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Bible Quotations For Today
The Miracle Of the Seven Loaves and the small few fish
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 15/29-39:"After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?’ Jesus asked them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ They said, ‘Seven, and a few small fish.’Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children. After sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

I do not mean to imply that we lord it over your faith; rather, we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand firm in the faith.
Second Letter to the Corinthians 01/23-24/02,01-05/:"But I call on God as witness against me: it was to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth. I do not mean to imply that we lord it over your faith; rather, we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand firm in the faith. So I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit. For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? And I wrote as I did, so that when I came, I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice; for I am confident about all of you, that my joy would be the joy of all of you. For I wrote to you out of much distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. But if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but to some extent not to exaggerate it to all of you.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 03/16
Hizballah launches Chemicals & Dirty Bombs program at secret Syrian site/DEBKAfile Exclusive Report/March 02/2016
Hezbollah’s psychological warfare with Israel/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/March 02/16
Lebanon and the 'invasion of idiots'/Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/March 02/16
Jordanian forces kill seven allegedly tied to ISIS/Associated Press/Ynetnews/March 02/2016
Bombed, Burned, and Urinated On: Churches under Islam (Muslim Persecution of Christians, January 2015)/Raymond Ibrahim /Gatestone Institute/March 02/16
Restoring Arab passion for science: Mission impossible/Faisal J. Abbas/Al Arabiya/March 02/16
Achieving happiness via tolerance/Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/March 02/16
And the award goes to Hashemi Rafsanjani/Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/March 02/16
Blasphemy trials on the rise in Egypt/Rani Geha//Al-Monitor/March 02/16
Rouhani empowered as allies, supporters make gains in Iranian elections/Rohollah Faghihi/Al-Monitor/March 02/16
If Syria cease-fire fails, what is Plan B/Laura Rozen/Al-Monitor/March 02/16
Key players reflect on US policy in Syria/Julian Pecquet/Al-Monitor/March 02/16
How much support did Turkey provide to Syrian opposition/Semih Idiz/Al-Monitor/March 02/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on March 03/16
Hizballah launches Chemicals & Dirty Bombs program at secret Syrian site
Hezbollah’s psychological warfare with Israel
Lebanon and the 'invasion of idiots'
GCC Declares Hizbullah 'Terrorist' Organization
Mashnouq Refuses to Label Hizbullah as Terrorist during Arab Interior Ministers Meeting
Hariri Vows to Protect Lebanon from Region Blaze, Says Sunni-Shiite Strife a 'Red Line'
Report: 'Arms Ship' Seized in Greece was Headed for Africa Not Lebanon
Lebanese Presidential Elections Postponed to March 23 as Hariri Vows to Continue Dialogue with Hizbullah
15 Artillery Shells Fired by Israel Land on Border near Shebaa
Berri Urges End to Debate on Lebanon's Arab Identity
Berri, Hariri Committed to Hizbullah-Mustaqbal Dialogue
Israel Installs Defense System against Hizbullah Rockets
Anti-Hezbollah news outlet , Al-Janoubia, comes under threat
Pro-Hezbollah daily: Lebanon targeted for “explosion”

Hizballah launches Chemicals & Dirty Bombs program at secret Syrian site
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report/March 02/2016
The southwester town of Zabadani, 30 km west of Damascus, is a ghost town, depopulated by five years of Syrian war ravages, except for one sign of life – or rather death. Since December, Hizballah has enclosed this once attractive tourist resort, strategically located on the Damascus-Beirut highway, into a heavily fortified ex territoria enclave whose high walls conceal the terrorist group’s new program for the development of weapons of mass destruction. This is disclosed for the first time by debkafile’s military and intelligence sources. Most of the facilities for the research and development of chemical weapons and dirty bombs are sunk below the surface of the secret 2.5 sq. km site. Syrian and Iranian engineers and technicians are developing the chemical weapons for Hizballah’s arsenal, and foreign experts were hired from outside the Middle East to help build radioactive weapons. They are kept out of sight in on-site accommodation at Zabadani. A telltale sign that the Shiite terrorist organization was actively pursuing a radioactive bomb program – and which prompted our investigation - was dropped in a speech given by Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Feb. 16. He boasted that a pair of Hizballah rockets falling on the Israeli city of Haifa would cause a catastrophe equivalent to a “nuclear bomb” attack. He elaborated on this: “An Israeli expert had said that Haifa’s residents fear a deadly attack on the ammonia storage tanks which contain more than 15,000 tons of this gas. That would lead to the deaths of tens of thousands of Israelis and affect another 800,000,” he declared. “This would be exactly like a nuclear bomb and we can say that Lebanon today has a nuclear bomb, seeing as any rocket that might hit these tanks is capable of creating a nuclear bomb effect,” Nasrallah said. When someone like the Hizballah terrorist chief drops four references to a nuclear bomb in as many sentences, ending with the boast that “Lebanon today has nuclear bomb,” it must be presumed that he is crowing over some sort of nuclear device in hand. It may not be an actual atom bomb – which would call for multimillion dollar investment, expertise and time, “only” a “dirty bomb” (essentially a conventional bomb mixed with radioactive material). That too could cause massive damage to Haifa’s chemical industry, resulting in a high death toll, runaway panic and major disruption – the perfect weapon for terrorists. Israeli officials decline to discuss Hizballah’s new WMD program, but it certainly raises hard questions for Moscow and the commanding Russian military presence in Syria. It is hard to believe that the Shiite terrorists can develop game-changing poison chemicals and dirty bombs in the heart of Syria, without Russian intelligence noticing what was going on. Does that mean that Vladimir Putin is amenable to his air force providing it with cover?

Hezbollah’s psychological warfare with Israel
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/March 02/16
Nearly a decade has elapsed since Israel and the Hezbollah, the militant Lebanese Shiite Muslim movement, clashed directly in the battlefield. The two have established an uneasy, though credible deterrence with one another. They keep their animosity just short of an all-out war, confining it to vitriolic verbal attacks and restricted targeted military operations that do not force either of sides to escalate the situation into a full force conflict. Much has changed since the bloody thirty-four days of summer 2006. Whether Hassan Nasrallah, the movement’s leader, admits it, his main concerns are with his organization’s involvement in the civil war in Syria in support of the Assad regime. Moreover, he increasingly faces criticism from within Lebanon for undermining the political system and for serving the Iranian interests rather than those of the Lebanese. Israel, despite spreading wide-range destruction during its Second Lebanon War, 10 years ago, came out of the war with major question marks hanging over its flawed strategy and war tactics, not to mention its morality. Both sides licked their wounds in the years that followed. Nasrallah spends most of the time in hiding, fearing for his life, and the premiership of Ehud Olmert and his government suffered a major blow to their credibility.
Interestingly enough Israeli strategists perceive the Hezbollah as one of their major sources of threat, second only to a nuclearized Iran. The experience of a constant barrage of rockets hitting the north of Israel ten years ago left a lasting scar. To make things worse, the Hezbollah has increased its capabilities since then manifold. It is estimated to have stockpiled around 100,000 missiles and rockets, supplied mainly by Iran and Syria, and according to some publications of late also by Russia. While the Hezbollah has increased its capabilities in terms of hardware and experience, due to its involvement in the war in Syria, it also sustained many casualties. Potentially these rockets and missiles can reach most Israeli major urban centers. Recently Nasrallah, utilizing inflammatory language, threatened to hit the ammonia storage facilities in the northern Israeli city of Haifa. This can be seen as a combination of provocation, an effort to establish deterrence with the Jewish state, fear of a preemptive strike by Israel and a means of scoring political points among public opinion at home and in the region. Nasrallah’s threats against Israel are hardly a novelty. Nevertheless, suggesting a nuclear-like impact by hitting ammonia tanks deep in Israel in a future confrontation with Israel, resulting in hundreds of thousands of casualties, is a clear provocation and escalation—at least a verbal one. It also reflects that the Hezbollah has very carefully studied Israeli sensitivities and vulnerabilities. A decade ago the north of Israel was nearly evacuated as a result of the rocket attacks by the Iranian backed militia on civilian targets. Nasrallah reminds Israelis of this as a means to deter a fresh Israeli attack. Last time around Israel’s massive attacks in Lebanon hit the Hezbollah hard, but also led to many innocent casualties and spread wide destruction to Lebanon’s infrastructure.
Potential conflict
A further round of violence is likely to be very similar in nature, though potentially with even more casualties on both sides. While the Hezbollah has increased its capabilities in terms of hardware and experience, due to its involvement in the war in Syria, it also sustained many casualties. It lost up to 1,500 of its fighting force with many other combatants sustaining injuries. Despite Nasrallah’s acerbic language it is doubtful whether his organization has any interest or can afford at this point in time another cycle of bloodshed with Israel. To be sure Israel has no more appetite than Hezbollah to enter into a fresh round of hostilities. There is very little that it could gain. However, it works on the assumption that at some point in the future it will have to face Hezbollah in the battlefield. Hence “allowing” it to amass weaponry might mean biding time in the short term at the expense of facing an even more powerful enemy later. To a large extent this threat is mitigated by the Israeli development of three different of anti-rocket and anti-missile systems. The Iron Dome anti-rocket system was tried and tested successfully in the last conflict with Hamas in Gaza in 2014, and the Arrow and David’s Sling anti-missile defence systems proved effective in testing. In the meantime the decision makers in Jerusalem may pursue a policy which relies on the continuous development of defensive capabilities, while continuing to target the Hezbollah in Syria, the way it has done in recent years. The assassination of Imad and Jihad Mughniyeh and Samir Qantar for instance, and attacking convoys transferring weapons from Syria to the hands of the Hezbollah, became major features in Israel’s semi-covert war with the Hezbollah. Nasrallah’s recent speech to mark “The Loyalty to Martyrs and Leaders" day, did not focus only on Israel. It was also an exercise in criticizing some of the major Sunni states, such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, accusing them of serving Israeli interests in the conflict in Syria. It was an obvious bid to present Shiite Muslims, led by his organization and Iran as the only ones confronting Israel and supporting the Palestinians, in contrast to the rest of the Arab countries.
As there is growing criticism in Lebanon of the role of the Hezbollah in Lebanon and in Syria, which questions their commitment to the well-being of their own country, a bit of bravado vis-à-vis Israel could be seen by Nasrallah as useful in garnering support from public opinion. Squaring to each other with rousing speeches might seem as of little harm, but when it is accompanied by matching capabilities the end result might still be a miscalculated war, in which either or both of the sides is led to believe it has no other option. It is a risk that both sides should weigh very carefully.

Lebanon and the 'invasion of idiots'
Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/March 02/16
“Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community,” said Italian writer Umberto Eco, who passed away last month. “Then they were quickly silenced, but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It’s the invasion of the idiots.”Social media has provided platforms for expression and helped reflect public opinion, yet the expression “invasion of the idiots” seems right most of the time. Is this not proven by the hashtags people use? We confront this truth almost daily. In Lebanon, for example, there are hashtags that are good for nothing except mobilizing and inciting people.
Repercussions
The fierce campaign that Hezbollah supporters launched in response to Saudi measures has fuelled tensions against the entire Lebanese people in Gulf countries, and is widening Lebanese domestic divisions. Those inciting do not care about anything except childish victories within the context of political debates, even if the entire country pays the price. The effect of this language ranges from condemning entire groups to escalation that includes the whole country. Some of us in Lebanon do not adopt the inciting language used by Hezbollah and its supporters. However, some of the reactions are not limited to the party, but include the entire country and its people. Some are urging more such Saudi decisions, which affect all Lebanese, not just Hezbollah. In Lebanon there are hashtags that are good for nothing except mobilizing and inciting people Opinions that the Lebanese people must bear responsibility for what is happening in their country unfairly base the image of the people on the stances taken by their politicians. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon have entered an unknown phase. It seems Hezbollah is most comfortable because what is happening helps it shatter whatever is left of the Lebanese state to serve the interests of the Iranian regime. Lebanon’s government must fulfil the minimum of its duties. It must specify a foreign policy that protects the public interest, and must decisively stand against what Hezbollah is doing in Lebanon, Syria and the region, and against all threats to the country. Amid the excessive enthusiasm to expel Lebanese from the Gulf and promises of noble Iranian deeds, entire Lebanese families are threatened, and will not be protected by Twitter’s idiots.

GCC Declares Hizbullah 'Terrorist' Organization
Naharnet/March 02/16/ The Gulf Cooperation Council decided on Wednesday to consider Hizbullah a “terrorist organization,” a day after Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of pressuring Lebanon to silence his party. The six-member GCC took the action against Hizbullah members because of "hostile actions of the militia who recruit the young people (of the Gulf) for terrorist acts," the bloc's Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani said in a statement. Zayani cited "their terrorist acts and incitement in Syria, Yemen and in Iraq," which he said were threatening Arab security. The GCC includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. The Hizbullah chief said on Tuesday that Riyadh should spare Lebanon and the Lebanese if it has a problem with Hizbullah. He repeated his accusations that Saudi Arabia was directly responsible for some of the car bombings in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq and denounced Saudi "massacres" in Yemen. Tensions rose in Lebanon last week when Saudi Arabia announced that it was halting $4 billion in aid to the Lebanese army and security forces.Its decision was followed by a travel warning and a decision to blacklist several individuals and firms over their alleged ties with Hizbullah. Several Gulf states also issued travel advisories to Lebanon. Saudi Arabia has linked its move to Lebanon's refusal to join the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in condemning attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran, and alleged Hizbullah "terrorist acts against Arab and Muslim nations."

