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Bible Quotation For Today/For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’
Luke 14/07-11/"When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honour, he told them a parable. ‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, "Give this person your place", and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, "Friend, move up higher"; then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’

Bible Quotation For Today/Your sins are forgiven on account of Jesus's name
First Letter of John 02/12-20/: "I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven on account of his name. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have conquered the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you,and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live for ever. Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge.

LCCC Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 18-19/15
Micheal Aoun Is A Cancerous Christian Politician/Elias Bejjani/August 18/15
Is that Christian Leadership?/Elie Aoun/August 18/15
How Iran's Revived Weapons Exports Could Boost Its Proxies/Farzin Nadimi/Washington Institute/August 18/15
ISIS using chemical agents not hard to believe/Raed Omari/Al Arabiya/August 18/15
New Arab order should make meritocracy its priority/Khaled Almaeena/Al Arabiya/August 18/15
What does true privacy mean in our virtual world?/Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/August 18/15
Iran to arm West Bank Palestinians for new Eastern Front to “efface”Israel/DEBKAfile/August 18/15
Dialogue with Iran by Way of RPG/Salman Aldosary/Al Arabiya/August 18/15
The USA Democratic Party’s betrayal of its Jewish voters/Shoula Romano Horing/Ynetnews/August 18/15
'Al-Sharq Al-Awsat' Columnist: Obama Administration's Defeat In Nuclear Deal Compels The Arabs To Rely On Themselves/MEMRI/August 18/15
Belfast Pastor on Trial for Offending Islam/Soeren Kern/Gateston Institute/August 18/15

LCCC Bulletin titles for the Lebanese Related News published on August 18-19/15
Micheal Aoun Is A Cancerous Christian Politician/Elias Bejjani/August 18/15
Is that Christian Leadership?/Elie Aoun/August 18/15
In pictures: Hezbollah’s child soldiers/Evidence of Party of God sending minors into battle has mounted steadily over the last year
ISIS attacks Hezbollah near
Abducted Servicemen Fail to Meet Relatives for Second Time in Four Days
Details Unfold on Asir as Questioning Continues
Army Detains Man for Preparing Explosives at Home
Beirut Port Employees Announce Open Strike over Waste Dumping
Change and Reform Says 'Obstructing Coup', Vows No Govt. Resolutions before 'Partnership' Restored
Mustaqbal Lauds Asir's Arrest, Says Killers of Hariri, al-Salman Must Meet Same Fate
Aoun Refuses Marginalization, Vows more Protests
Moqbel, Qahwaji Inspect Military Posts in Arsal
3 Dead after Syrian Bus Rams into Vehicles in Masnaa

LCCC Bulletin Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 18-19/15
Israel denies ceasefire talks with Hamas
PLO official: Iran considering appointing ambassador to State of Palestine
Syria blasts U.N. envoy for criticism of Douma raids
Arab League vows military support to Libya
Arab coalition bombs Yemen’s Hodeidah port
Turkish govt mandate to return to Erdogan
Hundreds of Saudis missing in foreign conflicts
Thai Junta Says Suspect Identified in 'Worst Ever' Bombing
GCC-Iran talks were proposed by Qatar, says Gulf official
Maliki Dismisses Mosul Fall Report as 'Worthless'
Yemen: Houthis declare state of emergency in northern stronghold

Micheal Aoun Is A Cancerous Christian Politician
Elias Bejjani/August 18/15
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2015/08/18/elias-bejjani-micheal-aoun-is-a-cancerous-politician-2/
MP, Micheal Aoun, the leader of the so called “Free Patriotic Movement, FPM,”, who is practically a Maronite Lebanese Trojan, alleged boldly and without any shame or self respect, or any consideration for the intelligence of others, he alleged today in an interview with Annahar Lebanese Daily that he abides completely by the Lebanese constitution!! What a big lie, What a bold and shameless liar.
In reality and actually Micheal Aoun is the number one constitution enemy, and the number one Lebanese Trojan, who have sold himself, his party, his followers, Lebanon and the sacrifices of the country’s martyrs to the Iranian Mullahs, the Syrian Al Assad butcher and to their Lebanese terrorist military proxy, Hezbollah, in return for power, wealth and protection.
Aoun the demagogue and evil politician is actually stupid, paranoid, childish, a liar and totally detached from reality.
In his sick and polluted mind, day dreaming and paranoid delusions, this merciless politician deludes himself that via his camouflaged and derailed rhetoric he can deceive the Lebanese people.
No, not all, he is totally wrong, because each and every sane and patriotic Lebanese, especially the majority of our comrades, the Maronites see in Aoun without a shed of doubt an evil human tool defiled with deadly patriotic and faith sins.
Aoun as we envisage him, is a cheap human tool and an anti Christ creature that is merely manipulated, used and abused by the Iran- Syrian Axis of Evil for every thing that is merely evil, and for every thing that is anti-Lebanese and anti-faith and anti human.
Openly and loudly we call on each and every Lebanese to see Aoun on his reality and strongly oppose all his political stances and all his anti Lebanese, anti-constitutional dirty and dangerous evil manoeuvres.
This man does not in any way or means symbolises or even understands the aspirations of our people the Maronites in particular, and the Lebanese Christians in general, whom he falsely claims to represent.
By the end of the day and definitely, the ultimate politically fate of Micheal Aoun won’t be much different from that of Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Mouamar Kazafi and all those who worshiped earthly riches and did not fear Almighty God and His Day Of Judgment.
Long Live our beloved Lebanon
(Below is the interview Arabic text of Aoun’s interview as was published by Annahar daily today)
Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com & http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Tweets on https://twitter.com/phoeniciaelias
Face Book https://www.facebook.com/groups/128479277182033 & https://www.facebook.com/elias.y.bejjani

Is that Christian Leadership?
Elie Aoun
August 18/15
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2015/08/18/elie-aounis-that-christian-leadership/
There are many valid arguments made against “others” who have undermined the Christians’ political power. However, in order to move forward, we have to assume responsibility and correct our own errors -- instead of consistently blaming others (even if others, on occasions, are to blame). By assuming responsibility, we begin to advance. By blaming others, we remain stranded.
In recent Lebanese history, Lebanese Christians have killed and marginalized Lebanese Christians probably more than any Muslim or foreign military or political group ever did.
The Taef Agreement (approved by certain Christians) and the subsequent Christian decision to boycott the parliamentary elections throughout the 1990s were the main reasons that led to a politically marginalized Christian community.
When the main Christian political leaderships decided to participate in parliamentary elections, they once again marginalized the Christian community by selecting candidates for personal reasons, and not based on the candidates’ potential contribution to the community. Out of the 128 parliamentarians, most of whom (with respect to all) are of no use to the nation or to their communities -- whether Christian or Muslim.
Even the ones selected by the leaders of the Christian political parties -- most of their parliamentarians add no value to the Christian community and do nothing to improve its well-being. Is that Christian leadership that wants to elevate the Christians?
The same may be said about certain ministers. Regardless of their legitimate accomplishments, there are facts that cannot be ignored. For example, despite having Christian Ministers of Energy from different political groups, and after supposedly spending over a billion dollars in recent years on the energy sector, there is not a single light bulb that turns on at night on the highway from Dora all the way to Jbeil or Batroun -- all of which are largely Christian areas. At the very least, they should have had some night lights for the highways of major Christian centers such as Dbayeh and Jounieh. Is that Christian leadership?
Now, the country faces a “garbage crisis.” What do Christian leaders do? Instead of assuming responsibility and take constructive action, they sit on the sidelines and blame others with corruption or whatever -- while letting the Christian community, and the nation as whole, face health hazards from the garbage and the polluted air. Is that Christian leadership?
Some say that they do not want analysis. They want solutions. Very well. Having thousands of members in their political parties, does not anyone of these thousands know how to come up with solutions and how to implement their own solutions?
With regard to the “garbage issue,” some legitimate solutions were presented by Lebanese environmental groups. The very least that could be done is for each leader of each Christian political party to call for a meeting with all the mayors which are affiliated with his party and discuss with them the feasibility of locally applying any of the solutions presented., or any of their own solutions, and if there is a potential for cooperation between towns on the issue. Instead of waiting on the Cabinet, they must act locally.
It is truly saddening that none of the parties has taken any initiative and someone has to even propose it to them. Is that leadership?
Ask: what can we do to improve the situation? Stop asking about what others did.

In pictures: Hezbollah’s child soldiers/Evidence of Party of God sending minors into battle has mounted steadily over the last year
Alex Rowell/ Now Lebanon/August 18/15/In July 2014, Hezbollah buried a 16-year-old fighter, Muhammad Ali Hussein Awada, who had been killed fighting Syrian opposition militants in the mountainous Lebanese-Syrian border zone. The revelation of his age, observers noted at the time, implied the Party of God – straining to hold larger swathes of territory with fewer men – had abandoned its former requirement that all fighters sent into live combat be at least 18 years of age. Since then, evidence of Hezbollah sending children – defined by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as all people under 18 – to the frontlines of the war in Syria has mounted steadily. The pro-Hezbollah website SouthLebanon.org, which publicizes funerals of the militia’s fighters killed “in confrontation with the mercenaries of disbelief and Wahhabism” – a reference to Sunni militants – has to date published photos of over two dozen “mujahideen martyrs” who appear likely to have been under 18 (see above image). When the case of one obviously juvenile fatality, that of 15-year-old Mashhoor Shams al-Din, came to light in April 2015, the Party issued a statement denying he was killed fighting in Syria, claiming instead that he succumbed to a “saddening accident” in south Lebanon. Syrian opposition activists had asserted he was killed fighting in Syria’s Qalamoun region; the same place 16-year-old Awada was killed the previous year.Lebanon is no stranger to the use of child soldiers. During frequent clashes in the northern city of Tripoli in 2012-13 between the feuding neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, several videos emerged of children participating in the battles, including one of a boy scarcely out of infancy, the recoil of his AK-47 almost knocking him off his feet. Throughout the 1975-90 civil war, too, child soldier recruitment was widespread, with Progressive Socialist Party militia leader Walid Jumblatt, for example, admitting to using soldiers “as young as ten.” And in the present Syrian civil war, a June 2015 UN report found almost every faction, pro- and anti-regime, from Hezbollah and the so-called Popular Committees to ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra to the Kurdish YPG and the Free Syrian Army, to be guilty of deploying child soldiers. International law forbids the recruitment of soldiers under 18, especially by non-state militias, such as Hezbollah. Article 4 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict (OPAC), adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2000, says, “Armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a State should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18 years.” It also stipulates that “Parties shall take all feasible measures to prevent such recruitment and use, including the adoption of legal measures necessary to prohibit and criminalize such practices” – meaning Lebanon, which is a signatory to OPAC, is compelled by international law to take action to prevent Hezbollah’s – and any other militia’s – ongoing use of child soldiers.

