llLCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
May 20/16
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.may20.16.htm
News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006
Bible Quotations For Today
I am going to
prepare a place for you? I will come again and will take you to myself, so that
where I am, there you may be also
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 14/01-7:"‘Do not let your
hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house
there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I
go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be
also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’Thomas said to him,
‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said
to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you
do know him and have seen him.’"
‘I have no silver or gold,
but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up
and walk.
Acts of the Apostles 03/01-10:"One day Peter and John were going up to the
temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame
from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the
temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those
entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he
asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look
at us.’ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from
them. But Peter said, ‘I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.’And he took him by the
right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made
strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with
them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and
praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for
alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and
amazement at what had happened to him."
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials
from miscellaneous sources published on May 19- 20/16
16 years after Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon/Elias Bejjani* &
Charbel Barakat*/May 19/16
Hezbollah and Lebanon’s Presidential Non-Election/Aurelie Daher/LobeLog/May 19
Did Hezbollah’s sheriff kill his deputy/Salman Al-Ansari/Al Arabiya/May 19/16
Mustafa Badreddine’s mysterious successor/Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/May 19/16
Hide and seek: Say yes to Berri, to find out Hezbollah’s intentions/Michael
Young/Now Lebanon/May 19/16
Lebanese Man Held in Iran Had Past U.S. Contracts/Associated Press/Naharnet/May
19/16
The West Must Say "Je Suis Asia Bibi"/Giulio Meotti//Gatestone Institute/May 19,
2016
How Terrorists and Dictators Silence Arab Journalists/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone
Institute/May 19, 2016
Israel, Gaza and "Proportionality"/Louis René Beres/Gatestone Institute/May 19,
2016
From The Archive/Murdered by the Syrians’/Robert Fisk /The Independent/Lebanon,
17 October 199
Syria: Hope despite obstacles/Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/May 19/16
The specter of the Sept. 11 attacks/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/May 19/16
A decisive moment in the anti-ISIS campaign/Dr. Theodore Karasik/Al Arabiya/May
19/16
'Islamophobia Studies' Coming to a College Near You/Cinnamon
Stillwell/Independent Journal Review/May 19/16
The Saudi Solution/Daniel Pipes/The Washington Times/May 19/16
Titles Latest Lebanese Related News published on May
19- 20/16
16 years after
Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon
Hezbollah and Lebanon’s Presidential Non-Election
Did Hezbollah’s sheriff kill his deputy?
Mustafa Badreddine’s mysterious successor
Hide and seek: Say yes to Berri, to find out Hezbollah’s intentions
Govt. Unanimously Rejects Refugee 'Naturalization', to Seek 'Clarifications' on
Ban's Remarks
Joint Parliamentary Committees to Discuss Hybrid Electoral Law next Week
Report: Berri Says Politicians Face One of Two, New Electoral Law or the 1960
Syrian Arrested for 'Supplying Arms, Surveillance Devices to Terror Groups'
Report: Saniora Says Mustaqbal Stance on Berri's Initiative not Final
Hariri: Attempts to Change Our Identity and Import Extremism and Terrorism Will
Fail
Lebanese Man Held in Iran Had Past U.S. Contracts
For Syrians in Lebanon, No Resting Place in Life or Death
Makari chairs parliamentary joint committee session
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Beshara Boutros Rahi, arrived in South Africa
Ahdab says ready to cooperate with Rifi in Tripoli
From The Archive/Murdered by the Syrians’
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 19-20/16
Pope Francis to
Receive Top Sunni Imam at Vatican
France Calls Middle East Peace Conference for June 3
Statement byCanada's FM, Minister Dion on crash of EgyptAir flight MS804
EgyptAir Flight Carrying 66 Crashes in Mediterranean, Greece Denies Debris Found
Debris found near search area for missing EgyptAir plane
Egypt won’t rule out ‘possibility of terrorist attack’
Syria troops retake key town outside capital
US says no drop in Russian military strength in Syria
Iraq says it retakes western town of Rutba from ISIS
Militants mobilise in Syria as peacemaking unravels
Incoming Turkey PM vows ‘total harmony’ with Erdogan
Turkish military says helicopter likely shot down
According to Turkish reports, Haber was bitterly critical of Turkey s conduct in
Turkey summons EU envoy over comments on refugee deal
U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee passes resolution on Camp Liberty
NCRI Women's Committee urges international community to have cruel sentence
against Narges Mohammadi revoked
An emotional appeal by Iranian political prisoner Afshin Baymani
NCRI welcomes Maldives’ decision to sever ties with Iran regime
NGO: Iraq lurching towards catastrophe
Links From Jihad Watch Site for May 19- 20/16
German Christian leaders renew call for openness to migrants
French security chief: ISIS plans new wave of jihad attacks in France, uses
migrant routes to get jihadis to Europe
Islamic State beheads Christian priest for praying at the altar of his church
Egypt’s Civil Aviation Minister: Possibility of terror attack in EgyptAir crash
“higher than having a technical problem”
John Kerry: Afghanistan one of the “proudest achievements of the Obama
administration”
Pakistani Muslim arrested crossing Texas border, lied to FBI
Robert Spencer in FrontPage: Huffington Post Calls on Christians to Recognize
Muhammad as a Prophet
Dying GOP Senator spends his last days apologizing to Muslims for Trump
Hugh Fitzgerald: Pope Francis: Islam and Christianity Share “the Idea of
Conquest”
Dubai law firm offers job to Obama so he can learn more about tolerance of Islam
Michael Cutler Moment: Obama’s Pathway to the “Borderless World”
Latest Lebanese Related News published on May 19- 20/16
16 years after Israel’s withdrawal
from south Lebanon
Elias Bejjani* & Charbel Barakat*/May 19/16
There is no question that the withdrawal of a foreign army from any country
should be hailed with a sense of relief and joy; even if it was an ally its
withdrawal indicates that the country is self-governing and is capable of
defending itself independently.
Meanwhile, the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon on May 23/2000 was not
hailed by our people, because practically it was the beginning of a new tragedy
that was added to the many Lebanese tragedies. Why was there this bitter feeling
and why is it still painful after 10 years?
The other question is why our people who are patriotic and adore their land have
decided at that time to leave their beloved country and go into exile in
neighbouring Israel? Did they actually follow the withdrawing Israeli army?
The intention of this editorial is not to delve into many analyses, but to
summarize the actual reasons that made our people hastily cross the border and
seek refuge in Israel:
1-At that time Lebanon was still under the oppressive Syrian occupation and its
mere decision making process was fully controlled by Syria, the occupier.
2- Hezbollah, an armed militia, which is totally affiliated to the Iranian
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was in control of Lebanon’s Shiite
communities culturally, ideologically, militarily and economically, especially
in numerous parts of the south.
3- The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) stationed in south
Lebanon failed in their duty of reassuring the citizens of their safety, did not
show any interest in the outcome of the Israeli withdrawal, did not negotiate
with the southern citizens in the absence of the Lebanese authorities or even
ask for their opinion or protect them.
While Israel was logistically preparing for the withdrawal, Hezbollah waged a
merciless and savage media campaign against the southern Lebanese citizens. The
campaign was aired publicly on all local and international TV channels and radio
stations. The most frightening threats were uttered personally by Hezbollah’s
Secretary General, Sheik Nasrallah, who savagely said, We will enter their
bedrooms, pierce their stomachs, slaughter them and slice their throats.
But Nasrallah’s threats did not frighten the South Lebanon Army (SLA), on the
contrary this rhetoric was ridiculed on May 18/2000, six days before the Israeli
withdrawal, when the Hezbollah militia tried to overcome and control one of the
SLA posts at the “Hamra Bridge”. The attack failed badly and Hezbollah suffered
huge losses.
Facing this disastrous milieu and all the other uncertainties, southern citizens
were left with two bitter options: to militarily defend their land, engage with
Hezbollah and repeat the status that prevailed before 1978; or to succumb to
Hezbollah, surrender their weapons and live under its authority. Encountering
this dilemma, they decided to avoid more Lebanese bloodshed and to leave
Lebanon, the country that they cherished, without a fight and take refuge in
Israel.
As a result of the Israeli withdrawal, there has been an enormous global
escalation of terrorism not only in the Middle East, but in many other
countries. Progress of peace efforts suffered a remarkable setback and worldwide
violence prevailed leading to the 9/11 attacks and to subsequent acts of
terrorism throughout Europe and the rest of the world.
The Free World countries responded by waging a massive global military
anti-terrorism campaign that primarily focused on both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Subsequently, the international community tried to amend the fatal mistakes that
were committed in Lebanon and issued UN Security Council Resolution 1559 that
addressed three important issues:
1-Syrian occupation: It called for the immediate withdrawal of the Syrian army
from Lebanon.
2-Weapons of terrorism: It called for the disarming of all militias, and in
particular, of Hezbollah.
3- Safeguarding Lebanon’s democratic system: It called for free parliamentary
elections without Syrian interference.
UN Resolution 1559 provided the Lebanese people with the incentives to take
action. Accordingly, the Cedar Revolution emerged and the Lebanese people by the
hundreds of thousands peacefully took to the streets forcing the withdrawal of
the Syrian army.
Unfortunately, this revolution did not finish the job, which gave Hezbollah the
route to brazenly escape and instigate a war with Israel in 2006. Sadly, due to
the Lebanese authorities’ and politicians’ hesitation, poor judgment and lack of
courage, they did not fully utilize the available circumstances to finish off
the Hezbollah phenomenon. Instead Hezbollah besieged the government’s
headquarters, alleged a divine victory on Israel in the 2006 war, and on May 07
and 11/2008, invaded the western section of the capital Beirut and attempted to
conquer the Shouf Mountain, enforcing a new national balance equation in a bid
to abort the Cedar Revolution and circumvent and cripple
UN Resolution 1559.http://www.clhrf.com/un%20documents/1559.english1.htm
The Iranian endeavours for not allowing the disarmament of Hezbollah unveiled
the actual elements of her plot:
1-A well set plan to expand Iran’s hegemony on the whole Middle East.
2-The establishment of a military base In Eretria and Yemen.
3-The mobilization of the Shiite Houthis tribes on the Saudi -Yemeni border.
4-Supporting and instigation of instability in neighbouring Iraq.
5-The formation of numerous sleeping militant cells among the Shiite Arabian
Gulf countries’ communities.
6-Keeping Egypt unfocused on the actual Iranian scheme through instigation of
strife between Egypt and other African countries that share the Nile River.
7- Playing with and tickling Muslims’ emotions and instigating religious
fanaticism to fight Israel through Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
At the same time, Iran has been working day and night to become a nuclear power
and possess a nuclear weapon that is intended to be used for intimidating the
Middle East countries, control their resources and wealth and have a monopoly on
the region’s fate and decisions.
Hezbollah is pivotal for all of the above Iranian schemes and a primary source
of manpower. Its militant members who number in the tens of thousands speak the
Arabic language, are ideologically and religiously well prepared, and more than
ready to carry out missions in any country as instructed.
There is no doubt that the current situation in the whole Middle East in
general, and in Israel and Lebanon in particular, is much worse from the day the
Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon was implemented 10 years ago. The Iranian
danger to both Israel and Lebanon is escalating. Lebanon did not enjoy any kind
of stability despite the UN Resolutions, the bitter events’ experience, the
great sacrifices and the presence of new players (powers) on its arena.
Sadly, Lebanon is now living a repeat of same ghastly milieu that prevailed in
1982: tension, instability, chaos, and forced absence of any input on what goes
on its land. The war-peace decision making process is again in the hands of
Syria and Iran, while weapons of all kinds are smuggled to Hezbollah and to
other Lebanese – Palestinian armed terrorist groups via Syria without any kind
of control or impunity.
Based on all of the above, we request:
1- Lebanese officials to be prudent, patient, thoughtful and not to fall prey to
the axis of evil’s schemes, terrorism, fanaticism, violence, intimidation, and
whims of sabotage. Their patriotic duties and obligations as responsible
Lebanese officials and leaders are to help in making Lebanon a country of peace,
prosperity, freedom and stability in the region and not to be an arena and
battlefield for Iran, Syria and their armed proxies. They must be aware that for
the past 30 years, our Lebanese people have endured much more than they can
tolerate, and as the saying goes: “He who does not learn from the past cannot
make the future.”
2- The Cedar Revolution’s masses to hold dearly to their solid faith in a free,
sovereign and independent Lebanon that should not under any circumstances be an
aggressor, but a peace maker and an advocate for human rights and democracy. We
encourage the masses to actively help in preserving the historic Lebanese role
in hailing the right of all countries and people in the region to live freely
without any kind of oppression. Lebanon’s mission and message are to protect the
weak and the oppressed and not to hail the conceited and arrogant.
3- Neighbouring Syria to overcome its ongoing expansionism schemes and accept
once and forever the reality that Lebanon is an independent and sovereign
country and not a Syrian territory or satellite. Accordingly, the joint borders
must be patrolled and all kinds of infiltration and smuggling permanently
stopped.
4- Israel to re-evaluate the achievements and setbacks of her withdrawal
decision; meanwhile, We agree fully with Moshe Arens’s analysis of May 17/10,
which stated: “Chief among the assumptions underlying the decision to withdraw
unilaterally was that once Hezbollah had achieved its stated goal of freeing
southern Lebanon from Israeli occupation, it would restrict its activities to
the Lebanese political arena and abandon further military operations against
Israel. Secondly, should Hezbollah, nevertheless, continue military actions
against Israeli targets after the withdrawal, Israel believed it would then be
free to respond with drastic military actions that would dissuade Hezbollah from
engaging in further military activities against Israel. Well, wrong on both
counts. After the Israeli withdrawal, Hezbollah not only did not disband its
militia but intensively armed itself, including the acquisition of large numbers
of long-range rockets, and developed from a guerrilla band into a well-trained
and -equipped military force.”
http://www.haaretz.com/withdrawal-right-for-the-wrong-reasons-1.290772 (cancel
the ad that shows when you click on the link to see the report)
5-The Free World and Arab countries to completely support a free and democratic
Lebanon and take a courageous stance in this regard before it is too late. A
regime in Lebanon fully under the direct control of Syria or Iran or through
their armed proxies is a dire threat to peace and stability to not only the
Middle East but to the whole world.
6- Our people, the southern Lebanese citizens, who have been living a forced
exile in Israel since May 2000 to remain as tall as Lebanon’s Holy Cedars. They
should know that the free Lebanese people hail their heroism, courage, peaceful
inclinations, acceptance of others, tolerance, patriotism, sacrifices, love of
their homeland and deeply rooted faith. We know that they have proudly,
honourably and courageously defended their beloved land and rights and never
attacked others. We assure them that Lebanon won’t have long lasting stability
until their honoured and dignified unconditional return is achieved.
N.B: The above study was first published on 23.05.10
Hezbollah and Lebanon’s Presidential
Non-Election
Aurelie Daher/LobeLog/May 19
http://lobelog.com/hezbollah-and-lebanons-presidential-non-election/
For two years exactly on May 25 next the presidency of Lebanon has remained
vacant. On two previous occasions, the “country of cedars” has already remained
without a head of state: for slightly more than a year after Amine Gemayel’s
term in office (1982-1988) and then for six months after Emile Lahoud stepped
down (1998-2007). But never has the vacancy lasted this long. Nor have the
negotiations among the actors involved been quite so difficult or the regional
context quite so dangerous.
As mandated by a constitutional amendment approved at the end of the civil war
(1975-1990), the Lebanese president must be a Maronite Christian. Any candidacy
for the post is negotiated in the first instance by that community’s leading
political lights. The interests of other Lebanese come second. Only last
December was a name finally put forward: Sleiman Frangieh, the leader of a small
Christian party in the March 8 Alliance, a coalition of pro-Syrian and
pro-Iranian groups.
The news caused a great stir, since the candidacy grew out of a highly personal
agreement Frangieh made with Saad Hariri, the Sunni leader of the March 14
Coalition, an alliance of pro-Western and pro-Saudi parties. According to the
deal, Hariri would support Frangieh’s candidacy in return for March 8’s backing
for Hariri’s big comeback as prime minister, a post reserved for the Sunni
community and that Hariri had been ousted from in January 2011.
In mid-January, however, Samir Geagea, leader of the Maronite faction within
March 14, sprang his own surprise. After refusing for more than a decade to see
his rival Michel Aoun, the leading March 8 Maronite, ascend to the presidency,
Geagea solemnly announced that he was now backing this erstwhile foe as his
official candidate. Lebanon’s political scene was enthralled. With Geagea
supporting Aoun, it finally looked like the impasse would end quickly. Between
the votes of the March 8 and the Christian March 14 lawmakers, as well as those
of the Druze Walid Jumblatt (with Hariri’s followers, the March 14 Sunni
deputies, abstaining), Aoun’s election would be a foregone conclusion. At the
same time, it would bring an auspicious end to several decades of bitter hatred
between the two great branches of Lebanese Maronitism.
