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Bible Quotation For Today/His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation
Luke 01/46-55: "Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever."

Bible Quotation For Today/Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection
Letter to the Romans 12/09-15: "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep".

Why do Maronites honor Virgin Mary?
By Fr. Antonio Elfeghali/Maronite Heritage/14 August/15
One of my friends asked me: “The Holy Scripture does not say we should honor Mary. Why do Maronites honor Mary?
I said: We are called to imitate Jesus for He is the Way, the Truth, and Life.
We are called to love what Jesus loves and to hate what Jesus hates (sin).
We are also called to honor whoever he honors. Jesus honored his mother otherwise he would have broken the 4th commandment (honor your father & mother).
There are 10 reasons why Maronites honor Mary:
1- We honor Mary because Jesus honored her. Jesus said: “For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother shall die.’”
[Mat 15:4] Do you think Jesus broke this commandment?
2- According to the Gospel of Luke, Mary said: All generations shall call me blessed (Luke 1:48). The Maronites are fulfilling this verse by calling Mary Blessed.
3- Mary is the mother of all the living. Jesus called her “woman” which means “the mother of all those who have life in Jesus Christ”. Eve was called woman because she was the mother of all the living. Mary, the New Eve, became the mother of all those saved by Jesus.
4- We honor Mary because without her “Yes” we wouldn’t have Jesus, but we would have remained in darkness.
5- We honor Mary because she is the mother of the Light, the Way, the Truth, the Life.
6- Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”[Mat 10:40] We can apply this verse on Mary saying, “Whoever receives [Mary] receives [Jesus], and whoever receives [Jesus] receives the one who sent Him. Whoever receives [Mary] because [she] is [the mother of the King] will receive [the mother of the King's] reward, and whoever receives a righteous [woman] because [she] is righteous will receive a righteous [woman's] reward.[Mat 10:41]
7- Jesus said about himself that there is something greater than Solomon here [Mat 12:42] Read how Solomon treated his own mother: “Then Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, and the king stood up to meet her and paid her homage. Then he sat down upon his throne, and a throne was provided for the king’s mother, who sat at his right.”[1 Ki 2:19] If Solomon, who was an earthly king, treated his mother this way, how would Jesus, the King of kings, have treated his own mother Mary who is the mother of the King? And Jesus is greater than Solomon [Mat 12:42].
8- Mary is the Queen of Heaven: “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” [Rev 12:1]
9- Finally, the Maronites experienced Mary’s protection in a special way throughout history. When they were isolated in the arid mountains of Lebanon, cut off from the rest of the world, Mary was with them. When they were persecuted for the sake of Faith, Hope, and Love, Mary was there to strengthen and console them. When they were divided, Mary was there to reunite them. When they were oppressed, Mary was there to ease the pain. When the whole world abandoned the Maronites leaving them at the mercy of their enemies, Mary was there, under the cross of our people and at the moment of our ancestors’ death.
10- Mary visited our land in Cana & Sidon (Maghdouche). She is called in our litany: “O Cedar of Lebanon, pray for us.”
Q. Why do Maronites ask the intercession of Mary instead of praying directly to Jesus?
- Can I ask you to pray for me?
- Sure, I can pray for you.
- So, why we shouldn’t ask Mary to pray for us? She is the mother of the King of kings and she is alive in His Kingdom. why should I ask you to pray for me, while I can ask Jesus directly? Mary is very respected by Jesus. He will do whatever she asks. At the wedding of Cana, Jesus made the miracle at his mother’s request.
Q. Why do Maronites have statues of Mary in their homes, villages, and churches?
- Yesterday, I saw you taking pictures of your own mother. Why did you that?
- Because I love her and I like to remember my mother.
- The Maronites love their mother Mary, and they like to keep her picture with them. They make statues not to worship them but to remember their mother and to ask for her intercession.
Q. Do Maronites worship Mary?
- If they worship Mary, they commit a grave sin. God only must be worshipped. You shall have no other gods beside me [Exodus 20:3].
When we pray, sing, or talk about Mary, we do not worship her, but we honor her. For us, Mass is our worship to God when we remember God’s plan of Salvation.
Q. Why do Maronites pray the Rosary? It is vain and insincere repetition. Jesus said “in praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.”[Mat 6:7]
- Repeating the “Our Father” and the “Hail Mary” is not babbling. The “Our Father” and “Hail Mary” were taken from the Bible. Jesus did not like vain repetition, not all repetition. When Jesus was in Gethsemane, “He left [his disciples] and withdrew again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing again”.[Mat 26:44] Jesus asked us to pray in secret but that doesn’t mean we can’t pray together in Church.
http://www.maronite-heritage.com/Why%20Honor%20Mary.php

LCCC Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 14-15/15
Micheal Has Nothing to do with Lebanese Christian Rights/Elias Bejjani/August 14/15
Congress Must Shut Down Compromised U.S. Arabic Broadcast/TOM HARB/August 14/15
Lebanese politician Michel Aoun has not been true to his promises/Nayla Tueni/Al Arabiya/August 14/15
After Zarif’s visit, Hizballah troops pulled back from Zabadani in first retreat from Syrian war/DEBKAfile/August 14/15
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) chief, Gadi Eisenkot details army's national security strategy/Ron Ben Yishai, Adva Cohen/Ynetnew/August 14/15
US investigating whether Islamic State used chemical weapons/Associated Press, Reuters/Ynetnews/August 14/15
Turkey's Keystone Commandos/Burak Bekdil/The Gatestone Institute/August 14/15
UK: Extremists in the Heart of Government/Samuel Westrop/The Gatestone Institute/August 14/15
How the Iran deal violates the Constitution/CLARE M. LOPEZ/Family Security Matters/August 13, 2015
Khamenei's IRGC Representative, Ali Saeedi: Lebanon, Gaza, Bahrain, Syria Constitute Iran's Essential Strategic Depth/MEMRI/August 14/15

LCCC Bulletin titles for the Lebanese Related News published on August 14-15/15
Micheal Has Nothing to do with Lebanese Christian Rights
Congress Must Shut Down Compromised U.S. Arabic Broadcast
After Zarif’s visit, Hizballah troops pulled back from Zabadani in first retreat from Syrian war
Nasrallah Says Aoun Can't be 'Isolated or Defeated', Hints FPM Allies May Join Street Ac
Hariri Decries 'Incitement' against Mustaqbal, Says Not Seeking to 'Isolate' Aoun.
Aoun Warns against 'Provocation', Rules Out Election of 'Non-representative President'
FSA 'Arsal Commander' Shot Dead in Town's Square
After Zarif’s visit, Hizballah troops pulled back from Zabadani in first retreat from Syrian war
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 13, 2015
Berri: Solutions in Lebanon Can Only Be Achieved through Dialogue
Mashnouq: Berri, the National Authority Required at the Moment
Lebanese Army Arrests Fugitives, Seizes Arms in Hermel Region
Report: Jumblat Rejects Raising Retirement Age of Top Officers due to Strain on Treasury

LCCC Bulletin Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 14-15/15
Top Iraq Shiite Cleric Welcomes Reforms, Calls for More
Syria Opposition Says Russia 'Not Clinging' to Assad
Greek Parliament Approves Bailout after All-Night Debate
Kerry Raises Flag at U.S. Embassy, Urges 'Genuine Democracy' in Cuba
Police Patrol Comes under Attack in Bahrain Unrest
S. Sudan Govt. Suspends Peace Talks despite Sanctions Threat
Police Disperse Cairo Mass Killing Anniversary Demos
PKK Leader Warns of 'Heavy Price' amid New Turkey Violence

Micheal Has Nothing to do with Lebanese Christian Rights
Elias Bejjani/August 14/15
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2015/08/14/elias-bejjanimicheal-has-nothing-to-do-with-lebanese-christian-rights-2/
For all the Lebanese Muslims who belief that MP, Micheal Aoun’s recent pro Iranian-Syrian and anti-Lebanese demonstrations did practically infringe in any way on their religious emblems and symbols, for all of them we say loudly, that as sovereign, peace loving and patriotic Lebanese Christians, he does not by ant means or under any given circumstances represent us or speak on our behalf.
Meanwhile, as genuine Lebanese Christians, we fully support multi culturalism, common living, equality, freedom, democracy and oppose totally this derailed politician’s stances, affiliations, rhetoric and irresponsible conduct which are all in actuality and reality hurt and destroy every thing that is Lebanese and at the same time negate all that is Christian.
Aoun in his set of on going instigative and destructive behaviour is an Iranian-Syrian puppet and has nothing to do with us or with our rights as Lebanese Christians. In our own solid understanding Michael Aoun, is sadly a mere Trojan and an evil politician that serves blindly the Iranian expansionism and terrorist denominational violent scheme.
Apparently all what he does or say is completely dictated on him by his Iranian masters, he is a tool in their dirty hands, No more no less. Accordingly, there is no shed of doubt that Hezbollah ‘s anti-Lebanese devastating and strife scheme agenda is behind all the stupid and childish Aounists recent demonstrations.
We strongly believe that this mentally unbalanced and crazy politician who does not count for the consequences of both his acts and rhetoric has nothing to do with any thing that is Lebanese or Christian values.
As we clearly see it, Aoun is like Judas who betrayed Our Lord Jesus Christ. He is selling himself, his Maronite denomination, the Christian existence, Lebanon the independent state, and the naive herd of his psychopathic and derailed followers for the Iranian occupier and to its occupational and terrorist tool, the so called Hezbollah.
In conclusion, Micheal is in our own eyes is an anti Christ Creature in all what he is doing and uttering and accordingly has nothing to do with the Lebanese Christian's Rights. We are totally convinced that Aoun in not one of us, therefore we call on every and each faithful Lebanese from all the Lebanese religious denominations to stand against his bizarre and aggressive behaviour and strongly denounce all his treason and madness.
Long Live our beloved Lebanon