ISIS attacks Hezbollah near
Now Lebanon/August 18/15/BEIRUT – ISIS has attacked Hezbollah fighters near the Lebanese-Syrian border south of the Homs province town of Qusayr, which the Lebanese group seized in the summer of 2013. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that clashes erupted “after midnight on Monday between Hezbollah and ISIS along the Syrian-Lebanese border near the Jousiya border crossing.” The monitoring NGO added that there was no readily available information on casualties in the fighting, which comes after reports emerged in late July that ISIS had launched an offensive against Hezbollah near Qusayr. Lebanon’s state National News Agency, meanwhile, said late Monday that that the Lebanese Armed Forces helped foil an attempt by ISIS to approach the country’s border. “A group of ISIS militants tried to advance this afternoon towards the Naimat hills from Syria,” the agency reported. The group came from “inside Syrian territory in an area called Al-Qabou, which is also called Jousiya.”According to the NNA, there are several military positions in the border area manned by Hezbollah and Syria’s crack Fourth Armored Division. “[ISIS] clashed with them at the same time as the LAF [carried out] artillery shelling to prevent them infiltrating the Lebanese interior.”
“This forced them to withdraw.”
ARA News, in turn, reported that members of Hezbollah had “withdrawn from three positions on the Jousiya crossing after ISIS members advanced to those areas, amid fierce clashes that left dozens of party members dead.”
“ISIS launched a surprise attack on areas where the Hezbollah militias where based in Jousiya, which is connected to the Bekaa Valley hills and the strategic town of Qusayr,” activist Imad al-Kassir from western rural Homs told the outlet. However, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television as well as the pro-regime Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar denied that ISIS had seized the Jousiya border crossing.
Naimat hills offensive
The ISIS attack near Jousiya follows on the heels of a purported attack by the militant group against Hezbollah in the strategic Naimat hills area near the Lebanese-Syrian border crossing. Sky News Arabia reported on July 21 that intense clashes had raged for the previous two days between ISIS and Hezbollah in the Naimat hills area near the city of Qusayr. The station added that both sides had used a wide range of weapons, including heavy armaments. Meanwhile, a local media activist told Alaraby Aljadeed the same day that ISIS had seized control of the Naimat hills, adding that members of the extremist group “blew up a regime tank… killing all of its crew.” A number of pro-opposition Syrian outlets ran similar accounts of the fighting in the Naimat Hills, which Hezbollah-affiliated media outlets denied had happened. “There is no truth to what certain media outlets have circulated about ISIS militants controlling the Naimat Hills adjacent to the town of Qusayr in the countryside of Homs,” Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television claimed. The Naimat hills located near Lebanon’s border with Syria occupy an important military position outside Qusayr, which itself was considered a strategic gateway for rebel arms before Hezbollah took the town in 2013. “The eastern part of the elevated location is triangular in shape and is controlled by Hezbollah. It is in this area that most of the clashes have taken place,” according to a report published by Syria Mubasher news at the time. “The Lebanese Armed Forces are based to the west [inside Lebanon]. Members of ISIS are based to the south.”“The area’s importance lies in the fact that it is the first point of contact in the direction of the city of Qusayr,” the pro-opposition media outlet added. “Furthermore, the area contains many fortified Hezbollah, Syrian army and LAF checkpoints.”

Abducted Servicemen Fail to Meet Relatives for Second Time in Four Days
Naharnet/August 18/15/The relatives of the servicemen abducted by extremists in August 2014 failed for a second time to meet with their loved ones after they were promised to do so, various media reported on Tuesday. The families were scheduled to meet with the hostages held by the Islamic State group on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal. They were unable due to reasons linked to the IS group, revealed Nizam Mughit, a spokesman of the relatives, to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3). They did receive however assurances that the captives are doing well, said VDL (100.5). The relatives were expected to meet with the abductees on Saturday, but their efforts failed. The reasons of which were not disclosed. A number of soldiers and policemen were kidnapped by al-Nusra Front and IS group gunmen in the wake of clashes in Arsal in August last year. A few of them have since been released, four were executed, and the rest remain held. The captors are demanding the release of Islamists held in Lebanon as a condition for their release.

Details Unfold on Asir as Questioning Continues
Naharnet/August 18/15/The General Security continued on Tuesday to question Ahmed al-Asir as the investigation with him allegedly revealed that he had broken his ties with Fadel Shaker, a once-prominent Lebanese singer-turned Salafist. Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr told al-Joumhouria daily that the questioning of al-Asir, who was arrested at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport over the weekend, could last till Wednesday before his referral to the military tribunal or to the army intelligence for further investigation if needed. According to As Safir newspaper, al-Asir told investigators that he hid in a neighborhood at the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh after escaping from the Bilal bin Rabbah Mosque in Abra, a suburb of the southern city of Sidon, in 2013. Shaker, who had teamed up with al-Asir, was also hiding in the same neighborhood. But the detainee said that he broke his ties with him after the former singer contacted security agencies. Shaker allegedly sent messages to the agencies, claiming that he had not been involved in the clashes between al-Asir's supporters and the Lebanese army and asking for guarantees before handing himself over to the authorities. Abra was turned into a battle zone in June 2013 when al-Asir's followers engaged in deadly battles with the military following an attack on an army checkpoint. The army seized his headquarters after 48 hours of clashes that killed 18 soldiers, but al-Asir was able to escape with Shaker and several other followers. The cleric was arrested at the airport on Saturday. He was holding a fake Palestinian passport and trying to flee to Nigeria via Cairo. According to al-Akhbar newspaper, al-Asir told investigators that his supporters had not opened fire on the army checkpoint, accusing the Hizbullah-linked Resistance Bridades of inciting the battles. Al-Akhbar also said the anti-Hizbullah cleric claimed that he had moved to northern Lebanon in the trunk of a car and had stayed at the residences of Sheikhs Salem al-Rafehi and Khaled Hoblos. He later returned to Ain el-Hilweh and tried in vain to join militants in Syria and to travel to Turkey. Al-Asir's confessions have led to the arrest of several individuals linked to him. But General Security said in a statement on Tuesday that reports about details on Asir's arrest and his confessions are not true. It hoped the media would put the nation's interest before any other interest to facilitate its work.

Army Detains Man for Preparing Explosives at Home
Naharnet/August 18/15/Lebanese troops raided the house of a Lebanese man in the eastern city of Zahle and confiscated homemade explosives and several surveillance cameras, an Army communique said on Tuesday.
“The army obtained information that Fahd Dimitri Saba, 48, prepares homemade explosives at home. The army raided the house in Zahle's Industrial City and found the explosives in addition to some electric appliances and surveillance cameras,” the statement added.
The detainee is still under interrogation by the army to unravel further information for the purpose of the explosives he prepared.

Beirut Port Employees Announce Open Strike over Waste Dumping
Naharnet/August 18/15/Head of the Union of Beirut Port Employees Beshara al-Asmar declared on Tuesday an open strike at the port following the resumption of waste dumping near the premises after they were halted last week. “We were surprised to see today that the digging operations and waste dumping has resumed. Two bulldozers were brought into the area,” al-Asmar told Voice of Lebanon Radio (93.3). “We have informed the related authorities about the protest following the meeting of the Union's executive body. Head of the Port Authority Hassan Qoraytem has also been informed of the move,” he added. Last week, employees of the Port held a sit-in protesting an alleged government decision to use premises close to the port as a dump site. In July, a waste-management crisis swept through the capital and Mount Lebanon after the closure of the Naameh landfill that received trash from the said areas. Streets overflew with waste and the air filled with the smell of rotting garbage. Several options have been put forward to find a solution, and three companies have offered bids to manage Beirut's waste, although a landfill space has not been found yet.

Change and Reform Says 'Obstructing Coup', Vows No Govt. Resolutions before 'Partnership' Restored
Naharnet/August 18/15/The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc on Tuesday declared that it is “obstructing the coup” of the rival camp, stressing that no resolutions shall be passed in cabinet before the restoration of what it described as “real partnership.” “We acknowledge that we are 'obstructing the obstruction' and the coup against the Constitution, the law and the National Pact,” said the bloc in a statement issued after its weekly meeting and recited by former minister Salim Jreissati. Change and Reform's critics have accused it of obstructing the work of the government and the election of a new president. The 1943 National Pact is an unwritten agreement that set the foundations of modern Lebanon as a multi-confessional state. “No resolution shall be passed before they return to the real rules of partnership. Only then we will address the shortcomings of their files,” said Jreissati. “Those practicing obstruction must return to the National Pact and the Constitution so that the doors can be opened,” he added. “We are not compromisers by nature and we support any solution that is compatible with the Constitution and the National Pact,” the ex-minister said. Referring to the recent street protests that were organized by the Free Patriotic Movement, Jreissati “reassured” all parties that “the FPM's decision is to continue to enable people to make their voices heard.”FPM chief MP Michel Aoun has recently 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 Commando Regiment commander Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz -- his son-in-law -- as army chief. Separately, Change and Reform applauded the General Security and its chief, Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, over Saturday's arrest of fugitive Islamist cleric Ahmed al-Asir. “We hope the trial will live up to the hopes that are pinned on it,” it said. Asir had been on the run since the 2013 battle with the army in the Sidon suburb of Abra in which around 20 soldiers and many of his supporters were killed. The cleric was later accused of involvement in several deadly attacks inside the country.

Mustaqbal Lauds Asir's Arrest, Says Killers of Hariri, al-Salman Must Meet Same Fate
Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday hailed the arrest of fugitive cleric Ahmed al-Asir while urging authorities to capture those accused of involvement in the murders of former premier Rafik Hariri and anti-Hizbullah activist Hashem al-Salman. “The bloc lauds the security achievement that the Lebanese General Security made by arresting the fugitive Ahmed al-Asir,” said Mustaqbal in a statement issued after its weekly meeting. “In this regard, the bloc highlights the eternal truth that justice cannot be achieved unless it is comprehensive, complete and extended across all Lebanese regions,” the bloc added. It called on security and judicial authorities to “speed up their work” and “make the achievements that the Lebanese people are demanding and awaiting.” “This should be fulfilled through the arrest of the rest of fugitive criminals, topped by those accused of involvement in the assassination of martyr premier Rafik Hariri and in the rest of the assassinations and bombings,” Mustaqbal said. It also called for the capture of the suspects in the murder of the young man Hashem al-Salman, “who was assassinated in cold blood and under the sight of all TV reporters outside the Iranian embassy.” The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon has accused five Hizbullah members of involvement in Hariri's 2005 assassination. An in absentia trial got underway after Lebanese authorities failed to arrest any of the five suspects. Hizbullah has denied involvement in the attack, dismissing the court as a U.S.-Israeli scheme against the party. Al-Salman was killed in a scuffle between alleged supporters of Hizbullah and protesters from the Lebanese Option Party near the Iranian embassy in Beirut. The demonstrators were holding a sit-in to protest Hizbullah's involvement in the war raging in Syria. Al-Mustaqbal bloc also called for the arrest of the killers of Sobhi and Nadimeh Fakhri in the Bekaa town of Btedei, accusing Hizbullah of protecting the suspects involved in all the aforementioned crimes. Al-Asir was arrested Saturday at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport as he was trying to flee to Nigeria via Egypt.
He had been on the run since the 2013 battle with the army in the Sidon suburb of Abra in which around 20 soldiers and many of his supporters were killed. The anti-Hizbullah cleric was later accused of involvement in several deadly attacks inside the country.

Aoun Refuses Marginalization, Vows more Protests
Naharnet/August 18/15/Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun denied on Tuesday that he is seeking to paralyze state institutions in an attempt to change the Taef Accord, saying his supporters' anti-government protests will continue.“I totally reject this conclusion,” Aoun said. “Those paralyzing the institutions are the ones not respecting the Constitution and laws.”“How would a decision be taken if we don't respect the law, the Constitution and the National Pact?” he asked in an interview published in An Nahar newspaper. Aoun, who heads the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc, stressed that he is calling for law enforcement, saying “the Pact is the basis of governance in Lebanon.” The lawmaker said that the recent street demonstrations held by his supporters are aimed at “giving back the patriotic rights of Christians, in addition to his ability to practice them.”He refused to be marginalized and “not being consulted on important issues.”Asked if he would react positively to a call made by his ally Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for the rival blocs to attend parliamentary sessions, Aoun said: “We are discussing it.”“We are agreeing on a certain formula,” he added.On his ties with Speaker Nabih Berri, Aoun said the Amal Movement leader is free to back him or not for the presidency. “I have said that the parliament is illegitimate but it is legal. There is a difference between the two.” Berri said in recent remarks that he would not back Aoun for the presidency because he considers the parliament illegitimate for extending its own term in office last year. Aoun also told An Nahar that he did not want to change the government. "There is no possibility to form another one," he said. Asked if his supporters' latest protests have given consultations on the cabinet crisis a push, he said: “Our moves are escalatory and every time there will be something new.”Prime Minister Tammam Salam has not invited the cabinet to convene this week after ministers failed during a session last week to agree on any issue.

