LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

October 12/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.october12.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

You will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 16/20-24/:"Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy.
When a woman is in labour, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. On that day you will ask nothing of me. Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete."

Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery
Letter to the Galatians 05/01-06/:"Brothers and sisters: For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. It is I, Paul, who am telling you that if you have yourselves circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Once again I declare to every man who has himself circumcised that he is bound to observe the entire law. You are separated from Christ, you who are trying to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we await the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love."
 
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 11-12/16

How the Yezidis became Muslim/Robert Spencer/October 11/16
Leaked Hillary email: Saudis and Qatar funding the Islamic State — and the Clinton Foundation/Christine Williams /Jihad Watch/October 11/16
Turkey's Dangerous Moves in Iraq/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/October 11/16
Refugees or an Occupation Army/Maria Polizoidou/Gatestone Institute/October 11/16
Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei, Ideological Circles Attack Rafsanjani For Calling For Investing In Economy Instead Of Military – Like Germany And Japan Post-WWII/MEMRI/October 11/16
When a Scud missile lands near Makkah/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/October 11/16
Hassan Rowhani’s second term and the US elections/Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/October 11/16
After the Paris Agreement, how about one on Syria/Ehtesham Shahid/Al Arabiya/October 11/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on October 11-12/16
Aoun Discusses Presidential Developments with al-Rahi
Nasrallah Calls for Involving Berri in 'FPM-Mustaqbal Agreements', Renews Support for Aoun
Franjieh Calls on Aoun to Attend Presidential Vote, Clings to Own Nomination
Change and Reform: National Partnership is Solution to Lebanon's Crises
Bassil: We Will Stop the Sabotage Attempts
Jarrah: Saudi Arabia Does Not Interfere in Lebanon's Presidential Elections
Judge Presses Charges against Tarras and Two Others over Links to IS
Dead Body Found on Karantina Highway
Report: Abou Faour Back from 'Non-Productive' Visit to Saudi Arabia over Presidency File
Saudi Envoy Deletes Tweet on Jean Obeid, Says It was 'Misinterpreted'
Individuals brawl leaves three wounded in Sawfar
Hariri, Kheir hold talks
Salam, Kahwaji tackle current developments
Samir Frangié/October 10/16

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on October 11-12/16
Christian Converts In Iran Appeal 80 Lash Sentence For Taking Holy Communion
No Same Sex Marriage In Australia After Parliament Rejects Referendum
Holding Iran Regime Accountable Gains Support from International Community
Message Of Maryam Rajavi On The World Day Against Death Penalty: Rise & Stand Up To The Policies Ruling Religious Dictatorship
Heaviest Russian Raids on Syria's Aleppo in Days
Amnesty Urges Long-Term Solution for Syrians Trapped on Jordan Border
Putin Cancels Visit to Paris in Syria Row
UK's Johnson Urges Syria Protests at Russian Embassy
Syria Islamists, Jihadists Fight on Despite Pact
Video: Injured Syrian girl calls out desperately for her father
Syria opposition denies getting air defense missiles
Five children killed by rebel fire on Syria school
Houthis attempt to clean up funeral blasts site
ISIS confirms death of propaganda chief
Two Saudis on trial for using fake passports to join Syrian war
Turkey’s president tells Iraqi leader to ‘know his place’
Iraq Forces Deploy to Guard Huge Shiite Pilgrimage
Colombia to Launch Peace Talks with ELN Rebels

Links From Jihad Watch Site for on October 11-12/16
Leaked Hillary email: Saudis and Qatar funding the Islamic State — and the Clinton Foundation
Muslim arrested for threats at DC airport, causing disturbances in Boston — left Qur’an on steps of public building
Islamic Appreciation Month comes to the University of Florida
Video: Robert Spencer on why there is no end in sight in the defense against the global jihad
Kenya: Muslims murder six, injure dozens in jihad attack targeting Christians
Wanted: “infuriated young men” to join the jihad
Sweden: Muslim migrants gang-rape wheelchair-bound woman
“No to wall, Islam or die” spray-painted on San Antonio church entrance
Huffington Post: “Islam Isn’t Just Compatible With Western Values, It Fully Endorses Them”
Hugh Fitzgerald: What Do French Textbooks Teach About Islam? (Part II)
France: Police need extra protection when entering Muslim no-go zones
Islamic State cites Qur’an as it machine-guns hostages
Arizona: Muslim plotted jihad massacres at Jewish center, USAF recruitment center, DMV
How the Yezidis became Muslim
Hillary in 2013: “They can’t possibly vet all those refugees”
Another jihadist declared a martyr in Palestinian territories

Links From Christian Today Site for on October 11-12/16
Christian Converts In Iran Appeal 80 Lash Sentence For Taking Holy Communion
No Same Sex Marriage In Australia After Parliament Rejects Referendum
Babies Beaten, Girls Raped And Tortured: The Yazidis Suffering Under ISIS
No Churches, Violence And Harassment: Life For Christians In Afghanistan
Be Careful Not To Stereotype Trump Supporters, Warns New York Times CEO
Trump In More Trouble: Top US Republican Ryan Won't Campaign For Him
Pastors Arrested And Churches Set For Demolition As Persecution Increases In Sudan
Millions Of Girls Forced Into Marriage Before The Age Of 15
Four Ethiopian Teenagers On Trial For Evangelism

Latest Lebanese Related News published on on October 11-12/16
Aoun Discusses Presidential Developments with al-Rahi
Naharnet/October 11/16/Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun held phone talks Tuesday with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, state-run National News Agency reported. “Aoun lauded al-Rahi's stances and it was an occasion to discuss the latest developments regarding the presidential juncture,” NNA said. Al-Rahi has recently reiterated his rejection of imposing any “preconditions” on any presidential candidate or the president-elect, while urging the parliamentary blocs to “clearly announce” their stances on the nominations.Ties between al-Rahi and Speaker Nabih Berri had also witnessed tensions in recent days in the wake of the patriarch's announcement that any candidate who has “dignity” cannot accept a so-called package deal that has been proposed by the parliament speaker. Recent media reports have said that Berri is willing to accept “half a package deal” involving agreements on the electoral law, the oil exploration file and the finance and energy ministries in return for backing Aoun's presidential bid. Ex-PM Saad Hariri's recent return to Lebanon has triggered a flurry of rumors and media reports about a possible presidential settlement and the possibility that the former premier has decided to endorse Aoun for the presidency in a bid to break the presidential deadlock. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Nasrallah Calls for Involving Berri in 'FPM-Mustaqbal Agreements', Renews Support for Aoun
Naharnet/October 11/16/Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah revealed Tuesday that the Free Patriotic Movement and al-Mustaqbal Movement have reached “agreements” regarding the presidential election, calling for involving Speaker Nabih Berri and Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh in the understandings. “The country has entered a positive political course regarding the presidential election amid reports that the head of al-Mustaqbal Movement (ex-PM Saad Hariri) might announce his support for General Aoun's nomination,” Nasrallah said after making a rare public appearance at the Sayyed al-Shohada Complex in Dahieh to deliver a speech marking the eve of Ashoura. “We normally support and welcome any positive political development that achieves the desired result regarding the presidential juncture and we would acknowledge the efforts and courage of anyone who exerts efforts in this regard,” added Nasrallah, apparently referring to Hariri and his recent return to Lebanon. Reiterating Hizbullah's support for Aoun's nomination, Nasrallah said “Hizbullah's choice has always been clear.”“We are the people of honesty, loyalty and commitment to our stances. This is how we've always been and this is how we'll always remain,” he added. “There are agreements between the FPM and Mustaqbal, so where is the problem in forging agreements with Berri, Franjieh and the rest of the allies?” Nasrallah asked.
“Should Franjieh withdraw from the race, will the presidential vote take place? Before Hariri announces his nomination of Aoun this theory is meaningless,” the Hizbullah chief noted. He warned that there are parties that are trying to “take advantage of the presidential developments to sow discord between Hizbullah and the FPM and between Hizbullah and the AMAL Movement and the Marada Movement.” “The Lebanese are required to exert efforts to reach an understanding and must come together to elect a president and form a national unity government that gathers everyone before we start preparing for parliamentary elections,” he added. Nasrallah also called on “allies and friends” to “return to the government in return for commitment to the National Pact and partnership,” adding that “serious efforts must also exerted to resume the parliament's legislative role.”Recent media reports have said that Berri is willing to accept “half a package deal” involving agreements on the electoral law, the oil exploration file and the finance and energy ministries in return for backing Aoun's presidential bid. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community. As for Syria, Hizbullah's chief said the Gulf states “must accept political solutions if they want the welfare of the Syrian people.”“The Americans, Saudi Arabia and some regional countries are blocking the political solutions in Syria,” Nasrallah said, noting that “there are U.S. and Israeli objectives in Syria and Daesh (Islamic State group) and al-Nusra (Front) are being exploited to achieve these objectives,” Nasrallah noted.And warning that the region is heading to further escalation and tensions, Hizbullah's chief said the U.S. withdrew from the agreement with Russia after “finding out that separating al-Nusra from the rest of the armed groups, especially in Aleppo and Idlib, is impossible.” “The Americans realized that striking al-Nusra would weaken the rest of the armed groups,” he added.

Franjieh Calls on Aoun to Attend Presidential Vote, Clings to Own Nomination
Naharnet/October 11/16/Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh stressed Tuesday that he will carry on with his presidential nomination, calling on his electoral rival – Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun – to attend the next voting session. “We thanked the speaker for his support for my nomination,” said Franjieh after talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh. “I believe that the stronger candidate must not withdraw in favor of the weaker candidate and let the parliament decide,” he added. “We call on General Aoun and any person who wants to be a candidate to attend the next electoral session and let the best candidate win,” Franjieh urged. He also stressed that he will not withdraw from the race “even if only one MP” continues to support him. Franjieh's talks with Berri tackled “the current developments and the presidential file,” state-run National News Agency reported earlier. Franjieh was accompanied by his son Tony and the lawyer Youssef Finianos. The meeting was also attended by Berri's advisers Ali Hassan Khalil and Ahmed Baalbaki. The speaker later threw a lunch banquet in honor of the visitors. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community. Hariri has returned recently to Lebanon and launched a series of presidential consultations with the main political parties. The ex-PM is reportedly exploring the possibility of endorsing Aoun for the presidency in a bid to break the deadlock.

Change and Reform: National Partnership is Solution to Lebanon's Crises
Naharnet/October 11/16/The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc led by MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday stressed that “national partnership” is the solution to Lebanon's compounded problems, urging a mass turnout at the Free Patriotic Movement's annual October 13 rally which has been pushed to October 16 this year. “We will not back down from our rights, democratic Lebanon and national partnership,” bloc secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan announced after the weekly meeting in Rabieh. He urged “everyone, without exception, to take to the street on Sunday, October 16 to commemorate the anniversary of our martyrs.”“On October 16 we will mark a national cause and we will tell everyone that this State must be built upon principles and rights,” Kanaan added.“We will not back down from our endeavor to achieve change, reform, the rise of the State, and national partnership,” he said. Citing the FPM's agreements with Hizbullah and the Lebanese Forces, Kanaan stressed that the movement has “a deep-rooted belief in national partnership.”“The understandings that we have forged with Hizbullah and the LF are patriotic par excellence and this would be the case with any other political party,” the MP underlined. He added: “Adherence to the National Pact and national partnership is the solution to Lebanon's crises today, which have to do with the political system, the presidency, and the work of the government and parliament.”Aoun served as the head of one of two rival governments contending for power in Lebanon from 1988 to October 1990. He declared a so-called “liberation war” against Syrian forces stationed in Lebanon on March 14, 1989. On October 13, 1990, he was ousted from the presidential palace after the Syrian forces invaded the areas that were under his control. FPM chief Jebran Bassil had recently threatened that the FPM would “topple the government” through street protests if the other parties do not heed the movement's demand regarding “partnership” and the National Pact. The FPM, which has the biggest Christian bloc in parliament, has suspended its participation in cabinet sessions and national dialogue meetings over accusations that other parties in the country are not respecting the National Pact. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid have also argued that he is more eligible than Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Bassil: We Will Stop the Sabotage Attempts
Naharnet/October 11/16/Head of the Free Patriotic Movement Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said on Tuesday that resorting to the help of foreign countries, sabotages agreements between the Lebanese, and stressed that he will stop this from happening by reinforcing Lebanon's internal arena. “We cannot understand how some resort to foreign powers to sabotage the possibility of an understanding among the Lebanese,” said Bassil after a meeting with MP Talal Arslan. Bassil added that efforts to sabotage Lebanon's unity will be faced with further internal work to enforce any agreement that the Lebanese can reach. Answering a question about the Tweet of the Saudi chargé d'affaires that praised ex-Minister Jean Obeid, Bassil said: “Ask (al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad) Hariri about that. We are only concerned about the internal part of the issue.” Saudi charges d'affairs Walid Bukhari took to Twitter on Monday and quoted the late Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Saud al-Faisal: “Lebanon's foreign minister Jean Obeid is the wise man of the Arab foreign ministers.”The tweet was interpreted by some as favoring a particular candidate for the presidency over another. Founder of the FPM MP Michel Aoun is a candidate for the presidency facing Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh.