Mashnouq Refuses to Label Hizbullah as Terrorist during Arab Interior Ministers Meeting
Naharnet/March 02/16/Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq refused on Wednesday to label Hizbullah as a terrorist organization hours after the Gulf Cooperation Council had blacklisted the party, reported LBCI television. The minister made his objection against the closing statement of the 33rd Arab Interior Ministers Conference held in Tunisia. The gatherers at the conference had condemned the practices of Iran and Hizbullah, describing the Lebanese party as terrorist, said al-Jazeera television.Mashnouq had stated ahead of the conference that he will defend “all the Lebanese people.”“Outside Lebanon, I cannot but defend all the Lebanese,” he declared. During the conference, he told the gatherers that no one can change the identity of the Arab people, adding: “We refuse to allow Lebanon to become a thorn in the Arab world's side.”Iraq meanwhile voiced reservations over the closing statement. Earlier on Wednesday, the GCC labeled Hizbullah a “terrorist organization,” a day after Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of pressuring Lebanon to silence his party. The GCC cited the party's "terrorist acts and incitement in Syria, Yemen and in Iraq," which were threatening Arab security. Tensions rose in Lebanon last week when Saudi Arabia announced that it was halting $4 billion in aid to the Lebanese army and security forces. Its decision was followed by a travel warning and a decision to blacklist several individuals and firms over their alleged ties with Hizbullah. Several Gulf states also issued travel advisories to Lebanon. Saudi Arabia has linked its move to Lebanon's refusal to join the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in condemning attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran, and alleged Hizbullah "terrorist acts against Arab and Muslim nations."

Hariri Vows to Protect Lebanon from Region Blaze, Says Sunni-Shiite Strife a 'Red Line'
Naharnet/March 02/16/Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri on Wednesday pledged to protect Lebanon from the ongoing conflicts in the region, describing any Sunni-Shiite strife in Lebanon as a “red line.”“Some of you might be wondering why we are seeking political settlements in the presidential elections and other issues. You are observing what is happening around us, especially in Syria, and it is my duty to prevent Lebanon from turning into another Syria,” Hariri told a delegation of Akkar municipal chiefs and mayors. “It is my duty to protect Lebanon from the blaze that is raging around us,” he underlined. Hariri's remarks come a day after Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah reassured the Lebanese that the country is not “on the brink of civil war” despite the political and sectarian tensions. The tensions surged in the country in the wake of a series of Saudi measures against Lebanon and Hizbullah that started on February 19 when the Saudi foreign ministry announced that the kingdom was halting around $4 billion in military aid to the Lebanese army and security forces. The situation in Lebanon was further aggravated over the weekend when Saudi-owned MBC television aired a TV show that poked fun at Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and angry Hizbullah supporters took to the streets in several regions where some of them burned tires and shouted insults against Riyadh and its Lebanese allies.

Report: 'Arms Ship' Seized in Greece was Headed for Africa Not Lebanon
Naharnet/March 02/16/The ship that was seized Sunday by Greek authorities was not carrying weapons or explosives and was not headed for Lebanon, a media report said on Wednesday. Quoting unnamed sources, Lebanon's Future TV said the ship was headed for Africa and that it did not contain weapons but rather “hunting rifles.”Greek authorities have allowed the ship to continue its sailing, the TV network added. Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) meanwhile said that the ship is owned by the Lebanese nationals Mohammed Amin and Kamal Kashef, who both hail from the northern city of Tripoli. "During interrogation, the two men revealed that the ship has been leased to a Turkish firm and that it was only carrying hunting rifles and related ammunition," VDL added, without saying where the two men were interrogated. Turkish media reports had said that the Greeks seized a Lebanon-bound boat carrying arms and explosives that was loaded in Turkey. “The Togo-flagged boat reportedly full of weapons and explosives was seized by the Greek authorities off Turkey’s western coast on February 28,” the English-language website of Turkey's leading newspaper Hurriyet reported, quoting the Turkish Doğan News Agency. “Weapons and explosives were seized in the search of the 76-meter-long dry cargo vessel named 'Kuki Boy' that was stopped off the Greek island of Rhodes, some 102 kilometers (63 miles) southeast of the Turkish resort town of Bodrum,” the website said. “The vessel reportedly sailed from an international port in the Aegean province of İzmir and was heading to Lebanon. The vessel drew the attention of the Greek military after floating on the Mediterranean Sea for a long time,” Hurriyet added. The vessel, with a width of 11 meters, was taken to the Souda Port of the Greek island of Crete, the website said. Meanwhile, Beirut-based al-Mayadeen television on Tuesday quoted Turk News TV as saying that the boat was carrying “six containers of which two were filled with arms and ammunition.” “The boat crew – six Syrians, four Indians and a Lebanese – have been arrested by Greek authorities,” al-Mayadeen added, citing Turk News.

Lebanese Presidential Elections Postponed to March 23 as Hariri Vows to Continue Dialogue with Hizbullah
Naharnet/March 02/16/The presidential elections were postponed for the 36th time on Wednesday following a lack of quorum at parliament. Speaker Nabih Berri scheduled March 23 as the date for a new session. Wednesday's polls witnessed the participation of 72 lawmakers, including Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri. After the postponement of the elections, Hariri declared: “We hope the remaining lawmakers will be present in the next session.”Eighty-six MPs are needed for quorum to be met at parliament for the election of a president. “I urge all lawmakers to prevent the prolongation of the vacuum, which is killing the whole of Lebanon,” Hariri added. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor due to ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps. On Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh's absence from Wednesday's electoral session, Hariri said: “I understand his absence as Lebanon's democracy has its special characteristics.”Franjieh has been endorsed by Hariri as president. He is running along with Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun and Progressive Socialist Party candidate MP Henri Helou. Asked by reporters on his stance on the Gulf Cooperation Council's blacklisting of Hizbullah as a terrorist organization, Hariri replied: “The party is undertaking actions in the region that it should not be doing, which led to this designation.”“Hizbullah has long been designated as terrorist in the Gulf and that has changed nothing in Lebanon,” he said in response to whether the Mustaqbal Movement will halt its dialogue with the party. “We will hold talks with those we have differences with,” he stressed. “We will continue the dialogue because we do not want strife in Lebanon,” he emphasized. Furthermore, the MP stated that officials in Lebanon have taken the decision to avoid the spread of the Syrian crisis to Lebanon, noting that key to the success of this goal is the election of a president. The GCC on Wednesday labeled Hizbullah a “terrorist organization,” a day after Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of pressuring Lebanon to silence his party. The GCC cited the party's "terrorist acts and incitement in Syria, Yemen and in Iraq," which were threatening Arab security.

15 Artillery Shells Fired by Israel Land on Border near Shebaa
Naharnet/March 02/16/A number of artillery shells fired by Israel during military maneuvers landed by the occupied Shebaa Farms in the South, reported the National News Agency on Wednesday. It said that “so far” 15 shells landed on the border near the occupied region. The maneuvers had been ongoing since 3:00 pm, it said. Earlier on Wednesday, Israel began delivering its new mid-range missile defense system to air bases to defend itself against possible attacks from Hizbullah. The Lebanese-Israeli border frequently witnesses violations by Israel as members of its military cross a few meters into Lebanon for various surveillance operations. Troops have also kidnapped on various occasions Lebanese shepherds in the area, often releasing them after a few hours of interrogation.

Berri Urges End to Debate on Lebanon's Arab Identity
Naharnet/March 02/16/Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday called for putting an end to the latest “debate” in the country over Lebanon's Arab identity, amid a row between Iran-backed Hizbullah and Saudi Arabia and its Lebanese allies. Speaking to MPs during the weekly parliamentary meeting in Ain al-Tineh, Berri urged an end to the exchange of tirades, noting that Lebanon's Arab identity is enshrined in the preamble to the Lebanese Constitution. Saudi Arabia has recently accused Tehran-backed Hizbullah of practicing hegemony over Lebanese state institutions after Lebanon's foreign minister abstained from voting on Arab and Islamic resolutions condemning attacks against the kingdom's diplomatic missions in Iran. The kingdom started a series of measures against Lebanon and Hizbullah on February 19 when its foreign ministry announced that the kingdom was halting around $4 billion in military aid to the Lebanese army and security forces, which has prompted the March 14 camp to strongly criticize Hizbullah and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil. Separately, Berri stressed Wednesday the importance of “consensus” among the political parties in order to elect a new president as soon as possible. Earlier in the day, Berri adjourned the 36th presidential election session at parliament due to lack of quorum.

Berri, Hariri Committed to Hizbullah-Mustaqbal Dialogue
Naharnet/March 02/16/Speaker Nabih Berri and al-Mustaqbal chief Saad Hariri have stressed their commitment to the dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement, informed sources said Wednesday. Berri and Hariri held a meeting in Ain el-Tineh on Monday. But the sources spoke to several dailies published on Wednesday, saying they agreed not to stop the Hizbullah-Mustaqbal dialogue despite growing tension as a result of Saudi pressure. Saudi Arabia began piling pressure on Lebanon last month after it halted deals worth $4 billion aimed at equipping and supporting the Lebanese army and security forces, and told its citizens to leave the country. Its decision came after Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, an ally of the Iranian-backed Hizbullah, declined to support Saudi resolutions against Iran during two recent meetings of Arab and Muslim foreign ministers. The Saudi move, which was followed by travel warnings issued by several Gulf states, led to further tension between the Hizbullah-led March 8 alliance and the March 14 camp that is led by Hariri. The dialogue session that was held in Ain el-Tineh last Wednesday was not attended by the usual participants. It was limited to the adviser of Hizbullah chief, Hussein Khalil, Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, who is from Berri’s Amal movement and, Nader Hariri, the adviser of the Mustaqbal leader. According to the sources, Berri and Hariri agreed for the next session to be held on March 16. They said the speaker stressed that the “alternative” to the dialogue is the “street.” “No one wants that,” the sources quoted him as saying.

Israel Installs Defense System against Hizbullah Rockets
Naharnet/March 02/16/Israel has begun delivering its new mid-range missile defense system to air bases to defend itself against possible attacks from Hizbullah. The Defense Ministry said Tuesday the David's Sling system "will allow Israel to more effectively defend against the wide range of current and future threats to its civilians." The delivery process will take a few weeks. Developed by Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and U.S.-based Raytheon Co., it is designed to intercept rockets between 70 kilometers (45 miles) and 300 kilometers (180 miles). According to Defense News, Israel expects David's Sling system to be particularly useful in defending against the vast and increasingly precise arsenal of Syrian 302mm rockets and Iranian half-ton warhead-equipped Fatah 110 rockets in the hands of Hizbullah. It is also designed to defend against Scud B-class ballistic missiles, which can deliver one-ton warheads at ranges of some 300 kilometers. The Iron Dome protects against short-range rockets, and intercepted hundreds of projectiles fired by Hamas and other Palestinian militants during the 2014 Gaza war. Israel has also deployed its Arrow system for longer-range threats from Iran.

UK, Canada Sign Partnership Agreement to Help Lebanese Army
Naharnet/March 02/16/Britain and Canada signed on Wednesday a Memorandum of Understanding to increase assistance to the Lebanese army against rising terrorist threats.“I am very pleased to welcome Canada’s partnership in standing by Lebanon’s stability and security. The MOU secures an additional $500,000 for the Land Border Regiments Project, which supports Lebanese soldiers tasked with securing and protecting Lebanon’s borders from the Syrian overspill,” British Ambassador Designate Hugo Shorter said. “This additional support - coupled with other commitments of the UK, Canada and other partners - will help ensure a safe and secure Lebanon,” he said at the signing ceremony at the British Embassy in Beirut. Canadian Ambassador agrée Michelle Cameron stated that Ottawa is pleased to join the efforts of the international community to support the Lebanese army through its partnership with the UK on the project. “Canada’s contribution includes financial and technical support for the erection of two border surveillance towers,” said the diplomat. The towers will enhance the resilience of the army “to prevent and respond to security threats along the Lebanese border with Syria,” she said. Canada is committed to supporting the important and vital mission of the Lebanese military to counter terrorist threats and to safeguard Lebanon’s stability, Cameron stated. “This support is part of Canada’s broader engagement in Lebanon and the region, which includes a commitment of $1.6 billion CDN ($1.15 billion) over the next three years to provide security, stabilization, humanitarian and development assistance in response to the crises in Iraq and Syria, and their impact on Lebanon and Jordan,” the ambassador added.
The ceremony was attended by Deputy Chief of Staff Brigadier General Maroun Hitti, Lt. Colonel Ashraf Kabbara, Lt. Colonel Fadel Farhat and British Defense attaché Lt. Colonel Chris Gunning.