Moqbel, Qahwaji Inspect Military Posts in Arsal
Naharnet/August 18/15/Defense Minister Samir Moqbel and Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji inspected on Tuesday military posts in the northeastern border town of Arsal, reported the National News Agency.
Qahwaji later declared that the “army now has the initiative” in controlling the border. “Political tensions will never affect the performance of the military institution,” he added according to LBCI television. Moqbel and Qahwaji's visit came amidst heavy security measures and “unprecedented” military helicopter activity, noted NNA. The outskirts of Arsal frequently witness skirmishes between the army and armed groups using the porous border with Syria to roam to and from the country. Moqbel and Qahwaji had last visited the area together in June. The army has arrested over the past months a number of suspects linked to armed groups. Arsal was also the center of clashes between the army and al-Nusra Front and Islamic State militants in August 2014, which left scores of soldiers and gunmen dead. A number of Lebanese servicemen were also abducted in the wake of the fighting. A few of them have since been released, four were executed, while the rest remain held.

3 Dead after Syrian Bus Rams into Vehicles in Masnaa
Naharnet/August 18/15/Three people were killed and 16 injured overnight when a Syrian bus rammed into several vehicles near the Masnaa border crossing in eastern Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency reported Tuesday. NNA said the accident happened around 300 meters away from the base of the General Security at the crossing. The Syrian bus crashed into the vehicles after its brake failed, it said.The casualties were taken to hospitals in the Bekaa Valley.

Israel denies ceasefire talks with Hamas
By AFP | Occupied Jerusalem/Tuesday, 18 August 2015/Israel said Monday it was not engaged in talks with Hamas following a flurry of media reports suggesting the two sides were discussing a long-term ceasefire. “Israel is officially clarifying that it is not holding any meetings with Hamas, neither directly, nor via other countries or intermediaries,” the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. Arab and Turkish media have in recent weeks carried reports, that were picked up by Israeli media, claiming Israel and the Palestinian movement that rules the Gaza Strip were holding talks. According to the reports, the talks were aimed at reaching an eight-year of 10-year truce, with Israel removing its blockade on the coastal Palestinian territory. A 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in July-August 2014 killed about 2,200 Palestinians and 73 on the Israeli side, and destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of homes in Gaza. Israel says its nine-year blockade on the impoverished territory is essential to prevent militants from obtaining materials to fortify military positions and build rockets they could fire. The reports on truce talks were fuelled by recent meetings between Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal with Turkish and Saudi officials. The statement from Netanyahu’s office also addressed reports that an agreement with Hamas would enable normalizing diplomatic ties between Israel and Turkey. Relationships between the former allies soured in 2010 when Israeli commandos killed 10 Turks after storming the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara en route to Gaza. Israel apologized in 2013 and talks have been ongoing to determine compensation for the families, but there has been no agreement yet, with Turkey conditioning a deal the lifting of the Gaza blockade. “As for the relations with Turkey -- the agreement is still far off,” Netanyahu’s office said. Israel has recently accused Turkey of harboring a Hamas militant who orchestrated attacks against Israelis.

PLO official: Iran considering appointing ambassador to State of Palestine
By JPOST.COM STAFF, KHALED ABU TOAMEH/08/18/2015 /Iran has discussed the possibility of appointing an ambassador to Palestine, a senior PLO official said Tuesday. PLO Executive Committee member Ahmed Majdalani was quoted by the Bethlehem-based Ma'an News Agency as saying that he discussed the possibility of Iran's ambassador to Jordan serving as the non-resident ambassador to the State of Palestine with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Majdalani said he discussed the matter with Zarif last week when he traveled to Iran to discuss ways of boosting ties between the PA and Iran in the aftermath of the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. Majdalani said his talks in Iran focused on three issues: boosting bilateral relations, the Syrian crisis and the dispute between the PA and Hamas. During the visit, the PLO official delivered a letter from PA President Mahmoud Abbas to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Majdalani said the two sides also agreed to work together in the international arena against Israel’s nuclear arsenal and weapons of mass destruction. He said the PA and Iran were planning to call for an international conference to discuss ways of disarming Israel. Abbas is planning to visit Iran in November for talks aimed at boosting relations between the two sides, Majdalani said last week. The last time Abbas visited Iran was in 2012, when he attended a conference of the Non-Aligned Countries. The rapprochement between Iran and the PA comes amid reports of mounting tensions between Tehran and Hamas. According to reports, the Iranians recently canceled a planned visit by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to Tehran in protest against his visit to Saudi Arabia last month.

Syria blasts U.N. envoy for criticism of Douma raids
By The Associated Press | Damascus/Tuesday, 18 August 2015/Syria on Tuesday accused U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura of bias and said his recent statements condemning deadly government airstrikes on a market that killed some 100 people show he lacks objectivity. The spat coincides with the Security Council endorsement of a recently announced plan by de Mistura aimed at setting the stage for new peace talks to end the country's long-running civil war. It is not the first time that the Syrian government has accused de Mistura - and other U.N. envoys before him - of prejudice in the Syrian conflict. In a statement Monday, de Mistura condemned the government air raids in the eastern Damascus suburb of Douma, one of the deadliest since Syria's crisis began in March 2011.
The airstrikes hit a vegetable market in the suburb, which is a stronghold of the Islam Army rebel group. The Syrian government said Tuesday that de Mistura's statement was far from objective and showed he relied only on "propaganda circulated within circles known for their hostility to Syria."In a statement published Tuesday by the state-run news agency SANA, the government said it had hoped de Mistura would condemn shelling by "armed terrorist groups" of the cities of Aleppo, Latakia and Daraa and other massacres committed by al-Qaida-styled groups. The Security Council on Monday endorsed a plan by de Mistura aimed at setting the stage for new peace talks to end the civil war. It includes talks on a political transition leading to democratic elections. The council's unity on a Syria political statement comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity to try to end the conflict, now in its fifth year, which has killed around 250,000 people.

Arab League vows military support to Libya
By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News/Tuesday, 18 August 2015/Libya's internationally recognized government on Tuesday urged fellow Arab countries to arm its military so it can face the expanding influence of an ISIS affiliate in the country. Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Dairi made the appeal at an emergency Arab League meeting in Cairo. He warned that his ill-equipped government is unable to fight off ISIS, which he said was seeking to establish a base in Libya as it faces U.S.-led airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. The Arab League's chief, Nabil al-Arabi, endorsed al-Dairi’s call and urged members to respond “promptly and effectively.”“We emphasize the need to take all necessary measures to restore security and peace in Libya. Arab leadership have decided to provide political and military support to preserve and protect Libyan sovereignty and support the national army and eliminate terrorism,” al-Arabi said. Libya has slid into chaos since the 2011 overthrow and killing of longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi. It is now divided between an elected parliament and government in the east, and an Islamist militia-backed government based in the capital, Tripoli. The North African nation has been under a U.N. arms embargo since 2011. In March, the U.N. Security Council renewed the ban but under a resolution, allowed a sanctions committee to review any government's requests for exemptions from the embargo and arms exports. Al-Dairi’s eastern-based government has in the past appealed for a lifting of the embargo, including after Libya’s ISIS took control of the central coastal city of Sirte recently. It also asked for Arab countries to carry out airstrikes against the militant group in Libya. The foreign minister also said ongoing, U.N.-mediated negotiations to form a unity government in Libya should not be an “obstacle” to arming Libyan government troops to fight ISIS militants.

Arab coalition bombs Yemen’s Hodeidah port
Reuters, Sanaa/Tuesday, 18 August 2015/Jets from a Saudi-led coalition struck Yemen's Red Sea port of Hodeida early on Tuesday, port officials said, destroying cranes and warehouses at a main import hub for aid supplies to the country's north. Hodeidah, which lies almost due west of the capital Sanaa, is held by the Houthi militias and allied army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. They retain control of the northern highlands and the Red Sea coastal plain as far south as Ibb, which lies around 200 kilometers southeast of the port. Aid groups have previously complained that the coalition naval blockade has stopped relief supplies entering Yemen, which is suffering a humanitarian crisis. The coalition has accused the Houthis of commandeering aid shipments for war use. Fighting continued overnight in Yemen's third city, Taiz, Arab television stations reported early on Tuesday, as local groups opposed to the Houthis attempted to consolidate recent advances to take the city. Taiz is around 50 kilometers south of Ibb.

Turkish govt mandate to return to Erdogan
Reuters, Ankara/Tuesday, 18 August 2015/Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was set to formally give up trying to form the next government on Tuesday after weeks of talks with opposition parties failed to produce a coalition, a senior ruling party official said. Davutoglu had been trying to find a junior coalition partner since his AK Party lost its parliamentary majority in an election in June, leaving it unable to govern alone for the first time since it came to power in 2002. The NATO member has not seen this level of political uncertainty since the fragile coalition governments of the 1990s: turmoil it could do without as it takes on a front-line role in the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State insurgents in Syria and battles Kurdish militants at home. Davutoglu met the leader of the right-wing opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on Monday in a last-ditch effort to agree a working government, but the nationalist leader refused all the options he presented. "After yesterday's talks, no coalition option remains for the party. Davutoglu will therefore return the mandate to the president this evening," the official told Reuters, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation. Davutoglu was due to meet President Tayyip Erdogan later on Tuesday. Erdogan could theoretically now hand the mandate to form the next government to the Republican People's Party (CHP), Turkey's second biggest party, although it is also highly unlikely to be able to agree a working coalition before the Aug. 23 deadline. Under the terms of the constitution, if no government is formed by Aug. 23, Erdogan must dissolve Davutoglu's caretaker cabinet and call on an interim power-sharing government to lead Turkey to a new election in the autumn. Such a temporary arrangement would theoretically hand cabinet positions to four parties with deep ideological divisions, leaving policy-making paralyzed and deepening the instability that has sent the lira currency to a series of record lows. But even forming such an interim cabinet is likely to be difficult.
The CHP on Tuesday became the second party to indicate it would not take part, joining the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in a planned boycott. "If HDP doesn't offer members to that election government, we will ... not offer members either," CHP deputy group chairman Engin Altay told Reuters. The AKP's coalition talks with the main opposition CHP broke down last week, while the HDP has all along ruled out any coalition with the ruling party. Senior AKP officials had been betting that the nationalists, virulently opposed to greater Kurdish political power, would do anything possible to avoid a scenario in which the HDP held cabinet seats, even temporarily. But nationalist leader Devlet Bahceli appears to be calculating that the prospect of Kurdish politicians in ministerial positions will so enrage those on Turkey's political right that they will flock to support his party at the next election. Parliament could in theory also vote to allow the current cabinet to continue working until a new election, but the MHP has already said it would vote against such a move and other opposition parties have little incentive to do any different.