But the election’s true arbiter and the country’s leading party, namely Shia-led
Hezbollah, proved to be less than enthusiastic. Although its leadership had
publicly backed Aoun as its favorite for months, the internal reaction to
Geagea’s coup was tepid at best. This poses the pressing question: why does
Hezbollah refuse to endorse the happy accord?
Aoun is Hezbollah’s First Choice or…?
In fact, it would be a mistake to lend too much credence to Hezbollah’s
ostensible backing of Aoun. True, some newspapers suggested that this support
was indeed sincere, based on “gratitude” to the Christian leader for, among
other services, his support of Hezbollah during the 2006 war with Israel. If
that were really the case, Hezbollah would have supported Aoun’s candidacy
before now, notably in the 2007 presidential election. But it did nothing of the
kind.
Hezbollah has a long memory, and only relatively recently did Michel Aoun emerge
as a champion of the Lebanese anti-Israeli resistance. In fact, in June 1982
Aoun was among those who personally greeted Israeli Defense Minister Gen. Ariel
Sharon, architect of the second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, on his arrival in
Beirut. And Aoun also backed Bashir Gemayel, leader of the Lebanese Forces, as
president in the sham elections under Israel’s effective occupation that
followed the invasion a few weeks later. And since the Cedar Revolution in 2005,
when Aoun returned to Lebanon from self-exile, his rhetoric was at first
extremely hostile toward Hezbollah and even today can still be contemptuous
toward the Shiite community as a whole (which helps explain the animosity AMAL,
the second main Shiite party of the country, has for the man).
Finally, Aoun tends to exhibit a certain unpredictability in his positions and
utterances that in certain respects have proved tricky for Hezbollah to manage,
especially Aoun’s penchant for provoking dangerous sectarian tensions, mainly
with the Sunnis. It turns out that Hezbollah likes reliable allies with
predictable strategies and a commitment to preserving civil peace and stability,
particularly now. In other words, Hezbollah has no more reason to support Aoun
as president today than it did in 2007.
In reality, Hezbollah would prefer to see Sleiman Frangieh seated in the
presidential chair. Like Aoun, Frangieh belongs to a March 8 effectively led by
Hezbollah. Moreover, he is a personal friend of Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad’s. And Frangieh is backed by the Sunni March 14, a partner that
Hezbollah would have difficulty bypassing in the management of the country’s
affairs and which it therefore might find useful to accommodate. Hence, the
question: why does Hezbollah, having had Frangieh handed to it by Hariri on a
silver platter, not have him elected as the candidate who simultaneously pleases
Sunnis and Shiites, a considerable luxury in these times of intra-Muslim
hostility?
Hezbollah’s Options
Hezbollah is actually less concerned about who will be chief of state than who
will head the next government. The Lebanese constitution gives the president few
prerogatives, while the prime minister is the true head of the executive branch.
The prime minister, in the end, can make more trouble than the president. As
things stand, electing Frangieh according to the Frangieh-Hariri accord is not
palatable because he is part of a package: boosting Frangieh to the presidency
means making Hariri prime minister—an option that does not appeal in the least
to Hezbollah. In the eyes of its leadership, Saad Hariri’s term as head of the
executive branch from 2009 to 2011 was anything but encouraging. For Hezbollah,
therefore, the Frangieh-Hariri deal looks out of balance: the party would
certainly get a president congenial to its interests, but the trade-off would
only bolster its adversaries.
In a context of pronounced tensions today between Iran and Saudi Arabia,
Hariri’s political family keeps assuring its sincere and active loyalty toward
the Kingdom. At Riyadh’s behest, it has on several occasions tried to insert
changes that run counter to Hezbollah’s interests in the declarations and
decisions of the current Tammam Salam government. Hezbollah is not going to be
well-disposed toward a prime minister even more pro-Saudi than the current one.
Certainly, one could believe that Hezbollah has effectively painted itself into
a corner, at least rhetorically. Its leadership, long confident that March 14
would never accept Aoun’s candidacy, has tried to prove loyalty to its ally (on
the cheap) by proclaiming it loudly in recent months. But all is not lost.
Hezbollah has everything to gain by being patient. A policy of attrition—at all
times the party’s preferred strategy—is highly likely to pay off. In fact, with
a little luck, Hezbollah may succeed the same way it did in 2007. At that time,
its candidate was Michel Sleiman, then the Lebanese Army’s chief of staff. In a
reflexive reaction, March 14 declared that it would support “any candidate
except Hezbollah’s.” The party then pulled off a master stroke: it began to
attack Sleiman. Persuaded that Hezbollah had actually dropped Sleiman, March 14
embraced the general as its candidate. Hezbollah then pretended to admit its
“defeat” and “reluctantly” accept March 14’s candidate, Sleiman. In other words,
the party got what it wanted, without having to give its adversaries anything in
exchange.
By continuing to officially support Aoun, Hezbollah preserves its image as a
loyal ally and avoids alienating his popular base, which is far larger than
Frangieh’s following in the Maronite community. By all appearances, the goal is
to see a battle-weary Aoun drop out of the presidential race and appeal to his
backers to rally behind Frangieh. But one thing is certain: no agreement will be
possible so long as Hariri continues to insist on being named prime minister.
Whatever the ultimate outcome, March 14 will be the party forced to pay the
price of electing the head of state. Hezbollah will not give the green light
unless and until it is sure of gaining both the presidency of the republic and
its preference for head of government.
Did Hezbollah’s sheriff kill his
deputy?
Salman Al-Ansari/Al Arabiya/May 19/16
Did Hassan Nasrallah kill Mustafa Badreddine? The answer to that question may
take years to answer, let alone uncover all the details behind it. However, what
appears to be the case is that Nasrallah’s recent erratic behavior, which
illustrates a state of personal turmoil and tension, appears to indicate
something beyond that. To analysts, attempting to understand every aspect of
Badreddine’s assassination is like standing on the tip of an unruly iceberg, the
base of which is covered by a fog of colossal ambiguity. Hezbollah initially
accused Israel of murdering Badreddine, a statement which it later rescinded.
They claimed that they will investigate the incident, and soon after blamed it
on rebel shelling by opposing “takfiri” groups, of which denied any involvement.
This suggests that there is a state of disorganization and confusion within
Hezbollah’s ranks. Additionally, in the not-too-distant past, there were
conflicting views between Iranian leadership in Tehran and Hezbollah, revealing
a state of discontent between Iran and those they’re issuing orders to on the
ground. It appears that Iranian financiers are dissatisfied with their
subordinates in Lebanon, especially after their failure in Yemen, Syria, Bahrain
and Kuwait.
Using its proxies, such as Hezbollah and others, Iran has interfered in the
affairs of every corner the Middle East. No country, Arab or otherwise, has been
spared from its deviousness. To this very moment, entire generations across the
world have been stung by the pain of loss and bereavement at the hands of Iran’s
deceptiveness, whether they’re in Beirut, the beacon of Arab culture and
progressive thought, or in targets across the region, be they in Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Bahrain and many others.
Let us not forget that not only innocent civilians in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have
fallen victim to Iranian-sponsored terrorism, but also in the very heart of the
American capital in 2009, when they tried to bomb Cafe Milano Washington, DC, in
an attempt to assassinate the former Saudi Ambassador to the United States and
now Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel Al-Jubeir. Hassan Nasrallah looks to be
slipping into a state of anxiety and panic. Unless he had other calculations, he
may have feared being replaced by the highly reputable, charismatic military
leader and Iranian favorite, Badreddine I’m merely pointing out facts that
affirm that Hezbollah is an unpredictable, volatile and unstable terrorist
organization. Its senior members, whether it’s the one recently killed a few
days ago in the suburbs of Damascus, or his predecessor, Imad Mughniyah,
Hezbollah’s former international operations chief (who was also assassinated
around the same area in 2008), have both been involved in terrorist operations
in Beirut, Lebanon.
The most notable of these operations is the bombing of a Marine compound in
Beirut, which reportedly claimed the lives of 241 Marines. Hezbollah’s terrorism
records also reveal that they were behind the 1983 Kuwait bombings, perpetrated
by the now infamous “Kuwait 17”. The deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, Naim
Qassem, adamantly acknowledged that these bombings would be “the starting point
for the idea of hostages, to impose pressure for the release of prisoners in
Israel and elsewhere.”A little-known yet crucial aspect of Badreddine’s murder
(of whom Bashar Al-Assad’s regime failed to protect in Damascus) which Hezbollah
is trying to hide is that the US treasury department has filed his name under
the list of terror financiers. Adam J. Szubin, acting Under Secretary for
Terrorism and Financial Intelligence even mentioned that they are “committed to
exposing and disrupting these networks to pressure Hezbollah’s finances and
degrade its ability to foment violence in Lebanon, Syria, and across the
region.”
State of divisiveness
Another aspect of the Badreddine incident is what we alluded to earlier, which
was the curious state of divisiveness and disarray between Hezbollah officials
in Lebanon and their counterparts in Tehran. It appears that the killing of many
members of the revolutionary guard in Syria has caused a bit a gaping chasm
between the two parties. It also appears that Hezbollah’s deflation and state of
corrosion is really starting to take its toll. In fact, I would not be surprised
if there are already Iranian plans to replace Hassan Nasrallah if he failed to
achieve their ends in many fronts, especially Syria and Yemen. Not to mention,
his finances have been rapidly dwindling, thanks to Saudi-American cooperation
that choked his monetary resources by listing them under “terrorist
organizations”. Hassan Nasrallah looks to be slipping into a state of anxiety
and panic. Unless he had other calculations, he may have feared being replaced
by the highly reputable, charismatic military leader and Iranian favorite,
Badreddine. Now that Nasrallah is being accused of murdering him, he is left
virtually unable to function and operate with the same level confidence and
brashness he usually has, especially since such a costly mistake may very well
carry him all the way to Tehran’s guillotine. Time will tell whether he actually
committed this mistake, or if it will be one his last.
Mustafa Badreddine’s
mysterious successor
Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/May 19/16
Hezbollah is going through a state of unprecedented confusion. More than 1,300
of its members have been killed in the war in Syria, including some of its
leaders, and the party cannot explain how they were killed. These assassinations
include Imad Mughniyah, his son Jihad, Samir al-Kantar, and most recently
Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed near Damascus airport and will be succeeded
by Mustafa Mughniyah. Many experts say Hezbollah is going through its worst
phase. Commenting on Mughniyah succeeding Badreddine, analyst Ronen Solomon
said: “In 2005, he was 18 years old - the age when one completes basic military
training in… Hezbollah and is sent to specialize in a certain field. At the same
time, Mustafa began joining his father on operational missions, and hence
received an informal education.” Hezbollah’s losses show the extent of the
ideological brainwashing of its supporters. If it had been another party taking
these blows, it would have been met with protests and demands for accountability
Losses
Meanwhile, Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, visited southern
Beirut to offer condolences for the death of Badreddine. “We’ve lost a leader
and dear brother,” he said. “This misfortune is a tragedy for the entire Islamic
nation. Losing a man like [Badreddine] is not limited to one country, region or
suburb.”Hezbollah’s losses show the extent of the ideological brainwashing of
its supporters. If it had been another party taking these blows, it would have
been met with protests and demands for accountability. Who knows, perhaps there
is a sparkle of fire under the ashes.
Hide and seek: Say yes to Berri, to
find out Hezbollah’s intentions
Michael Young/Now Lebanon/May 19/16
What did Nabih Berri’s proposals to the national dialogue session on Wednesday
hide? Everyone is still scrambling to react to the speaker’s plan, though a
Future Movement parliamentarian, Atef Majdalani, described it as “stillborn.”
As outlined by Hezbollah parliamentarian Ali Fayyad, the plan offers three
options, two of which entail holding legislative elections before a presidential
election. The first option would be to hold elections on the basis of a new
electoral law, after agreement is reached in the parliamentary committee tasked
with that role. The second option would be to hold elections according to the
1960 law. In both cases, parliament would immediately hold a session afterward
to vote in a new president.
But as agreement over an electoral law seems virtually impossible today, one
must turn to the third option in Berri’s proposal. He described it as “going to
a new Doha,” whereby all the political forces would attend a national conference
to hammer out a package deal on the presidency, an electoral law, a new
government, and future dialogue, according to Fayyad.
Some observers regard the idea of a “new Doha” as a step toward a more profound
change in the Lebanese system—what some have called a “foundational conference”
to change the constitution. Nothing in Berri’s proposal indicates this, but
there is a widespread belief among Hezbollah’s adversaries that the party is
holding the presidential election hostage to impose changes in the political
system that it desires.
Indeed, the idea of a new Doha would represent a shift away from constitutional
texts, to find a solution outside them. Even if Berri is merely looking for a
way out of the present impasse, the principal of bypassing the constitution and
negotiating everything by committee represents a complete breakdown of the post-Taif
political order. Worse, the speaker has been the person most guilty of
undermining the constitution.
For instance he has pushed hard in recent months to hold legislative sessions to
pass urgent laws. However, according to article 75 of the constitution,
parliament is an electoral body during the period before a president is elected,
not a legislative assembly. Consequently, according to constitutional experts,
until an election is held, parliament does not have the latitude to vote on
laws, a point Berri has ignored.
Are we witnessing the first sign by Hezbollah (with Berri’s help) that it is
willing to accept a resolution of the deadlock of the past two years? Almost
certainly. But the speaker’s proposal is unlikely to lead to an overhaul of the
constitution, as has been suggested. A constitutional amendment requires a
two-thirds majority in favor, and securing such a majority today, on any matter
whatsoever, appears to be a pipe dream.
Yet it is also true that once there is agreement over holding a new Doha, there
may be no limits to what can be discussed. This is what Hezbollah’s political
foes fear. What is to stop the party from putting everything on the table,
including the expansion of Shia representation, legitimization of the party’s
weapons, and more? In theory nothing. The very fact that all sides agreed to
such a mechanism to resolve Lebanon’s stalemate could, in a sense, establish a
dangerous precedent for the future.
This precedent would effectively sideline the constitution as the guidepost of
national action, which is what Hezbollah has long sought. However, in the
chaotic, shifting world of Lebanese politics, is Berri’s proposal worth
considering, if only as a potentially practical way out of the mess in which we
are today?
Conceivably yes, if the “new Doha” session is well defined, and its agenda
specified beforehand. Certainly, going through such a process would better
illustrate the true intentions on the speaker’s and Hezbollah’s side. The March
14 parties (or what remains of March 14) can test the waters without necessarily
risking much at first. Knowing what Hezbollah seeks could be an essential step
in ending the presidential vacuum.
But is it realistic to expect a solution? The key word here is “Doha.” Like “Taif,”
it shows how the major conferences on Lebanon in recent decades have always
occurred elsewhere, under some form of regional sponsorship, reflecting a
regional consensus. Today that seems impossible, particularly with Iran and
Saudi Arabia so hostile to one another. Not only is there no agreement over
Lebanon, the country is not on the radar.
In other words the most powerful actor in a new Doha would be Hezbollah. It
could be that the party is looking for a political solution in Lebanon because
it is facing an open-ended quagmire in Syria and rising discontent from its own
ranks–which the results of municipal elections in Baalbek-Hermel two weeks ago
illustrated. Hezbollah is not losing ground, but there are disturbing indicators
that it can no longer ignore.
That is why it is worth looking at Berri’s suggestion more closely, even if,
ultimately, it is rejected. For the first time in two years there is a mechanism
on the table to emerge from the standoff. Definitely it conceals very different
intentions. But to find out what these are, respond to Berri with a conditional
yes.
***Michael Young is a writer and editor in Beirut. He tweets @BeirutCalling.
Govt. Unanimously Rejects Refugee
'Naturalization', to Seek 'Clarifications' on Ban's Remarks
Naharnet/May 19/16 /The council of ministers announced Thursday that it
unanimously rejects any attempt to naturalize Syrian refugees in Lebanon, after
remarks attributed to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon stirred a storm of criticism in the
country. “The cabinet reaffirmed the Lebanese consensus on rejecting
naturalization and any policies that encourage the refugees to stay where they
are, seeing as the only solution to the refugee crisis is the Syrians' speedy
return to their country, which contradicts with the principles of voluntary
return, integration and naturalization,” said the cabinet in a statement issued
after its weekly session at the Grand Serail. The cabinet also agreed to
“conduct the necessary contacts” and “demand clarifications regarding Ban Ki-moon's
remarks on the naturalization of refugees.” Media reports meanwhile quoted the
U.N. chief's official spokesperson as saying that the naturalization of Syrian
refugees in Lebanon is not on the table and that efforts to resettle some of
them outside Lebanon are still underway. According to An Nahar newspaper, Ban Ki-moon
had said in a report he submitted to the Vienna conference on Syria that
refugees have the right to obtain the nationalities of the countries they live
in. Ban Ki-moon's reported remarks had prompted an urgent meeting for the
Lebanese government's Syrian refugee cell which comprises Prime Minister Tammam
Salam, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq,
Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas and Labor Minister Sejaan Qazzi. In a
statement before the cabinet session, Qazzi said: "Ever since 1948, no
international official has dared to raise the issue of naturalizing the
Palestinians, so how could Ban Ki-moon mention the naturalization of Syrians
seven times in a 26-page report?" Five years into the Syria conflict, Lebanon
hosts more than one million refugees from the war-torn country, according to the
United Nations. More than a third live in the Bekaa valley near the Syrian
border.