Jarrah: Saudi Arabia Does Not Interfere in Lebanon's Presidential Elections
Naharnet/October 11/16/Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc member MP Jamal Jarrah stressed on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia will not interfere in Lebanon's presidential elections, as he assured that the comments made by Saudi chargé d'affaires in Lebanon Walid al-Bukhari on Twitter were simply to overview the history of late Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, thus dismissing any indication of Riyadh's support for a specific candidate. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will not meddle in the presidential entitlement as it has always reiterated. The tweet of the Saudi charge d'affairs related to former Minister Jean Obeid was within an overview of the history of late Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Saud al-Faisal,” said Jarrah in an interview to VDL (93.3). Bukhari took to Twitter on Monday and quoted late Faisal as saying: “Lebanon's foreign minister Jean Obeid is the wise man of the Arab foreign ministers.”Jarrah added: “Ex-PM Saad Hariri and some parties are carrying on interior and foreign communications and consultations to reach a political settlement and elect new president.”The MP hoped that power vacuum would end at the upcoming parliamentary session on 31 October 2016, noting that Hariri would carry on his efforts to reach a positive outcome soon. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Ex-PM Saad Hariri's recent return to Lebanon has triggered a flurry of rumors and media reports about a possible presidential settlement and the possibility that the former premier has finally decided to endorse Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun for the presidency in a bid to break the deadlock. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Judge Presses Charges against Tarras and Two Others over Links to IS
Naharnet/October 11/16/State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr on Tuesday pressed charges against detained Sheikh Bassam al-Tarras and two other fugitives, Mohammed Qassem al-Ahmed and Mahmoud Rabih, for having ties to the Islamic State group, the state-run National News Agency reported. The cleric was re-arrested last Wednesday after a brief detention in connection with the August 31 Ksara bombing. He was summoned by the ISF Intelligence Branch for interrogation at the request of Assistant State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Hani Helmi al-Hajjar, who went to the branch's headquarters to oversee the investigations, reports had said. Hajjar had ordered the arrest of Tarras pending further investigations in light of new information that was unveiled by Hajjar's interrogation of Tarras last week and the judicial writs that he issued as a result. On September 15, the General Directorate of General Security said Tarras was briefly held in connection with the August 31 bombing over a meeting he held in Turkey with the attack's mastermind. The brief arrest of Tarras, a former mufti of the Rashaya area, had created an uproar in Lebanon's Sunni community, especially among the ranks of the influential Muslim Scholars Committee and some Islamic activists.

Dead Body Found on Karantina Highway
Naharnet/October 11/16/The body of a dead man was found on the Karantina highway northeast of Beirut, the Traffic Management Center said on Tuesday. Red Cross operations director George Kettaneh told VDL (100.5) that the body reportedly belongs to a Lebanese man in his 60s who was a victim of a hit-and-run incident. He added that the body was badly damaged. Kettaneh said that the Red Cross obtained permission from the public prosecution to remove the body from the middle of the highway.The identity of the man was not disclosed, and no further details were reported.

Report: Abou Faour Back from 'Non-Productive' Visit to Saudi Arabia over Presidency File
Naharnet/October 11/16/Health Minister Wael Abou Faour briefed Speaker Nabih Berri and al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri on his latest visit to Saudi Arabia that failed to bring a decisive answer as for the Saudi stance with regard to the nomination of MP Michel Aoun, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday. “Abou Faour met with a high-level Saudi figure during his visit to the Saudi kingdom two days ago,” well-informed sources told the daily on condition of anonymity. The name of the Saudi figure was not disclosed. Discussions between Abou Faour, who was dispatched by Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, and the Saudi official focused on the developments in Lebanon and the region, especially those related to the presidential elections. The sources added: “The Saudi official has affirmed to Abou Faour that the Kingdom and its leadership stand with the people of Lebanon, and is keen on their security and on the compatibility between the Lebanese themselves in order to preserve Lebanon's unity, sovereignty and stability at all levels.”“The Saudi leadership has registered firm positions with regard to the situation in Lebanon and will not interfere in the Lebanese internal affair. They have to work together in order to reach understandings and solutions for several issues without any external interference. They are responsible for the decisions they take,” the sources added. On the other hand, al-Akhbar daily said that although Abou Faour's visit did not bring anything new from Saudi Arabia, but the daily obtained information that the the Saudi figure that met the Minister did not give any decisive answer as for his country's position on the developments of the Lebanese presidential file. Abou Faour was quoted as saying that the atmospheres were negative as for Hariri's intention to nominate Aoun. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Hariri's recent return to Lebanon has triggered a flurry of rumors and media reports about a possible presidential settlement and the possibility that the former premier has finally decided to endorse Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun for the presidency in a bid to break the deadlock. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Saudi Envoy Deletes Tweet on Jean Obeid, Says It was 'Misinterpreted'
Naharnet/October 11/16/Saudi chargé d'affaires in Lebanon Walid al-Bukhari took to Twitter on Monday to remind of remarks by late Saudi foreign minister Saud al-Faisal about Lebanon's former foreign minister Jean Obeid. “Lebanon's foreign minister Jean Obeid is the wise man of the Arab foreign ministers,” Bukhari quoted Faisal as saying. The charge d'affaires deleted the tweet several hours later, saying it was “misinterpreted.”Obeid has served at different cabinet posts the last of which was foreign minister of Lebanon from 2003 to 2004. He was an adviser on Arab affairs to two former Lebanese presidents, Elias Sarkis and Amin Gemayel. Gemayel also appointed him as special envoy to Syria. Obeid also served as a member of the parliament, representing Chouf from 1991 to 1992 and Tripoli from 1992 to 2005.He ran for the presidency in 2008 and was considered to be a possible consensus candidate. Observers and media reports still consider him to be a potential compromise nominee. Bukhari's tweet comes amid a flurry of speculation and media reports that followed ex-PM Saad Hariri's recent return to Lebanon. Hariri is reportedly exploring the possibility of endorsing Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun for the presidency in a bid to break the deadlock. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Individuals brawl leaves three wounded in Sawfar
Tue 11 Oct 2016/NNA - An individual scuffle has broken out inside a restaurant in Sawfar and resulted in the injury of three persons, NNA field reporter said on Tuesday.

Hariri, Kheir hold talks
Tue 11 Oct 2016/NNA - Former Prime Minister, Saad Hariri met on Tuesday night at the downtown residence Deputy Kazem Kheir with talks featuring high on the general situation in the country.

Salam, Kahwaji tackle current developments
Tue 11 Oct 2016/NNA - Prime Minister Tammam Salam met Tuesday afternoon at the Grand Serail with Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji, whereby they reportedly discussed most recent developments. Premier Salam also met with former MP Wajih Baarini along with a delegation of the mayors of Akkar, who raised with the Premier developmental demands related to Akkar. Supreme Relief Committee Secretary General Mohammed Kheir was also present during the meeting. Salam also met with former Palestinian Justice Minister Ali Khashan, in the presence of Mrs Lama Salam, Syrian actress Suzan Najemeddine and Soprano Hiba Qawwas.
 

Samir Frangié
October 10/16
Allocution prononcée par Samir Frangié à l'occasion de la cérémonie de remise des insignes de la Légion d'honneur avec grade de commandeur, à la Résidence des Pins.
Monsieur l’Ambassadeur,
Je vous remercie pour votre mot et pour tous les efforts déployés dans la recherche d’une solution à la crise que traverse le Liban.
Je vous prie de transmettre mes remerciements au président François Hollande pour l’honneur qu’il m’a fait de me décerner la Légion d’honneur au grade de commandeur.
Cette haute distinction me renforce dans ma détermination à poursuivre la bataille que je mène pour la paix, bataille dont j’ai découvert l’absolue nécessité au cours de mon long « Voyage au bout de la violence ».
J’ai souvent été traité d’optimiste incorrigible, de rêveur, d’idéaliste. Cela ne m’a pas empêché de poursuivre mes efforts pour mettre ensemble, aux pires moments de la guerre, ceux qui s’affrontaient, de participer à la création du Congrès permanent du dialogue libanais qui a préparé le terrain à la réconciliation de la Montagne en 2001 et à celle du Regroupement de Kornet Chahwane qui, soutenu par le Patriarche Nasrallah Sfeir et l’évêque Youssef Béchara, a renoué les liens entre chrétiens et musulmans, et ouvert ainsi la voie en 2005 au « soulèvement de l’indépendance ».
Je n’aurais pas pu mener ces batailles sans le soutien de ma famille et de mes compagnons de route.
Je salue à cette occasion ma femme et mes enfants sans l’aide desquels je n’aurais pas été avec vous aujourd’hui.
Je salue également tous mes amis qui m’ont aidé à mesurer l’importance du lien à l’autre, cet autre qui nous forme comme nous le formons.
Je salue aussi la mémoire de ceux qui ne sont plus de ce monde et qui ont beaucoup donné.
Je pense à ceux qui ont été assassinés, de Rafic Hariri et Samir Kassir à Mohamed Chatah.
Je pense aussi à ceux qui nous ont quitté, à l’Imam Mohamed Mehdi Chamseddine, à l’Imam Hani Fahs, à Nassir Assaad, à Nassib Lahoud, à Assem Salam à Hikmat Eid, et beaucoup d’autres.
Je pense enfin à mon père qui a été l’un des artisans de l’indépendance, la première, et dont j’ai hérité ce refus viscéral de toute discrimination confessionnelle, mon père qui avait négocié en 1946 l’accord sur l’évacuation des troupes françaises du Liban et avait, lui aussi, reçu la Légion d’honneur au grade de commandeur.
Chers amis,
Le rejet de cette discrimination confessionnelle fondée sur la peur de l’autre ne relève plus d’un choix politique. Il est aujourd’hui la condition à notre survie.
Et celle-ci nécessite de tourner la page du passé et de jeter les bases d’une véritable réconciliation nationale. Je ne parle pas de compromis à trouver entre les forces politiques pour un nouveau partage du pouvoir entre elles, mais d’une véritable réconciliation qui nous permettrait de mettre un terme à un demi-siècle de guerres et de violences et de refonder notre vivre ensemble aux conditions de l’Etat et non plus aux conditions d’une communauté dominante.
Il nous faut pour cela sortir de cet état d’impuissance qui nous paralyse et comprendre que ceux qui rejettent la violence sont aujourd’hui très largement majoritaires et peuvent jouer un rôle déterminant s’ils œuvrent à tisser des liens entre eux pour mener ensemble la bataille de la paix.
Cette réconciliation qui ne doit exclure personne, même ceux qui sont encore dans l’attente de nouvelles « victoires divines », est aujourd’hui plus que jamais nécessaire parce qu’elle nous permet de redonner vie à cette expérience unique du vivre ensemble que nous avons connue et qui fonde la démocratie sur la reconnaissance de la diversité. Nous devons en faire un modèle pour un monde arabe ravagé par la guerre civile.
Monsieur l’Ambassadeur,
La France a un rôle capital à jouer dans cette bataille pour la paix.
Ce rôle n’est pas nouveau et les efforts déployés depuis 1975 pour mettre un terme à la guerre en témoignent. Un de vos prédécesseurs, l’ambassadeur Louis Delamare, a même payé de sa vie les rencontres qu’il avait organisé pour amorcer le dialogue entre les belligérants, rencontres auxquelles j’avais participé avec Walid Joumblatt.
C’est d’ailleurs dans le cadre de cette bataille pour la paix que j’ai eu l’occasion de rencontrer le président François Hollande, lors de sa visite au Liban, pour lui exposer le projet d’une « Méditerranée du vivre-ensemble » qui s’adresserait aux modérés des deux rives pour les pousser à mener ensemble leur bataille contre toutes les formes d’extrémisme.
J’avais été très favorablement impressionné par la réaction de mon interlocuteur qui avait proposé de tenir ce congrès méditerranéen à Paris même.
Cette réaction m’avait encouragé à organiser à Beyrouth un congrès préparatoire qui avait regroupé des représentants de la société civile arabe, Libanais, Palestiniens, Irakiens, Syriens et Tunisiens.
Je voudrais également rendre hommage à la France pour sa condamnation de cet effroyable massacre qui se poursuit en Syrie depuis plus de cinq ans. Ses efforts pour amener la communauté internationale à assumer ses responsabilités nous aident à poursuivre ce long chemin vers la paix.
Monsieur l’Ambassadeur,
Je reçois la Légion d’honneur à un moment difficile de mon existence où je dois mener, une nouvelle fois encore, bataille contre une violence d’un type différent et d’une nature plus insidieuse.
Cette distinction me pousse à poursuivre avec encore plus d’acharnement mon combat contre toutes les formes de violence.
Pour cela aussi, je vous remercie.
 