Hundreds of Saudis missing in foreign conflicts
By Saudi Gazette | Riyadh/Tuesday, 18 August 2015/The Saudi Red Crescent (SRC) has received more than 200 requests over the last 13 years to find Saudi men missing in foreign conflicts. Deputy director of the SRC’s department of international affairs and relief, Prince Bandar Bin Faisal, told Makkah daily on Monday that they every year the organization receives an average of 16 requests from Saudi families looking for help to find sons who have disappeared in foreign conflicts. The number of requests began increasing in 2003, reaching 34 in 2011 before dropping off rapidly. “There were 19 requests in 2009, 17 in 2010, 34 in 2011 and 32 in 2012,” Prince Bandar said. “There were four requests in 2013 and three in 2014 and early 2015.”The prince, who is also the general supervisor of the SRC's program to restore ties among Saudi families, did not clarify if the search had borne fruits but said the SRC would continue its efforts in looking for missing sons and reuniting them with their families. He said the SRC is currently looking at the program to find out any weaknesses or strengths.

Thai Junta Says Suspect Identified in 'Worst Ever' Bombing
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 18/15/Thailand's junta leader said Tuesday a suspect had been identified in the bombing of a packed Bangkok religious shrine, condemning the blast that killed at least 20 people as the "worst ever attack" on the kingdom.
The attack occurred on Monday in one of the Thai capital's most popular tourism hubs, ripping through a crowd of worshipers at the Hindu shrine close to five-star hotels and upscale shopping malls. Chinese, Hong Kong, Singaporean, Indonesian and Malaysian citizens were among the 20 people killed, police said. More than 100 other people were injured as the blast left body parts strewn across crushed pavement, alongside shattered windows and incinerated motorcycles. Junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha on Tuesday branded the bombing the "worst ever attack" on Thailand, as he gave the first indications of who authorities believed were responsible. "Today there is a suspect... we are looking for this guy," Prayut told reporters, adding the man was seen on closed circuit television at the blast site. Prayut said the male suspect was believed to be from an "anti-government group based in Thailand's northeast" -- the heartland of the kingdom's Red Shirt movement that opposes the military junta. Bangkok has endured more than a decade of deadly political violence, with the junta ruling the nation since May last year after toppling the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra. The Red Shirts are a grassroots network of rural and urban poor that are loyal to Yingluck and her self-exiled brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist politician who was a previous prime minister. But no-one claimed responsibility for the assault and security analysts expressed scepticism over the government's lightning move to cast suspicion on its opponents. "Even if they (Red Shirts) are hell-bent on bringing down the government I just can't see them targeting a Hindu or any other religious shrine," Zachary Abuza, an independent expert on Thai security, told AFP. "That would really alienate many of their supporters." Muslim rebels from the country's far south have also waged a separatist insurgency for more than a decade that has claimed thousands of lives, mostly civilians. But they have never been known to carry out substantial attacks in Bangkok, and Abuza as well as other analysts said Monday's bombing did not follow the insurgents' typical modus operandi. Paul Chambers, director of research at the Institute of South East Asian Affairs in Thailand, said groups with links to military factions also had to be considered as potential suspects.
Tourists 'targeted'
Junta leaders said the bomb was aimed at damaging the country's tourist industry, which is a rare bright spot in an otherwise gloomy economy, and tarnishing the junta's reputation. "(The attackers) had the clear target of destroying our economy and tourism.... and discrediting the government," Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon told reporters. Thailand's baht currency slumped to a more than six-year low on Tuesday and shares fell in Bangkok over concerns the attack could damage the tourism sector. The blast site remained cordoned off early as bomb experts photographed the area scouring for clues, an AFP reporter at the scene said. Police also tightened security across Bangkok, with hundreds of schools closed and checkpoints thrown up across the city. Panic, fear Built in 1956 the Erawan is an enormously popular shrine to the Hindu god Brahma but is visited by thousands of Buddhist devotees every day. The bomb was detonated shortly before 7:00 pm (1200 GMT) in the middle of the city's rush hour, sending a fireball into the sky as commuters and tourists fled in panic. As dawn broke, Thais expressed fear about more potential violence in the coming days. "I'm worried about Bangkok, I don't know what will happen next," one woman, who only gave her name as Rivewan, told AFP. Around 1,000 people queued for hours at a nearby blood donation centre, many crying as they waited to be seen by nurses. "This shouldn't have happened to the Thai people," Pongchai Kulsitthiwong, a 45-year-old mobile phone seller told AFP, tears rolling down his cheeks while waiting to give blood.
Power struggle
Bangkok's power struggle has seen repeated rounds of deadly street protests and bombings for nearly a decade.But none on Monday's scale. Armed elements on both sides, in a kingdom awash with military-grade weapons, have been known to instigate unrest at key moments. Many observers had predicted a fresh round of violence after the military seized power from Yingluck Shinawatra in last year's coup. Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled by a 2006 coup, sits at the heart of the political divide. Parties led by him, his sister or their proxies have won every election since 2001 thanks to the votes of the rural north and northeast. But the clan is loathed by the Bangkok-based royalist elite. Monday's attack drew quick expressions of grief from around the world. The U.S. government released a statement warning its citizens to avoid the area, while also voicing sympathy for the victims.

GCC-Iran talks were proposed by Qatar, says Gulf official
Salman Aldosary/August 18/15/London, Asharq Al-Awsat—A senior Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) official said Qatar is behind the idea of holding a meeting between the six-nation bloc and Iran which Tehran said would take place in September. Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah put forward the idea in a recent meeting of the GCC foreign ministers in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the official who requested to remain anonymous said in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat. Attiyah proposed that the talks be held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York on September 22. According to the official, the Sultanate of Oman welcomed the Qatari proposal “without hesitation,” and argued that the meeting would “bring closer the views of both sides on many of the region’s outstanding issues.”Kuwait did not express any opposition to the proposal during the GCC meeting and seemed “not to mind” negotiating with the Iranians, the official said. On the other hand, each of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain “voiced deep reservations about holding the talks at a time when Tehran continued its efforts to interfere in the internal affairs of the Gulf states while pursuing a hostile policy towards its neighbors.” Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has recently announced that Iran and the six GCC states—Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman— are scheduled to meet in September to discuss the situation in Syria and Yemen. He did not specify where the talks would take place. “Dialogue with Iran would be a waste of time and efforts in the light of [Tehran’s] hostile policy,” the official said, “[and] would weaken the decisive position the GCC countries [except Oman] have adopted under the leadership of Saudi Arabia.” Iran-GCC relations strained in the wake of Operation Decisive Storm, the aerial campaign that Saudi Arabia has launched against the Houthis in Yemen since late March in a bid to restore the internationally recognized President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to power. Oman, on the other hand, has maintained good relations with Iran, hosting secret talks between Iranian and US officials regarding the nuclear deal. Muscat is also the only GCC member state that has not participated in the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. The Houthi movement has controlled Sana’a since September, defying a UN Security Council resolution which calls for the immediate withdrawal of the Iran-allied group. Tehran stepped up its rhetoric against Riyadh after Saudi-backed fighters retook the strategic city of Aden last month.Iran is “desperate” to negotiate with the GCC in a bid to stop the consecutive losses it has suffered in Yemen in recent weeks, the official said.

Maliki Dismisses Mosul Fall Report as 'Worthless'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 18/15/Former Iraqi premier Nuri al-Maliki Tuesday dismissed as "worthless" a parliamentary report blaming him and others for the jihadist takeover of second city Mosul last year. "There is no value in the result that emerged from the parliamentary investigation committee on the fall of Mosul, which was dominated by political differences and was not objective," Maliki said on his Facebook page. "What happened in Mosul was a conspiracy planned in Ankara, then the conspiracy moved to Arbil," Maliki said in a second post, referring to the capitals of Turkey and Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, both long-time foes of his.The two-term premier is currently in Iran, where he was due to meet Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday, an official in his office said. The Islamic State jihadist group seized Mosul in June 2014, then overran a third of the country in a devastating offensive that swept security forces aside. The report on the disaster was presented to the parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi on Sunday, and lawmakers voted to refer it to the judiciary the following day. "None of the names mentioned in this report were deleted, and all of them will be sent to the judiciary," Jubur told a news conference on Monday. "An investigation and follow up and accounting of all those who caused the fall of Mosul will be carried out," he said. Maliki -- who is now a vice president -- is widely viewed as having played a major role in the disaster, angering Sunni Arabs who say they were marginalized and targeted by his government, which contributed to IS's success. He also appointed commanders based on personal loyalty rather than competence, and was commander-in-chief of the armed forces during two years in which the Iraqi military did not carry out necessary training, leading to a decline in skills. Various former senior officials were also named in the report detailing the committee's findings, which has not been publicly released. These include defense minister Saadun al-Dulaimi, army chief of staff Babaker Zebari, his deputy Aboud Qanbar, ground forces commander Ali Ghaidan, Nineveh operations command chief Mahdi al-Gharawi and the province's governor, Atheel al-Nujaifi.

Yemen: Houthis declare state of emergency in northern stronghold
August 18/15/Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—Yemeni Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houhi issued directives on Sunday calling on senior commanders to implement a state of emergency in different parts of Yemen, including the group’s northern stronghold of Saada Province, activists and residents told Asharq Al-Awsat. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, anti-Houthi activists in Sana’a said the insurgent group has declared a state of emergency in the provinces of Saada and Hajjah on the border with Saudi Arabia.
Military movements by the Iran-backed group were reported on Monday by residents in areas near the border with Saudi Arabia which has launched an aerial campaign against the Houthis in Yemen since late March. Meanwhile, forces loyal to President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi on Monday stepped up attacks on Houthis’ positions in Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city, killing and injuring dozens. At least 80 Houthis were killed in violent clashes with government loyalists, also known as the Popular Resistance forces, in the western city on Sunday and Monday, local activists said. This comes as the Saudi-backed forces are reportedly preparing to attack Sana’a where Houthis have been in control since September. Hundreds of tribal fighters, who have received military training in an unidentified Gulf state, are set to join a pro-government military force which is less than 124 miles (200 kilometers) away from Sana’a, anti-rebel sources said. Separately, Yemen’s exiled Vice President and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah met at his residence in Riyadh with members of the General People’s Congress (GPC) party, Yemen’s ruling party, on Monday. The delegation included Abdul Karim Al-Iryani and Ahmed Obaid bin Dagher, among others. The two sides discussed the military developments in Yemen and Bahah praised the “courageous” stances of the GPC’s senior members, Yemen’s Mareb Press reported. The GPC is preparing to hold a conference to introduce a package of measures and discuss the possibility of removing Ali Abdullah Saleh from his post as party leader, Asharq Al-Awsat has learned