Joint Parliamentary
Committees to Discuss Hybrid Electoral Law next Week
Naharnet/May 19/16/The joint parliamentary committees convened on Thursday
without reaching an agreement on a new parliamentary electoral law. The
gatherers instead agreed to hold a meeting next Thursday during which they will
tackle the hybrid electoral draft-law. This decision was taken after the
rejection by various gatherers of both the 1960s electoral law and the
proportional law. Deputy Speaker Farid Makari told reporters that the hybrid law
will be the center of future discussions because of the lingering differences
over the 1960s and proportional representation draft-laws. Lebanese Forces MP
Georges Adwan meanwhile noted that “a return to the 1960s law means the
prolongation of the current political crisis.” “It will mean the return of the
so-called national unity government that in reality has nothing to do with
unity,” he continued from parliament. “The 1960 law does not allow room for
holding officials accountable and therefore corruption will persist.” “I
therefore urge the Lebanese people to exert pressure to adopt a fair electoral
law. An electoral law is key to paving the way to achieving reform,” he
stressed. Mustaqbal MP Ahmed Fatfat expressed his bloc's rejection of the
proportional representation draft-law, instead voicing support for the hybrid
law. He noted however that “great progress” has been achieved at the joint
parliamentary committees meeting. Change and Reform bloc MP Alain Aoun differed
in his assessment, saying that the committee meetings have entered a “period of
stalling” until an agreement can be made over the proposal made by Speaker Nabih
Berri on Wednesday aimed at ending the political deadlock. “Those seeking to
facilitate the adoption of a new electoral law should not complicate
discussions.” “Should we fail to agree on a new law, then we will head to the
polls based on the 1960s law because it is a better option than the extension of
parliament's term.” The speaker proposed before the national dialogue session
that the term of parliament be shortened and that an agreement be reached over a
new electoral law be reached. The 1960s law will be adopted should the parties
fail to agree on a new one. He also suggested that the parliamentary polls will
be followed by the election of a new president and later the formation of a
national unity government. Disagreements between the rival political powers over
an electoral law forced parliament to twice extend its own term, once in 2013
and another time in 2014. Its term ends in June 2017.
Report: Berri Says
Politicians Face One of Two, New Electoral Law or the 1960
Naharnet/May 19/16/Speaker Nabih Berri said on Thursday that the “ball is now in
the court of the politicians” and they can either agree on a new electoral law
or settle for the 2008 one, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday. Visitors
to Berri quoted him as saying that agreeing on a new electoral law has become
inevitable and he said: “It is crucial that the political powers heed Lebanon's
interest in agreeing on an electoral law that satisfies and represents all
parties. They have no excuse to keep the country disabled.”“The ball is now in
the court of the politicians, who are making a big mistake by keeping the
situation as it is right now,” added Berri.The speaker pointed out that he
adheres to holding the parliamentary elections based on the proportionality
electoral law. Pointing to the short time left before the parliament's term
ends, Berri told al-Akhbar daily: “The parliament still has around four or five
months before it agrees on a new law.”Should the political powers fail to agree
on one, then the 1960 law would be used. This law was adopted in the 2009
elections and is based on a winner-takes-all system. Lebanon's parliament has
extended its term twice, once in 2013 and another in 2014, due to officials'
failure to agree on a new electoral law. Its term ends in June 2017.
Syrian Arrested for
'Supplying Arms, Surveillance Devices to Terror Groups'
Naharnet/May 19/16/A Syrian man has been arrested on charges of providing
terrorist groups with arms, ammunition and surveillance devices, the General
Security announced on Thursday. “As part of its monitoring of the activities of
terrorist groups and their sleeper cells, the General Directorate of General
Security has arrested the Syrian A. M. for his communication with terrorist
groups, following an authorization from the relevant prosecution authorities,”
the security agency said in a statement. “During interrogation, he confessed to
trading in arms and ammunition on behalf of terrorist groups and that he has
obtained and stored surveillance devices with the aim of delivering them to a
terrorist group,” the statement added. “The aforementioned electronic devices
were seized during a raid on the suspect's residence,” General Security said.
The man was referred to the relevant judicial authorities following
interrogation and efforts are underway to arrest the rest of those involved, the
agency added.
Report: Saniora Says Mustaqbal Stance on Berri's Initiative not Final
Naharnet/May 19/16/Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc leader MP Fouad Saniora
stressed on Thursday that the bloc has not taken a specific stance with regard
to Speaker Nabih Berri's suggestion on the parliamentary elections and that the
issue requires further discussions, al-Mustaqbal daily reported.
“The bloc has not taken a positive or a negative position regarding Berri's
initiative,” Saniora told the daily. He made it clear in his comments that
during the national dialogue session held at Ain el-Tineh on Wednesday, he only
“highlighted the dangers entailed should the parliamentary elections be held
before the presidential ones.” Berri proposed before the national dialogue
participants a package deal aimed at ending the political deadlock in
Lebanon.The deal calls for shortening the term of the current parliament and
staging the parliamentary polls and later the presidential ones. The package
deal also calls for electing a new parliament speaker and bureau and forming a
national unity government. Media reports said that the Mustaqbal bloc has
repeatedly rejected the idea of holding the parliamentary polls before the
presidential ones, explaining that once a new parliament is elected cabinet
would automatically resign. Given the absence of a president, a new government
will not be able to be formed and therefore Lebanon will be plunged in further
vacuum, reasoned the bloc. “The initiative in itself requires discussions and
debate within the Movement and the bloc before determining the final position,”
remarked Saniora.
Hariri: Attempts to Change Our Identity and Import Extremism and Terrorism Will Fail
Naharnet/May 19/16/Al-Mustaqbal movement
leader ex-PM Saad Hariri stressed Thursday that any attempt to “change Lebanon's
identity” or import “extremism and terrorism” will fail. “Neither the franchise
of changing our identity, nor the franchise of sectarianism, extremism, violence
and terrorism, will succeed in Lebanon,” said Hariri at the annual dinner of the
Beirut International Franchise Forum and Exhibition (BIFEX 2016), which was
organized by the Lebanese Franchise Association. “Some may wonder whether the
time is suitable for investment in Lebanon in light of the political and
economic context in the country. The answer is simply Yes,” Hariri added.
“Investment in Lebanon should be seen as long-term investment and put within the
framework of the promising opportunities that will definitely arise once a
president is elected and the work of the constitutional institutions returns to
normal,” he noted. Stressing the importance of “electing a president and putting
an end to the vacancy,” Hariri pledged that he will always adhere to
“coexistence, national unity, Christian-Muslim parity and free economy.” “I will
always adhere to moderation, openness, building the modern civil state, and
individual, religious, political and intellectual freedoms, so that Lebanon
remains a message and an exemplar to all human, political and economic successes
in the region and the world,” Hariri vowed.
Lebanese Man Held in Iran Had
Past U.S. Contracts
Associated Press/Naharnet/May 19/16
A nonprofit organization headed by a Lebanese citizen held prisoner in Iran
received grants totaling $730,000 from the U.S. government for projects in the
Middle East, the Associated Press has learned. Nizar Zakka, 49, a technology
expert and advocate for Internet freedom, was arrested in Tehran in September
after being invited by the Iranian government to attend a conference there.
Although no charges have been announced, Iranian media has accused him of being
an American spy, allegations vigorously rejected by his family and associates.
Zakka, who lives in Washington and holds resident status in the U.S., leads the
Arab ICT Organization, or IJMA3, an industry consortium from 13 countries that
advocates for information technology in the region. It is not clear from records
obtained by the AP if any IJMA3 work involved Iran, but it is active elsewhere
in the region. The organization has trained women about social media and worked
on developing small business in Lebanon. According to Zakka's Lebanese lawyer,
the U.S. government is among many donors to the organization.
The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development
annually award tens of millions of dollars to various groups to promote
democratic principles in the Middle East and aid civic organizations. Zakka's
family and his supporters are pressing the U.S. government to become more active
in trying to obtain his release, arguing that his arrest was due to his ties to
America. Supporters have written Secretary of State John Kerry stating Zakka
traveled to Iran "with the knowledge and approval of the U.S. State Department,
and his trip was funded by grants" from it.
Those assertions could not be verified by the AP and his friends say they can't
obtain copies of the contract from the State Department due to federal
regulations.
"Nizar is a man without a country when it comes to consular assistance," the
April 18 letter to Kerry reads. "We believe that the State Department has a
moral obligation to help Nizar in his time of need." Relations between Iran and
the U.S. are fraught even after the recent nuclear deal and a prisoner swap in
January that freed Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian and three other
Iranian-Americans. At least two Iranian-Americans are imprisoned in the Islamic
Republic, Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi and his 80-year-old father
Baquer Namazi. Also unaccounted for is former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who
vanished in Iran in 2007 while on an unauthorized CIA mission. The State
Department warns Americans planning to travel to Iran that the country has a
record of "unjustly" holding U.S. citizens on espionage or other charges.
In April, State Department spokesman John Kirby said U.S. officials are
concerned about Zakka. But officials also argue that because he is Lebanese,
Lebanon must take the lead in handling his case.
"U.S. lawful permanent residents are not U.S. passport holders and must travel
on the passport of their nationality," Kirby said. "The Immigration and
Nationality Act prevents us from providing consular assistance to non-U.S.
citizens."On Wednesday, U.S. officials clarified they could offer consular
assistance, but could not talk about what they might be providing. Zakka
disappeared Sept. 18 during his fifth trip to the country. He had been invited
to attend a conference at which President Hassan Rouhani spoke of providing more
economic opportunities for women and sustainable development.
Last seen taking a taxi to the airport to fly to Beirut, Zakka never boarded the
flight, said Lebanese lawyer Antoine Abou Dib. On Nov. 3, Iranian state
television aired a report saying he was in custody and calling him a spy with
"deep links" with U.S. intelligence services. It was the first official word on
his whereabouts.State TV also showed what it described as a damning photo of
Zakka and three other men in army-style uniforms, two with flags and two with
rifles on their shoulders. But that turned out to be from a homecoming event at
Zakka's prep school, the Riverside Military Academy in Georgia, according to the
school's president.
It's unclear what prompted Iranian authorities to detain Zakka. Iran's mission
to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment about Zakka while
calls to officials in Iran's judiciary were not returned. Zakka's organization
has described its work in an IRS filing as promoting "Internet freedom
programming" in the Middle East. Nearly 40 percent of Iran's 80 million people
can access the Internet, though the U.S.-based watchdog Freedom House describes
web access as "not free" due to censorship and filtering. U.S. records examined
by the AP show that since 2009, Zakka's IJMA3 organization has received at least
$730,000 in contracts and grants from both the State Department and USAID, the
lead American government agency fighting poverty and promoting democracy across
the world. The largest, for just over $600,000, was from USAID for as part of a
project known as "Women in Charge." It included work on the "development of a
secure web portal and administration of Social Media Change trainings." Another
worth some $130,000 involved building the "capacity of 16 civil society groups
in information security and advocacy fundamentals."
IJMA3 also worked on another $4.5-million USAID project in Lebanon to aid small
businesses that began in 2008, though the agency said it discontinued its
partnership with the group in part over "chronic delays ... and weak results."
It wasn't immediately clear if IJMA3 was paid for that work.
In April, Lebanon's Foreign Ministry said it helped Zakka's wife arrange travel
to Iran to visit her husband, conducted one authorized visit by its diplomats
with Zakka and sent Iran a series of diplomatic notes on his detention. Neither
American nor Lebanese officials publicly have acknowledged Zakka's work with the
U.S. government. David Ramadan, a former Virginia state legislator who
co-founded a group called Friends of Nizar Zakka, said Zakka's work means the
American government should be doing more to free him. He said, without
elaborating, that Zakka was "there on the Department of State's dime and
blessing." "It's our opinion that the United States has both the moral and legal
obligation to get him out of Iran, even though he is not a U.S. citizen,"
Ramadan said. While Lebanese by birth, "Nizar is an American in heart, an
American in soul," he said.
For Syrians in Lebanon, No
Resting Place in Life or Death
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 19/16/As if losing three infants in exile in
Lebanon were not heartbreaking enough, Syrian refugee Ahmad al-Mustafa then had
to relive the ordeal as he pleaded to find them a grave. "I had three babies
over three years. Each time, they died," the 29-year-old construction worker
from Aleppo city says, standing outside his makeshift home in Lebanon's Bekaa
region. "The problem was where to bury them," he adds, his tone matter-of-fact,
as if numbed to the suffering. Five years into the Syria conflict, Lebanon hosts
more than one million refugees from the war-torn country, according to the
United Nations. More than a third live in the Bekaa valley near the Syrian
border. As towns there strive to accommodate tens of thousands of Syrian
arrivals, some local councils are struggling to provide them with burial
services because town cemeteries are almost full. After fleeing Syria five years
ago, Mustafa and his wife lost three babies -- aged three months, five days and
just two hours old. When their first infant died, he approached someone he knew
in a nearby town, who he says was kind and gave him a tiny corner of their
family's burial plot.
When their second baby died, "we were forced to open up the old grave and we
buried them together," Mustafa says. With the help of a religious leader, he
buried his third child in yet another district. "We just ask the state and
religious authorities to find us a plot of land not suitable for farming, so
that if someone dies we can bury them," Mustafa pleads. - 'Town can't take
it'-Mustafa, his wife and two surviving children live in a refugee settlement
outside the town of Bar Elias, whose population has doubled with refugee
arrivals since 2011, officials say. Even before the war broke out in Syria --
killing more than 270,000 people and displacing millions -- the town's old
cemetery was full, they say. "There's no more space in the old graveyard -- for
Syrians or Lebanese", says Saad Mayta, the town's outgoing mayor.
The graveyard stands on a small hill in town, its tombs packed so tight that
visitors among its tall poppies and wild grass struggle to avoid stepping on a
grave. A few burial chambers teeter dangerously off its highest point, where the
hill drops suddenly from erosion. Mayta says around 70,000 Syrian arrivals have
severely strained the town's waste, sewage, water, and electricity networks --
as well as its burial services. Death rates among Syrian refugees are much
higher than among the local population, authorities and international
organisations say, because they are more vulnerable. At least two thirds of
Lebanon's Syrian refugees live in extreme poverty, according to the United
Nations. There are no official statistics, but Mayta says someone in the town's
Syrian community dies every one or two weeks. "The solution is that Syrians go
home to their country," says the soft-spoken official."The town can't take it.
We can hardly handle all the Lebanese."Even for Syrians who can find a plot of
land to bury their loved ones, the cost per grave can sometimes be as high as
$250. - 'Buried in secret' -Outside town in a refugee settlement pitched between
a potato field and a courgette plot, a young Syrian mother who refused to give
her name says her stillborn boy was buried in secret. A cemetery guard turned
her husband away in a nearby town, telling him "Syrians can't bury their
children here."But he "took him back in the evening and buried him in secret".In
the blazing sun outside the tent she shares with her two daughters, children
with light blue backpacks wait for the school bus. Bar Elias opened a new
cemetery this month in the run-up to municipal elections.Local sheikh Wissam
Mohammed Anouz says it will contain 10 to 20 burial chambers "for our brothers,
the Syrian displaced."But Anouz concedes the solution is temporary. Anouz says
he and colleagues from the Bekaa tried to find land for a cemetery specifically
for Syrians, but no one would sell. "If a metre square was $10, it became $50 as
soon as they learned it would become a burial ground," he said. Standing amid
temporary homes wrapped in advertising posters for insulation, Mustafa says he
wishes he had never come to Lebanon. In Syria, "we have land, houses and
livelihoods but we were forced to leave with nothing," the father says, his
voice high with emotion."Is it too much to ask for a tiny grave?"
Lebanon's Cabinet session kicks off with 120 items on work schedule
Thu 19 May 2016ظNNA - NNA field reporter at the Grand Serail on Thursday said
that a cabinet session started its meeting under the chairmanship of PM Tammam
Salam, with 120 items on the work schedule of the meeting.