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on October 11-12/16

Christian Converts In Iran Appeal 80 Lash Sentence For Taking Holy Communion
Ruth Gledhill/ Christian Today Contributing Editor/11 October 2016/Three Iranian men who converted to Christianity From Islam are appealing against criminal convictions for drinking alcohol. Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Saheb Fadaie and Mohammad Reza Omidi were sentenced to 80 lashes for taking communion wine. Non-Muslims are allowed to drink alcohol in Iran. But because conversion to Christianity from Islam is forbidden and regarded as apostasy, the three men are still legally regarded as Muslims. The third man, Omidi, already has a previous conviction for drinking alcohol. If he is convicted a third time, he is likely to face the death sentence. World Watch Monitor reports that the three men have also been charged with acting against national security. Youcef Nadarkhani, the pastor who was in 2009 sentenced to death for apostasy in Iran but subsequently released after he was acquitted in 2012, was also arrested along with his wife Tina and charged with acting against national security. The three converts and Pastor Youcef face up to six years in jail for this offence, if convicted when all four next appear in the Revolutionary Court in Rasht on 15 October. Since last year, Iranian authorities have already put more than 200 Christians behind bars. At least 43 Christians were arrested in August alone. Paul Robinson, chief executive of Release International, said: "Why should Christians be lashed for taking communion? And why is Iran refusing to allow its own citizens that most basic of all freedoms, the freedom to choose their own faith? These men have chosen to call themselves Christians. The state should respect that." Middle East Concern's Rob Duncan said: "The Iranian regime is conducting a very active campaign against house churches at the moment and leaders of house churches are harassed and put under pressure."Middle East Concern is requesting prayers from Christians worldwide for the Iranian Christian converts.

No Same Sex Marriage In Australia After Parliament Rejects Referendum
Mark Woods/ Christian Today Contributing Editor/ 11 October 2016
Same-sex marriage is likely to be delayed for at least three years in Australia after the opposition Labor party said on Tuesday it would not support a national vote. The move deals another potential blow to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Australia's centre-right coalition government introduced legislation to parliament last month to hold a public vote in February 2017 on whether to legalise same-sex unions. The bill required the support of some opposition lawmakers because Turnbull's Liberal-National coalition has only a one-vote majority in the lower house of parliament and does not have a majority in the upper house. The rejection is a blow to Turnbull, who has seen his popularity wane amid frustration that he has failed to live up to his progressive reputation. Same-sex marriage is supported by 61 per cent of Australians, a Gallup poll in August found. Several independent MPs had already ruled out supporting the national plebiscite on same-sex marriage. The rejection by the centre-left Labor party, which wants same-sex marriages legalised by parliament, ended any hope the plebiscite bill could pass. "Why should gay Australians be subjected to a different law-making process than any other Australians?" said Labor leader Bill Shorten. "Why should a couple in a committed relationship have to knock on the doors of 15 million of their fellow Australians and see if they agree with it? The easiest way is the way which this parliament has done for a hundred years – legislate."Advocates of same-sex marriage who oppose a referendum are also concerned public debate around the vote would prove harmful, sparking homophobic rhetoric against same-sex unions. Those who oppose it are also critical. The Australian Christian Lobby, which campaigns against gay marriage, said it was disappointed by parliament's decision. Managing director Lyle Shelton said: "Despite constantly claiming overwhelming public support for redefining marriage, it is perplexing that advocates are not willing to trust the Australian people with a decision that has enormous consequences for all families. "Such a big change with such big consequences for what children are taught at school, the rights of children to know their mother and father and for freedom of speech should be taken to the people."Additional reporting by Reuters.

Holding Iran Regime Accountable Gains Support from International Community
Shahriar Kia /American Thinker/October 11/16
In his October 9 article for American Thinker, Shahriar Kia writes that October 10th marks the 14th World Day Against Death Penalty. Rallies will take place across the globe in support of the abolition of executions. While great strides were made in 2015, with 169 of the 193 member states of the UN execution-free in the past year, we need to raise awareness in countries where the state of human rights has deteriorated and the application of capital punishment has continued.
Kia is specifically concerned about Iran, where more than 1,000 people have been executed in the past year. The regime sent 27 people to the gallows in the span of three days, just last week. This is a greater number than the yearly figures of most countries that still exercise capital punishment. Iran continues to allow juvenile offenders executed, and today, a young woman is waiting to join their ranks.
Kia says, “And a lot more is happening discreetly.”
The clerical regime in Iran has a 38-year history of human rights violations, going back to the 1988 summer massacre, where more than 30 thousand political prisoners were executed in the span of a few months. The massacre resulted from an order by Khomeini, the founder and then-supreme leader of the Iranian regime, who declared a fatwa, in which which every opposition member was to be executed unless they repented and rejected their ideals of freedom and democracy. The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), the main opposition group, were the main targets.
During the 1988 massacre, A group of four clerics were appointed to what later became known as the "Death Committee.” They held very short, minutes long, trials at the prisons, and sealed the fate of prisoners, many of whom were executed merely because they had attended rallies or distributed newspapers belonging to the PMOI.
The PMOI continue to this day to fight to establish a free, democratic, and secular government in Iran. They had a pivotal role in exposing the Iranian regime illicit nuclear program and its terrorist venturing in the Middle East region.
The late Ayatollah Montazeri, Khomeini's heir apparent at the time, condemned the executions as "the biggest crime in the history of the Islamic Republic." Montazeri was later deposed from his position and sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life, because he spoke his conscience. His statements can be heard in a recently released audio recording.
According to Kia, “the UN and the international community has done little to shed light on and punish this crime against humanity that is compared to the Srebrenica genocide. What's more, the perpetrators of this atrocity continue to hold positions of power in Iran and continue their crimes with impunity.” He uses Mostafa Pourmohammadi, one of the leading members of the notorious Death Committee, as an example. Pourmohammadi now serves as justice minister in the administration of Hassan Rouhani, the "moderate" figure in the Iranian regime.
Kia also worries that, “Current efforts being made to renew ties with Iran and reintegrate the Iranian regime into the international community after years of isolation and animosity will only result in the ruling mullahs becoming more brazen in their crimes against the Iranian people.
In recent months, an international campaign has emerged, with the intention of holding those responsible for the 1988 massacre accountable, and to end the persecution of political dissidents. The movement continues to gather support from politicians and activists across the world, as well as from the U.S. Congress. A resolution introduced to the House of Representatives on September 21 by Homeland Security committee chair Mike McCaul called for the condemnation of the Iranian regime for massacre of political prisoners in 1988 and justice for the families of the victims.
“This underlines the need to stay true to the fundamental values that have been earned and bled for over decades and centuries of human history. Crimes against humanity such as the 1988 massacre and the continued violation of human rights in Iran should not be forgotten or overlooked for the sake of political and economic benefits. The perpetrators must be held accountable and any relations with the Iranian regime must be predicated on the improvement of human rights conditions in Iran,” writes Kia, who adds, “So while we get ready to celebrate and commemorate the efforts made to abolish the death penalty, we must also remember that there is still a lot that needs to be done.”

Message Of Maryam Rajavi On The World Day Against Death Penalty: Rise & Stand Up To The Policies Ruling Religious Dictatorship
NCRI Statements/uesday, 11 October 2016
On the World Day against the Death Penalty, I hail all the brave men and women who were executed by Iran's ruling religious dictatorship in the battle for freedom.
More than any other party, the World Day Against the Death Penalty targets the Iranian regime that has so far executed 120,000 of Iran's children, including the 30,000 political prisoners who were serving their prison sentences, but were hanged just for their political beliefs. According to Khomeini's fatwa, any prisoner who continued to adhere to the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, had to be executed.
The number of executions including political executions in Iran over the past one year exceed the number of executions carried out in most of the years of Khamenei's rule.
The mass execution of 25 Sunni Kurds on August 2, 2016, and the executions of three Arab political prisoner on August 17, 2016, are just to name a few examples.
Meanwhile the trend of executions on other charges continues incessantly.
A member of the Legal and Judicial Committee in the regime's parliament revealed in August that, "Presently, there are 4500 undecided prisoners on death row."
According to the report by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Ahmad Shahid, nearly 1,000 people were executed last year in Iran.
While the majority of these executions are carried out under the pretext of combatting drug trafficking, there have been numerous reports indicating that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has had a significant role in the smuggling and distribution of narcotic drugs within Iran. So, those who are executed on this charge, are victimized twice, once by repression and twice by the regime's criminal activities.
In recent years, officials of the governments of Azerbaijan , Afghanistan , and Nigeria uncovered the involvement of the IRGC and the Iranian regime's security forces in drug smuggling, when the US Treasury Department had already blacklisted one of the commanders of the terrorist Quds Force for his involvement in drug dealing and smuggling and added him to the list of people who had been sanctioned and were liable to prosecution.
Then in March 2015, Rouhani's Interior Minister Rahmani Fazli admitted, "Undoubtedly, part of the dirty money of drug trafficking gets funneled into the country's politics, elections and transfer of power."
Reports confirm that the IRGC makes exorbitant profits out of its drug deals. Other than these details, Khamenei seeks to continue its bloodletting by incessant executions to maintain repression and terror in Iran's discontented society.
Accordingly, the executions carried out by the clerical regime is a premeditated crime. These executions are against genuine Islamic standards. They violate international standards of fair trials, and as the UN Secretary General stated last year, "The majority of executions were imposed for drug-related offences – crimes that do not meet the threshold of the ‘most serious crimes’ as required by international law."
The Human Rights Council announced that these executions do not abide by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and The UN Office on Drugs and Crimes have also declared that these charges do not merit to be punished with executions.
The death penalty faces growing opposition and general detestation in Iran, as well.
The movement to obtain justice for victims of the massacre in 1988 has expanded in recent months cornering the mullahs with regards to continuing the executions.
A group of members of the regime's parliament recently proposed a plan to commute the death sentences for some of the convicts of drug-related cases in a theatrical bid to contain social discontent. As far as the Velayat-e Faqih regime is concerned, it is not able to give up executions and torture until it is overthrown. It sees executions as its lifeblood.
This is why the majority of the regime's leaders, from Khamenei, Rafsanjani and Jannati to its Chief Justice, head of the Justice Ministry and Bassij, rose to defend the massacre in the wake of the public dissemination of the audio file of Mr. Montazeri's remarks on the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, calling it "the supreme leader's miracle", their "honor", and "a historic and revolutionary decision by the Imam (Khomeini)."
These confessions made by the masterminds and supporters of the ongoing executions today in Iran, are explicit and irrefutable documents on crimes against humanity committed by the ruling mullahs.
I call on the international community to provide the arrangements for the prosecution of the clerical regime's leaders, particularly its leader Khamenei, in the international courts for the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners.
We call on western governments to make their relations with the Iranian regime contingent on a moratorium on executions.
And we call on our compatriots, and particularly the youths, to stand up to and resist against the policy of executions and killing.
The Iranian people and Resistance will bring justice to the clerical regime for violating their human rights.
This Resistance has risen up to create a society that bears no trace of the death penalty, torture, and inhuman verdicts issued under the mullahs' regime. Instead, it will be ruled by laws based on forgiveness, compassion, humanity, and relations based on friendship and tolerance.

Heaviest Russian Raids on Syria's Aleppo in Days
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 11/16/At least eight civilians were killed on Tuesday in the heaviest Russian bombardment in days of rebel-held areas of Syria's second city Aleppo, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said eight civilians were killed in the Bustan al-Qasr and Fardos districts in the east of the city. "This is the heaviest Russian bombardment since the Syrian regime announced it would reduce the bombardment" on October 5, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. An AFP correspondent in the Bustan al-Qasr district saw one multi-story residential building that had been destroyed, its facade sheared off in the air attack. Members of the White Helmets rescue force pulled two lifeless toddlers from the building and wrapped them in white sheets. The Britain-based Observatory -- which relies on a network of sources inside Syria for its information -- says it determines what planes carried out raids according to their type, location, flight patterns and the munitions involved. Backed by Russian air raids, government forces have advanced street by street into rebel-held areas in a bid to recapture the whole of Aleppo. At least 290 people, mostly civilians, have been killed by government or Russian fire since the operation began on September 22, the Observatory said.
On October 5, the army said it would reduce its bombardment of the east of the city and urged civilians to distance themselves from rebel fighters.