How Iran's Revived Weapons Exports Could Boost Its Proxies
Farzin Nadimi/Washington Institute/August 18/15
Given Tehran's noncompliant track record and the UN Security Council's imperfect arms restrictions, the nuclear deal could allow Iran to offer its allies a growing range of weapons systems designed to increase survivability and lethality in asymmetric warfare scenarios. The nuclear deal will open up opportunities for Iran to export arms, though exactly when and under what conditions is a matter of dispute. This raises the question of how the upsurge in arms exports could affect the Islamic Republic's allies and proxies in the Middle East and beyond. In the past, UN Security Council resolutions have done little to prevent Iranian arms deals; in February 2014, for example, Tehran signed a $195 million agreement to sell arms and ammunition to Iraq, in clear violation of Resolution 1747 (2007). It is therefore important to assess what types of weapons Iran might export and to whom -- whether it decides to exploit gaps in Resolution 2231 (the Security Council document approving the nuclear deal and extending the arms embargo), flout the UN entirely, or simply wait until sanctions and other restrictions are lifted in the coming months and years.
A SIZEABLE INDUSTRY
Iran's military-industrial complex has been growing rapidly since the mid-1990s. Today, it reportedly exports weapons to fifty-seven countries, many in conflict areas, in violation of UNSCR 1747. According to the arms-transfer database maintained by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Iran exported at least $200 million worth of arms and ammunitions between 2010 and 2014; the real figure is probably much higher and is expected to rise even further as various restrictions are relaxed and eventually lifted. Iran's traditional arms customers are believed to be Middle Eastern, African, and South American countries, but its market share may grow gradually in emerging markets if it can keep offering cheap, reliable weapons.
For obvious reasons, Iran closely guards its annual military export figures and customer identities, and very little is reported about them. Yet the Islamic Republic has been identified as a major exporter in most available databases, and ten separate independent investigations have found Iranian weapons and ammunition in service with a variety of nonstate entities, including foreign-backed insurgents, rebel forces, Islamist armed groups, and warring civilian communities in Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda, not to mention primary beneficiaries such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iraqi Shiite militias. While encouraging Tehran to disclose details of its arms exports once international sanctions are lifted would be ideal, there is no guarantee that it would comply.
Iranian military equipment suitable for regional proxies and other customers includes but is not limited to small arms and ammunition, explosively formed penetrators (EFPs), communications equipment, night-vision goggles, thermal scopes, high-power sniper rifles, long-range mortars, man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), and artillery rockets. A more detailed review of this product list reveals major potential threats to regional security if such equipment ends up in the wrong hands -- such as terrorist and extremist groups in the Middle East, West Asia, and Africa -- once Iran is allowed to more freely export its arms.
MISSILES AND ROCKETS
Iran currently produces advanced antitank guided missiles, some of which have been used in conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza. Yet its newest missiles and guided projectiles have more advanced tandem warheads and guidance systems, making them more lethal against up-armored vehicles and even low-flying helicopters. These include an increasing array of electro-optical and laser-guided missile systems such as the Sadid (which appears to be based on the Israeli Spike), Tondar, Qaem, Dehlaviyeh, and Toufan-5 (a copy of the American TOW-2A), with 4-5 km maximum range. These missiles can be difficult to counter if used effectively. Iran has also begun manufacturing its own version of the versatile RPG-29 rocket-propelled grenade, used during Hezbollah's 2006 war with Israel. Named "Ghadir" in Iran, this weapon uses either a thermobaric or armor-piercing warhead and has a range of 500 meters.
Also manufactured in Iran are local versions of the Chinese QW-1 and QW-1M MANPADS, which go by the names Misaq-1 and -2 and are capable of quickly engaging aerial targets flying up to 4,000 meters high from a range of 5 km. Iran can offer even more in terms of mobile guided antiaircraft defense. The so-called "Herz-e-Nohom" is a relatively compact radar and electro-optically guided mobile air-defense system mounted on a medium truck chassis and capable of operating in densely populated urban areas. Such systems can set up air-defense ambushes and engage low-flying aircraft as far away as 10 km. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the army are also attempting to develop three rapid-fire Gatling guns -- the three-barrel 23 mm Assefeh, and the six-barrel 7.62 mm Akhgar and 12.7 mm Moharam and Nasir -- to shoot down cruise missiles. Obviously some of these are just research projects, but others could eventually end up in militant hands somewhere in the Middle East. Iranian defense officials are very hopeful that they can export their indigenously developed air-defense systems in the coming years once sanctions are lifted.
Mortars can also be very useful in urban warfare and other asymmetric environments, and they are not covered by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or UNSCR 2231. In addition to smaller versions, Iran manufactures the 120 mm Razm and 160 mm Vafa mortars with claimed ranges in excess of 16 and 20 km respectively. If true, this is a formidable capability for mortar systems; compared to field artillery, mortars are easier to move and operate from concealed positions, making them suitable for asymmetric scenarios.
Iran also famously produces and proliferates the Fajr family of artillery rockets. Iranian rockets are spreading all over the world in both legal and illicit ways, according to the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey. Iranian military leaders have already spoken about supplying friendly countries and "resistance movements" with rocket manufacturing techniques that use local materials and tooling. For example, recent reports from Yemen suggest that Houthi forces have produced and used their own Shooting Star-1 and -2 rockets with claimed specifications similar to the Iranian Fajr-3 and -5.The Fajr-3 has a range of 43 km, and its 85 kg warhead can cause considerable damage to a radius of 50 meters. The larger Fajr-5 can reach 75 km with its 178 kg warhead; Iran has also tested a newer two-stage version with a range of 180 km and a destructive radius of 100 meters, as well as a guided version resembling a miniaturized Fateh-110.
Other widely exported Iranian rockets are the shorter and very flexible 240 mm and 333 mm Falaq-1 and -2, which can be fired from small pickup trucks against targets up to 10 km away. These rockets have been seen in widespread use by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.
The most worrisome short-range missile system, though, could be the fourth-generation Fateh-110D1, which can deliver a 750 kg warhead up to 300 km with better accuracy than Iran's other missiles and can be fired from multiple launchers. This missile has been seen in action in Syria; moreover, despite substantial Israeli interdiction efforts, some reports indicate that several Fateh-110s (or electro-optical-guided or anti-radar derivatives) may have already reached Hezbollah territory in Lebanon. If these reports are true, and if Fateh and its derivatives can indeed deliver on their promise, they open up a whole new range of options to Hezbollah and other operators. For example, IRGC commanders predicted two years ago that the "resistance" missiles would soon achieve a range of 400 km and pinpoint accuracy.
SNIPER RIFLES
One line of products that Iran finds very promising -- and which would be very dangerous in the wrong hands -- is high-power sniper rifles. A string of recent unveilings highlight this trend, including the 12.7 mm AM50, 14.5 mm Shaher, 20 mm Arash, and 23 mm Baher anti-materiel sniper rifles with effective ranges approaching 1,200, 3,000, 1,800, and 4,000 meters respectively. When used by a trained operator, these weapons can bring down a low-flying helicopter by knocking out its powertrain or other sensitive parts using special armor-piercing ammunition developed in Iran. The AM50 (a copy of the Austrian Steyr HS .50) has been seen in the hands of Syrian and Iraqi government forces and militia, as well as Hamas militants.
These are not the only weapons that Iranians claim they have developed to counter helicopters. They also recently showed the J-AHM "anti-helicopter" fragmentation jumping mine, which can be controlled from as far away as 5 km with an effective radius of 50 meters. The Sayad anti-helicopter cluster mine and Remit remotely controlled roadside bomb are similar products whose development was based on Iranian operational experience in Iraq.
DRONES
Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles have been proliferating across the Middle East at an alarming rate. Hezbollah has been operating Iranian attack and reconnaissance drones for years; the group is also reportedly running its own production line. Hamas has fashioned its own drones as well, probably with technical help from Iran.
Yet Iranian drones face increasing competition from Chinese models. A recent video released by the Iraqi Shiite militia Kataib Hezbollah showed what appeared to be a strike against an ISIS target using a Chinese CH-4 armed drone. Nigeria is also known to have deployed cheap armed Chinese drones. The lifting of sanctions will allow Iran to confront such competition head on, as in South America where it has already sold Mohajer drones to Venezuela and Ecuador.
ELECTRONICS
Defense electronics is another area where Iran has made noticeable advances. Some of the products made by the conglomerate Iran/Shiraz Electronics Industries (now desanctioned by the JCPOA) have already found their way to Tehran's Hezbollah and Syrian allies, but many more customers might be interested when sanctions are lifted. Equipment such as portable frequency-hopping radios with encryption capability, data terminals, cellular and fiber-optic networks, laser range finders, thermal cameras, and night-vision goggles can all contribute greatly to the effectiveness and lethality of asymmetric operations.
Iran will almost certainly offer its proxies cheap radars such as the IRGC's Tareq man-portable short-range surveillance radar (which has a range of 8 km against helicopters and vehicles and 4.5 km for humans), or vehicle-mounted combined passive/active electro-optical and radar surveillance and targeting systems with ranges of up to 50 km. The 2006 Lebanon war also showed Hezbollah's Iranian mentors the value of automation, so one can expect to see a trend of automated antiaircraft and antipersonnel guns, armed drones, and remote-controlled exploding boats coming out of Iran's development bureaus in the future, gradually replacing young, martyrdom-seeking zealots.
CONCLUSION
As shown above, Iran can offer proxy groups and third-world countries a wide range of force multipliers designed to increase survivability and lethality in asymmetric warfare scenarios, especially since most of these systems are not even covered by UNSCR 2231. The lifting of sanctions will also enable Iranian firms to more easily obtain the critical components and materials needed to develop even more effective systems.
The international community should therefore encourage Tehran to assume a more responsible role in limiting the proliferation of lethal arms in conflict zones in the absence of sanctions, and to adopt more transparent arms export policies. Iran and other actors should also be reminded that expanding the use of sophisticated weaponry in urban conflicts will have escalatory effects that increase civilian casualties, which already comprise 80 to 90 percent of all deaths and injuries caused by armed conflicts, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
**Farzin Nadimi is a Washington-based analyst specializing in the security and defense affairs of Iran and the Persian Gulf region.

ISIS using chemical agents not hard to believe
Raed Omari/Al Arabiya/August 18/15
There have been reports recently of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) using poison gas in Iraq's Kurdish-controlled areas. Though as yet unconfirmed, such allegations are unsurprising. The White House said it was investigating the matter. In July, two UK-based organizations - Conflict Armament Research and Sahan Research - said ISIS had used devices filled with chemical agents in late June against Kurdish forces and civilians in Hasakah province in northern Syria, and against Kurdish military positions near Mosul dam in northern Iraq. The findings followed reports of ISIS using suicide bombs and improvised explosive devices including chlorine gas and other substances, and may seek to exploit the use of chemicals while developing new weapons. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said it had documented the use of projectile-delivered chemical agents by ISIS in an attack on a village near Tel Brak, Syria, on June 28. It said 12 Kurdish fighters had been exposed to the gas. The SOHR also said it had received information about the gas attack in Hasaka, but gave no further details. Days before ISIS's alleged chemical attacks in late June, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said: "The terrorist group is prepared to use any and all means, any and all forms of violence they can think of, to advance their demented cause." She added that ISIS had recruited "highly technically trained professionals" to develop chemical weapons, and had already used chlorine as a weapon. Iraqi officials and Kurds have made similar allegations. In March, Kurdish officials accused ISIS of a chemical attack against Kurdish fighters on a road between Iraq’s second-largest city Mosul and the Syrian border, as Kurdish forces fought to seize a vital supply line used by ISIS.
Evidence
With a lack of well-documented information about its activities and brutality - except what it publicizes - testimonies of locals under its rule or of those forced to leave are the only source of information.
Despite a lack of conclusive evidence, however, ISIS has displayed unsurpassed brutality, and is present in countries that had chemical weapons industries and still have remnants of such hazardous substances on the black market or in abandoned chemical weapons plants.
Concerns first surfaced in July 2014 following ISIS's capture of a former chemical weapons plant in Al-Muthanna, east of Baghdad, which was thought to have small quantities of precursor chemicals and badly damaged chemical munitions left after U.N. inspections in the 1990s. ISIS has no red lines when it comes to its brutal treatment of civilians and prisoners of war. In addition, why should it be concerned about breaking international law when other chemical attacks have gone unpunished? Phrases such as "international law" and "international community" are not present in ISIS's lexicon. Manufacturing primitive chemical weapons is not difficult, particularly in ISIS's case since many of its fighters have science degrees and are ex-Baathist officers with military experience. After all, it was not hard for the Japanese Aum Shinriko movement to manufacture and unleash sarin gas on the Tokyo subway in 1995.