Congress Must Shut Down Compromised U.S. Arabic Broadcast
TOM HARB/August 14, 2015
In the past ten years we have been pushing the U.S. government, both the administrations and Congress, Democrats and Republicans, to increasingly fund an American media and broadcast in the Arabic language so we can reach out to and partner with civil societies in the Arab world and the Middle East. Since 9/11, Americans have been debating how to defeat the forces of terror and the extremist ideologies generated in the Greater Middle East and spreading throughout the world. The answer has always been and remains the same: a war of ideas to defeat the ideologies behind extremism, should they be Salafi Takfiri or Khomeinist, and a campaign to support the democracy seeking forces in the region.
Since 2004, American taxpayers, via their Congress, have been significantly funding a web of Arabic broadcasts to respond to these calls for outreach initially generated by community NGOs based in the United States. We representatives of Syrian, Iraqi, Lebanese, Egyptian, Jordanian, and other active groups based in the United States engaged in the democracy battle in the Middle East were the ones who asked our U.S. government to create and fund these Arabic media. Ten years ago, Washington widened its Arabic outreach by launching a TV station, al Hurra, and a radio station, SAWA, as well as other Web activities. Millions of dollars were invested in these institutions, not only from sophisticated buildings in Virginia and D.C., but also bureaus throughout the Middle East. Congress put the network under the auspices of the Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG), which oversees the activities and efficiency of U.S. funded media. Under the Bush administration, both al Hurra and SAWA slowly slipped from being fully engaged in pushing back against the two forces of terror-the Jihadists and the Iranian regime-to a mellow messaging. Under two of its directors, al Hurra purged many journalists responding to the Muslim Brotherhood and Ayatollahs' propaganda. While the Bush administration was waging a war of ideas on its surface, its Arab media bureaucrats under the protection of the BBG were mollifying the message against the Islamists and cutting off any criticism of Tehran's regime. Speeches by Hasan Nasrallah, the head of terror group Hezbollah, were fully aired and Hamas spokespersons were on U.S. funded Arabic broadcasts.
Under the Obama administration, it got worse. The directors of al Hurra and SAWA moved to mold the messaging toward favoring pro-Iranian talking points and marginalizing the voices of freedom in the Middle East. While there was little to no coverage of the Iranian opposition, the media leaned toward Hezbollah allies in Lebanon against the rest of the population, favored the pro-Iranian Maliki government over the Shia and Sunni moderates and Kurds, and failed to broadcast any significant programs covering Christian minorities-unless they gave credit to Iran, among other controversial choices. Ironically, the U.S. Congress funded broadcast rarely covered congressional calls for democracy and freedom in the Middle East or hearings and research exposing the Ayatollahs. Taxpayer money granted by U.S. lawmakers has been used to undermine American policy in the Middle East and give advantage to the Iranian regime and its allies. To such a point that voices in the region described al Hurra as Hezbollah TV in Washington and SAWA as Hamas' Voice in America.
But the greatest of all disasters was the success of the pro-Iran regime lobby in shutting down the only U.S. funded Arabic media, Radio Free Iraq (RFI), on August 1, 2015. RFI was launched in late 1998 to connect with Iraq's population and encourage democratic culture. After the invasion in 2003, the Prague-based broadcast became one of the most listened to across Iraq and started to gain momentum among Arabic speakers in the region. Unlike al Hurra and SAWA, RFI interviewed dissidents, democracy groups, minorities NGOs and was in line with U.S. policy in the war on terror and on freedom forward. RFI covered the moderate Shia, Sunni, Kurds, Christians and Yazidis, and other communities in the region. During the Arab Spring it reached out to civil societies and gave voices to the opposition against the Ikhwan and the Ayatollahs. Moreover, RFI aired statements and declarations by congressional leaders and entities far more often than the rest of the compromised U.S. funded media. But the pro-Tehran lobby waged a systematic campaign of manipulation starting in 2013 to shut down the RFI studios using the services of the al Hurra and SAWA bureaucrats. Congress failed to realize that the best media it was funding was attacked under its own watch. Editors and correspondents of Radio Free Iraq were intimidated, pressured economically, and eventually ordered by the BBG and the State Department to shut down the operation. Even when congressional leaders woke up and finally sent a letter to the BBG-which they fund-asking to keep RFI open, the pro-Iran lobby dismissed Congress and forced the team in Prague to end the broadcast operations. Legally, the shutdown can and should be contested because this was a rebellion against the U.S. Congress by bureaucrats sympathizing with a foreign regime.
But the American people, and particularly our communities, cannot tolerate a penetration by the Iranian regime of taxpayer institutions in America and the ending of the only U.S. funded broadcast that supported democracy in the region. Congress must act, and act big. This is not about restoring Radio Free Iraq at this point, for the poison has spread throughout the entire government funded media agencies. Congress must shut down al Hurra, SAWA, and any Web activities related to them and influenced by the Iranian lobby, and move to dismantle the BBG. This Congress has a mandate from the 2014 election to take back America. First, clean up the slate and then rebuild a new Arabic broadcast representing what the American people and taxpayers want, and what the Middle East and Arab American communities aspire to.
This is a letter sent by leaders of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the US House to the head of BBG not to shut down Radio Free Iraq, which Congress funds. The BBG, penetrated by Iranian influence dismissed the letter and shut down the radio after the Obama Administration ordered them to.
============================================================================
June 8, 2015
The Honorable Jeffery Shell
Chairman
Broadcasting Board of Governors
330 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20237
Dear Mr. Chairman:
We are writing to express our deep concern regarding the Broadcasting Board of Governors ("BBG") decision to transfer Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty's ("RFE/RL") Iraqi service to the Middle East Broadcasting Network ("MBN") and discontinue programming. According to the BBG's fiscal year 2016 Congressional Budget Justification, this cut reflect the BBG's and the Administration's "policy on public messaging and global engagement strategies." Given the current unrest in Iraq and Syria and the continued threat posed by ISIS and other terrorist organizations in the region, it seems shortsighted to reduce programming to Iraq and we urge the agency and the Administration to reconsider its strategy.
Recently, the Islamic State ("ISIL") launched its own radio station, Al Bayan, which reaches a global audience by broadcasting through the internet. According to US News and World Report, Al Bayan employs a broadcasting format that is similar to National Public Radio in the U.S. but the broadcasting content is entirely propagandistic, highlighting ISIS successes. Al Bayan and ISIS's other online outreach efforts have become powerful recruitment tools for the organization. NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Gen. Philip Breedlove, has spoken of the need to counter the "tailor-made messaging" that ISIS creates through its aggressive social media outreach. By some estimates, ISIS's western-origin foreign fighters will top 10,000 this year. To effectively counter ISIS's messaging, we need to increase (not cut) our programming to Iraq; Radio Free Iraq is critical to that effort.
Radio Free Iraq ("RFI") has 17 years of experience and a 20% market share of Iraqi adults; its reach extends beyond radio to include robust internet and social media platforms. RFI has been reporting from the front lines in Mosul, providing news and information that many international media outlets are not able to provide. We understand the BBG's desire to leverage finite resources and we applaud the agency's efforts to reduce duplication but in the case of RFI, there does not appear to be a duplication problem. According to RFI, content is already shared with Radio Sawa and TV Alhurra.
We strongly urge you to reconsider the decision to eliminate the Radio Free Iraq service.
Sincerely,
______________
EDWARD R. ROYCE
Chairman
Committee on Foreign Affairs
________________________
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN
Chairwoman
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on the Middle East & North Africa
_______________________
SEAN DUFFY
Chairman
Committee on Financial Services
Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations
________________________
ELIOT ENGEL
Ranking Member
Committee on Foreign Affairs
**Tom Harb is the Co-Chair for Middle East Americans for Democracy

Nasrallah Says Aoun Can't be 'Isolated or Defeated', Hints FPM Allies May Join Street Action
Naharnet/August 14/15/Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed Friday that no one will be able to “isolate” or “defeat” Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun, his party's main Christian ally, describing him as a “mandatory pathway” in the presidential elections and in the government. “We won't accept that any of our allies be defeated or isolated, especially those who stood by us in the July war … Since the one being targeted these days is General Aoun, I tell you that you won't be able to isolate General Aoun,” said Nasrallah in a televised address marking the end of the 2006 war. “All Lebanese need to exert strenuous efforts to preserve coexistence. We must all believe in the rise of a state that can reassure everyone ... There is no sect in Lebanon that can lead the entire country and this approach must end,” Nasrallah said. “When we are all present in state institutions, we can be reassured that no one is seeking to eliminate anyone,” he added. Nasrallah described the Lebanese state as “the guarantee and the solution” for all Lebanese, rejecting calls for “partitioning” and “federalism.”“But it should be a state of real partnership,” he underlined, noting that partnership “can resolve all of Lebanon's crises.”“We must find solutions to all our problems. But a major problem is that a significant segment of Christians in Lebanon is sensing marginalization and elimination,” Nasrallah lamented, referring to Aoun's FPM. Turning to the presidential vacuum and governmental crisis, Nasrallah described Aoun as a “mandatory pathway.”Hinting that Hizbullah and its allies might join the FPM's street protests in the future, Nasrallah added: “Do those thinking of defeating and isolating an essential component have guarantees that the FPM's many allies won't join its street action at a certain time and stage?”“To support any of our allies in their legitimate demands, our options are open, despite our preoccupations in Syria and the South,” said Nasrallah. “We are before a real national crisis and turning the back to each other won't yield any results,” he added. And in an apparent reference to a recent visit to Lebanon by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Nasrallah said that “those who think that Iran might pressure its allies in the presidential issue are delusional.”“Only dialogue can lead to partnership,” the Hizbullah leader underscored. He also called on Christian leaders to “reevaluate their stances and consider reactivating the parliament to address the issues of the Lebanese and pave the way for reaching solutions to the other crises.” On Thursday, Aoun said that he would take more escalatory measures if needed but stressed that he would give dialogue a chance. “We won't allow our Christian and patriotic rights to be violated,” he warned. Aoun spoke a day after he mobilized his supporters to hold street protests against what he terms as the violation of the rights of Christians and Defense Minister Samir Moqbel's decision to extend the terms of top three military officers, including the army commander. The FPM has accused Prime Minister Tammam Salam of infringing on the rights of the Christian president in his absence. The movement's ministers want to amend the cabinet's working mechanism to have a say on its agenda. They also reject the extension of the terms of security and military officials, calling for the appointment of new ones. Prior to Moqbel's move, Aoun had been reportedly lobbying for political consensus on the appointment of his son-in-law, Commando Regiment commander Chamel Roukoz, as army chief.

