of the international coalition and this is a very important development,” said Nasrallah in a televised speech marking Hizbullah's “Martyr Leaders Day”.“Saudi Arabia and Turkey have now awoken to Daesh's threat. They have woken up because the groups they are backing are suffering defeats,” a sarcastic Nasrallah added. “Saudi Arabia and Turkey want to send ground troops in order to be present at the negotiations table or to continue the war,” he said. Nasrallah warned that Riyadh and Ankara “are willing to spark a world war” rather than “accept any national settlement in Syria.” “Turkey has suffered the fall of its 'new Ottoman empire scheme' and the Saudi plot in Syria has also failed,” Hizbullah's chief noted. He also accused the two major regional forces of agreeing with Israel on the alleged objective of preventing Syrian President Bashar Assad from staying in power in Syria. “Israel agrees with Saudi Arabia and Turkey that they must not allow a solution for Syria that keeps President Assad in power, even if it involves the presence of the moderate Syrian opposition in a national unity government,” he said. “The Saudis, Turks and Israelis have rejected this and that's why they are paralyzing the negotiations. They are putting preconditions and raising the ceiling of the demands, the thing that even the U.S. has started to criticize,” Nasrallah charged. He also noted that all Turkey needs to do to fight the IS is to seal its border and prevent the jihadist group from selling oil through its territory, while accusing Saudi Arabia of supporting the newly emerging IS branch in Yemen. Nasrallah also accused Israel of seeking to partition Syria into four states – “a Sunni state, an Alawite state, a Druze state and a Kurdish state.” “Israel has failed to push Syria into a partitioning phase, because the Syrian army and its allies are fighting in Latakia, northern Aleppo, the southern Daraa, Hasakeh and Deir Ezzor. This means that the national decision in Syria is to reject partitioning,” Nasrallah pointed out. He then vowed that the Syrian regime and its allies, including Hizbullah, “will not allow Daesh, al-Nusra (Front), the United States, Saudi Arabia, Israel or Turkey to seize control of Syria.”Nasrallah also accused some Arab states of establishing ties and alliances with Israel.

Imad Mughniyeh alleged to have found traces of Ron Arad
Roi Kais/Ynetnews/February 16/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/02/16/roi-kaisynetnews-imad-mughniyeh-alleged-to-have-found-traces-of-ron-arad/
Commemorating the anniversary of his assassination, Lebanese media sources claimed that the late Hezbollah leader dedicated himself to tracing the missing Israeli pilot in the 2004-2006 period. A crew under his command supposedly found items used by Arad, which were to be used in prisoner exchange negotiations. On the anniversary of the assassination of senior Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh, media outlets affiliated with the Lebanese terrorist organization exposed his role in negotiations with Israel regarding prisoner exchanges in general, and in particular the search for Ron Arad, the Israeli pilot who was captured in Lebanon in 1986, and hasn’t been heard from since 1988. One of the broadcasts features an interview with senior Hezbollah member Wafiq Safa, director of the organization’s liaison and coordination committee. He claimed Mughniyeh paid much attention to the issue of Ron Arad, because he realized the potential of solving the mystery in terms of releasing prisoners.
Mughniyeh set up a special team in 2004-2006, and was able to find some of Arad’s belongings, including a parachute, his weapon, and some clothes. According to Safa, Hezbollah used these items in negotioations with Israel.
Mughniyeh’s assassination, Safa claimed, caused a several-month delay in the 2008 prisoner deal in which Hezbollah returned the bodies of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser to Israel in exchange for hundreds of bodies of Hezbollah terrorists and five living prisoners, including Samir Kuntar.
Mughniyeh, who’s role was defined as leader of Hezbollah’s military wing, was killed in Damascus by an explosive device hidden in his car in 2008. On Tuesday, the organization is expected to conduct a ceremony commemorating his death and the deaths of other senior Hezbollah figures, such as former secretary-general Abbas al-Musawi and Ragheb Harb, in Beirut’s southern suburb. Hasan Nasrallah is expected to give a speech at the event.

Hariri mends fences with March 14 allies
Joseph A. Kechichian,/Gulf News/February 16/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/02/16/joseph-a-kechichiangulf-news-hariri-mends-fences-with-march-14-allies/
Beirut: A day after his return to Beirut on Sunday morning Sa’ad Hariri devoted his time to reconciliation initiatives, though senior Saudi officials advised him to apologise to the Lebanese Forces (LF) leader, Samir Geagea, for dropping the latter’s candidacy in favour of Marada Movement chief, Sulaiman Franjieh.
On Monday night, Hariri went to Ma‘arab, Geagea’s residence, for dinner. Although both men skirted the controversy, Geagea apparently praised Hariri for his February 14 speech that commemorated the 11th anniversary of his father’s assassination in 2005. “Your presence among us resolves the country’s issues,” the LF chief told Hariri, according to the MTV television network, which broadcast a joint press conference when the two men answered several questions from reporters.
In an unscripted moment that highlighted his foresight, Hariri took credit for the January 18, 2016 reconciliation between the LF and the Free Patriotic Movement, when the Future Bloc leader hit out at Geagea, wishing that the latter’s rapprochement with Michel Aoun had occurred a long time ago. Journalists quizzed the two men about what occurred, though Geagea insisted that there was no need for an apology, even if the tenacious accord was a work in progress.
LF supporters were infuriated by the theatrics, though Geagea stressed that he did not consider the former prime minister’s statement a personal insult. Both confirmed their readiness to go to parliament and elect a head-of-state, even if they supported competing candidates. Hariri stood by Franjieh while Geagea backed Aoun. Both Hariri and Geagea said that the intransigence was in the March 8 camp for refusing to attend any session that did not guarantee Aoun’s election, though no one acknowledged that Hezbollah feared the swing votes held by the Progressive Socialist Party and how surprise manoeuvres would throw a monkey wrench in the proceedings to prevent the election of the opposition’s preferred candidate.
Be that as it may, Hariri now seems to favour the Phalange Party instead of the LF, but his primary goal is to put order in the moribund March 14 alliance that has lost much of its lustre, especially after Minister of Justice Ashraf Rifi, a former Internal Security Forces official who wished to apply the law, distinguished himself within the Sunni community. The leader of the Future Movement confronted sustained opposition from within his own ranks, as many were unhappy with his policy choices, which might explain why he planned to stay in town for a little while. Chances were excellent that he would attend the 36th session of parliament to elect a president, now scheduled for March 2, ahead of any celebrations that might occur on March 14.
For his part, Hassan Nasrallah declared victory a few days ago when he opined that Hezbollah had won the presidency because both Aoun and Franjieh were March 8 nominees, but he refused to take a risk and send his alliance to parliament because any election that did not go according to Hezbollah’s plans would postpone the desired constitutional convention that remained, then as now, the party’s only objective.
Few believed that Hezbollah was ready to see the process through as everyone awaited Nasrallah’s address on Tuesday during a ceremony to honour “martyred leaders”. The expectation was for Nasrallah to snap back at Hariri and, as is customary, warn against the dangers of a Saudi-Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war.

'Hezbollah is covertly watching us, waiting for the day of battle'
Yaakov Lappin/Jerusalum Post/February 16/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/02/16/yaakov-lappinjerusalem-post-hezbollah-is-covertly-watching-us-waiting-for-the-day-of-battle/
The Nahal infantry Brigade's Battalion 931 recently spent three months guarding the border with Lebanon, and during that time, its members got a glimpse into how Israel's largest conventional military threat is preparing itself for any future clash with Israel.
Lt.-Col. Yehonatan Steinberg, Commander of Battalion 931 said his forces did not encounter Hezbollah on the border fence on a daily basis, but that did not mean the Iran-backed terror organization, armed with over 100,000 rockets and missiles, was not there.
His forces knew Hezbollah "was present, in a camouflaged manner, hidden away from the border," the commander said. "They study us, they gather intelligence on us, and they prepare for the day the order is given [for battle]," Steinberg told The Jerusalem Post in recent days.
Although the assessments held by Military Intelligence put the chances of Hezbollah initiating a war with Israel in 2016 as being low, a considerable risk remains of an inadvertent conflict breaking out and escalating quickly. This could begin with a Hezbollah response to Israeli military action, or with Hezbollah moving advanced missiles into southern Lebanon.
Tensions soared last month after a reported IAF strike killed Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, and Hezbollah responded with a border bomb targeting armored bulldozers.
"There were periods of [heightened] tension, when we had to act differently," Steinberg, whose battalion guarded the Metula region, said. "It influenced us. Tactically, we did things differently. This did not influence civilian in the area. They received the same level of defense, and even more so. Our role is to protect the civilians and given them a sense of security."Before taking up the border protection duties, the battalion spent three months on Mount Hermon on the Syrian border, an arena Steinberg described as "a different challenge. We know Syria well. There are different enemies there, who act differently," he said. Hezbollah remains the most potent foe in the neighborhood, he stressed. "We don't see it visually every day. But that increases the mental challenge. And this arena is challenging," the commander added.
"Hezbollah is getting stronger all of the time. It is getting more weapons, and they are getting more accurate. It is gaining a lot of operational experience in Syria, but it is paying a high price for that. The training it is receiving is very significant," he said.
Last week, the battalion completed its northern rotations, and is about to move to the Golan Heights for three months of intensive training simulating northern threats. "This [the ability to fight in a northern arena] is where were are building our capabilities," Steinberg said.
By chance, the battalion is also commemorated exactly 40 years since its formation on Israel's border with Lebanon, in 1976. "We came full circle," Steinberg said. "The sense of responsibility we feel for this arena is natural for this battalion."
After completing their training, the battalion will move into Samaria, taking up an area near Ramallah. Steinberg said he doubted the ongoing violence in the West Bank would calm down by the time the battalion reached its new designated area.
"We will go into this challenge, though it will be completely different from what we are used to. Mentally, it is very different. When we are in the Lebanese arena, we are looking at threats few kilometers away. When we get to Judea and Samaria, the threats are point blank, at knife range. This is a significant change," he said. "Awareness, how to behave, this will be part of the training for Judea and Samaria. We will hold a week of training specifically for this," he added.