Maronite Bishops Concerned over 'Shattered' Lebanese State
Naharnet/March 02/16/The Council of Maronite Bishops expressed concern on Wednesday over the the rising tension among Lebanon's political foes, accusing them of holding the state's decision-making “captive.”“Dangerous practices and rhetoric … which are influenced by the sectarian tension in the region … are a sign that the state is shattered,” the bishops said in a statement. “The state's policies have become the captive of the current political rupture,” they said following their monthly meeting that was chaired by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi. “The government has become incapable of resolving the simplest crises,” the bishops stated. Divisions between the March 14 coalition and the March 8 camp grew last week when Saudi Arabia cut military assistance to Lebanon and issued a travel warning to Lebanon. Other Gulf states also issued travel advisories and on Wednesday the Gulf Cooperation Council that is led by Riyadh branded Hizbullah a terrorist organization. Wednesday's move against Hizbullah reflects deeper regional divisions between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite powerhouse Iran, Hizbullah's main backer. The statement issued by the bishops called for an agreement among the country's bickering officials on the election of a president. “There is no alternative to the president, who is the symbol of the state,” said the bishops. Baabda Palace has been vacant since the term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014.The bishops expressed concern over the growing danger of more vacuum in state institutions as a result of the absence of a head of state. They called for keeping the army away from the divisions and political tension. “All those wanting to have security and stability in Lebanon have a duty to back the institutions,” they said.

Anti-Hezbollah news outlet , Al-Janoubia, comes under threat
Now Lebanon/ March 01/16/BEIRUT – The popular Janoubia online outlet that maintains an editorial line critical of Hezbollah has become the target of a menacing social media campaign, with the site’s editor-in-chief warning the intimidation could serve as a run-up for “aggressive” actions.
Supporters of Hezbollah in Lebanon have spread a highly inflammatory message across Facebook and the WhatsApp messaging service accusing the news site—and its owner Ali al-Amin—of colluding with Israel, a dangerous claim in a country that remains in a technical state of war with its southern neighbors.
“We are concerned that this campaign will be a prelude to an action or aggression against us, especially since such campaigns are not new to us,” Amin told the SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom (Samir Kassir Eyes). “The charge is an attempt to create a negative atmosphere against us, especially since [Janoubia] is effective and makes an impact, and this campaign aims to target this impact,” the under-fire website’s owner added. Styled to look like a journalistic report, the message—which first started making the rounds on Tuesday afternoon—cites “Lebanese security sources” as saying that Amin was “coordinating directly by e-mail” with Israel Defense Force’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee. The defamatory dispatch went even further, claiming that the IDF spokesperson had granted Amin funding on the condition that “Adraee and his electronic team supervise what is published on Janoubia,” which would be illegal under Lebanese law. Notably, the heavily circulated message carried the veiled menace of physical action against Janoubia, publicizing that the website’s headquarters were “located in Beirut’s Southern Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s stronghold.” “We hold Hezbollah directly responsible for any harm that Janoubia may suffer,” the site said in a statement. Despite the specter of action against his site, Amin stressed that Janoubia would continue to work as normal. The SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom (Samir Kassir Eyes) quickly condemned the unsubstantiated accusations spreading against Janoubia. The freedom of speech advocate group said it holds security agencies “responsible for the safety of the site and its employees” while at the same time calling on Hezbollah officials to move against the perpetrators of the “tendentious, fabricated and seditious statement.”
Janoubia, for its part, said it would “not go to the trouble of denying this fictitious statement.”“We will make do with publishing it so that it is available for the public with the assurance that our pens will not be chained by threats and our Lebanese project shall go on.”

Pro-Hezbollah daily: Lebanon targeted for “explosion”
Now Lebanon/02 March/16/BEIRUT – A pro-Hezbollah newspaper has published a speculative article warning that foreign powers seek to “explode the Lebanese arena” after reports emerged that a cargo vessel loaded with weapons was interdicted while en-route from Turkey to Lebanon.
The report comes amid mounting political tension as Saudi Arabia and fellow Gulf states continue to take punitive measures against Lebanon in anger over what they see as Hezbollah’s undue influence over the country. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s is treating Lebanon as if there is no longer any room for appeasement. Meanwhile, it seems that Saudi escalation is open to all possibilities,” Al-Akhbar wrote Wednesday morning. However, the report went beyond Riyadh’s recent economic moves, and accused Hezbollah’s regional foes of aiming to foment a dramatic, and violent, escalation of the political situation in Lebanon. “A dangerous development emerged with the discovery of a cargo ship [loaded with] weapons that was heading from Turkey to Lebanon at the same time as the Saudi campaign against [the country],” the newspaper warned. The Turkish Dogan News Agency reported that Greek authorities on February 28 seized a Togo-flagged vessel carrying weapons as it was sailing from Turkey’s west coast toward Lebanon and forced it to dock in the Crete port of Souda instead. “Weapons and explosives were seized in the search of the 76-meter-long dry cargo vessel named Kuki Boy that was stopped off the Greek island of Rhodes, some 102 kilometers (63 miles) southeast of the Turkish resort town of Bodrum,” leading Turkish daily Hurriyet quoted Dogan News as saying.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Cihan News Agency said that the boat—which was carrying a large quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives—had set sail from Mersin and that its crew of six Syrians, one Lebanese national, and four Indians were arrested. Marine Traffic—an open-source website that monitors real-time movements of vessels—shows that the Kuki Boy, which set sail from Turkey’s Mersin, has been confined to Greece’s Souda port since February 28, as the unconfirmed Turkish reports said. Lebanon a “targeted arena”Al-Akhbar painted a grim picture of the implications of the alleged weapon shipment Kuki Boy was purportedly set to deliver. “The discovery of the ship means that Lebanon is a targeted arena,” the newspaper quoted Lebanese security sources as saying.“It is not possible that [the crew’s] goal was to transfer the weapons to Syria because there is no safe passageway that would allow that,” the sources explained. The sources told Al-Akhbar they believe the development “confirms that there are actors seeking to explode the Lebanese arena at the same time as the crisis worsens.”
The pro-Hezbollah newspaper then launched into a dramatic—but unsubstantiated—conspiracy, claiming it that Turkey had gathered “statistics in Lebanon, and collected information on the presence of 84,000 Lebanese of Turkmen origin; about their location, the types of business [they are involved in] and their political presence.”However, Al-Akhbar did not explain what Ankara wanted to do with this supposed information. Instead, the paper claimed that Ankara was “working forcefully along with the Qataris in northern [Lebanese] areas in particular” to hamper support for the Future Movement.
“[There is an attempt to] work with political forces and personalities on this matter and encourage them [to adopt] political stances that are highly critical of Saad Hariri on the one hand and Hezbollah on the other,” the report alleged.
“This is in order to attract the tense street and the parties that have used sectarianism to mobilize [support] in recent years” under the slogan “the goals are right but Hariri’s administration and his team have failed.”Hezbollah questions arms-laden vessel headed to Lebanon. Hezbollah’s leading parliamentarian also weighed in on the reported weapon shipment, which was interdicted before reaching Lebanon. “The ship that was impounded in Greece, loaded with weapons and explosives, was headed for Lebanon; from where? From Turkey which claims that it is combating terrorism,” the party’s Loyalty to the Resistance bloc chief Mohammad Raad said Wednesday morning. “Why is it sending these weapons?” he asked in an implicit accusation against Ankara, mirroring that of the Al-Akhbar article. Raad called on the Lebanese government to “follow up on this issue because we cannot leave an open hole in the wall of our security.”The Hezbollah parliamentarian also said that his party would take a “stance [on the matter] and call on the government to take the required stance because no one is allowed to play with our internal arena and no one is allowed to turn the Lebanese against one another.”
NOW’s English news desk editor Albin Szakola (@AlbinSzakola) wrote this report. Ullin Hope (@UllinHope) translated the Arabic-language source material.

Egyptian MP removed from office after meeting with Israeli ambassador
Jerusalem Post/March 02/16/Following his recent meeting with the Israeli ambassador, Egyptian Member of Parliament Tawfik Okasha was ousted from his position on Wednesday, in a decision made by two thirds of Egyptian lawmakers. 465 out of the 595 representatives voted in favor of his removal from office on the grounds that his meeting with Israeli ambassador Haim Koren damaged relations with neighboring nations and that it infringed upon the established parliamentary policy which opposes normalization of relations with Israel. The vote came three days after Okasha was accosted in parliament when another lawmaker hurled a shoe at him and demanded he be suspended from parliament for his misconduct. Okasha sparked controversy in Egypt when he extended an invitation to the Israeli ambassador during his TV show "Egypt Today." He announced in the broadcast: "I have personally invited the Israeli ambassador to Cairo, Haim Koren, to a dinner at my house next week to discuss the Nile dispute and other important issues." Among the reasons for removing Okasha from parliament were that he "had lost the trust of the Egyptians and especially the trust of his voters and that his act showed disrespect for the blood of Egyptian and Arab martyrs." Okasha tried to get into the session to apologize to colleagues before it was too late but was barred by security on the orders of the speaker. He sat outside, watching the vote on a screen, and left shortly before the session closed, declining to comment. In comments earlier this week, Okasha said he had done nothing wrong as Egypt has diplomatic ties with Israel. A recent survey showed that 90% of Egyptians opposed the meeting the meeting between Okasha and Koren. The Israeli embassy in Cairo reported that the meeting between the MP and its ambassador was a positive one and said that the two agreed to continue collaborating in the future. Reuters contributed to this report.

Clinton, Trump Score Big Wins on Super Tuesday
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 02/16/Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton took a big leap toward clinching their parties' nomination for the U.S. presidential election, soundly defeating rivals in a slew of Super Tuesday primaries. The divisive billionaire Trump weathered a barrage of attacks from fellow Republicans to win in seven of 11 states, coming within striking distance of becoming the Republican nominee to replace President Barack Obama. Clinton also racked up seven wins with her strategy of embracing Obama appearing to pay dividends. She trounced rival Bernie Sanders across a host of southern U.S. states -- Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas -- winning big among African-American voters and reversing a 2008 primary loss in Virginia. The former secretary of state also claimed Massachusetts, in a close race. Sanders notched wins in his tiny home state of Vermont, Oklahoma, Colorado and in Minnesota. But he now trails heavily. Both Trump and Clinton signaled their focus is beginning to shift to the general election. In victory remarks, Clinton attacked Trump's pledge to "make America great again." "America never stopped being great!" she said to cheers from supporters in Miami. "It's clear tonight that the stakes in this election have never been higher, and the rhetoric we're hearing on the other side has never been lower." Trump painted Clinton -- the former first lady, senator and secretary of state -- as a Washington insider, who cannot address a furious electorate's desire for change.
"She's been there for so long. I mean if she hasn't straightened it out by now, she's not going to straighten it out in the next four years," he said. A recent CNN/ORC poll found that both Clinton and Sanders would easily defeat Trump if the general election -- set for November 8 -- were held now. But few are likely to underestimate the 69-year-old Trump after his primary rout. - Republican unease -Super Tuesday was the most pivotal day of the U.S. presidential primary season so far, with half the Republican delegates and a third of Democratic delegates needed to win the nominations up for grabs. Trump's victories were widespread, from Alabama and Georgia in the deep south, to Massachusetts in the northeast, to the vital battleground state of Virginia. The scope and scale of the victories will sow terror among establishment Republicans, who fear the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan could face general electoral annihilation. While Trump's rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz struggled to make the case they can still win, Trump tried to defuse an intra-party feud that may be the only serious obstacle remaining on his path to the nomination. He offered an olive branch to party leaders who are fighting a rearguard action, making the case he can unify and grow the party. "I think we'll be more inclusive and more unified. I think we'll be a much bigger party," Trump said, easing up on his hallmark bombast. However, any way you look at it, it was Trump's night, as he won big and his two top rivals did well enough to stay in the race and thus keep their supporters divided, said Sabato's Crystal Ball, a political newsletter published by the University of Virginia. "Happiness for Donald Trump is a divided opposition. He's got precisely that and it's going nowhere for the time being," the newsletter said. - Cruz, Rubio on ropes -Cruz used victories in his home state of Texas, with its bumper haul of delegates, and in neighboring Oklahoma to argue he is the only Republican who can beat Trump. He also won in Alaska, the last state to report its results. "For the candidates who have not yet won a state, who have not racked up significant delegates, I ask you to prayerfully consider our coming together, uniting," he said. Rubio won in Minnesota, fundamentally undermining his claim to be the representative of mainstream Republicanism. It was his first win of the campaign. But he ended the day in Florida -- a clear signal that he wants to win his own home state, which votes on March 15. For good measure, his campaign also announced events in Kentucky, Kansas, and Louisiana, in an attempt to pre-empt questions about his future. But it might be too little too late, with polls showing Trump with a commanding lead nationwide. The CNN/ORC poll gave Trump 49 percent of support nationwide, with Rubio a distant second at 16 percent and Ted Cruz one point further behind. Rubio and Cruz may both harbor long-shot hopes that Trump fails to win enough delegate support to secure the nomination outright, leaving the convention to decide the nominee in July. They may also be betting that whoever emerges strongest from a brutal 2016 campaign would be the prohibitive favorite in four or eight years' time.