Shortly before the start of the session, Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk
said, "We will not accept starting works in Janneh dam ahead a decision issued
by the cabinet in this regard."
Information Minister Ramzi Jreij said, "The file relevant to appointments in
Tele Liban might either be discussed or postponed. There are many items outside
the work schedule that will be discussed."
Economy and Trade Minister Alain Hakim said, "We will discuss the mechanism
relevant to dumping trash in landfills in Burj Hammoud, Jdeidet and Costa Brava,
and whether we are going to sort the trash or not."
Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan said, "We will follow up on the subject
relevant to US sanctions against Hezbollah."Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi
criticized Ban's mentioning in 26 pages nationalizing displaced
Syrians.Education and Higher Learning Minister Elias Bou Saab said that there
was Lebanese consensus over rejecting Ban's latest declarations.
Makari chairs parliamentary
joint committee session
Thu 19 May 2016/NNA - Deputy House Speaker, Farid Makari, said on Thursday,
after chairing the meeting of the parliamentary joint committee, that most of
the deputies were in favor of a majoritarian rule. MP George Adwan affirmed
after the meeting that the 1960 law did not guarantee a proper representation
for all Lebanese categories. For his part, MP Ahmad Fatfat said that his party
would not accept a proportional law but a hybrid one. MP Ali Fayyad pointed out
that the adoption of a proportional law could lessen political differences. The
session of the parliamentary joint committee was adjourned to May 26.
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal
Mar Beshara Boutros Rahi, arrived in South Africa
Thu 19 May 2016/ NNA - Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Beshara Boutros Rahi,
arrived in South Africa on Thursday on a 5-day pastoral visit.He was welcomed by
a number of pastors at Johannesburg airport before chairing a mass service in
said city. Hosted during a reception ceremony organized by the Lebanese Embassy
in Pretoria, Rahi thanked South Africa for its hospitality towards the Lebanese
Diaspora. He did not fail to remind of the obligation to elect a new president,
hoping for a near end for the Middle East war and a safe return of refugees to
their homeland.
Ahdab says ready to cooperate
with Rifi in Tripoli
Thu 19 May 2016/NNA - Mosbah Ahdab, heading a municipal list in Tripoli,
indicated in a statement on Thursday that he was ready to cooperate with
resigned minister Ashraf Rifi during the electoral race in the capital of the
North.
"If Rifi is ready to adopt our program, then we shall put our hand in his," he
stressed.
From The Archive/Murdered by
the Syrians’
Reporting from Baabda General Hospital in the aftermath of a Lebanese massacre
Robert Fisk /The Independent/Lebanon, 17 October 1990
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/murdered-by-the-syrians-a7033726.html
“We had to cut the
ropes from their hands after the bodies were brought here,” the nurse said with
a voice of suppressed rage. “Most of the soldiers were found by the Red Cross in
the forest. There are 80 corpses here. This did not happen during the fighting.”
She led the way down the steps of Baabda General Hospital to a fetid,
fly-infested basement and there, on the floor and stacked inside glass
refrigerators, were dozens of young men, most shot in the face or chest, many
dressed only in underpants.
Several of the bodies – some of them in a state of advanced decomposition
because there has been no electricity to work the hospital’s freezer system –
were still in the uniform of the Lebanese army. Most had wounds under their
chins or on their faces. Blood had long congealed on the heads of the almost
naked men.
“See what the Syrians did.” The nurse was screaming her words now. “They took
some of these men from their homes. They had surrendered. They made them
undress. Then they murdered them.” Among the dead, several had grossly deformed
heads where bullets had hit their faces, possibly at very close range. I counted
32 bodies but others lay in an inner corridor.
Because wars create rumour as well as fact – and because this is Lebanon – the
full story of how these men died may never be known. According to the Christian
Maronite nurse, all the bodies had been found in the area of three villages that
lay before the advance of the Syrian army into General Michel Aoun’s enclave
last Saturday – Deir Wahash, Saaba and Kfarshima.
According to the hospital, the killings took place on Sunday morning. They
insisted that the Syrians were to blame although pro-Syrian Christian militiamen
were also present in the villages at the time. Nor will any attempt be made to
conduct postmortem examinations. Some of the bodies may have had other wounds –
perhaps caused by the original Syrian bombardment – although the nurse who tore
the plastic wrapping from the cadavers pointed only to bullet wounds.
Certainly, enough proof is emerging in east Beirut that some sinister and
terrible things may have happened over the weekend when the Syrians, supporting
President Elias Hrawi’s government and army, ended General Aoun’s rule in east
Beirut. I was touring the area of Baabda because I had already been told – in
west Beirut – that Lebanese army survivors were recounting stories of a mass
killing. According to this first report, 80 Lebanese Christian soldiers had been
forced to undress after being captured by Syrians, and 30 had been
machine-gunned to death when Lebanese troops loyal to President Hrawi’s
government arrived and saved the lives of the remaining 50 men. This would
perhaps account for the bodies clad only in pants in the Baabda mortuary. None
of the corpses carried personal identification.
Christians in east Beirut also claim that civilians were murdered in the village
of Deir Wahash – one man told me that a family of10 had been killed. The
hospital nurse said that members of three families, including several children,
had been shot dead in the local church. There was no way yesterday of
discovering if this was true.
Christian fears are expressed with circumspection. “I don’t know why Aoun ran
away,” the female owner of a half-gutted supermarket said. “But now my husband
and I just want to leave our country, to get a visa to anywhere. Who will
protect us?”
In theory, this will be the job of President Hrawi’s Lebanese army whose Syrian
tanks, newly decorated with tiny Lebanese flags, stand guard at the east-west
Beirut crossing point at Galerie Semaan. When I approached one crew, they
admitted the vehicles belonged to the Syrian army.
Outside the Baabda mortuary yesterday, a young soldier sat with his head in his
hands, weeping. He feared his soldier brother might be in the charnel-house
below. “I hate you,” the nurse whispered to me as I left. “I hate you all –
Americans, French, British ... I hate you all.”
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 19-20/16
Pope Francis to Receive Top Sunni Imam at Vatican
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May
19/16/Pope Francis will meet the spiritual leader of the world's Sunni Muslims
in an unprecedented encounter at the Vatican on Monday, the pontiff's spokesman
said Thursday. Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Cairo's Al-Azhar, the
most prestigious institution in Sunni Islam, will have an audience with the
leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics at St Peter's, Father Federico
Lombardi told AFP. "This audience is being prepared and has been scheduled for
Monday," he said. "It will be a first."The visit marks the restoration of
cordial relations between the two faiths. Ties were soured under Pope Benedict
XVI after Francis's now-retired predecessor made a September 2006 speech in
which he was perceived to have described Islam as a violent religion. Dialogue
resumed in 2009 but was suspended again by Al-Azhar in 2011 when Benedict called
for the protection of Christian minorities after a bomb attack on a church in
Alexandria, an intervention that was perceived as meddling in Egypt's internal
affairs.Relations have steadily improved since Francis became pope in 2013 with
inter-faith dialogue near the top of his agenda, something he underlined with a
personal message to the Muslim world to mark the end of the first month of
Ramadan of his pontificate.
France Calls Middle East Peace
Conference for June 3
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May
19/16/French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Thursday he had called for
a long-delayed Middle East peace conference to be held in Paris on June 3. "I
have suggested that the conference initially planned for May 30 be held on June
3," Ayrault said after talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on the
sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels. "We reviewed again
the position concerning France's initiative to hold a ministerial-level meeting
in Paris to relaunch the Middle East peace process," Ayrault told reporters.
This would also provide the opportunity "for Israel and the Palestinians to
resume on the basis of a two-state solution," he said. "We are in a crisis
situation and every day the situation on the ground gets worse," he added. Kerry
confirmed he will attend the Paris talks. Supporters of the peace process have
been dismayed in recent months by Israel's ongoing construction of settlements
on Palestinian land and by Palestinian knife and gun attacks on Israelis.
Ayrault said in a separate statement that the June 3 conference would help
identify "ways to help Israel and the Palestinians return to the path to peace."
Statement byCanada's FM, Minister Dion on crash of EgyptAir flight MS804
May 19, 2016 – Ottawa,
Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the
following statement:
“On behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians, our thoughts are with
the families and loved ones of the victims on board EgyptAir flight MS804,
travelling from Paris to Cairo.
“Based on the information currently available, we confirm that two Canadian
citizens are among the passengers on this flight. We are providing consular
assistance to the families and Canadian officials are working closely with the
authorities to confirm whether there were any additional Canadian citizens on
board. Consular officials were immediately deployed to the airport and reached
out to government agencies to ascertain the facts and provide the most effective
support to families. Global Affairs Canada is also working with French and
Egyptian counterparts as well as other impacted countries to assess the
situation and consider any requests for support.
“Friends and relatives in Canada seeking information about Canadian citizens
believed to be on board should contact Global Affairs Canada’s Emergency Watch
and Response Centre by calling 613-996-8885 or 1-800-387-3124 (toll-free from
the U.S. and Canada only) or by sending an email to sos@international.gc.ca.
Canadian citizens in Egypt requiring consular assistance should contact the
Canadian Embassy in Cairo at +20 2 2461 2200 or call (collect) the Global
Affairs Canada’s Emergency Watch and Response Centre at +1 613 996-8885.”
EgyptAir Flight Carrying 66 Crashes in Mediterranean, Greece Denies Debris Found
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May
19/16/The head of the Greek air safety authority on Thursday told AFP that
wreckage found in the Mediterranean close to where an EgyptAir passenger jet is
thought to have crashed "does not come from a plane.""Up to now the analysis of
the debris indicates that it does not come from a plane, my Egyptian counterpart
also confirmed to me that it was not yet proven that the debris came from the
EgyptAir flight when we were last in contact around 1745 GMT," Athanasios Binis
told AFP. His words contradicted an earlier claim by EgyptAir on Twitter, which
said Egyptian officials had confirmed that debris found near the Greek island of
Karpathos came from the ill-fated flight, along with floating "life jackets and
plastic material." "What was found was a piece of wood, and some materials that
do not come from a plane," said Binis of the Greek Air Accident Investigation
and Aviation Safety Board. "Based on the available geographical information, we
are talking about the same debris," he added, although he stressed that new
information could come in at any time. The EgyptAir plane carrying 66 people
disappeared from radar screens early Thursday, taking two sharp turns before
plunging 22,000 feet into the Mediterranean Sea, Greek officials said. Egypt's
aviation minister said that while it was too soon to say why the Airbus A320
flying from Paris to Cairo had vanished, "a terrorist" attack would be a more
likely scenario than a technical failure.
Debris found near search area for
missing EgyptAir plane
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Thursday, 19 May 2016 /A Greek frigate
searching for a missing Egyptair aircraft discovered two large plastic floating
objects in a sea area 230 miles south of the island of Crete on Thursday, Greek
defence sources said. The two objects appeared to be pieces of plastic in white
and red. They were spotted close to an area where a transponder signal was
emitted earlier, the sources said.“There have been finds southeast of Crete,
inside the Cairo flight information area,” general staff spokesman Vassilis
Beletsiotis said, adding that an Egyptian C-130 plane had spotted the floating
objects, and ships would be sent to investigate. The EgyptAir flight from Paris
to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board crashed in the Mediterranean Sea
early Thursday morning. Flight MS804 says Airbus A320 Flight 804 carrying 56
passengers and 10 crew disappeared from radar early Thursday morning. The
airline said Flight 804 from Paris to Cairo vanished 2:45 a.m. Egypt time.
The plane was an Airbus A320 and that its last known position was above the
Mediterranean Sea, reportedly flying at a height of 37,000 ft. It was carrying
56 passengers, according to Egypt's civil aviation, including one child and two
babies. The finding came after Egypt’s minister of civil aviation said Cairo
will not rule out the possibility of a terrorist attack behind the missing
EgyptAir flight.
“I don’t want to go into speculations or assumptions,” Sherif Fathy told
reporters during a press conference, insisting it was too early to rule out
either terrorism or a technical failure as the reason behind the plane’s
disappearance.
Both France and Greece said flight MS804 – an Airbus A320 carrying 56 passengers
and 10 crew – had crashed. Conditions were clear and calm when the plane crossed
over the Mediterranean Sea. Al Arabiya News Channel's Randa Abu Azm said sources
confirmed that the plane went missing 10 miles into Egyptian airspace. “Egyptian
air forces have now been dispatched into the area where the plane is believed to
have gone missing. They are beginning search and rescue operations,” Abu Azm
said. Airline authorities said 30 Egyptians, 15 French citizens, two Iraqis, one
Brit, one Belgian, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Algerian, one
Canadian, one Saudi and one Kuwaiti are on board.
“Egypt Ministry of Civil Aviation has been on high alert and the minister,
Sharif Fathy, has cut his visit to the Saudi city of Jeddah short and is on his
way back to Cairo to follow up on the situation,” Al Arabiya News Channel’s
Ahmed Othman reported near the ministry. The Egyptian army denied it detected
any "distress messages" from an EgyptAir flight that vanished over the
Mediterranean on Thursday, in a statement posted on its spokesman's Facebook
page.
EgyptAir had earlier said it was informed by the military that it detected a
"distress message" from the Airbus A320 which was en route from Paris to Cairo
when it disappeared from radar screens. Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry also
dubbed the news of a distress call as “incorrect.”
The commanding pilot of the plane reportedly had 6,000 flight hours. According
to Egyptian El Watan News website, the pilot flying the plane is Mohamed Ali
Shqeir. Greek air traffic controllers spoke to the pilot over the island of Kea,
in what was thought to be the last broadcast from the aircraft. "The pilot did
not mention any problems," Kostas Litzerakis, head of Greece's civil aviation
department told Reuters news agency.
As of midday on Thursday, EgyptAir said the cause of flight MS804's
disappearance is still unknown. “The plane might have been lost communications
might either be for two reasons; either because of technical difficulties or
because a terrorist high jacking took place,” retired pilot Zuhair Gharaiba told
Al Arabiya from Amman. “Planes disappearing can happen because of multiple
causes, be it human error, hijacking, etc. It can’t be due to weather conditions
as reports said the plane was flying in clear skies at the time of its
disappearance.”
‘Sharing the anguish’
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault "expressed condolences over the plane
incident involving the EgyptAir airplane that went down, and Shoukry in turn
expressed condolences for the French casualties who were on board the plane,"
the Egyptian foreign ministry said. The French government held an emergency
meeting at 06:30 GMT to discuss the plane’s disappearance, the French President
Francois Hollande's office said. He said no hypothesis has been ruled out
concerning disappeared plane. “The President talked to Egyptian President Sisi
about the disappearance of the EgyptAir flight between Paris and Cairo. They
agreed to cooperate closely to establish the circumstances of the disappearance
as soon as possible,” a statement from the Elysee Palace said.
“The President shares the anguish of the families affected by this tragedy.”The
Boeing 737 normally travels the 1,993-mile distance from Paris to Cairo in four
hours and 20 minutes and arrives in Cairo at 3:05 a.m. Thursday’s MS804 flight
left Paris about 15 minutes late, according to departure records.
In March, a domestic EgyptAir flight was hijacked and forced to land in Cyprus.
On October 31 last year, Russia-bound Metrojet Flight 9268, operated by Russian
airline Kogalymavia, crashed in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt , killing all 224
people on board. Unidentified relatives and friends of passengers who were
flying in an EgyptAir plane wait outside the Egyptair in-flight service building
in Cairo. (Reuters)EgyptAir has provided free contact numbers for loved ones:
080077770000 from any landline in Egypt and + 202 25989320 outside Egypt or any
mobile in Egypt.
Egypt won’t rule out
‘possibility of terrorist attack’
Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnglishThursday, 19 May 2016 /Egypt’s minister of civil
aviation said Cairo will not rule out the possibility of a terrorist attack
behind the EgyptAir flight that vanished over the Mediterranean en route from
Paris to Cairo, carrying 66 passengers and crew. “I don’t want to go into
speculations or assumptions,” Sherif Fathy told reporters during a press
conference, insisting it was too early to rule out either terrorism or a
technical failure as the reason behind the plane’s disappearance. Debris was
found near the search area for the missing plane by the Greek frigate soon
shortly after France and Greece said flight MS804 – an Airbus A320 carrying 56
passengers and 10 crew – had crashed.The flight disappeared 2:45 a.m. Egypt
time, the airline said.