Mustaqbal Urges Unity of March 14 against 'New Phase of Foreign Hegemony'
Naharnet/February 16/16/ The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc hailed on Tuesday the return of MP Saad Hariri to Lebanon, saying that it will help bolster the unity of the March 14 alliance. It said after its weekly meeting: “The chance is available for the March 14 forces to confront the attempt to impose a new phase of foreign hegemony over Lebanon.” “The hegemony threatens to swallow Lebanon and all that it represents regarding diversity,” it added. “The Lebanese people who revolted on March 14, 2005 should rise to the national responsibility and sacrifices of martyrs and avoid squandering the legacy of Lebanese democracy,” it demanded. “We should adhere to this pioneering experience, especially at this stage that is witnessing totalitarian tendencies that are dominated by extremist forces and blind terrorism,” said the Mustaqbal bloc. “The bloc stresses the importance of uniting for the nation and warns against sliding into sectarian rhetoric and petty interests that destroy the nation and its components,” it continued. “The return of Hariri and his meetings in the past few hours have launched a new phase to settle differences among the March 14 camp,” it said. The return kicked off a new dynamic that will help unite and fortify the alliance, stressed the Mustaqbal bloc. It also voiced its commitment to the call made by Hariri on Sunday for political blocs to attend the next presidential elections session to end the vacuum in the country's top post. Hariri returned to Lebanon on Sunday after an absence of nearly a year. He arrived in Beirut to attend the ceremony marking the eleventh anniversary of the assassination of his father and former Premier Rafik Hariri. The MP carried out on Monday and Tuesday talks with numerous officials, announcing that his stay in Lebanon “will be longer this time around”. He had originally left the country in 2011 over alleged security fears.

Change and Reform: Does Respecting the National Pact Stop at the Rights of Christians?
Naharnet/February 16/16/ The Change and Reform bloc, led by MP Michel Aoun, condemned on Tuesday recent statements that have been made over the presidency and democracy, criticizing the “marginalization” of Christians. MP Ibrahim Kanaan said after the bloc's weekly meeting at Rabieh: “Does respecting the National Pact halt at the rights of Christians?” “Is there any greater injustice than the marginalization of Christians?” he asked. “Is ignoring the will of the people part of democratic practice?” he continued. “Democracy is about returning to the people. We proposed allowing the people to elect a president, which was rejected,” noted Kanaan. “Our proposal of a popular survey over the presidency was also rejected,” he added. “Are you really accusing us of violating democracy, when our valid proposals were rejected?” he wondered. Christians are not followers, but partners in power, he declared.
Mistakes in applying the Taef Accord result in violations against coexistence, said the Change and Reform bloc MP. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor.
Aoun, along with Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh, are running for the presidency. Hizbullah, Aoun's key ally, announced recently that it would not attend electoral sessions unless there are guarantees that its candidate will be elected president. Hizbullah and some of its allies, as well as March 14's Lebanese Forces, have argued that Aoun is more eligible than Franjieh to become president given the size of his parliamentary bloc and his influence in the Christian community.

'All Types of Medium-Caliber Arms' Used in Renewed al-Taybeh Clashes
Naharnet/February 16/16/ Fierce armed clashes renewed Tuesday in the Bekaa area of al-Taybeh and “all types of medium-caliber arms and rocket-propelled grenades” were used in the fighting, state-run National News Agency reported. “The army deployed heavily on the Riyaq-Baalbek public road, from Brital's intersection all the way to al-Taybeh's intersection, after clashes renewed between the Ismail and Mazloum families in connection with the gunbattle that erupted two days ago,” NNA said. It noted that the dispute between the two families has to do with an “old vendetta.”Civil Defense firefighting vehicles and ambulances were scrambled to the area “after a blaze ripped through home appliances stores owned by Hajj Hussein Mazloum due to the fall of two shells near them,” the agency added. “The army has prohibited traffic on the international highway near Brital's intersection, amid a heavy presence by masked gunmen in the area,” NNA said, adding that “groups of gunmen are gathering in Brital's neighborhoods.” According to LBCI television, the army has since managed to contain the clashes which “did not cause any casualties.”

2 Held after Stabbing Young Man to Death in Ashrafieh
Naharnet/February 16/16/A young man died of his wounds on Tuesday evening after being stabbed by two men during a brawl in Beirut's Ashrafieh district, media reports said. “Marcelino Zamata was sitting in his car with his fiancee on the side of the road in Sassine Square when a verbal dispute erupted between him and two young men who were passing in the area on a motorcycle,” LBCI television said. “The verbal dispute soon escalated into a fistfight during which the two young men stabbed him several times,” it added. The two assailants fled the area before being eventually arrested by an undercover police patrol, the TV network said, identifying them as 19-year-old Palestinian national Ahmed Saad and 31-year-old Lebanese citizen Hassan Faqih. The victim was rushed to the nearby Rizk Hospital where he soon succumbed to his injuries, LBCI said. Other media reports have said that the brawl erupted after the two men addressed sexual harassment words to Marcelino's fiancee.

General Security Arrests Syrian Nusra Members Linked to Arsal Servicemen Executions
Naharnet/February 16/16/The General Security announced on Tuesday the arrest of five Syrian members of the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front group, one of whom is linked to the execution of soldiers kidnapped by the group and the Islamic State in 2014. They confessed after interrogation to forming a terror cell aimed at carrying out bombings through booby-trapped cars.One of the detainees, identified as H.M., is religious al-Nusra leader in the Arsal region in northeastern Lebanon and Syria's al-Qalamoun near the border. He headed an armed group that took part in the Arsal battles against the army in August 2014. The detainee used his religious role in al-Nusra Front to issue a fatwa, or blessing, to execute abducted soldiers Mohammed Hamieh and Ali Bazzal. He shot the footage of Hamieh's execution, which was performed by Syrian Aa.L., who was arrested at a previous time. The five detainees have since been referred to the concerned judiciary. In August 2014, gunmen from al-Nusra Front and IS groups overran the town of Arsal, where they engaged in clashes with the army. They soon withdrew from the area, but kidnapped with them a number of servicemen. Four of the captives were executed, while the servicemen held by al-Nusra Front were released at different intervals. The IS still holds the remaining captives.

Russian Official: Documents on Waste Export Fake
Naharnet/February 16/16/An official has denied that Russia gave the green light to send Lebanon's waste to a Russian province, describing a document received by the authorities in Moscow as fake. “The document that we received from the embassy of the Lebanese Republic with regards to our agreement to receive the waste is fake and forged,” the Tass Russian news agency quoted Nikolai Gudkov, press officer at the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, as saying. The document has “a fake and unregistered signature,” he said. “After we discovered the forgery, we urged law enforcement agencies to pursue all participants in these illegal businesses,” Gudkov added. The Russian official also told the agency that the export of waste is subject to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. “Several complicated measures” should be taken before the export of the garbage, he said. “The foreign country should deliver a memorandum to the authority that is tasked with managing the Convention and not to the Russian Environment Ministry as it has been mentioned in the fake document.” Lebanon's trash management crisis erupted in July 2015 when the Naameh landfill that received the waste of Beirut and Mount Lebanon was closed. The government's failure to find alternatives led to the piling up of garbage on the streets and in random locations, which raised health and environmental concerns and sparked unprecedented street protests against the entire political class. In December, the cabinet approved the export plan with representatives of Britain’s Chinook and Holland’s Howa BV, which withdrew afterward.

Moqbel: EU Refugee Aid Needed Now, Not in a Year
Associated Press/Naharnet/February 16/16/Defense Minister Samir Moqbel has urged the European Union to speed up assistance for the huge number of refugees from war-ravaged Syria that Lebanon is now harboring. Moqbel said on Monday that he has appealed to Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades to convey the message to other EU member states to speed up assistance because "we need the help now and not in one year."Moqbel said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart that Lebanon cannot provide for the refugees' basic needs like medical care, education, electricity and food without help. Lebanon is home to around 1.5 million refugees fleeing Syria's civil war. Moqbel also asked that the EU hasten aid to Lebanon's armed forces in order to help them fight "terrorists all around our border."

Lebanese Army Seizes Drugs, Arrests Syrians in Fanar
Naharnet/February 16/16/The Lebanese army said on Tuesday that it seized drugs and arrested three Syrians during raids in the area of al-Zaaytrieh in the North Metn town of Fanar. A communique issued by the military command said a patrol raided the hideouts of wanted suspects on Monday, seizing drugs. The troops also confiscated a stolen ID and driving license, in addition to a surveillance camera and communication equipment, it said.Three Syrians were arrested in the area for entering the country illegally, the military stated. The communique added that the detainees and the seized material were referred to the appropriate authorities for further action.