New Arab order should make meritocracy its priority
Khaled Almaeena/Al Arabiya/August 18/15
The Arab world is passing through its darkest phase in history. Even the most diehard optimist would find little to cheer about. Arab political pundits and newly self-appointed social media analysts have come up with many theories, mostly bizarre, for the predicament we are in. They blame everyone under the sun but have not bothered even to give a cursory glance at what has led us to this sorry situation. Let’s be frank. All what has happened to us is of our own doing. Right from the so-called Arab independence movement through post independent stages, most Arab leaders failed their people as self-appointed generals, presidents for life and others were more focused on consolidating power through oppressive measures rather than uplifting their population. I grew up hear messages blaring on radios haranguing Arab masses, and highlighting imperialistic plans to gobble up the Arab world. We saw a number of coups and counter coups, and the slaughter of thousands of innocent people because the new general was suspicious of them. But even then there was always hope. However, today there is almost no light at the end of the tunnel. Bomb blasts, beheadings, massacres are a daily feature of our news diet. The Arab Spring, which was supposed to usher hope, has engulfed us and thrown us in the dark recesses of a world that has turned into a tumultuous frenzy, while prompting some Arab states to take sterner measures to stifle dissenting voices.
Learn from your own history
Can we continue like this? The answer is an emphatic no! Arab states should take examples of other states where discipline was maintained but voices were heard. Singapore and South Korea are but two examples that have shown there can be no progress without a free and responsible press. There can be no viable state if the leader does not lead from the front, implements good governance, demands accountability and transparency beginning with himself and leads the change against corruption.
Bomb blasts, beheadings, massacres are a daily feature of our news diet. The media should be viewed as a partner and the ruler should know that criticism would be constructive and can serve the state. That is the role of journalists to alert the state of the shortcomings. A society should be created where free flow of ideas and information could help create an atmosphere where the focus is on growth. A new Arab order should make meritocracy its priority. We have been damaged by years of nepotism and corruption. We have been hindered by the inaction and the incompetency of those in charge. We cannot afford to procrastinate. Dangers lurk where there are gaps and vacuums in society, we should not allow this to happen. There should be trust between all members of society and Arab government. An atmosphere of trust and accountability should prevail for the state to progress, and in order to create trust we must put an end to the divisive ways practiced by a certain section to hold sway over society. Women are an important segment of society and they should be allowed to play a leading role. The voices of extremist and obscurantists should not be allowed to drown the voices of those who seek progress. Provincialism, tribalism and ethnic favoritism should be eradicated totally from the minds of those in power. Arab governments should take a lesson from their own history. They cannot rule by sheer force and absolute control in an age of social media. Also great advances in technology, where a chip can be planted in humans to read eachother’s thoughts, it will be futile to try to control the masses. The Arab people are like their peers elsewhere they want to live in peace and dignity. In today’s world it is inevitable that everyone works to achieve peace and all are accorded dignity. The sooner our leaders realize this, the faster we will develop and progress.

What does true privacy mean in our virtual world?
Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/August 18/15
“Mom, you can’t check my messages. I need my privacy, please” was my 10-year-old son Adam’s response while I was helping him sign up for a new e-mail. I couldn’t answer back and I was rather quite surprised by what he said.
That little person, who still wanders with his imagination during bedtime stories, is now arguing with me about his e-mail privacy and his new presence within the social media world. I don’t know when or how this happened but it seems my son has also become involved in the widespread concern over privacy in the electronic world. There are hundreds of articles and news pieces on how to protect our names, photos and information online. But are we really looking for privacy in social media and the internet in general, or do we sometimes bluntly or indirectly seek to reveal everything so others know what we are saying, drinking, wearing, thinking and dreaming? Or do we even attempt to leak details about us without frankly stating them? The modern day concept of public opinion is dependent on our presence on social media.There’s currently concerns from governments over the privacy of their information and they tend to restrain what their employees say on social media. But a parent’s worry is completely different when it comes to privacy as they complain about their teenagers posting photos they shouldn’t be. I have some close friends who get very upset when family photos are published on Facebook and they prevent their children from doing so and they seek to make sure that no one reposts their children’s photos.
It’s an understandable precaution when it comes to our privacy. It’s normal for grownups to worry about their young ones and try to protect them from the deterioration of social ties in the age of ever-changing technologies. In the 1960s, there were a lot of parents who were greatly worried by the emergence of rock stars and thought that rock would destroy the morals of an entire generation. Today, many are worried by social media, what it will do to our lives and to our children’s lives as most of us have developed varying relations with other social media users. There’s a general state of alert on social media. Most probably, the modern day concept of public opinion is dependent on our presence on social media. I don’t know if privacy even exists in this electronic era or if privacy has a new meaning.

Iran to arm West Bank Palestinians for new Eastern Front to “efface”Israel
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 17, 2015
Al Qods commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani, acting on the orders of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, this week set up a new Iranian command to fight Israel, debkafile reports exclusively from its military and intelligence sources. It has been dubbed the Eastern Command of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.The Al Qods Brigades, which are the external terrorist arm of the Guards, are organized according to sectors, with commands for Hizballah, the Palestinians, Syria, Iraq and the Gulf. Their newest sector is the Eastern Command which, our sources report has been assigned as its first task to start handing out weapons, including missiles, to any Palestinian West Bank group willing to receive them. Tehran’s object is to transform the West Bank into a territory hostile to Israel on the model of southern Lebanon which is ruled by the armed Hizballah and the Gaza Strip under the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists. In the first week of August, Tehran published a book of 416 pages written by Ali Khamenei entitled “Palestine.” The cover image was labeled “The flagbearer of Jihad to liberate Jerusalem.”The volume was released to Western sources, who reported that the most constantly recurring phrases in the text in relation to Israel are “nabudi” – meaning annihilation; imha – meaning disappearing or fading out; and “zaval” meaning effacement. Khamenei asserts that Israel must be destroyed because it captured Islam’s third most sacred city and is the foremost ally of “Big Satan” – America. The Iranian leader goes into detail about exactly how Israel should be annihilated – not by “classical wars” or “massacres of the Jews” but by means of a “long period of low-intensity warfare designed to make life impossible for a majority of Israeli Jews.”When he visited Beirut on Aug. 12, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Zavad Zarif said it was necessary after the nuclear deal, to "confront the challenges of the region, the most important of which is the Zionist and extremist regime." Members of the Obama administration wave away these disclosures of Iranian intent as no more than letting off steam to pacify the hard-line opponents of the nuclear deal - US Secretary of State John Kerry said on July 24: “I also told them that their chants of Death to American and so forth are neither helpful and they’re pretty stupid.”But in Iran, the supreme leader’s words are treated as decrees demanding obedience. Indeed, at the first conference of the new Eastern Command, Gen. Soleimani read out passages from Khamenei’s book and told the officers that they were under orders to carry those decrees out to the letter. Attesting to the seriousness of Iran’s intent, Jmail Majdalani, PLO executive committee member and personal representative of Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestinian Authority on the West Bank, has arrived in Tehran. He is there to arrange his boss’s first visit in many years to the Iranian capital.

Dialogue with Iran by Way of RPG
Salman Aldosary/Al Arabiya/August 18/15
Before the ink had even dried on comments made by Iranian officials regarding the recent Gulf–Iranian dialogue, Kuwaiti authorities made the announcement that they had intercepted a Hezbollah-linked terrorist cell that had transported weapons into the country via Iran. And at the same time that Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was speaking regarding his vision for relations with Tehran’s Gulf neighbors, Bahrain announced the results of investigations into an attack in Sitra outside the capital Manama which killed two policemen and injured six: a link to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been established during the investigation. These two terrorist incidents are certainly not the first that have been directed at Gulf countries by Iran and its proxies in the region. However, both coincided with warm calls from the Iranian administration for dialogue with its Gulf neighbors, and clearly display that there is a huge difference between concrete realities and action on the one hand, and mere words on the other.
Politicians are always fond of saying that in politics, interests, and indeed friendships, are not permanent. My enemy today can always become my friend tomorrow if our joint interests begin to converge. Likewise, a friend or ally can also become an enemy if their actions become hostile. So when it comes to the Gulf position toward Iran there is certainly no harm in attempting dialogue if this will indeed lead to greater stability in the Gulf and the region. The problem here is that any dialogue with any party is not so much an end to itself, as it is a means to an end. Whoever is familiar with Tehran’s policies knows full well it is attempting to use this latest push for dialogue with the Gulf states as a card to play in front of the international community and as a means to cover up other, less palatable, actions. The Gulf states, on the other hand, are seeking through this dialogue to reduce tensions in the region and Iran’s interference in the affairs of other states. So Iran is essentially using this latest charm offensive with the Gulf to stall change with one hand, and accelerate its interference, mischief-making, and hostile policies with the other. It will also use it to say in front of the entire world: “Don’t believe what you hear about us interfering in the affairs of our neighbors. After all, here we are talking openly with them and there are clearly no problems.”
Let me repeat: Whoever refuses outright the mere idea of dialogue with Tehran is mistaken, for nothing is more welcome to the Gulf states and their peoples than an improvement in the relationship with their neighbor on the eastern bank of the Arabian Gulf. However, it would be pure fully to forget that this neighbor is more dangerous to the region than any other enemy. Iran has shown this through its actions, time and time again, and there is countless evidence and proof available to this effect. Even while it fights a group like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) it played a hand in the establishment of the Popular Mobilization forces in Iraq. So we in the region went to bed worrying about the threat of the terrorist, militant, sectarian ISIS, and awoke to find another militia, opposed to it but of the same ilk, in our midst. And all this is simply part of Iran’s push to achieve one of its most prized strategic objectives: to establish a bridge between itself and the Mediterranean via Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. Iran will fight tooth and nail to achieve this goal; so what, then, could the harm be in attempting dialogue with the Gulf states as a PR move to cover up these efforts?
The politics of stalling and delaying is something the Iranians have shown they have mastered down to the last detail. They do not negotiate with anyone on the basis of principle, but rather in terms of what results it will get them on the ground. In 2003, the West discovered that Iran had been attempting to enrich uranium in its centrifuges, something these countries refused outright. Iran then began negotiations with the P5+1 countries until it convinced them to allow it to reduce its enrichment capacity from 20 percent to 5 percent—in other words, until it had achieved what it had wanted from the enrichment process in the first place. In its current and ongoing dialogue with the Gulf states Iran will likewise not flinch from doing whatever it can to achieve its goals in full. It will be conducting these talks not based on internationally recognized political principles and a commitment not to interfere in the affairs of others, but rather on the basis of pragmatic considerations as to what suits its agenda in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. And with that in mind the dialogue will begin, only to end with Iran’s resources and proxies in a much better state than they were when it started talking. In fact, Iran has nothing to lose: at worse it will end the dialogue in the very same state in which it began it.
Consider this: Iran is now talking with its neighbors at last and broadcasting its good intentions for all to see—while at the same time Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guard are fighting in Syria, Tehran’s Houthi allies destabilize Yemen, the sectarian Popular Mobilization forces continue their abuses in Iraq, and, finally, Kuwait arrests an entire terrorist cell on its own soil armed with weapons brought from Iran. Who knows, perhaps the basis for any future talks with Iran should presuppose that they be conducted in the presence of the RPGs that have been confiscated in Kuwait . . .