Jordan Says Raid Foiled IS Attacks, 7 Jihadists Dead
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 02/16/Jordan said Wednesday that it had thwarted planned attacks by the Islamic State group on its soil, killing seven suspected jihadists in a major security operation near the Syrian frontier. The kingdom, which also borders Iraq, has for years struggled with homegrown Islamists and is part of a US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against jihadists. The operation, which began late Tuesday in the northern city of Irbid, 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Amman, was the most significant of its kind since Jordan joined the coalition in 2014. One member of Jordan's security forces was killed and three wounded in clashes that raged for several hours until dawn, the authorities said. Two civilians were also hurt.Jordan's intelligence services said IS had been plotting "attacks against civilian and military sites in order to destabilize national security". "The terrorists refused to surrender and put up strong resistance using automatic weapons," it said, adding that the dead jihadists were wearing suicide vests. Twenty-two suspects were arrested during the operation and automatic weapons and explosives were seized, according to security officials. They said that investigations before the raid had led to the arrest of 13 others linked to the jihadists. Jordan has reinforced security along its frontiers since the conflict erupted in Syria five years ago. The U.S. ally stepped up its air strikes on IS in February 2015 after the Sunni extremist group burned alive one of its air force pilots who crashed in Syria while on a mission.
The kingdom also faces a danger from within -- nearly 4,000 Jordanians belong to jihadists groups, mostly IS, Islamist sources estimate. More than 400 Jordanians have been killed fighting in jihadist ranks in Syria and Iraq since 2011, according to the sources. The Irbid operation marks a turning point in the fight against jihadists, said Mohammad Abu Rumman, a researcher at the University of Jordan's Centre for Strategic Studies. Initially the fear was about "lone wolf" sympathizers traveling to Syria and Iraq to join IS. But Wednesday's clashes illustrate "an evolution in the relationship between the Salafist jihadist movement in Jordan and IS."The resistance put up by the jihadists and the amount of weapons seized are all clues to the evolution of this movement which now favors violence and closer ties with IS, he warned. Irbid is just a few kilometers from the Syrian border where Jordanian security forces regularly detain drug traffickers and jihadists attempting to join extremist groups in Syria. Jordan has tried and imprisoned dozens of jihadist sympathizers since toughening its anti-terrorism law in 2014. The resource-poor country hosts more than 630,000 of the roughly 4.6 million Syrian refugees overseas, according to the U.N. refugee agency. The Jordanian government gives a much higher estimate of 1.4 million, saying many of them are unregistered. It has been braced for a new wave of refugees since Russia began intense air raids in September in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Belgium Mulls Syria IS Airstrikes
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 02/16/Belgium is considering extending its F-16 airstrikes against Islamic State jihadis in Iraq into Syria as part of stepped up efforts by the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition, Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said Wednesday. "I think you cannot just limit your actions to Iraq without pursuing these actions across the border when these terrorist groups cross the border" into Syria, Reynders told Bel-RTL radio. "The Netherlands has come to the same conclusion and the Danes, and I think we are in the same position," he said. Belgium launched its first attacks against Islamic State (IS) targets in Iraq in late 2014 but, like several other countries in the coalition, it decided against extending the air campaign into war-torn Syria amid public fears over getting dragged into a wider conflict. However the bloody Paris attacks in November, which were claimed by IS, radically changed sentiment in favor of strikes in Syria.As well as the Netherlands and Denmark, Britain has also changed tack and launched its first sorties against IS targets in Syria in December. Reynders said that against this backdrop, the government would take the matter to parliament where many MPs want to go further, perhaps even to involve Libya where IS has made recent inroads.He gave no timetable.Washington has pushed its allies hard to step up the campaign against IS. The Belga news agency said U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter had written to his Belgian counterpart Steven Vandeput urging him to support airstrikes in Syria.

Car Bomb Kills 18 Rebels in Southern Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 02/16/A car bomb killed at least 18 members of a Western-backed rebel coalition in southern Syria on Wednesday, a monitoring group said. Four leaders of the Syrian Revolutionaries Front were among the dead after unknown assailants targeted the group in a village in Quneitra province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The rebel coalition, which is also backed by Arab countries including Jordan, is one of the most powerful in Quneitra province along with Al-Qaida-affiliated Al-Nusra Front. Together with other rebels, it drove Islamic State group jihadists from the province a year ago. The United States announced in September 2014 it wanted to support and train members of the Syrian Revolutionaries Front. The alliance was created in late 2013 after the establishment of the Islamic Front which brings together various strains of Islamists. A fragile ceasefire in Syria has been in place since Saturday but it does not include jihadist groups.

U.S. Forces Capture Major IS Operative in Iraq
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 02/16/U.S. commandos have captured a major Islamic State operative in Iraq and his detention will likely lead to the apprehension of other IS targets, a U.S. defense official told AFP Wednesday. The issue raises questions about what will happen to the detainee and others like him, given that President Barack Obama has ruled out sending any more terror suspects to Guantanamo Bay and the United States does not want to create a holding center for IS captives in Iraq. The U.S. defense official, who asked not to be named, confirmed a New York Times report that said a "significant" operative had been captured. Officials told The Times that U.S. interrogators were with the detainee at a temporary detention facility in Erbil in northern Iraq, and that he would eventually be handed over to Iraqi or Kurdish officials. The Times said its sources declined to identify the detainee or say how much he had cooperated, but the official AFP spoke to said the captive was providing useful information that could yield leads to other IS operatives. "They're getting good stuff from him," the official said. The detainee was captured by elite special operations troops who deployed to Iraq in recent weeks and whom the Pentagon calls a specialized expeditionary targeting force, or ETF. The Pentagon has until now been tight-lipped about the team's operations, saying that discussing missions puts the elite fighters at risk. The Times said the 200-member special operations team is made up of many Delta Force commandos. Though it is small in number, it represents the first major U.S. ground combat force since the official withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of 2011. Another 3,870 or so U.S. troops are in Iraq on a mission to train and support Iraqi forces fighting the IS group. "The ETF has begun operations in Iraq. But we will not discuss the details of those missions when it risks compromising operational security," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told AFP. "One of the goals of the ETF is to capture ISIL leaders," he added, using an alternative acronym for the IS group."Any detention would be short-term and coordinated with Iraqi authorities."Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Monday the ETF was an increasingly important component of the U.S.-led coalition's 19-month-old campaign to defeat the IS group in Iraq and Syria. "It's a tool that we introduced ... to conduct raids of various kinds, seizing places and people, freeing hostages and prisoners of ISIL, and making it such that ISIL has to fear that anywhere, anytime, it may be struck," Carter said. Obama is trying to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison but is unlikely to succeed given staunch resistance in Congress."We are not back in the business of having long-term detainees," a second U.S. defense official told AFP.

Israel Army to Return Palestinian Land after Decades, Says NGO
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 02/16/The Israeli army is to return West Bank land it requisitioned nearly 40 years ago to its Palestinian owners in what a human rights group called an "extremely unusual" move. Israeli rights group Yesh Din said that the army had taken the decision to surrender control of the land after it petitioned the High Court late last year. The decision, which spares the army a potentially lengthy court case, will see more than 170 hectares (420 acres) of what used to be valuable farmland restored to its original owners, Yesh Din said. The land, which had been seized for military purposes in the 1970s and 1980s, had ceased to be used by the army. The largest of the claims involves 170 hectares of land in the village of Jalud in the northern West Bank. Control of other tracts of land near the city of Ramallah will also be transferred. "These are lands that have been seized nearly 40 years ago," Yesh Din spokesman Gilad Grossman told AFP. "Palestinian farmers rely on their land. "For them to be able to return to these lands, maybe they can improve their lives."Grossman called on the army to give up other land that it had seized but was no longer using. "We shouldn't have to go to court every time," he said. The army did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Jalud village council leader Abdullah Hamed welcomed the army's decision to surrender control but said villagers were still waiting for a second decision allowing them to actually return to their land. He said that before it was confiscated, the land had supported up to 1,000 people. Israel seized the West Bank in the Six Day War of 1967. In the early years of the occupation, the army confiscated large tracts of the territory for military purposes. Some were later used for the construction of Israeli settlements regarded as illegal by the international community.

Egypt Court Sentences 7 to Death over Cadet Bombing
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 02/16/An Egyptian military court has handed down seven death sentences for an April 2015 bombing that killed two army cadets as they waited to board a bus, an army official said.The blast in the Nile Delta city of Kafr el-Sheikh was one of a spate of attacks that have hit the security forces since the 2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. Most have been in the Sinai Peninsula, but some have been in Cairo or the delta to its north.The court in second city Alexandria also sentenced five people to life in prison, which in Egypt means 25 years, the army official said. It sentenced two defendants to 15 years, and four to three years.The defendants have the right of appeal to the Court of Cassation. Three of those sentenced to death were tried in absentia. Police have detained or killed scores of suspected militants in Cairo and the delta, although the security forces continue to face frequent attack in the Sinai, stronghold of jihadists loyal to the Islamic Strate group. The jihadists say their attacks are in retaliation for a government crackdown targeting Morsi's supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands imprisoned. Morsi himself and hundreds of his followers have been handed death sentences, many of them in speedy mass trials that have been condemned by the United Nations and human rights groups. Some have been overturned by the Court of Cassation on appeal.

Philippines probes attack on top Saudi cleric
AFP, Al Arabiya English Wednesday, 2 March 2016/Philippine authorities were on Wednesday probing an assassination attempt against an influential Saudi preacher, after the gunman was killed and two suspects arrested. Preacher Sheikh A'ed ِAl Qarni was wounded in a shooting as he left a university auditorium in the southern port city of Zamboanga, where the cleric had been giving an address. His Filipino police escorts killed the lone assailant, while two other suspects who were seen with the gunman were arrested as they tried to escape, police said. "The suspect popped up from the crowd, moved in close and shot the victim" as he was boarding his car, said city police spokeswoman Chief Inspector Helen Galvez, adding that the gunman then walked to the other side of the vehicle and shot the Saudi diplomat. A student driver's license and a local government ID were recovered from the man, which identified him as a 21-year-old Filipino, but police said they were not ruling out forgery. A uniform for engineering students in the Western Mindanao State University, where Qarni was speaking, was found hidden in his backpack, but university officials could not immediately confirm the gunman was enrolled in the institution. He has been flown to Manila for treatment, according to a Saudi government statement. Qarni is a senior Islamic scholar and he has more than 12 million followers on Twitter. In his book "Awakening Islam," the French academic Stephane Lacroix included Qarni in his list of "the most famous" Saudi preachers. Last week, the Saudi embassy in Manila asked local police for increased security for its premises, as well as for the Saudi national airline due to an unspecified threat, Philippine foreign affairs spokesman Charles Jose said. Zamboanga, 800 kilometers south of Manila, is one of the largest cities in the southern Philippines, an area troubled by a decades-long separatist rebellion by the mainly Catholic nation's Muslim minority that has claimed more than 100,000 lives.

Iranian French camp protesters sew mouths shut
By AP Calais, France Thursday, 3 March 2016/Six Iranian migrants have sewed their mouths shut to protest the mass evictions and destruction of a large swath of a migrant camp in northern France in a desperate bid to bring attention to their plight. The unusual protest Wednesday came on the third day of an operation to dismantle the makeshift camp on the edge of Calais. Most of the several thousand living there hope to sneak across the English Channel to Britain. Some camp dwellers have stood on roofs to try to save their huts, others set them afire. The Iranians held a sign asking for a U.N. representative to visit the camp. Clare Moseley of the Care4Calais British volunteer group said the protest was “a cry for help because they don’t know what else to do.”A court ruled last month that the destruction of the large southern sector of the camp is legal but common spaces like houses of worship must be spared. French CRS riot police stand near an Iranian migrant who holds a message, "Representatives of the United Nations and Human Rights come and bare witness. We are Humans" State Prefect Fabienne Buccio told reporters on Wednesday that it will take about a month to complete the process. Authorities estimate that 800-1,000 individuals live in the sector being dismantled, but humanitarian groups say there are more than 3,000. The state has offered to house displaced migrants in space remaining in nearby heated containers or send them to temporary welcome centers so they can consider applying for asylum in France.