Patriarch Al-Rahi Holds more Consultations on Christian Posts, Presidency
Naharnet/February 16/16/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi met on Tuesday with more Christian cabinet ministers with the aim of taking action against the alleged marginalization of Christians in state institutions. Al-Rahi held separate talks with Telecommunications Minister Butros Harb and Minister of the Displaced Alice Shabtini in Bkirki. “It is time for the presidential candidates to think about the country and head to parliament so that the democratic game takes its course,” said Harb after his meeting with the patriarch. Harb also said that there should be a balance in the country's institutions. Al-Rahi met last week with several other Christian ministers after growing complaints that Christian posts were being given to Muslim civil servants. The vacuum at the Baabda Palace as a result of a 21-month deadlock has further exacerbated the problem. The country's top Christian post has been vacant since the term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014. Informed sources told al-Joumhouria daily on Tuesday that Bkirki will issue a special report summarizing the result of the consultations that al-Rahi has held with the Christian ministers. The seat of the Maronite church will then see what action to take to restore the rights of the Christians, they said.

Canadian statement on bombing of hospital in Syria, killing and injuring humanitarian aid workers
February 15, 2016 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, today issued the following statement following the bombing of a hospital supported by Médecins sans frontières in Syria: “Canada strongly condemns the continued targeting of health facilities and personnel in the Syrian conflict. Again, we call on all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law and provide humanitarian workers with safe, full and unhindered access to those in need in Syria. “Humanitarian staff work in extremely dangerous situations and put their lives on the line to help those in need: over 80 humanitarian staff and volunteers have died in Syria since the start of the crisis. “We call for an immediate end to attacks on civilians and bombings, and the termination of siege tactics. “As agreed in Munich on February 11 by the International Syria Support Group, which includes Russia, all parties need to work toward the ceasefire between the regime and the opposition. The peace process cannot proceed with the regime’s continued military offensives in Syria, including aerial bombardment by Russian and Assad-regime forces.‎”

Turkey Wants Syria Ground Operation with Allies
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 16/16/ Turkey said Tuesday it wanted a ground operation in neighboring Syria with its international allies, as a U.N. envoy held talks in Damascus aimed at saving a troubled ceasefire plan. Tensions escalated over Russia's air war in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with Ankara branding it "vile, cruel and barbaric" and EU President Donald Tusk saying it "leaves little hope" of a solution. Turkey sees the ouster of Assad as essential to ending a five-year conflict that has killed more than 260,000 people, and is highly critical of Iran and Russia over their support for the Damascus regime."We want a ground operation with our international allies," a senior Turkish official told reporters in Istanbul. "There is not going to be a unilateral military operation from Turkey to Syria," the official said, but added: "Without a ground operation it is impossible to stop the fighting in Syria."
Saudi Arabia, another fierce critic of Assad, has said it is ready to send special forces to Syria to take part in ground operations against the Islamic State (IS) group. The United Nations said Monday that nearly 50 civilians, including children, had died in the bombings of at least five medical facilities and two schools in northern Syria. The region around Syria's second city of Aleppo has been the target of a major offensive by Syrian government troops, backed by Russian warplanes, which has sent tens of thousands fleeing to the Turkish border.Russia denied it had bombed any hospital in Syria, calling such reports "unsubstantiated accusations".
Ceasefire hopes fade
U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in Damascus Tuesday to try to keep alive the proposal announced by world powers in Munich early Friday for a "cessation of hostilities" in Syria within a week. "We have been particularly talking about the issue of humanitarian unhindered access to all besieged areas not only by the government but also by (the) opposition" and IS, De Mistura told reporters afterwards. He said they would meet again later Tuesday "to address this urgent issue which is as you know related to the well being of all Syrian people and is connected to the very clear discussions and conclusions of the Munich conference."Assad on Monday downplayed prospects of a halt in fighting, saying that it would be "difficult" to implement a truce. "They are saying they want a ceasefire in a week. Who is capable of gathering all the conditions and requirements in a week? No one," Assad said in televised remarks. Turkey meanwhile shelled Kurdish positions in northern Syria for a fourth straight day Tuesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor. It said the shells had struck the town of Tal Rifaat which was captured on Monday from mostly Islamist rebels by a Kurdish-Arab coalition known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. Turkish media also reported shelling on Kurdish positions around the rebel stronghold of Azaz. - Diplomatic tensions flare -Ankara accuses the Kurdish forces of ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey. Turkey fears the Kurds will be able to create a contiguous Kurdish territory just across the border in northern Syria. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday accused Kurdish fighters of being "Russia's legion working as mercenaries" with a priority aim of harming Turkey's interests. Moscow says its military intervention has targeted IS and other "terrorists", but activists say Russia's raids have caused disproportionately high civilian casualties. Russia's air strikes have allowed government forces to press a major operation that has virtually encircled rebels in eastern Aleppo city, as well as pushing them from much of the region to the north. "Those vile, cruel and barbaric planes have made close to 8,000 sorties since September 30 without any discrimination between civilians and soldiers, or children and the elderly," Davutoglu said in parliament. Moscow meanwhile called Turkey's shelling in Syria "provocative" and said it supported raising the issue at the U.N. Security Council. A U.S. State Department spokesperson urged Turkey and Russia to avoid any further escalation. "It is important that the Russians and Turks speak directly, and take measures to prevent escalation," the spokesperson told AFP. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu expressed "uneasiness" about France's call over the weekend for an immediate halt to the shelling of Kurdish forces, a Turkish diplomatic source said.
Speaking on Monday with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault by telephone, Cavusoglu said Turkey was fighting against "elements of terror" in Syria.

France's Sarkozy Quizzed over Campaign Finances
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 16/16/Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was to be questioned by investigating magistrates Tuesday about a long-running scandal over his 2012 campaign finances. It was not clear if Sarkozy, who is maneuvering for another run at the presidency in 2017, would be charged after the session with the magistrates in Paris. The magistrates are investigating allegations of false accounting during his failed election campaign four years ago that allowed him to greatly exceed spending limits. The case hinges on the activity of PR firm Bygmalion which organized some of Sarkozy's campaign appearances and is accused of a vast system of false accounting. Bygmalion is accused of charging 18.5 million euros ($21 million) to Sarkozy's right-wing party -- then called the UMP, but since renamed The Republicans -- instead of the campaign, allowing it to exceed the spending limit of 22.5 million euros. Several employees at Bygmalion, including the company's accountant as well as a leading member of Sarkozy's campaign team, have admitted to the existence of the fraud, though none have accused the former president of knowing about it.
Sarkozy, 61, who led France from 2007 before losing to Socialist Francois Hollande in 2012, has always denied any knowledge of the false accounting. He said he was retiring from politics after the election but made a comeback just two years later, returning to lead The Republicans and lining himself up for party primaries this autumn in a bid to contest the presidential election in May 2017. The path back to power has been far rockier than expected for Sarkozy, who is embroiled in several corruption scandals, and has failed to excite much popular support. He trails center-right rival Alain Juppe by a considerable margin in opinion polls. Sarkozy's ambitions have not been helped by the campaign financing scandal, which has recently widened beyond the activities of Bygmalion. Despite his adamant denials, the investigation has found that Sarkozy asked for more campaign events in mid-March 2012, around two months before the vote. His campaign director, Guillaume Lambert, has told police he warned Sarkozy at the time of the risk of breaching financing limits. Questioned by police in September 2015, Sarkozy said he did not remember the warning, and described the controversy as a "farce", putting the responsibility squarely on Bygmalion and the UMP. Since then, however, the investigation has widened beyond Bygmalion and is looking into a further 13.5 million euros in campaign spending by the UMP, of which only 3.0 million was declared at the time. A total of 13 people have been charged from Bygmalion and the UMP with fraud, abuse of confidence or illegal campaign financing.

U.S. Says Three Americans Abducted in Iraq Have Been Released
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 16/16/Three Americans who were kidnapped in the Iraqi capital Baghdad last month have been released, the State Department said Tuesday. "We sincerely appreciate the assistance provided by the government of Iraq, and its whole-of-government effort to bring about the safe release of these individuals," deputy spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement. Toner specifically thanked Iraq's security forces, defense ministry and intelligence service for their role in securing the Americans' release. The identities and employment of the victims was not made public. "A force belonging to the intelligence service was able to free the three kidnapped Americans," a senior Iraqi intelligence officer told AFP, without providing details on which group had held them. Kidnappers have recently seized Qataris and Turks, but it has been years since Americans were abducted, and Iraqis have suffered the most from kidnappers seeking ransoms or to settle scores. A spokesman for the security command responsible for the capital said last month the Americans had been kidnapped from a "suspicious apartment" in Baghdad. An Iraqi police colonel told AFP on condition of anonymity that the Americans had been brought to the apartment for "drinking and women." Brothels and alcohol shops have been repeatedly targeted by powerful Shiite militia groups that are playing a major role in combating the Islamic State jihadist group, which has overrun large parts of Iraq. These groups, which fall under an umbrella organization known as the Hashed al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization units, have played a key role in the fight against IS fighters. But they and their affiliates have also been accused of abuses including summary executions, kidnappings and destruction of property. The U.S. is leading a coalition of countries that have bombed thousands of IS targets in Iraq and Syria and which are providing training to Baghdad's forces. IS also has ample motive to target Americans, but while it is able to carry out bombings in Baghdad, it does not have a major presence in the city. Dozens of foreign nationals have been kidnapped in two incidents during the past few months. In December, gunmen kidnapped more than two dozen Qataris who had come to southern Iraq to hunt. Their whereabouts are still unknown, as are the identities of their kidnappers. It had been years since an American was kidnapped in Iraq. Issa T. Salomi, an American of Iraqi origin, went missing in Baghdad in January 2010 and was later freed by Asaib Ahl al-Haq, a powerful Shiite group that is now one of the leading forces in the Hashed al-Shaabi.