Hariri Decries 'Incitement' against Mustaqbal, Says Not Seeking to 'Isolate' Aoun.
Naharnet/August 14/15/Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri slammed Friday what he called “incitement” against al-Mustaqbal movement, denying allegations by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that there is an attempt to “isolate” and “defeat” MP Michel Aoun. “They have fabricated the claim that there is a party seeking to isolate and defeat General Aoun. They made up the lie and believed it, turning it into a gateway to incite against Mustaqbal,” Hariri tweeted. “There is insistence on taking things in the wrong direction and blaming al-Mustaqbal movement for a crisis in which Hizbullah is a partner,” he added. Hariri's remarks came around an hour after Nasrallah stressed that no one will be able to “defeat” or “isolate” Aoun while urging “real partnership” in state institutions. In response, the former premier noted that “real partnership” cannot be achieved through “inciting against a main component of the national equation” or through “insisting on implicating Lebanon in the civil wars around us.” “Al-Mustaqbal movement is entrusted with stability and national unity, and it never was and never will be a tool to defeat its partners in the country,” Hariri stressed. The remarks of Hariri and Nasrallah come a day after Aoun mobilized his supporters to hold street protests against what he terms as the violation of the rights of Christians and Defense Minister Samir Moqbel's decision to extend the terms of top three military officers, including the army commander. The FPM has accused Prime Minister Tammam Salam, who is close to Mustaqbal, of infringing on the rights of the Christian president in his absence. The movement's ministers want to amend the cabinet's working mechanism to have a say on its agenda. They also reject the extension of the terms of security and military officials, calling for the appointment of new ones. Prior to Moqbel's move, Aoun had been reportedly lobbying for political consensus on the appointment of his son-in-law, Commando Regiment commander Chamel Roukoz, as army chief.

Aoun Warns against 'Provocation', Rules Out Election of 'Non-representative President'
Naharnet/August 14/15/Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Friday warned his rivals against what he described as further “provocation,” stressing that the country's next president must be representative of the Christian community. “Our protests are peaceful but if they continue to provoke us, our behavior might change,” said Aoun in an interview on al-Manar television. “No one has explained to me the justifications of extending the terms of security chiefs and a lot of officers are capable of becoming commanders,” he said. “The issue of lack of consensus on the appointment of a new army chief is fabricated, and we had asked them to propose five candidates and choose the best among them,” Aoun added. Aoun's remarks come two days after he mobilized his supporters to hold street protests against what he terms as the violation of the rights of Christians and Defense Minister Samir Moqbel's decision to extend the terms of top three military officers, including the army commander. The FPM has also accused Prime Minister Tammam Salam, who is close to al-Mustaqbal movement, of infringing on the rights of the Christian president in his absence. The movement's ministers want to amend the cabinet's working mechanism to have a say on its agenda. Prior to Moqbel's move, Aoun had been reportedly lobbying for political consensus on the appointment of his son-in-law, Commando Regiment commander Chamel Roukoz, as army chief. “I'm confident that we will win the battle that we are fighting and local and foreign forces are trying to target us,” Aoun told al-Manar.“My demands have become clear and the other camp is showing insolence,” he noted. The FPM leader underlined that from now on, “no non-representative president will be elected.”“A consensual president is not a real president and we would accept such a settlement if the speaker and premier are also consensual,” he pointed out.Aoun also warned that there will be a “tsunami” if the rivals do not heed his demands. The country has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended on May 25, 2014. Political disputes and electoral rivalry have so far prevented lawmakers from electing a successor.Aoun is one of the main presidential candidates.

FSA 'Arsal Commander' Shot Dead in Town's Square
Naharnet/August 14/15/Defected Colonel Abdullah Hussein al-Rifai, the so-called leader of the Free Syrian Army in Arsal and its outskirts, was shot dead Friday in the Lebanese border town. State-run National News Agency said the shooting occurred in the town's square. Citing official “security reports”, MTV said four unknown gunmen opened fire around 6:00 pm at Rifai's tinted-glass black Kia. “Rifai received multiple gunshot wounds and was rushed in a critical condition to the Mustafa al-Hujeiri field hospital in the region before succumbing to his wounds,” MTV added. Arsal lies 12 kilometers from the border with Syria and has been used as a conduit for weapons and rebels to enter Syria, while also serving as a refuge for people fleeing the conflict. Jihadists from the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front groups, who are entrenched in the outskirts, stormed the town in August 2014 and engaged in deadly battles with the army following the arrest of a top militant. They withdrew from Arsal at the end of the fighting, but kidnapped a number of troops and policemen. A few have since been released, four were executed, while the rest remain held.

Lebanese politician Michel Aoun has not been true to his promises
Nayla Tueni/Al Arabiya
Friday, 14 August 2015
Earlier this week, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun called on his supporters to take to the streets Wednesday to protest what he says is the government's marginalization of Christian rights and violations of the Constitution. We definitely don’t want to push Aoun to the edge although we disagree with him on many substantial issues - such as how to view Lebanon, its role and means of establishing a state of law and institutions.
Toppling what Aoun represents increases the so-called frustration within the Christian society and may further weaken and divide the Christians. The Lebanese experience has proven that no one is capable of cancelling the other and that Lebanon can only stand upon the consensus chosen by our parents and grandparents who turned out to be wiser than newer generations who are in a blind search of the unknown.
Meanwhile, we don’t understand the point of Aoun’s statement that he defends Christians’ rights which others are trying to decrease. Aoun has not been true to the slogan of change and reform which he’s raised for so long as he’s not progressed at all in his intentions to work hard towards that end.
Toppling what Aoun represents increases the so-called frustration within the Christian society and may further weaken and divide the Christians
Aoun’s representatives at the cabinet either failed to fulfill any achievements or got dragged into the game of dividing interests and became partners in dividing gains. He has not adopted a clear choice in regards to the best parliamentary electoral law and instead of protecting the constitution to be eligible to run the country as president, he only suggests plans that violate the constitution in an attempt to market his ally’s project – i.e. the constituent assembly which establishes for a new system that does not harmonize with our Lebanon.
Fatal harm
Aoun, the defender of Christians, has at some point almost fatally harmed Christians posts. He has several times criticized the Maronite patriarch as well as the president of the republic before the presidential post became vacant. He’s recently attacked the army commander and thus harmed the military institution which actually led him to his current post. In the 1980s, Aoun himself participated in wars that destroyed the most efficient Christian power.
This has weakened the army and made it captive of the tutelage of the Syrian army which invaded the defense ministry – a precedent act that the Israeli army hasn’t even committed. Aoun is currently hinting a confrontation with the Lebanese army via taking to the streets and he’s thus adopting the policy of militias which he’s always declared war against.
Despite this history and these practices, we don’t wish defeat for Aoun; however, we do call him on to reconsider his path and correct his alliances and policies out of mercy on this Christian society who’s been exhausted by wars and uncalculated bets.

After Zarif’s visit, Hizballah troops pulled back from Zabadani in first retreat from Syrian war
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 13, 2015
http://www.debka.com/article/24811/After-Zarif%E2%80%99s-visit-Hizballah-troops-pulled-back-from-Zabadani-in-first-retreat-from-Syrian-war-
A miles-long convoy of 200 trucks began rolling out of the Hizballah and Syrian positions around the strategic town of Zabadani, 30 km west of Damascus, early Thursday, Aug. 13. Their exit, after failing to break the Syrian rebels’ grip on the town in weeks of fierce fighting, marked the Lebanese Hizballah’s first retreat from a major Syrian battleground, debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report.
They were the first of the 8,000 Hizballah troops fighting in Syria for three years to quit and return home to Lebanon. The withdrawal followed the instructions given by the visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif after he met Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut Tuesday and President Bashar Assad in Damascus the next day.
It was deemed unavoidable in the light of the Hizballah army’s failure to break through the defenses thrown up by the rebels barricaded in Zabadani, led by the radical Islamist Ahrar al-Sham. Even the elite Radwan Force, designed to conquer the Israeli Galilee, which Nasrallah deployed there two weeks ago made no headway.
According to our military sources, the Hizballah convoy is removing from Syria around 1,000 fighters,and masses of hardware including armored personnel carriers, various types of rockets, heavy artillery (in picture) and crates of ammo.
Extending the 48-hour ceasefire for Zabadani and two other Syrian villages up until Saturday, Aug. 15 - ostensibly for the evacuation of wounded rebels from Zabadani and the supply of food and water to the beleaguered town - was arranged to give Hizballah enough time to organize its withdrawal.
Hizballah’s combat performance on other Syrian warfronts, such as the Qalamoun Mountains on the Lebanese border and the southern town of Deraa, has not been too brilliant either. Most military experts give it a rating of medium minus.
Whether or not Iran’s Lebanese proxy goes on to pull all its forces out of the Syrian war depends very much on the behind-the-scenes decisions reached by the US, Russia and Iran in their latest joint initiative for winding down the Syrian war.
Without going into explanations, Zarif gave it straight to Nasrallah and Assad: Just as you trusted Iran before, trust us this time too to look after your interests in the decisions the big powers are making for ending the Syrian war.
The Hizballah leader has no choice but to obey his masters in Tehran. Assad has more options and his response is yet to come. In more than four years of fighting a full-scale war, the Syrian ruler has proved wily and durable enough to consistently turn military failings into political strengths.
US Secretary of State John Kerry gave the Iranian foreign minister's efforts a hearty vote of confidence when, on Aug. 11, he announced to reporters: “I just got a message today from my counterpart from Iran. He’s in Beirut meeting with government officials there. You know where he was last weekend? He was in Kuwait and Qatar. He is reaching out to those countries. Are we going to turn our backs on the possibility that Rouhani and Zarif might in fact want to try a different approach?”
Kerry typically concealed more than he gave away:
1. Zarif’s trips were not in pursuit of any “different approach” but a mission to seek out an agreed solution to the Syrian war.
2. He was entrusted this mission jointly by Washington and Moscow, which Kerry is shy to admit, because it would confirm the Obama administration’s election of Iran to the rank of top regional power.
3. He omitted to mention Zarif’s long conversation with Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah, which hardly attested to Tehran’s “different approach.”