Before parts of the aircraft were found floating in the Mediterranean sea, the
aviation minister said “we are not denying that the plane has crashed,” but
urged that “we should not be one of those who hold on small theories and make
early assumptions.”He said there were was similar case where the flight was
called “missing” for an entirely one year. On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines
Flight 370 disappeared with no solid clues that explain the incident. He
lamented: “Hours have passed since the incident, in some other [international
cases] it took years to figure out what happened. I don’t understand why when it
comes to us, we are expected to resolve the issue as soon as possible.” Fathy
said the search is taking place south of Greece’s Crete island, situated around
100 km away from Crete, is because it was “the last time coordinates were
taken,” citing no debris in sight. Meanwhile, Egypt’s general prosecutor on
Thursday ordered a state security investigation into the disappearance of the
EgyptAir aircraft, judicial sources said. Similarly, France has opened an
investigation into the disappearance of the plane, adding that no theories are
dismissed, the prosecutor’s office said.(With Reuters)
Syria troops retake key town outside
capital
AFP, BeirutThursday, 19 May 2016 /Syrian troops backed by fighters from
Hezbollah retook a key town outside Damascus from rebels on Thursday, the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said. Pro-regime fighters used clashes between
rival rebel factions Jaish al-Islam and Faylaq al-Rahman as an opportunity to
retake Deir al-Assafir, it said. As rebels summoned their fighters from Deir al-Assafir
to the frontline, regime forces launched “a violent attack and heavy air
campaign resulting in them controlling the town,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel
Rahman said. Islamist rebels had controlled Deir al-Assafir, located in the
opposition bastion of Eastern Ghouta, since 2012. In April fighting erupted
opposing Jaish al-Islam against Faylaq al-Rahman and another rebel group, Jaish
al-Fustat - both allied to Al-Nusra Front, Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate.The regime
had been trying to retake Deir al-Assafir since February, Abdel Rahman said,
despite the Eastern Ghouta region being included in a fragile nationwide
ceasefire between the army and non-jihadist rebels. The latest advance with
Hezbollah’s support comes just days after the Iran-backed movement said its top
military commander was killed in Syria in an attack it blamed on extremists. The
movement has deployed thousands of fighters in Syria where Mustafa Badreddine
had led its intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad. More than
270,000 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in Syria in March
2011.
US says no drop in Russian military strength in Syria
AFP, WashingtonThursday, 19 May 2016 /Russia’s military strength in Syria has
barely changed since President Vladimir Putin announced a partial withdrawal
from the war-torn country in March, the Pentagon said Wednesday. “Their
capabilities are largely the same, or almost identical, frankly,” Baghdad-based
military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said. “They continue to have air power
there, they continue to have ground forces, they continue to have artillery.
They still have Spetsnaz (special forces) providing advice and assistance to the
Syrian regime.” Putin surprised the West in March when he ordered the “main
part” of his forces to pull out of Syria, where Moscow has been conducting a
bombing campaign to back up ally President Bashar al-Assad. Warren said Russian
forces appeared to have established some sort of forward operating base near
Palmyra, an ancient city whose Roman ruins were largely destroyed by ISIS
jihadists during the 10 months they held the town. “Too early to tell whether or
not they intend it to be a long term or short term venture,” Warren said.
“They’ve established an operating base outside of Palmyra... And they’re still
building it up.”Warren said Russian forces had started to target ISIS fighters
more actively, whereas their initial focus when they entered the fray last fall
was on rebels opposed to Assad.
Iraq says it retakes western town of
Rutba from ISIS
Reuters, Baghdad Thursday, 19 May 2016 /Iraq’s military said on Thursday it had
retaken the remote western town of Rutba from ISIS in an operation launched this
week to cut off the militants’ supply route to neighboring Syria.The military’s
joint operations command said in a statement the district, 360 km (225 miles)
west of Baghdad, had been “completely liberated” without clarifying what that
meant. It said Iraqi forces had raised flags above some buildings, without
specifying that they controlled the main government complex. The military has
pushed the jihadists out of much of the northern and western territories they
seized in 2014, but the group still controls large areas and key cities
including Mosul, which Iraqi authorities have pledged to retake this year as
part of a US-backed strategy to defeat the group. In addition to its linkage to
Syria, Rutba was considered an important “support zone” which ISIS was using to
stage operations into battle areas further north and east. Counter-terrorism
forces, backed by US-led coalition air strikes, had entered the town from the
south on Tuesday and taken control of al-Intisar district. Major General Hadi
Razij, head of Anbar police, said elite commandos had attacked from the south
while police, tribal fighters and the Iraqi army pushed from the north. “We
managed to liberate Rutba district, eliminating many suicide bombers and car
bombs,” he told state television. Razij said troops had also reached Camp Korean
Village, a former US military base about 40 km further west towards the border,
and continued to clear the international highway. Coalition spokesman US Army
Col. Steve Warren has said ISIS was believed to maintain up to “several hundred”
fighters in Rutba at any given time. On Thursday, he described resistance there
as “moderate to light” but said the Iraqis were still clearing enemy forces.
Many of the militants likely fled before the offensive began, Warren added, as
the advancing forces would have been easy to detect.
Militants mobilise in Syria
as peacemaking unravels
Reuters | Beirut/AmmanThursday, 19 May 2016/Militants in Syria including al
Qaeda are mobilising again for all-out war against President Bashar al-Assad,
taking advantage of the collapse of peace talks to eclipse nationalist rival
insurgents that signed on to a faltering truce. Al Qaeda’s Syrian branch, the
Nusra Front, was excluded from a ceasefire put in place in February and from
peace talks that followed. The talks broke up last month, with Assad’s
government and foes blaming each other for military escalation. After lying low
in the early days of the truce, Nusra has re-emerged on the battlefield as the
diplomacy has unravelled, spearheading recent attacks on pro-government Iranian
militias near Aleppo, Nusra commanders and other rebels say. In the latest
expansion of its profile, it and other groups have revived the Jaish al-Fatah,
or the army of conquest, a military alliance of disparate Islamist rebel groups
that won big victories against government forces last year. Nusra’s resurgence
could undermine the Western-backed rebel groups that signed up to the truce and
attended the peace talks, and gives Assad’s government and its Russian and
Iranian backers more reasons to press on with a war during which they have hit
insurgents of all stripes. “Jaish al-Fatah has returned, but this time in
strength, and our goal is to spread to the major fronts in Syria,” said Abu
Shaimaa, a Nusra Front commander, speaking to Reuters from rebel-held Idlib
province, of the revival of the Islamist rebel alliance.“We ask God that with
Jaish al-Fatah’s return, the victories will also return,” added Zaher Abu
Hassan, head of a Jaish al-Fatah media organisation in Idlib. The Islamist
rebels still face the challenge of overcoming their own rivalries. One senior
insurgent source said that while Jaish al-Fatah had made a comeback in one area,
talks were still underway to relaunch the alliance more widely. “In southern
Aleppo, yes there is an operations room, but the goal is (to repeat it) on all
the active fronts,” he said.
Incoming Turkey PM vows ‘total
harmony’ with Erdogan
Staff writer, Al Arabiya EnglishThursday, 19 May 2016 /Turkey’s incoming prime
minister has vowed ‘total harmony’ with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, weeks
after his predecessor stepped down after pressure from the strongman president.
The country’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Thursday named
Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, a close ally of Erdogan, as the sole
candidate to become the country's next prime minister. The post means that he
automatically becomes the premier – a post that Turkey’s constitution decrees is
the most powerful. The new appointment comes less than two weeks after Ahmet
Davutoglu, who had served as prime minister since August 2014, stepped down.
While Davutoglu and Erdogan were long staunch allies, the two fell out earlier
this year after what was reported to be dozens of simmering
disagreements.Erdogan took the traditionally ceremonial role of president in
2014 after 11 years as prime minister. He is currently seeking to amend the
constitution to make give the office of the president executive powers. (With
AFP)
Turkish military says helicopter
likely shot down
Reuters | Istanbul Thursday, 19 May 2016/The Turkish armed forces said on
Thursday that a military helicopter that crashed a week ago, during clashes that
killed eight soldiers and two pilots, may have been brought down by Kurdish
militants with a ground-to-air missile. If confirmed, it would be the first
known usage in recent years of such weaponry by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
militants, who have been waging an insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey’s
southeast for more than three decades. The armed forces initially said the
helicopter had crashed last Friday due to a technical fault during air
operations against PKK fighters in the province of Hakkari near the border with
Iraq. “As the helicopters carried out their mission, the conclusion has been
reached that one helicopter may have been struck and downed with an air defense
weapon that could have been a missile, possibly fired from the ground,” the
military said in a statement. It said a detailed investigation was continuing.
After the collapse of a ceasefire last July, Turkey’s southeast has seen some of
its worst fighting since the height of the Kurdish insurgency in the 1990s.
President Tayyip Erdogan, who had spearheaded the peace process between the
state and the PKK, has ruled out any return to negotiations and has vowed to
crush the militant group. Thousands of people, including hundreds of civilians,
have been killed in the violence since July. Erdogan’s office said in a
statement earlier that U.S. President Barack Obama had discussed with the
Turkish leader in a phone call late on Wednesday strengthening cooperation in
fighting all terrorist organizations including the PKK.
Turkish military says helicopter likely shot down
Reuters | Istanbul Thursday, 19 May 2016/The Turkish armed forces said on
Thursday that a military helicopter that crashed a week ago, during clashes that
killed eight soldiers and two pilots, may have been brought down by Kurdish
militants with a ground-to-air missile. If confirmed, it would be the first
known usage in recent years of such weaponry by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
militants, who have been waging an insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey’s
southeast for more than three decades. The armed forces initially said the
helicopter had crashed last Friday due to a technical fault during air
operations against PKK fighters in the province of Hakkari near the border with
Iraq. “As the helicopters carried out their mission, the conclusion has been
reached that one helicopter may have been struck and downed with an air defense
weapon that could have been a missile, possibly fired from the ground,” the
military said in a statement. It said a detailed investigation was continuing.
After the collapse of a ceasefire last July, Turkey’s southeast has seen some of
its worst fighting since the height of the Kurdish insurgency in the 1990s.
President Tayyip Erdogan, who had spearheaded the peace process between the
state and the PKK, has ruled out any return to negotiations and has vowed to
crush the militant group. Thousands of people, including hundreds of civilians,
have been killed in the violence since July. Erdogan’s office said in a
statement earlier that U.S. President Barack Obama had discussed with the
Turkish leader in a phone call late on Wednesday strengthening cooperation in
fighting all terrorist organizations including the PKK. Turkey summons EU envoy
over comments on refugee deal.
According to Turkish reports,
Haber was bitterly critical of Turkey s conduct in
AFP, AnkaraThursday, 19 May 2016/Turkey has summoned the top European Union
diplomat in Ankara to protest against comments in which he reportedly criticized
the conduct of Turkish officials in implementing a landmark refugee deal,
diplomatic sources said Wednesday. Hansjoerg Haber, a German diplomat who heads
the EU delegation to Ankara, was summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry on
Tuesday, the sources said. He was told that his comments had caused
"indignation" and were condemned by Turkey. According to Turkish reports, Haber
was bitterly critical of Turkey s conduct in the deal to reduce the number of
refugees crossing the Aegean to EU territory at a meeting with some reporters on
May 13. Turkey was to have been given visa-free travel for its citizens to most
of the bloc but this is now in doubt amid accusations on both sides, raising
questions over the entire accord. According to Turkey s state-run Anatolia news
agency, Haber is said to have said: "We have a saying Start like a Turk and end
like a German. But here it is the other way round ". His comments have not been
confirmed by the EU delegation. The deal has also been thrown into doubt by the
departure in the coming days of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu who had
championed the accord.
Turkey summons EU envoy over comments
on refugee deal
AFP, AnkaraThursday, 19 May 2016 /Turkey has summoned the top European Union
diplomat in Ankara to protest against comments in which he reportedly criticized
the conduct of Turkish officials in implementing a landmark refugee deal,
diplomatic sources said Wednesday. Hansjoerg Haber, a German diplomat who heads
the EU delegation to Ankara, was summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry on
Tuesday, the sources said. He was told that his comments had caused
"indignation" and were condemned by Turkey. According to Turkish reports, Haber
was bitterly critical of Turkey s conduct in the deal to reduce the number of
refugees crossing the Aegean to EU territory at a meeting with some reporters on
May 13. Turkey was to have been given visa-free travel for its citizens to most
of the bloc but this is now in doubt amid accusations on both sides, raising
questions over the entire accord. According to Turkey s state-run Anatolia news
agency, Haber is said to have said: "We have a saying Start like a Turk and end
like a German. But here it is the other way round ".His comments have not been confirmed by the EU delegation. The deal has also
been thrown into doubt by the departure in the coming days of Prime Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu who had championed the accord.
U.S. House Foreign Affairs
Committee passes resolution on Camp Liberty
Thursday, 19 May 2016 11:25
NCRI - The United States House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on
Wednesday unanimously approved and referred to the House Floor a bipartisan
resolution calling for "safety and security" of the members of the main Iranian
opposition group People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) living in
Camp Liberty, Iraq. It was the first resolution of its kind. The Resolution, 'H.
Res. 650', introduced by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), calls on the U.S. government to
work with the Government of Iraq (GoI) to make sure personnel responsible for
providing security for Camp Liberty are vetted and are not affiliated with the
Iranian regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Qods Force or its
surrogates. The draft resolution also calls on the U.S. and GoI, in coordination
with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to help the PMOI
(MEK) members sell their property and assets at Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty,
which in turn can facilitate their resettlement. It urges the above noted
stakeholders to expedite the residents’ resettlement "according to the terms of
the December 2011 MOU."
In remarks prior to passage of H. Res. 650, Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA)
said: “This past October, 23 residents of Camp Liberty were killed in a rocket
attack on the camp. And we have been receiving information that the Iranian
regime and their proxies in Iran are preparing for an imminent attack against
the camp’s residents. That is why Mr. Poe’s resolution calls on the
Administration and the Iraqi Government to work to provide camp residents with
the protections they need, and to ensure they are expeditiously resettled
outside of Iraq, in such safe-havens as Albania.”
Following the hearing, Chairman Royce added: "My goal is to get this quickly to
the Floor of House of Representatives."
The Committee's Ranking Member, Eliot Engel (D-NY), noted: "The residents of
Camp Liberty deserve to live in dignity and without fear of violence."
He described the October 29, 2015 rocket attacks on the PMOI (MEK) members in
Camp Liberty by the Iranian regime's affiliated militia as "the height of
cowardice."
Securing the safe resettlement of the PMOI (MEK) members housed at Baghdad’s
Camp Liberty would allow the U.S. to “reclaim some of our honor as a country,”
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) said Wednesday during the markup hearing. “It has
been a black mark on our country on several – on many occasions, when we did not
stick with the people who stuck with us.”
Rep. Rohrabacher said although the Camp Liberty residents have long opposed the
“mullah dictatorship in Tehran,” the U.S. has “let down the people who have put
their lives on the line for us, and we’re just letting them drift.”
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) pointed out that the U.S. has leverage with the Iraqi
government, which relies on U.S. support.
“It should be called upon very strongly by the United States to meet its minimum
human rights obligations to protect Camp Liberty.”
Rep. Sherman said whatever one’s view of the Iran nuclear deal, “the MEK has
played a critical role in revealing information about Iran’s illegal nuclear
program.”
“We all owe a debt of gratitude to the MEK for bringing this information to the
world, and causing the United States and the world to focus on the problem.”
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla) said it was no secret that Iraq has failed to
protect the residents.
“Camp Liberty has never been given adequate protection, and now with the Iran
nuclear deal and Iran getting more money to carry out its illicit activities, I
fear that Liberty will be an even easier and larger target for the regime than
before,” she said.
The resolution's author Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) said 140 PMOI members have been
killed and 1,300 others injured in seven attacks on their two camps in Iraq.
Seven have been kidnapped.
“Not one person has been held accountable for these murders, not one person has
been arrested or gone to jail,” he said. "The residents live in constant fear of
another attack. Their only crime is opposing the tyrants in Iran.”
The resolution's official name is: "H.Res.650 - Providing for the safety and
security of the Iranian dissidents living in Camp Liberty/Hurriya in Iraq and
awaiting resettlement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and
permitting use of their own assets to assist in their resettlement."