Snitches, sex, and blackmail: Hamas execution remains a mystery
Elior Levy/Ynetnews/Published: 03.02.16/ Israel News/Military wing member was executed last month after it was supposedly discovered that he had led Israel to Mohammed Deif’s location, but investigations suggest Hamas was afraid Israel would blackmail him over his alleged sexual orientation.
Three weeks after Hamas executed a member who allegedly led Israel to the hideout of the group’s military leader, a few things are unclear – did he give Israel intelligence? Was he being blackmailed? And how did he actually die? Mahmoud Eshtewi, who had two wives and three children, was recruited to Hamas’s military wing in 2000. The last role he filled was a battalion commander in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. His three brothers also joined the military wing. One was killed in a 2003 Israeli airstrike. Eshtewi was arrested a few months after Operation Protective Edge. He was held in a Hamas detention center for a year, and is believed to have been severely tortured. Only on February 7 did Hamas declare that he had been executed. The supposed justification was vague: moral and behavioral violations to which he admitted during interrogation. Rumors abounded that he had been executed after providing Israel with intelligence on the precise location of Mohammed Deif, the military wing’s leader, during Operation Protective Edge. The Human Rights Watch organization, which investigated the circumstances of Eshtewi’s killing, concluded based on witness testimony that he had undergone severe torture during his interrogation. During Operation Protective Edge, Israel launched several missiles at a house in Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in which Deif was believed to be holing up. Hamas claimed that the attack, which killed Deif's wife and son, was a breach of the ceasefire between the two sides. Israeli officials have confirmed that the Deif was targeted but declined to speculate on whether he had been injured in the attack. To this day, his fate remains murky, and Hamas insists that the master terrorist is alive and well.
Eshtewi’s relatives, who have been enmeshed with Hamas since the military wing’s inception, turned to Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza and Khaled Mashal in Qatar with requests to ask for his release. Both promised to look into the issue and did nothing more. A rare protest organized by the family in front of Haniyeh’s house was violently dispersed by Hamas security. The man’s mother, Samira Eshtewi, even appealed to Deif via a video asking him to release her son. In the vide, the cancer-stricken woman is seen weeping and begging for mercy, but also reveals that Deif was apparently a guest at the family’s home at one point. “You honored us with your presence in our house and that was a great honor for me; I swear to you Abu Khaled (Deif), they tortured by son severely, even some of the al-Qassam commanders condemned it,” she says in the video.
Executed or starved to death?
The family received Eshtewi’s body the day after he died. They asked to examine the body and, they claimed, saw that he had carved in his flesh an Arabic word that translates roughly to “someone who has been wronged.” The family also said that a doctor’s examination suggested that he had died after dying of starvation during a hunger strike, with the gunshots being made after death to hide the real cause. Relatives even demanded that Hamas conduct an autopsy, but Hamas refused. It is therefore unclear exactly what caused Eshtewi’s death. A New York Times report said that Eshtewi was first brought in for questioning after suspicions of embezzlement arose. He immediately confessed, with caused Hamas to suspect that he was confessing in order to cover up a bigger secret. An ensuing investigation led the military wing to someone who claimed Eshweti was homosexual who had previously had sexual contact with him. Hamas suspected that the money Eshweti embezzled was used to pay for sex with this person or to keep him quiet. Hamas was more disturbed, however, by the belief that Israel’s intelligence services had discovered Eshtwei’s alleged sexual orientation and used this as leverage to pressure him into providing information.

Jordanian forces kill seven allegedly tied to ISIS
Associated Press/Ynetnews/Published: 03.02.16, 21:01 / Israel News
Killing of seven suspected militants highlights issue of security risks posed by the kingdom's participation in anti-IS coalition and potential domestic support for the group. Seven men were killed in clashes with Jordanian Special Forces, the country's intelligence service said Wednesday. The men allegedly had ties to ISIS, and had planned attacks on military and civilian targets in the kingdom. The deadly confrontations sparked by an arrest raid took place late Tuesday in the northern city of Irbid. The men killed in the raid wore explosive belts while weapons and explosives were found at the scene, according to the intelligence agency. The agency did not elaborate on the fugitives' ties to IS or provide details about their alleged plans. Jordanian troops tracked suspected militants to a residential building near the city center, surrounded it, and opened fire with automatic weapons when the suspects refused to surrender, the intelligence agency said. A Jordanian officer was killed in the clashes, along with the seven wanted men. The intelligence service said 13 suspects linked to the group have been arrested in Irbid in previous raids, but did not say when those took place. "I heard an exchange of fire and the sound of helicopters flying above our house," area resident Ahmed al-Jamrah said of the raid. "We couldn't sleep because of the shooting and the loud explosions." Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour told parliament that the operation ended at 3 a.m. Wednesday. He stated that extremists "are trying to reach our country which is stronger and more solid than they think."In downtown Irbid, security forces on Wednesday sealed off the area around the three-story residential building where the fugitives had been holed up. The facade was blackened. Irbid Mayor Hussein Bani Hani said followers of a hard-line stream of Islam have become increasingly active in the city in the past two years. They were suspected, among other things, of vandalizing cemeteries because they believe graves should not be marked, he said. "Security measures were beefed up in the city of Irbid since then," he said. Fayez Dweiri, a retired major general in the Jordanian military, said Jordanians who returned home after fighting alongside IS and other militant groups in Syria and Iraq also pose a potential security risk. "Our security agencies should be cautious with them as their return might not be to show repentance," he said, adding that he did not have details about the Irbid operation.
The pro-Western kingdom is part of a US-led military coalition against IS in neighboring Syria and Iraq. Security forces have also cracked down on suspected IS sympathizers in Jordan. Some of those expressing support for the group on social media have been sent to prison by military courts.

Bombed, Burned, and Urinated On: Churches under Islam (Muslim Persecution of Christians, January 2015)
Raymond Ibrahim /Gatestone Institute/March 02/16
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/2016/03/02/bombed-burned-and-urinated-on-churches-under-islam-muslim-persecution-of-christians-january-2015/
Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches
Iraq: The Islamic State detonated the nation’s oldest Christian monastery, St. Elijah’s. . The 27,000-square-foot building had stood near Mosul for 14 centuries. For several years, prior to 2009, U.S. soldiers protected and sometimes used the monastery as a chapel. “Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically leveled,” reported a Roman Catholic priest in Irbil. “We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land.” Yet, when Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for America’s military efforts against ISIS, was asked about the status of Christians in Iraq soon after the monastery’s destruction, he replied “We’ve seen no specific evidence of a specific targeting toward Christians.”
Left: The Assemblies of God Assyrian church in Tehran, Iran. The church was illegally confiscated two years ago by the regime, which now wants to convert it into a mosque. Right: On January 7, vandals damaged, robbed, and wrote jihadi slogans on the Light Church in Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria.
Kosovo: Muslims urinated in an Orthodox Christian church in Pristina, the capital. Deputy Prime Minister Branimir Stojanovic condemned the desecration of the Temple of Christ the Savior: “Urinating in a sanctuary is shameful, uncivilized, vandalism.” (Last year in Italy, Muslims broke a statue of the Virgin Mary and also urinated on it.) Stojanovic added that, “The quiet observation of the demonstrators by the police, as they entered the temple and urinated is also shameful.” “Serbian [i.e., Christian] sanctuaries in Kosovo are constantly desecrated,” the deputy prime minister said.
Algeria: On January 7, unknown vandals damaged, robbed, and wrote jihadi slogans on a church. Furniture, ritual objects, and money worth about U.S. $8,000 were stolen from Light Church in Tizi-Ouzou, around 62 miles from Algiers. According to Pastor Mustapha Krireche, “Thieves broke into the inside of our church through the window, because we installed a reinforced door very hard to force open…. They took the music equipment like guitars, synthesizer, percussion, and sound equipment, plus a printer, the trunk of tithes, a sum of money, and other material.” The assailants left Islamic supremacist graffiti on the church walls including “Allah Akbar.” The church was targeted at least twice before: in 2009, “about 20 Islamist neighbors tried to block the congregation … from meeting for worship”; in 2010, a group of Muslims rampaged through the church building, trying to burn it down and damaging Bibles and a cross.
Kuwait: Lawmaker Ahmad Al-Azemi said he and other MPs will reject an initially approved request to build churches because it “contradicts Islamic sharia laws.” He added that Islamic scholars are unanimous in banning the building of non-Muslim places of worship in the Arabian Peninsula.
Mongolia: Days after a church celebrated Christmas, explosives were thrown into the stove chimney of a Kazakh house church. As a result, “Believers decided not to come together for a while. They [are] afraid of a repetition of the explosions in the homes of believers,” said a church leader. Large numbers of people had attended the church’s Christmas services and local Christians believe that this turnout had “angered some of the local Muslims and led them to carry out the attack.”
Pakistan: Three churches were attacked:
Apostolic Church was burned in the Punjab. The church building was torched a day after a prayer vigil for Epiphany on Jan. 6. Pastor Zulfiqar of the Apostolic Church said Bibles and sacred vessels were also lost in the blaze. An earlier dispute between Muslims and Christians is believed to be behind the arson attack. Locals accused police of being negligent as usual. According to a local resident: “All the local Christians are now in great fear, the fire illustrates that Christians are not wanted in the local area.”
Akba Azhar, a 26-year-old Muslim man, broke into the Victory Church in Kasur and burned copies of the Bible and other sacred books. Although he was captured and detained by a group of Christians who handed him over to police, and although any act of blasphemy against any heavenly religion is punishable by death in Pakistan, police claimed that he was mentally unstable and therefore could not be tried. Local Christians disagree, insisting that he is of sound mind. Several Christians are on death row due to accusations of blasphemy against Islam.
A group of Muslims illegally seized a church property. The Christian congregation eventually gave up trying to reacquire its church building and a reconciliation meeting was held by police: “the Muslims instead armed themselves with guns and machetes and attacked the Christians’ family members in their homes,” said local Christian, Bashir Masih. After the church seizure, Muslims in the area “made it almost impossible” for church members to worship even in their own homes. “We obtained written approval from the district police chief, Rai Ijaz, to hold a three-hour prayer meeting in the private courtyard of a Christian…” But when the congregation of about 30 Christians began worshipping, Rashid Jutt, a Muslim in his late 20s, appeared and disrupted the service. A young Christian in attendance stepped forward in an effort to stop the Muslim’s harassment. A fight started, but the congregation separated the two men. The Muslim vowed to “teach all of us a lesson” as he left, said Masih. Apparently the Muslim’s revenge was to tell police that the Christian congregation tied him up and tortured him. The Christian congregation “immediately reached the police station and told the inspector in-charge what had really happened.” A police officer advised them to drop the matter and instead try to “reconcile with the Muslim youth.” The Christians agreed to a reconciliation meeting, but the Muslim never showed up. Instead, they found him “and some 30 other men armed with guns, machetes, and batons storming through our houses and beating up our boys.” The Christians instantly called police, who arrived slowly and “did not arrest any of the Muslims….We feel that the entire Muslim community has turned against us for standing up against their aggression…. Even the local police,” Masih concluded, “are on the Muslims’ side, as raids were being conducted to arrest Christian boys while no effort is being made to arrest Jutt and his accomplices, whom we have named in our police complaint for attacking our homes and beating up our boys.”
South Sudan: Muslims “sent” from Muslim majority Sudan, a country in which Sharia law is enforced, are suspected of burning down a church building in its southern neighbor where there is a Christian majority. On January 16, members of the Sudanese Church of Christ in the refugee settlement of Yida awoke in the morning to find their place of worship in flames. “I learned that those who set our church on fire were sent from Sudan purposely,” reported an anonymous church leader. The fire burned both the exterior and interior of the structure, destroying all of the chairs, a pulpit, and some copies of Bibles in Arabic. The following week his congregation of nearly 200 people held their prayer service in the open air in the remains of the charred church building, an adobe structure.
Egypt: A makeshift bomb was found near a church on January 22. Father Paul of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt found what he described as a “foreign object” next to the garbage can outside of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Aswan. He took it to the authorities for analysis, and it was discovered to be a makeshift bomb. Separately, security forces arrested 10 Coptic Christians for trying to build a wall around a piece of vacant land in order to expand their current church into the territory or possibly even build a church. A church already exists in the village of Abu Hannas in Samalout, Minya but it is too small to serve the village’s large Christian population. So the church purchased an unused piece of land next to it in the hope of expanding the current church or building another.
Iran: Authorities from the Islamic Republic are trying to convert the Assyrian Christian church in Tehran into a mosque. The church was illegally confiscated two years ago, when church leaders were told that an Islamic prayer hall would be built there.
Indonesia: Authorities in the Sharia-governed province of Aceh plan to remove tents built by Christians to worship in after their churches were torn down late last year by authorities responding to Muslim violence against churches that left one dead and thousands Christians displaced. The government claims that the removals were agreed to, as the tents were built only for Christmas services—a claim that Christian leaders reject. When Sharia police and other officials arrived in early January to remove the tents, the congregation resisted. “Mothers, children, and youths blockaded them. They made their objections clear,” said a pastor. Two church tents were torn down.
Turkey: A Syriac Orthodox Church in Diyarbakir, considered to be a “unique heritage site,” is believed to have been destroyed during fighting between the Turkish army and the Kurdish PKK. According to the last Christian family to flee the area, Fr. Yusuf and his wife: “My wife and I managed to escape the Church just moments ago with great difficulty…A few days ago, we already sent our children away in order to put them in safety. My wife and I, however, could not leave this ancient-old Church,” which symbolizes the last living presence of the Arameans in this once flourishing Aramean city. “We heard the fighting coming closer to us and we felt the ground shaking more and more. Especially my wife got terribly afraid and then we both decided that we had to run for our lives. … Not even at home or church we were safe. Our psychology has been greatly impacted by what we have experienced lately…. We don’t know what has happened to our Church, because we didn’t dare to look while we were running for our lives. Now we have little hope left that there can be a future for us, Aramean Christians, to stay in the land of our forefathers.”
Muslim Slaughter of Christians
Pakistan: At least three Christians were raped and/or tortured to death by Muslims:
A group of Muslim men went into a Christian district, abducted a 7-year-old boy, and took turns gang-raping him before finally strangling him to death with a rope. Locals found the child’s body the next day dumped in a field: [T]he body was sent for post-mortem examination which revealed that the 7-year-old was killed after being brutally raped.” A local said “The suspects belonged to rich families and were drunk when they kidnapped the child, took him away and they raped him.”
A week later, another group of reportedly “rich and drunk” Muslims in a car accosted three Christian girls walking home from work. They sexually harassed them, saying “Christian girls are only meant for one thing, the pleasure of Muslim men.” When the girls tried to run away, the Muslims chased them down in their car and ran them over, killing one 17-year-old girl.
A Christian man was brutally tortured to death by police in an attempt to get him to confess to stealing from his Muslim employer. Khurram, the son of Liaqat Masih, the 47-year-old slain Christian, was also tortured by police for the same reason; he shared his eyewitness testimony of the beating his father endured before expiring. Police stripped him naked, made him stand on a chair, tied his hands behind his back, and hung him from the ceiling, causing Liaqat’s shoulders to become dislocated. Each time the captive’s feet hit the floor, a police officer would pull the rope to lift him up again and continued applying tension to his arms and dislocated shoulders. Because both Khurram and Liaqat adamantly maintained their innocence during the ordeal, the officers continued to beat his tied-up father with wooden logs until he eventually died. About an hour into the beating, the guards noticed that Liaqat was no longer breathing. The officers then released the tension on the rope and laid the father’s beaten body down in a pool of his own urine, said the son who watched. At the autopsy, doctors concluded that Liaqat died of a heart attack and failed to record the numerous injuries and bruises suffered during the beating.
Bangladesh: ISIS claimed responsibility for the murder of an 85-year-old Muslim man for reportedly converting to Christianity. He was found lying in a coffin-like structure with blood on his chest. It is believed that he was stabbed to death while working at his homeopathic practice. According to the report, “Soldiers of the caliphate were able to eliminate the apostate, named ‘Samir al-Din’, by stabbing him with a knife.” Although al-Din’s son claims that his father never converted to Christianity and frequently prayed facing Mecca, One Way Church disagrees, stating that he was just “in a meeting of the church at Gopinathpur village on Jan 3” and that he had told others that his life was in danger. “The local church has shown us papers confirming his conversion to Christianity in 2001,” said local police.
Syria: A bomb attack on a mostly Christian neighborhood killed three people and wounded 10 others, all Christians. The attack occurred on January 24 in the Kurdish city of Qamishli. While rumors began that ISIS was behind it, according to one Christian leader, “So many people think that behind the bombing there could also be Kurdish masterminds and executors. It is another disturbing factor of this war: there is terrorism, but sometimes we do not know who really terrifies us.”
Dhimmitude
Germany: In a letter to the Federal Minister for Special Affairs, Hegumen Daniil, Father Superior of St. George the Victorious Monastery in Gotschendorf and a member of the Integration Committee at the German Federal Chancellery, wrote:
Christian refugees from Syria, Eritrea, and other countries are exposed to humiliation, manhunts, and brutal harassment at the camps for refugees by their Muslim neighbors. This also relates to the Yazidi religious minority. The cases when humiliation turns to injuries and death threats are frequent…. According to the Islamic tradition, they [former Muslims, who are at special risk] should be punished, because they moved away from Islam. They are exposed to great pressure and are afraid for their lives, because “renegades” lose any right to it as far as radical Muslims are concerned…. Many Christians who came from the Middle East are suffering from such great harassment that they want to return home, because their situation there seems to them to be a lesser evil as compared with the circumstances in the German refugee accommodation centers.
Egypt: “The tombs of the Copts [Egypt’s indigenous Christians] are being turned into garbage dumps.” This was the message from Fr. Ayoub Yousef, who heads the Coptic Catholic church of St. George in the village of Dalga, in Minya, Upper Egypt. According to the priest, local Christian cemeteries are in a “piteous state,” and all types of sewage and waste are being dumped into them to the point of filling the tombs. He has filed numerous complaints with the prime minister and many other officials “to no avail, to the point that the situation has become unacceptable” and urged “immediate intervention.”
Separately, during a televised Egyptian talk show that aired on January 18, the lawyer Ahmed ’Abdu Maher denounced Al-Azhar, the Islamic world’s oldest and most prestigious university, for continuing to radicalize its students. By way of example, he said: “There is a book in Al-Azhar that calls for the forceful shaving of the heads of the Copts [Egypt’s Christians], placing a sign on their homes [so Muslims know where the “infidels” live], and refusing to shake hands with them.” As it happens, the Islamic State and similar Muslim groups all make it a point not to shake hands with “unclean” Christians—one Egyptian cleric said he finds Christians utterly “disgusting”—and that Christian homes should be distinguished with signs, as ISIS did when it placed the Arabic “N” (nun) letter on their homes in Mosul and elsewhere. Even forced head-shaving is being practiced. Back in 2013, jihadi groups in Libya abducted around 100 Copts and abused them—including by shaving their heads.
Turkey: Out of almost 2 million Syrian refugees within Turkey’s borders, 45,000 are Christian and are finding that “life is only slightly better at best.” Many have to pretend to be Muslims in public in order to avoid being attacked. They restrict their Christian worship to the privacy of their tents and homes. According to the report, “Another group of refugees in Turkey that was attacked is the Armenians. Zadig Kucuk reportedly found his 85-year-old mother murdered in December 2012 even though she was living in a large Armenian community in Istanbul. When her body was found, a large cross had been carved into her chest. There have also been incidences of refugees being beheaded.”
Iran: Instead of receiving much needed medical treatment, a Christian prisoner was instead given five additional years in prison. Ebrahim Firouzi was first arrested by agents of the Islamic Republic in 2013. He was later condemned by a court of law to one year in prison and two years’ exile. After his sentence ended, Firouzi was kept in prison when new charges of “acting against national security” were levied against him. He remains in prison even though he has been suffering acute pain in the left side of his chest for over a year, and his condition continued to deteriorate in the last three months.
Kazakhstan: After he appealed the decision, a court in Astana, the nation’s capital, increased the sentence originally handed to Yklas Kabduakasov, a convert from Islam, from seven years’ house arrest to two years at a prison hard labor camp. The father-of-eight was arrested last year on charges of inciting religious hatred. He was convicted last November and allowed to go home to begin his seven years of house arrest. Local Christians believe the real reason behind the arrest of Yklas Kabduakasov is his conversion from Islam to Christianity and the fact that he was sharing his Christian faith with Muslims.
Mali: A Swiss Christian missionary abducted for 10 days in 2012 has been kidnapped again in Timbuktu. On January 8, Beatrice Stockly, a woman in her 40s, was taken from her home before dawn by armed men who arrived in four pickup trucks. Militant Islamic groups are active in the area in which she lives and had launched two attacks in the previous weeks, one of them on a Christian radio station just before Christmas, which left 25 people dead. In 2012, when the jihadis ruled the area, they outlawed the practice of Christianity and desecrated and looted churches and other places of worship.
Pakistan: Yet another Christian girl was abducted by a group of Muslim men, forced to convert to Islam, and marry one of her kidnappers. The girl, 15-year-old Saima Bibi, was alone in a village in the Kasur district when she was seized. The family filed a complaint with police against her captors. Her parents hope that providing a birth certificate verifying her underage status will prove useful in the case, as the legal marriage age in Pakistan is 16. Police, however, already confirmed that Saima has converted to Islam and officials have documents proving the marriage.
About this Series
The persecution of Christians in the Islamic world has become endemic. Accordingly, “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:
1) To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, persecution of Christians.
2)To show that such persecution is not “random,” but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Islamic Sharia.
Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; apostasy, blasphemy, and proselytism laws that criminalize and sometimes punish with death those who “offend” Islam; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis, or third-class, “tolerated” citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination thereof.
Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the West, to Indonesia in the East—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.