Berri: Solutions in Lebanon Can Only Be Achieved through Dialogue
Naharnet/August 14/15/Speaker Nabih Berri expressed his disappointment with the political leaderships' handling of Lebanon's crisis, saying that it “harms the country more than foreign factors,” reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Friday. His visitors on Thursday told the daily that the speaker emphasized that “there can be no solutions without dialogue.”These solutions cover local and regional disputes, they explained in the wake of Berri's meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday. The Iranian official had paid a two-day visit to Lebanon on Tuesday during which he met with a number of senior figures. Berri revealed that his talks with Zarif tackled the presidential crisis in Lebanon, but the speaker did not delve into the details of the discussions, added al-Joumhouria. “Iran believes that this is an internal Lebanese affair and has never interfered in this issue or any other Lebanese ones,” his visitors quoted him as saying. Lebanon plunged in a political crisis in May last year, when MPs failed to find a successor to President Michel Suleiman.
The crisis led to a stop in parliamentary sessions and growing disputes in the government that have paralyzed the work of constitutional institutions.

Mashnouq: Berri, the National Authority Required at the Moment
Naharnet/August 14/15/Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq said that Speaker Nabih Berri is the only national authority capable of handling the current phase in the country and of finding a solution to the crisis. “The only national reference capable of wisely handling the governmental crisis is Speaker Nabih Berri. He is capable of finding a solution,” Mashnouq told An Nahar daily on Friday. “The current stage that Lebanon is passing through is transitional and very critical. No one is capable of founding for a new stage at this time,” said the Minister. “In the end, Berri may have a solution. The country needs a national authority and Berri is the man for it,” stressed Mashnouq. On Wednesday's street actions of the Free Patriotic Movement, Mashnouq said: “They have the right to express their views peacefully, but it is unacceptable that they heap insults and accusations at others the way they did.”FPM supporters took to the streets upon the request of MP Michel Aoun protesting the extension of the terms of the top military and security brass because the lawmaker wants his son-in-law Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz, who is the Commando Regiment chief, to become army chief. Defense Minister Samir Moqbel extended last week the terms of the army commander, the chief of staff and the secretary general of the Higher Defense Council.

Lebanese Army Arrests Fugitives, Seizes Arms in Hermel Region
Naharnet/August 14/15/Three fugitives from the Jaafar clan were arrested and a quantity of arms and ammunition was seized on Friday in the northern Bekaa region of Hermel, the army said. “An army force raided a number of areas in the Hermel, al-Qasr and Wadi Fisan areas and arrested the fugitives Mahdi Karam Jaafar, Liwaa Karam Jaafar and Murad Karam Jaafar,” the Army Command said in a statement. It said they were wanted for “opening fire and assaulting a soldier.”During the raids, troops seized “a Kalashnikov machinegun, two pistols, a quantity of light- and medium-caliber ammunition, walkie-talkies, and various military gear,” the army added. “The detainees and the confiscated items were referred to the relevant authorities,” the military said.

Report: Jumblat Rejects Raising Retirement Age of Top Officers due to Strain on Treasury
Naharnet/August 14/15/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat reportedly rejects raising the retirement age of senior security officers that was recently proposed by General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim, said As Safir newspaper on Friday. He told the daily: “Such a suggestion would incur major strains on the treasury.” “The initiative is a joke because we would then be faced with a large number of majors in the security ranks,” he explained. “We therefore have no choice but to resort to extending their terms,” he stated. Ibrahim had proposed raising the retirement age of senior army officers for three years aimed at ending a growing political crisis. The head of General Security stressed that his initiative is well-studied, denying that it would put financial pressure on the treasury by keeping top officers in their posts. “No one has the right to express his viewpoint on something which he does not know,” said Ibrahim about the critics of his plan. Media reports said however that Ibrahim's proposal would not see light given the disputes among political blocs. Ibrahim made his initiative to resolve the controversy on the appointment of high-ranking military and security officials. The Free Patriotic Movement of MP Michel Aoun has rejected the extension of the terms of the top military and security brass because the lawmaker wants his son-in-law Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz, who is the Commando Regiment chief, to become army chief. Defense Minister Samir Moqbel extended last week the terms of the army commander, the chief of staff and the secretary general of the Higher Defense Council.

Top Iraq Shiite Cleric Welcomes Reforms, Calls for More
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 14/15/ Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani Friday welcomed proposed reforms aimed at curbing corruption and streamlining the government, but said more were needed, especially for the judiciary. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Sunday announced a reform program in response to weeks of protests and a call from Sistani, and parliament approved the plan along with additional measures two days later. "We appreciate that, and hope that these decisions are implemented in the near future," Sistani said in remarks delivered by his representative Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalai. "We would like to point out that one of the most important requirements of the reform process... is reforming the judiciary, as it is an important pillar in completing the package of reforms, and there cannot be true reform without it," he said. Parliament's plan called for judicial reforms including ensuring the independence of the judiciary, while Abadi's program did not mention that issue. Both were billed as initial reform packages, implying that more are to follow. Amid a major heatwave that has seen temperatures top 50 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit), protesters have railed against the poor quality of services, especially power outages that leave just a few hours of government-supplied electricity per day. Thousands of people have turned out in Baghdad and cities in the Shiite south to vent their anger and pressure the authorities to make changes. Their demands were given a boost last week when Sistani, who is revered by millions, called for Abadi to take "drastic measures" against corruption, saying the "minor steps" he had announced were not enough.
Various parties and politicians have sought to align themselves with the protesters in order to benefit from the movement and mitigate the risk to themselves. Even with popular support for change, the entrenched nature of corruption and the fact that parties across the political spectrum benefit from it will make any efforts extremely difficult. Abadi warned Wednesday that the reform process "will not be easy; it will be painful," and that corrupt individuals would seek to impede change.

Kerry Raises Flag at U.S. Embassy, Urges 'Genuine Democracy' in Cuba
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 14/15/ U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Friday for "genuine democracy" in Cuba as the American flag was raised over a U.S. embassy in Havana for the first time in 54 years. Putting a symbolic capstone on the United States' historic rapprochement with Cuba, Kerry gave the cue to hoist the Stars and Stripes over the glass-and-concrete building on the Havana waterfront. Three retired Marines who lowered the flag that day, as Washington severed ties with Havana at the height of the Cold War, were on hand to give the new flag to the Marine guard now charged with security at the embassy. The historically charged photo-op put a coda on the historic rapprochement announced on December 17 by U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban counterpart Raul Castro, which paved the way for the two countries to reopen their embassies on July 20. Kerry, the first secretary of state to visit Cuba since 1945, said the shift in US policy did not mean Washington would stop pressing for change on the communist island. "The leaders in Havana and the Cuban people should also know that the United States will always remain a champion of democratic principles and reforms," he said. "We remain convinced the people of Cuba would be best served by a genuine democracy where people are free to choose their leaders with commitment, economic and social justice."The thawing in the Cold War conflict has been criticized by Obama's conservative opponents. Kerry's visit drew barbed comments from leading Republicans, including 2016 presidential contenders Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush. Rubio, a Cuban-American senator from Florida, slammed the Obama administration for the absence of Cuban dissidents from the flag-raising ceremony. "All the people in Cuba fighting for democracy, when they protest, they are rounded up, arrested and beaten. None of them were invited to this event," he told Fox News. Cuban dissidents have expressed concern that the thaw between the two governments will leave them out in the cold. But Kerry insisted the breakdown in ties and the U.S. trade embargo on the island had failed to force Cuba to reform -- and that a new path must be sought.
"There will be hiccups along the way but it's a start," he told reporters traveling with him on the whirlwind one-day trip.He planned to meet with dissidents at a private reception later in the day. Kerry was also due to take a stroll through Old Havana and meet ordinary Cubans in the historic colonial district.
He will not, however, meet with either Castro or his elder brother Fidel, the icon who led Cuba from its 1959 revolution until his retirement in 2006.
Sticking points
Underlining the sticking points still complicating relations between the two countries, Fidel Castro said in an essay published in Cuban state media Thursday -- his 89th birthday -- that the United States owes Cuba "many millions of dollars" because of the US trade embargo on the island. He did not detail exactly how much money he believed was due, but Cuba said in September the half-century-old embargo had cost it $116 billion. The United States for its part says Cuba owes $7 billion to American citizens and companies whose property was seized after Castro came to power. The Castro government will use Kerry's visit to push for the lifting of the full embargo, in place since 1962.Obama has called for an end to the embargo, but faces an uphill battle as he needs approval from Congress, where both houses are currently controlled by his Republican opponents -- many of them deeply hostile to communist Cuba. Traveling with Kerry, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said lifting the embargo was the fastest way to bring to change to Cuba. "If we lift the embargo they won't be able to blame everything on us and I think change will come far more rapidly," he said. In eight months of negotiations since the rapprochement was announced, the two sides have made progress on a number of other divisive issues, most notably the removal of Cuba from the United States' list of "state sponsors of terrorism." But unresolved sources of tension include the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay and Cuba's treatment of the media, activists and dissidents.

Police Patrol Comes under Attack in Bahrain Unrest
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 14/15/A Bahraini police patrol came under attack in a Shiite village near the capital Manama on Friday, without causing casualties, the interior ministry said, as demonstrators held anti-government protests."Police patrol gutted in an attack by rioters with Molotov cocktails while police were securing a mosque in Sanad" village, the ministry tweeted. "No injuries reported."Witnesses said security forces were deployed in force Friday after the "February 14 Coalition", a radical youth group, called for anti-government protests on the anniversary of Bahrain's independence from Britain in 1971. The tiny but strategic U.S. ally has seen frequent unrest since a Shiite-led uprising erupted four years ago demanding a constitutional monarchy.
On Thursday, authorities announced they had arrested five suspects, allegedly with links to Iran, in connection with a bombing that killed two policemen last month near Manama.The Sunni-ruled kingdom frequently accuses Tehran of backing the unrest.