Egypt Acquits Fourth Police Officer in Torture Death
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 16/16/An Egyptian court on Tuesday acquitted a police officer previously jailed for life for torturing to death a detainee arrested over a church bombing in 2010, a court official said. The judgment by a court in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria comes as global rights groups increasingly accuse President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's regime of brutally repressing all opposition. Colonel Hossam al-Shinnawi became the fourth out of five officers to be acquitted in the case of torturing to death Sayed Bilal, an Islamist who was arrested over a church bombing in Alexandria. The fifth officer is still awaiting a verdict. All five are former members of the state security apparatus, and they were given separate retrials after a lower court found them guilty in 2012. Shinnawi and three others were initially sentenced to life imprisonment, while another officer was handed a 15-year jail term.
The court did not immediately give its reason for Tuesday's order to acquit Shinnawi. More than 20 churchgoers were killed weeks before the 2011 uprising against ex-president Hosni Mubarak when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in front of a church after a New Year's Eve mass. Police rounded up Islamists, including Bilal, belonging to the hardline Salafi movement after they held protests against the Coptic Church, which they accused of detaining a woman who converted to Islam. Bilal's badly bruised body was returned to his family a day after his arrest over the church attack, rights activists said at the time. His lawyer criticized Tuesday's judgment. "Today, the policemen have no accountability and are safe from any punishment," said Ahmed al-Hamrawi. Police abuses were a major trigger for the 2011 revolt against Mubarak. Dozens of policemen were tried for the deaths of protester after the revolt against Mubarak, but most were acquitted. The police force has managed to rehabilitate itself in the eyes of many Egyptians despite its deadly crackdown on supporters of Mubarak's successor, Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. In recent months six policemen have been jailed in separate cases of deaths in custody.
In December, Sisi had warned that police officers found guilty of "committing mistakes" would be punished.

Kremlin Denies Russian Strikes on Syria Hospitals
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 16/16/Russia on Tuesday denied bombing hospitals in northern Syria, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling such accusations "unsubstantiated." "Once again, we categorically reject and do not accept such statements," he said when asked whether Russian planes bombed hospitals in Syria, including one supported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF). "Especially since every time, those who make such statements are unable to prove in any way their unsubstantiated accusations."The Kremlin spokesman added that Moscow prefers to rely on "first-hand sources" of information, which he said in this case would be the Syrian government. Syria's ambassador to Russia, Riad Haddad, on Monday accused the United States of bombing the MSF hospital and said that "Russian warplanes had nothing to do with any of it." Strikes on hospitals in Idlib and Azaz killed almost 50 civilians including children, according to the United Nations, with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon saying the raids violated international law and undermined efforts to end the five-year conflict. The MSF confirmed its hospital was hit, without assigning blame. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitor, said it suspected that Russian warplanes were behind the attack, based on the location of the raids and the flight patterns and types of planes involved. Turkish Prime Minister on Tuesday denounced "vile, cruel and barbaric planes" of the Russian airforce, saying they bomb "without discrimination between civilians and soldiers." Russia's defense ministry however hit back with accusations that Turkey is shelling Syrian government forces from across the border. "Since the end of last week Turkey is hitting Syrian government forces and patriotic opposition in border areas with large caliber artillery," spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in an emailed statement. He accused Turkey of "hitting border villages in Aleppo province with artillery more than 100 times" and engaging in an "informational campaign against Russia to avoid losing control over north and northwest part of Syria."Syria's government offensive, helped by Russian planes, has "freed from terrorists over 800 square kilometers of territory" with 73 towns and villages in Syria so far this month, including over 100 square kilometers in the past 24 hours in the north-west of the country, he said. Russian planes hit 1593 "terrorist targets" in total in the past week, he added, without detailing exactly what was hit. The Russian air force has carried out a campaign of strikes to help the ground offensive by the Syrian army since September. The West accuses it of pursuing the goal of wiping out President Bashar Assad's moderate opposition rather than the stated objective to destroy jihadist groups like the Islamic State.

Israel Bid for New Powers against Dissident MPs Hits Trouble
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 16/16/A bill backed by the Israeli premier that would give parliament powers to strip lawmakers of the right to vote on draft legislation has drawn a storm of criticism, including from the president. The bill is widely seen as targeting the Arab-led bloc that counts 13 of parliament's 120 members but President Reuven Rivlin warned that, if granted, the powers could be used against any dissenting voice in the Knesset. "A Knesset that is able, even if justly, to today decide upon the cessation of the office of such representatives of the public, will tomorrow, unjustly do so to others, and then where will we be?" Rivlin asked. The conservative president's position is largely ceremonial but the bill has also run into opposition from within the rightwing ruling coalition. Parliament's legislation committee chairman Nissan Slomiansky said that discussion of the draft, which had been planned for Tuesday, has been postponed because of a lack of consensus within the coalition. The bill would give parliament the right to strip any lawmaker of the right to vote on draft legislation by a qualified three quarters majority. It comes amid anger among hardline Jewish lawmakers over meetings by three Arab members with the families of Palestinians involved in a wave of attacks that has rocked Israel since last October. Since Monday, the three MPs have been barred from taking part in committee meetings or parliamentary debates, but they still have the right to vote on all draft legislation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he planned to continue to push for the legislation. “There is a difference between democracy and anarchy," Netanyahu told journalists during a visit to Berlin. "A democracy must defend itself. One should not use democracy to bring about its fall or the fall of the state.”
Over the years, there have been a number of legal actions against Arab members of the Israeli parliament, mainly over visits to, or alleged relations with, Lebanon, Syria or countries still technically at war with Israel. But they have all entailed the stripping of parliamentary immunity and lengthy legislative and legal procedures. Netanyahu heads what is widely regarded as Israel's most rightwing government ever and has not been afraid to offend pro-Arab opinion. But even some of his own supporters in parliament have expressed qualms about the latest draft legislation. Parliament speaker Yuli Edelstein, who is a member of Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party, said on Monday that the bill would "never be tabled as long as I'm speaker." He later qualified his remarks.

Germany-Based Syrians Face Terror Charges in Bulgaria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 16/16/Three Syrians living in Germany have been arrested in Bulgaria on their way to join Islamic State fighters back home and are facing terrorism charges, prosecutors in Sofia said Tuesday. It is the first such case in Bulgaria since it introduced new legislation last year criminalizing the intent of joining terrorist groups. Police detained the men -- aged 21, 22 and 25 -- last week as they tried to illegally cross Bulgaria's southeastern border with Turkey, near the main Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint. Bulgarian newspaper Capital reported Tuesday that the Syrians were refugees residing in Germany for between two and six years, meaning they did not arrive with the recent influx of migrants. After their February 8 arrest, the suspects had initially been handed six-month suspended sentences for trespassing. However, authorities then found "pictures with jihadist content on their mobile phones and tracked down correspondence between them and Islamic State members who are well known to European authorities," the special prosecution's press office told AFP Tuesday. The trio denied the allegations, but authorities said that several witnesses had confirmed the suspects' intention to join fighters in Syria. They had tried to enter Turkey earlier this year after traveling by bus from Germany to Greece, but had been turned back, according to officials. Bulgaria, which has remained on the sidelines of the huge migrant influx from Turkey and Greece to Europe, has become a major transit country for jihadists seeking to join IS in Syria.

Iran sticking to nuclear deal so far, says U.S.
AFP Tuesday, 16 February 2016/Washington’s U.N. ambassador Samantha Power said Monday that compliance with the Iran nuclear deal was so far “strong”, but warned Tehran was still helping fuel conflict and remained a threat. “What this deal does if implemented - and so far the implementation has been strong but it’s very early days - is it cuts off the pathways to a nuclear weapon and it gives us much more visibility into Iran’s program than we had before,” Power told students during a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. She added later that “Iran of course is still a threat. Iran is supporting terrorism. Iran is supporting parties to conflict like the Assad regime (in Syria)”. Last July’s Vienna agreement between Iran and the permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany (P5 plus one) sees sanctions lifted in return for Tehran ensuring its nuclear program remains for civilian use. Israel strongly opposed the deal with its arch-foe, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning it would not block Iran’s path to nuclear weapons. He also said lifting sanctions would allow Iran to further back proxy militants in the region, including Israeli enemies such as Hezbollah. Netanyahu’s outspoken criticism of the accord, particularly in a speech to the U.S. Congress, led to a rift with U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration. He has since scaled back his rhetoric, and the United States and Netanyahu’s government are currently negotiating a new 10-year defense aid package expected to be an increase over the current $3.1 billion Israel receives annually.