Amnesty Urges Long-Term Solution for Syrians Trapped on Jordan Border
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 11/16/Amnesty International on Tuesday welcomed Jordan's move to allow aid deliveries to thousands of Syrians trapped on its desert border, but called for a long-term solution to the crisis. More than 70,000 Syrians are trapped in "hellish conditions" in a remote, arid strip of no-man's land on the Syrian side of the border, the rights group said. Jordan closed the border, halting aid deliveries to a makeshift camp, after a bombing claimed by the Islamic State group killed seven Jordanian soldiers in June.  Since then the kingdom has only allowed a single delivery of aid to the refugees, in August.  But it said on Monday it would allow further deliveries by crane across the border in the coming weeks. Amnesty said the announcement was "a long-awaited glimmer of hope that should be followed by a sustainable, long-term solution." "News that humanitarian assistance will be resumed to tens of thousands of refugees... comes as a welcome relief," said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty's director of global issues and research. "However, we are worried by reports that aid will be lobbed across the border by crane or that refugees will be coerced... to move to areas where they may be at risk of attack in order to receive it." She called for unfettered humanitarian access and for the refugees to be allowed onto Jordanian territory.  Jordan closed its entire desert border with Syria and Iraq, after the bombing near the Rukban crossing on June 21. Jordanian officials said the bomber had come from a camp just across the border. Jordan says it is hosting over 1.4 million Syrians on its territory, of which 630,000 are registered with the United Nations. The kingdom has repeatedly said it is not receiving enough international help to share the burden.

Putin Cancels Visit to Paris in Syria Row
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 11/16/Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday canceled a visit to France in a furious row over Moscow's role in the Syrian conflict. The announcement from the Kremlin came a day after French President Francois Hollande said Syrian forces had committed a "war crime" in the battered city of Aleppo with the support of Russian air strikes. Putin had been due in Paris on October 19 to inaugurate a spiritual center at a new Russian Orthodox church near the Eiffel Tower, but Hollande had insisted his Russian counterpart also took part in talks with him about Syria. Russia has been waging a punishing aerial bombing campaign in Syria for more than a year in support of President Bashar Assad's forces, part of a multi-front war that has claimed some 300,000 lives and seen Moscow further estranged from the West. The French president had admitted he was agonizing over whether to meet Putin, but the Kremlin on Tuesday called off the visit. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin was "ready to visit when it is comfortable for President Hollande", adding that Moscow would "wait for when that comfortable time comes."Hollande responded that he was prepared to meet Putin "at any time... to further peace". Speaking in Strasbourg, Hollande said France and Russia had had a "major disagreement" over Syria. "It is necessary to have dialogue with Russia but it must be firm and frank," Hollande told the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe rights body. On Saturday, Russia blocked a draft French U.N. resolution calling for an end to the barrage of air strikes on the rebel-held east of Aleppo that have escalated in the last month, leaving hundreds of people dead, including dozens of children. It was the fifth time that Russia used its veto to block U.N. action to end the five-year war in Syria that has sent millions fleeing and triggered the biggest migration crisis in Europe since World War II.
'Heaviest bombardment in days
In the aftermath of that decision, Hollande described the bombing of Aleppo as a "war crime".He said in a TV interview on Monday: "Those who commit these acts will have to pay for their involvement, including at the International Criminal Court."On Tuesday, at least 12 civilians were killed in the heaviest Russian bombardment in days of Aleppo, a monitoring group said. An AFP correspondent and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported it was the most intense bombing since the Syrian army said on October 5 it would reduce its onslaught on the northern city. Despite canceling his visit to Paris, Putin is still considering traveling to Berlin on October 19 for a meeting on the conflict in Ukraine, one of his aides told Itar-Tass on Monday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed the meeting along the lines of the so-called Normandy format, bringing together Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, with the possible participation of Hollande. But it is uncertain whether Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is prepared to take part. It is not the first time in recent years that Moscow's foreign policy has strained relations between France and Russia. The outbreak of the Ukraine crisis in 2014 eventually prompted France to cancel the delivery to Russia of two Mistral assault ships and repay almost 950 million euros ($1.1 billion). The ships were subsequently sold to Egypt.

UK's Johnson Urges Syria Protests at Russian Embassy
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 11/16/British foreign minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday called for anti-war campaigners to protest outside the Russian embassy in London, during a parliamentary debate on the bombing of Aleppo in Syria. "I'd certainly like to see demonstrations outside the Russian embassy," Johnson told MPs in parliament. Johnson, a former mayor of London known for his many public gaffes, said the "wells of outrage are growing exhausted" and anti-war groups were not expressing sufficient outrage at the conflict in Aleppo. "Where is the Stop the War Coalition at the moment? Where are they?" he said. The Stop the War group was co-founded by current opposition Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to protest against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It brought millions of Britons into the streets to protest against the build-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. During Tuesday's debate in parliament, several lawmakers accused Russia of committing war crimes in Syria. Johnson was responding to a question from Labor MP Ann Clwyd, who called for protests by millions of people outside Russian embassies worldwide. "I would therefore call once again on everyone who cares about the plight of Syrian civilians to picket the Russian embassy in London and in capitals around the world from today," she said. "Two million, three million, four million people. It can be done. It has been done in the past."Andrew Mitchell, a former international development minister, said British aircraft could help enforce a no-fly zone to prevent Russian bombing raids. "The international community has an avowed responsibility to protect and that protection must be exerted," the MP from Prime Minister Theresa May's governing Conservative Party said. "If that means confronting Russian airpower defensively, on behalf of the innocent people on the ground who we are trying to protect, then we should do that."Mitchell compared Russia's actions to those of Nazi forces during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. Russia has been waging a punishing aerial bombing campaign in Syria for more than a year in support of President Bashar Assad's forces, part of a multi-front war that has claimed some 300,000 lives and seen Moscow further estranged from the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday canceled a visit to France in a furious row over Moscow's role in the Syrian conflict. The announcement from the Kremlin came a day after French President Francois Hollande said Syrian forces had committed a "war crime" in the battered city of Aleppo with the support of Russian air strikes.

Syria Islamists, Jihadists Fight on Despite Pact
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 11/16/A key Syrian Islamist rebel group and a jihadist faction have signed a non-aggression pact after days of clashes, but fighting continued on Tuesday despite the deal, a monitor said. The jihadist Jund al-Aqsa faction has been involved in heavy fighting with rebel groups including the influential Islamist Ahrar al-Sham in northwestern Idlib since October 6. The two groups were once allies in the fight against President Bashar Assad's regime, though rebel factions have often accused Jund al-Aqsa of ties with the Islamic State group, which has targeted rebels. In a bid to calm the tensions, the jihadist Fateh al-Sham Front -- an ally of Ahrar al-Sham and key rival of IS -- announced on Sunday it would bring Jund al-Aqsa into its ranks. And on Monday night, Fateh al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham signed a deal intended to end the in-fighting. But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clashes were continuing in Idlib on Tuesday. Government forces have taken advantage of the in-fighting to recapture a series of towns and villages in neighbouring Hama province, the Britain-based monitoring group said. More than 300,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011.

Video: Injured Syrian girl calls out desperately for her father
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Tuesday, 11 October 2016/Another video from Syria has emerged of a girl crying desperately for her father in the aftermath of an air raid attack on her home. The girl, who can be heard saying her name was Aya, was inconsolable as medics surrounded her to ensure her safety in Talbiseh town north of Homs city. In the video, Aya says her family was inside the house when the rocket hit and part of the ceiling collapsed. The attack purportedly took place on Monday, when two Syrian regime warplanes bombarded the town, resulting in mass casualties and injuries.

Syria opposition denies getting air defense missiles
Mohammed al-Hassan, AlArabiya.net Tuesday, 11 October 2016/Syrian opposition groups did not receive air defense missiles as earlier reported, a spokesman from the Syrian High Negotiations Committee confirmed to AlArabiya.net. Riyadh Naasan Agha said that no Syrian opposition groups have received any air defense missiles or technologies, confirming the same denial issued earlier by Dr. Salem al-Maslet in a news conference in Riyadh on Monday. “If we did receive any air defense missiles systems, we wouldn’t be in this situation that we are in today,” he said. The reports of the anti-air defense missiles came after Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute and expert on Middle East insurgency Charles Lister tweeted that “select ‘vetted’ FSA units have also received field artillery systems & ammunition, while TOW antitank missiles are also still flowing.

Five children killed by rebel fire on Syria school
AFP, Damascus Tuesday, 11 October 2016/At least five children were killed by rebel fire on a school in the southern Syrian city of Daraa on Tuesday, state media said.
“Five children were killed and 15 wounded in terrorist shelling of a primary school in the Al-Sahary neighborhood of Daraa,” state news agency SANA reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, also reported the rocket fire on the school, saying at least six people had been killed, five of them children. It said that at least 25 people were wounded in the attack, and that the death toll was likely to rise because a number of the wounded were in critical condition. Rebel forces control most of Daraa province, but the provincial capital is largely controlled by the government. Daraa is sometimes dubbed the “cradle” of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad that began with protests in the province in March 2011.

Houthis attempt to clean up funeral blasts site
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Tuesday, 11 October 2016/Tribal leaders and family members of the funeral home attack have stopped Houthi militias from lifting up debris of the strike that killed more than 80 people. Yemeni sources confirmed that Houthi militias issued directives to quickly remove the debris and aftermath of the strikes that targeted a funeral hall in Sanaa on Saturday before the arrival of any investigative teams. The news comes following the victims’ families and tribes releasing a statement calling the strike on the funeral a ‘conspiracy’ and urged for calm and restrained pending further investigations. Sources close to Al Arabiya News Channel say more than 80 people were killed in the strikes, among them Sanaa’s mayor Abdul-Qader Hilal and a senior figure in the ouster former president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s party.. Houthi senior figures were also confirmed killed during the attack, among them Mubarak al-Zaydi, a member of the Houthi militias’ political office.
Denial
There was no Arab coalition air role in a strike in Sanaa on Saturday, sources in the Saudi-led coalition said. “Absolutely no such operation took place at that target,” one of the sources said, citing what he described as confirmation from the coalition air force command. “The coalition is aware of such reports and is certain that it is possible that other causes of bombing are to be considered. The coalition has in the past avoided such gatherings and (they) never been a subject of targets.”

ISIS confirms death of propaganda chief
Reuters, Beirut Tuesday, 11 October 2016/ISIS on Monday confirmed the death of its propaganda chief, whom the Pentagon said was killed in a US-led air strike in Syria’s Raqqa province last month. An statement posted online by the militant group paid tribute to Wa’il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Furqan. The statement just referred to him by his alias. It did not say when, where or how he had died.The Pentagon said last month that a US-led coalition air strike on Sept. 7 had killed al-Fayad. It said he was minister of information, overseeing ISIS propaganda, and a prominent member of its Senior Shura Council, or leadership group. ISIS’s statement referred to al-Fayad as head of its media arm. The air strike took place near Raqqa, ISIS de facto capital in northern Syria, and targeted al-Fayad while he was on a motorcycle outside his house, the Pentagon said.
ISIS controls large parts of Iraq and Syria and has broadcast its beheadings of journalists and aid workers over the past few years. The group has sympathizers in several countries who have carried out bombings and shootings of civilians.

Two Saudis on trial for using fake passports to join Syrian war
By Staff writer Alarabiya.net Tuesday, 11 October 2016/Two Saudis were arrested after they attempted to flee the country to join the war in Syria, using fake passports. Saudi Arabia’s Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution filed a lawsuit against the two on Tuesday. The suspects are said to have contacted “smugglers” in and outside the kingdom to facilitate their travel. They initially tried to escape to Bahrain using a fake Bahraini passport for the first suspect. But they were arrested by Saudi authorities.Nevertheless, the suspects attempted to escape two days later but this time through Yemen. They were then arrested by Yemeni authorities and handed over to the Saudi authorities. It was found that the first defendant had already been arrested as he tried to travel to Afghanistan. He was later released and resumed his studies. He then decided to join the ongoing Syrian war and this is when he met the second defendant. They both agreed they wanted to go to Syria, and were preparing to join the ranks of “Ahrar al-Sham” group via a Syrian fighter. Saudi Arabia is trying to prevent young people from going to fight in Syria. Many of the foreign fighters flocking to Syria to join groups like the ISIS are Arabs from the Middle East and Africa, although militants have attracted fighters from across different countries ranging from Norway to Uzbekistan.