S. Sudan Govt. Suspends Peace Talks despite Sanctions Threat
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 14/15/South Sudan's government said Friday it was pulling out of peace talks to end a 20-month long civil war after rebel forces split despite international threats of sanctions. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in a war marked by widespread atrocities on both sides, and diplomats warned the collapse of the latest peace efforts could trigger "serious consequences" for the rival leaders. "We suspend the peace talks until the two rebel factions sort out their differences," top government official Louis Lobong said, after meetings with President Salva Kiir. South Sudan's civil war began in December 2013 when Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of planning a coup, setting off a cycle of retaliatory killings that has split the poverty-stricken, landlocked country along ethnic lines. Regional mediators, backed by U.S. President Barack Obama during his recent visit to Ethiopia, gave Kiir and Machar until August 17 to halt the civil war. On Tuesday however, top rebel generals said they had split from Machar, accusing him of seeking power for himself, and adding they would not recognize any deal agreed.
Obama has warned Kiir and Machar that if they failed to strike a deal the U.S. will "move forward with a different plan, and recognize that those leaders are incapable of creating the peace that is required."
Massacres and rape
The war has been characterized by ethnic massacres and rape. Recent attacks have included castration, burning people alive and tying children together before slitting their throats. Over 70 percent of the country's 12 million people need assistance, while 2.2 million people have fled their homes, the U.N. says, with areas on the brink of famine. Possible punitive measures could include an arms embargo and targeted sanctions including travel bans and asset freezes.
The latest round of talks opened on August 6, mediated by the regional eight-nation bloc IGAD, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, as well as the United Nations, African Union, China and the "troika" of Britain, Norway and the United States. Envoys have said international patience has run out.
"Everything is on the table: arms embargo, sanctions targeting not only the military but also the political level, and an intervention force," one diplomat in Addis Ababa said. "It is hard to understand the leaders' ambivalence for the suffering of their people," another diplomat said. But others warned sanctions might have little impact. The U.N. last month blacklisted six commanders -- three generals from each side -- but that has apparently had little impact on the war.
'Time to hide their money'
"They have been warned about sanctions for the last four months," said Berouk Mesfin from the Institute for Security Studies think tank in Ethiopia."Don't you think they've had the time to prepare and hide their money? The borders are porous and they have enough weapons at their disposal."Lobong, governor of Eastern Equatoria, one the country's 10 states, dismissed the threat of sanctions.
"In peace talks, you don't give condition, you don’t give intimidation," he told reporters, warning to do so would lead to "an agreement that will not last."
During previous peace talks held in luxury Ethiopian hotels, Kiir, Machar and their entourages have run up millions of dollars in expenses while failing to sign a single lasting agreement. At least seven ceasefires have been agreed and then broken within days, if not hours. "Bringing about peace is a process, requires time and is expensive - and it is better to go slowly but surely, rather than rush and sign a peace that will create problems," Lobong added.

Police Disperse Cairo Mass Killing Anniversary Demos
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 14/15/Egyptian police using tear gas dispersed small demonstrations in Cairo by supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on Friday's second anniversary of the killing of hundreds of protesters by security forces. Police were deployed at the capital's main intersections and outside government buildings. They fired tear gas at three rallies in which dozens of demonstrators took part in western Cairo, police officials said. In the north of the capital, tear gas was also used against pro-Morsi supporters hurling large firecrackers, they said. The Rabaa al-Adawiya killings of August 14, 2013, when police shot dead at least 700 Morsi supporters as they dispersed a protest camp, has remained a rallying point for Egypt's harried Islamist opposition. Two years on, no policemen have faced trial over the incident. About 10 police were killed during the dispersal, after coming under fire from several gunmen in the sprawling camp on a crossroads in eastern Cairo when they moved to break it up. But rights groups have said police used disproportionate force, killing many unarmed protesters in what Human Rights Watch said "probably amounted to crimes against humanity." The New York-based group called Friday on the United Nations Human Rights Council to launch an inquiry into the killings. "Washington and Europe have gone back to business with a government that celebrates rather than investigates what may have been the worst single-day killing of protesters in modern history," deputy Middle East director Joe Stork said. "The U.N. Human Rights Council, which has not yet addressed Egypt's dangerous and deteriorating human rights situation, is one of the few remaining routes to accountability for this brutal massacre." In Egypt, however, the government has always defended the dispersal, insisting that the Islamists were armed "terrorists."Morsi, the country's first democratically elected leader, ruled for only a year before mass protests prompted the military to overthrow and detain him. He has since been sentenced to death. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former leader of the army, had pledged to eradicate Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood. The group has been blacklisted and most of its leaders arrested, severely restricting its ability to mobilize supporters to take part in protests.

PKK Leader Warns of 'Heavy Price' amid New Turkey Violence
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 14/15/A senior figure in the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Friday warned that Turkey would pay "a heavy price" for its offensive against the rebels amid new deadly clashes in the Kurdish-majority southeast. A 40-year-old man was killed when he was caught in an armed clash between Turkish forces and the PKK in the city of Diyarbakir, security sources told AFP. A 29-year-old man was also wounded during clashes that erupted overnight after youths linked to the outlawed PKK opened fire at police trying to clear a main road blocked by the militants.
After a series of attacks in Turkey, Ankara has launched a two-pronged offensive to bomb Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and PKK rebels in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey. So far, the operation has focused largely on the Kurdish rebels, who have responded by waging a bloody campaign against the security forces. "We are waging a battle of the wills," the PKK's northern Iraq-based leader Murat Karayilan was quoted by the pro-PKK Firat news agency as telling Kurdish Sterk TV. "We are experienced and we know very well what to do. They made a very big mistake by attacking us... They will pay a very heavy price for that." According to an AFP toll, 31 members of the Turkish security forces have since died in attacks blamed on the PKK.
'They are doomed to fail'
But Karayilan, who is often seen as the movement's overall leader in the absence its jailed iconic chief Abdullah Ocalan, said the PKK had not "put into effect a war plan yet.""Our fight continues in a planned and controlled way. We are just conducting retaliatory actions," he said. The PKK has waged an over 30 year struggle for autonomy and greater rights in Turkey's Kurdish majority southeast that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. Meanwhile, more than 2,000 people took to the streets in Diyarbakir on Friday to protest the escalating cycle of violence that has left a 2013 ceasefire agreed by the PKK in tatters, an AFP reporter said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday vowed that his government would press on with its relentless campaign against Kurdish militants, saying the operations were not "temporary."
"You shall not think they are strong... They are doomed to fail," Erdogan told supporters in his ancestral hometown in the Black Sea province of Rize. More than 1,700 suspects have been arrested since late last month in police raids nationwide targeting suspected members of the PKK as well as IS and the Marxist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party Front (DHKP-C), state-run Anatolia news agency said. On Friday, police detained at least 39 suspected terrorists in raids in several cities including Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, Anatolia said. Karayilan meanwhile distanced the PKK from the killing on July 22 of two Turkish policeman in their sleep as one carried out "by a group not precisely affiliated to us."He also said the PKK's central command did not approve of suicide bombings, such as an attack in Istanbul on Monday that was claimed by Kurdish militants.

Syria Opposition Says Russia 'Not Clinging' to Assad
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 14/15/After talks with Moscow's top diplomat, Syria's main opposition group insisted Friday that Russia is "not clinging" to President Bashar Assad. The head of Syria's National Coalition, Khaled Khoja, met Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as part of a fresh push by Moscow to find a way out of the four-year civil war that has cost some 240,000 lives. Moscow -- one of Assad's few remaining backers -- is pushing a plan for a broader grouping than the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS) group, to include Syria's government and its allies. But Khoja -- in Moscow for the National Coalition's first talks there since February 2014 -- reiterated that Assad must go immediately and hinted that Russia's support for the strongman may be wavering. "We have found that the Russian authorities are not clinging to Bashar Assad personally, but rather they’re clinging to the Syrian state, its territorial integrity, and the preservation of its institutions," Khoja told journalists at a press conference. A spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry said in response that Moscow's position remained unchanged. "We have always said that we do not support Assad in a personal capacity but that we support the legitimately elected president of Syria," spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told AFP. The ministry said in a statement that Russia was pushing the National Coalition -- Syria's main opposition group in exile -- to talk to other parties in the fragmented opposition about the creation of a cohesive negotiating platform for talks with the authorities. The meeting Thursday is part of a broader diplomatic flurry that saw Saudia Arabia's foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir fly into Moscow on Tuesday, on the back of a three-way Russian-Saudi-U.S. meeting in Doha earlier this month. The top diplomat for Saudi Arabia, a key backer of the Syrian opposition, rejected calls to work with Assad against IS after a meeting with Lavrov. As part of the push, Lavrov was also expected to meet on Friday with the head of a newer grouping of Syrian opposition figures known as the Cairo Conference Committee. On Wednesday, Russia's top Middle East envoy met in Moscow with Saleh Muslim, the head of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Greek Parliament Approves Bailout after All-Night Debate
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 14/15/Greece's parliament on Friday approved the country's third international bailout after an all-night debate, hours ahead of a critical meeting by European finance ministers. A majority of 222 lawmakers approved the 400-page document over 64 who voted against and 11 abstentions. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had earlier urged the chamber to approve the deal "to assure the country's ability to survive and keep on fighting." Over 40 lawmakers from Tsipras' radical leftist Syriza party including ex-finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and other senior cadres refused to support the three-year deal, a factor which the PM had previously warned would force him to call early elections. Greece's parliament had to approve the deal before the Eurogroup of finance ministers meets later Friday in Brussels to decide whether to rubber stamp the 85-billion-euro ($94-billion) rescue plan. Tsipras said Friday that failure to ratify the deal would enable Germany to push forward its proposal for a bridging loan, which he described as "a return to a crisis without end". Facing down party critics who reject the austerity-heavy agreement, the 41-year-old PM declared: "I do not regret... choosing a compromise over the heroic dance of Zalongo," referring to a notorious 19th-century mass suicide in northern Greece when a group of women and children jumped to their deaths rather than submit to the cruel Ottoman governor Ali Pasha. Athens needed to unlock bailout funds before a 3.4-billion-euro repayment to the European Central Bank falls due on August 20.
The vote was originally slated for late Thursday, but was held up by procedural wrangling from hardline parliament chief Zoe Constantopoulou, who termed the bailout unconstitutional. "Every corner and beauty of Greece is being sold... the government is giving the keys to the troika along with sovereignty and national assets," she said, referring to the country's creditors -- the EU, the ECB and the International Monetary Fund.