Iran claims Saudi embassy attackers ‘on trial’
Al Arabiya English Tuesday, 16 February 2016/The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani announced that “those who stormed the Saudi Embassy have been brought to justice and are awaiting trial.”The Iranian state news agency quoted Shamkhani as having told a press conference “the government is following the issue of the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran”, adding that the attackers had been identified. The statement went on to say that the case had been referred to the courts and that their trial would follow. Shamkhani did not disclose the identity of those involved in the embassy attack. But Iranian media, state and religious sources previously revealed the identity of the mastermind behind the attack as a man said to be close to the regime named as “Hassan Kurd Meehan.”Meehan was said to have previously been fighting in the ranks of the Revolutionary Guards in Syria. Iran has previously been criticized for its failure to provide adequate security for the embassies on its territories. The recent attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the attack on the Saudi consulate in Mashhad, were just the most recent cases. Kurd Meehan, who is said to have been arrested by the Iranian authorities on charges of plotting the attack, belongs to the “Ansar of Hezbollah” militia in the city of Karaj, southwest of Tehran. The group is said to be close to the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad were attacked by Iranian protesters in the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 3, following the execution of a Saudi Shiite preacher along with 46 others. At the time of the attacks Iran’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling on protesters to respect the diplomatic premises after police dispersed angry protesters who had stormed the Saudi embassy. Among the 47 terrorism convicts executed were Fares al-Shuwail, said to be a high ranking member of Al Qaeda, and Shiite preacher Nimr al-Nimr. The execution of Nimr was criticized by Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a prominent Iranian cleric and a member of the Assembly of Experts, who predicted repercussions following the preacher’s execution.

Turkey about to conclude a deal with Israel on ‘all issues’
Reuters, Israel Tuesday, 16 February 2016/Turkey is about to conclude a deal with Israel on “all issues”, a Turkish official said on Tuesday, a sign the two former allies may be moving toward a compensation agreement for the killing of 10 Turkish activists by Israeli commandos in 2010. The two countries have stepped up efforts in recent months to restore a relationship that was severely damaged after an Israeli raid on a Turkish boat, the Mavi Marmara, which had been trying to breach a blockade on the Gaza strip. The official made the comment at a briefing with reporters in Istanbul.

Why Azaz is so important for Turkish forces
Al Arabiya English Tuesday, 16 February 2016/What concerns the Turks is not just the strategic location of Azaz and Afrin, but that Ankara is trying to prevent the two cities from falling into the hands of the Kurdish fighters. The aim is to prevent the Kurd's control over a large area adjacent to the Turkish border, which might create a complicated situation for Ankara, and allow Kurdish fighters to have a territorial continuity extending from the town of Ain Al-Arab Kubani passing through Jarabulus, which is under the control of ISIS now, to Azaz.

Egypt court clears policeman over 2011 torture, killing case
Reuters, Cairo Tuesday, 16 February 2016/An Egyptian court on Tuesday cleared a former security officer charged with torturing to death an Islamist detainee suspected of bombing a church in Alexandria shortly before the 2011 uprising. The verdict is the latest in a series of cases highlighting growing concerns over police brutality and impunity amid a crackdown by Egyptian security forces on political dissent. The officer, Hossam al-Shenawy, was accused of using violence to extract a confession from Sayyid Bilal, a follower of the puritan Salafi approach to Islam. Bilal died in custody and it later transpired that he was not involved in the attack on the church which killed more than 20 people on New Year's Eve. Shenawy was one of four policemen who had previously been sentenced to life in absentia over the death of Bilal and the torture of other Salafis rounded up after the bombing. Two of those policemen handed themselves in and were later acquitted. A third handed himself in and was given a 15-year jail sentence. At a hearing on Tuesday, amid tight security and in the absence of journalists and relatives of Bilal, the Alexandria Criminal Court overturned Shenawy's prison sentence. Anger over police brutality helped fuel the mass uprising that began less than a month after the church bombing and culminated with the end of Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. The issue has returned to the spotlight in recent weeks, with Egyptian doctors protesting over an incident in which they allege police beat medical professionals at a Cairo hospital. The torture and death of an Italian student in Egypt also prompted academics and rights groups to demand that investigators look at the possibility that he was detained. The Egyptian Interior Ministry denies accusations by human rights groups that police brutality is endemic in Egypt and says it investigates what it describes as isolated incidents.

Boutros-Ghali, first UN chief from Africa, dies
By AP Cairo Tuesday, 16 February 2016/Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a veteran Egyptian diplomat who helped negotiate his country’s landmark peace deal with Israel but then clashed with the United States when he served a single term as U.N. secretary-general, has died. He was 93. Boutros-Ghali, the scion of a prominent Egyptian Christian political family, was the first U.N. chief from the African continent. He stepped into the post in 1992 at a time of dramatic world changes, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a unipolar era dominated by the United States. But after four years of frictions with the Clinton administration, the United States blocked his renewal in the post in 1996, making him the only U.N. secretary-general to serve a single term. He was replaced by Ghanaian Kofi Annan. The current president of the U.N. Security Council, Venezuelan Ambassador Rafael Ramirez, announced Boutros-Ghali's death at the start of a session Tuesday on Yemen's humanitarian crisis. The 15 council members stood in a silent tribute. Boutros-Ghhali died Tuesday at a Cairo hospital, Egypt’s state news agency said. He had been admitted to the hospital after suffering a broken pelvis, the Al-Ahram newspaper reported on Thursday. Boutros-Ghali’s five years in the United Nations remain controversial. Some see him as seeking to establish the U.N.’s independence from the world superpower, the United States. Others blame him for misjudgments in the failures to prevent genocides in Africa and the Balkans and mismanagement of reform in the world body. In his farewell speech to the U.N., Boutros-Ghali said he had thought when he took the post that the time was right for the United Nations to play an effective role in a world no longer divided into warring Cold War camps. “But the middle years of this half decade were deeply troubled,” he said. “Disillusion set in.”In a 2005 interview with The Associated Press, Boutros-Ghali called the 1994 massacre in Rwanda - in which half a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in 100 days – “my worst failure at the United Nations.”But he blamed the United States, Britain, France and Belgium for paralyzing action by setting impossible conditions for intervention. Then-U.S. President Bill Clinton and other world leaders were opposed to taking strong action to beef up U.N. peacekeepers in the tiny Central African nation or intervening to stop the massacres. “The concept of peacekeeping was turned on its head and worsened by the serious gap between mandates and resources,” he told AP.
Boutros-Ghali also came under fire for the July 1995 Serb slaughter of 8,000 Muslims in the U.N.-declared “safe zone” of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia just before the end of the war. In 1999, families of the victims listed Boutros-Ghali as one of the international officials they wanted to sue for responsibility in the deaths.His legacy was also stained in investigations into corruption in the U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq, which he played a large role in creating. Three suspects in the probe were linked to Boutros-Ghali either by family relationship or friendship. His cousin, Fakhry Abdelnour, is the head of an oil company called AMEP, which was accused of getting oil concessions through the executive director of the oil-for-food program, Benon Sevan. Boutros-Ghali frequently took vocal stances that angered the Clinton administration - such as his strong criticism of Israel after the 1996 shelling of U.N. camp in Lebanon that killed some 100 refugees. In writings after leaving the U.N., he accused Washington of using the world body for its own political purposes and said U.S. officials often tried to directly control his actions. He wrote in his 1999 book “Unvanquished” that he “mistakenly assumed that the great powers, especially the United States, also trained their representatives in diplomacy and accepted the value of it. But the Roman Empire had no need for diplomacy. Neither does the United States.” His opponents, in turn, accused him of being too sluggish in pushing U.N. reforms. Boutros-Ghali blamed slowness in reform on the lack of money and pointed out that the United States was $1.4 billion in arrears on payments. Noted for his dignified bearing and Old World style, Boutros-Ghali was the son of one of Egypt’s most important Coptic Christian families. His grandfather, Boutros Ghali Pasha, was Egypt’s prime minister from 1908 to 1910. Born Nov. 14, 1922, Boutros-Ghali studied in Cairo and Paris and became an academic, specialized in international law. In 1977, then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat named him minister of state without portfolio, shortly before Sadat’s landmark visit to Israel to launch peace negotiations. Sadat’s rapprochement with Israel brought harsh criticism from across Egypt’s political spectrum. His foreign minister, Ismail Fahmi, resigned in protest at normalization with Israel. So Sadat turned to Boutros-Ghali, naming him acting foreign minister and minister of state for foreign affairs.
Boutros-Ghali played a major role in subsequent negotiations that produced the Camp David peace framework agreements in September 1978 and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty in March 1979, the first such between an Arab state and Israel.
Israelis considered Boutros-Ghali a hawkish negotiator. But he also staunchly defended Egypt’s peace efforts against fierce Arab opposition. At one African summit, he sharply retorted to Algerian criticism, saying, “Algeria wants to fight Israel to the last Egyptian soldier.”President Hosni Mubarak, who succeeded Sadat in October 1981, kept Boutros-Ghali in the same post. But Boutros-Ghlai was never promoted to the post of foreign minister because it was considered too controversial to have a Christian in the key post of a Muslim majority country. After leaving the United Nations, Boutros-Ghali served from 1998 to 2002 as secretary-general of La Francophonie - a grouping of French-speaking nations. In 2004, he was named the president of Egypt's new human rights council, a body created by Mubarak amid U.S. pressure on Arab nations to adopt political and democratic reforms. He was married to Lea, an Egyptian Jew. They have no children.