NCRI Women's Committee urges
international community to have cruel sentence against Narges Mohammadi revoked
Thursday, 19 May 2016 /The NCRI Women's Committee calls on the international
community for the cancellation of the cruel sentence against Ms. Mohammadi and
demands her immediate release The Women's Committee of the National Council of
Resistance of Iran strongly condemns the sentence by the Judiciary of ruling the
mullahs' misogynist regime against Ms. Narges Mohammadi. Ms. Mohammadi's cruel
sentence of 10 years in prison merely indicates the weakness, vacillation and
fear of the clerical regime that has made it strongly vulnerable against the
slightest opposition or protest. The Women's Committee of the National Council
of Resistance of Iran strongly decries the international community’s silence
against the wave of executions, suppression, arbitrary arrests and medieval
sentences by the clerical regime and calls on international human rights
organizations, women’s rights defenders and particularly the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of
human rights in Iran, Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, the UN Special
Rapporteur on violence against Women and other relevant bodies to take immediate
and effective measures to abolish the ruling by the mullahs' Judiciary against
Ms. Mohammadi and gain her immediate and unconditional release. National Council
of Resistance of Iran - Women’s Committee/May 19, 2016
An emotional appeal by
Iranian political prisoner Afshin Baymani
Thursday, 19 May 2016/NCRI – Iranian political prisoner Afshin Baymani who is
languishing in Iran’s notorious Gohardasht (Rajai-Shahr) Prison in Karaj has
written a moving open letter about his suffering at the hands of the mullahs’
regime. Mr. Baymani, in his mid-forties, who suffers from a serious heart
condition, is being held in Ward 4 of Hall 12 of Gohardasht Prison in Karaj,
north-west of Tehran. On Sunday he was refused hospital treatment by the
authorities after suffering what appeared to a heart attack earlier in the day.
Mr. Baymani, a father of two, has been imprisoned for some 16 years in Tehran’s
notorious Evin Prison and Gohardasht Prison in Karaj for allegedly helping his
brother evade arrest. Mr. Baymani was originally sentenced to execution on
September 6, 2000, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment six years
later.The following is the text of his open letter which has been smuggled out
of prison:
Bring my noose
Sixteen years ago when I was solitary confinement, after several months of
interrogations, one day I asked my interrogator: I haven’t done anything, for
how much longer will I be kept in solitary confinement and when will I be
released? He smiled and said, “If you be a good boy and do what you are told,
your file is alright and you will soon be set free.”
Time passed…
When I was being taken to the court I asked the officers in the vehicle why it
took so long to take me to court? They all laughed and said an hour-long trip to
the park by Haji (the cleric in charge) will see your case delayed for a year.
I didn’t understand them.
In the court I asked the judge when he will order my release. He looked at me
and said that he would not let me languish in prison for more than five years.
In Detention Center 209, one morning they took me to an interrogation room where
Jafari, the man responsible for judicial matters, was present. It was exactly 9
am that he gave me a 20-page file and instructed me to read and sign it. I was
delighted and started to read. None of the paragraphs related to me. The name of
a lawyer was also written in it, but I had never seen him. At the end it said I
had been sentenced to death. I told Jafari that this file has nothing to do with
me. He replied: “Sign it. I’m in a hurry. Whether it relates to you or not is
someone else’s decision. Since this was the first time I faced such a situation
and I could not comprehend the term “execution,” I uncontrollably signed it.
After a while I was under so much duress that I wished that they would execute
me. For five years this suffering endured for me and for my family.
One afternoon they told me that my interrogator had come. Along with several
other prisoners, hands and feet bound in chains, I was transferred to the
Solitary Section of Ward 204 of Evin Prison. On the way I learned that they are
taking them for execution; so I tried to comfort them. Little did I know that I
too am being taken for the same purpose. When we arrived at Ward 204 I asked one
of the officers called Kolivand why they have brought me here. I told him that I
have been told that my interrogator has come. He quickly replied: “Get inside
the cell. You too are here to be executed.”
When I heard what he said my feet and my back uncontrollably trembled. For
several minutes I was dazed. Then, for several hours I uncontrollably wept for
my wife and my two dear children. I didn’t want to leave them alone. Hours
passed by that are just indescribable.
Anyway, there was a Quran there and I picked it up to read. It comforted me. I
wept some more and read some more… finally I calmed down and prepared myself to
be hanged. Three days passed by in this fashion and I was in a state of limbo.
They returned me from solitary in Ward 204 back to Ward 209. At that moment I
bid farewell to my wretched life and five years in prison and I suddenly felt a
tranquility that I had never before experienced in my whole life. I saw my
interrogator in Ward 209. With a repugnant smile he told me that my sentence has
been commuted to life in prison. I stared at him and asked him why they kept me
on the verge of execution for three days and made me suffer so.
Again in my seventh year in prison I saw an interrogator and I told him I wish
to be executed to escape this humiliating life. He smiled and told me that they
will treat me in such a way that I would wish death a hundred times a day… I
didn’t believe him, but now that almost 10 years have gone by from that
encounter, I feel that he was telling me the truth…
Now, I am asking all international and Iranian institutions to at least call on
the regime to return to me my death sentence and to hang me along with dozens of
my cellmates that are hanged every week in this slaughter house of Gohardasht
[Prison] so that I can finally be set free from this life which is full of lies,
hatred and deception and so that I no longer have to suffer witnessing the
execution of my friends.
If anybody doubts my - Afshin Baymani’s - innocence then they should think for a
moment about two people who came [to Iran] from Camp Ashraf with a mission. One
was my brother Mehdi and the other was Arash Sametipour. My brother fought to
the end for his ideals and gave his life for his ideals. Arash Sametipour was
wounded and captured by the Intelligence Ministry (MOIS). How is it that Arash
was released from prison after a short while and is now spending his days
wandering the streets of Europe, but I who have never been to Camp Ashraf nor
had any formal ties with such organizations, have had to spend 16 years of my
life in the worst conditions, and so did my family?
If you ask me, I’d put it simply: My brother loved the People’s Mojahedin
Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) and he did not surrender and he sacrificed
his life for his path and goal; Arash Sametipour sold himself to the
Intelligence Ministry and is now free; and I, Afshin Baymani, who was not a
member of the PMOI but never allowed myself for a second to become a hireling of
the Intelligence Ministry either, now have to languish in prison.
Bring my noose; I long for it …
Afshin Baymani – Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) Prison in Karaj
NCRI welcomes Maldives’
decision to sever ties with Iran regime
Thursday, 19 May 2016/Call on all countries to cut ties with the religious
fascism as a necessary action against terrorism.The Iranian Resistance welcomes
the decision of the Maldives government to sever its ties with the religious
dictatorship ruling Iran, which is the epicenter of extremism and Islamic
fundamentalism in today’s world, and it emphasizes that the Iranian regime is
the number one enemy of peace and security in the world especially in the Middle
East and the Islamic world. It calls on all Arab and Islamic countries to reject
this regime and sever ties with it.
The religious tyranny ruling Iran since the beginning of its rule has brought
nothing but malice, export of terrorism, warmongering and meddling, killing
innocent people and destruction for the peoples of the region. Syria’s
devastating situation with more than 500,000 dead and more than half of its
population displaced is only one example of the consequences of the policies of
the mullahs’ regime in this part of the world. Following its retreat from the
nuclear bomb the clerical regime is entangled in ever increasing internal and
international crises and, while it is suffering more losses in Syria, has found
itself more and more in need of exporting fundamentalism, extremism and
terrorism to escape its inevitable overthrow. Cutting off diplomatic relations
with the clerical regime is a positive and necessary step in confronting the
urgent threat of fundamentalism and terrorism that has engulfed the region. In
order to overcome this ominous phenomenon, in addition to a strong approach
toward its epicenter in Tehran under the mullahs, the international community
must respect and support the will of the Iranian people and their resistance to
overthrow this regime and establish popular sovereignty and democracy.
National Council of Resistance of Iran, Foreign Affairs Committee/May 18, 2016
NGO: Iraq lurching towards
catastrophe
Thursday, 19 May 2016/“If real and comprehensive reforms are not carried out,
Iraq will lurch towards catastrophe.” This was the view expressed today by
Struan Stevenson, President of the European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA) and
a former President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with
Iraq (2009-2014). In a statement issued on Thursday by the EIFA, Stevenson
strongly condemned the recent explosions in Baghdad and other cities and said it
would be impossible to sort out the current crisis unless the Iranian regime and
its cohorts are expelled from Iraq and the true representatives of the Sunnis
are allowed to have a share of political power and to be seriously involved in
the fight against Daesh (ISIS). He added: “The Iraqi population is sick of those
politicians who use their power systematically to rob the nation and fill their
offshore bank accounts, while the country’s infrastructure and public services
rot and the struggle to survive intensifies. Plummeting oil revenues have
shattered the Iraqi economy and the combination of venal corruption and
political instability has made Iraq a high-risk zone even for bailouts from the
IMF."
“The recent events have simply reinforced the view that Prime Minister Abadi is
running out of time and must stop Iran from manipulating the situation His
attempts at reform have been resoundingly rebuffed by political factions who are
determined to keep their hands in the national cash register. When he tried to
recall parliament last week so that he could issue an ultimatum on his reform
agenda, the politicians simply stayed at home, boycotting the proceedings. The
main obstacles to reform are former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki and his men
who are under the absolute control of Tehran and act in full coordination with
the militias affiliated to the terrorist Iranian Quds force."
“In an interesting development, Tariq al-Hashimi, the former vice president of
Iraq and a prominent Sunni leader, who was sentenced to death in absence in a
disgraceful show trial by Maliki, was taken off Interpol’s red notice list on
Monday. This move by Interpol clearly exposes the level of corruption that
prevailed in the Iraqi government under Maliki. It also highlights the need for
al-Abadi urgently to restore the integrity of Sunni leaders who were arrested or
sentenced in absentia by Maliki." “The political vacuum has created a seething
sense of unrest and rising tension, which some commentators believe could herald
a revolution and the overthrow of the Abadi government. Such a catastrophic
event would play directly into the hands of the Iranian regime and Daesh, whose
ultimate aims are to seize control over the whole of Iraq.” Stevenson added that
Prime Minister Abadi has recalled most of his Iraqi military forces to provide a
protective cordon around Baghdad, following the series of Daesh suicide bombings
that last week killed scores of civilians.Stevenson concluded: “The only
possible solution to the growing unrest is the formation of a government of
national salvation to pacify the nation and unify Iraq. If Prime Minister Abadi
is to survive, he must sweep away all of the corrupt ministers and replace them
with technocrats who are prepared to work for the benefit of the country rather
than to enrich themselves. He must evict the Iranian regime from Iraq and
declare his liberation from their meddling. He must bring the Shi’ite militias
under the immediate control of the Iraqi military and put an end to their
sectarian campaign of genocidal slaughter. The US, UN and EU should quickly use
their power to persuade Abadi on this course of action before it is too late.”
Struan Stevenson was a Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2014 and
was President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq
from 2009 to 2014. He is currently President of the Brussels-based European
Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA).
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on May 19-20/16
The West
Must Say "Je Suis Asia Bibi"
Giulio Meotti//Gatestone Institute/May 19, 2016
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7959/asia-bibi
"I will not convert. I believe in my religion and Jesus Christ. And why should I
be the one to convert and not you?" — Asia Bibi.
It is the West's indolence and cupidity that has condemned Asia Bibi to death.
No one in Europe has filled the streets to ask for the liberation of this
courageous woman, or even to protest Pakistan's anti-Christian laws.
Even Pope Francis stood silent. The emblem of his reticence is the 12 seconds of
face-to-face time the Pope had with Bibi's husband and her daughter in St.
Peter's Square. Francis barely touched the two. His predecessor, Pope Benedict
XVI, publicly called many times for her release.
The mainline Protestant churches of America, too busy demonizing Israel, also
stood silent. Meanwhile, Christianity is being erased from its own cradle.
The death sentence for Asia Bibi is like Chernobyl's nuclear cloud: it
contaminates everything around it. After Asia's arrest, her husband, Masih, and
her children went into hiding. They have moved house 15 times in five years.
They could not even attend Asia's judicial hearings. It is too dangerous for
them. Her husband was forced to quit his job.
Asia's "crime" was to use the same water glass as her Muslim co-workers. She was
sentenced to death because she is Christian and she was thirsty. "You defiled
our water," the Muslim women told her. "Convert to Islam to redeem yourself from
your filthy religion."
Asia took a deep breath and replied: "I will not convert. I believe in my
religion and Jesus Christ. And why should I be the one to convert and not you?"
On November 8, 2010, after just five minutes of deliberation, Asia Noreen Bibi,
under Article 295 of the Pakistani Code, was sentenced to death by hanging. The
crowd cheered the verdict. She was alone and burst into tears. Next to her there
were two policemen, visibly satisfied. In the days after, 50,000 people in
Karachi and 40,000 in Lahore took the streets to brandish an image of Asia Bibi
with the rope around her neck. They say they will not rest until she is hanged
or shot.
Asia Bibi and two of her five children, pictured prior to her imprisonment on
death row in 2010 for "blasphemy."
Pakistani Islamists recently gathered to demand the immediate execution of this
woman, who has been jailed for 2,500 days. Fears for the life of Bibi -- the
first Christian woman sentenced to be hanged in Pakistan on spurious charges of
"blasphemy" -- have grown after the execution of Mumtaz Qadri, the murderer of
Punjab governor Salman Taseer, a brave Muslim reformer who paid with his life
for expressing support for Asia Bibi. Lawyers defending people accused of
blasphemy are sometimes murdered as well.
The late Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti also supported Asia Bibi,
and ensured that she was placed another cell, where a camera now checks that she
does not suffer any violence. It was a fatal decision for Bhatti. A terrorist
blocked Bhatti's car as he left his mother's house and murdered him in broad
daylight. Everyone knew that the death sentence would be carried out sooner or
later. Rome's Trevi Fountain has just been illuminated red to remember Christian
martyrs, such as Mr. Bhatti.
Street protests against Asia Bibi have continued since Qadri's execution on
February 29, 2016. A senior Punjabi government official revealed that Bibi's
security tightened was increased after intelligence reports surfaced that
Islamist groups are conspiring to kill her inside the prison, to avenge the
hanging of Qadri.
These threats are why human rights organizations have demanded that the appeal
of Asia Bibi, which has been postponed so far, will be conducted in a prison
cell, under tight security measures. Any transfer needs to remain secret because
Islamists are ready to exploit any opportunity to target her.
To understand Asia's impending martyrdom, one has to read the book she wrote
with the French journalist Anne Isabelle Tollet, entitled "Blasphemy".
Asia Bibi must prepare her food by herself to avoid being poisoned. Even the
guards threaten her with death. She never leaves her prison cell, and no one is
allowed to enter to clean it. She has to clean it by herself, and the prison
does not provide any cleaning products. In the small cell, which measures three
meters, next to the bed there is what the guards, to mock her, call the
"bathroom." It is a water pipe from the wall and a hole in the ground. This has
been her life in the last five years, as in the crypt of a cemetery.
Meanwhile, Islamists just raised the bounty on her head to 50 million rupees
($678,000). Her lawyer explained that many Christians accused of blasphemy are
killed in their prison cells before they can even appear in court.
Asia Bibi never killed anyone. But in the so-called justice system of her
country, she has done something much worse, the crime of crimes, the most
absolute outrage: She -- allegedly -- offended the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.
Criminals, murderers, and rapists are treated better than her.
It is the West's indolence and cupidity that has condemned Asia Bibi to death.
For this courageous woman, no one in Europe has filled the streets to ask her
liberation or to protest against Pakistan's anti-Christian laws. Even Pope
Francis stood silent. The emblem of his reticence is the 12 seconds of
face-to-face time the Pope had with Bibi's husband and her daughter in St.
Peter's Square. Francis barely touched the two, while his predecessor, Pope
Benedict XVI, publicly called many times for her release.
U.S. President Barack Obama, always full of rhetoric and ecumenical emotions,
has never said a word about the persecution of Christians or asked his Pakistani
allies to free Asia Bibi. And to quote the French newspaper Le Figaro, Europeans
are usually "so eager" to have "mobilizations, petitions, demonstrations of
every kind, but "in this case, nothing!"
For a long time, even the American mainstream press stood silent about the
massacres of Christians, who are martyred every five minutes. This silence was
broken by a brave dissident of Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who dedicated to this
mass martyrdom a masterful essay in Newsweek. The mainline Protestant churches
of America, too busy demonizing Israel, also stood silent. In France, it has
been impossible even to sponsor an event in which the receipts would be given in
favor of these Christians. The operator of the Paris' metro refused an ad in
favor of these Christians, then lifted the ban after protests. All European
secular NGOs such as Oxfam are also silent, leaving the defense of Christians to
heroic non-governmental organizations such as the Barnabas Fund.
Westerners have been accustomed to think of those remote Christians as if they
were leftover agents of colonialism, so that we are deaf to their pleas and even
to their tragic stories. Meanwhile, Christianity is being erased from its own
cradle. Distaste for our moral cowardice is balanced by the admiration for these
Christians, such as Asia Bibi, who continue to witness their faith in a land
that wants to expel them from history. But the Western cowardice will be
punished.