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) chief, Gadi Eisenkot details army's national security strategy
Ron Ben Yishai, Adva Cohen/Ynetnew/Published: 08.14.15/Israel News
In document released to the public, Eisenkot states that while Israel won't initiate wars, if war is forced upon it, the IDF will go on the offense rather than defense; also differentiates between 'wartime' and 'emergency' situation, stressing the need to define clear objectives to each military campaign.
In an unprecedented move, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot released a document to the public on Thursday defining and detailing the army's national security strategy.
The document details what can be expected from the IDF during three types of situations: Routine time, emergency situations and wartime.
Based on this division, conflicts like Operation Protective Edge and Operation Pillar of Defense are considered confrontations limited in their scope and are therefore define as "emergency," rather than "war."
This means these confrontations were meant to bring Israel "back to a situation of calm, without striving for an immediate strategic change," so the IDF cannot be expected to bring down the Hamas regime in Gaza in such a military campaign, unless the political leadership tells it otherwise. In the first chapter, Eisenkot discusses the "military aspect of the security perception" - deterrence, intelligence, defense and a decisive victory. The IDF chief determines that while Israel will not initiate wars for the purpose of conquering lands or achieving strategic goals, as it did in the First Lebanon War, when a war is forced on it, the IDF will prefer to attack rather than merely go on the defensive.
"The basic assumption is that the enemy cannot be defeated with defensive fighting, so an offense is required to achieve clear military results," the document states.
The definition of the "enemy" has also been altered. As the threat of an all-out war against another state or several other states is on the decline, the document redefines the main threat as coming from military organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah or terror organizations that are not affiliated with any one country, like global jihad and the Islamic State.
Because of that, the IDF will favor fighting with smaller forces that can maneuver quickly and easily between different fronts, over large and stationary forces. This statement comes in the midst of the public debate over the defense budget and the IDF's attempt to present itself as a dynamic army that can become more efficient.
While Hezbollah, Hamas and the Islamic State are all mentioned, Iran is missing almost entirely from the document. Tehran appears as an example of a distant enemy state and is mentioned one more time beyond that - as the puppet master behind Hezbollah and Hamas.
The Iranian nuclear threat, which is presented by the political leadership as the biggest existential threat Israel is facing, is not mentioned - possibly because the army's strategy on that issue is too classified to appear in a public document, or because the agreement signed between Iran and world powers is seen as mitigating the threat. The document also determines that the chief of staff, being the army's commander-in-chief, would be the only one in contact with the political leadership, and it would be his responsibility to translate the government's instructions into operational orders. This declaration emphasizes the fact the IDF is subordinate to the government and is only implementing the instructions given to it by the public's representatives. Other principles detailed in the document include the importance of the strategic cooperation with the United States, strengthening Israel's standing in the region and maintaining Israel's relative advantage over its enemies. In addition to the document released to the public, there is another top secret document, much more detailed, about how the IDF will implement its strategy.
A historic milestone
The document, titled simply "The IDF's strategy," is a historic milestone in Israel's national security. For the first time, the IDF is defining its defense worldview and using that to determine how to act.
But most importantly, this document clarifies to the political leadership what is reasonable for them to demand and expect from the IDF, while at the same time demanding the prime minister and security cabinet to define exactly what the objectives of using military force in each instance are, what restrictions and constraints are imposed on the army, and what are the desired results.
This has never happened before. For the first time, the army is telling the political leadership what it needs from it in order to act effectively.
It is safe to assume that the prime minister, and mostly the defense minister, approved every letter and comma in that document before they allowed the chief of staff to declare it as a binding document and release it in full to the public.
The fact the defense minister approved the document is also a historic precedent, and Moshe Ya'alon should be given credit for doing something no defense minister had done before him. Some defense ministers appointed committees tasked with formulating Israel's security positions, but such positions have never been agreed upon and certainly not released to the public.
At the beginning of the document, the IDF defines the national goals and the principles of Israel's national security perception, which is similar to the principles outline by the Meridor Committee in 2006. The conclusions of the Meridor Committee, appointed by former defense minister Shaul Mofaz, were never released, not even to all members of Knesset.
The need to finally release a coherent document detailing the IDF's national security perceptions arose after the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Both wars revealed failures that were the result of having no clear objectives for the war, as well as no clear definitions of what a "decisive victory" entails, what is considered a "victory," what should the army aim for and what roles do the IDF and political leadership each have.
The document answers all of these questions. For example, it clearly states that the political leadership can present the IDF with two kinds of demands while fighting an enemy that is not a sovereign state - meaning Hamas, Hezbollah or the Islamic State: A full and clear decisive military victory against the enemy, or a limited and defined strike against the enemy.
During Protective Edge, for example, the political leadership demanded a limited strike against the enemy, rather than a decisive victory. With this document, the IDF wants to prevent some of the criticism that would follow the next round of fighting with regards to whether or not the objective of the military campaign has been reached.
While the IDF chief clearly states that he will do whatever the political leadership instructs, he also goes into great detail about what the political leadership needs to do so he, as the commander of the army, can provide it with the desired outcome.
Another reason for the document's release to the public is to match the Israeli public's expectations with what the army can and cannot do. When fighting enemies who are not states, the IDF faces constraints. For example, Israel needs to have international legitimacy for the campaign, otherwise IDF troops and commanders fighting among civilian populations, as well as the political leadership, could be declared war criminals.
With this document, Eisenkot also seeks to show that the IDF is not set on past dogmas and does not use billions in tax payer money to prepare for previous wars, rather than the wars to come.
It is also an attempt to show the army is attuned to public opinion and that it understands that allocating resources to education, health and welfare is just as important as allocating resources to security.

US investigating whether Islamic State used chemical weapons
Associated Press, Reuters/Ynetnews
Published: 08.14.15/Israel News
Kurdish officials say ISIS used what is believed to be chemical weapons in Iraq against peshmerga; senior US official tells Wall Street Journal agent used was mustard gas. The United States is investigating whether the Islamic State used chemical weapons, the White House said Thursday, following allegations that IS militants deployed chemical weapons against Kurdish forces in northern Iraq.
"We have credible information that the agent used in the attack was mustard," a senior US official told the Wall Street Journal. Islamic State could have obtained the mustard agent in Syria, whose government admitted to having large quantities of the blistering agent in 2013, when it agreed to give up its chemical weapons arsenal, the newspaper reported. Islamic State could also have obtained the mustard agent in Iraq, the Journal reported.
Alistair Baskey, a spokesman for the White House's National Security Council, said the US is taking the allegations "very seriously" and seeking more information about what happened. He noted that IS had been accused of using such weapons before. "We continue to monitor these reports closely, and would further stress that any use of chemicals or biological material as a weapon is completely inconsistent with international standards and norms regarding such capabilities," Baskey said in a statement. Earlier Thursday, Kurdish officials said their forces, known as peshmerga, were attacked the day before near the town of Makhmour, not far from Irbil. Germany's military has been training the Kurds in the area, and the German Defense Ministry said some 60 Kurdish fighters had suffered breathing difficulties from the attack, a telltale sign of chemical weapons use. But neither Germany nor the Kurds specified which type of chemical weapons may have been used. Confirmation of chemical weapons use by IS would mark a dramatic turn in the US-led effort to rout the extremist group from the roughly one-third of Iraq and Syria that it controls. Although the US and its coalition partners are mounting airstrikes against the Islamic State, they are relying on local forces like the Kurds, the Iraqi military and others to do the fighting on the ground. Already, those forces have struggled to match the might of the well-funded and heavily armed extremist group. At the United Nations, US Ambassador Samantha Power said the US was speaking with the Kurds who had made the allegations to gather more information. She said that if reports of chemical weapons are true, they would further prove that what IS calls warfare is really "just systematic attacks on civilians who don't accord to their particularly perverse world view." "I think we will have to again move forward on these allegations, get whatever evidence we can," Power said. She added that as a result of earlier chemical weapons use by the Syrian government, the US and its partners now have advanced forensic systems to analyze chemical weapons attacks. She said anyone responsible should be held accountable. Similar reports of chemical weapons use by IS had surfaced in July. But it's unclear exactly where the extremist group may have obtained any chemical weapons. Following a chemical weapon attack on a suburb of the Syrian capital of Damascus in 2014 that killed hundreds of civilians, the US and Russia mounted a diplomatic effort that resulted in Syrian President Bashar Assad's government agreeing to the destruction or removal of its chemical weapons stockpiles. But there have been numerous reports of chemical weapons use in Syria since then, especially chlorine-filled barrel bombs. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the global chemical weapons watchdog, has been investigating possible undeclared chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria.
Word of the White House's probe into possible chemical weapons use by IS came as President Barack Obama was vacationing with his family in Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Also on Thursday, IS militants claimed responsibility for a truck bombing at a Baghdad market that killed 67 people in one of the deadliest single attacks there since the Iraq War.
Surge US bombing of ISIS in July
The US bombing campaign against Islamic State rebels surged in July as Kurdish fighters pushed into territory held by the militant group in Syria and Iraqi forces prepared an offensive to retake strategic northwestern cities, Pentagon figures showed. The US military spent an average of $4.6 million per day on bombs and other munitions between July 15 and July 31, nearly double the daily average of $2.33 million spent in the previous month. Lieutenant Commander Kyle Raines, a spokesman for US Central Command, said the number of bombs and other munitions used in July increased by 67 percent over the previous month, jumping from 1,686 to 2,829. One defense official said the late July bombing was the second most intense since the campaign started a year ago, topped only by a two-week period in September when the US-led coalition began operations in Syria. "We began conducting larger operations in late July, thus requiring a larger number of munitions," Raines said. Kurdish fighters in Syria solidified their control over areas near the border with Turkey and began to push deeper into Islamic State-held territory. At the same time, Iraqi forces began preparing to recapture the Anbar capital Ramadi. Defense officials and analysts said the jump in bombs dropped also likely reflected better coordination between local fighters on the ground who identify targets and US troops who have to approve the targets and direct the strike aircraft. Daily US air strike reports show that coalition attacks in Syria at the end of July intensified around al Hasaka, which was contested by Kurdish forces, and Deir al-Zor, a strategic town between the group's capital Raqqa and the Iraqi border.
"Air strikes have expanded further into Syria, and the advances of anti-ISIL forces on the ground open up more targeting opportunity against ISIL," Raines said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. "For Iraq, coalition air strikes continue to shape the battlefield and lay the groundwork for Iraqi security forces," he said. Daily reports released by Central Command show that the number of air strikes in late July essentially remained flat, suggesting that the airplanes involved the strikes were, in fact, finding targets and releasing a larger proportion of their weapons. The air campaign has seen the heaviest use ever of precision weapons. Through June, 98 percent of the weapons used in the conflict were precision guided, compared to 68 percent in the 2003 Iraq war. Where air forces once dropped thousands of tons of bombs per target, US pilots now drop between one and two per target. Despite the intensified bombing in late July, the overall US effort against Islamic State militants remains small compared to other American wars. Pentagon figures released late last week showed the United States spent nearly $3.5 billion on the war against Islamic State between Aug. 8, 2014, and July 31, 2015. If the daily average continued for another week, the cost of the first full year of the war would be just under $3.6 billion. That is about what the Pentagon spends each month on the scaled-back mission in Afghanistan, which involves some 9,800 troops. Spending on munitions during the last two weeks of July was more than $4.6 million per day, nearly double the $2.33 million daily rate over the previous month, the figures showed.