Netanyahu in Berlin calls French plan ‘surprising’ as Merkel puts brakes on diplomatic efforts
Jerusalem Post/February 16/16/Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday characterized as “surprising” a French peace initiative that calls for an international conference, and – if that fails – recognition by Paris of a Palestinian state.
Speaking in Berlin at a press conference alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Netanyahu said it was surprising for the French to say in advance they would recognize a Palestinians state if the peace conference fails without knowing whether that state may turn into yet another dictatorship in the region; whether that state “really intended to end the conflict” with Israel and “recognize the “state of the Jews”; and without knowing if there will be security arrangements in that state to prevent Hamas, Islamic State or both from taking over land from which Israel might withdraw.
“Obviously this ensures that a conference will fail,” Netanyahu said. “Because if the Palestinians know that their conditions will be accepted, and they don't have to do anything [to compromise], then certainly there is an internal contradiction and they will not do anything.”
Netanyahu said the only way to promote peace was “through negotiations without preconditions, directly between the two sides. That is the real way, and anyone who tries to divert from that path will not promote successful negotiations.”
Netanyahu's comments came within hours of French Ambassador Patrick Maisonnave meeting in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem with Alon Ushpiz, the ministry’s deputy director-general for political affairs, and presenting him with details of the French plan.
The plan calls for the convening of a peace conference in Paris in the summer. This meeting is to be preceded by a meeting of an international support group, without Israeli and Palestinian participation.
Merkel, meanwhile, was asked whether following the killing of hundreds of thousands of people in the Middle East it “wasn't time to admit that Palestinian terror has nothing to do with settlements and the so called occupation.”
She replied, “We in the EU and in German are trying to see things realistically. We recognize the terror threat that Israel must face, and on the other hand we want to promote a process of living together in peace, and that is based on two states for two peoples,” she said.
Merkel said that she discussed with Netanyahu possible future steps. Though acknowledging that “this is not the time for progress,” she said it is possible to “improve things in certain areas,” and said that Germany in particular would help in areas of economic development.
Merkel said that despite differences between Israel and the EU, it was important to keep the channels of communication open. “We agree that Israel, Europe and Germany are facing the same challenges, and we had our talks in this spirit, and discussed how to fight Islamic State and how it is possible to stop the terrorist threat.”

From Israeli prime minister to prisoner
Ben Caspit/Al-Monitor/February 16/16
Ehud Olmert, Israel’s prime minister from 2006 to 2009, has reported to jail, where he will become a run-of-the-mill prisoner. Olmert, 70, will spend 19 months behind bars, serving a sentence for corruption for his involvement in a bribery scandal that occurred while he was mayor of Jerusalem.
In the brief history of the Jewish state, nothing like this has ever happened before at the prime minister level. In 2011, Israel’s eighth president (2000-2007), Moshe Katsav, was sentenced to seven years in prison for aggravated sexual assault, a sentence he is currently serving. Before that, former Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson was sent to prison in 2009 for white-collar crimes. But never before has an Israeli prime minister been sent to prison. In Israel, the prime minister is the equivalent of the American president. He is the leader; he is the captain, the Israeli version of the “commander-in-chief.” And now he is going to jail. Apart from the legal precedent and aside from all the tragedies — personal, familial and national — the situation is also a logistical nightmare. As a former prime minister, the Shin Bet’s VIP Security Unit provides Olmert with a security detail 24/7, no matter where he goes. He travels in a government limo and his home and office are under constant protection because Olmert is considered one of Israel’s “emblems of government” who requires round-the-clock security. The reason for that is simple: Olmert knows state secrets. He knows everyone and everything. Some of the most intricate and important classified military decisions were made personally by him. Someone like him would be a treasure trove of information for terrorist groups or foreign intelligence agencies. How can such a person be sent to prison?
The first question raised was what would happen with his security once he begins his sentence. Will the former prime minister bring his security detail to prison with him? Since Israel has never faced this kind of dilemma before, the prison service and the Shin Bet were forced to ponder the problem in depth before coming up with a special protocol to handle the logistics. It was decided that the VIP Security Unit will remain outside the prison walls, only joining Olmert in the event that he leaves the prison on furlough. Within the prison itself, he will be protected by a team of security guards who received special training under Shin Bet supervision. It isn’t every day that a prime minister becomes an ordinary prisoner, so the system must get used to dealing with this bizarre situation.
Another question raised was whether Olmert would be allowed to serve his sentence with other prisoners. The authorities came up with a creative solution here. A new wing, “Division 10,” was created in the minimum-security Maasiyahu Prison. Olmert will be kept in a cell designed for three prisoners in an isolated wing that will house only white-collar criminals, traffic offenders and other inmates convicted of bribery. Prisoners who will be in contact with him will be screened first. The prime minister’s cell will be covered by security cameras, which will keep track of everything happening there 24/7, and a special sentry will be posted by the door. Olmert will not come into contact with any unvetted prisoners, out of fear that they might attack him or attempt to extort him. The big problem is how he will pass the time, as he will not be able to work like other prisoners. As of now, he is sentenced to 19 months, which is considerable, but there is certainly a chance that this time will be increased once the appeals process in other scandals in which Olmert has been convicted eventually ends. Olmert’s sentence could grow by many more months.
It is hard to believe that this is the very man who won an election less than a decade ago and served as the prime minister of Israel for almost three years. The rise and fall of Olmert could be the basis of a Greek tragedy or a Latin American telenovela. He reached the pinnacle of power in a historical twist of fate, after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a debilitating stroke in January 2006. Olmert, who was then the deputy prime minister, benefited from the sudden lack of leadership. After winning the election, he led Israel through the Second Lebanon War (2006) and Operation Cast Lead in Gaza (2008-2009). According to foreign sources, during Olmert’s tenure, Israel also bombed the nuclear reactor that the Mossad allegedly uncovered in Deir ez-Zor, Syria, effectively eliminating President Bashar al-Assad’s top-secret nuclear ambitions in a matter of minutes in a smooth operation that went completely under the radar (2007). The ongoing civil war in Syria erupted three years later.
As far as Olmert is concerned, he would prefer to go down in history not as someone who went to war, but as the person who went farther than anyone in the history of modern Israel to reach peace with the Palestinians. During his final year in power, Olmert held a long series of personal, intimate meetings with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. These concluded with Olmert presenting Abbas with a written proposal, which expressed his readiness to give up almost all (94%) of the West Bank so that a Palestinian state could be formed. The proposal included the transfer of Jerusalem neighborhoods to the Palestinians and a creative solution to the problem of the right of return. No other Israeli leader had ever made such a far-reaching proposal to a Palestinian leader. When Olmert informed US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the details of his offer, she was visibly moved by it. In fact, she could hardly believe what she was hearing. Rice devoted an entire chapter to the issue in her book “No Higher Honor,” claiming that Olmert went even further and risked more than late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Ultimately, Abbas did not even reply to Olmert’s proposal, just as he did not respond to a proposal he received from President Barack Obama in the White House on March 17, 2014. Olmert eventually did not survive politically, but for entirely different reasons. Today, he has his own intriguing conspiracy theory about what actually happened next, claiming that his willingness to go so far unleashed great and powerful forces that financed a long campaign to depose him. Olmert’s legal struggle to prove his innocence dragged on for years before it ended in his excruciating fall. His final appeal was accepted in part by the Supreme Court, which reduced his original six-year sentence to just a year and a half in prison. And yet, regardless of all that, as of today, Olmert will go from being a free citizen, a former prime minister and a respected Israeli public figure to a prisoner serving his sentence. There are those who believe that putting an Israeli prime minister behind bars testifies to the resilience of Israel’s democracy. They say that it is evidence that Israel still has an independent judiciary and law enforcement system. The problem is that much has changed in Israel ever since the authorities went after Olmert. Today’s circumstances are completely different from those in which the police could investigate the prime minister fearlessly and without bias.