Turkey’s president tells Iraqi leader to ‘know his place’
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart The Associated Press, Ankara, Turkey Tuesday, 11 October 2016éTurkey can’t be excluded from a possible operation to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul, Turkey’s president said Tuesday, telling Iraq’s leader to “know his place.”Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s remarks were likely to add to tensions between the two neighbors, which are key US partners in the fight against the ISIS group. In a speech delivered in Istanbul, Erdogan also said Turkish troops wouldn’t withdraw from a base near Mosul, saying the Turkish army wouldn’t take orders from Baghdad. Turkey is training anti-ISIS fighters to help retake Mosul from the extremist group. Turkey-Iraq relations became strained after Ankara sent troops late last year to the region of Bashiqa, northeast of Mosul, to train anti-ISIS fighters there - a move Baghdad has since labeled a “blatant violation” of its sovereignty. Iraq has demanded a Turkish withdrawal, but Ankara has repeatedly ignored the call. Turkish officials say hundreds of their soldiers are based at Bashiqa, training more than 3,000 Turkmen, Kurdish or Sunni Arab fighters from Mosul. Turkey says about 700 ISIS militants have been killed in retaliatory attacks against the extremists carried out from the base. Turkish warnings about possible sectarian clashes in Mosul if the majority Sunni region were placed under Shiite militia control also have drawn Baghdad’s ire. Last week, both countries summoned each other’s ambassadors while Iraq requested an emergency session of the UN Security Council over the presence of unauthorized Turkish troops in northern Iraq. Speaking to Muslim religious leaders from the Balkans and Central Asia, Erdogan said objections from Iraq wouldn’t stop Turkey from participating in any operation to free Mosul and proceeded to make vitriolic remarks against Iraq’s prime minister. “You are not my interlocutor, you are not at my level, you are not my equivalent, you are not of the same quality as me,” Erdogan said, addressing Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. “Your screaming and shouting in Iraq is of no importance to us. You should know that we will go our own way.”Erdogan also said Turkey wouldn’t withdraw its troops from the base in Bashiqa, adding that it was al-Abadi himself who had asked Ankara to train fighters there back in 2014.
“Turkey’s army hasn’t lost enough of its quality to take orders from you,” Erdogan said in response to Iraqi calls for the troop’s withdrawal. “We would do whatever is necessary as we have done until today.”Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, meanwhile, again warned that any operation to free Mosul shouldn’t lead to any demographic change. Turkish is worried that once Mosul is liberated from ISIS, Kurds or Shiite groups may take Mosul over and push out Sunni Arabs or ethnic Turkmens. “We have explained to all of our friends that the operation planned for Mosul should be limited to removing Daesh,” Yildirim said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. “If you, after removing Daesh, attempt to change Mosul’s demographic structure, you will light the fire of a very big civil war, of a sectarian war. This is our warning,” Yildirim said.

Iraq Forces Deploy to Guard Huge Shiite Pilgrimage
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 11/16/Iraqi soldiers, police and paramilitaries deployed in and around Karbala Tuesday to protect hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims flocking to the shrine city for annual mourning rituals, officials said. Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, is buried in Karbala, and Shiite pilgrims pack the city each year for Ashura commemorations, which mark his death in the 7th century. "Our forces from the army and local and federal police took strict security measures culminating today to protect pilgrims in and around Karbala," police spokesman Colonel Alaa al-Ghanimi told AFP. "Forces from the Hashed al-Shaabi have implemented security measures to control areas in the west of Karbala province," Ghanimi said, referring to an umbrella organisation for pro-government militiamen. Anbar province, where the Islamic State jihadist group still holds territory, is located to the west of Karbala. The number of pilgrims participating in the Ashura commemorations is expected to be huge, with Karbala deputy governor Ali al-Mayali saying it was expected to reach three million. Some 250,000 pilgrims have arrived over the past two days, Mayali said.Ghanimi said there had been no security breaches so far. Attacks in Karbala are rare, but the Sunni extremist group IS considers Shiites to be heretics and frequently targets them in attacks. IS claimed a Sunday bombing in Baghdad that hit a tent where Shiites were distributing refreshments on the occasion of the commemorations for Imam Hussein, killing at least five people. Imam Hussein was killed in 680 AD by forces of the Caliph Yazid, and his death is marked every year on the 10th day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, which is known as Ashura.Imam Hussein's death was part of a dispute over who should succeed the Prophet Mohammed, which eventually developed into a bitter schism between the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam.

Colombia to Launch Peace Talks with ELN Rebels
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 11/16/The Colombian government and the country's second-largest rebel group, the ELN, announced Monday they would launch negotiations on October 27 in Ecuador's capital, with President Juan Manuel Santos predicting "total peace". Both sides have committed to doing everything in their power to "create an environment favorable to peace" once the talks begin, according to a joint statement delivered at the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry in Caracas. The move comes as welcome news for Santos, fresh from his Nobel Peace Prize win but still reeling from voters' rejection in a referendum of a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest rebel group. "We've been seeking negotiations with the ELN for almost three years to end the armed conflict with them as well... Now that we're moving forward with the ELN, we will have total peace," Santos said in Bogota. The ELN freed a civilian hostage, the International Committee of the Red Cross said, ahead of what the rebels had billed as an "important announcement" on potential peace talks with the government. It was the third hostage release in two weeks by the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN). Colombia and the ELN agreed in March to launch peace talks, in parallel with the government's negotiations with the FARC. But the government has said negotiations with the ELN cannot begin until the group frees all its hostages. In the text presented in Caracas, the ELN vowed to "initiate the process to free hostages before October 27". The Red Cross said ELN fighters had handed over the latest hostage, who it did not identify, in a remote area in the department of Arauca, on the Venezuelan border. Catholic Church sources identified the hostage as Nelson Alarcon, kidnapped three months ago.
The ELN is still believed to be holding at least one hostage, former congressman Odin Sanchez. But the text announcing peace talks spoke of "two cases," without giving further details. Sanchez handed himself over to the rebels in April in exchange for the release of his brother, Patrocinio Sanchez, a former governor who had fallen ill after nearly three years in captivity.
- Fight for peace -Santos is working to end half a century of conflict in Colombia that has killed more than 260,000 people, left 45,000 missing and uprooted nearly seven million. Over the decades, the conflict has drawn in several leftist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs. The last two leftist guerrilla groups, the FARC and ELN, have been at war with the state since 1964. The ELN is estimated to be about one fourth the size of the FARC, with some 1,500 fighters. After nearly four years of talks with the FARC in the Cuban capital Havana, the government and rebels signed a peace deal on September 26 -- only for the Colombian people to unexpectedly vote against it six days later, sending both sides back to the drawing board. Critics of the deal argued it was too soft on the FARC. Its top opponent, former president Alvaro Uribe -- Santos's predecessor and former boss -- said the deal would give impunity to rebels who committed gross human rights violations and let them run for elected office. - UN to stay -Santos's Nobel prize was seen as a boost for the process, as the government negotiates with both the opposition and the FARC to salvage the deal. Meanwhile, FARC leader Timoleon "Timochenko" Jimenez tweeted that the ELN could "count on our militant support and solidarity. Many successes in this process that has now started". Formal peace talks with the ELN would mark another victory for Santos, who has staked his legacy on ending the oldest armed conflict in the Americas. Separately, a United Nations mission sent to Colombia to oversee the FARC's disarmament -- part of the now-sidelined peace deal -- said Monday it would ask the Security Council to "adjust" its mandate so it can monitor a ceasefire as negotiators try to hash out a compromise. "We think the conditions are in place at this time for the Council to continue its solidarity with the country," the head of the UN mission in Colombia, Jean Arnault, told a press conference. He said he would travel to New York this week to make his case before the Security Council.
 

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on on October 11-12/16

How the Yezidis became Muslim
Robert Spencer/October 10, 2016
Islamization in practice. Here is a glimpse into the future of the West. Read on.
“How did Yezidis become Muslim?,”

Uzay Bulut, Rudaw, October 7, 2016:
When the Islamic State (IS) terror group started its brutal expansion through Iraq and Syria, the Yezidis, an ancient and persecuted community in the region, became one of their main targets and Kurds gained global recognition as the most effective force in the region resisting the ISIS terrorists.
Though most Kurds are known to be Muslim today, many of their ancestors were Yezidis before being forced to convert to Islam. Kurdish author Yasar Batman details the persecution that Yezidis have been exposed to in his book ‘Begê, the Immortal Saint of Yezidi Kurds.’
The Yezidis are an ethno-religious community indigenous to northern Mesopotamia. Their native language is Kurdish and their ancient faith, Yezidism, has a rich oral tradition that combines aspects of ancient Mesopotamian religions including Zoroastrianism.
Batman, through interviews with people in the region, tells of the unbelievably brave and tragic life of Begê and how Yezidis have been persecuted in their native lands, focusing on the story of a Yezidi woman named Begê Samur (1894-1958) from the city of Urfa who refused conversion to Islam and held onto her Yezidi faith and identity in the face of persecution.
Begê was born in the village of Mishacerk in the city of Urfa in 1894. Her originally Yezidi tribe, the Dina Tribe, converted to Islam, but she resisted and remained a Yezidi.
Because of her devotion to her Yezidi faith, she was ostracized by her family, her relatives and the rest of the tribe. Muslim Kurds persecuted Begê. Moreover, Yezidis who recently converted to Islam also persecuted and insulted her for remaining a Yezidi.
“When there was a wedding in the village, they did not invite Begê and when they distributed food to the poor, they did not give her any,” a local told Batman.
Because she was left all alone, and preserved her faith despite all of the persecution and insults, many people – particularly women – in the Islamized Yezidi community secretly admired Begê. In time, these feelings of admiration turned Begê into a legend to the point that when people wanted to convince others, they swore on Begê, by saying “I swear on Begê’s head, grave or dead body.”
A Kurd that Batman interviews in the books tells of how Kurds were first introduced to Islam by Muslim Arab armies, “Kurds were introduced to Islam by Prophet Omar. Prophet Omar savagely put the heads of Zoroastrian Kurds on spears, one for every kilometer of the roads, to show his massacre to all of the people in the region.”
“During the savagery of Omar, the blood of so many Kurds was shed that to this day the term ‘sorka alem’ (red world) is used to describe this scene.”
“Towards 637 AD, Kurdistan was invaded and local inhabitants were massacred by Islamic Arabs coming from the southeast. Upon the order of Omar, all kinds of historical, cultural and religious documents were burnt down and destroyed. After this historical and cultural massacre, the people were banned from speaking Kurdish. They tried to impose Arabic language and religion on local people and mercilessly cut off the tongues of the people of Kurdistan who spoke Kurdish.”
Batman states in his book that almost all of the Yezidis in their native land have been forcefully assimilated. There are today mosques and classes on the Koran in once-Yezidi villages.
Batman stresses that the Turkish state, local Sunni Muslims, and Islamized Yezidis all applied enormous pressure on Yezidis who try to maintain their beliefs and culture.
The book, published in 2014, details the varied social, religious, and economic pressures Yezidis were subjected to.
For example, “when a Yezidi brought a few sacks of wheat and a donkey to a mill, they immediately asked him where he was from. When he said ‘I am from Mishacerk’ [a Yezidi village], they said ‘You are a Yezidi. Why don’t you convert to Islam?’ Then they poured his sack to the ground. Meanwhile, his donkey ran away. Then they also beat him. So the Yezidi would not only lose the wheat with which he would feed himself, but also lose his donkey.”
Batman conducted many interviews and heard stories of Yezidis being threatened with death if they did not convert, Muslims refusing to do trade with Yezidis, calling them ‘haram,’ meaning forbidden.
Yezidis were also targeted alongside Christians during the 1915 Armenian genocide. According to Batman, there was a slogan common during the genocide, “Those who kill 7 Armenians will go to heaven”. The version “Those who kill 7 Yezidis will go to heaven,” was also used.
After the end of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Turkey, founded in 1923, also made varied efforts to Islamize the Yezidis. Batman writes that the Turkish state changed the names of Yezidi villages to give them Turkish names, registered Yezidis as “members of an unknown religion,” and destroyed Yezidi temples and defaced Yezidi graves.
According to Batman, Yezidis lay their dead in graves on their backs facing the sun. But many Yezidi graves were opened, and the dead bodies were placed again according to Islamic rules – this time facing the Qibla, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca.
A 30-year old man from Diyarbakir, Turkey, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the author, “There were few Yezidis left in the village of Mishacek that I knew. But they pretended to be Muslim because they were scared. And when they died, they were buried according to Islamic faith. Can you imagine that? Even though you are not Muslim, your burial ceremony is held in a mosque. This is so devastating, isn’t it?”…