Restoring Arab passion for science: Mission impossible?
Faisal J. Abbas/Al Arabiya/March 02/16
At a recent roundtable discussion hosted by Al Arabiya English, we asked what has gone wrong with Arabs and science given our historical achievements. I asked Science Editor of pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, Dr. Ahmed Moghrabi, whether it really is “mission impossible” to restore the passion for innovation.
Arabs have been overshadowed by advancements from both the Western and Eastern worlds, where one side has put man on the moon while the other has made spectacular technological advancements in a spectrum of fields. Moghrabi reiterated that over the years, the failure doesn’t stem from lack of talent but lack of efforts. He said that many Arabs don’t bring up their children by integrating scientific thinking into their own thinking. He added that the educational systems we have in place across many countries in the region today can’t produce a person who can think scientifically and innovatively.
Unfortunately, the statistics speak for themselves. Last year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published the biggest-ever league table of educational attainment in 76 countries. The report examined how representative samples of 15-year-olds performed in math and science tests, ranking them relative to their peers in more than a third of the world’s nations.
Arabs have been overshadowed by advancements from both the Western and Eastern worlds, where one side has put man on the moon while the other has made spectacular technological advancements. None of the GCC states performed well; they all ranked in the bottom half of the index. Students in the UAE were ranked at number 45 on the table, while Bahrain and Saudi Arabia came in at 57 and 66, respectively. Qatar came in 68, ahead of Oman in the 72nd place. Kuwait did not even appear in the index. Another point of failure is the lack of efforts from governments in investing in scientific research. A recent MIT Technology Review report titled “Falling Behind” found that Arab states spend an average of 0.3 percent of their GDP on research and development, whereas the world average is 2.1 percent. South Korea leads globally, spending 4 percent of its GDP.
Does science belong to the West?
Another point of contention that Dr. Moghrabi pointed out was that the mentality that “science belongs to the West” still exists. “Different forms of resistance to science, such as those who say ‘this is the West’s science, we don’t like it,’ and other examples of identity-guided thinking is an indicator that we are on the wrong track,” he said. It doesn’t help that recently a Saudi cleric proclaimed loud and clear that “the Earth is flat, not round” and captured the Western media’s attention while doing so. Our media needs to step up its game in countering the narrative that insinuates “Arabs are fools” by distilling the notion that out-of-touch clerics represent the majority… when they don’t! The media needs to play an important role in combatting – and quickly – the wrong perceptions of a few that say the earth is flat and that driving affects women’s ovaries. We need to do this instead of simply feeding the masses, like the international media, which these days let’s face it, is hungry for anything that can go viral from the Arab world.
But that’s not to say religious clerics are off the hook. While the media shouldn’t deliberately mock religion for the sake of mocking and getting hits, scholars should also refrain from expressing views in areas they don’t fully understand and are not their fields of expertise. But it’s not all doom and gloom for science in the Arab world. Recent efforts by the United Arab Emirates must be given credit for attempting to bring Arabs back to the scientific forefront. An example of this is the Mohammad bin Rashid Space Center’s Emirates Mars Mission. It’s goal? To send a space probe on a 60-million-kilometer journey and arrive at the Red Planet by 2021 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UAE. Another MbR initiative worth noting is the “Drones for Good” program that aims to reverse the negative use of the technology for the better of humankind. Arab governments must involve science and technology into our strategic planning, private sectors and society. Moghrabi argued, and I too agree on this, that the right track towards Arab progress in science is to first admit the problem exists, to see who and what institutions are advanced in scientific fields, and finally to figure out how to catch up to advanced thinkers. But today, the Arab world is still being accused of not doing enough to find and nurture its star scientists and the discoveries of tomorrow. While steps have been taken to move forward, sadly, we’ve still got a long way to go.

Achieving happiness via tolerance
Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/March 02/16
Regional and global media have for the past few days spoken about the newly-established Ministry for Happiness in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Some say it is a formality, while others consider it an administrative luxury. Some media outlets are jealous of the UAE, and so do not comprehend the meaning of this development. Fortunately, last week Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum wrote an op-ed entitled: “Why UAE ministers for happiness, tolerance and the future?” It is difficult to convince whoever does not want to believe that these projects are real and necessary rather than a luxury or display.
There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, there is widespread regional unrest, with civil war and failed states surrounding the Gulf. Secondly, only those who live in the UAE during this era of progress can comprehend the stunning pace of development. The UAE leads the way in the region when it comes to opposing hateful and sectarian rhetoric. “The last few years in the Middle East taught us that we need to learn, teach and practice tolerance, to instil it in our children through education and practice and to devise laws, policies and an entire system of programs and initiatives for it,” Sheikh Mohammad wrote.
“Yes, we learnt this from the hundreds of thousands who were killed and the millions of people who ended up as refugees or displaced in the past five years due to prejudice, hatred and lack of sectarian, ideological, cultural and religious tolerance.”
Emirati leadership
The UAE leads the way in the region when it comes to opposing hateful and sectarian rhetoric. It has devised strict laws to confront sectarianism, which have been applied several times. For example, a man was punished for insulting a religion before the new year. The UAE has the most diverse population in the region, perhaps in the world, as it has more than 200 nationalities with over a dozen religions. People there are respected and coexist within laws that organize their lives and punish whoever violates them. There is neither favoritism nor courtesy for those who spread hatred, violence and terrorism. “Tolerance is not just a word we must hail but it must have indications, studies and policies. It must be solidified via behavior in society to safeguard the future and maintain the progress we’ve achieved,” Sheikh Mohammad wrote. Slogans of tolerance are present in all Arab countries and media. There are countless books on tolerance. However, tolerance is protected by transforming it into an administrative institution that handles and spreads it throughout society while devising strict laws. The Emirati experience has thrilled and inspired all Gulf countries. Perhaps the UAE will influence other countries to develop the means to end sectarianism and narrow-minded identification. Without tolerance, we will neither achieve happiness nor leadership, and will remain underdeveloped.