Saudi Arabia’s Plan B in Syria
Jamal Khashoggi/Al Arabiya/February 16/16
It was necessary for Riyadh to announce its readiness to send ground troops to Syria, and to call for the “North Thunder” maneuver that will bring together the armies of several Muslim countries on Saudi territory, in the largest military gathering since the war to liberate Kuwait. This initiative was strengthened last month when Riyadh said it would host the first leadership meeting of the Islamic Military Alliance. Saudi Arabia is hindering a clear plot to liquidate the Syrian revolution, proven by the withdrawal of the West in the face of Russia. As some Western politicians previously accepted President Vladimir Putin’s policies in Chechnya, unfortunately some Arabs also think that it is safer to accept a Russian solution in Syria. People will be made to choose between death, asylum or life under dictatorship. Many will choose the latter after the world has abandoned them. They will be tempted by additional fake reforms and elections, even without Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. After all, many are ready to be like Moscow-backed Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, ruling under a Russian mandate.
Propaganda
I recall Russian orientalist Elena Soponina telling me at a conference on Russia’s intervention in Syria that the Chechen capital Grozny “is no longer destroyed; it has become the Dubai of the Caucasus.” This sentence is suitable for a PR campaign, with the image of a few skyscrapers in Aleppo rising from the ruins.
It would be a good “model” to display during another donors’ conference in Damascus, under the auspices of a newly-elected president, amid large global and Arab attendance. It would be enough for some to state: “We have won and defeated terrorism.” However, what kind of Syria would that be? A country where fear and oppression prevail. Many have forgotten that the conflict there was not caused by regional or racial differences, but by the revolution of a people against a dictator. Such a solution gives Syrians no choice but to accept dictatorship in exchange for security, otherwise they will stay refugees. Should they choose to hold on to their freedom, they will be labeled terrorists. As usual, the bounty will be distributed between the winners. Russia will have its permanent bases and presence in the Middle East. The Syrian regime’s ally and protector Iran will take the whole country, which will become a platform for its sectarian project, leading to sedition in the region. Iran did not spend billions and shed the blood of its elite fighters for the sole sake of keeping Assad in power; Tehran wants its grand prize: Syria.
Saudi intervention
I do not know what Riyadh intends to do with all this diplomatic and military activity, or when, from where, with how many troops and with whom it plans to enter Syria. However, what I am sure of is Riyadh would never accept an Iranian victory in Syria that would change the face and identity of the region. It is clear that Saudi Arabia will be dealing with the world and the region according to this principle, and everyone must keep that in mind when dealing with the kingdom. No Saudi official has ever promised a quick victory, and that is a good thing. The initiative would start with fixing the distorted balance of power in Syria that led to the failure of the Geneva negotiations. At that time, the regime delegation presented its conditions with unprecedented arrogance, wanting the opposition to surrender, backed by Russian firepower that is killing the Syrian people. What happened in Geneva pushed Saudi Arabia to speed up what Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir called Plan B: its readiness for a ground intervention in order to test the alleged Western friends of Syria. It is if Riyadh is telling the Americans who used to blame Saudis for not doing their best to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS): “We’re ready now, how about you?” The ball is in their court now. How will this intervention end? What are its size and limits? Maybe even Saudi strategists do not know. They are only focusing on the target to be achieved, whatever it takes. The will to fight ISIS will expand to include the revolutionaries who hate it more than anything else. ISIS will be defeated because Syrians did not rebel in order to replace a secular Alawite dictator with an extremist who monopolizes and interprets Islam at will. Syrian revolutionaries will never have a role to play if they are not protected, because they are under attack from both the Russian-backed regime and the U.S.-backed Kurds. The eradication of the regime will make peace possible, and we will finally move toward a free Syria. Riyadh is actively working to convince its allies of its point of view; we must also do so internally. Some of us are concerned and do not trust our abilities. They will soon start wondering how we can fight on two fronts. Maybe the time has come to resort to tactical media.

Why Yemen is more than a war project
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/February 16/16
Ten months ago, three gangs took over Yemen – the Houthi militia, which is linked to Iran, forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted during the Arab Spring, and Al-Qaeda, which quickly expanded in the vacuum. As a result, Yemen became like Syria where there is fighting between the majority of the Syrian people, who have revolted against the Assad regime which is allied with Iran, and the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) organization. The bigger picture has it that Yemen is a significant military and political experience not only in terms of regional balance but also within the context of managing crises. Although it’s early to make absolute judgments on the plan to intervene in Yemen, a review of developments in the country gives an understanding of what’s happening on the ground. The crisis in Yemen, and the regional strife on multiple fronts with Iran, in general, are being managed for the first time without the American ally and without huge oil revenues. This is both an analysis of the situation from afar and also within the context of the very dangerous geopolitical transformations. However, what happened in Yemen was a betrayal of Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries, and of course, a betrayal of the Yemeni people who presented the best model during their uprising against Saleh’s regime. Their movement was the most peaceful Arab revolution despite delays on the part of Saleh. The United Nations intervened in the crisis at an early stage and worked out a democratic governance plan in which the Yemeni people could choose their representatives via elections.
This process was successfully and peacefully implemented, a transitional government was formed and relevant parties began working on a new constitution. Then there was a relapse and the political process, which the representative of the U.N. Secretary General had sponsored, deviated from its path after the Houthis and Saleh attempted to make Yemen like Lebanon. It looked as if the one with more weapons could get more seats and more power. With Iran’s support, the Houthis and Saleh resorted to military power to impose their conditions and later went as far as seizing entire Yemen. It became clear for Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries that Iran has decided to expand its areas of influence and that after Yemen it will its head to Bahrain, maybe to South Iraq and expand towards the west. The challenge for Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries was the prospect of Iran succeeding at getting its proxy to govern the capital Sana’a through the power of arms. The superpower, i.e. the United States, which had controlled Gulf affairs for more than half a century, disappeared from the scene. The U.S. chose to leave the arena to conflicting parties as it opened the doors to Iran for negotiations on its nuclear program. This increased the Iranian command’s appetite to expand and threaten regional stability.
The crisis in Yemen, and the regional strife on multiple fronts with Iran, are being managed for the first time without the American ally and without huge oil revenues. Amid these unusual circumstances, Saudi Arabia decided to build a military alliance and intervene in Yemen in order to support the legitimate Yemeni president and government which the U.N. recognizes. Any expert on Middle East affairs would describe the Saudi intervention as a desperate and late measure and insist that there can only be a political solution in Yemen. But a political solution would have gifted Yemen to Saleh and the Houthis. The Iranians would then have seized Yemen for a cheap price and the Gulf region would have been besieged by Iran from the north, east and south. In less than a year, we can see that the rising power in Yemen today is the legitimate government as it is supported by the majority of Yemen’s political and tribal components, by the GCC and by an Arab alliance which is the first of its kind. This power is now triumphing on the ground after being completely removed from the country. It first emerged as a resistance with basic arms and consisting of a small number of people who came from areas which rebels intentionally destroyed.
Making progress
This legitimate power is advancing towards the capital Sanaa today via the support of the Saudi-led alliance, and it has now stamped its authority on most of Taiz, Maarib, Lahij, Zinjibar, Aden and others. Details of the war’s daily events are many and complicated due to the presence of many powers and fronts – the Houthi militias, Saleh’s forces, Al-Qaeda and ISIS. The Houthis tried in vain to take the war to the Saudi border to divert pressure on them in other battlefields. The legitimate power, which is called the national army, and the Gulf and Arab forces are fighting the Houthis in their northern areas, such as Hajjah and al-Jawf governorates. They triumphed over Saleh’s forces in his areas of influence, which surround the capital. A few days ago, they took over the Nihm camp, which is the headquarters of the pro-rebel 312th Brigade of the army. The national army, which the legitimate government has established with the help of Gulf countries in the few past months, is also fighting Al-Qaeda in south and east of the country, and most recently in the surroundings of al-Mukalla. Al-Qaeda has also tried to take advantage of the national army’s preoccupation with the fighting against rebels in multiple and faraway areas. They have tried to attack the areas, including the temporary capital of Aden, which the legitimate forces have seized. However, developments that have taken place on the warfront definitely favor the legitimate powers and the Saudi-led alliance. The Yemeni model, i.e. changing the status quo by force and organized political work and insisting on reaching the target despite the challenges, is not a good option and cannot be repeated at every occasion. However, it was necessary to protect the map as we know it today. This model will influence the concept of the geopolitical struggle of the entire region as regional players and others must take into account the regional countries’ willingness and capability to engage in a confrontation. The war in Yemen is important because it is linked to the wars in Syria, Iraq and even Libya. Amid the chaos Iran, Al-Qaeda and the ISIS are trying to take over these countries in a race which the region has never known.