Leaked Hillary email: Saudis and Qatar funding the Islamic State — and the Clinton Foundation
Christine Williams /Jihad Watch/October 11/16
Hillary Clinton, in a leaked document, is quoted as saying: “While this military/para-military operation is moving forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region.”This report adds: “The Clinton campaign has not replied to a Daily Caller inquiry about whether the Clinton Foundation will return donations from these two nations that, according to Hillary Clinton, fund ISIS.”
In another recently leaked communication, Hillary displayed what she really thinks about Muslim refugees by expressing her concerns about “legitimate refugees” because (in her words) “they can’t possibly vet all those refugees….so they don’t know if, you know, jihadists are coming in along with legitimate refugees. Turkey for the same reason.”If it weren’t for leaked documents, no one could begin to assess the real Hillary beneath her contrived smiles and hyper-welcoming rhetoric about Muslims and Muslim refugees.
hillary

“Hillary In Leaked Email: Saudi Arabia And Qatar Are Funding ISIS”,

by: Alex Pfeiffer, The Daily Caller/October 10/16
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton sent an email to her campaign chairman John Podesta in 2014, who was then-counselor to President Barack Obama, that said Saudi Arabia and Qatar are both giving financial and logistical support to the Islamic State and other extremist Sunni groups, according to a recent Wikileaks release.
Clinton sent the email on August 17, 2014 to Podesta. It was an eight-point plan to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Clinton’s email said that the United States should support Kurdish forces on the ground with U.S. military advisers and avoid the use of a conventional ground operation.
“While this military/para-military operation is moving forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region,” Clinton wrote.
The former secretary of state added: “This effort will be enhanced by the stepped up commitment in the [Kurdish Regional Government]. The Qataris and Saudis will be put in a position of balancing policy between their ongoing competition to dominate the Sunni world and the consequences of serious U.S. pressure.”
The email from Clinton to Podesta contains a similar format of previous intelligence reports Clinton ally Sidney Blumenthal would send to the former secretary of state. The Daily Caller has previously reported how Clinton had previously asked aides to remove markings showing Blumenthal wrote the reports before sending them to White House officials.
The August 2014 email that pointed the finger at Saudi Arabia and Qatar does not contain any information linking it to Blumenthal in particular and is sent from one of Clinton’s personal emails. The batch of Wikileaks emails has not been independently verified by TheDC. However, Clinton and her spokesman Brian Fallon did not dispute the legitimacy of leaked speech transcripts released by Wikileaks at Sunday’s debate.
The DC reached out to the Clinton campaign and asked if they dispute the legitimacy of the email, but they have not responded. The Daily Caller also emailed Blumenthal asking if he authored the memo, and he also did not respond.
Qatar has given between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation and Saudi Arabia has donated upwards of $25 million dollars to the Foundation.
The Clinton campaign has not replied to a Daily Caller inquiry about whether the Clinton Foundation will return donations from these two nations that, according to Hillary Clinton, fund ISIS.
In 2010, Clinton’s top aide said that the up to $60 billion weapons transfer of fighter jets and helicopters to Saudi Arabia was a “top priority.” …..

Turkey's Dangerous Moves in Iraq
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/October 11/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9107/turkey-iraq
Turkey's primary concern is not to drive ISIS out of Mosul but to make it a "Sunni-controlled city" after ISIS has been pushed out. And this ambition jeopardizes the planned assault on ISIS.
Turkey's pretext is that its troops are in Iraq to "fight ISIS." That does not convince anyone.
In a span of five years Turkey has had serious political and military tensions with several countries in its vicinity: Israel, Syria, Russia, Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus and Greece. Most recently, Iraq has also joined the club of hostilities surrounding Turkey.
Despite the Iraqi government's vehement requests that Turkey withdraw its troops in Iraq, Ankara shrugs it off and says it will maintain its military presence in the neighboring country for "Iraq's stability." What a nice neighborly gesture! Behind the Turkish indifference lies sectarian concerns and ambitions.
On October 1, Turkey's parliament extended the mandate of Turkish troops deployed in Iraqi territory by one more year. The troops are stationed near Bashiqa in northern Iraq -- as unwanted guests. That sparked a row with Baghdad and may further complicate the cold sectarian war between the Sunnis in the region, supported by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and their Shiite enemies, supported by Iran and the Shiite-controlled government in Baghdad.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi renewed the call for the withdrawal of Turkish soldiers from his country and warned that Turkey's military adventurism could trigger another war in the Middle East. He said: "We do not want to enter into a military confrontation with Turkey ... The Turkish insistence on [its] presence inside Iraqi territories has no justification."
The Iraqi parliament said in a statement: "The Iraqi government must consider Turkish troops as hostile occupying forces."
Baghdad has also requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to discuss the issue. The UNSC should "shoulder its responsibility and adopt a resolution to end to the Turkish troops' violation of Iraq's sovereignty," said Ahmad Jamal, spokesman for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
The Turkish move does not annoy only Iraq, but also its Western allies. Col. John Dorrian, the spokesman for the US-led coalition of 65 countries that fight the Islamic State (ISIS), said that Turkish troops in Iraq are not acting as part of the alliance. Dorrian said that Turkey is operating "on its own" in Iraq. He added that the coalition position is that every unit "should be here with the coordination or and with the permission of the government of Iraq."
By October 9, things started to get more annoying. Iraq's Ambassador to Turkey, Hisham Alawi, said:
"If we do not reach some result, the Iraqi government will be forced to consider other options, and by doing so, Iraq would be practicing its right to defend its sovereignty and Iraq's interests."
Ankara remains defiant. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that Turkish troops would remain in Iraq. Turkey's pretext is that its troops are in Iraq to "fight ISIS." That does not convince anyone. Turkey's intention is largely sectarian (read: pro-Sunni) and Yildirim admitted that in a not-so-subtle way when he said that the Turkish troops were in Iraq also "to make sure that no change to the region's 'demographic structure' is imposed by force."
Turkey fears that the aftermath of a planned assault on Mosul, Iraq's second largest city and ISIS's Iraqi stronghold, could see a heavy Shiite and Kurdish dominance in the Mosul area. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: "Involving Shiite militias in the operation [against IS] will not bring peace to Mosul. On the contrary, it will increase problems." Unsurprisingly Turkey's pro-Sunni Islamists want Sunni dominance in a foreign country. This is not the first time they passionately do so.
The problem is that Turkey's sectarian ambitions come at a time when the coalition is preparing a heavy offensive on ISIS-controlled Mosul. Turkey's primary concern is not to drive ISIS out of Mosul but to make it a "Sunni-controlled city" after ISIS has been pushed out. And this ambition jeopardizes the planned assault on ISIS.
Iraqis think that the offensive to retake Mosul from ISIS is unlikely to begin as long as Turkish troops remain in Iraq. "I think that as long as these Turkish troops remain around Mosul, the operation to control the city will not start, or there must be a new agreement for the Turkish force not to take part in the offensive," said Iraqi lawmaker Abdelaziz Hasan, also a member of the defense and security committee at the Iraqi parliament.
Turkey's sectarian ambitions in neighboring Syria have ended up in total failure and bloodshed. Now Ankara wants to try another sectarian adventure in another neighboring and near-failed state, under the pretext of "bringing stability." Yildirim said that Turkey "bears responsibility for stability in Iraq." That is simply funny. You cannot bring stability to a country that looks more like a battleground of multiple religious wars than a country with just a few hundred troops.
**Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. 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.

Refugees or an Occupation Army?
Maria Polizoidou/Gatestone Institute/October 11/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9071/greece-refugees-migrants
"Allah requires from the believers to be masters of the land where they live, and only they can have property, and only we will be able to own the land." — Muslim migrants in Crete, Greece.
The migrants were ready to wage jihad because they believed a rumor about an event for which, even had it been true, the Greek State and its inhabitants had no responsibility.
The establishment in Greece is a miniature of the American establishment: politicians and institutions of government corrupted to the bones.
We Greeks have already been crushed by Islam, by the twentieth century genocide in Turkey and the more recent Turkish occupation of Cyprus, again with the world's complicity.
What is happening in Greece, as in much of Europe, is actually a massive replacement of its population, its values and its way of life.
The mainstream political parties obey the self-destructive EU policies on immigration that could eventually cause the end of the Hellenic-Judeo-Christian values of Europe, such as individual freedom, critical thinking and dispassionate inquiry.
What does an occupation army do when it is installed in a country? It occupies the land, forcing residents to follow its own way of life. It implements measures against the country's inhabitants, it propagandizes its beliefs and uses force to have them imposed.
This, sadly, is what has been happening in Greece from the migrants who seem to "forget" that they are hosted in Greece and force the Greeks to feel like guests in their own country.
If someone is a war refugee or his life is in danger in his homeland, it would seem appropriate, when he arrives in the country which offers him asylum, to be grateful to this country, respect its history, its people its values and its laws. The same would hold true for an immigrant who wants to go to a country where he hopes he will find a better future.
In Greece, conversely, illegal immigrants -- all of whom the media call "refugees," apparently trying artificially to legalize them in the moral consciousness of citizens -- have been occupying spaces that do not belong to them, using violence, blocking roads, committing crimes against public property, acting aggressively toward residents and the police, and saying that they feel offended when they see symbols that represent Christianity. The guests seem to be trying to take over the house.
A few weeks ago, 200 North Africans and Pakistanis rioted in the middle of the night, demanding to leave Mytilene Island. They were chanting, "Jihad! Jihad!", smashing the residents' cars in the center of the island and disrupting the local community. The migrants claimed that someone told them about the death of seven migrants on a ship, so they rose up against the authorities. The police and NGO workers explained that this was misinformation, but the 200 migrants were evidently not interested in hearing that. The migrants were ready to wage jihad because they believed a rumor about an event for which, even had it been true, the Greek state and its inhabitants had no responsibility. The authorities were unsuccessful at calming them down and trying to make them return to their living area.
As it turned out, there were no dead migrants; the uprising was a "mistake," but the police and the locals had to spend the night tracking down refugees and migrants on the streets of Mytilene.
The illegal immigrants stated that the information about the seven dead migrants came through phone calls to them during the night. Police sources say, off the record, that this incident has all the hallmarks of covert "black operations."
A few days later, on September 19, 2016, on Mytilene Island again, there was a new eruption from migrants in the Moria district. This time, the information the migrants heard, which again turned out to be false, was that they were about to be returned to Turkey. Immediately they set fire to 16 acres of olive trees, as well as to the camp in which they were living.
Now 300 migrants, who had earlier escaped from their camp and tried to protest in the center of the island, were burning everything in the camp and the area around it, until the police stopped them and made them to return to the camp, where again they tried to burn everything.
Residents saw their groves of olive trees turn to cinders as well as much of the migrant camp, three shipping containers, clothing and footwear.
Some of the illegal immigrants were taking selfies during the burning and chanting, "Allahu Akbar" ["Allah is the Greatest"].
The Port of Mytilene Island was turned into a battlefield, where migrants and many Greek "leftists" tried to prevent the military contingent from lowering the Greek flag in front of the town's old port. Many Greeks hate the national flag. They appear to prefer multinational states without any references to the state's national foundations. They were chanting slogans and provoking both the military contingent and the people of Mytilene Island, who watched amazed from the opposite side of the road. It was a demonstration of power from behalf of "leftists" and illegal immigrants. Many citizens of Mytilene Island evidently could not stand to see the illegal immigrants and other Greeks provoke them and try to halt the lowering of the flag. So some citizens moved aggressively against them and engaged them in street fights.
Every Sunday morning on Mytilene Island, soldiers hoist the flag and in the evening, an hour before sunset, soldiers lower the flag. A week after this incident, thousands of Greeks gathered around the soldiers and the flag in Mytilene Port and were singing Greek National Anthem, showing their faith and honoring the national symbol. People are scared. They are gathering around the flag and the Army apparently because they feel they are losing their homeland and their sovereignty to the thousands illegal immigrants who have occupied their island.
On September 26, 2016, in the Tympaki region of the island of Crete, people found all over the streets quotes from the Quran. The text, signed by the "Muslim Brotherhood of Crete Island", stated among other things:
"You are the senior people of the whole world, Only your faith counts and no one else has the right of life and death and ownership over every other person who dares to challenge your leadership and will not embrace your faith.
"Allah requires from the believers to be masters of the land where they live, and only they can have property, and only we will be able to own the land.
"Allah said that we should conquer all the planet, and the faithful ones should own the land and the crops.
"Unbelievers cannot have land and crops because it belongs only to us – the believers.
"Unbelievers will have from us – as the holy Quran assures us – only alms."
On the same day, September 26, in the Asprovalta region near the city of Thessaloniki, a 49-year-old man from France who came to Greece through Turkey was followed by police officers because he was suspected of being a jihadist. The moment he saw the police car, he rammed it, while chanting "Allahu Akbar". [Allah is the greatest"] The attacker was arrested and the district attorney ordered his deportation.
A month ago, the inhabitants of Vavilon, a small village in Chios, another island that received a large number of illegal immigrants, decided to take the law into their hands, because, it seems, the state was not protecting them. The residents set up a militia to protect their families and their property from illegal immigrants. Within a week, they had recorded more than ten burglaries and vast property damage.
The media covers these disruptions only when they are like earthquakes, when one large one causes major disasters; the small ones are evidently not interesting. The same indifference of the media can also be seen regarding daily problems caused by the illegal immigrants. The media covers drug trafficking, conflicts between migrants of different Islamic doctrines, rebellions in migrant shelters, conflicts between countries and races, and underage boys and girls being raped. On September 24, in the Moria area of Mytilene Island, four 17-year-old migrants from Pakistan raped an underage Pakistani migrant, age 16, and recorded the rape with their phones. The police arrested the perpetrators, who had been blackmailing the boy before they raped him.
Illegal immigrants have also been blocking roads in many cities; halting traffic for hours. They occupy the roads whenever they feel like it; the police do not stop them and there are no arrests.
The Greek government has been friendly to the migrants. Illegal immigrants have, in an apparent demonstration of power, been asking Greek drivers to show their IDs and driver's licenses. They have established checkpoints as an occupation army does. The government and the police did nothing to stop them. People showed their documents because of the great numbers of migrants; the drivers were evidently scared for their lives and their cars, and did not want things to get nasty. If you consider that the police were just watching all this passively, the drivers did not have much choice.
Another day, illegal immigrants blocked a road because they apparently did not have a good enough internet connection in the "refugee shelter."
How would Americans feel if Muslim illegal immigrants living in America said that they were offend by the Statue of Liberty because she was not wearing a burqa?
The Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, Hieronymus, last March removed his cross, the symbol of Christianity, from his vestments during his visit to the Port of Piraeus, in order, he said, not to "offend" the Muslim migrants.
Archbishop Hieronymus of Athens and All Greece is pictured distributing food to migrants at the Port of Piraeus. The Archbishop removed his cross from his vestments during the visit to Piraeus, in order, he said, not to "offend" the Muslim migrants. (Image source: HellasNewsTv video screenshot)
Who warned him that Muslim migrants would be offended by his cross? What would they do if the Archbishop visited them while wearing his cross? Would they kill him? Would they burn the city of Piraeus? They would wage jihad against the Greek people?
Why are we hiding the symbols of our faith from people who come illegally and uninvited into our countries? What power could make an Archbishop remove the symbol of his faith, apart from a country's political power?
The problem in Greece is not only the government or the mismanagement of illegal immigration. All traditional mainstream political parties in Greece, directly or indirectly, have been encouraging illegal immigration and the transfer of huge Muslim populations into Greek society. They obey the self-destructive EU policies on immigration that could eventually cause the end of the Hellenic-Judeo-Christian values of Europe, such as individual freedom, critical thinking and dispassionate inquiry.
We Greeks have already been crushed by Islam, by the twentieth century genocide in Turkey -- that even now targets anyone not Muslim such as Christians, Alevis and Kurds -- and the more recent Turkish occupation of Cyprus, again with the world's complicity.
In spite of that, the mainstream political parties clearly do not care about protecting the nation, its identity or the safety of its citizens.
The establishment in Greece is a miniature of the American establishment: politicians and institutions of government corrupted to the bones, mainstream media and oligarchical fans of globalization. Greece is, in fact, being paid 198 million euros for the refugees.
The Greek establishment suffers from the same symptoms as Western European and American regimes. They no longer believe in the foundations of the Republic: "Vox Populi, Vox Dei": the voice of the people is the voice of God.
The political establishment, when the public does not agree with their policies about illegal immigration and the protection of national identity, prefers to blame the voters for immaturity, stupidity or fascism. So as the voters persist in retaining their views for national identity and against illegal immigration, the elites in Greece are replacing the native population by giving the illegal immigrants citizenship.
That is their solution to the migration crisis and Greece's economic meltdown, from failed authoritarian policies of the unelected, unaccountable and untransparent EU. What is happening in Greece, as in much of Europe, is actually a massive replacement of its population, values and way of life. There is only one way now to save what is left of Greece: The British way. Exit. Now.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. 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.

Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei, Ideological Circles Attack Rafsanjani For Calling For Investing In Economy Instead Of Military – Like Germany And Japan Post-WWII
MEMRI/October 11/16
Iran's ideological camp has launched a new wave of accusations against Expediency Council Chairman Hashemi Rafsanjani, who heads the country's pragmatic camp, following his August 20, 2016 statements at an education conference praising Japan's and Germany's strong economies. He said that these two countries had succeeded in reviving their economies by investing in scientific innovation instead of in their militaries, and expressed hope that Iranian President Hassan Rohani would do the same in a second presidential term.
In response, mouthpieces of the ideological camp accused Rafsanjani of attempting to weaken Iran militarily, arguing that his statements invite Iran's enemies to attack it and adding that this path will ensure that Iran loses its independence and returns to being subordinate to the U.S.
On September 5, 2016, Rafsanjani's office issued a furious rebuttal, arguing that his statements had been twisted and taken out of context as part of an "organized plot" by "a certain stream," in order, inter alia, to harm Rohani's chances of reelection. It added that the ban on a military buildup in Germany and Japan was an historical fact, and not a personal statement by Rafsanjani, and that had presented the two countries as examples of nations that had successfully relied on their knowledge and used their military budgets to establish strong industries that can confront foreign countries.[1]
The following are September 18 statements by Khamenei criticizing Rafsanjani following the latter's rebuttal, and a September 4 editorial in Kayhan prior to Rafsanjani's rebuttal.
Khamenei Attacks Rafsanjani
Despite Rafsanjani's vehement rebuttal, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei criticized Rafsanjani for his comments. In a September 18, 2016 speech to officers of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Khamenei, while not mentioning Rafsanjani by name, referred to him as an unwise man whose statements are wrong. He further said that he was distorting the principles of the Revolution and seeking to eradicate its achievements, that he wants to make Iran again subordinate to a Western world order, and wants to adopt Western ways of life on the pretext of the need to end Iran's political isolation and bring it into the international community. Khamenei said:
"Recently, some have opined that dismantling military organizations has been the reason for progress in some countries. It is very difficult to believe that those to whom these statements have been attributed have actually said such things. But if such statements have really been made, they are definitely wrong.
"The countries which have been said to have closed down their military organizations did not do so voluntarily. The reason why their military organizations have been closed is that they were destroyed in world wars and they were not allowed to have military organizations... No wise person puts his defensive force aside. So, we should strengthen the defensive power of the country on a daily basis...
"As well as the wrong statements that are made about the defensive power of the country, there are also some wrong notions and distortions about some revolutionary concepts. Such notions and distortions are even more dangerous than those wrong statements.'
"Rejecting the term 'independence' and comparing it to isolation [a term used by Rafsanjani and Rohani to argue that their policy would end Iran's political isolation] is considered a counterfeiting [of revolutionary values].
"The purpose of rejecting independence is following the systems that domineering powers have designed. Unfortunately, some people are repeating this notion whether knowingly or unknowingly. 'Independence, culture, and beliefs' should be the ingredients [comprising] the nation's identity. 'Why should we abandon our true identity and follow wrong and ridiculous [in Persian the word is 'disgraceful' – MEMRI] Western methods?'[2]
Kayhan Attacks Rafsanjani
One example of the ideological camp's fierce attack on Rafsanjani was Kayhan's September 4, 2016 editorial, penned by the daily's editor-in-chief Hossein Shariatmadari, who is close to Khamenei. Shariatmadari wrote that Rafsanjani had called banning Iran from having an army, and gave a series of arguments in support of Iran's need for one both within Iran and outside it, and stressed the need for continuing to develop its missile program. He also said that Rafsanjani knew that his plan was sure to make Iran "a slave of America" once more, and that he was secretly motivated to make statements aimed at harming Iran's independence, honor, and security:
"In [his] new statement, Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani said things that you would not expect from the Rafsanjani of the early Revolution [when he was an anti-West revolutionary], but that are unsurprising [coming] from the Rafsanjani of post-2009 [that is, after the public protests following the fraudulent presidential election when he was critical of the regime and called for reconciliation with the West]. Rafsanjani said: 'If today you say that Germany and Japan have the strongest economies [in the world], it is because after World War II, they were forced to not have an army... A country at war spends a lot of money on its military, and therefore [Japan and Germany's] money was freed up and they used it to develop science and manufacturing, thus building an economy rooted in science – and therefore they are no longer vulnerable. This path was opened to Iran [with its acceptance of the JCPOA], and the administrators – those who are concerned [about Iran] and the teachers – should enter into this atmosphere. I am certain that Rohani's second term [after the 2017 election] will bring us to there.
"'Rafsanjani said something similar previously, and a few months ago he tweeted: 'The world of tomorrow is a world of talks, not of missiles.'
"Whether he knew it, and desired it, or did not know it and did not desire it, Rafsanjani, with his statements, was inviting America and Iran's other official enemies to come and attack it. Regarding his statements, we have to say:
"First, in contrast to Rafsanjani's statement, Japan and Germany spend $41 billion and $36.7 billion annually, respectively, on their armies, and are ranked eighth and ninth, respectively, on the list of countries with the highest military expenditure. Also on this list are, in first to seventh place, America, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, England, India, and France. Therefore, Rafsanjani's statistics about Japan and Germany are unreal and unfounded. These two countries spend more on their armies than most European countries like Italy, Austria, and others do.
"Germany and Japan were forced unwillingly to not maintain independent standing armies. This means that after World War II... they were prohibited from having soldiers and an independent army, and the Allies were in charge of their foreign security. Japan and Germany were completely controlled by the Western bloc, particularly America, whose control [over them] continues to this day. Therefore, it is natural that countries that are under total American control, and obey it, would face no threat from it and its allies.
"Is Rafsanjani prescribing that Iran accept the control and protection of America and its allies? He knows full well that his prescription means reverting to the suffocation, poverty, backwardness, and misery of the era of tyranny [under the Shah] and becoming America's slave.
"Also in the matter of Germany's and Japan's scientific progress, Rafsanjani presented unrealistic and mistaken statistics. The progress of these two countries stems absolutely from ceaseless work and efforts, accurate planning and management, and fighting corruption. Otherwise, why is there no such progress in other nations under America's control?
"In Germany, if a cabinet minister is conducting a domestic visit – not a foreign visit – and has his wife accompany him at government expense, he will be fired. But here [in Iran], those who think like Rafsanjani consider those who embezzle state funds assets to Iran [a reference to recent corruption scandals in the country, particularly revelations of massive salaries for bank administrators approved by the Rohani government].
"In Norway, the party that bribed Iranians as part of the Statoil deal was tried and punished, but the Iranian side, which received millions of dollars in bribes, and did 10 times more damage to Iran, is depicted as Robin Hood. Germany and Japan rely on the 'can-do' principle, but one member of Rohani's cabinet thinks that [the height of] Iran's manufacturing capability is producing soup, while another thinks we need to bring in executives from abroad, and so on.
"A few months after the Islamic Revolution [in 1979], some political streams took off their masks and openly sided with the enemy. They called for dismantling [Iran's] army, becoming so insistent that some members of the interim government suggested returning F-14 jets previously purchased from America, and so on. This insistence was strongly resisted by the Imam Khomeini and his comrades. Some time later, the Iraqi army attacked Iran, with explicit American support, exposing what had been behind these insistent calls.
"Or, before America's failed surprise in Tabas [i.e. the failed April 1980 hostage rescue attempt], the anti-aircraft systems deployed around Manzariyeh base in Qom were collected, on the pretext that they were expensive and unnecessary. But days later, it became apparent that following the attack on the U.S. Embassy, the Americans wanted to free the hostages, first taking them to Manzariyeh base, and then extracting them from Iran.
"America and its allies constantly threaten to carry out a military attack [on Iran], and, as they themselves have acknowledged, it is they who created ISIS to fight Iran. Furthermore, they express great fear regarding the mighty presence of Iran and its military advisors in the region. We need to ask why Rafsanjani insists on constantly saying that we must end Iran's missile program and ban Iran from maintaining an army. Had Hashemi [Rafsanjani] said this only once, this would have necessitated an explanation from him as to why he is deliberately inviting the enemy to attack Iran militarily – but we could have assumed it was a mistake and looked the other way. But when the mistake recurs, then it is a 'guiding line,' and because it involves life, money, and the public's honor, as well as Iran's independence and [very] existence, Rafsanjani must explain to the nation what is behind his insistence. This explanation is vital because Rafsanjani's statements are not in line with logic, thought, and the religion, and are even contrary to them.
"We must ask Rafsanjani whether he believes that the hostility America and its allies show Iran is over. The answer will probably be negative, because not only has this hostility not decreased since the early years of the Revolution, but it has grown even stronger and intensified, to the point where in addition to America, its other Western allies and [even] small and large regimes in the region that obey America have openly entered the arena against Iran. Even the incompetent Al-Saud [regime in Saudi Arabia] has wagged its braggart tongue. America does not hide the fact that it created takfiri terrorist elements in order to destabilize Iranian security, and there are dozens more examples that make this list longer. Is Rafsanjani unaware of this obvious reality?! He certainly is aware of it. So we must ask him why he wants to disarm Iran.
"Just imagine if Iran did not have today's effective armed forces, and that, as Rafsanjani wishes, it had backed down from its ballistic missiles. Don't you think that in that situation, not only America, but other small incapable countries in the region whose hearts are hurting as a result of [Iran's] Islamic Revolution, would hesitate to attack Iran? Or what about ISIS, which has long dreamt of entering Iran and carrying out crimes there as it did in Iraq and Syria? Will it waste a single moment before carrying out its horrid crimes? If the answer to these questions is no, and if Iran is disarmed, it will become easy prey for its enemies, great and small. Can we doubt that Rafsanjani's statements are like an invitation to ISIS?
"In God's words, 'The infidels love [a situation in which] you abandon your arms so that suddenly you are attacked.' Rafsanjani is considered a cleric, so he would definitely know God's warning. Or, Surat Anfal 60, which says: 'And prepare against them whatever you are able of power and of steeds of war by which you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your enemy.'
"This verse, which adorns the IRGC symbol, stresses the empowerment of military might, when terrifying the enemy is mentioned as one of the goals of building military capability. We must ask: Doesn't Rafsanjani know this divine order?! Of course he does.
"And so, in his recent statement, Rafsanjani said that 'this path is open to Iran.' This causes amazement, because he said this after his talk of banning the military. Rafsanjani stressed also: 'I am sure that the second term of the Rohani government will get us there.'
"Referring to some of the recent steps by the [Rohani] government, such as agreeing with the FATF [Financial Action Task Force],[3] which will surely weaken the regime, we cannot and must not turn a blind eye to such statements and to the possible origin of such talk."[4]
Endnotes:
[1] Isna.ir, September 15, 2016.
[2] English.khamenei.ir, September 18, 2016.
[3] See also MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 1269, Khamenei Glorifies IRGC But Does Not Rule Out Adopting Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Standards, Which Harms IRGC, Regarded In The West As A Terror Organization, September 26, 2016.
[4] Kayhan (Iran), September 4, 2016.
 