And the award goes to Hashemi Rafsanjani!
Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/March 02/16
Alongside the 88th annual Academy Awards ceremony or Oscars on Feb. 28, another race was in progress in Iran, which had important global implications. While the Oscars presenters read out names of Academy Award winners, in Iran names of winners of the twin elections started trickling in.
None of the election winners in Iran were as glamorous as the Oscar awardees even though they can probably compete against Hollywood stars in their acting skills. The top prize, in many categories, went to former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. From making calculated maneuvers in the elections to mobilizing support, selecting the cast to acting in supporting role and being a playwright across different scripts, Rafsanjani left his fingerprint on all. His rivals, however, were not easy targets and their loss was indeed significant for the entire establishment. The fresh air of victory registered in the elections has, however, raised hopes of systemic reforms in a peaceful manner. In particular, the astonishing victory of the List of Hope in Tehran sends a laud and clear message to the hierarchy.
Underlying message
The continuation of improvement and stability at the economic front was the message to the parliament from the electorates. By ousting few permanent high profile clerics from the Assembly of Exports people have voted for major changes and reform within the leadership. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei congratulated Iranians and appreciated the public response to the Islamic system’s call. The message was also posted on his twitter account. Regardless of who won or lost, the electorates turned up in large numbers to vote for pragmatist and moderate candidates, which was important for Khamenei. A landmark victory for Hashemi and Rowhani supporters is still not the victory for the reformists. Knowing this fact makes us understand why the supreme leader sees the large turnout as testimony to his system’s legitimacy. The continuation of the current policies of the government, and the way Rowhani has handled the nuclear issue with the West, have the approval of Ayatollah Khamenei. The Guardian Council made perfect alteration for these elections, which basically means nothing could be fundamentally changed. Perhaps it was Hashamei Rafsanjani who received the most significant image boost, considering that his credibility and status has been challenged by the supreme leader. With this landmark victory and a seat in the Assembly Exports, his elevated status can prove to be influential. The support for Rafsanjani could be seen as a testimony of the public’s wish to see the next supreme leader or the leadership council to act more moderate in comparison to Khamenei. However, this will be determined by the extent to which the 5th Assembly of Exports can push for reforms that Rafsanjani is looking for. This will be particularly relevant to the election of the next supreme leader. As far as the 10th parliament is concerned, all eyes are on independent elected members who constitute about 30 percent of the seats. The political position of this parliament will be shaped by what side these independents take. Despite this major victory for the moderates in Tehran, the hardliners continue to have an upper hand with a slight margin. This is why the position adopted by the independents will make a difference. Most analysts expect them to favor the Rowhani government.
Testing times
In many ways, the next two years of Rowhani’s presidency are going to be extremely important for Rafsanjani. Rowhani wants to complete his term without any tussle with political leaders and also wants to satisfy the public. Clashes with conservatives and their supporters – who have lost the elections and pay heed to conspiracy theories against the president – is dangerous for Rowhani. The smooth and well-organized election process and the supreme leader’s endorsement speaks of Rowhani’s success. The continuation of the current policies of the government, and the way Rowhani has handled the nuclear issue with the West, have the approval of Ayatollah Khamenei. The supreme leader trusts the president and people trust Rowhani. Such an unseen relation witnessed so far can be described as the biggest achievement in the history of the Islamic Republic, since the revolution.
Rafsanjani’s strenuous efforts have mended the relations between the people and the system after intense clashes during the presidential election in 2009. Hence the award “the saver of the Islamic Republic” goes to him, as always.

Blasphemy trials on the rise in Egypt
Rani Geha//Al-Monitor/March 02/16
CAIRO — On Jan. 26, an Egyptian court sentenced journalist Fatima Naaot to three years in jail and a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($2,500) for “defaming religions.” The judgment reflected a “return to hisbah lawsuits, which are a threat to freedom of opinion, expression, thought, belief and human rights,” said a Jan. 27 statement by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights. Hisbah — meaning "accountability" — is an Islamic doctrine involving the ruler or government's duty to promote what is right and prevent wrong. Naaot was accused of contempt for Islam and mocking the Islamic al-Adhiya (sacrifices) ritual. She had described the annual Islamic holiday of sacrifice — Eid al-Adha — in an October 2014 Facebook post as “a massacre committed because of the startling nightmare one of the righteous ones had about his son,” in a reference to the story of Abraham in the Quran.
Mahmoud Othman, a legal scholar at the Institution of Freedom of Thought and Expression, said hisbah lawsuits are based on Article 3 of the Code of Procedure, which allows anyone to file a lawsuit against any creative work by an artist, writer or public figure as long as the plaintiff has an interest in it. Also, the lawsuit must be aimed at avoiding imminent damage or at documenting evidence. Such lawsuits are submitted to the public prosecutor, who determines their merit.
Othman told Al-Monitor that hisbah lawsuits violate the Egyptian Constitution, which says, “Freedom of thought and opinion is guaranteed. Every person has the right to express his opinion verbally, in writing, through imagery, or by any other means of expression and publication.” The constitution also states, “Freedom of artistic and literary creativity is guaranteed. The state shall encourage arts and literature, sponsor creative artists and writers, and protect their productions. … No lawsuit may be initiated or filed to stop or confiscate any artistic, literary or intellectual work.”
Salah Issa, secretary-general of the Supreme Council for the Press, told Al-Monitor, “All judgments handed down in publication lawsuits are a return to hisbah lawsuits and are contrary to the express provision of the constitution concerning the abolition of prison sentences for publication offenses.” He added, “This problem is due to a text in the constitution that says that all laws that existed prior to the ratification of the constitution remain in effect until they are amended.” Pending those amendments, Issa said, “The prosecutor and the judges should apply the constitutional provisions that criminalize punishing all publication and expression cases,” a move he described as “judicial harmonization.” He added, “A judge who looks at such cases should only approve the fine, rather than imprisonment, so as not to conflict with the provisions of the constitution.”
He called on parliament to quickly consider laws that complement the constitution.
A deputy in parliament who spoke on condition of anonymity told Al-Monitor, “Once we finish the Rules of Procedure of Parliament, we will look at all the laws that are incompatible with Egypt's constitution.” He said hisbah lawsuits that punish opinions should be stopped. Gamal Eid, head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, talked with Al-Monitor about what effect the January 25 Revolution in 2011 had on freedom and on opinion lawsuits. Eid said that before the revolution, some hisbah lawsuits were used mistakenly to defend religion. Most such lawsuits are hypocritical, he said, noting that some people use them in attempts to become famous.
Eid questioned the role of the Egyptian parliament in addressing freedom of opinion and expression. “Unfortunately, I don’t trust parliament because these lawsuits are aimed at regime critics, and parliament is the regime's parliament," he said. "The solution is having an independent judiciary. … The law requires the prosecution and the judiciary to not consider any lawsuit before making sure of the plaintiff’s status and direct interest. Plaintiffs have no right filing lawsuits involving prison, but they are being accepted in violation of the law."He concluded, “Whether or not the law is applied depends on how close the defendant is to regime circles.”The Naaot case was not the first time that a poet, writer or artist has been sentenced in a hisbah lawsuit. The most famous hisbah case in the 20th century was that of Nasr Hamid Abu Zeid, an Egyptian scholar who specialized in Islamic studies. On Aug. 5, 1996, the Egyptian Court of Cassation ruled on the forced separation of Nasr from his wife, Ibtihal Younis. The court ruled that he was an apostate from Islam because of the research he did to obtain a professorship at Cairo University. Since Islamic law forbids marriage between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man, Abu Zeid's marriage was nullified. The court had deemed that his research was harmful to the Holy Quran and of scandalous ignorance. Recently, an Egyptian court sentenced novelist Ahmed Naji to two years in jail on charges of offending public decency and using sexual terms in his novel "Isdikhdam al-Hayat" ("Using Life"). On Feb. 20, the court held that the novel was beyond the scope of literary writing. On Dec. 29, an Egyptian court sentenced Islam al-Buhairi — Islamic scholar and host of the television show "With Islam al-Buhairi" — to one year in prison after accepting his appeal of a previous ruling sentencing him to five years for contempt of the Islamic religion.

Rouhani empowered as allies, supporters make gains in Iranian elections
Rohollah Faghihi/Al-Monitor/March 02/16
TEHRAN, Iran — Finally, Iran’s long-awaited parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections have been held, and the results suggest that moderate President Hassan Rouhani and the Reformists have once again outmaneuvered the hard-liners.The one distinguishing characteristic of the Feb. 26 twin elections was the heated war of tickets. Reformists and moderates reached agreement on a coalition and released a single ticket, known as the "List of Hope.” It was headed by former Reformist Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref and backed by moderate Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and former Reformist President Mohammad Khatami. Meanwhile, the Principlists put forth a ticket headed by former parliament Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel. In the capital, the List of Hope surprised everyone as Tehran’s 30 seats in parliament all unprecedentedly went to the Reformists and moderates. The hard-liners failed to win even a single seat. However, Haddad-Adel was close to becoming a member of parliament again — according to the final results, he came 32nd in Tehran. The vote results are certainly a big victory for Reformists and Rouhani, and a humiliating defeat for hard-liners, particularly as many of the Reformist candidates, who managed to win despite having no political background, are considered low-level figures. On social media, Reformist supporters made fun of the Principlists, saying the Reformist “under-23 football team” beat the adult conservative national team. In fact, as no one had even predicted such a victory for Reformists and moderates, the Principlists are quite shocked. This will allow Rouhani to breathe a sigh of relief as he now has enough supporters in parliament who will help prevent hard-liners from moving against him and his administration. In addition, many of the toughest opponents of Rouhani’s policies in parliament failed in their re-election bids.
Despite the big victory of moderates and Reformists in Tehran, the competition in other cities was a draw. No doubt the provincial battle could also have been an outright win for moderates and Reformists had their preferred candidates not been disqualified by the Guardian Council.
Looking at the election results in cities outside Tehran, hard-line newspapers and media outlets have published headlines such as “Iranians voted for Principlists.” They claim that the Principlists have gained the majority of seats in parliament. However, it seems that their way of counting candidates may not be correct, because they are counting many of the moderates — who were (happily) forced to leave the Principlist camp — as their own. Many of the candidates who ran on independent tickets, such as incumbent parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, are moderate Principlists who have been in disagreement with the hard-liners who have come to dominate the Principlist camp, which is one of the reasons why they have avoided the hard-liners’ measures against the Rouhani administration. In fact, 80 Reformists, 76 Principlists and 60 independent candidates (many of whom are moderates) have found their way into the 290-seat parliament. Competitions for 62 of the seats will be going to a second round, since no candidate in those constituencies managed to secure a quarter of the votes. These runoff elections will also be important for the composition of the next parliament.
Nonetheless, the Reformist-moderate victory could have been bigger. Rafsanjani's son Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani said that Minister of Communication and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi and government spokesman Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht caused disagreements among moderates and Reformists, leading to a disparity in voting in provincial cities.
In the elections for the Assembly of Experts, the ticket backed by Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani — known as “the People’s Experts” — triumphed as it gained 52 out of the assembly’s 88 seats. In Tehran, Rafsanjani and the 14 other candidates on his list heavily defeated the Principlists. Two of the most prominent Principlist candidates — incumbent Chairman Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi and Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi — were defeated, ranking 17th and 19th, respectively, in the race for Tehran’s 16 seats in the Assembly of Experts. Fellow Principlist Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati survived the tight race for Tehran’s seats, but was close to being eliminated from the assembly since he barely ranked 16th in the capital. However, this success could also have been bigger if Rouhani hadn’t published a separate list of candidates. Considering that Rouhani only came third in Tehran, this perhaps was a signal of a lack of sufficient harmony with Rafsanjani. Nonetheless, before the elections, some supporters of the moderates were critical of Rafsanjani’s list due to the presence of some Principlists such as Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani. However, these supporters were later persuaded that in order to prevent the candidates with the most hard-line views from getting into the Assembly of Experts, the candidates on Rafsanjani’s list for Tehran must all win. To this end, Rafsanjani has been quite successful.
In fact, it seems that the popularity of Rafsanjani, Khatami and Seyyed Hassan Khomeini — the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini — very much shaped the results of the elections. Many of those who usually abstain from casting their ballots went to the polls in response to calls by Khatami, Khomeini and Rafsanjani for voters to turn out. The trio’s call on people to vote also helped many of the Reformist candidates — who were largely completely unknown, even to journalists — gain seats in parliament. The Principlists were burdened by their support for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections, and the antics the Principlists engaged to strike at their opponents during the campaign should not be ignored. By accusing Rafsanjani and the Reformists of being supported by the British, the hard-liners created a polarized atmosphere. Abbas Abdi, a political analyst, told the Iranian news outlet Alef, “Principlists made a mistake by branding their rivals as British. … Bringing up this issue made people angry, and if Principlists hadn’t done that, people wouldn’t have voted like this.”The ultimate outcome of the parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections is that Rouhani will have better — and most importantly, more relaxed — days in the remaining 15 months of his term, and he owes this relief to Rafsanjani, Khatami and