Turkey's Keystone Commandos
Burak Bekdil/The Gatestone Institute/August14, 2015
Excerpt of article originally published under the title, "Turkey's Rambos (Almost) Fight Islamic State."
A photo recently uploaded to Twitter shows Division 30 fighters with a U.S.-made Mark 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle.
Last year, the half-hearted Turks and wholehearted Americans sat down to understand where in the Syrian civil war they converged and diverged. The Americans viewed the Islamic State (IS) as their number one enemy. After having destroyed the jihadists, we could sit down and talk about Syria's future, including the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Erdogan's top regional nemesis. In contrast, the Turks would reluctantly help fight IS but insisted that if peace were going to return to Syria, Assad had to go.
After months-long negotiations, the two NATO allies in February signed an agreement to train and equip moderate rebels who would fight both IS and Assad. Groups of opposition fighters would be trained at military camps in Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. They would be ready to fight and finish off the Islamic State. The Pentagon even identified 1,200 fighters for training. They believed that eventually the allies would train and equip about 5,000 fighters.
Then the program largely disappeared from the public domain. Officials cited security concerns, for secrecy about where and how many fighters were being trained, and with what gear they were being equipped. Finally, in August, the Rambos trained and equipped by Turkey and the U.S. came to the public attention -- if not quite in Rambo fashion.
The dramatic end of Division 30 shows that the U.S. and Turkey have major human and military intelligence problems in Syria.
On July 13 (or July 12, according to different sources) a team of 54 fighters trained and equipped by Turkey and the U.S., and known by the fancy military name Division 30, secretly entered Syrian territory -- meant to blaze a trail for others who would fight IS and (later, perhaps) Assad. Shortly after entering Syria, the al-Nusra Front (ANF), an al-Qaeda franchise, abducted the group's leader, Nedim al Hassan, together with 17 fighters, in northern Syria. The next day ANF attacked the team's headquarters near Aleppo, killing five fighters and injuring 16. In the same attack, eight more fighters were abducted by ANF forces. The remaining seven fighters took refuge in a Kurdish-controlled town in northern Syria.
Division 30's guns and equipment were seized by the ANF, which later released a video showing the hostages who were supposed to fight IS. In the video, one of the detained fighters tells the camera he was recruited by the U.S., through intermediaries, to receive training in Turkey for a month and a half. He says the trainees were each given an M16 assault rifle and some cash, and sent to fight ANF in Syria. An ANF member said his group "cut the hand of the West and the Americans in Syria" by capturing the fighters.
The Free Syrian Army, which Turkey supports in the hope that it may help Ankara topple Assad, is now in talks with the ANF for the release of the captured fighters. .
This is not the first time the al-Nusra Front has made mincemeat of U.S.-supplied rebel forces.
The tragic failure of Division 30 even to start any fighting underlines a few disturbing facts.
First, although this was the first U.S./Turkish-trained force officially sent to Syria that faced a tragic end, it is not the first group of fighters that failed. Last November, two of the main rebel groups (Harakat Hazm and the Syrian Revolutionary Front) receiving U.S. arms to fight both IS and Assad, surrendered to the ANF. They had even been given Grad truck-mounted rockets and TOW anti-tank missiles. Apparently, the U.S./Turkish-backed groups lack the military capabilities and tactics that, together with allied air support, would have helped them win control over strategic towns. Among dozens of different groups fighting in northern Syria, the Kurds and various jihadist bands know the area best.
Second, the dramatic end of Division 30 has shown that there are both U.S. and Turkish human (and military) intelligence weaknesses regarding the war zone.
Third, without a credible ground operation (and scores of fallen soldiers), jihadists cannot be seriously fought. For such an unpleasant venture, both the US and Turkey are too unprepared and reluctant -- for understandable reasons.
Fourth, Turkey's leaders, who do not hide their obsession with Assad's downfall, are still daydreaming. On August 3, Erdogan said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has changed his stance on the ongoing crisis in Syria and is "much more positive" about a future without Assad. Erdogan said: "Actually, I believe that he may give up on Assad." There is no means to know how much laughter this may have caused at the Kremlin. But we know that the Turkish obsession with Assad causes strategic blindness and may further weaken an already difficult allied war on the jihadists.
Division 30 was a tragicomic start to a ground warfare campaign against the Islamic State and several other jihadist groups. It may not be the last.
**Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a columnist for the Turkish daily Hürriyet and a fellow at the Middle East Forum.
http://www.meforum.org/5437/turkey-division-30

UK: Extremists in the Heart of Government
Samuel Westrop/The Gatestone Institute/August14, 2015
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6307/uk-extremists-government
Given the sort of views and preachers to which this member of the government's counter-terrorism programme subscribes, he should not be entrusted work in publicly funded counter-extremism. But in the eyes of the media and government, Sulaimaan Samuel's arguments against ISIS make him a suitable "moderate."
Once again, hardline preachers and Islamist extremists have been rewarded and praised rather than ostracized. If Britain is to win the battle against Islamist extremism, public officials need to be held to account for their irresponsible choice of partners.
A British government body responsible for monitoring the counter-terrorism procedures among Britain's 44 police forces has admitted, the Daily Telegraph reports, to employing "one of Britain's most notorious Islamic extremists."
Abdullah Al-Andalusi, whose real name is Mouloud Farid, worked at Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, at which he was privy to "highly sensitive and classified police and intelligence information."
Andalusi passed the required security checks despite his public reputation for collaborating with extremist groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, a global Islamist movement, and CAGE, a pro-jihadist group that worked closely with the ISIS executioner "Jihadi John."
Writing on Facebook, Andalusi has claimed the Pakistani Taliban is "demonised" by "Western media" and "Pakistani liberals." Andalusi argues that the Taliban's attempted assassination of the schoolgirl Malala Yousefzai was an unavoidable consequence of "Western foreign policy." The Taliban, Andalusi argues, are advocates of women's education, but are merely "flawed" and "paranoid" in the face of "Western imperialist encroachment."
Andalusi also writes that "democracy, secularism, feminism, humanism, and freedom" are "blatantly un-Islamic concepts."
In 2014, Andalusi and his organization, the Muslim Debate Initiative, joined forces with CAGE, Hizb ut-Tahrir and other Salafist and Muslim Brotherhood groups, to demonstrate in support of Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay inmate who has admitted to providing "small arms and mountain tactics" at al-Qaeda training camps.
At this event, Andalusi spoke alongside notorious extremists such as Haitham Al-Haddad, who describes Jews as "apes and pigs"; Asim Qureshi, who has urged British Muslims to "support the jihad of our brothers and sisters in these countries when they are facing the oppression of the West"; and Ismail Patel, a pro-Hamas activist who advocates the killing of adulterers.
During a television appearance in early 2015, Andalusi refused to condemn the killing of apostates. Further, Andalusi refused to comment on remarks made by his occasional speaking partner, Haitham Al-Haddad, in support of wife-beating and killing homosexuals.
After the Muslim Brotherhood was elected to government in Egypt, Andalusi criticized the Brotherhood for implementing Islamic law too slowly. He stated: May "God hasten Egypt to an Islamic future ... war against oppressors, and the re-establishment of Caliphate."
Elsewhere, Andalusi writes that the fighting in Syria demonstrates the Muslim world is divided into two sides: one that is "filled with the ranks of the defeatists, the silent, the supplicators to the West, and the collaborators"; while the "other side fights with all its might for justice, liberation and the revival of Islam and Caliphate."
Evidently, Abdullah Al-Andalusi is not a suitable employee for a government body that monitors counter-terrorism efforts. He is not, however, the only Islamist to have dazzled the government and the police.
Just a few months ago, in fact, the Bedfordshire police force published a photo of one of its officers "standing against hate crime and intolerance" with Qadeer Baksh, the chairman of Luton Islamic Centre. Baksh has declared that in an "ideal" Islamic state, homosexuality would be punished with death.
Extremist influence also extends to counter-terrorism programs. Earlier this month, The Times published an editorial in praise of certain groups and individuals working to combat extremism in the wake of the Trojan Horse scandal.
The Times expressed support for a group in Birmingham called "Upstanding Neighbourhoods," a charity that ostensibly provides school pupils with a "powerful and timely counter-narrative to that of fanaticism and martyrdom."
These efforts are led by the director of the charity, Sulaimaan Samuel, who is part of the government's counter-terrorism programme, "Channel." Channel works to "safeguard those at risk of being drawn into terrorism." The government funds Samuel directly to organize workshops for Muslim youth.
Samuel's message to young children is that ISIS and its cheerleaders must be rejected. Samuel is rather more enthusiastic, however, about other Islamist causes.
His social media postings present an extremist narrative. He promotes posters celebrating "67 years of resistance" to the state of Israel. He has circulated messages in praise of the pro-jihadist group CAGE, claimed that Israel is "planning a Holocaust of Gaza's civilians," and has promoted the pro-Hamas Islamist convert, Yvonne Ridley.
Samuel has frequently circulated material written by Majid Freeman, an Islamist commentator who encourages European Muslims to "do jihad in Syria," and has posted "tributes" to the late Al Qaeda terrorist Anwar Al-Awlaki.
In addition, Samuel posts commentary by a number of notorious extremist preachers. He has promoted the views of Sheikh Khalid Yasin, an American-born preacher who calls for killing homosexuals and beating women. The convicted terrorist Michael Adebowale, who beheaded the British soldier Lee Rigby on the streets of London, has cited Yasin as his inspiration.
Given the sort of views and preachers to which Samuel subscribes, it is clear he should not be entrusted with work in publicly funded counter-extremism. But in the eyes of the media and government, Samuel's arguments against ISIS make him a suitable "moderate."
The newspapers are full of support for problematic groups. The Times has reported on the work of Tauheedul, a charity that runs seven schools across Britain. Its work in the wake of the Trojan Horse scandal has won them praise. Jonathan Simons, the head of education at Policy Exchange, a prominent London think tank, has declared: "Tauheedul Education should be the new name on every policymaker's lips."
Tauheedul, however, is a flagship charity of the Deobandi movement, a hardline sect of Islam that produced the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The movement's leading preachers in Britain include Riyadh ul Haq, who has called on Muslims to "shed blood" for Allah. According to the very same paper that has recently praised the Tauheedul charity, Ul Haq and his fellow Deobandi preachers have encouraged "a deep-rooted hatred of Western society, admiration for the Taleban and a passionate zeal for martyrdom 'in the way of Allah.'"
Tauheedul schools openly identify as Deobandi institutions.
At Tauheedul Islam Girls' High School, schoolgirls were ordered "to wear the hijab outside the school and home" and "not bring stationery to school that contains un-Islamic images."
Visitors invited to the school have included the Saudi cleric Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, who has referred to Jews as "pigs" and "scum of the human race." Al-Sudais blames misfortune on the "sins" of women, such as "unveiling, mingling with men, and being indifferent to the hijab."[1]
Other Tauheedul-run schools have invited preachers such as Ismail Menk, who describes homosexuals as "filthy" and worse than "dogs and pigs."
In 2014, undercover footage broadcast on British television revealed staff at a Tauheedul school advocating that all music should be banned and homosexuals should be "stoned to death."
Despite this long history of extremism, in 2015, Abdul Hamid Patel, the Chief Executive of Tauheedul, was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Honours list.
As well as his work at Tauheedul, Patel manages another Islamic charity with a number of prominent Salafist and Deobandi clerics, including Qari Ziyaad Patel, who has sung nasheeds [Islamic songs] in support of the Taliban.
Once again, hardline preachers and Islamist extremists have been rewarded and praised rather than ostracized. If Britain is to win the battle against Islamist extremism, public officials need to be held to account for their irresponsible choice of partners.
[1] John Bradley, Saudi Arabia Exposed: Inside a Kingdom in Crisis (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 170.