The war against the "blasphemous" has in fact deep consequences in Europe, where
dozens of journalists, cartoonists and writers are condemned to death for
another version of the same "crime" as Asia Bibi: "Islamophobia." Catholic
faithful such as Asia Bibi have been persecuted for the same reasons and by the
same people who murdered Charlie Hebdo's impenitent secularists. And ISIS, which
recently blew up Mosul's iconic clock church (donated by the wife of Napoleon
III), would gladly blow up the Cathedral of Chartres, one of France's greatest
treasures.
The liberation of this illiterate Pakistani mother of five children does not
just affect some distant Christian community. It concerns all of us. Is it too
much to ask Westerners for some moral clarity and to rally under the slogan, "Je
Suis Asia Bibi"?
*Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and
author.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of the Gatestone
website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without
the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
How Terrorists and Dictators Silence Arab
Journalists
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/May 19, 2016
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8073/arab-journalists
That is the sad state of journalism in the Arab world: "If you're not with us,
then you must be against us and that is why we need to shut your mouth." A
journalist who does not agree to serve as a governmental mouthpiece is denounced
as a "traitor."
Hamas shut the Gaza offices of Al-Arabiya in July 2013, under the pretext that
the station broadcasted "incorrect news" about the situation in the Gaza Strip.
The closure did not receive much attention from the international community and
human rights organizations. Had the office been closed by Israel, there would
have been an international outcry, with journalists screaming about Israeli
"assaults on freedom of the media."
Al-Arabiya, like many other Arab TV stations, has a bureau in Israel, and its
reporters enjoy more freedom reporting out of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv than they
do in the Arab world. Today, the only free and independent Arabic newspapers in
the Middle East can be found inside Israel.
Thirty-five Arab journalists have been fired since the beginning of April as a
result of a campaign of intimidation and terrorism waged against them by Hamas
and Hezbollah.
The journalists were working for the Saudi-owned pan-Arab Al-Arabiya television
news channel, based in Dubai Media City in the United Arab Emirates. The network
was previously rated by the BBC among the top pan-Arab stations.
But life for Al-Arabiya reporters has never been easy. Like most Arab
journalists covering the Arab and Islamic countries, they too have long faced
threats from various parties and governments.
That is the sad state of journalism in the Arab world: "If you're not with us,
then you must be against us and that is why we need to shut your mouth." A
journalist who does not agree to serve as a governmental mouthpiece is denounced
as a "traitor."
The absence of democracy and freedom of speech in most Arab and Islamic
countries has forced many Arab journalists to relocate to the West. In the past
four decades, some of the Arab world's best journalists and writers moved to
France and Britain, where they could work without fearing for their lives.
But in the Arab world, freedom of the media remains a far-fetched dream. There,
if you are not threatened by the government, there is always someone else who
will find a reason to target you.
The case of the Al-Arabiya journalists is yet another example of the dangers
facing media representatives who do not toe the line or who dare to challenge a
government or a terrorist group.
Earlier this week, Al-Arabiya announced that it was firing its eight workers in
the Gaza Strip -- three years after the Hamas government decided to shut the
station's offices there. The workers are Mohamed Jahjouh, Jamal Abu Nahel, Hanan
al-Masri, Rula Elayan, Mahmdouh al-Sayed, Sha'ban Mimeh, Ala Zamou and Ahmed al-Razi.
In an email to the workers, the Al-Arabiya management wrote:
"We appreciate your work with us during the previous period. You were all an
example of professional performance, but the time has come for the hard decision
after we exhausted all attempts to reopen the offices, which were forcibly
closed, as you know, by the party that controls the street in the Gaza Strip."
Hamas shut the Gaza offices of Al-Arabiya in July 2013, under the pretext that
the station had been broadcasting "incorrect news" about the situation in the
Gaza Strip. In addition to the closure, Hamas also confiscated the equipment and
furniture with an estimated value of $500,000, and prevented the employees from
entering the offices.
Hamas shut the Gaza offices of Al-Arabiya in July 2013, under the pretext that
the station had been broadcasting "incorrect news" about the situation in the
Gaza Strip. (Image source: JN1 video screenshot)
The closure of the Al-Arabiya offices in the Gaza Strip did not receive much
attention from the international community and human rights organizations. Had
the office been closed by Israel, of course, there would have been an
international outcry, with journalists around the world screaming about Israeli
"assaults on freedom of the media."
Here is an unpleasant fact: Al-Arabiya, like many other Arab TV stations, has a
bureau in Israel, and its reporters enjoy more freedom reporting out of
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv than they do in the Arab world. Today, the only free and
independent Arabic newspapers in the Middle East can be found inside Israel.
In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the only newspapers available are those that
serve as an organ for the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas. Many Arab
journalists feel unsafe working under the PA in the West Bank. For the PA and
Hamas alike, criticism is a crime.
Just this week, for example, Palestinian Authority security officers arrested
journalist Tareq Abu Zeid in Nablus after confiscating his personal computer and
mobile phone. No reason was given for Abu Zeid's arrest. He joins scores of
other journalists and bloggers who have been arrested or interrogated by the PA
in recent years.
Even Arab countries that once used to boast of being a base for free media, such
as Lebanon, are no longer able to defend journalists from threats and violence.
Last month, Al-Arabiya also closed its offices in Beirut, citing "security
concerns." In a statement, the Saudi-owned station said that the decision to
quit Beirut was taken "out of concern for the safety" of its 27 employees.
The decision is believed to be the direct result of threats by the
Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia. Hezbollah is furious with Saudi Arabia and
other Arab countries for their recent decision to label the Shiite militia as a
terrorist group.
Al-Arabiya's decision to close its bureau in Beirut came shortly after suspected
Hezbollah thugs went on the rampage inside the offices of the Saudi-owned
newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, destroying equipment and furniture.
The attack came after the pan-Arab newspaper published a cartoon marking April
Fool's Day, which was deemed "offensive" to Lebanon and its flag. The message
behind the cartoon was that Lebanon has become a failed state because of the
growing power of Hezbollah and Iranian meddling in the internal affairs of the
country -- something that has prevented the election of a new Lebanese
president.
The crackdown on Arab journalists and media outlets by Hamas, Hezbollah and many
Arab governments (including the Palestinian Authority) is not only aimed at
silencing critics, but also at hiding from the world what life is like under
dictators and terrorists. In light of the fact that Al-Arabiya's staff has been
recently decimated, advocates of freedom of the media might wish to tune in.
**Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist is based in Jerusalem.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of the Gatestone
website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without
the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Israel, Gaza and
"Proportionality"
Louis René Beres/Gatestone Institute/May 19, 2016
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8014/israel-gaza-proportionality
It appears that several major Palestinian terror groups have begun to prepare
for mega-terror attacks on Israel.
The authoritative rules of war do not equate "proportionality" with how many
people die in each side of a conflict. In war, no side is ever required to
respond to aggression with only the equivalent measure of force. Rather, the
obligations of proportionality require that no side employ any level of force
that is greater than what is needed to achieve a legitimate political and
operational objective.
Under pertinent international law, the use of one's own people as "human
shields" -- because such firing from populated areas is intended to deter
Israeli reprisals, or to elicit injuries to Palestinian civilians -- represents
a codified war crime. More specifically, this crime is known as "perfidy." This
is plainly an attempt to make the IDF appear murderous when it is compelled to
retaliate, but it is simply a Palestinian manipulation of legal responsibility.
Under law, those Arab residents who suffer from Israeli retaliations are
incurring the consequences of their own government's war crimes.
International law is not a suicide pact. Instead, it offers a universally
binding body of rules and procedures that allows all states to act on behalf of
their "inherent right of self-defense."
Already, calls from various directions have begun to condemn Israel for its
recent retaliatory strikes in self-defense at Gaza.[1] The carefully-rehearsed
refrain is all-too familiar. Gazan terrorists fire rockets and mortars at
Israel; then, the world calls upon the Israel Air Force (IAF) not to respond.
Although Israel is plainly the victim in these ritualistic cycles of Arab terror
and required Israeli retaliations, the "civilized world" usually comes to the
defense of the victimizers. Inexplicably, in the European Union, and even
sometimes with the current U.S. president, the Israeli response is reflexively,
without thought, described as "excessive" or "disproportionate."
Leaving aside the irony of President Obama's evident sympathies here -- nothing
that Israel has done in its own defense even comes close to the indiscriminacy
of recent U.S. operations in Afghanistan[2] -- the condemnations are always
unfounded. Plainly, Hamas and allied Arab terror groups deliberately fire their
rockets from populated areas in Gaza at Israeli civilians. Under pertinent
international law, this use of one's own people as "human shields" -- because
such firing from populated areas is intended to deter Israeli reprisals, or to
elicit injuries to Palestinian civilians -- represents a codified war crime.
More specifically, this crime is known as "perfidy."
"Perfidy" is plainly an attempt to make the IDF appear murderous when it is
compelled to retaliate, but it is always simply a Palestinian manipulation of
true legal responsibility. Hamas's intent might be to incriminate the Israelis
as murderers of Gaza's civilians. Legally, however, the net effect of Arab
perfidy in Gaza is to free Israel of all responsibility for Arab harm, even if
it is Israeli retaliatory fire that actually injures or kills the Gazan victims.
Under law, those Arab residents who suffer from Israeli retaliations are
incurring the consequences of their own government's war crimes. Palestinian
suffering, which we are surely about to see again in stepped-up, choreographed
Arab propaganda videos, remains the direct result of a relentlessly cruel,
insensitive, and criminal Hamas leadership.
Significant, too, although never really mentioned, is that this Hamas
leadership, similar to the PA and Fatah leadership, often sits safely away from
Gaza, tucked away inconspicuously in Qatar. For these markedly unheroic figures,
"martyrdom" is allegedly always welcomed and revered, but only as long as this
singular honor is actually conferred upon someone else.
Moreover, the authoritative rules of war do not equate "proportionality" with
how many people die in each side of a conflict. In war, no side is ever required
to respond to aggression with only the equivalent measure of force. Rather, the
obligations of proportionality require that no side employ any level of force
that is greater than what is needed to achieve a legitimate political and
operational objective.
If the rule of proportionality were genuinely about an equivalent number of
dead, America's use of atomic weapons against Japanese civilians in August 1945
would represent the greatest single expression of "disproportionality" in human
history.
It appears that several major Palestinian terror groups have begun to prepare
for mega-terror attacks on Israel. Such attacks, possibly in cooperation with
certain allied jihadist factions, could include chemical and biological weapons
of mass destruction. Over time, especially if Iran, undeterred by the July 2015
Vienna Pact, should agree to transfer portions of its residual nuclear materials
to terror groups, Israel could then have to face Palestinian-directed nuclear
terrorism.
One message is clear. If Israel, pressured by outside forces, allows Palestinian
terror from Gaza to continue unopposed, the state could become increasingly
vulnerable to even greater forms of Arab aggression.
Also important to keep in mind is that nuclear terror assaults against Israel
could be launched from trucks or ships, not only from rockets and missiles.
What about Israel's active defenses? In its most recent defensive operations,
Protective Edge and Pillar of Defense, Israel accomplished an impressively high
rate of "Iron Dome" interceptions against incoming rockets from Gaza. Still, it
would be a mistake to extrapolate from any such relatively limited successes to
the vastly more complex hazards of strategic danger from Iran. Should Iran "go
nuclear" in ten years or sooner, that still recalcitrant Islamic regime could
launch at Israel missiles armed with nuclear warheads.
In its most recent defensive operations, Israel accomplished an impressively
high rate of "Iron Dome" interceptions against incoming rockets from Gaza.
Still, it would be a mistake to extrapolate from any such relatively limited
successes to the vastly more complex hazards of strategic danger from Iran.
(Image source: IDF)
Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military thinker, already understood -- long before
the nuclear age -- that too great a reliance on defense is always misconceived.
Today, Arrow, Israel's core ballistic missile defense (BMD) interception system,
would require a 100% rate success against offensive nuclear missiles. At the
same time, such a rate is impossible to achieve, even if enhanced by Rafael's
new laser-based defenses. Israel must therefore continue to rely primarily on
deterrence for existential nuclear threats.
Although unacknowledged, Israel has always been willing to keep its essential
counterterrorism operations in Gaza consistent with the established rules of
humanitarian international law. Palestinian violence, however, has remained in
persistent violation of all accepted rules of engagement -- even after Israel
painfully "disengaged" from Gaza in 2005.
Both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority still speak indignantly of "the
Occupation?" But where, precisely, is this "occupation?" After all their
agitated umbrage about Israeli "disproportionality," shouldn't the Palestinians
and their allies finally be able to answer that core question? There are no
Israelis in Gaza.
International law is not a suicide pact. Instead, it offers a universally
binding body of rules and procedures that allows all states to act on behalf of
their "inherent right of self-defense."[3] When terrorists groups such as Hamas
openly celebrate the "martyrdom" of Palestinian children, and when Hamas leaders
unhesitatingly seek their own religious redemption through the mass-murder of
Jewish children, unfortunately these terrorists retain no legal right to demand
sanctuary.
In response to endless terror attacks from Gaza, Israel, with countless
leaflets, phone calls, "knocks on the roof," and other warnings to its
attackers, has been acting with an operational restraint unequaled by any other
nation and according to binding rules of war. In these obligatory acts of
self-defense there has not yet been the slightest evidence of disproportionality.
**Louis René Beres is Emeritus Professor of International Law at Purdue
University. His just-published new book is titled Surviving Amid Chaos: Israel's
Nuclear Strategy.
[1] Speaking in Beirut on Channel 10 News, on May 7, 2016, Hezbollah leader
Hassan Nasrallah accused Israel of "attacking Gaza," continuing: "Unfortunately,
the Arab world is silent about the situation in Gaza. ... these actions must be
condemned." Cited in Israel National News, "Nasrallah calls for condemnation of
Israeli 'Attacks' on Gaza," May 7, 2016. Interesting, too, is that Nasrallah, a
Shiite leader, is speaking here in strong support of Sunni Hamas.
[2] See Alissa J. Rubin, "Airstrike Hits Doctors Without Borders Hospital in
Afghanistan," The New York Times, October 3, 2015. This is an account of the
October 2015, U.S. destruction of a crowded hospital in the embattled city of
Kunduz. The Pentagon confirmed the strike, which it called "collateral damage,"
and President Obama offered condolences to the victims in what he termed a
"tragic incident." Doctors Without Borders was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in
1999.
[3] See, especially, Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of the Gatestone
website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without
the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Syria: Hope despite obstacles
Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/May 19/16
The Syrian conflict is witnessing a lull, both on the ground and in the media.
Efforts undertaken by international players, notably Russia and the United
States, have revived the weak truce in Syria, renewing hope for peace talks.
Ending the conflict depends on whether international players succeed in
cooperating. Peace talks in Geneva broke down in April as the opposition refused
to continue to participate as violence in Syria worsened despite the ceasefire
agreement. The U.N. special envoy to Syria expressed hope that talks would
resume by the end of May. To achieve this, the sides need to work hard on a
stable climate and confidence-building. There is no hope for building trust
until a credible, lasting ceasefire is achieved. The International Syria Support
Group (ISSG) met on Tuesday in Vienna. The parties, most of them involved in the
conflict, discussed vital humanitarian issues and ways to enforce the truce. The
ISSG warned that parties violating it would be excluded from the talks, and that
violence would no longer be tolerated. Areas in need that are inaccessible by
ground will continue getting aid via air drops if the problem of ground access
is not solved by June.
Problems
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
will not abide by international agreements or efforts to establish a truce,
alternative solutions should be found. The problem remains Assad’s fate -
demands that he step down continue to be rejected.
There is much to be pessimistic about, but the intensity of international
diplomatic efforts provides hope. Involved parties’ contradictory interests are
also impeding peace talks. Very reasonably, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
said ending the conflict meant that “a variety of competing interests are going
to have to be reconciled.” The priority of the parties involved in the conflict
should be peace-building, not realizing national interests within a geopolitical
framework.The Kurdish matter is another problem for regional players, because
accepting a Kurdish presence in talks would de-facto mean recognizing
aspirations for their own state. A Kurdish state may aggravate the regional
climate and fuel violence. The devil is in the details, so questions over
transitional justice, the political system, and whether Syria should be secular
or religious raise even more questions and problems to be solved. The situation
is aggravated by the presence of terrorist organizations that are dispersed
within the ranks of opposition groups. Terrorist and Islamist groups should be
excluded from the ceasefire, and should not be seen as allies by any of the
warring sides. Russia is key to a sustainable ceasefire, as it has the strongest
influence on Damascus. It is vital to make Assad respect the ceasefire
unquestionably. There is much to be pessimistic about, but the intensity of
international diplomatic efforts provides hope.
The specter of the Sept. 11 attacks
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/May 19/16
When it turned out that 15 of the terrorists who participated in the Sept. 11
attacks were Saudi, we realized this represented a potentially long-term crisis
in relations between two countries that had always been friends and allies.