If Syria cease-fire fails, what is Plan B?
Laura Rozen/Al-Monitor/March 02/16
WASHINGTON — The US State Department said March 1 it was encouraged that a partial cease-fire that went into effect Feb. 27 in Syria appeared to be largely holding, with no significant violations reported over the past 24 hours. The cautiously optimistic assessment of the three-day-old cessation of hostilities came as UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura announced that he would host resumed talks between Syrian government and opposition delegations in Geneva starting March 9, which would last up to three weeks. “The early results are encouraging,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters March 1, referring to the cessation of hostilities in Syria. “Over the last 24 hours, we have not been apprised of any claims of additional violence of any significance,” Kirby said. “For the first time in five years, you can actually see a notable reduction in violence of an organized nature.”
The cautiously upbeat assessment came amid signs that the United States and Russia were largely satisfied with each other’s implementation of the partial cease-fire deal to date and the UN plans to relaunch a political reconciliation process to try to put Syria on a more lasting path to de-escalation and stability.
The International Syria Support Group (ISSG) cease-fire task force, co-chaired by the United States and Russia, held meetings Feb. 29 in Geneva. De Mistura, following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva on March 1, said intra-Syrian talks would resume in Geneva on March 9.
"We are delaying it to the afternoon of [March] 9th for logistical and technical reasons and also for the cease-fire to better settle down," de Mistura told Reuters. A resident correspondent at the United Nations in Geneva, Dina Abi-Saab, said a Geneva motor show was taking up most of the city’s hotel space, making it too difficult to hold the Syria negotiations before then. “Overall, things seem to be moving in the right direction,” a diplomat involved in the international consultations on the cease-fire, speaking not for attribution, told Al-Monitor on March 1. “The US and Russia appear to be working well together. Clearly there are issues that require more careful attention … but my impression is that they both want to make things work.”
“The news we are receiving from inside Syria is that the people are optimistic,” the diplomat said. “This is critical for the [cessation of hostilities] to hold. There has been a significant drop in air raids and shelling as well as in casualties.” “Having said that, things can still go wrong,” the diplomat added. “The next few days will be critical.”This is arguably the most complex cessation of hostilities that anyone has attempted to implement, with over 100 armed groups on the ground in Syria fighting an asymmetric conflict, another diplomatic observer said on condition of anonymity. It’s to everyone’s benefit to use the ISSG and UN processes to thoroughly investigate any allegations of violations while not letting unconfirmed reports derail the progress made thus far. “As we have said from the beginning of this cessation of hostilities process, challenges are to be expected,” a senior US administration official told Al-Monitor on March 1. “But the United States, the UN and other partners are working hard to defuse violence where it arises. It is in all of our interests, and especially the interests of the Syrian people, to give this process a chance. This is a real opportunity to reduce the violence the Syrian people have endured for far too long.”After the White House last week said that Russia was “on the hook” for the success of the partial Syria cease-fire, US confidence appeared to be growing somewhat this week that Russia was serious about trying to make it work.
Randa Slim, a Middle East Institute Levant expert who attended discussions in Russia last week, said Russian officials appear to want to seize the Syria diplomatic opportunity now because they fear a quagmire, their aims have largely been met and they fear what the United States might do if the current peace effort fails.“They are really worried,” Slim told Al-Monitor on March 1, referring to Russian officials. “They are starting to realize they need this to work; otherwise, they will be stuck in a quagmire.”The experts meeting in Russia last week were led to believe that it was Russian President Vladimir Putin himself who made the decision that Russia would not make a big fuss about some jihadi groups, such as Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham, not being included on a list of armed groups that would be formally excluded from the partial cease-fire, along with the Islamic State and al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, Slim said. Russian officials also expressed concerns about recent American talk of a Plan B if the current process collapses.
“'We don’t have a Plan B,'” Slim cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying. “'We are concerned about Plan B.'”Russian officials were apparently alarmed by media reports of Secretary of State John Kerry testifying at congressional hearings last week and talking about a partition of Syria being the potential outcome if current Syria peacemaking efforts fail. Kirby reiterated at State Department press briefings this week that what Kerry was describing was not the desired US plan but what Kerry feared could happen if the current peacemaking effort fails, the war escalates and the country’s factions become further irreconcilable. Kerry was describing “his fear of what could happen,” Kirby said March 1. “Not what he wants to happen.”“There is only one goal: That is a whole, unified, nonsectarian Syria, administered by a government the Syrians had a hand in choosing, that does not include [Bashar al-] Assad,” Kirby said. “Partition is not Plan B.”

Key players reflect on US policy in Syria
Julian Pecquet/Al-Monitor/March 02/16
President Barack Obama's legacy in Syria is one of undelivered promises and red lines crossed, according to Al-Monitor interviews with more than a dozen US decision-makers. On the eve of the five-year anniversary of the 2011 uprising, lawmakers and former administration officials shared their reflections on the key moments that have shaped recent US policy in Syria. They paint a picture of a president who hoped to guide events on the ground but was never willing to commit the full weight of America's military and diplomatic arsenal to get his way. The bitter fruits of the world's failure to end the Syrian slaughter — more than 250,000 dead and the worst refugee crisis since World War II — are well known. To mark the anniversary, Al-Monitor is releasing an interactive timeline featuring exclusive audio interviews with 14 key players that shed light on the main US policy inflexion points, from the half-hearted support for the Syrian opposition to last month's cease-fire agreement with Russia. The timeline, interspersed with key pronouncements from Obama and other top officials, runs for a little more than 30 minutes. At the root of the Obama policy's failure, argues former Ambassador Ryan Crocker, was the mistaken impression that Bashar al-Assad would be as easy to dislodge as other dictators felled by the Arab Spring. As ambassador to Syria, Crocker had formed firsthand impressions of the Syrian regime's "near-perfect police state" in one-on-one discussions with the future Syrian leader in the late 1990s, but no one in the administration asked for his opinion before announcing that Assad had to go. "It's Diplomacy 101: Never set a policy if you don't have the means to achieve it," Crocker told Al-Monitor. "That was a policy based on hope, which we all know is a fairly idiotic concept."The Aug. 18, 2011, pronouncement was followed by a series of efforts to train, equip and later arm Syrian opposition forces in a gambit to strengthen their hand in negotiations over a political settlement. But the effort was hamstrung from the beginning by the absence of a safe zone where they could be trained in bulk instead of piecemeal, and Assad refused to make any concessions. "Help to the opposition has always been kind of half-hearted," said Robert Ford, who was ambassador to Damascus from 2011 to 2014. "And, by contrast, the Iranians and Russians have not been so half-hearted."Then came Obama's red line on chemical weapons, and his threat to finally bomb Assad. While the president has earned kudos for getting Assad to turn over most if not all of his arsenal, lawmakers and administration officials alike argue that failing to go through with the strike sent an unmistakable signal that Obama was keen to avoid military confrontation. Now the United States and Russia are negotiating a cease-fire that critics say will keep Assad in power for the foreseeable future while moderate rebels continue to lose ground to the Islamic State and other radical groups. "The strong backing of Russia and Iran have allowed him to hang on to power," House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., told Al-Monitor, "and the administration has drawn so many red lines and backed away that it no longer has the leverage — or the will — to make him go."

How much support did Turkey provide to Syrian opposition?
Semih Idiz/Al-Monitor/March 02/16
In an unusually candid interview with Al Jazeera Feb. 23, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu admitted to aiding anti-Assad groups in Syria, claiming that Turkey had done more than most Arab countries in this respect.
Speaking a few days after Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir put to rest speculation that Turkey and his country were preparing for a ground operation in Syria, Davutoglu made several remarks that are bound to go down badly in Moscow and Tehran, suggesting that Ankara is betting on a defeat of the Syrian regime and its principal allies Russia and Iran, much like the defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He also said Turkey would not actively intervene in Syria because it was not confident of support from Arab countries, citing the condemnation by the Arab League of the deployment of Turkish troops in Bashiqa near Mosul on Dec. 3.
Davutoglu’s remarks revealed that the Arab League’s reaction to the Bashiqa deployment, the complaint lodged at the UN Security Council by the Iraqi government and the lack of support from Arab countries for this deployment still rankle in Ankara.
Jubeir told Agence France-Presse on Feb. 18 that any special forces sent by Saudi Arabia to Syria would only fight the Islamic State, underlining that they would not get involved in unilateral operations against the Syrian regime unless an international coalition was established for this purpose. Jubeir’s remark deflated growing expectations in some quarters of the Islamist and pro-government Turkish media that Turkey and Saudi Arabia, with their own “coalition of the willing,” were preparing to intervene in Syria.
Davutoglu’s remarks followed reports in the Turkish press that Moscow was in touch with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey’s principal allies in Syria, prior to the Syrian cease-fire. These reports provided further evidence for anti-government quarters' concerns that Davutoglu’s policies have left Turkey isolated in the region.
Asked by Al Jazeera what needs to happen for Turkey and other countries to intervene in Syria, Davutoglu defensively corrected the impression that Ankara was merely issuing condemnations over Syria and little else. He said, “I salute the heroic Syrian people in Aleppo and everywhere in Syria. They resisted against the regime. They resisted against Hezbollah, they resisted against Iran, they resisted against extremist Shiite terrorism, they resisted against [IS] terrorism, now they are resisting against Russia.”
He added, “How were they able to defend themselves if there was no Turkish support for the Syrian people? Could they be defending Aleppo or was it possible for them to survive? So if there is today a real Syrian moderate opposition, it is because of Turkish support. If today the regime is not able to control all the territories, this is because of Turkish and some other countries' support.”
Asked who will stop the Russian bombing and Iran’s involvement in Syria, he said, “All of us, but first, the heroic Syrian people. Like the Afghans defeated the Soviets. I am sure one day the heroic Syrian people will defeat all these forces. And Turkey will be with the Syrian people.”
Davutoglu’s remarks were taken as a confession of Ankara’s clandestine involvement in Syria’s civil war and condemned by opposition parties in Turkey.
“This is a confession that Turkey is involved in a proxy war and the threat against Syria’s territorial integrity, while working to secure the dominance of terrorist organizations there,” Oktay Vural, the spokesman for the Nationalist Movement Party, said in a statement reacting to Davutoglu’s remarks.
Riza Turmen, a former judge at the European Court of Human Rights who is currently a member of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), said Davutoglu’s remarks reflected an intervention in Syria that violated international law, adding that the matter is under the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.
Bringing up the question of unilateral Turkish intervention in Syria himself during the interview, Davutoglu said he was asked about this by a very important Arab statesman. He said, “We sent military trainers and some troops to defend them in order to liberate Mosul. We sent them into Bashiqa, and the Arab League has condemned Turkey. Now those who are asking us questions, they have to look at themselves. Which Arab country did more — I am not criticizing all Arab friends — did more than Turkey?”
He added, “And why, when Turkey went to Mosul to liberate Mosul, to help Mosul, has the Arab League condemned Turkey and asked it to withdraw? Who will guarantee us, if we militarily intervene, that Arab countries will be defending and supporting this?”
Davutoglu knows, of course, that this was not the first time the Arab League has criticized Turkey for sending troops to an Arab country. It has condemned every ground operation by the Turkish armed forces against the Kurdistan Workers Party camps in northern Iraq, saying Ankara had violated the sovereign rights of an Arab country.
Al-Monitor asked Murat Ozcelik, a retired diplomat who was the government’s special envoy to Iraq in 2006 prior to becoming ambassador to Iraq in 2007, what lay behind Davutoglu’s apparent lack of confidence in Arab countries.
Ozcelik answered from another angle, saying that the lack of confidence in Turkey by Arab countries has a long history, one that Davutoglu had chosen to disregard in the past. He said, “In recent times, Davutoglu also misread the significance of Arab nationalism and viewed all of the Arab countries in the Middle East in the Islamic framework, assuming that they would fall behind an ascendant Turkey. That was a mistake and he is now trying to readjust the situation with such statements.”
Ozcelik, who is currently a CHP member, said there is also a perception among Arab regimes that Turkey aided radical Islamist groups in Syria, including IS, which they consider a threat.
Ankara’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood was frowned upon by most Arab regimes, Ozcelik said, adding, “Their lack of confidence in Turkey has inevitably resulted in Ankara’s lack of confidence in them.”

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