How the Iran deal violates the Constitution
CLARE M. LOPEZ/Family Security Matters/August 13, 2015
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/how-the-iran-deal-violates-the-constitution?f=must_reads
Among the myriad other reasons why the recently concluded Iran nuclear agreement is a bad deal, the fact that it clearly violates the U.S. Constitution ought to be given more attention.
Article VI says "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding."
The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligates its nuclear-weapon State Parties "...not in any way to assist, encourage, or induce any non-nuclear-weapon State to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, or control over such weapons or explosive devices." The U.S. officially ratified the NPT on 5 March, 1970 and remains a party to this treaty currently. This means that the NPT is the Law of the Land. That the JCPOA's provisions explicitly obligate the U.S. to both "assist" and "encourage" (not to mention "defend") the Iranian regime's nuclear weapons program is thus a direct violation of the Constitution's Supremacy Clause (Article VI).
On 11 May 1995, the Treaty was extended indefinitely-meaning that the U.S. may not assist Iran in any way to acquire nuclear weapons, nor may Iran engage in activities to acquire nuclear weapons. Indefinitely. Not just for 8 years, or 10 years, or 15 years.
But according to Prof. Louis Rene Beres, Emeritus Professor of Political Science and International Law at Purdue University, "the new P5+1 Agreement explicitly contradicts this expectation." He adds, "Therefore, this contradiction also represents a conspicuous violation of U.S. law."
The fact that Iran also remains a signatory to the NPT seems almost incidental at this point. The NPT obligates all non-nuclear weapon State Parties "...not to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices; and not to seek or receive any assistance in the manufacture of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive device." Surely, an agreement like the Iran nuclear deal violates this provision since Iran will be continue to enrich uranium, develop advanced centrifuges and acquire expertise in producing plutonium. Sanctions also will be lifted against Iran's ballistic missile program that experts believe is being developed as a nuclear weapons delivery system. At the same time, it is unclear whether Iran will be ever be required to account for past nuclear weapons-related activities.
There's another important treaty which the Iran nuclear agreement also appears to violate: the United Nations 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Under the provisions of this treaty, which also has the force of law for the U.S., all parties are obligated to report to the UN not only instances of actual genocide, but also expressions of ‘incitement to genocide' (which is explicitly enumerated in Article III, section (c) as punishable under the Convention).
Iran ratified this treaty on 14 August 1956 and remains a signatory. The U.S. signed the Treaty in 1948 and ratified it on 25 November 1988. Both countries are signatories today and obligated under its provisions. In view of the Iranian regime's incessant and public calls for the destruction of the Jewish State of Israel, Iran long ago should have been held accountable for ‘incitement to genocide' before the International Criminal Court. Israeli diplomats have proposed to charge former Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad with state-sanctioned incitement to genocide under the Genocide Convention as have both Irwin Cotler, former Canadian Minister of Justice and currently Member of the Canadian Parliament, and former U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton. Members of the U.S. Congress likewise in 2007 called upon the UN to charge Ahmadinejad with violating the Genocide Convention. To date, though, no international legal proceedings for incitement to genocide have moved forward against either Ahmadinejad or any other member of the Iranian regime leadership.
Logically, though, it should follow that as a signatory to the Genocide Convention, the U.S. would demand that the Iranian regime issue a public renunciation of past incitement to genocide against Israel before commencing negotiations with it. In fact, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in April 2015 offered an amendment to the Corker-Cardin bill that would have required the president to certify that Iran has publicly recognized Israel's right to exist as a Jewish State. Unfortunately, the amendment was not adopted.
For any member of Congress genuinely concerned about rule of law, it is incumbent upon them seriously to consider the legal ramifications of the Iran nuclear deal and its blatant disregard of binding U.S. law.
A version of this piece previously appeared on The Hill.
**Clare M. Lopez is the Vice President for Research & Analysis at the Center for Security Policy

Khamenei's IRGC Representative, Ali Saeedi: Lebanon, Gaza, Bahrain, Syria Constitute Iran's Essential Strategic Depth
MEMRI/August 14, 2015 Special Dispatch No.6133
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8705.htm
In a speech he delivered on August 10, 2015, Ali Saeedi, the representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), said that what impelled the West to hold nuclear negotiations with Iran was the latter's might and strategic depth in the region. He added that the West was trying to erode Iran's strategic depth in Lebanon, Gaza, Bahrain and Syria, which are crucial assets for Iran. The West, he elaborated, is taking advantage of the nuclear deal to raise other issues concerning Iran's involvement in the region, and concessions in this domain could harm Iran's strategic depth and leave it isolated.
Saeedi also stressed that the Supreme National Security Council – which along with other Iranian state institutions is now required to ratify the nuclear deal – must remember that Iran's ballistic missiles program and that the Parchin facility (where the West suspects Iran conducted experiments on developing nuclear weapons), are red lines for the regime.
Lastly, Saeedi addressed the issue of the Assembly of Experts election, slated for February 2016. In light of the recent announcement by the head of the pragmatic camp, Expediency Council chairman Hashemi Rafsanjani, that he would run in this election, Saeedi warned against a flagging of Iran's revolutionary spirit and urged the people to participate in the elections en masse in order to thwart this danger and express their support for the regime.
It should be noted that senior Iranian spokesmen have been stressing lately that Tehran would only increase its support for its regional allies following the nuclear deal. In an August 9, 2015 conference in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said: "We declared that we would maintain our defense capabilities and our armed support of our allies. In this context, we have said explicitly that, were it not for the aid and the courageous steadfastness of the Islamic Republic in the region, many regional capitals would possibly have fallen to the Islamic State."[1] In an interview on the Supreme Leader's website, Khamenei's advisor for international affairs, Ali Akbar Velayati, likewise said that Iran would "only step up its support for fighters in the region" after the nuclear deal.[2] In a similar vein, Kayhan editorial board member Sadollah Zarei, who is close to the IRGC, told the Basij website on August 10, 2015 that the nuclear deal "will not at all detract from Iran's support for its regional allies in the face of foreign intervention and terror. [In fact, Iran] will significantly increase its support [for them]."[3]
The following are the main points of Saeedi's speech:[4]
"The aim of the [regime] heads is to sever the nuclear issue from the other issues, and there is no intention of paying too dearly for [resolving the nuclear issue]. [Supreme] Leader Khamenei believes in using nuclear [energy] for civil purposes, [but] the enemies want to jump [from the nuclear issue] to other conflicts they have with Iran. Following the Lausanne and Vienna agreements, they used the nuclear [issue] as a springboard to [address] non-nuclear issues, because they did not manage to achieve what they wanted in the negotiations...
"The next issue [I wish to address] is Iran's and [the enemies'] strategic depth. They do not want Iran to have strategic depth in Yemen or to have spiritual influence in Yemen, Lebanon, Gaza, Bahrain or Syria. Giving up this strategic depth means giving up everything we have achieved. Iran's might in the region and its strategic depth is what brought [the enemies] to the negotiation table [in the first place]. Strategic depth is a crucial factor for Iran, and if we give it up we will find ourselves isolated.
"The issues of the ballistic missiles and Parchin are among Iran's red lines, and the [Supreme] National Security Council must take note of this.
"Next year's [Experts Assembly] elections harbor a danger, namely the flagging of the revolutionary spirit, and we must be aware of this. Wide participation by the public will convey many messages, especially regarding the nuclear issue. Considering our situation this year, the people's presence and support are very critical. One of the measures of the regime's vigor is voter turnout. The Iranian people turned out for the Qods Day parades, the February 11 parades, and other [events]... It's presence is well-documented and reflects the extent of its support for the regime and the [Supreme] Leader. The Iranian people will [also] turn out for these important elections, as it did in the past, and whatever it thinks will benefit the regime will come to pass. The enemies and the Arrogance [i.e., the West, led by the U.S.] seek to take every opportunity to harm the regime."
Endnotes:
[1] Fars (Iran), August 9, 2015.
[2] Farsi.khamenei.ir, July 21, 2015.
[3] Basijnews.ir, August 10, 2015.
[4] IRNA (Iran), August 10, 2015.

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