Years later, an investigation committee confirmed Saudi Arabia’s innocence.
However, recent weeks have witnessed great tension between Riyadh and Washington
due to a bill - which the Senate has passed unanimously - allowing the victims
of the attacks to sue Saudi Arabia if they prove in court that it was involved.
This despite American investigators not finding any evidence of such
involvement. All evidence pointed to Al-Qaeda, the number-one enemy of Saudi
Arabia, which has fought the organization since the 1990s. No one who is
well-informed about Middle Eastern affairs could think Saudi Arabia has anything
to do with what Al-Qaeda has done anywhere in the world. This silly accusation
only became a serious political affair recently, when relations cooled due to
several issues, and as Iran opened up to the West. The final 28 pages of the
Congressional report on the Sept. 11 attacks were classified by former President
George W Bush to avoid harming relations with Saudi Arabia at a time when anger
failed to discriminate between mistakes and intentional actions. Riyadh has
never had anything to do with Al-Qaeda, though it has been confirmed that Tehran
has dealt with the organization. Back then, I asked a Saudi official about these
28 pages. He said Riyadh did not request their classification, and did not mind
making them public as all the facts were known to the investigation committee.
The classified pages have now been published, and although they are
unconvincing, they will be used by Saudi Arabia’s rivals in the ongoing
political controversy.
Iran
Riyadh has never had anything to do with Al-Qaeda, though it has been confirmed
that Tehran has dealt with the organization and sheltered dozens of its leaders
who escaped US bombing in Afghanistan in 2001. The Washington Post published
documents that the Americans found in Osama bin Laden’s safe in his hiding place
where they killed him. They revealed how he instructed his men not to harm Iran
or Iraqi Shiites because Tehran is an ally of al-Qaeda and supplies it with
funds, men, arms and communication equipment. The Syrian regime, Iran’s ally,
hosted thousands of al-Qaeda fighters who entered Iraq and carried out most of
the operations against American troops, killing around 4,000 of them. Most of
these operations were carried out under the name of the Iraqi resistance. The
issues between Riyadh and Washington are not substantial. In the past, the most
serious ones related to extremists’ activities, radical preachers, and funders
and media outlets in favor of al-Qaeda. These issues were overcome after the
Saudi Interior Ministry succeeded in destroying the pillars that ideologically
supported terrorism, and arrested thousands of those who supported jihadists.
Riyadh allowed US federal investigators to examine all suspicions. Tehran, which
adopted a hostile policy against Washington, realized after 30 years that it was
the only one harmed by this rivalry, so it decided to reconcile and make
concessions. However, the nature of the Iranian regime will prevent it from
achieving a real transformation toward the West, and from maintaining permanent
relations with it.
A decisive moment in the anti-ISIS campaign?
Dr. Theodore Karasik/Al Arabiya/May 19/16
Is Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) about to teeter? Does the group need a
shove or a push? What happens next? Metrics are suggesting that the ISIS is in
trouble with reports of defectors, blackouts, and a collapse of some social
services over the past few months. Taking out ISIS leaders is also rolling along
with dozens of kills. Operation Inherent Resolve continues to pump out details
about successes and the Joint Combined Task Force is indeed making a big dent.
In cyberspace, actions are being taken including assertive media campaigns as
well as the shutting down of ISIS related twitter accounts. But air power and
information operations are not the final answer as we all well know now:
specific ground operations are required. The key, of course, are the battles for
Mosul, Raqqa, and now Sirte. These will ultimately be urban battles that will
feature aggressive action by anti-ISIS forces to trounce ISIS believers.
All three cities are now in the sights of the anti-ISIS campaign. But there are
problems. For instance, the Mosul campaign is taking time to shape while Raqqa
is still far down the road. One GCC interlocutor said “Pushing all this six
months from now only helps Daesh.” The Raqqa campaign, for the destruction of
ISIS capital, is being delayed because the appropriate forces are not prepared
for an epic urban battle.There are also a variety of forces at play on the
ground too numerous to mention but suffice it to say that have sharp competing
interests on a sectarian angle.
The Libyan problem
With Libya, the situation is so muddled that military aid to the new UN imposed
government by America, Italy, and other allies, the Government of National
Accord (GNA), that it is not clear exactly which forces will be going after ISIS
Libya in Sirte and surrounding areas. Clearly, time is on the side of ISIS and
not on the anti-ISIS coalition. That’s bad news. ISIS is making itself heard in
two major theaters now as these plans get pushed down the timeline. Already,
ISIS is taking advantage of the lull by launching devastating suicide attacks in
Iraq with several hundred dead to date. Metrics are suggesting that the ISIS is
in trouble with reports of defectors, blackouts, and a collapse of some social
services over the past few months. To boot, due to political upheaval in Baghdad
by Maqtada al-Sadr with his Arab first policy to force change in Prime Minister
Abadi’s government, ISIS is taking deadly aggressive moves to either force the
resolve to launch a wider fight in Iraq’s capital city. With the Mosul operation
delayed by Iraqi Security Force unable to fight, ISIS is able to push hard with
heavy consequences. ISIS is also using the run up to and during the Geneva talks
on Syria to make serious gains in that wreaked state as well. ISIS attacked the
Shaer gas field near Palmyra and made itself know in graphic and morbid ways in
Deir ez-Zor by digging up a Christian cemetery.
This is not a new pattern as the terrorist group likes to make itself heard
during diplomatic talks. Let’s recall that in February during a previous round
of the Geneva Talks, ISIS attacked several targets in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern
Province and in Damascus against Alawaites.While the Anti-ISIS coalition seeks a
final knockout blow to the Caliphate and its appendage in Libya, there are
several facts to consider: First, ISIS is an “airborne disease” and still
remains robust as the movement enters into a new combative and aggressive phase.
Adherences will up the ante against the Anti-ISIS forces by challenging their
authority.
This point is exactly what is happening now in Syria, Iraq, and Libya. In other
words, ISIS is trying to provoke their mortal enemies to enter into a Final
Battle. The cybersphere will surely increase in its traffic and volume as these
battles occur. All sides will be spinning away. Anti-ISIS forces need to be put
on their counter-narrative game face fast. Second, the three urban areas are
likely to be awash with weapons and any constabulary force will be struck by
violence. Attacking police and their training centers is a hallmark ISIS tactic
and now developed with accuracy. In other words, what is happening now will
still be occurring perhaps years from now unless safeguards are implemented.
Planning now for this reality may help either preserve institutions or create
secure new ones with forethought. Third, is the splatter effect. The first
aspect here is that these urban campaigns will result in a major exodus of ISIS
survivors both fighters and those brainwashed by the group’s faulty religious
beliefs. Perhaps hundreds of thousands of people will require some type of
de-radicalization treatment, some for a very long term period. The second angle
is that thousands of ISIS adherents will go on a rampage of revenge across many
continents. Shoved out of their own areas of governance, they will flee to many
neighboring countries in order to create more chaos. With ISIS adherents are
able to move about, it seems, with relative ease, there needs to be a radical
fix to this illicit transit system outwards from the emerging battle zones. This
is not impossible. Overall, this is a defining moment in the fight against ISIS.
But it’s not exactly the way it is being advertised. The three pending battles
over two geographical regions represents a defining moment in the trajectory of
all parties. Planning is key. But ISIS knows what is coming and will exploit
Anti-ISIS gaps to a very wide degree.
'Islamophobia Studies' Coming to a
College Near You
Cinnamon Stillwell/Independent Journal Review/May 19/16
Originally published under the title "'Islamophobia Studies' Are Coming To A
College Near You, And There Won't Be Any Debate About It.""Before I get started,
I just wanted to say that we are meeting on stolen indigenous people's land.
That's really important to acknowledge." So declared San Francisco State
University race and resistance studies professor Rabab Abdulhadi, at the
University of California, Berkeley's Seventh Annual International Islamophobia
Conference in April. Abdulhadi's seemingly disjointed declaration was typical of
the post-colonial, "intersectionality"-driven jargon of the entire conference,
which sought to link the mythical plight of America's prosperous, content Muslim
population, with the struggles of every oppressed minority known to man. It was
also an opportunity for two academic centers at opposite ends of the country to
join forces and promote what was euphemistically referred to at the 2015 UC
Berkeley conference as "Islamophobia studies." While UC Berkeley Islamophobia
Research & Documentation Project (IRDP) director and conference convener Hatem
Bazian gave the opening remarks, John Esposito, founding director of Georgetown
University's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding
(ACMCU) and project director of ACMCU's Bridge Initiative, "a multi-year
research project that connects the academic study of Islamophobia with the
public square," was the undisputed star.
Esposito was introduced by Munir Jiwa, director of the Center for Islamic
Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, who, after noting that
one of the scheduled speakers on the same panel was unable to attend, added with
a smile, "I'm sure Dr. Esposito will be happy to take up the time." Esposito did
not disappoint, delivering a long, rambling talk filled with humorous asides and
one-liners to which the audience responded with hearty laughter. He clearly
reveled in being the center of attention and joked at the outset about his
family, "They think I'm a humble person; my wife will tell you that I'm faking
it."
John Esposito says that "ninety percent" of his speaking invitations in the U.S.
and U.K. "have to do with Islamophobia." Cha ching! Musing on his experiences in
academe regarding Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, Esposito claimed that prior to
that, "there was no Islam unit in the American academy" and thus, "no jobs when
I finished my degree." He later returned to the subject: "The first half of my
career, people treated me like an academic, which means they ignore you. You're
in the Ivory Tower, who cares? The Iranian revolution changed that."
Esposito lamented that the "lens through which Islam and Muslims came to be seen
was people chanting, 'Death to America,'" and, blaming the U.S. instead of
Iran's bellicose theocracy, concluded, "The danger was that we're looking for a
new global threat" and "Islam was the only global ideology."
Presenting "Islamophobia" as an empirical fact, Esposito wondered aloud that
there are "still those who want to say it does not exist." He criticized "the
mainstream media" for promulgating this alleged bigotry beginning with the
Ground Zero Mosque controversy and, after announcing that "media coverage of
Islam hit an all-time high" in 2015, conceded that "the causes are fairly
obvious and some of them are good reasons to be concerned: international
terrorist attacks." Yet, he accused the media of "hyping the threat in America
and Europe" and insisted, referencing to the April 19 anniversary of the
Oklahoma City bombing, that the "main terrorist threat is from white,
anti-government, also often Christian-identity type movements. That has to come
out."Turning to the "anti-Islamophobia" movement, Esposito praised reports from
biased, complicit sources such as the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR)—a
conference cosponsor—and the Center for American Progress for exposing a
"cottage industry" and funding "for these kinds of things," before directing the
audience to the Bridge Initiative website. He said nothing about the conflict of
interest in Bridge's substantial Saudi funding, instead focusing on the
initiative's efforts to "set up alternative narratives," "penetrate social
media," and achieve "search engine optimization," before deducing, "It's the
storytelling."
The growing number of national and international conferences on 'Islamophobia'
is a disturbing trend.
Clearly, that "storytelling" has had its intended effect in Western academe,
for, in a revealing statement, Esposito pointed out that, "As someone who speaks
at a lot of conference and universities, the last few years, ninety percent of
my invitations [in the U.S. and UK] have to do with Islamophobia."
It's little wonder that "Islamophobia studies" appears to be proliferating. IRDP
is certainly doing its part with its politicized bi-annual publication, the
Islamophobia Studies Journal, and by linking this year's conference with the
Bridge Initiative and by extension, the East Coast with the West.
"Islamophobia studies" may be in its infancy, but the growing number of national
and international conferences devoted to the subject indicate a disturbingly
bright future for this anti-intellectual endeavor. And why not? Given the
politicized, pro-Islamist nature of Middle East studies and victimology's pride
of place in contemporary academe, it's a Faustian bargain for our time.
**Cinnamon Stillwell is the West Coast Representative for Campus Watch, a
project of the Middle East Forum.
The Saudi
Solution
Daniel Pipes/The Washington Times/May 19/16
Accommodations are plentiful in the kingdom for Sunni Muslim migrants
As European governments slam the gates shut on illegal Middle Eastern
immigrants, where can Syrians and others go to, not far from their homelands,
for safety and employment? The answer is obvious but surprisingly neglected: to
Saudi Arabia and the other rich Arab sheikhdoms.
The more than one million migrants who boated, trained, bussed, and walked to
northern Europe in the past year overwhelmed the continent's capabilities and
good will. Those large numbers were then exacerbated by crime and disease, an
unwillingness to assimilate, a drive to impose Islamic laws, and such outrages
as the Cologne taharrush (mass sexual assault) and the attacks in Paris and
Brussels.
In reaction, populist and fascist parties (such as, respectively, the National
Front in France and Jobbik in Hungary) gained strength. The European mood has so
deeply shifted – as shown by the March elections in Germany – that much reduced
numbers of illegals are likely to get in, no matter what new routes they try,
such as via Italy.
Mass migration has overwhelmed the European continent's capabilities and good
will.
This leaves huge numbers of would-be migrants wanting to enter Europe. A
European Union (EU) commissioner, Johannes Hahn, counts "20 million refugees
waiting at the doorstep of Europe. ... Ten to 12 million in Syria, 5 million
Palestinians, 2 million Ukrainians and about 1 million in the southern
Caucasus." Yes, but that's just a start; I also add vast numbers of Libyans,
Egyptians, Yemenis, Iraqis, Iranians, Afghans, and Pakistanis – and not just
political refugees but also economic migrants. In all, the numbers of Muslim
peoples ready to emigrate could potentially match the 510 million EU residents.
To where, then, are they to go? One nearby, desirable alternative to Europe
exists; indeed, it's a destination so attractive that foreigners already
constitute half the population: that would be the six Gulf Cooperation Council
states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab
Emirates. Let's focus on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the largest of them
in land size, population, and economy.
Some of the 100,000 fiberglass tents in Mina, Saudi Arabia.
The KSA has many unique attractions for Sunni Muslims. To begin with, it has
100,000 high-quality, empty fiberglass tents that can house about 3 million
people in Mina, just east of Mecca. Fireproof and air-conditioned, complete with
toilets and kitchens, this unique resource is occupied a mere five days a year
by pilgrims on the hajj.
Comparing the KSA to the states of northern Europe, shows its many other
advantages:
Geography: Much closer.
Climate: Hot.
Language: Arabic.
Economics: An insatiable need for labor.
Legal system: Reassuringly familiar.
Religion: Islam, Islam, Islam.
Culturally, many Sunnis find Saudi's severe strictures more congenial than the
West's secular environment. In the KSA, Muslims can exult in a society that
permits polygamy, child marriages, wife-beating, female genital mutilation, and
beheadings, while only lightly punishing slaveholding and honor killings.
Saudi also permits Muslims effortlessly to avoid such haram (forbidden) features
as pet dogs; pork and alcohol; interest payments on loans; lotteries and
casinos; Valentine's Day, women in revealing clothes, dating, and gentlemen's
clubs; gay bars and gay marriage; the drug subculture; and the public expression
of anti-Islamic views.
The Persian Gulf countries have been berated for not taking in "a single" Syrian
refugee. Yet the Saudi authorities claim to have taken in 2½ million Syrians.
How to explain this discrepancy?
Many Sunnis find Saudi social strictures more congenial than Western secular
culture.
In part, the Saudis are lying. But also, in part, the GCC and other
Arabic-speaking states such as Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria never signed the
1951 Refugee Convention (because they reject the convention's goal of
resettlement as applied to Palestinians). Accordingly, they avoid using the term
refugee, with its implication of permanence, and refer instead to guests, who
stay only temporarily until they return home.
How many Syrians have been allowed into Saudi? One study, by Lori Plotkin
Boghardt of the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy, estimates they
number in the "low hundreds of thousands," say 150,000. That's a small fraction
of the over four million in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan – and just 5 percent of
the migrants who could be housed just in Mina's splendid tents.
That wealthy Arab states are so miserly in opening their arms to Sunni Muslims
in stress reveals currents of selfishness and hypocrisy. Their unhelpfulness
should not be rewarded; it's high time that governments and refugee
organizations stop focusing on Europe and instead turn to those Arab countries
capable, with relative ease, to take in, house, and employ their desperate
brethren.
May 18, 2016 addendum: Readers have asked why I waited so long to publish this
idea (about Syrian and other migrants going to Saudi Arabia). My reply: I did
not wait but published an earlier version of the argument almost three years ago
at "Let Refugees Remain in Their Own Culture Zones," in the Washington Times on
Sep. 24, 2013.
At that time, I also started two follow-up blogs: "Further on Syrian Refugees
Fleeing to the West," deals with the narrow question of Syrian refugees. "Making
Culture an Element of Immigration Policy," takes up the very deep issue of
criteria for allowing in newcomers.