When a Scud missile lands near Makkah
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/October 11/16
The mountainous city of Taif is only 70 kilometers away from the holy city of Mekkah. This is why the missile attack targeting it two days ago is a new and dangerous development in the ongoing war in Yemen. It serves a reminder that the struggle in Yemen is regional and vindicates Saudi Arabia’s position that the war has been directed against it since the beginning. The Houthi rebels who support Iran fired the ballistic missiles, probably in cooperation with former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh who possessed an arsenal of Russian arms.
It is important to understand the circumstances that led to the conflict in Yemen when the Saudi and the Arab Gulf coalition’s intervention was criticized. Some criticism indicated – rightly so – that controlling the war in this mountainous country with tribal disputes was going to be a difficult task. They thought Saudi Arabia should ignore this after it tried for four years to find a peaceful solution. The process succeeded at the beginning but collapsed after the Houthis, who do not represent even 15 percent of Yemen’s population, violated the agreement and forcefully took over the capital Sanaa and decided to impose a government of their choice. Even after the Houthis seized Sanaa some thought Saudi Arabia could have controlled the situation or simply ignored it and close its borders while leaving the Yemenis to their fate. However, the Houthis practically took over almost all of Yemen by force. Therefore, Iran, for the first time during this regional struggle, had a country affiliated with it south of Saudi Arabia.
The Scud missile vindicates Saudi Arabia’s position that Iran has been planning for a while to create an armed entity north of Yemen to threaten Saudi Arabia and that it has chosen the Houthis for this task
This happened around the same time when Iran sought to control Iraq, north of Saudi Arabia, and Syria. This is in addition to its attempts to stir unrest in Bahrain and the eastern region in Saudi Arabia. It’s not difficult to understand the Iranian project which surrounds Saudi Arabia from three sides.
After the Houthis seized power, Yemen became a military base for the Iranians. The Houthis, like the Hezbollah, became a militia for the Tehran regime. Even this geopolitical analysis may not be enough to push the Saudi neighbor and its allies to engage in war there.
However, the rebels inherited military equipment, such as an arsenal of Scud missiles, that is capable of threatening the heart of Saudi Arabia. At the beginning of last year, I wrote an article saying that the Houthis’ threat is not limited to threatening Saudi cities on the southern border but may reach major faraway cities like Jeddah. The Russian Scud-D missiles have a range of more than 800 kilometers. In the beginning of the war, the Saudi Air Force shelled the base where these missiles were stored but it is believed that some of these missiles are stored in secret caches.
A base for Iran
This week’s Scud-D missile covered 700 kilometers falling in Taif, in the Mecca province, in the heart of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi defense system intercepted the missile based on its coordinates. This development, the first of its kind, confirms that the Yemeni war is not a domestic problem, like many believe, and shows that Yemen has become an Iranian military base directed against Saudi Arabia. This is a reality and it is not a mere analysis based on a belief that disputes exist among different factions in Yemen. When Iran created Hezbollah in South Lebanon, its goal was never to support a Lebanese resistance that aims to liberate the South from Israeli occupation. Hezbollah was an advanced military force which the Tehran regime used to negotiate with the West and to threaten countries in the region.
Hezbollah is today engaged in the fighting in Syria and Iraq on behalf of the Iranians. It has previously trained Yemeni Houthis and named them “Ansar Allah” – a name that resembles Hezbollah. It also taught them how to repeat its empty slogans in Yemen, such as “death to America” and “death to Israel.”
Yemen has been an Iranian problem since the beginning of the crisis and this is why the reconciliation and the political solution appears to have been sabotaged. Saudi Arabia, the UN special envoy and western countries had agreed on two concepts for the solution: accepting the Houthis’ participation in political framework and supporting the democratic solution represented in letting the Yemeni people write their own constitution and choose whoever they want to govern them. However, Iran pushed the Houthis to alter this formula by taking over Amran, and then over Sanaa, and demanding a bigger share in power.
The missile attack vindicates Saudi Arabia’s position that Iran has been planning for a while to create an armed entity north of Yemen to threaten Saudi Arabia and that it has chosen the Houthis for this task. It also shows that whether the solution is political or military, the struggle in Yemen cannot be separated from the regional struggle and the region cannot ignore the reasons behind the war Yemen.
**This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Oct. 11, 2016.

Hassan Rowhani’s second term and the US elections
Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/October 11/16
The US presidential elections hold immense significance not just for the Americans but for people all over the world. With so much trouble in our region, the crisis in Syria, and the ongoing fight against a terror outfit such as ISIS, people in the Middle East have a genuine interest in the elections this year. This also applies to the Iranians. A year after the implementation of the nuclear agreement, which has immensely benefited Iran, the country still needs to work with the United Sates regardless of the routine anti-US rhetoric of the political leaders in Tehran. Fully aware that neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump would pursue the same soft approach toward Iran as President Obama did, it seems that precautionary measures are already being put in place. President Hassan Rowhani, who is a moderate and even semi-conservative to a degree, appears best suited to tackle this situation. He has done his best to open up to the West in order to settle a decade-dispute over Iran’s controversial nuclear program. Rowhani succeeded in getting the deal and in improving the economy to some extent. However, there is still a long way to go on the economy and ensuring that the benefits of the nuclear agreement reaches most Iranians.
It is possible that the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, doesn’t care whether the benefits of nuclear deal are tangible or not but he definitely cares about his legacy and the future of the Islamic Republic. Perhaps, despite his personal wish of a conservative government replacing Rowhani, the way the US elections are shaping is telling Khamenei to prepare for a cold winter. There have even been speculations that Hassan Rowhani may become the first president in the Islamic Republic not to serve a second term. Rowhani’s chances had diminished because of his government’s questionable performance in dealing with the West, particularly with the United Sates. But then his lucky stars became bright again. Iran’s Supreme Leader realized that it is more beneficial for Hassan Rowhani to remain in power despite the disagreements between the two.
Khamenei hasn’t shied away from admitting publicly that he wants to avoid emergence of two power centers even as the ground is prepared for Rowhani’s easy victory in May 2017
Preparing the ground
In order to prevent the rise of any popular candidate, who could jeopardize Rowhani’s reelection or cause public excitement, Khamenei acted promptly to save Rowhani from any such potential threats. This was the case with the former president Mahmoud Ahamdinejad when he was advised to stay away from the next presidential race for the sake of the nation. Khamenei hasn’t shied away from admitting publicly that he wants to avoid emergence of two power centers even as the ground is prepared for Rowhani’s easy victory in May 2017. Perhaps Ayatollah Khamenei anticipated clashes between Ahmadinejad supporters and his opponents bringing back the memory of the 2009 election, which divided the nation into two camps. This was a major embarrassment for the Islamic Republic and also proved to be damaging. It was a questionable election which ended with the house arrest of opposition leaders such as Mehdi Karobi and Mir-Hussain Mousavi. The several deaths and imprisonment led to widespread unrest. It took years for that pain to heal.Rowhani’s performance may not be totally approved by the public or the conservative leadership but he continues to be the best option, especially considering the way the US presidential elections are going. Most potential competitors are announcing, one after another, that they are not interested in running for elections. First it was Commander Qasim Solimani, the leader of the Quds Force, who put an end to rumor about his candidacy. Ahmadinejad’s name was ruled out by the Supreme Leader himself and then Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Parliament, announced that he wouldn’t run for the election. With no major challenger for Rowhani, the ground has been prepared by for his smooth and easy re-election. The goal is to counter a possible threat that may come from the United Sates’ next president and Hassan Rowhani has the skill and the ability to manage it alongside his foreign minister who happens to be popular in Western countries. It may not be constitutional for the Supreme Leader to decide who enters into the presidential race or not, but it gives us a sense that despite Khamenei’s public anti-US sentiment, he doesn’t want to ruin the achievements made by Rowhani.

After the Paris Agreement, how about one on Syria?
Ehtesham Shahid/Al Arabiya/October 11/16
Despite being a work in progress, the Paris Agreement has turned out to be an extraordinary example of global consensus on climate change. The legislation has made rapid progress due to the large-scale harmony among world powers on the challenges facing the environment.
It has gathered rapid pace in the last one year as consensus developed among nations on climate issues. What germinated at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference, in December last year, crossed the threshold for implementation last week, on 5th October. If all goes as per plan, the Agreement will enter into force on 4th November 2016. So what is this agreement and why is it coming to fruition so quickly? The central aim of the Paris Agreement is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius this century. Its objective also is to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. Nations are converging on this deal because they realize it is the best way forward for the health of the planet. There have indeed been bumps on the road, and some conspicuous absentees, but the focus has remained on the ultimate goal. Russia and France were among the first major countries to ratify the agreement and then the US and China joined hands in September. India, the world’s fourth-largest emitter, came onboard last month.
As things stand, over 55 parties – covering more than 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions – have ratified the agreement, fulfilling one of the basic criteria for its implementation. Considering the way negotiations have gone thus far it appears set to meet its deadline. In the words of Barack Obama: “If we follow through on the commitments, history may well judge this as a turning point for the planet”. It may be easier said than done but, make no mistake, the same set of powers that have helped broker the landmark climate deal can also deliver a peace agreement in Syria
Slow and painful rewind
Compare this to the stalemate surrounding the Syrian conflict and there seems to be no clue on how to even halt bloodshed. One wonders that if a majority of the world leadership can gather under one banner to help save the planet, then how difficult is it for them to make concessions to save humanity. On hindsight, it seems, following into the footsteps of the Paris Agreement may be the way forward. A fundamental rethink in approach seems to be the need of the hour as numerous UN Security Council resolutions, several rounds of peace talks in Vienna and scores of backroom diplomatic moves have come to nothing. Even something as basic as ceasefire hasn’t been adhered to. It appears that the world – leaders to be precise – have simply run out of ideas. Stakeholders should probably take a cue from the Paris Agreement, set similar targets and make the process more tangible. So in October 2016, if all parties to the conflict agree on one basic element i.e. setting the same month next year as the deadline for ending the conflict in Syria, then it might seem achievable. It can start with the implementation of a ceasefire by next month and then preparing for talks in the beginning of the New Year.
It may be easier said than done but, make no mistake, the same set of powers that have helped broker the landmark climate deal can deliver a peace agreement in Syria. For that to happen though, they will have to focus on working for humanity just the way they came together to protect the environment. Just as climate change talks dragged on for years and then gathered pace in the last one year, if an ambitious deadline is set for a peace deal in Syria, who knows, it might coincide with the coming into force of the Paris Agreement next year.