Why are the Patriarch and Pope coming together on Levant crisis now?
Dr. Theodore Karasik/Al Arabiya/February 16/16
The historical meeting in Cuba between the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis is certainly timely in the context of the Levantine affairs. With a so-called ceasefire pending in Syria on March 1 and the possible entry of more actors into the country’s battlespace, the holy meeting, advertised as the first in almost 1000 years (1054-2016), is certainly a millennial event with geopolitical implications. Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis, in a joint declaration on religious unity, called on world leaders to prevent Christians in the Near East from “being completely exterminated” and to help refugees from those regions. The two religious leaders embraced warmly in front of the cameras before proceeding to hold closed-door two-hour talks. Their joint declaration said: “Our gaze must firstly turn to those regions of the world where Christians are victims of persecution. In many countries of the Middle East and North Africa, whole families, villages, and cities of our brothers and sisters in Christ are being completely exterminated,” the declaration stated. Specifically, Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis drew attention to the violence in Iraq and Syria, stressing the severity of the humanitarian problem in the region, and urging the international community to stand up and help. “Thousands of victims have already been claimed in the violence in Syria and Iraq, which has left many other millions without a home or means of sustenance. We urge the international community to seek an end to the violence and terrorism and, at the same time, to contribute through dialogue to a swift return to civil peace. Large-scale humanitarian aid must be assured to the afflicted populations and to the many refugees seeking safety in neighboring lands.” Importantly, the two also discussed the relations between the Churches and the problems of their believers, in addition to sharing views on the progress of human civilization. The declaration also called on the world to unite against terrorism and help free those who have been kidnapped by extremists including Syrian-based metropolitans. From an ISIS point of view, this meeting may be another defining moment.
Two points
First, the meeting occurred on the one year anniversary of the February 12, 2015 “Message in Blood to the Christian Nation” from ISIS when its supporters killed 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians on the shores of Libya, spilling their bodies and blood into the Mediterranean Sea. The message was a clear signal to Europe – to include Russia – and specifically to Rome, that ISIS is launching a new phase of its attacks. And that they did in Paris and other European and Near Eastern cities with fierceness in 2015. In addition, from their point of view, the 1054 rupture between Rome and the Patriarchate of Constantinople, modern Istanbul, an ancient see whose incumbent is still considered the “first among equals” among the prelates of the Orthodox Christian world, are now united on the Near East. Thus, more reason to attack the Crusaders and the Muslim pretenders in Istanbul. Second, it’s important to remember that all the Orthodox churches are autocephalous, and in the past to present day, there is a fight on canonical territory. Thus, the meeting between the Patriarch and the Pope signifies a unique moment of unity between churches on the Levantine calamity, a key dual focal point. The meeting between the Patriarch and the Pope signifies a unique moment of unity between churches on the Levantine calamity, a key dual focal point. ISIS has been systematically eradicating Christianity’s traces from the region, killing and expelling thousands of Syrian Christians and demolishing the world’s historical heritage in Iraq, Syria, and beyond. It is torturing, extorting, or forcibly converting hundreds of thousands of Christians. The terror outfit wants the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church to unify with a total of 1.4 billion followers. A “smallish” 150 million plus are Russian Orthodox but play an important role in their worldview especially in the Near East. Pope Francis is no stranger to Russia and President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin’s attitude towards the Levant. In September 2013, the Pope, for all intensive purposes, joined forces with Putin in successfully heading off a proposed Western military offensive (U.S. President Barack Obama’s infamous red line failure) in Syria to bring down the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Since then, Francis and Putin have met in the Vatican and found common ground on several matters, including the protection of Near East Christians. The Catholic-Orthodox landscape is changing and this momentous event signals an added dimension to the Levantine conflict: the intervention and blessing of churches on military action.
Humanitarian issues
We need to recall that both churches are blessing military action in order to address humanitarian issues. In March 2005, the Vatican’s representative to the U.N. Italian Archbishop Silvano Tomasi made an unusually blunt endorsement of military action by calling for a coordinated international force to stop ISIS in Syria and Iraq from further assaults on Christians and other minority groups. Tomasi said that any anti-ISIS coalition has to include the Muslim states of the Middle East, and can’t simply be a “Western approach.” One month later, in September 2015, the Russian Orthodox Church also commented on Putin’s targeting of ISIS as part of a war on terrorism. Patriarch Kirill said “Russia took a responsible decision to use military forces to protect the Syrian people from the woes brought on by the tyranny of terrorists.”He cited the suffering of Christians in the region, the kidnapping of clerics and the destruction of churches, adding that Muslims “are suffering no less.” Simultaneously, the then-Head of the Church’s Public Affairs Department Chaplin Vsevolod Chaplin asserted: “The fight with terrorism is a holy battle and today our country is perhaps the most active force in the world fighting it.”Overall, the meeting between the leaders of Western and Eastern Christianity’s largest churches is surely to be yet another historical marker in the ongoing war for Syria.

To Russia, with Love: The dangerous Trump and Putin affair
Muddassar Ahmed/Al Arabiya/February 16/16
When the British Parliament debated banning Mr. Donald Trump from Britain, little was said about national security. After his substantial victory in the New Hampshire Republican primary, though, his candidacy must be taken seriously. For us in Britain and Europe, that means coming to terms with a candidate who is not just indifferent to Europe, but embraces the very regime, and its leader, that is the biggest threat to European integration and transatlantic cooperation. No, it is not ISIS. The biggest global power the West faces in the world right now comes from Vladimir Putin, with whom Trump seems to be on kind terms. None of us can say entirely what policies Trump will pursue, not least because he so frequently changes his mind. But given the frequency with which Trump emphasizes certain themes, we can hazard some educated guesses. Trump mostly argues for better terms on trade, albeit for America exclusively. He attacks politicians who supported the Iraq war, but his underlying motivation is not a matter of moral principle or foresight. He would rather America detach itself from the world, protected behind walls, and purified by deportation and exclusion.
Incidentally, because I am a British citizen and a Muslim, and given Trump’s own ideas of how to manage members of my faith, I might be barred from America if he were to be elected. What should worry us most of all, however, is Trump’s disinterest in Ukraine, and the possibility that Trump will abandon Europe to Putin. Russia has reportedly supported and funded far-right, nationalist and historically anti-Semitic parties across our continent, many of whom explicitly seek to stop or roll back or even dismantle the European project. They are Putin’s useful idiots. Their provincialism makes it harder to integrate minorities and challenges the European project as a whole. By doing this, of course, Putin also weakens the United States. While I would not argue that Putin has created the refugee crisis, or that the principal object of his intervention in Syria is to inflame further the refugee crisis, we must admit that the outcomes in Syria work in his favor in more ways than one. More Syrian refugees trying to come to Europe means more support for his favored local partners, to whom he has been financially generous. The escalation of the war in Syria, an inevitable reality given Russia’s increased airstrikes and deployment of additional misery and suffering upon the Syrian people, will mean more refugees, which will increase tensions among European member-states. Russia has also reportedly permitted human trafficking networks to open crossings into Norway and Finland, thereby increasing pressure on the European project to assess its continued viability and sustainability.
Domestic politics
To use the common expression, he is playing chess while we are playing checkers (draughts). The popularity of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders makes me believe that, despite Obama’s pullback from the Middle East, Americans still believe not enough is being done domestically to ease their pain.
As a friend of America, I too believe it is in America’s interest to reinvest in itself. Your infrastructure, your preparedness for climate change, the cost of your education and healthcare, your struggles with structural racism – all these need to be addressed, not just because these are the right thing to do, but because they will make you stronger. But a strong Europe also makes America stronger. The biggest global power the West faces in the world right now comes from Vladimir Putin, with whom Trump seems to be on kind terms. Trump would not just continue American disinterest in Europe, he would simultaneously maintain his well reciprocated admiration pact with Putin. This mutual regard is not just bad for Britain; it foretells a disaster for the European Union, for the project of European unity, for NATO, and of course for European minorities, who are victims of Putin’s meddling. It is bad enough that Trump might bring this about through his disinterest in world affairs; it is made all the worse by the tacit cooperation we in Europe seem to be offering. We are complicit in our own weakening. Britain and our European allies must hold America accountable. We should be asking more of the presidential candidates, demanding how they envisage America’s relationship with Europe under their leadership in concrete terms, not mere platitudes. But we should also recognize that while for years America pushed Europe to deeper integration – which is exactly what is required right now, for example, in the refugee crisis – Europe dithered. In fact, worse than dithered. We pretended that there was no incentive to cooperate, and began to work at cross-purposes. We in Britain, for example, should consider the consequences of our Euroscepticism. Detached from Europe, and facing a potentially indifferent United States, the United Kingdom would not become stronger, or more independent, or more capable of controlling its destiny. The forces that push and pull the world would remain as they are, except that we would be less relevant to Washington, and far more vulnerable to Moscow. I suppose that is exactly what Putin wants; and one cold war within our life is more than enough.

Do rumors spread our underlying prejudices?
Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/February 16/16
A few days ago, my Facebook newsfeed received many posts condemning Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ alleged statements in praise of Russia’s military role in Syria. I did not check the validity of this news and pressed the “like” button to express that I agree with my friends’ condemnation and criticism of Abbas’ position. I almost also wrote a comment criticizing it. However, a few hours later, a friend clarified, again on Facebook, that the alleged statement by Abbas was a rumor and a fabricated piece of news. This brought to mind a Chinese proverb which says: “A rumor stops at the wise man”. It seems that this friend was the wise man who double-checked the news and exposed it as a lie when I and many others did not do so. The effect of rumors on public figures certainly varies. Experiences have shown that the public does not easily believe negative statements by figures whose image is largely positive. When it comes to such figures, recipients often feel they must check the validity of negative news as it may affect the perfect image they have in mind. However, rumors and false news are easy to believe when they harmonize with the existing or prior flawed image of public figures. In Abbas’ case, his image, his stances and particularly his previous statements, commending the Russian role in the region, played a decisive factor in spreading the rumor. We are living in an era of excessive electronic social communication, which not only reflects the dynamics of technology but also a new pattern of cultural communication
It takes only few seconds for news to circulate on social media. They spread quickly but also regress and die out because of fading interest or when they are found out to be fake. We are living in an era of excessive electronic social communication, which not only reflects the dynamics of technology but also a new pattern of cultural communication. It is no longer important what rumors on Facebook and Twitter say. What matters now is the uproar caused by these rumors and the reactions that follow. In the case of the alleged statement attributed to Abbas, people’s reactions went as far as repudiating the support of Palestinian rights. On occasions, rumors stir prejudices and expose hostility that’s far worse than the news which led to these reactions in the first place. The rumor thus seems to act as a means to tell more about people and expose their real biases and stances. People refuse to believe what harms those they love but seek to destroy those they hate.
Using judgment
There is no clear rule to deal with rumors other than using one’s own judgment and double-checking what we read before believing it completely. This may look like a simple idea but is the best way to deal with rumors, which get more complicated as communication and interaction technologies continue to develop. Years ago, media outlets used to play an important role in tackling rumors but this has weakened today. In fact, the same media outlets sometimes fall into the trap of these rumors circulating on social media and even give them more momentum. As far as Arab media outlets are concerned, many of them participate in spreading rumors and disseminating misleading news, which grants infinite material to social media platforms. As we continue to discover online social networking it seems beneficial to adhere to the Chinese proverb that calls for a little wisdom in the face of spreading lies.

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.february17.16.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006 Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006