The USA Democratic Party’s betrayal of its Jewish voters
Shoula Romano Horing/Ynetnews/Published: 08.18.15/Israel Opinion
Op-ed: The Democratic Party has turned its back on its Jewish voters by committing to a nuclear deal with Iran which puts the Jewish state at risk, and voters need to take action. Back in 1992, the traditional Republican Party stance was expressed when James Baker, at the time Secretary of State to President George H. W. Bush, said “F*** the Jews. They didn’t vote for us anyway." It seems these days that the Democratic Party’s words and their actions reveal their new mantra and stance about their Jewish voters: F*** the Jews, they are voting for us anyway.
While the Republicans in the US Senate and House of Representatives are almost unanimously voting against the Iran nuclear deal, only two Democratic Senators, Senator Schumer and Senator Menendez, have decided to vote against it, while 14 other Democratic Senators have come out supporting the deal, including Kirsten Gillibrand from New York and Bill Nelson from Florida. Those Senators are doing so in spite of their states having very large and active Jewish constituents.
But much worse, the Democratic Party and its representatives have been silent while President Obama and his supporters in the White house, progressive groups, and the liberal media, are personally and publicly singling out and attacking US Jewish organizations, Congressmen, the Jewish state, and its prime minister, for opposing the deal with Iran. The accusations that are being made are reminiscent of classic anti-Semitic stereotypes. similar to what is found on any anti-Semitic website. Jewish voters will hold the Democratic Party responsible if Jewish history repeats itself and this rhetoric feeds anti-Semitic acts and leads to violence.
The Democratic Party should understand that this time around, they are making a huge political mistake in underestimating the importance of this issue to most Democratic Jewish voters, and the Jewish outrage regarding the sales tactics that the Obama administration and its supporters have been using in order to win.
Generally, Jews in the US are divided on many issues, but this deal is so bad that most US Jews are united in their opposition to the deal, the exception being marginal leftist groups such as J Street, which is the only Jewish group Obama feels affinity to. To really know what the Jewish voters think, one should pay attention to the major Jewish organizations’ stance on the issue. Virtually all Jewish organizations which are at the center or center-left of the US political spectrum and contain large numbers of Democrats are opposing, or at the very least concerned about, the deal. These organizations include the Jewish Federations of North America, the Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the World Jewish Center, the Zionist Organization of America, the Republican Jewish Coalition, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, AIPAC, the Zionist Organization of America, and the Israeli Project, and Endowment for Middle East Truth.
In addition, most Jews in Israel along the entire political spectrum are united against the deal, and 74 percent stated in a recent poll that they wish Israel to fight the deal in Congress. It is not surprising that AIPAC could spend $25 million lobbying against the deal, while J Street can spend only $2 million. Major Jewish donors to the Democratic Party like Haim Saban and Jack Rosen have publicly come out against the deal, calling it a very bad one, and all Jewish representatives from New York are against the deal. It seems that the Democrats do not understand that Israel’s survival and security is an important Jewish issue and interest, like Africa, and Apartheid in South Africa, are important issues for African-Americans, and illegal emigration from Central and South America is an important issue for the Hispanic voters. In an American Jewish Committee poll in 2013, 70 percent of American Jews agreed strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement: “Caring about Israel is a very important part of my being a Jew.”
But much worse, the Democratic Party does not seem to accept the fact that Jews, including Jewish Senators and Congressmen, as well as Jewish organizations, have the right to disagree with the President and the leader of the Democratic Party like any other American without being viscously attacked as warmongers, agents of a foreign power, accused of selling their votes to shadowy lobbyists, and being dual loyalists, as well as being accused of acting contrary to the best interests of the United States for the sake of Israeli interests. The editors of the American Jewish magazine Tablet wrote about this troubling development in its editorial titled “Crossing a Line To Sell a Deal,” saying, “This use of anti-Jewish incitement as a political tool is a sickening new development in American political discourse, and we have heard too much of it lately—some coming, ominously, from our own White House and its representatives. Let’s not mince words: Murmuring about 'money' and 'lobbying' and 'foreign interests' who seek to drag America into war is a direct attempt to play the dual-loyalty card. It’s the kind of dark, nasty stuff we might expect to hear at a white power rally, not from the President of the United States—and it’s gotten so blatant that even many of us who are generally sympathetic to the administration, and even this deal, have been shaken by it.”
When Republican presidential candidate and well known Israel supporter Mike Huckabee criticized the Iran deal and said that President Obama will ultimately “take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven”, many in the Democratic Party and the liberal media were outraged. The National Jewish Democratic Council immediately denounced the remarks as “not only disgustingly offensive to the President and the White House, but shows utter, callous disregard for the millions of lives lost in the Shoah (Holocaust) and to the pain still felt by their descendants today.” Where is the Democratic Party’s outrage towards their own leader and their followers? The Democratic Party has until now been lucky with Jewish voters. In 2008, 78 percent of Jews voted for Obama and in 2012, 69 percent of Jews voted for him. In the 2006 midterm elections, 87 percent of Jews voted for Democratic candidates and in 2010 and 2014, 66 percent voted for Democrats.

Despite the fact that Jews make up only two percent of the American electorate, their importance is not only in their votes. They account for a huge share of the activist base of the Democratic Party and account for much of the money available to Democratic candidates. Based on their betrayal of silence and indifference to Jewish concerns, the Democratic Party needs to pay dearly in the next few elections.Jewish Democrats must abandon the Democratic Party, as they have arrogantly abandoned Jewish voters and the Jewish State when it mattered most.
***Shoula Romano Horing is an attorney. Her blog can be found at www.shoularomnohoring.com .

'Al-Sharq Al-Awsat' Columnist: Obama Administration's Defeat In Nuclear Deal Compels The Arabs To Rely On Themselves
MEMRI/August 18, 2015 Special Dispatch No.6135
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8709.htm
The official reaction of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to the July 14, 2015 announcement of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 brought to the surface the disagreements among the GCC member states over this issue. Most of the Gulf states, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, issued official declarations in response to the announcement of the deal, sending congratulatory letters to Iran's leaders expressing hope that the agreement would aid regional stability. In contrast, the Saudi response, issued by an unnamed senior official to the official Saudi news agency SPA, noted the announcement's importance but threatened that the country would react harshly were Iran to use its resources to undermine regional stability.[1]
The disagreement among the GCC states also emerged in a column by Ghassan Al-Imam in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat criticizing the GCC member states that hastened to congratulate Iran and that, he said, had been duped by Iranian Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif's statements. Claiming that only Saudi Arabia was acting to rein in Iran in the Arab region, he urged the GCC states to show Arab solidarity with the Arab peoples who had been harmed by Iranian policies – such as the Syrians – instead of relying on the U.S. which, he stated, had "backed down from the demands by[both] the Arabs and the Europeans to put an end to the Iranian nuclear program."
Below are the main points of his column:
Ghassan Al-Imam(Image: Aawsat.net/writers)
"The Arabs have no nuclear bomb, but they do have nuclear scientists, who can form a scientific committee that will examine and evaluate the technical and physical details in the nuclear agreement that the U.S. claims will delay, by at least a decade, Iran's ability to obtain a nuclear bomb...
"I remain unpersuaded by all the official Arab declarations that the ayatollahs of the theocracy[Iran] will undertake not to manufacture a bomb during the years of the international embargo, and that they will not use it against both the 'apostates' and the believers in the region...
"I have not read the agreement's 159 pages, so I do not know whether it has secret diplomatic annexes [pertaining to] the arrangement of regional affairs among the U.S., Iran, and Israel. I was not taken in by the sly smile of the 'makeup artist'[Iranian Foreign Minister] Zarif, who 'made up' the Arab faces during a round of visits to the Gulf states, when he announced that the [Arab] principle of 'one's neighbors before one's own home'[i.e. before Iranian interests] will govern Iranian policy, in order to distract the Arabs of the East and of the Gulf from the 'catastrophes' of the nuclear agreement...
"The Arabs are rubbing their eyes and ears. They were left to eavesdrop during the Iran-West nuclear talks, and heard the U.S. and European leaders demanding that Iran stop heating up[sic] nuclear fuel and delivering it to Russia; that it stop manufacturing intercontinental ballistic missiles; and that it refrain from threatening the Gulf and penetrating the Arab East. [They heard these leaders say that] if they [the Iranians] did not, the U.S. and Israel would destroy the Iranian nuclear industry.
"After the [application of] Arab makeup to the nuclear agreement...the [GCC] foreign ministers hastened to congratulate Iran on the agreement...Saudi Arabia was the only Arab country that expressed reservations about the nuclear agreement – [but]with no formal declarations against it, in order to preserve minimal diplomatic coordination between the Gulf states...
"On the ground, the Saudi response to the nuclear agreement came in Yemen. Contrary to expectations, Saudi Arabia was victorious, with Allah's support, over the Iranian intervention, that had nearly resulted in a complete Houthi takeover of Yemen and the establishment of an Iranian proxy regime that would allow it to control the southern entry to the Red Sea and would use the Houthis as an Iranian Trojan horse on Saudi soil...
"Saudi diplomacy may possibly turn to an [additional] difficult [but] noble mission, and will again attempt to bridge the disputes between the smallest of the Arab states (Qatar) that is distracted by its struggle with the largest of the Arab states (Egypt),[from engaging] in serious mediation of Arab and regional disputes.. What could possibly facilitate this mission is to stop viewing the Muslim Brotherhood [MB] as the greatest danger to the regimes of the Gulf states. In my opinion, the arrest of the 'elders' of the office of the MB General Guide – among them the ousted president Muhammad Mursi – and the death sentence handed down for all of them, led to the emergence of a young leadership that filled the vacuum in the MB leadership, by [advocating] a more extremist policy and [showing] greater readiness for violent and terrorist activity against the Egyptian state.
"One of the nuclear agreement's 'impressive achievements' is the announcement of the renewal of the Iranian initiative to solve the Syria crisis...The initiative, which has been bolstered by the American recognition of a nuclear Iran, seeks to impose Iran as a foreign and uninvited partner in Arab national security, to consolidate the rule of Bashar [Al-Assad]'s collapsing regime, and to continue to exterminate Arab Sunni Syrians if they do not agree to remain subjects who have obligations[but] who have been deprived of all rights.
"Iran has completely lost control of the situation on the ground in Syria. What is happening now is that Arab Syria is being divided into Turkish, Kurdish, and 'Alawite Shi'ite pockets. Iran is annulling Lebanon's parliament, government, and presidency– possibly in preparation for adding a Lebanese-Shi'ite pocket to the pocket of a Shi'ite Persian/'Alawite state that will stretch from Damascus through Homs to the Syrian coast, along Lebanon's northeastern border – which has already been eradicated because of Hizbullah's involvement in carrying out crimes [together] with the Syrian regime.
"Saudi Arabia recognizes and is aware of these facts on the ground. All those who hastened to welcome the nuclear agreement should commit to minimal Arab diplomatic solidarity, trust themselves more, and rely on themselves.
"This [must be the answer to]the defeatism of the Obama administration, that backed down from the demands by [both] the Arabs and the Europeans to put an end to the Iranian nuclear program, and to strip Iran of the ability, in the immediate or distant future, to produce a new tragedy like Hiroshima."[2]
Endnotes:
[1]See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6107, "In Gulf Press, Fear And Criticism Of Iran Nuclear Agreement: Obama Is Leaving The Middle East A Legacy Of Disaster," July 15, 2015.
[2]Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), August 10, 2015.

Belfast Pastor on Trial for Offending Islam
Soeren Kern/Gateston Institute/August 18/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6356/pastor-james-mcconnell-islam
◾Pastor McConnell's prosecution is one of a growing number of examples in which British authorities -- who routinely ignore incendiary speech by Muslim extremists -- are using hate speech laws to silence Christians.
◾"I think this is an important issue of freedom of speech. I believe a prosecution like this introduces a chill factor into society where people feel that if they speak out on something that they believe passionately they could end up being dragged through the courts." — Democratic Unionist Party MP Sammy Wilson.
◾"The police tried to shut me up and tell me what to preach... They have the right to say what they believe in and I have a right to say what I believe... I have no regrets about what I said. I do not hate Muslims, but I denounce Islam as a doctrine and I make no apologies for that... My church funds medical care for 1,200 Muslim children in Kenya and Ethiopia...I've no hatred in my heart for Muslims, but I won't be stopped from preaching against Islam." — Pastor James McConnell.
◾"James McConnell didn't incite hatred or encourage violence against any Muslim...H e simply expressed his views about another religion. Freedom of speech should mean that he has every right to lambast Islam, as Islamic clerics have to lambast him and Christianity if they so choose. Those who disagree with Pastor McConnell should challenge him and attempt to win the debate, rather than close it down... Freedom of speech isn't only for polite persons of mild disposition airing their views within government-policed parameters. It's about letting awkward, insulting and even offensive voices be heard too. And yet the silence from civil liberties and human rights organisations here has been deafening. In any democracy worth its salt, freedom of speech isn't a luxury for your friends, it's a necessity for your enemies. Defending Pastor McConnell's right to say what he said doesn't mean approving or embracing his sentiments." — Suzanne Breen, an atheist journalist, Belfast Telegraph.
◾"Islam is allowed to come to this country, Islam is allowed to worship in this country, Islam is allowed to preach in this country and they preach hate.... We are persecuted in Islam if we stand for Jesus Christ." — Pastor James McConnell.
An evangelical Christian pastor in Northern Ireland has made his first court appearance after he was charged with making "grossly offensive" remarks about Islam.
James McConnell, 78, appeared at Laganside Magistrates Court in Belfast on August 6, after local Muslims complained that he delivered a sermon in which he described Islam as "heathen" and "satanic."According to Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service (PPS), McConnell — whose sermon was streamed live on the Internet — violated the 2003 Communications Act by "sending, or causing to be sent, by means of a public electronic communications network, a message or other matter that was grossly offensive."
Pastor McConnell's prosecution is one of a growing number of examples in which British authorities — who routinely ignore incendiary speech by Muslim extremists — are using hate speech laws to silence Christians. In what was described as an "extraordinary morning," more than 1,000 people appeared outside the courthouse singing hymns and waving placards — declaring "Christianity under persecution" and "Evil Sharia law is not welcome in our country" — in a mass show of solidarity for McConnell, who was cheered and applauded as he entered and exited the courthouse.
Pastor James McConnell, surrounded by supporters, speaks to the media outside Laganside Magistrates Court in Belfast on August 6. Inside the courtroom, McConnell's defense attorney, Joe Rice, told District Judge Amanda Henderson that his client was "strenuously" contesting the case. Rice said: "We are pleading not guilty. Very candidly not guilty. This is one of the most bizarre and peculiar cases I have ever seen before the court. "The Pastor has waited a long time for this to come to court. He did not incite hatred or encourage violence against Muslims. He expressed views about another religion, not in a personalized manner but in a generalized way. "He believes in the freedom of speech — he's a member of the clergy in Northern Ireland. He has every right to criticize Islam, as Islamic clerics have the right to entice him. This is a principled stance that the pastor has taken. This is not the PPS's finest hour, this case."
Rice called for the case to be moved to a larger courtroom:
"There are approximately 1,000 people here. Pastor McConnell is a revered pastor in the Greater Belfast area. He has family. He has friends. He has members of his congregation who want to hear this case." Rice also told the judge that the defense team intended to lodge an abuse of process application to have the case thrown out of court. The entire hearing lasted less than ten minutes. As he left the courthouse, McConnell addressed his supporters amid loud cheers and applause. He said: "They were nervous in that court, very nervous. I thank God for my solicitor who presented a brilliant case. I will not go back on what I preached. I am not guilty. "I want to be exonerated, I want to be acquitted, I want to be rid of all this. But when I am rid of all this I will be back preaching the same.
McConnell added:
"They are spending thousands. They are running about that court like headless chickens, it is ridiculous, it is stupid. What is wrong with this country? I do not hate anybody.""Even from atheists, even from people who don't go to church. They say this is ridiculous, and it is ridiculous, it is absolutely stupid."Among those who turned out to show their support were Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP Sammy Wilson and his DUP colleague William Humphrey. Wilson, a longstanding member of McConnell's church, said:
"I think this is an important issue of freedom of speech. I believe a prosecution like this introduces a chill factor into society where people feel that if they speak out on something that they believe passionately they could end up being dragged through the courts."
Wilson added:
"People should have the right to express what they believe without fear of prosecution. Here's a man who passionately believes something, who says what he believes and who has been prosecuted for it because there is a narrow, politically correct Taliban who want to corral us all into thinking, saying, speaking as they believe we should. If we allow that to happen then I think we'll be a poorer society."McConnell, who turned down an offer to avoid a trial, said the issue of Christians being singled out for persecution in Britain today must be confronted and that he intends to turn his case into a milestone trial "in defense of freedom of speech and freedom of religion."
The controversy began on the evening of Sunday, May 18, 2014, when McConnell, the founding pastor of the Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle, an evangelical mega-church in northern Belfast, preached a sermon on a foundational verse of the Christian Bible, 1 Timothy 2:5, which states: "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."Preaching with an oratorical flourish common to traditional Protestantism, McConnell said (sermon begins at 22m40s) that it is impossible that the God of the Hebrew and Christian Bible is the Allah of the Koran. He said:
"The Muslim religion was created many hundreds of years after Christ. Mohammed, was born in 570. But Muslims believe that Islam is the true religion, dating back to Adam, and that the biblical Patriarchs were all Muslims, including Noah and Abraham and Moses, and even our Lord Jesus Christ. "To judge by some of what I have heard in the past few months, you would think that Islam was little more than a variation of Christianity and Judaism. Not so. Islam's ideas about God, about humanity, about salvation are vastly different from the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. Islam is heathen. Islam is satanic. Islam is a doctrine spawned in Hell."
The blowback was as swift as it was predictable. The Belfast Islamic Center, which claims to represent all of the 4,000 Muslims thought to be living in Northern Ireland, complained to police, who dutifully launched an investigation into whether there was a "hate crime motive" behind McConnell's remarks. McConnell later issued a public apology, but he refused to recant. He also rejected a so-called informed warning. Such warnings are not convictions, but they are recorded on a person's criminal record for 12 months. Anyone who refuses to accept the warning can be prosecuted, and McConnell now faces six months in prison. The case has been adjourned until September 3. In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, McConnell said he would rather go to prison than disavow his comments about Islam. "I am 78 years of age and in ill health but jail knows no fear for me. They can lock me up with sex offenders, hoodlums and paramilitaries and I will do my time.
"I have no regrets about what I said. I do not hate Muslims, but I denounce Islam as a doctrine and I make no apologies for that. I will be pleading 'not guilty' when I stand in the dock in August."McConnell stressed that he does not hate Muslims. "My church funds medical care for 1,200 Muslim children in Kenya and Ethiopia," he said. "I've no hatred in my heart for Muslims, but I won't be stopped from preaching against Islam." He added: "I apologized last year if I had unintentionally hurt anyone's feelings. I would defend the right of any Muslim cleric to preach against me or Christianity. I most certainly don't want any Muslim clerics prosecuted but I find it very unfair that I'm the only preacher facing prosecution."
In an interview with the Guardian, McConnell reiterated that he is "not going to be gagged." He said: "The police tried to shut me up and tell me what to preach. It's ridiculous. I believe in freedom of speech. I'm going to keep on preaching the gospel. I have nothing against Muslims, I have never hated Muslims. I have never hated anyone. But I am against what Muslims believe. They have the right to say what they believe in and I have a right to say what I believe."
The executive director of the Belfast Islamic Center, Raied al-Wazzan, is leading the push to prosecute McConnell. "This is inflammatory language and it definitely is not acceptable," he said in an interview with the BBC. Al-Wazzan is now trying to leverage the controversy over McConnell's remarks to shame local politicians into providing him with public land for free, to build a mega-mosque in Belfast. "We need the land from the government," he told the BBC. "And there is a huge demand for it. The Muslim population is growing in Belfast, in Northern Ireland, but especially in south Belfast." In January 2015, al-Wazzan drew attention to himself when he praised the Islamic State's rule of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, where jihadists have killed or expelled all of the city's 2,000-year-old, 60,000-strong Christian community. Speaking to the BBC, al-Wazzan said: "Since the Islamic State took over, it [Mosul] has become the most peaceful city in the world."
After local politicians called for the government to cut public funding for the Belfast Islamic Center, al-Wazzan recanted. But the Belfast Islamic Center's website continues to display prominently the writings of a Muslim extremist named Bilal Philips, who has been banned from entering the UK because of his preaching of violence against Jews, Christians and homosexuals, and his glorification of Islamic suicide bombers. In an essay published by the Belfast Telegraph, Suzanne Breen, an atheist journalist who supports McConnell, wrote:
"Today is the first step in an outrageous odyssey through the legal system that could see the pastor sentenced to six months in jail. His 'crime' is to have made 'grossly offensive' remarks about Islam. He branded it 'heathen' and 'Satanic' in a sermon to his own followers last year. "As an atheist, I carry no candle for Christian fundamentalists, but there is something seriously wrong in hauling a pensioner pastor in ill-health through the courts for simply expressing his opinion.
"Let's get this straight. James McConnell didn't incite hatred or encourage violence against any Muslim. Had he done so, I'd be first in the queue to denounce him. He simply expressed his views about another religion. "Freedom of speech should mean that he has every right to lambast Islam, as Islamic clerics have to lambast him and Christianity if they so choose. Those who disagree with Pastor McConnell should challenge him and attempt to win the debate, rather than close it down. "Freedom of speech isn't only for polite persons of mild disposition airing their views within government-policed parameters. It's about letting awkward, insulting and even offensive voices be heard too. "In the face of a Draconian response from the State, the pastor's reaction has been inspirational. He declined the offer of an 'informed warning' from police — something Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly accepted after an incident involving a PSNI Land Rover in north Belfast in 2013.
"A septuagenarian, so spirited and defiant in the face of such an onslaught, surely deserves the support of all of us who respect the rights of freedom of expression. And yet the silence from civil liberties and human rights organisations here has been deafening. "In Northern Ireland there hasn't been a squeak out of the liberal left. Don't expect them to join Christian protesters outside Belfast's Laganside court today. Their progressive pieties don't extend to defending an evangelical preacher with unfashionable opinions. "Shame on them for either sitting on the fence or being on the wrong side of it. In any democracy worth its salt, freedom of speech isn't a luxury for your friends, it's a necessity for your enemies.
"Defending Pastor McConnell's right to say what he said doesn't mean approving or embracing his sentiments. "The hypocrisy at the heart of this case is that the chief prosecution witness is Dr. Raied Al-Wazzan, who is hardly the man to point the finger at anybody over controversial comments. ... He is certainly in no moral position to take the stand in court and give evidence against another cleric about airing extremist opinions. "The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has some nerve in calling him. The fact that Dr. Al-Wazzan will be in the witness box, and not in the dock himself, reinforces Christians' belief it is they alone who are being victimized and persecuted in our society." McConnell summed it up this way: "Islam is allowed to come to this country, Islam is allowed to worship in this country, Islam is allowed to preach in this country and they preach hate. And for years we are not allowed to give a tract out, we are not allowed in Islam, we are not allowed to preach the gospel. We are persecuted in Islam if we stand for Jesus Christ."
**Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.

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